The New Gold Rush: How You can Profit!

Let’s put this title into perspective first. Gold has gone up 60% in 2025, which is likely to be the largest price increase on record (starting in 1973, so that’s not covering the Great Depression!). Here’s where you can look at the historical as well as the daily gold price: https://goldprice.org/gold-price-history.html 

You’ll see there that in 2015, Gold was hovering around $1000 per ounce, now it’s above $4000. Until 2020, gold prices were fairly stable. CRD first started increasing its prices in 2022, but we quickly realized that we did not calculate sufficiently and then the market ran away from us. Now our quotes are only good for a couple of weeks and are subject to change if a custom order is not initiated at the time of the quote (I order the gold as soon as I receive the down payment).

One can see the changes reverberating throughout the diamond district. Most of my contractors (i.e. setter, polisher, jeweler) have less work. In my case it is marginally less because I use the top people and they are always busy. But manufacture has definitely slowed down, and it has tightened its turnaround time so that nobody gets caught buying high and selling low. The gem trade has been correspondingly sluggish, but prices are not coming down in either gold or gems. However, the largest price increases for gems occurred around 2021-23 and have now abated – at least that is what I have experienced with regard to my purchasing habits.

But ok, enough said about the downside. Where is the upside? It is here: most of the gold on the market these days is recycled so it is simply cheaper for the industry to buy back gold than to mine it; if you go through the right channels, you can also sell gold and make a nice profit.

I don’t mean gold coin or bullion. It is too soon to sell that, as most major investment banks are predicting further increases in gold. Therefore, if you have gold for investment purposes, then I would hold on to it.

I am talking about different gold. The gold in your jewelry box! Broken chains, single earrings, busted rings, stuff from grandma from the 60s (don’t sell anything from 1940 or earlier). Stuff you bought and didn’t like. If there’s enough gold on the piece, then anything that you bought before 2020 has the potential to fetch more now than what you paid for it.

How do you get the most money for gold?

First rule: forget the gems. If you have hung around our shop long enough, you know that most commercial jewelry uses gems that have almost no value. Even those slightly greyish opaque diamonds set in cheap halos (often called “salt” in the industry) have no value. Nobody busts those out. But: if you have reason to believe that the gem or gems in your jewelry are valuable, then have a jeweler remove them. When you sell gold, almost nobody gives you anything for a gem. Even a diamond will fetch at best half of the current wholesale price. Better to reuse it in another piece of jewelry.

Second rule: Forget selling gold to pawn brokers or jewelers. Pawn brokers give you 50 cents to the dollar. Jewelers might give you more, or if they know you, they may give you much more, but don’t expect it to be more than maybe 80-90%.

How do you then get closer to 95% or more? You need to ship your gold to a refinery. I use a company in NY called “Manhattan Gold”. They also accept retail sales.

Online gold buyers usually offer the highest percentage below the daily spot price that you can get, even if you are me. I usually get around 98% with Manhattan gold. I sell back broken castings, the occasional piece I no longer use, I sell gold for clients, and occasionally I melt down something personal I no longer wear. I have profited from my original purchase every time. Understandably I buy cheaper than you but at the increase of 2020-2025 anyone can make money. I sell client gold usually as a form of payment for a new custom order, and I give back 100% of what I receive. I’m not interested in being a pawn shop!

In order to sell gold, it would be nice to have an exact scale. A postal or a good cooking scale is ok, as long as you can read grams on it so you don’t need to convert. Something like this on Amazon is also worth it. I’m not claiming that this particular product is ok, I don’t own it and my scales cost more. I use GemOro. You can find them on Amazon but also on other websites in case you try to avoid monopolies (I have given up but I applaud the effort).

So if you can weigh your gold and discern the karat number, you can use an online gold calculator to figure out the value. Then you can use a calculator offered by a gold dealer to compare prices to the daily spot and to other gold buyers.

Some online gold sellers offer a very fast turnaround, and you may also find gold buyers in your local town. If so just ask outright what the return is, then you’ll know if it’s worth it. You will get cash or a check on the spot, so you can use it to buy this year’s Christmas presents!!!