High gold prices push consumers to sell

At Gold Star Pawn Shop in Eastlake, Ohio, where the Cleveland-area economy is suffering, manager Marc Berman said people come in regularly with broken gold chains, rings with marks on them and scrap gold to get more money in their pockets.

"I think it's more about gas prices than anything else," he said. "People are bringing in anything to try to get money to put a few gallons in the tank."

Some seniors come in monthly to pawn gold items in order to make it through until their next Social Security checks arrive, Berman said.

The clientele at Palace Pawnbrokers in downtown San Diego has gone more upscale as gold prices have soared. Owner Jeff Bernard said it's a mixture of those who seem to need the money more than ever and those who want it.

"It's a combination of many factors _ the state of the economy, the price of a gallon of unleaded gas going for $3.60 here," he said. "People are saying 'We've just got to do something.' With gold knocking on the $1,000 door, they can actually pay off a bill, do something significant with it."

One woman recently lugged a safety deposit box full of old wedding rings, chains and gaudy 14-karat jewelry from the 1970s in to Scott Goldstein's Super Pawn shop in Round Lake Beach, Ill. Others have arrived carrying shoeboxes full of jewelry, and a 92-year-old man brought in 80 gold coins. Customers have brought in as much as 40 ounces of gold to sell, he said.

"It's people going through hard times AND the crazy prices," Goldstein said of the crush that began there after Christmas. "With all the foreclosures nowadays, you hear people more and more saying 'I've got a mortgage to pay.'"

Midge Elias watched prices rise for months until she finally gave in to the temptation and walked into a Manhattan coin shop with two mounted Liberty Walking gold pieces she'd once worn on long chains. She left with a check for $1,150.

"It felt like a little gift," Elias said. "Of course, there's always the possibility of gold going way higher. But hey, those are the risks."

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