TRADE IN SOVEREIGNS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21098, 4 February 1932, Page 6

TRADE IN SOVEREIGNS.

BOOM IN SYDNEY. PAYMENTS UP TO 34«. J—[from our ow correspondent. J SYDNEY, Jan. 21. With the a profit of more than 50 per cent, there has been a huge trade in sovereigns in Sydney during the past few months. One firm of metallurgists has bought up to 1000 sovereigns daily, paying up to 34s each for them. Of course, it has been a case of killing th? goose that laid the golden egg, and now the trade is diminishing, for Sydney and other parts of Australia as well have rapidly cleared their gold hoards. " Most of the big firms have averaged purchases up to 400 a day, and they express amazement that there were so many gold coins still kept in the homes. They say that Sydney has been the dumping ground for gold coins, and that hundreds have come from Adelaide and Melbourne to Sydney, where the market has given best results. Much gold has also been smuggled out of New Zealand and sold in Sydney, and big parcels have arrived from the country districts in New South Wales. Where it has all come from is a mystery, seeing that s*> many years have elapsed since gold coins were last in circulation. The, market price of a sovereign has remained at 34s for some weeks, but the other day it dropped 6d, owing to a fluctuation in London of the price of gold. The agents who buy the gold coins make a profit of 6d each —and their profits were extensive when they were buying the coins at the rate of 1000 a day. There has also been an extensive business in old gold, such as trinket!;, watches, bangles, old-fashioned brooches, rings and the like. These are melted and refined, and the refined gold sold to London. One of the biggest firms in Sydney has been paying out more than £SOOO weekly for sovereigns and old gold.