TRADE IN GOLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21132, 15 March 1932, Page 10

TRADE IN GOLD.

SALE OF OLD TREASURES. MANY OWNERS DISAPPOINTED. "QUANTITY OF USELESS JUNK." The high price of gold has made the precious metal a centre of attention in New Zealand as well as in other parts of the world. Its price, combined with the pressure of circumstances in many homes, has given a stimulus to trade in gold ornaments and jewellery, and many people have been seeking to convert into cash the long-treasured contents of safes or secret hiding places, 'lhey have been encouraged in this by the solicitations of gold dealers, some of whom have be<m canvassing the suburbs. 'By assisting yourself in this way," states the card of one such company, "you will be assisting your country, as. gold purchased by this company will be converted back into bullion and sold through our agents to the British Government."

Inquiry indicates that there has not been any rush in Auckland to dispose of gold valuables comparable with what has been occurring in England. The banks do not handle ornaments, but only gold smelted down, which they send to Australia or England. They have not experienced any notable increase of business of this kind of late. Jewellers have been asked to value a considerable , amount of gold or gilded ornament, but it would seem that most people who have sought to obtain money in this way have gone to dealers who specialise in the valuing and melting down of gold. The majority of them have had an unpleasant surprise, for it is a common human foible to set an exaggerated value on personal belongings. One dealer said the thing that had surprised him most was to discover the quantity of useless and valueless junk that members of the public had been hoarding under the impression that it was gold. Some of it had been regarded as family treasure for generations, but workmanship in past days was not always honest. A large' proportion of the material brought to him, he said, had been rejected simply because it was not gold, but some base substitute. One lady who brought in an ornament with a history of more than 100 years attached to "it was bitterly disappointed to be shown by simple tests that what had always been so carefully guarded was only a counterfeit.

Gold watch cases and chains, pendants, bangles, rings and lockets and gold coins are the articles most commonly produced in the hope of making a cash sale. New Zealand banks do not give more than face value for gold coins, and jewellers and dealers do not as a rule'handle them, but largely on account of reports from Australia exaggerated ideas prevail as to their value. A well-known jeweller stated yesterday that the highest price he had ever heard of being given in Auckland for a sovereign was 245. In contrast with that the Commonwealth Bank of Australia announced early last month that it would buy full-weight sovereigns at 33s 6d in Australian currency. Two factors that put a check on trade in gold sovereigns are the constantly fluctuating price of gold and the penal statute forbidding the melting down of coin of the realm.