Gold prices have risen sharply in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, and individuals are looking to cash in by selling their old jewelry, Bloomberg reports.
As of Thursday, prices had risen 8.4% since the beginning of the year, according to the report. But given uncertainty about how Covid-19 will play out, people with gold sitting around the house aren’t confident the surge will last.
So they’re looking to unload the precious metal in what Bloomberg describes as a “frantic push.”
At House of Kahn Estate Jewelers in Chicago, jewelry assessment bookings have been 12 percent above average lately, according to Tobina Kahn, the firm’s president.
“No one is saying, ‘I want to wait because I think gold will go up even more,'” she was quoted saying.
Ash Kundra, co-owner of J Blundell & Sons Ltd. in London, told Bloomberg: “People have started to clean out their safes.”
A Reuters poll predicted that gold prices will average more than $1,500 an ounce this year, compared to $1,394 last year.
Read more at Bloomberg
