HIDDEN HOARDS

Hokitika Guardian, 23 April 1932, Page 6

HIDDEN HOARDS

“BRING OUT YOUR GOLD.”

SOME MIXED OFFERINGS

LONDON, April 20

How much did AOf got.-'

That is the question you hear on every side and it always relei’s to the same subject—gold.

The sale ol gold began in a normal way; then it increased in price. The demand grew. The gold merchants of Hatton Gardens and the jewellers all over London and the provinces began to seek out hidden gold, .secreted sovereigns. Drives went up- People began to get interested. A few, driven by necessity, s°i ted ol 't °bl jewellery and found it a profitable bargain. The news spread. Agents set out in search of gold; they frequented markets where farmers congregated. Prices still rose. The fever spread.

PEER SELLS HIS CORONET. To-day the selling ol gold has bceome almost universal. Never, never ha s there been such a gathering together of old gold pieces. In every circle of .society gold is being brought to the melting pot. East week a Peei sold his coronet, and the price paid is said to lio £10,009. It was studded with jewels, which were instantly flown b;. plane to Amsterdam, where the diamond cutters centre. A gold sahei, which the owner had battered with a hammer before handing it over the counter, to obliterate the presentation inscription, brought a solid cheque. One old woman brought a pile of Victorian Jubilee sovereign--, which entitled her to over £IOOO in to-day s money. She" insisted »n taking it in one-pound notes, and would not lister to advice to put it into a hank or into Government securities. She 1 took ii home and put the notes into the same pokey hole where' she had kept the gold coins.

A mail, who produced over 300 sovereigns which he had hidden in a gas pipe for over thirty years, was incredulous when told that the sum would have nearly doubled itsell il lie had invested it. But lie folded up the notes and put thorn into the ga.s pipe. He knew what’s what. lIAI l. FROM SPECTACLE RIALS. I saw a woman offer a large gold chain hag, which had cost £2o. She hesitated at the ten pounds offered for the weight of its gold. A mail brought a whole box of gold spectacle rims. They are no longer fashionable. and he reaped a rich harvest from this bright thought.

There is much activity among the genteel poor : much turning out ol gold boxes. There is a stirring of romance. and many a' secret fear tails on the ring or bracelet, a* memories come crowding in. It is oDen a wrench. Borne even at the Jast, snatch back some tnv trinkotg -“No, not that: T .(miinot hitsj-ti.wgoS’

Girls from shops'*-. and offices join in the waiting queues, and Sell their bits of gold ; a broken brooch, a scrap of chain, the hack of an old locket. “How much did you get C'' “The price of a pair of stockings. Now grocers ami provision inert limit: ere offering to supply 30s worth of good-; for a sovereign. A lan y of the needy ones find this, a more profitabh form of barge in ng. And jewellers’ shops promise to give you up to .has worth of modern goods lor one gold piece. CREST OP RICES BEACHED The melting not s are full. Not sinco England went off the gold .standard have their fires been extinguished. Gold liars and ingots are daily rushed to the Continent, where they play an in porta nt part in helping to keep tinsterling steady. It is patriotic a well as good business, and many, who for sentimental reasons might hesitate, salve their con.-c’ence by deeming it a patriotic deed and add (heir ounces ol gold.

f met oil" woman wlm had got Loo In- a few iol -pieces of jewellery, massive Victorian stufl that die never no re. One man who bed an ual-insii-

ion.-d turnip watch in pawn for many years, mi which, however, he regularly paid the interest, redeemed the watch, and immediately sold it to the pawnbroker, making a siihMani. iai

Ii is said that we have readied the , T est of prices. Some dealers have even drooped a lew pence below Ibe prevailing 27s fid for a sovereign. But while the need remains, and the supply continues to (low in, no oncan preplies,v what new turn this singular trade may lake, what inducements some ol the stricKcn tradeis in others eoliimodil ies may efler tor a

share in the country's hiddi n old