A GOLD RUSH

Hokitika Guardian, 2 May 1932, Page 3

A GOLD RUSH

SALE OF COINS AND JEWELLERY.

HOARDED WEALTH IN BRITAIN,

LONDON, February 25

For a gold sovereign 27,s 9d in paper notes and silver may now he obtained, and bullion buyers are driving a thriving trade. A veritable gold rush lias started in London. The shipment of this hoarded gold abroad is no doubthelping to improve tbe financial situation in relation to foreign countries. At some of the dealers’ offices there are queues of people awaiting their turn. Hatton Garden and its neighbourhood constitute the chief centre of the trade. Here it would be difficult to find, a vacant room large enough to hold two people and a pair of scales. From Hatton Garden the movement has spread to Clorkenwell, home of the watch and clock manufacturer, and manufacturing jeweller, and beyond that to Houndsditeh and Aldgate. Here one dealer makes bis appeal in the local vernacular. He announces: “27s 6d each for gold quids.”

Exchanging sovereigns for Treasury notes and coin is a simple matter, hut the variety of gold articles brought to the changers’ counters occupies a considerable time. After a general overhaul the obviously useless pieces are placed aside. The others are then inspected carefully. Next comes the .application of the file, followed by the acid test. With extraordinary celerity watch-cases are separated from + he works. The weighing follows, a process requiring little pieces of aluminium on the weight side in order to get the weight to l balance to a grain. Several London firms have paid out sums amounting to £IOO,OOO in a day. Many dealers are working from early morning until late at night, for in addition to callers, the registered mails are becoming heavier with every post. One result of the boom of gold is that much more money is being circulated. For example, a man and ms wife soldi old jewellery for £67. “What are you going to buy me now?” asked the wife. The reply was a £lO ring.

PEASANTS’ HOARDINGS. A Newcastle man brought 8000 sovereigns to London. An extraordinary feature of the gold rush is the selling of large numbers of coins dating hack to 1600, which have been hoarded in Irish peasants’ cottages. One man disposed l of more than 200 sovereigns which had been buried in his garden for 20 years. An elderly woman came with a box of gold coins and jewels which she had left untouched in the hank for 65 yeans. From all parts of the country people who have jealously hoarded their golden treasure in stockings, mattresses, and chimneys. and in the rafters and thatching of their cottages are travelling with their possessions to the towns. Several syndicates are conducting a canvass for gold at houses and farms in remote towns and villages, and are collecting little pieces of jewellery and coins of every nation The National Jewellers’ Association ban issued a warning to the public to have old gold and trinklets examined by a jeweller before they are consigned to the crucible. Captain W. TJewellvn-Amos, director of the Association, said: “The.. high price of gold and the rush to convert out-of-date jewellery i into money has led to the discover of many objects which are worth f.n more intrinsically than the mere value of the precious metal.”