When David Kleinman realized just how much the price of gold had gone up, he beelineed to the Diamond District with a bag of his wife’s unused jewelry.
And, after Alon Mirzaev, manager of U.S. Gold Refinery on 47th Street, handed him $659 for the three gold rings and two gold necklaces his wife never wears, he’s pretty sure he now has the Midas touch.
“I’m not really a jewelry buyer and I had no idea how much gold was in these items,” Kleinman, an HR consultant who lives on the Upper East Side with his family, told The Post.
“I’m a little surprised that this small bag of jewelry was worth this much.”
The owners of the stalls lining the street are watching as the gold market continues to soar minute by minute, hour by hour.
At press time, gold prices were trading at a staggering $3,322 per ounce. While that’s off last week’s record high at $3,500, it still represents an annual increase of around 35 percent compared with a year earlier versus the average annual uptick of five to 10 percent.
And New Yorkers are taking advantage of prices by either offloading their gold or investing in the currency that hasn’t lost value in months amid recent market volatility.
Take a walk down 47th Street right now and you can’t help but notice all of the customers toting bags of baubles they’re ready to sell.
“There are a lot of people who are selling the gold they have sitting around,” Mirzaev said, adding that he hasn’t seen this big of a gold selloff since 2008.
“Times are tough and gold prices don’t ever stay down — they will always go up and, with inflation, it will go up more.”
All the more reason it’s a perfect time to mine for gold in your own jewelry box.
“I always recommend that people sell things they never wear,” said Mark Kandinov, owner of Luriya, a family-owned jewelry business on 47th Street. “With gold at this price, this is a really good way to get some cash — fast.”
Besides all the people selling off unused tchotchkes, Mirzaev said he’s also seeing a growing interest from investors who are buying gold bullion, which can take the form of bars or coins.
The buying bonanza comes amid growing fears of higher inflation due to tariffs imposed by President Trump.
“We expect the continued uncertainty with respect to President Trump’s trade policy to fuel macro funds to purchase more gold,” Daniel Ghali, commodity strategist at TD Securities, previously told The Post.
If you think you have the golden touch, here’s what our experts want you to know about buying and selling gold.
Buyer Beware
Always buy from a dealer
If you’re looking for a place to park your money and want to invest in gold, make sure you buy it from a dealer, not a private seller.
“This way, you can go back to that place of business if there are any issues,” said Kandinov.
Make sure it’s legit gold
While there are plenty of bullion exchanges that create their own brands, you want to either look for gold bars or coins from such companies as APMEX and Kitco or buy government-issued gold.
“The safest bet is to buy a country’s gold, such as official gold from the U.S. or Switzerland,” Kandinov said.
Smart selling
Make sure your gold is analyzed correctly
If you’re selling gold to a dealer who simply eyeballs your items without using any tools to discern how much gold is in that piece of jewelry, take your trinkets elsewhere, Mirzaev said.
“We have machines that test the percentage of gold in each item,” he explained. “We look at how much gold the item contains, how much it weighs, and how much the stones in, say, a ring or bracelet, weigh versus the gold itself because that can affect the price.”
Get a few bids
This may take more time, but it’s okay to get a second or third opinion on the prices you’re offered for your pieces.
“Go to a few people on the street and get a few price quotes,” Kandinov said. “If one guy says he’ll give you $1 and the other says he’ll give you $10, go to a third guy.”
Confirm the karat count
Even if an item is stamped 14K, make sure you go to a buyer who will place it in a machine that measures its gold content, since what constitutes 14K has changed over time.
“When we put your piece in our machine, we’ll get a readout that it’s 58.5 percent gold or officially 14K,” Mirzaev said.
As for Kleinman, he’s planning on using his pot of gold to buy something nice for his wife.
“I want to sound like a mensch,” he said.
