Some time ago my associate Editor Des began hoarding bits of gold jewellery. There were charms, a couple of old rings and some thin, broken bracelets. He had heard on TV that you could swap them for cash in the city. My partner Rob thought it was a silly idea, but when we moved to Sydney from the Blue Mountains recently, Des packed his precious case of gold.
For days after we moved into our apartment he badgered me about finding an exchange place. Finally, off we went down to an address in Pitt Street, with Des on his trike and the case of gold hanging from the handle bars. I was worried about him in heavy traffic, but instead he took to the footpath, weaving through pedestrians with all the hire bikes.
Who needs to pay for a bike?
I joked that it would be ironic if we had to contend with a bear market, but my attempt at humour went straight over his furry head.
We found the gold exchange in an arcade and were ushered into a vault-like room. The gold dealer treated his small customer with admirable respect, although to be honest the contents of his case looked a bit pathetic when turned out on the velvet tray.
Hmm, it doesn’t look like much now. 😒
The dealer handed back a piece that wasn’t actually gold and put the rest on some sophisticated scales. They looked a bit like this;
A GOLD-STANDARD RESULT!
‘That’s $2,400 you have there Editor Des Bear’ we were told. Good heavens, for a moment I thought he must have meant $240. I nearly fell off my chair with shock. Why oh why didn’t I buy gold instead of stamps back in the 1980s?
Suddenly Des was eying off my wedding and engagement rings! 😎 He asked me if I really needed them after so many years, cheeky young devil.
The cash was handed out in a wad of fifty dollar bills, which Des was invited to count himself. That took a while because he kept dropping notes in his excitement. Wow! It was difficult to stuff them all in the little case.
Oh joy!
A CASE OF WEALTH BREEDING CONTEMPT!
There is only one problem now. Editor Des refuses to share the money, even though the gold had actually belonged to me. He says selling it was his idea and that’s what counts. What he intends to do with it I have no idea.
Despite his unfortunate attitude we took the little wretch out to dinner with us to celebrate. Of course he insisted on bringing the case along, worried that our apartment might be burgled while we were away. I thought he might offer to pay for the meals with a couple of the notes he couldn’t quite fit in, but no such luck. Perhaps I’ll suggest he use the cash as a deposit on his own little place!
FOR ADVICE RE SELLING YOUR OWN GOLD, CLICK HERE.
