ASHTABULA — Paula Hildebrand and Judy Burlingame help ladies find a gold lining in relationships gone sour.
“We call it ‘bad memory gold,’” said Burlingame, as she used a magnifier to search for markings on a gold-like necklace.
“A lot of this (gold jewelry) is from bad relationships,” Hildebrand said. “We get a lot of wedding bands.”
The Ashtabula County businesswomen set up a gold-buying boutique at the Wellness and Total Learning Center (WTLC) on West 38th Street on Tuesday afternoon. Business wasn’t as strong as they had hoped it would be, but then
again, they were competing with much larger buyers that have been mining the area recently as gold prices hit historic levels.
The women work with Better Gold Buyers, a Concord Township business started by Angela Eroski about a year ago. Eroski said she saw an opportunity in the rising price of gold and decided to start a business that would offer an alternative to the large gold-buying companies.
“We’re just a local group,” Eroski said. “We like the intimate setting and the personal touch.”
Their business focuses only on precious metals; the women have no interest in buying coins other than for their silver or gold content.
The women believe in giving back to the community and donate a percentage of what they pay out to whatever organization hosts their gold-buying event. They also give sellers the opportunity to donate their gold to the charity, in which case Better Gold Buyers gives the proceeds of the gold sale to the charity.
Their next buying event is at Curves in Geneva from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Nov. 18. They return to the WTLC from 4 to 7 p.m. Dec. 3, and on Dec., 4, 5 and 6, they will hold events at Comfort Inn in Austinburg and Days Inn in Conneaut.
The women even do house parties, similar to Tupperware events, where ladies can bring in their old jewelry for an evaluation and purchase.
Rising gold and silver prices make these good times for gold buyers and sellers as investors are seeking security in precious metals against a weakening dollar. That being the case, wouldn’t it make more sense for consumers to hold on to whatever gold they have, just in case the greenback goes belly up? In a word, no, says Hildebrand.
“You don’t know how long it’s going to stay high,” she said. Further, she said most consumers don’t have large quantities of gold. The kind of gold buys being made by the women on Tuesday were mostly for pocket change, enough to buy a tank of gas or make a down payment on the electric bill. For example, a gold crown was bringing $10, with the tooth included. Silver dimes were bringing six times face value.
The women have seen all kinds of gold and silver items presented to them for evaluation and purchase. One woman brought in a bag of gold dust, which they don’t purchase because it evaporates in the refining process. Another brought in a small tube of gold flakes fished out of a river while on vacation out West. Again no sale.
The buyers say the gold item that always comes as a little bit of a surprise is the tooth or crown.
“One of the first gold buys I ever made was a six-tooth bridge,” said Burlingame, who has also seen gold fingernails. “I was quite surprised to see it come across.”
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