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Business & Tech

Brandon Dealers React as Gold Tops $1,500 an Ounce

Brandon businesses dealing in gold have seen supply dwindling as prices continue to set and break records in an economy marked by a weaker dollar and signs of inflation.

Brandon business owners staking their claims to precious metals have a lot to say about the record-setting price of gold and what it means for both the supply and demand that drives their commerce and the health of America overall.

Gold today, April 20, reached $1,506.50 an ounce in New York, according to a Bloomberg report. Before today, gold rose 32 percent in the past year as the dollar fell 7.4 percent.

“It’s no surprise gold is up to a record price. It’s what happens when the economy turns down,” said Jeni Osborne, manager of  , which her father opened in 1986.

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“As America keeps going down, gold will keep going up. If you look at it historically, gold also goes up when the price of gas goes up, so it doesn’t surprise me.”

Fred Oliver has been in the precious metal business for more than 35 years.  He is not at all surprised gold has hit another record high and puts it down to investors looking for security in uncertain times.

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“It doesn’t surprise me one bit,” said Oliver, owner of Brandon Coin and Jewelry. “Our country is in such a mess that’s where people turn.”

And it’s not over, predicts Oliver.

“It’s going to go up more. You can see every week it’s going up. It will easily hit $2,000 an ounce.” He also expects the price of silver to rise.

What Oliver doesn’t expect to see are people rushing through his door with granny’s old wedding ring or an old necklace.

The market for gold “used to be real slow when it was just $350 an ounce and the price stayed there for a while but then a few years ago it started to go up and when it hit $800 an ounce it really started going crazy.”

Those steep increases spurred customers to sell their gold jewelry, draining the supply, Oliver said.

“Today, I mostly buy from dealers and we give a pretty good rate so get a lot of dealers coming in.”

As the price of gold has skyrocketed, Osborne, too, has seen it all from both ends of the demand- and-supply spectrum.

Gold teeth — yes, teeth — old jewelry and ancient computers that were once soldered with gold are just some of the items she’s bought as a pawn shop manager.

When gold hit $1,000 an ounce a year ago, she said, “we had people coming in with just about anything you can think of then.”

But, like Oliver, she has since seen the walk-in business dwindle.

The hike in gold prices does make her grateful her store has added a pawn business.

“The increase in gold prices is good for pawn shop, not for jewelry. No one is going to buy gold at $1,500 an ounce. Ten years ago you could buy a gold chain for $100, now it’s $400.”

 Joe Richard of  said he, too, understands the price hikes.

“Just listening to the TV and seeing where stocks are going, I was not surprised,” he said.

He’s also seen fewer people buying jewelry because the price has been so prohibitive but believes the market has topped out.

“I think it’s going to stay around $1,500 an ounce.”

When will it end?

Osborne isn’t sure, but does sound a note of caution: “At some point everything comes to an end but I don’t think it will be anytime soon.”

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