Greenwich Jewelry Turns to Cash as Gold Reaches $1,000 an Ounce

By Tom Moroney and Brian K. Sullivan

Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The people of Greenwich, Connecticut, the hedge-fund capital of the U.S., know a golden opportunity when they see one.

With the price of gold futures reaching a record $1,072 an ounce this week, they’re carting watches, bracelets, rings and necklaces to a Hyatt Regency hotel off Interstate 95. There, representatives of Cash for Gold are writing checks for the precious metal.

“Once the price of gold went over $1,000, I knew it was the time to do it,” said Joy Kruger, a real estate agent who sold her unwanted jewelry yesterday for $2,700.

Greenwich and other well-to-do towns are the best places for mining used gold, said Anthony Holdampf, president of Westport, Connecticut-based Cash for Gold. While the company has licenses to operate in 31 communities in Connecticut, California, New Jersey and Florida, it’s narrowing its focus to the wealthiest ones and has set up camp in Greenwich for more than a year.

“They show up dressed very fancy, maybe wearing their Rolexes,” Holdampf said. Affluent sellers have “twice as much gold as anyone else, and plenty of gold they could get rid of.”

Greenwich, 27 miles (43 kilometers) northeast of New York City, has a population of 60,000 and median household income of $117,857, according to U.S. Census data. That compares with $50,007 nationally.

Cash for Gold buys gold for about 60 percent to 90 percent of the price on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, depending on the purity, Holdampf said. He does business under different names in various locations, and isn’t connected to the company called Cash4Gold that runs national television ads.

Gold futures in New York have closed at more than $1,000 an ounce every day since Sept. 30. Today, the price was $1,053.

Church Fundraisers

Churches are taking advantage of gold’s rise, too. Holdampf will organize and run a gold trade-in and give the church 20 percent of what he pays sellers. He has done events at four Connecticut churches, as well as St Vincent’s College in Bridgeport.

St. Ann Roman Catholic Church in Bridgeport held a gold fundraiser in June with Holdampf.

“This hugely successful event netted our parish $5,050 for which I am profoundly grateful,” the Reverend Peter Towsley, the pastor, wrote in a letter posted on the company’s Web site. Towsley couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday.

Holdampf said he was unprepared for the response at his first cash-for-gold event in Greenwich. In four days, 160 people sold him a total of $97,000 of gold, a record that hasn’t been topped in neighboring towns including Darien, Westport and New Canaan, which are known collectively as the Gold Coast for their wealth and proximity to the shoreline.

Five-Day Stay

The success of that event led him to schedule five-day weeks in Greenwich through the end of the year. On average, 25 to 30 people show up each day with about $500 of gold each.

Marlene Coelho, 55, a security officer from Stamford, cashed in some jewelry for $203 yesterday.

“I’m going to deposit it,” she said. “I need the money in the bank.”

Jill Kalman, 47, of Norwalk, walked in with baubles including a locket from her college days and a ring of her father’s.

“I’m trying to fund a dream,” the communications consultant said of her plan to find voiceover work. “I wanted to be the next Meredith Viera, but I am getting a little long in the tooth.”

Morton R. Shapiro, 72, of Stamford and his wife, Joyce, brought $225 of jewelry in disrepair. Shapiro said he has followed the gold market his entire life and thinks the price will continue heading up. He counsels against selling items with sentimental value.

Some Crying

“I’ve seen people cry,” although sellers usually don’t bring family heirlooms, Holdampf said. “It’s more like the $2,000 bracelet that’s never worn and in a safety-deposit box somewhere.”

Jewelers scratch each piece with a testing stone and use acid tests to determine whether the item is gold and of what quality. The gold is sold to a refiner who melts it into blocks for sale, said Costell Trandu of Cash for Gold.

Peter Suchy of Suchy Jewelers in Stamford said customers would be better off bringing their precious metals to a local business like his. He said having a long-term relationship means he can give them better advice on what to sell and when.

“We are here to provide a service to the community, and we’re staying here,” Suchy said.

Holdampf said he sees his work as a service for “super- wealthy” people who might be embarrassed to take their gold to a pawn shop.

“Times are hard and everybody is affected, not just the middle class,” Holdampf said.

He said Newton, Massachusetts, may be next: median household income, $104,014.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tom Moroney at tmorrone@bloomberg.net; Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net