The sellers never stopped coming into the Houston Gold Exchange while we were there. Our camera caught Mike Chelvam selling a necklace and ring.
He said, "Looking to unload some potentially valuable jewelry and now is the time to do it."
Chelvam has sold gold before and has gotten estimates in the past, but he did not this time. The reason? He says Houston Gold Exchange has consistently offered the best deal before.
"This place seems to have the best prices and seems to be the fairest and so we have been coming here," Chelvam said.
He walked out with more than $600 for an old necklace and ring.
Another seller dropped off a case of 500 silver eagle coins. The seller did not wish to go one camera, but he and the man who bought the silver tell us the box was worth a lot of money.
"This does not happen every day," explained Brad Schweiss with Houston Gold Exchange. "We get this on occasion. This particular box went for close to $24,000."
Schweiss says the price of silver has risen from $15 an ounce to $45. It's got more silver sellers coming through the door.
"The silver price is escalating at a higher percentage rate than gold is and therefore the stimulating factor is again the psychology behind it," Schweiss said. "It's gone up 20 percent in the last three months."
Schweiss says with gold above $1,500 an ounce, sellers are eager to cash in there, too. But before you head to the nearest gold buyer, Michael Klein with Klein's Fine Jewelry says getting several estimates of the worth of your gold or silver is crucial before selling.
"If you go to at least three different places, you are going to know. You are going to find someone in there who is an honest guy -- they may all be honest guys -- but one guy is going to pay more than the other," Klein said.
Knowing the karat of you gold and how much it weighs is a great way to get started on figuring out the value. Also when selling, make sure you know the market value of gold in grams, as that's probably what you will be selling.
