Selling your gold: What consumers should know

For store owner and gold buyer Jason Michelsen, the gold-to-cash-market is a matter of the math — and a passion.

For local jewelry store owner Vance Reusch, it’s also a matter of trust.

Reusch and Michelsen are competitors in Petoskey. Both make money off buying and reselling gold, parts of their businesses which have grown in recent years.

As local businessmen with history in the community (Reusch Jewelers is on its fourth generation and 127th year) both men can’t stress enough that gold is cash money, and consumers are best off turning to people they can see, know and trust when looking to sell their valuables.

Michelsen, 36, is owner and operator of Northern Michigan Rare Coins. Rare coins and precious metals have been a part of his life since we was a child. He’s owned the business on Howard Street in Petoskey for 12 years.  

He bought the business around the time gold “bottomed out” at $250 a troy ounce. The price has steadily grown ever since and topped $1,900 a troy ounce last fall. 

On Jan. 16, gold sold for about $1,650. 

That price is why so many offers to buy old jewelry and coins abound.

It’s a gold mine. 

And prices change fast. Reusch, 47, uses an iPad application to get up-to-the-minute gold prices. For example, at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, gold sold at $1,658 a troy ounce. He will pay his gold customers based on the most current price.

For Michelsen’s business, it’s a proposition of thirds: Two-thirds for the seller, one-third for Northern Michigan Rare Coins and the refinery, which melts down the rings, necklaces and earrings people bring to his store to sell. He also pays based on the most current spot price. What he pays is measured and calculated right out in front of the customer.

Michelsen explains that gold in jewelry is measured by purity rate, or karat. The most common being 10 karat, 14 karat and 18 karat. Pure gold is 24 karat. He said most all jewelry is stamped, has a hallmark, attesting to its karat purity.

Michelsen said he has no use for the diamonds and rubies — it’s the gold he will buy. 

However Reusch, as a jeweler, is interested in the gems. He’ll evaluate stones and as well as the metals. So what Reusch might pay for an old ring could be based on more than melt value of the metal.

Michelsen and Reusch encourage gold sellers to shop around and get comparisons. In this case, the businesses are a block apart. 

Other competition

The two business are not the only choice for Northern Michigan people hoping to turn gold, silver and platinum into cash. Competition also comes in the form of traveling buy and sell events. 

“It’s the wild west as far as traveling dealers,” Michelsen said. “They could be tiny, they could be international, you just don’t know.”

Reusch concurs: “People come to us because they don’t know (the value) and they trust us,” Reusch said. “We have been here for 127 years because we are worthy of people’s trust.