Updated: Wednesday, 15 Apr 2009, 12:15 AM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 15 Apr 2009, 12:15 AM EDT
DAVID MARTIN | FOX 35 News
SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A heart of gold is nice, but a drawer full of gold can help you through some tough financial times.
Household gold parties are sprouting up everywhere, where guests are walking out with hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
"This is 14 karat. This is actually stamped 18 karat. And that's 18 karat. Wow!" exclaimed one woman who walked out of a gold party eight hundred dollars richer.
A little wine. Some hors d'oeuvres. And a jewelry expert. That's all Terri Guiang and Tracy Frazee needed to host their first gold party. They got the idea a few weeks back when they attended one themselves. "It was the first party we went to where we didn't feel compromised to buy anything," says Guiang.
Instead, it's about making money fair and square -- and quickly -- just by grabbing your old gold and sitting at a table for a few minutes with a precious metal technician.
"This is my first transaction that I'd love you to take a look at. This is gold from Central America," Guiang said as she handed over a ring.
The first test is with a magnet. Precious metals have no magnetic properties. "Whether it be gold, silver, or platinum, it will not stick to the magnet," said the technician. It passed. "So this is 14 karat," he concluded.
The next test uses acid. "If I put a drop of this, and it eats away the gold, I know it's less than 14 karat. Oh! But in this case it's staying," he said. "You can see right through it."
The higher your karat, the higher the payoff. "I don't work right now. So I'm always trying to find ways to get a return and make myself worthy!" laughed Guiang.
It can also be a humbling experience. Not everything you own is worth what you thought, and you can hear the disappointment.
Costume jewelry doesn't stand a chance. "I had a feeling that necklace was not real," complains one party-goer.
A lot of guests bring jewelry with stones in it, and they ask if the rocks can be saved. If they are channel-set, the answer is "no," but "yes" if they're pronged-set.
So they may lose the rock. And after gold, the technician only deals with diamonds. "I'm not a gemologist. This could be glass, plastic. It could be a fake ruby," he said while examining a piece.
At the end of the night, the hosts walk away with 10 percent of the total sales. "I sold my jewelry at the last party. Thought I'd walk away with a couple of hundred dollars, but I actually ended up making $1300," said Frazee.
That's not too shabby for something she never wears anymore.
Reprinted from MyFoxOrlando.com.
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