You don’t take a piece of Van Cleef and melt it. That’s like burning a Picasso for the frame,” laments Tobina Kahn, vice-president of House of Kahn, the US estate jewellery group, of the recent trend for cashing in on fine jewellery by melting it to extract the high gold value.
Cash-for-gold companies have exploded in recent years as the value of gold has continued to rise. However, estate (pre-owned and vintage) jewellers say many people are ill-informed or have consulted the wrong dealers and are disposing of precious vintage jewellery pieces that would be worth more left intact.
