KGC4Dixie
Jr. Member
- Sep 13, 2009
- 94
- 3
I do have to make the admission that while I've bought an almost impossible-to-recover cannon friction primer at a relic store I've never sold. Gary
_________
Gold Is the New Tupperware, and You're Invited to the Party
http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl/gold-is-new-tupperware.html
by Kelly Evans
The 1950s were big for Tupperware parties. The 1970s were hot for Mary Kay cosmetics. As this decade hobbles to a close, a new kind of social gathering is invading America's living rooms: the gold party.
Shannan DeCesare, 40 years old, brought four gold chains, two unloved bracelets, some earrings that had lost their mates and a couple of other old pieces to her neighbor's house here last week. Minutes later, she was showing off a check for $610. "Merry Christmas to me!" she exclaimed amid applause from the small group of women clustered around host Christine Smith's dining-room table. "Don't tell my husband," she joked, as she pondered how she might spend the loot.
Worries about inflation have pushed gold prices above $1,110 an ounce, up 50% from a year ago. And many people stung by the weak economy are looking for discreet ways to raise extra cash without sneaking down to the pawnshop.
As a result, gold parties are booming, creating opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs – and a new worry for regulators. Typically, small companies promote the parties through word of mouth or by advertising in communities likely to produce plenty of sellers. The companies provide a specialist to value sellers' items, and pay the host a cut of about 10% of proceeds.
One golden rule: "What happens at a gold party stays at a gold party," jokes Margaret Petrucelli, 43, who founded her firm, It's a Gold Mine Party LLC, a year ago after she was laid off from the mortgage division of investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. She now has a network of about 30 specialists holding 30 to 40 parties a week on her behalf across the country.
"It can be really difficult for a lot of people to walk into a jewelry store or pawnshop holding a little bag of gold," said Lisa Rosenthal, 46, whose two-year-old Massachusetts company, Party of Gold, has grown to 130 specialists working more than 1,000 parties a month, primarily in the Northeast.
Regulators and industry veterans worry that some parties might be capitalizing on consumers' lack of knowledge about the industry and the fair price of gold.
"There are all kinds of house parties out there selling things from plastic goods to candles, but none is really as open to fraud as this particular type," said Claudette Carveth, a spokeswoman for Connecticut's department of consumer protection. "Your guard is down because you're at a friend's house, assuming the person taking your jewelry has been checked out."
_________
Gold Is the New Tupperware, and You're Invited to the Party
http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl/gold-is-new-tupperware.html
by Kelly Evans
The 1950s were big for Tupperware parties. The 1970s were hot for Mary Kay cosmetics. As this decade hobbles to a close, a new kind of social gathering is invading America's living rooms: the gold party.
Shannan DeCesare, 40 years old, brought four gold chains, two unloved bracelets, some earrings that had lost their mates and a couple of other old pieces to her neighbor's house here last week. Minutes later, she was showing off a check for $610. "Merry Christmas to me!" she exclaimed amid applause from the small group of women clustered around host Christine Smith's dining-room table. "Don't tell my husband," she joked, as she pondered how she might spend the loot.
Worries about inflation have pushed gold prices above $1,110 an ounce, up 50% from a year ago. And many people stung by the weak economy are looking for discreet ways to raise extra cash without sneaking down to the pawnshop.
As a result, gold parties are booming, creating opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs – and a new worry for regulators. Typically, small companies promote the parties through word of mouth or by advertising in communities likely to produce plenty of sellers. The companies provide a specialist to value sellers' items, and pay the host a cut of about 10% of proceeds.
One golden rule: "What happens at a gold party stays at a gold party," jokes Margaret Petrucelli, 43, who founded her firm, It's a Gold Mine Party LLC, a year ago after she was laid off from the mortgage division of investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. She now has a network of about 30 specialists holding 30 to 40 parties a week on her behalf across the country.
"It can be really difficult for a lot of people to walk into a jewelry store or pawnshop holding a little bag of gold," said Lisa Rosenthal, 46, whose two-year-old Massachusetts company, Party of Gold, has grown to 130 specialists working more than 1,000 parties a month, primarily in the Northeast.
Regulators and industry veterans worry that some parties might be capitalizing on consumers' lack of knowledge about the industry and the fair price of gold.
"There are all kinds of house parties out there selling things from plastic goods to candles, but none is really as open to fraud as this particular type," said Claudette Carveth, a spokeswoman for Connecticut's department of consumer protection. "Your guard is down because you're at a friend's house, assuming the person taking your jewelry has been checked out."
