My Gold Party - Blog

By Paula Scully

Staff Writer 

 

TUCKERTON — Wise women brought gold jewelry they not longer wore or wanted — scraps of chains, earrings, rings and and necklaces — to a library association fundraiser and turned them into money.

 

My Gold Party came to Tuckerton for the first time June 12, at the invitation of the the Trustees Association of the Tuckerton Library Tuckerton. The association received 15 percent of the sales Friday night at the event conducted at the Red Men's Lodge in Tuckerton. The money raised will go toward library maintenance. The company, which has been featured in USA TODAY, brings a My Gold Party event to a home or group so people can have the fun of a party while finding out the value of their old gold and having the opportunity to sell it, said Sharon Sheimer, who works for My Gold Party in California.

 

Irene Hempel of Tuckerton brought some gold pieces and scraps of chain to sell. She received $839.77.

 

"That's a good day's work," she said, deciding to sell her gold necklace, too. Her decision netted her another $292.48, for a total of $1,132.25.

 

Katherine Hanadel with Ameriprise Financial of Cherry Hill, daughter of trustee Shirley Hanadel, met Sharon Sheimer of My Gold Party California at a networking party in the Cherry Hill area and put her in touch with the trustees.

 

When Sheimer arrived, she said the organization would pay the price of gold on that day. "Gold today is $972 a gram for 24 karats. Gold is sold as commodity," she said.

 

Sheimer's assistant, Ellen Tozzi, who also is a professional organizer, used a magnet to determine whether the pieces were gold or not. Gold would not be attracted to a magnet. She used a jeweler's loop to look for the mark of the karat weight and any other identifying marks, then pass the gold to Sheimer.

 

Sheimer set up a flat machine with a wand that she used to test for gold and to see if it was 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18 karats. Sheimer said she finds some foreign gold marked 14 karats that is actually 12.

 

If a piece was not magnetic, but she was unsure of the content, she had to use a small hand-held grinder to make sure they were not gold-plate instead of solid gold.

 

The women gathered around intently.

 

"Is there anything you may not want to sell because I have to grind them?" Sheimer asked each woman who brought a piece that she need to check.

 

"It could be gold because it's not responding. If it is not affected by the magnet we still have to test for anything nongold," she said.

Items that were marked as gold karats, Sheimer put on a board and touched with a wand that told her if it was gold or not and also the karat weight.

 

Then she consulted the daily pricing chart of My Gold Party, which showed the price for 8, 10, 12, 14 and 18 karats. They did not have to buy 16 karat gold that day.

 

Some people brought items to be evaluated, such as a gold Krugerrand.

 

"Only touch it along the outside (rim)," she said. "Don't touch the front or the front will wear off. The value I can give you is the value of the weight and the karat content. You would do better at a coin shop."

 

One woman brought a necklace that had been handed down from her mother's grandmother. Sheimer touched the wand to the piece.

"It's not gold," she said.

 

Then there was a ring that appeared to be gold. Again, after the ring passed the magnetic test, Sheimer touched the wand to the ring.

 

"It's marked 14-karat but it's not gold," she said. "Sometimes, women come in with jewelry from old boyfriends and they find it's not gold."

 

Each gold piece was placed in a glass bowl identifying it as 8- or 12-karat, for example. There also was bowl marked "NOT," where items that were not gold were placed.

 

At the end of the customer's decision of what to sell and what to keep, she weighed each collection of gold on the scale.

"We buy 8-karat and up," she said.

 

Sheimer said the next day she would send the gold to the My Gold Party Refinery in Grosse Point, Mich., where it would be melted down for such things as new jewelry or ingots. She said she was always involved with jewelry and asked her friend in California to train her. Since October, she has worked for My Gold Party in California.

 

Library trustee Erin Kopp said she did very well selling her gold, approximately $1,300.

 

With sales totaling more than $3,000, the trustees association received $477.36 for conducting the fundraiser. The trustees will use it toward maintenance of the historic library, which they own at 80 Cox Ave. The Ocean County Library system leases the building and provides books and staff. The trustees will put the money toward a $6,700 air conditioner repair with some duct work.