Don’t fire your financial advisor, but it might be a good idea to check in with your friendly, neighborhood local jeweler considering gold prices are up well over $3,000 an ounce. Carmi Kiwanis was treated to insight from none other than H.D. Bean Jewelers owner Cody Gottman Thursday. He provided some insight, a brief history on the trading of the commodity, and a bit of advice.
Gottman joined Carmi when he bought the business nearly a dozen years ago. The price of gold then…around $1,326 per ounce. The fourth owner of the store, H.D. Bean has been a staple in Carmi for more than 75 years.
Read more at Gottman Talks Jewelry Business Success at Kiwanis – WRUL-FM
Listen more at Open Line ON DEMAND – HD Bean Owner Cody Gottman Celebrates 10 Years – WRUL-FM
Gottman says Americans relationship with gold and silver, while now stable since the end of 1974, wasn’t always that way. With the Great Depression, it became illegal for Americans to essentially hoard gold.
You could trade it like today. It went for $33 to $34 for a pure ounce of gold. Then The Depression happened which kicked off a cycle of inflation, money hoarding, bank failures; people started having no confidence in the dollar and they started putting their money into hard assets.
Gottman explained the purpose was to give the dollar strength by trading dollars for the gold that people were turning in. Gottman says the government then did what many feel government in general does.
The gold price was then “frozen” at $35. It wasn’t really frozen though. It was manipulated and increased by $10 which made people furious.
That policy was finally repealed at the conclusion of 1974 and we have the system we have now. Since then, the prices of gold have steadily increased and in recent years has skyrocketed.
Gottman says he’s bought gold teeth from individuals, even full bridges. He also purchased a Bulova watch and a Rolex worn in an oilfield no less. He says that Bulova watch was purchased in the 1980s for about $1,200 and sold for more than $9,000.
The Carmi Chamber of Commerce Young Professional of the Year for 2022 says 65% of his business is typical sales of jewelry and repair, 30% is scrap gold/silver sales, and very little is bouillon sales. Scrap has grown with the price of the minerals though and he says he’s able to do well because he’s transparent and honest with people.
Within the last 3 years, because gold has gone so high, my scrap business went big time last year, but we also pay people pretty well. We’re pretty honest about it. Oftentimes, I’ll even tell people what I’m going to make on the deal. Here it is all spelled out and I think that makes people feel good, they go ‘hey this guy isn’t going to rail me on pricing’ and they end up coming in more. I just try to be honest and it seems to be paying dividends.
Visit the store at 123 East Main Street in downtown Carmi. You can also find the store on social media including Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HDBeanJewelers or instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hdbeanjewelers/?hl=en. You can also call 618-382-8170.