New York
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In San Francisco, Seth Chandler’s enterprise has lines out the door. It’s common for twenty-odd individuals to be penned in by a velvet rope, monitored by two security guards.
Chandler doesn’t personal a scorching new membership or restaurant. He runs Witter Coin, which buys and sells valuable metals — and individuals have been exhibiting up in droves to sell their gold and silver.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s creating a lot of frenzy,” mentioned Chandler who’s owned Witter Coin since 2016. “We’re buying and selling a lot.”
The worth of each metals has by no means been so excessive. Gold has doubled over the final 12 months, crossing a record $5,000 an oz for the first time this week. The price of silver has tripled in that point to above $100 an oz.
And as affordability stays difficult, on a regular basis Americans, are cashing in the place they’ll. Pawn and coin store house owners throughout the nation inform NCS that extra individuals than ever earlier than are coming to sell gold or silver bars, bullions, silverware or damaged jewellery.
“We’re getting four to five times more people in our showroom than two years ago. It’s probably doubled the last six months with precious metals prices going through the roof,” mentioned Chandler, who has doubled his employees to accommodate the demand.
Gold and silver are thought-about “safe havens,” that means belongings the place traders transfer their cash when Wall Street will get nervous about the general US economic system — typically due to macro points and geopolitical tensions. So, when President Donald Trump threatens to acquire Greenland or increase tariffs on Canada or South Korea, the worth of each metals rises.
It’s “the belief or the hope that if you have major correction in the stock market or if you have suddenly inflation reemerging or accelerating, that gold and silver will be able to maintain its value,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity technique at Saxo Bank, instructed NCS.
High costs make promoting gold or silver enticing, nevertheless it’s additionally good for the purchaser. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America venture gold might rise to $5,400 to $6,000 an oz by the finish of this 12 months.
Witter Coin, which additionally buys collectible cash, watches and jewellery, has often introduced in $1 million price of steel in a single transaction, Chandler mentioned.
But with costs so excessive, it’s develop into extra worthwhile for the store to ship the uncooked steel from these gadgets to a refinery reasonably than resell it.
“It broke my heart that we had a fascinatingly beautiful 18-karat gold pocket watch that was handmade in the 1880s. You’re talking 145 years old, probably took a couple of people a few weeks to make it all by hand, 180 different parts,” mentioned Chandler. “And guess what? We had to disassemble it and melt the gold.”
Kelly Swisher, the proprietor of Arlington Jewelry and Pawn in Arlington Heights, Illinois, mentioned the present valuable steel craze has him shopping for tens of hundreds of {dollars}’ price every week.
While gold has seen a gradual rise for years, he’s stunned how a lot silver has caught fireplace.
“I just had a big set (of silverware) come in and I ended up giving them $6,000,” mentioned Swisher, who opened his store in 2002. “I’m like, this is just insanity. A year ago, it would’ve been $2,800 or $2,700.”
Silver costs surged 141% in 2025, the greatest efficiency since 1979, and they’re already up 60% this 12 months. Beyond the steel’s secure haven standing, costs are additionally being pushed increased due to robust industrial demand and lingering provide deficits.
“We would see a couple people a week come in with silver (a month ago), and right now we’re probably seeing a dozen or more people every day coming in with some sort of silver product,” mentioned Seth Gold, vp of American Jewelry and Loan in Detroit, Michigan.
Gold and silver are so scorching that folks aren’t simply hauling in the household’s sterling silver set or gold bars from Costco. Customers are additionally digging by way of the drawers for scrap gold and undesirable or damaged jewellery.
For Americans struggling for fundamental value of residing, the sale has confirmed each profitable and life-changing.
“In this economy, if somebody’s coming in expecting to get a couple hundred dollars for this scrap gold and you tell them it’s $850, they all of a sudden just are overwhelmed,” mentioned Swisher. “They can’t imagine that that little bag of junk that they had in their drawer is worth that much money. Some people start crying, they’re just so shocked. They feel like it’s a windfall.”