A positive story has come out of last summer's London riots this week, after it was reported that thousands of customers have been reunited with their gold jewellery after the safes under a burnt-out pawnbrokers were opened and the items salvaged.
The interesting story begins at the London Road branch of Albemarle and Bond in Croydon. South London. Sadly, the site was raided and set on fire by rioters on 8 August and the entire premises collapsed. At that point, very few people – and particularly not the rioters – knew that there were several safes in the basement of the store that contained thousands of pieces of gold that had been pawned by locals.
Those who knew their jewellery was under the store were concerned that their belongings, which were not only valuable, but often had sentimental attachments, were lost forever. Police confirmed that they expected to find welded metal under the 45 tons of rubble and had even sought out the help of specialist smelting firm to try to separate the gold according to purity.
However, the secret operation to recover the badly burned safes was completed before Christmas and the contents were found to be in good condition. It took a total of two weeks to crack open the safes, but the news was good when the specialists finally accessed the contents. Some 3,500 customers were thrilled to be reunited with their goods.
The area manager for the store, Joanna Collins, told the Croydon Guardian newspaper: “Lots of customers couldn't get past the police cordon and were crying, believing they'd lost sentimental items of jewellery, including wedding rings and pieces their parents and loved ones had left to them."
The entire operation had to be done with the strictest security measures in place. David Millard of Ambemarle and Bond, who coordinated the projects, explained, "Every crook and villain in London would have known the safes were being lifted and what was inside them."
Ms Collins went on to explain how happy the owners were to discover that their precious belongings were intact. She said that people were crying when they realised they could get their gold jewellery back.
More and more people are starting to realise that
gold prices have increased by record amounts and that their old
scrap gold could now be worth selling online. Many people use pawnbrokers to swap their
gold for cash in the short term, but for those of us who have old gold jewellery that is either unstylish, broken or of poor quality, selling gold has never been easier or more lucrative.
The price of gold has increased to record levels in the past year, and is now worth nearly £1,500 per ounce, meaning that even a small amount of gold is valuable, particularly if it is of a higher carat rating.
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