In today’s gold market, with the price of bullion soaring to nose bleed heights, you no doubt have been purging your jewelry collection for items you really could do without. You check the Dow and the gold market daily and sort through your dad’s old watches and identification tags or bracelets again. How long has it been since your wife wore her grandmother’s wedding ring or large brooch with broken clasp?

The places to sell are legion. In Texas, for example, gold can be sold while dining on fine sirloin in an A listed restaurant, or at a gold store located inside your supermarket.

Whenever you decide to trade your gold for cash, be wary of the opportunists who have grown in number to rival the growth of gold prices. The old song about gypsies tramps and thieves should be played in every domed flea market and transient hotel ballroom gold buyer’s conclave. It is easy for you to become excited by the number crunching and talk about grams, ounces and karats to end up receiving much less than your gold is worth today.

You should check all of your jewelry and make sure it has no unique value for antique memorabilia or to a collector’s broker that multiplies its value into five figures. You should be aware gold is weighed in karats and know your gold’s karat weight before you enter into the marketplace.

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Your gold should be weighed by Troy grams and not “pennyweight,” which is guaranteed to give your buyer more of your gold and you less of his cash.

Exchange credentials with the prospective buyer of your gold. Ask to see his state license to buy and sell gold, and check with Better Business Bureau to nose out any complaints. He should ask to see your identifications such as driver’s license or passport. If none of these happen, run to the exit.

Beware of the razzle dazzle of the entrepreneur who is introduced to town by a barrage of ads claiming to pay highest dollar for your gold, then sets up camp in a local hotel or civic center. Usually these rascals disappear quickly, leaving you with unpaid or underpaid balances.

The most widely spread avenue of hawking for your gold is the send-it-in-the-mail system. This should not be a last resort, but no resort at all. You have no guarantee your weights will be accurate and your payments near what your gold is really worth.

Once you are certain you will sell to one of the cash for gold locations, approach some of your local jewelers and pawn brokers. This is their business and they are happy to give free estimates to local customers.

Just as you would go into any other market place armed with fair market value of what you are either buying or selling, do the same in the gold market. You don’t have to be an expert to gain the most value out of your jewelry pieces. Information is available. Avail yourself of it.

This will allow you to smile all the way to the bank.

Born in the North but with her heart in the sweet, warm South, Millicent Brink is retired and now lives in Florida’s horse country. She enjoys all Southern flowers, the Florida jetties, and raised orchids with her husband of 46 years. She remains petite and really perked, despite the fact she has had such numerous surgeries that she believes by the time she dies, there will not be much left that is biodegradable.