£1.1billion of unwanted gold stashed in UK homes
For the majority of us 'sitting on a gold mine' is simply a figure of speech, wishful thinking. But did you know that it could be more true than you think as dusty boxes of old necklaces, bracelets and rings sit untouched in millions of homes all over the UK?
The poll conducted by Tesco Gold Exchange claims that over 27 million people have piles of unwanted, broken or simply out of trend gold in their jewellery collections.
This number is thought to equate to around £1.1 billion.
Interestingly, the results show that gold is being worn less often with 55% saying that they wear gold only once a month or not at all. Instead silver is the preferred choice.
Under 35s in particular are a third more likely to wear silver or even costume jewellery before gold.
After London with an estimated £171m in gold reserves, the top five UK areas include: West Midlands (£146m), North West (£146m), South East (142m) and East Anglia (112m).
Over the last eight months, Tesco Gold Exchange has been offering customers competive prices for their gold. It has offered an average of £357 per customer for their gold jewellery.
Additionally, the research shows that 52% of the people that have been given gold jewellery as a gift have only worn it once or not at all.
Similarly almost a third of people have no clue about the increased value of gold or wrongly think the value has decreased.
Where many are cashing in their gold for the money as a result of the lack of popularity and the current state of the economy, people have been turning to selling their gold and other unwanted items including CDs, DVDs, clothes, old mobile phones, computer games and other electronic items.
Although we may not have the love affair with gold jewellery as much as we once did, it's nice to know there are ways to make the most of it: Recycle, sell and treat yourself to something silver and stylish.
FemaleFirst Jenna Fordie
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Tagged in Fashion Trends