There’s a popular trend lately: people selling gold jewelry or even gold teeth to cash in on today's prices.
"For people who have some in the drawers or cigar boxes for them it's probably found money."

Folks pressed for cash…even sacrifice family heirlooms.
Carol of Ron’s Coin in Yakima explains, "They can't let go of the sentimental value even though they're selling it."

But one warning about selling your scrap either to a dealer or online: commercial brokers don't pay much for loose gold and jewelry because they need to make enough to resell it on the open market.
Good news: you'll get some cash in hand. Bad news: it won't be anywhere near the open market price, and worse, you could be selling just as the value spikes again.

Joe Mann, owner of Ron’s Coin in Yakima says, “Those who follow the gold and silver market see a lot of potential.”

When governments go bankrupt and print too much money…it can devalue the national currency….and cause runaway inflation. In Zimbabwe a bottle of vinegar now costs almost a million dollars.

Steve Wellman says, “This is U.S. currency, paper money. And this is toilet paper. The physical difference is a little higher quality paper here and some ink. But the government guarantees it's worth face value. But if for any reason people stop trusting the true value of this paper money, then it becomes a lot more like ordinary paper, even toilet paper.

Trust in paper money may be getting shaky. Remember, gold can't be printed or manufactured. And it's getting harder to find. Right now it's virtually impossible to find gold coins to buy…anywhere. Not in the U.S., Europe, or Asia. There's just no supply.

Carol at Ron’s coin answers the phone: "I'm sorry we're out of gold coins."

Some experts say it's only a matter of time until the value of gold explodes again.
A few predict it could easily hit $1600 an ounce…or even three or four times that much.
So what could make that happen? A collapse of the U.S. dollar for one. Since America is presently printing so much currency to cover the worldwide credit freeze, other countries could dump their dollars and send gold spiraling. Wars in the Middle East or new terrorist attacks could potentially boost gold far above the $1000 per ounce mark virtually overnight. So owning at least some gold right now might be good insurance.

"You don't buy gold to get rich, that would be like buying car insurance hoping to have an accident and collect. You just want to have some exposure to the asset class."

Bottom line then, if you have gold to sell and you need the money you can turn it into cash right now.
But ask yourself…why are the commercial dealers so eager to buy, if gold is near its top price?
The saying "good as gold" has been around a long time. And it's likely the glittering yellow metal will stay valuable well into the future.