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When it comes to commemorating wedding anniversaries, gold is used to mark fifty years, but these rules do not apply when it comes to celebrating years of life.

A territory in India has decided to honor some of its most mature citizens by giving gold coins to people who live there who are more than 100 years old. The coins will each weigh eight grams and the territory plans to give the coins away at a ceremony. Amazingly enough, this territory will be giving away quite a few gold coins, since they are in the process of reviewing applications from 25 people who have applied for this honor.

We don’t know how big this territory is, but having at least 25 people who are 100 or older is an indication that they are doing something right over there. And so in a way, by honoring its oldest citizens, this territory is also bestowing an honor upon itself. No wonder they want to have a ceremony. If you can boast of that many people who have lived at least a century, that is definitely something to celebrate.

We think that it is great that this area would decide to give away gold coins, but of course we do not expect you to do this. As a gold buyer, we know that you certainly do not want to give any gold coins or any other gold items. We know that you want to sell gold to get cash for gold. And we make it easy for you. After you contact us, we will send you a postage-paid envelope. Simply place the gold items that you want to sell into that envelope and mail it back to us.

Once we have evaluated your gold items, we will let you know just how much cash for gold you can expect to receive. There is no official ceremony, but we are sure that you will not mind; you will be too busy trying to figure out just how to spend all of your cash for gold. You won’t need the ceremony, but you can celebrate in your own quiet way.

In this blog, we have told you on numerous occasions about how people have found both items made of gold–both personal items and items of great historical significance–using metal detectors. Well, in The United Kingdom, some long-time hobbyists with metal detectors are crying foul about the recent surge of interest that some have had in their pastime. People who have been at it for a long time feel as if the new crop of metal detector hobbyists are only in it for the gold and for the cash for gold they can get.

Last summer, an old-timer metal detector hobbyist managed to find a large trove of gold weapons that date back to the days when the ancient Anglo-Saxons roamed Great Britain. According to British law, those who find gold and other treasures using metal detectors have to report these findings, so it is not as if you have find gold in the UK using a metal detector and immediately sell gold to a gold buyer. Still after this large and very important discovery of ancient gold was made, a lot more people wanted to get in on the “fun.”

The lack of fun as a motivation is exactly what angers long-time hobbyists. They say they have been looking for gold treasures for the joy of discovery and the hope that they could illuminate part of history if they found something. Old-timers think that newcomers are greedy and lack a sense of pride in history. And it is likely that many newcomers think that long-time gold detecting hobbyists just do not want to see a lot of competition.

Really, who can say which side is right and which side is wrong? Who among us doesn’t want a little fame, a little fortune and a little cash for gold?

We often talk about the value of gold on this blog, reminding you that now is a good time to sell gold because the price of gold has increased as of late. But we do realize that when it comes to cherished family heirlooms, you really cannot put a price on gold. Someone can appraise an item for the amount of pure gold it contains and put a price on it, but sentiment cannot be measured.

A woman from Fredricksburg, VA was reminded of this recently when the gold wedding band that she had accidentally given away was returned to her. Without intending to the Virginia woman gave her gold wedding band to a homeless man along with some coins she had in her purse. She certainly wanted to be generous, but did not want to part with her gold wedding band, a wedding banc that is inscribed with the words “To the love of my life.”

The woman did not realize that her gold wedding band was missing until after she had gotten back to her job. When she realized that she may have given the gold wedding band away with the coins, she went back to where she had seen the homeless man, but he had moved on.

After asking around to see if anyone knew of a man who fit her recollection of the man she’d helped, the woman gave her phone number to someone who said they might be able to help.

That very same night, the man to whom she’d given the coins and the gold wedding band called her on the phone and they two made arrangements for the woman to get her ring back.

Surely the homeless man also knew the value of gold and that he could have gotten a good amount of money if he’d sold the ring to a gold buyer, but he did not do so.

The National Museum of American History is part of the Smithsonian Institution and it has on the largest collections of coins in the world. Some of the pieces in its collection were created more than 2,700 years ago. And as you can imagine, gold coins make up a very important part of the museum’s collection.

As we mentioned in an earlier post, the Smithsonian Institution was endowed with bags of gold willed to the country by an Englishman name James Smithson. Smithson never actually visited the United States, but he was an admirer of the American Revolution and thought highly of America’s independent spirit. Although he was a very wealthy man, Smithson was an illegitimate son who carried resentment towards his father. Perhaps this resentment helped him understand why the American colonies decided to rebel against Great Britain.

In any case, the money he left was used to found the Smithsonian, an amazing institution. And although we are sure that it has been invested well, the Smithsonian, like most of us, does find that sometimes finances are tight. For example, the National Museum of American History would like to display some rare gold coins and other items, but it finds that it needs more money to cover the expenses of mounting such an exhibition. The gold coins and medals that the museum would like to put on display are rarities from Russia and some of these rare gold coins and medals are 1,000 years old.

Of course one solution to the problem would be for the museum to sell some of this rare gold, but of course we imagine that they really do not want to do this. After all, the whole point of amassing such rare gold pieces is to display gold, not sell gold. Still, selling some of the collection may be one way to raise the additional $2 million in  that is needed to display the rest of the rare gold items.

You too may find that you need to sell gold to a gold buyer to get cash for gold. While we do not doubt the beauty and uniqueness of your gold items, you probably do not have anything that dates back a thousand years. And although you may be reluctant to part with some of your gold jewelry or gold coins, if you are in need for money for more important things, this small sacrifice may really be worth it.

Some literary scholars refer to Charles Dickens as the man who invented Christmas. These scholars say that many of the Christmas traditions that we associate with Victorian England were things that Dickens included in his famous book, A Christmas Carol. They say that his book popularized a vision of Christmas that was not universally practiced prior to the book’s publication.

The idea of someone being a “scrooge” came from his book and his iconic miser, Ebenezer Scrooge. Even people who are not overly familiar with the story know about Scrooge and his tight-fisted ways. Even though Scrooge has a change of heart and becomes a very generous man, his early reputation stuck and his last name is used to indicate a selfish and uncaring nature. Forbes ranked his character Ebenezer Scrooge as 12 on its list of fifteen fictional wealthy characters and noted that Scrooge would continue to get richer and richer as the price of gold increases.

So it is only fitting that Dickens’s gold toothpick was sold at auction during the days leading up to Christmas. The ivory and gold toothpick went for $9,150 and went well beyond the predicted sales price range of $3,000-$5,000. As if being made of ivory and gold was not unusual enough, the toothpick has a mechanism that allows it to contract. This very special toothpick is also engraved with Charles Dickens’s initials.

It is amazing that after all this time such a personal object of everyday use would be sought after at auction. Of course it helped that this gold toothpick belonged to such a famous person. There was even some speculation that the prospect of being able to retrieve DNA from the object is what helped to drive the price higher.

While you may not have a gold toothpick to sell, it is quite possible for you to sell gold items that will fetch much more money that you imagine. Contact a gold buyer and they will send you a postage-paid gold envelope. Place your gold inside the envelope and send it in for evaluation. Once the gold buyer has evaluated your gold they will let you know just how much cash for gold you can expect to get for the gold items that you sent in for evaluation.

Although gold is primarily thought of as a material for jewelry, gold can be used in just about any type of apparel. (So when you think you want to sell gold and are looking around the house for gold items that you can sell to gold buyer to get cash for gold, do not forget about gold cuff links or that broken gold watch. When you sell gold to a gold buyer, it is not the form that the gold takes that matters as much as the amount of pure gold an item contains.)

The soccer shoes of some of soccer’s greatest players are going up for auction soon in London and shoes (or boots as they are called across the pond) are believed to be some of the most expensive footwear in history.

The three pairs of shoes together contain a whopping 7.444 precious stones and were made with different types of gold among their many decorative touches.

John Terry’s footwear alone has more than 2,300 jewels, with studs set in white gold that are capped with black diamonds.

Wayne Rooney’s shoes display his number in rose gold, while Rio Ferdinand’s shoes come equipped with laces that have gold tips. Ferdinand’s shoes also have black diamonds, white diamonds and rubies.

Now before you start to wonder–these shoes have not seen any action on the soccer field. Instead, these fantastical creations that combine gold, diamonds and other precious stones were dreamed up as a way to raise money for Rio Ferdinand’s charity, so the auction proceeds will go to a good cause. While many athletes do seem to live as if they have money to burn, it is hard to imagine that even the most wasteful athlete would hit the field with footwear that is made with gold and diamonds.

A certain athlete’s scandal is all the rage these days and we imagine that some people
are thankful because it takes the heat off of them. Still, we did notice one story that
is rather unfortunate–the Olympic Committee has decided that there is to be no winner for the women’s 100 meter in the 2000 Sydney Games. Perhaps you may recall that Marion Jones was stripped of two medals for doping—her gold medal in the 200 meters event and her bronze medal for the long jump went to two other competitors. However, her gold medal for the 100 meter will not be awarded to anyone.

Normally that gold medal would be given to someone else, but this time the runner-up who would normally have received it was also involved in her own drug scandal, so even she cannot receive the medals. (Not that the would ever do this, but if they were really pressed to raise funds, the Olympic Committee could sell gold that it was not going to award as gold medals to a gold buyer to get cash for gold.)

In other gold medal-related news, a lawmaker from California has dropped his bid to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Tiger Woods. According to the original proposal, this medal was to be awarded to the golfer for his “service to the Nation” and his efforts in promoting “excellence,” “good sportsmanship” and for breaking barriers. And before everyone jumps to the conclusion to say that all of the recent news about Tiger Woods is the reason why the lawmaker will not continue to try to get his colleagues to approve giving Tiger Woods the Congressional Gold Medal, it should be noted that this same lawmaker has introduced similar legislation in years past, but it did not make it through. (Although, his previous attempts did at least earn him a few co-sponsors.)

Recently, Princeton University acquired a very rare gold coin–one that goes all the way back to the seventh century or the Byzatine era.

Princeton University in New Jersey has what is considered by some to be the oldest institutional collection of coins in the United States. The collected includes more than 100,000 gold coins from various countries that spans centuries. Among these coins, there are gold coins from the Greco-Roman era and medieval times. The collection also includes gold medals.

The latest gold coin that Princeton has received for its collection has an image of Jesus Christ. While one would expect to hear that such a coin is the subject of controversy today, you may be surprised to learn that this gold coin was controversial during the time it was minted as well. Why? Well, according to the experts, this gold coin was created at a time when it was not considered politically correct to uses pictures and image in way that might be considered ‘worship.’

Despite the times, the gold coin was still created and it is considered to be an important addition to Princeton’s gold coin collection. It is amazing to us that a gold coin that was around that long ago still remains intact and that people are able to identify an image on it.

We certainly do not recommend that you worship gold coins. You do need to know the value of your possessions, but you need not idolize them. For example, if you have gold coins, gold jewelry and other gold objects, but are unsure of their value, visit www.kitco.com to learn about the current value of gold. If you like what you read and decide to sell gold, a gold buyer will work with you so you can get cash for gold.

Russia has reported that its gold output has increased by 12.2 percent when compared with figures for the same time period last year. If you have not thought of Russia as a huge producer of gold, you were not completely in the wrong. Gold from Russia accounted for about eight percent of the gold produced worldwide last year. Much of the gold that Russia produces are found in Siberia and some of the other more remote areas of the country.

Although Russia is not one of the world’s top gold producers, the country hopes to continue increasing its gold production, but you really do not have to worry that you Russia increased output will get in the way when you want to sell gold.

In fact, even as countries like Russia are increasing the amount of gold they produce, the demand for gold keeps increasing. It is not as if a gold buyer is going to turn away your gold. The demand and market for gold that has already been used to consumers is not going to disappear anytime soon. If anything, the demand for old gold jewelry, gold coins and other gold object that can be melted down, continues to grow.

And just think, you do not even have to spend time at a gold mine in Siberia to profit from selling gold.  There is a much simpler way to profit from selling gold. An online gold buyer can make it really easy for you to sell gold by sending you a postage paid envelope so that you can send it your gold for evaluation and then wait for your cash for gold.

Recently, a very kind person anonymously dropped a very valuable gold coin into a Salvation Army kettle in Pennsylvania. This person did not simply drop the gold coin in; they actually wrapped the gold coin in a $1 bill first and then dropped it into the bucket. This generous benefactor wanted to be certain that no one had a clue who it was. There was no flash of gold to catch anyone’s eye since the gold coin was given disguised as a dollar.

Although some news outlets have reported that this happens every year, that does not make it any less miraculous, especially in these difficult economic times. In fact one source reported that according to a Salvation Army spokesperson, the last time that someone dropped a gold coin into a Salvation Army bucket was two years ago.

The gold coin in question is called a gold Krugerrandand it is a South African coin that is said to be worth an estimated $1,000. That is quite a coin, isn’t’ it?

While many of us would love the surprise of finding that a gold coin had been dropped into our laps so we could sell it to get cash for gold, we are more likely to find that we will need to find gold to sell because it is not likely to find us. And that is okay, because you are not afraid of a little elbow grease are you? When you contact a gold buyer to inquire about selling gold, you will probably be pleasantly surprised. The price of gold has gone up in recent times, so you will likely be getting a lot more cash for gold than you might have in years past. And since we doubt that anyone is going to hand you a valuable South African gold coin, you should get started looking for gold of your own that you can sell.