8 billion in jewels sold

Italians don’t just buy jewels: they also sell them. The economic crisis has accentuated the phenomenon, so much so that the latest estimate, presented to the Senate Industry Commission, chaired by Massimo Mucchetti, indicates that 200 tons of gold have been sold, equal to approximately 8 billion euros. At least, this is the estimate of the value of the recovered gold that 17 million Italians have sold to gold-buying shops. In practice, one in three Italians has sold some family jewels. And it is not a random number: in fact, the president of Unioncamere, Ferruccio Dardanello, reported it during the hearing on the bill that concerns, precisely, the gold and gem market. “The explosion of gold-buying shops is a phenomenon of recent origin and for this reason not yet well identified, to which the chamber system believes that approximately 12 thousand activities are dedicated”, clarified Dardanello. The fact is that the turnover is so significant that it has transformed Italy into a gold exporting country, even without having mines on its territory. Finally, it should be added that those who sell gold now earn less: on an annual basis, between January 2013 and January 2014, gold lost a quarter of its value, losing almost 400 dollars per ounce. Federico Graglia