The Times

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article6265088.ece

Radar: the moment
Gold parties
Robert Crampton
May 16, 2009

“Gold parties” have become big business in Britain this year, with around 20 events taking place each month. The idea is simple: a dozen guests bring along their unwanted gold, have it tested and weighed, walk out with a wodge of cold cash, less the party organiser’s commission, less the profit for Ounces to Pounds (www.ounces2pounds.com), the company behind the scheme.

“It’s win-win,” says Krista Waddell, the Las Vegas entrepreneur and ex-commodities trader who founded the company. “Our target market is the type of woman who would never feel comfortable walking into a pawn shop.” Prices are based on the latest spot price for gold, and popular items include unfashionably large Eighties-style earrings, plus jewellery that is broken or part of a matching pair one half of which has been mislaid. Gifts from ex-husbands and former boyfriends also feature heavily. “Bankers’ wives,” on the other hand, says Ounces to Pounds president Stephen Pearson, “are selling everything.”