If I have some old gold jewellery, is it worth it to sell it for its melt value?
Get your jewelery appraised.  (Don't let whoever does the appraisal be the same person whom you would sell it to.) Logically jewelery must be worthy more than the raw gold that makes it up because somebody took the time to design patterns and do specialty craft to the metal. I have a buddy that used to run one of those companies that buys gold like the ones you see on TV. Here's the deal... 1) If the jewelry isn't total junk, get it appraised. Making raw materials into jewelry obviously increases the value since you can't buy jewelry for the price of raw gold. In many cases it will be worth more as jewelry, but not always. Depends on the piece. 2) Those companies generally rely on the fact that people selling jewelry to a gold dealer are in a hurry to get cash and are very negotiable on what they will take for it. Depending on how predatory they are, you will probably get between 50 and 75% of the market rate. They make a living on the spread and people's need for quick cash. They usually resell it immediately to a 3rd party that actually melts it down and resells it.  So the short answer to your question is no, you won't get close to market value with these companies. You would do better if you didn't have to go through the middle man, but then those final buyers aren't generally the ones who have set up shop to deal with the general public. "I just came across an article from the CBC on this subject: Here's one tip from the article, which echoes what others have said: ""The agency [Better Business Bureau in B.C.] suggests getting two or three appraisals from a jeweller or   jewelry store before deciding to sell."" See the full article for the rest of the tips." Avoid gold brokers who do business through the mail. Video Full Article
Gold since the ancient time ( at least when it was founded) has kept its value. for example the french franc currency was considered valuable in the years 1400~ but in 1641 lost its value. However who owned Gold back then still got value.  The advantage of having gold is you can convert it to cash easily in the world. it hedges against inflation: it is value rise when inflation happend. Gold has no income,no earnings. its not like a stock or a bond. its an alternative way to store value the Disadvantages of investing in Gold  Gold doesnt return income , needs physical storage and insurance, Capital gains tax rates are higher on most gold investments. the best way to invest gold when there is inflation is expected. source I stock is only worth what someone will pay for it.  If you want to sell it you will get market price which is the bid. Not at the current price.  Take a look at historical charts going back five years. When the meltdown occurred in 2008, gold price took a big dip due to deleveraging, etc. I would expect the same to happen again with the current crisis. Just because gold performed that well in the past does not mean it will perform that well in the future.  I'm not saying you should or should not buy gold, but the mere fact that it went up a lot recently is not sufficient reason to buy it. Also note that on the house, an investment that accrues continuous interest for 30 years at an annual rate of about 7.7% will multiply by a factor of 10 in 30 years.  That rate is pretty high by today's standards, but it might have been more feasible in the past (I don't know historical interest rates very well).  Yet again note that the fact that houses went up a lot over the last 30 years does not mean they will continue to do so. also it is fungible, if I'm using the right term - an important property of a currency - meaning it's easy to change into other forms. (you can melt it and make bigger, smaller, or different shaped things). The calculators on this site should help: http://www.measuringworth.com/  They allow you to choose a currency (only about half a dozen are available), enter an amount and the years to compare, and then provides feedback in a table. Obviously you will need to be careful which calculator you choose. If they don't cover the currencies you are dealing with, see this site: http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/RDavies/arian/current/howmuch.html They provide numerous links that, while they don't provide sleek calculators per se, they do offer guidance on how to handle conversions  yourself. Regarding comparing the cost to something like gold, to try and help younger readers, I think it's a good idea but gold is not the ideal choice for comparison. I'd recommend something more tangible like household goods - what a Playstation would have cost in 1930s money etc. In short: the value of gold is esoteric even for most adults - concrete examples would be better. I think the primary reason it is so pricey now is that it is an inflation hedge, and considering how shaky the economies and out of control the spending is in many countries right now, people are running to it as a safe harbor. The increased demand raises the price as it does with any asset.  This brings us to the titular question. Why does gold have value? The same reason anything has value. There is someone out there who wants it enough to trade something else of value to get it.  It is in the news so much because it is so high right now, which unfortunately is going to cause a lot of people to foolishly invest in it at likely the worst possible time. How was Scunthorpe steelworks sold for £1?  I have £1, what is to stop me from buying a hyper distressed company like this for so cheaply? Why doesn't this happen more often? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the sale to the buyers and sellers? It won't be worth $1050 at maturity. You are not accounting for tym.   So to see the 'worth: of a bond you will need it's yield (5%) and the current market rate of a similar bond.    Then just use the bond valuation formula to solve (on mobilw so can't explain further/better) sorry If you plan on trading it, it's a social construct. If you plan on keeping it for yourself, then the value is personal. Not always easy to disentangle the two. Sometimes people are more willing to risk personal safety to rescue items of sentimental value... I came across this €1000 coin, which can actually be bought for €1000. It contains 17 grams of gold, worth about €600 today. Is there any downside to this over keeping €1000 in regular banknotes? These are bullions / medallions / collectibles / Non Circulating Tenders or whatever name one wants to call it. A coin has a value because the Central Banks says so that enforces everyone accept it at that. This as such is not a coin. Banks or anyone else will not accept this for face value.  These are of numismatic interest and certain people do collect such items. They are collectibles to the extent the price is dependent on general interest in future on such items and quantity available. So if future the price may go up much higher than the gold price or may retain its gold price. Mints make these with intricate design, best finish, limited quantity to charge the additional premium. If you are not into numismatics, stay away, a better options is buy simple gold bullion of similar weight for actual gold price. If there's a market for it, then it has value. No reason that it shouldn't be used, unless that market is just too volatile to ensure future value; which, I don't think is the case with fine art. If anything, there is almost the certainty that their value with increase with time. You are really tangling up two questions here: Q1: Given I fear a dissolution of the Euro, is buying physical gold a good response and if so, how much should I buy? I see you separately asked about real estate, and cash, and perhaps other things.  Perhaps it would be better to just say: what is the right asset allocation, rather than asking about every thing individually, which will get you partial and perhaps contradictory answers.  The short answer, knowing very little about your case, is that some moderate amount of gold (maybe 5-10%, at most 25%) could be a counterbalance to other assets. If you're concerned about government and market stability, you might like Harry Browne's Permanent Portfolio, which has equal parts stocks, bonds, cash, and gold. Q2: If I want to buy physical gold, what size should I get? One-ounce bullion (about 10 x 10 x 5mm, 30g) is a reasonably small physical size and a reasonable monetary granularity: about $1700 today. I think buying $50 pieces of gold is pointless: However much you want to have in physical gold, buy that many ounces. "This type of account will sell you just enough rope to hang yourself.  Gold is at $1400 or so. Were you around when it first hit $800 in '79/'80? I was. No one was saying ""sell"" only forecasts of $2000. If you bought and held, you've still not broken even to inflation let alone simple market returns." "Their ""worth"" is whatever someone is willing to pay to have them.  The mint presumably thinks that some people (collectors) are willing to pay at least 55$ CAD for them. Their value as currency is only 3$ CAD. Their value as precious metal/crystal is irrelevant, as its illegal to melt (without explicit permission) coins that are legal tended in Canada."