Mitch Strickland, who said he needs money to supplement his disability check, sold a bracelet for $14. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post

TUSCALOOSA, Ala--An ad in the local newspaper encouraged people to turn their gold and silver into cash, and so, one by one, men and women shuffled into a Tuscaloosa hotel on a hot afternoon, carrying treasures in leather pouches, Tupperware containers and plastic grocery bags.

A middle-aged couple came in with a tin box emblazoned with an image of a young boy wearing a baseball cap. The couple handed over their treasure at Wade Duquette’s table, letting coins spill across the white tablecloth.

“These are 10-cent pieces,” Duquette said, examining some pre-1964 dimes. “They are worth 40 cents.”

“Forty cents!" the husband said. "Man, I’ll wait on that.”

“Thanks for coming in, sir,” Duquette replied, watching the man scoop the dimes back into the box. “Sorry we couldn’t do anything for you.”

At another table sat a woman with bleached blond hair who had just wheeled in three boxes of coins on a luggage cart. She pulled a thick gold necklace from a red box.

“It’s too heavy for me to wear,” she told Brian Leclerc. “I’ve only worn it twice."

He weighed it and valued it at $702.

Brian Leclerc of the International Diamond Center examines a gold necklace. "Business is booming," he says. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post

“Ok, I’m going to go ahead and sell it,” she said. She had looked hesitant for a second, but when he walked away, she turned to her friend and whispered, “I’m surprised that was worth that.”

She would get $4 each for the Canadian coins -- and she had 400 of them.

Duquette and Leclerc, certified gemologists, travel across the country, buying silver, gold and diamonds -- a business that has grown considerably more lucrative during the recession. On this day, the two men were joined by Chad Masters and Eric Hoolahan.

Each buyer sat at a table, waiting to serve whomever came in. Often, it’s not just unwanted pieces of metal that are laid out in front of them, but the stories of those who are selling everything from valued jewelry to family heirlooms. Sometimes, people are just cleaning house and want to make some extra cash, but these days, many people reveal a certain desperation, carting along treasures they might not have sold if they didn't simply have to.

“The mortgage ones kill me,” Duquette said.

“I’ve had a woman say, ‘This is going to buy diapers for my baby. That is the worst,” said Leclerc.

“You have to be able to separate every emotional attachment,” he added. “What we tell them is, 'If it’s hard for them to part with, we can’t put a price on that.'”

“A chain could be run over by a car or come right off of your neck and we pay the same,” Duquette added.

A fork sits among jewlery and other treasures collected in Tuscaloosa. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post

The buyer was sitting at his table when an elderly couple came in lugging a Tupperware box which opened to reveal a plastic bag, which in turn held a folded green cloth. The woman pulled out the cloth and unrolled it to reveal silverware that had been passed down through her husband’s side of the family for at least 200 years. The silver had been sitting in a safe deposit box “just gathering dust” until this day and so the couple figured they’d see what they could get for it--“see what it was worth,” the elderly woman said.

Duquette told her he could only pay her the standard price of silver; if she placed any sentimental value on the tableware, she should keep it. She and her husband did. They walked out having sold nothing, carrying with them the pocket watches and coin and stamp collections they had brought.

Michael and I sat there for hours, just listening to the stories spill out before us. There were people who brought in chains from the 1980s that were now out of fashion, and others who had saved coins for years, thinking they were worth a lot, only to find out they weren’t. One man who had left unable to sell anything returned minutes later, excitedly holding up one last coin he had forgotten to ask about. “That’s worth five cents,” Duquette told him. The man left, looking deflated.

Chad Masters bought $202 worth of jewelry from Tina Turner, who is with her 3-year-old son Riley. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post

One of the last couples to arrive was an elderly man and woman in their 70s whose daughter had driven them about 50 miles to get here. The older woman pulled out a powder-blue jewelry box; inside were tiny earrings. Her husband produced an old-looking pocket watch.

Neither was worth much, Masters told them. But because the woman has trouble hearing, she didn't understand him.

“It’d be best if you go to an antique place,” her husband said loudly in her direction. “Maybe it’s worth something to someone else – that’s what he’s trying to tell you.”

The couple next handed over a pile of coins and a stack of $2 bills, only to be told they were worth face value. A reindeer pin was neither silver nor gold, a magnet revealed.

“You’re going to have to keep Rudolph,” Masters said.

“Everything I’ve got is worthless,” the woman said, pulling out two last short gold strands. “I’ve got a part of this chain and a part of this chain. Are they worthless, too?”

Between the broken chains and a few coins, Masters told her, he'd give her $36.

"Well, I guess we'll have some gas money to get home,” the woman said.

The couple's daughter had been distracted by the transaction over at the next table, where Leclerc was paying a woman $500. The daughter nudged her father to look.

“Yeah,” he said. “Some of them got.”

Eric Hoolahan hands over more than $400 to Danny Fields, his wife, Lydia, and their daughter, Macy, 7. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post

By Theresa Vargas  |  June 29, 2009; 9:19 AM ET
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