On Friday I learnt that there are gold prospectors in Norfolk.
As many of you know I have been clearing out my mother's house over the past few months. It is in fact all finished now but I have still a few bits and pieces to sell or store. I managed to shift four or five things at the auction in Leicester and our local auction house, Keys, in Aylsham has sold quite a few of the items of furniture for me.
On Friday I went down there with a few dregs and a couple of spoons I wasn't sure about. I thought they were silver and it wasn't until I got down to Keys under their lights that I spotted the spoons were indeed hallmarked.
The man there told me the were old Dutch imports and as the price of silver is so high they would probably sell for around £50 each.
"Really?" I said.
"Oh, yes," he said. "They will be bought and then taken to Birmingham to be melted down and sold for cash. We get a lot of people coming to the sales for that purpose. We call them the gold prospectors."
Needless to say I hung on to the spoons. I didn't really want to be responsible for them being destroyed. Mind you I am thinking of making the bigger one into a bracelet if I can think of a good way of doing it.
P.S. Dave is thrilled that some of you liked the colour of his hair, or, as my daughter so kindly put it the non-colour of his hair!
The spoons are far too pretty to be melted down, do Keys not hold specialist auctions where they might be bought for what they are? It will be interesting to see what you manage in the way of a bracelet.
Your daughter is a cheeky monkey!
Posted by: Toffeeapple | September 19, 2011 at 12:35 PM
I know gold is a high price at the moment but it is such a shame to think of all the history that is being melted down at the moment. Glad you saved these spoons. x
Posted by: Scentedsweetpeas | September 19, 2011 at 06:17 PM