Exclusive | Rush to trade gold for dollars sparks cash shortages in NYCs Diamond District: This is a new experience

As gold prices hit all-time highs, owners of vintage baubles and family heirlooms are scrambling to trade them for dollars — and the frenzy has sparked a cash shortage across New York City’s Diamond District, The Post has learned.Last week at Bullion Exchanges — a storefront at 30 W.47th St.

in Midtown Manhattan that displays assorted gold coins and jewelry behind thick plexiglass — a handful of customers had been buzzed inside while others waited on the busy sidewalk.At the counter, a young woman shoved a fistful of gold trinkets under the bank-teller style window.Ten minutes later, she left with a check for $3,330.

“This is a new experience for me,” the woman told The Post, declining to give her name as she edged out the door.Business is “going gangbusters” since gold surpassed $3,000 per ounce in March, according Bullion Exchanges CEO Ben Tseytlin.

By April, it climbed to $3,500 over President Trump’s tariffs and his pressure campaign on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to slash interest rates.Gold was recently trading at $3,334 an ounce.Silver has surged to a 13-year high of $35 per ounce.Accordingly, many customers on West 47th Street are looking to sell stuff that’s made of gold instead of buy it.

As a result, retailers claim cash is in short supply because of bank credit limits.Most customers are paid with checks and wire transfers.“This is a seller-heavy market,” Tseytlin told The Post.

“We don’t give cash for anything over $2,500.”Even used Rolex watches are trading at a premium when they’re made of gold — even though nobody would ever buy a Rolex to melt it down, said Paul Altieri, chief executive of Bob’s Watches, one of the US’s largest purveyors of pre-owned timepieces.“Lately we’ve seen more people bringing in solid-gold models like the Rolex Day-Date gold Submariners and Yacht-Masters, which contain substantial gold weight,” he said.The Submariner can fetch from $25,000 to more than $40,000 these ...