San Francisco Frontiers - Chinese cash in jewellery at automated gold recyclers as prices soar

China is the world's largest consumer of gold, which is traditionally purchased by families to mark special occasions like births and weddings.

But as prices soared to a fresh high near $5,600 on Thursday, customers surrounding the bright yellow machine installed by gold trading firm Kinghood Group were looking to sell.

"I never thought prices would rise so dramatically," said 54-year-old Wu, who told AFP she wanted to sell panda-themed gold coins she had purchased after the birth of her daughter in 2002.

She said she had previously sold the machine a ring inherited from her late father, which fetched around 10,000 yuan ($1,400) -- a huge increase from the original 1,000 yuan her mother had paid for the ring decades ago.

"Gold prices hold steady at a historic high, it's the right time to sell gold," an ad on the machine advised customers.

An embedded screen displayed the Shanghai Gold Exchange's fluctuating prices, while a live video feed showed a robotic arm moving gold scraps onto a scale and under a device that used light waves to measure its purity.

Some people told AFP they had waited over an hour for their turn.

An attendant kept track of each seller's position in the queue, and helped to deposit ornate pendants, hammered rings and commemorative coins into an opening in the device.

Wu said her elderly mother was especially excited about soaring gold prices, and saw the recycling machine as a chance to supplement her modest pension.

"Everyone is suddenly talking about (gold), and it has sparked this emotion in her," Wu told AFP.

- Old gold -

Zhao, a woman sporting an intricately carved gold medallion on a necklace of jade beads and shimmering bangles on her wrist, brought her late grandfather's ring to the recycling machine.

The ring's surface was adorned with the Chinese character for "luck" and tiny images of traditional gold ingots.

She said she believed her grandfather had purchased the ring sometime between the 1950s and the 1980s, and that her mother had handed it down to her this year.

"If the price is good, I will sell it," she told AFP as she waited for her turn.

Minutes after Zhao deposited the ring into the machine, a message popped up on its screen that said Kinghood would buy the chunk of high-karat gold for over 12,000 yuan.

Satisfied, Zhao clicked "agree" on the terms displayed onscreen and keyed in her full name, ID number and bank account details, while her grandfather's ring was melted down into a smooth puddle on the live video feed.

The attendant promised she would receive the full amount via bank transfer by the end of the day.

"Other places test the gold by burning it slightly, but here they test it directly and it's open and transparent," Zhao said, explaining that she trusted the automated recycler over a traditional human buyer.

In addition to a steady stream of sellers, the machine also drew the attention of bystanders who gawked at the large sums of money changing hands at the unassuming corner of the mall.

"Damn!" said a passerby when she saw that one person was selling their old jewellery for more than 75,000 yuan.

And onlookers crowded around an elderly couple as the machine calculated that their finger-sized gold bar could fetch over 122,000 yuan.

K.Torres--SFF