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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: The price of gold is rising and that could mean you’re holding on to something pretty valuable in your closet or dresser drawer. Hillary Wicai has some words of wisdom for you about scrap gold.

HILLARY WICAI: When you broke that bracelet, you put it in your jewelry box and forgot about it.

JAMES TURK: There’s no doubt about it that there’s a little treasure there.

James Turk at Gold Money.com says your instinct to hold onto that gold was right. Those broken necklaces and out of date rings from old boyfriends may be worth selling as scrap gold.

But first, you need to know what you have.

TURK: 24kt is pure. Most jewelry in the states is 14kt but you’ll also find a lot of 18kt and then the junk jewelry is 9kt or perhaps even less than that which has very little gold value relatively speaking.”

He reminds jewelry box gold diggers to check with the Better Business Bureau about a local scrap jeweler’s reputation before selling their treasure.

In Washington, I’m Hillary Wicai for Marketplace.