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Although gold has dropped in value since it hit an all-time high of more than $1,000 per ounce in March, people are still anxiously unloading their gold jewelry and coins to jewelers and gold buyers.

“They’ve been going crazy selling it. … People do need money to pay their bills,” said tiffany jewelry Iorio Casterline of Iorio Jewelers in Wilkes-Barre.

Iorio said her gold purchases have slowed only slightly since the precious metal hit a high of $1,011.25 per ounce on March 17.

Since then, prices dipped as low as $712.50 in October, and the average daily price has been about $865. December gold futures in New York closed Wednesday at $808.50 per ounce after hitting $822 during the day.

Scott Mitchell, owner of Gold Buyers of America, said the price of gold reached a peak this year because the economy was so bad. He agreed that many are selling gold because they need the money.

Mitchell, of Bucks County, set up shop in a meeting room at the Host Inn in Wilkes-Barre in October and again one weekend earlier this month. About 100 people stopped in to make sales in October, and about 60 more in November.

Ron Thomas, owner of American Gold Buying at Valentine’s Jewelers in Dallas, said there’s definitely been an increase in the number of customers bringing in their gold.

“Unfortunately, it’s under pretty nasty circumstances, too. … I kind of get the impression they don’t tiffany necklaces want to sell, but it’s a necessity. … People make comments about needing gas to heat their homes, and in some cases, food,” Thomas said.

All the jewelers agreed, however, that not everyone is selling gold out of necessity.

Some sellers no longer wear some pieces of jewelry and are taking advantage of the current high prices to convert them into cash. The daily average price this year has been about $879 per ounce, compared to a daily average price of $505 per ounce between 2003 and 2007.

Carol and Bob Sebolka, of Glen Lyon, brought some gold rings and silver coins to Mitchell after reading a newspaper ad about him buying gold “just because they were there and we always wondered what they were worth,” Carol Sebolka said.

The Sebolkas liked Mitchell’s offer and made the sale.

“I thought we would get maybe $30, but we got $300. We did better than we thought. The price of gold is really up there,” Bob Sebolka said.

The jewelers and gold buyers interviewed for this article offered some advice to those considering selling their gold.

Thomas recommended only selling to someone you know.

The jewelers agreed some gold buyers will try to take advantage of potential sellers.

“Don’t ever sit down and tell somebody you don’t know if it’s any good or were going to throw it tiffany accessories or I don’t know if it’s worth anything. They won’t know if you took it somewhere else (for an appraisal),” Mitchell said.

Casterline suggests holding on to the gold if it has sentimental value, because regrets might follow the sale.

Mitchell also said not to expect to get back what was paid on custom jewelry because the materials cost was marked up and much of the final price was based on craftsmanship.

And don’t be shocked if an offer falls well below an insurance appraisal, which estimates a piece of tiffany keys value for about 30 times what it’s actually worth on resale, he said.

Sellers should also keep in mind that gold jewelry is composed of a mix of gold and one or more metals to make it hard: 24 karat gold is pure; 22 karat is 90 percent gold; 18 karat is 75 percent gold; 14 karat is 57.8 percent gold; and 10 karat is 37 percent gold, Mitchell said.

LOS ANGELES – Just days before her death, Hollywood star Brittany Murphy spoke excitedly about plans to fly to Australia to work again with director George Miller on the sequel to their Oscar-winning animated blockbuster, Happy Feet. (US Murphy Aust)

LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles reptile salesman facing up to 20 years’ jail for allegedly smuggling 15 protected lizards from Australia to the US by strapping them to his chest is “hoping for a favourable outcome”. (US Plank)

SYDNEY – Australian actress Rebecca Gibney admits she doesn’t mind a bit of Botox, tiffany jewelry the anti-ageing treatment to getting a facial. (Gibney – embargoed until 0001 AEDT Wednesday Dec 23)

CANBERRA – Punters have turned on Tony Abbott, with the odds of the coalition winning the next federal election widening after a recent plunge on Labor to retain office. (Election Betting)

CANBERRA – The federal government should step in swiftly to ensure NSW’s ailing red gum forests are protected, the Australian Greens say. (Gums Greens)

SYDNEY – Six months after the death of a man whose vision it was to open such a facility, work has begun on a specialist cancer care centre in Sydney. (Health Rudd to come)

SYDNEY – Three weeks into her position as NSW premier, Kristina Keneally has crossed paths with Kevin Rudd for a third time and won praise from the prime minister. (Leadership NSW Rudd)

SYDNEY – Shipyard workers have welcomed the NSW government’s decision to keep Sydney Ferries in public hands, but tourism and infrastructure groups are deeply disappointed. (Ferries Update)

Ferries Wrap to come

SYDNEY – Punched in the face and surrounded by an angry crowd, a Sydney police officer tasered his attacker during a Christmas carols event. (Carols)

SYDNEY – Eric Thomas Turner murdered four people, became NSW’s longest serving tiffany necklaces and, at 80, was baptised on his jail deathbed in July 2008. (Turner)

SYDNEY – Unions are urging festive season workers in NSW to check their pay packets and ensure proper penalty rates are being honoured. (Xmas Pay)

SYDNEY – Authorities are bracing for a spike in domestic violence across NSW this festive season. (Domestic NSW)

SYDNEY – NSW skippers planning to hit the water over the festive season are being reminded to keep their alcohol consumption in check. (Skippers)

MELBOURNE – Holiday shoppers have been sickened by the “malicious” vandalism of one of Melbourne’s most loved holiday icons three days before Christmas. (Myer Wrap)

MELBOURNE – Victorian police will next year have the power to automatically suspend a driver’s licence if a laboratory drug test shows the motorist was affected by illegal drugs. (Motorists)

MELBOURNE – First it was hoon drivers that had their cars confiscated. Now, hoons in boats can be forced off the water. (Hoon)

MELBOURNE – Mobile phones are at the top of the Christmas list for gorillas. (Gorillas)

BRISBANE – A truck driver likely had a heart attack before running off the road and crashing his tanker into a Brisbane CBD building, authorities say. (Truck Wrap)

BRISBANE – A Queensland man who headed up one of the world’s largest online spamming tiffany accessories has been given a $210,000 penalty. (Atkinson)

BRISBANE – A Brisbane employee who stole almost $3 million from the Bank of Queensland (BOQ) and then spent it like “Monopoly money” on cars, jewellery and holidays has been sentenced to nine years’ jail. (Denford)

BRISBANE – The Queensland attorney-general has successfully sought a harsher sentence on appeal for a former sex educator who paid teenage boys to inject medication into his penis. (Wharton to come)

BRISBANE – DNA material used to convict Queensland man Shane Davis of murder almost two decades ago will be retested in a Queensland first. (DNA to come)

BRISBANE – Federal Environment, Heritage and Arts Minister Peter Garrett has confirmed the Centaur is fully protected as an historic shipwreck. (Centaur to come)

BRISBANE – Federal Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor has opened a purpose-built Customs house at Brisbane Airport. (Customs to come)

BRISBANE – Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has unveiled the architect’s impression of the new ABC studios at Southbank. (ABC to come)

BRISBANE – Police investigating the suspected murder of a southeast Queensland woman have found evidence that may lead to a breakthrough. (Birt)

BRISBANE – A Brisbane man has been rescued by water police after his boat sank in deep water in Moreton Bay. (Sunk)

BRISBANE – A woman and her three young children have escaped safely from a fire that destroyed their home in central Queensland. (Fire)

BRISBANE – Health authorities are nervous an outbreak of dengue fever during the Christmas holiday season will be difficult to contain. (Dengue)

ADELAIDE – Adelaide United defender Robbie Cornthwaite has pleaded guilty to assault after an incident at an Adelaide nightclub earlier this year. (Cornthwaite)

ADELAIDE – A $24 million redevelopment of Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital will include tffany keys pulmonary medicine clinics and gene therapy laboratories, the state government says. (Hospital)

PERTH – The West Australian holiday road toll stands at five after police included the deaths of an elderly couple on their family property in the state’s midwest. (Toll WA)

When a group of Elon University students were pressed to do a project for tiffany jewellery senior seminar, the answer was simple: “Botswana Lee.” One of their classmates, 21-year-old Lee Mynhardt, was paralyzed from the chest down in early February during a fight at an off-campus party and had to withdraw from school.

Mynhardt, from Botswana, was one semester away from graduating with a degree in business administration. He was known affectionately by his friends as “Botswana Lee.” His classmates decided they would collect donations from local businesses and from the community for their final project. The goal is help raise awareness for spinal cord injuries.

Elon University spokesman Dan Anderson said the students are selling rubber wrist bands for the fundraiser, called “Project Botswana.” Student Kevin Wellington said that all proceeds from the Botswana bracelets will aid Mynhardt and his family. The money will go toward his medical bills and his family’s housing costs.

“He is one of the nicest kids you’d ever meet,” Wellington said of Mynhardt. “He was always happy to see you.” “Even now he remains optimistic about everything.” Wellington hopes the fundraiser will draw awareness to the serious issue of spinal cord injuries. The students have been collecting money from a variety tiffany accessories of sources, Anderson said, and have organized on-campus booths and fundraisers throughout April.

LOCAL BUSINESSES HAVE also started chipping in to raise money for Mynhardt. On Thursday, 5 percent of all restaurant proceeds from Cantina Roble in Elon went to Project Botswana.

B. Christopher’s Restaurant, where Mynhardt worked as a bartender, will also be sponsoring a fundraiser for him next week.

The bracelets, which are being sold for $5 each, each read SCI (Spinal Cord Injury) Awareness.

They also are inscribed with “Cheers,” for the welcome that Mynhardt often used to greet both friends and strangers.

Last month, John Ferrell Cassady, 21, and Clinton Joseph Blackburn, 22, were indicted tffany keys on one count of felonious assault inflicting serious bodily injury. Cassady, an Elon student and Blackburn, a UNCG student, were arrested after turning themselves into the Elon Police Department.

Mynhardt is currently at the Carolina Rehab Center where he is in stable condition and undergoing treatment.

What’s black, white and red all over? Yes, it’s a newspaper, but it’s being used in a whole new way for Christmas tiffany jewellery decorating that’s nostalgic, fun and inexpensive.

Black and white has been a popular home decorating trend for about three years, says Joyce Gilpin, an antiques dealer at the Jesse James Antique Mall. But this year, the trend — using things you have around the house, like newspapers and sheet music — is making a splash in holiday decor.

“It’s a way of repurposing what you have for Christmas,” Ms. Gilpin says.

NEWSPAPERS

Of course, using newspapers as wrapping paper has long been a classic money-saving idea. But when you add a contrasting bold red Christmas ribbon and pine-cone tassels, cheap becomes chic.

“I hardly ever buy wrapping paper,” says Angie Hummer, co-owner of the Rusty Chandelier. “We always use newspaper. Why waste the money and put it in the landfill?”

Old newspapers also can be used as a backdrop for vintage holiday collections by key rings covering a folding screen with them. Or make paper chains (you know those construction-paper chains you made as a kid) out of newspaper, as Debbie Dusenberry has done to decorate the black-and-white room at her shop, Curious Sofa in Prairie Village, Kan. She cut up vintage newspapers, old paperback books and sheet music in different sizes with pinking shears and scalloped scissors, then strung them on an old dowel rod and hung them from the ceiling.

“We sat down in front of the TV with a glue stick and went crazy,” she laughs.

You can see more of her black-and-white ideas in the Better Homes and Garden Christmas Ideas issue, which will be on the newsstands through December.

Or what about a newspaper Christmas wreath? In Country Living magazine, a full-size wreath made out of newspaper “flowers” and strips of newspaper streamers looks stylish hanging against a bright red door. (See instructions below.)

SHEET MUSIC

Dig out your old sheet music from the attic, because when Ms. Gilpin made her annual trek to the fall antique flea market in Roundtop, Texas, she noticed sheet music for decorating was very big.

“They kind of set the precedent on what is in,” Ms. Gilpin says.

One of the most popular ways they used it is was to print (with the computer) individual letters in red or black on each page to spell out holiday words, such as joy, peace and love. They can be hung across the mantle, by the piano, on the wall or anywhere you want to spread Christmas necklaces cheer.

“Just select the fonts you want and run it through,” Ms. Gilpin says.

If the sheet is too small, she suggests using double-stick tape to affix it to a regular piece of 8 1/2 -inch-by-11-inch paper.

Add some gold or silver glitter for extra pizazz. You also can age or antique sheet music for a more vintage look, she says. For a light patina, suite101.com suggests using hot tea: spread the pages across a clean baking sheet (with raised sides) and pour a cup of strong, hot tea over them (black or pekoe). Let soak for several minutes, then drain and dry flat on a towel or rack.

RED ALL OVER

The secret to using repurposed items — and having them look good — is sticking to a color scheme, Ms. Gilpin says. In addition to newspapers and sheet music for your black-and-white colors, display old family black-and-white photos in new black or white frames. Maybe get a black Christmas Tiffany Accessories tree and top it with a black top hat, as Ms. Dusenberry did, or gather a rookery of stuffed penguins around the tree for a little whimsy. For the red, place shiny, red ball ornaments in glass goblets. Add sparkle to anything with red tinsel. Throw in a mix of new and old Santas and other red holidays items, and it’s starting to look like Christmas.

Lifestyles reporter Sylvia Anderson may be reached at sylviaanderson@npgco.com.

Newspaper wreath

To make this wreath, cover a foam floral wreath base with newspaper “flowers.” To make a flower, cut a Tiffany Keys 4-inch-by-4-inch square from three pages of newspaper. Fold the stack in accordion fashion, trim, and then tie with floral wire in the center. Spread the petals and then hot-glue to base. Repeat steps until wreath base is covered; you will need about 40 flowers. For the bow, cut several 12-inch paper strips. Form loops with each strip, gather a bouquet, and secure with wire. For streamers, cut long strips and fold in accordion fashion. Hot-glue bow and streamers to wreath.

Audrey Jean Callas of Houston drove to the post office on June 21 to mail two checks to tiffany jewelry pay her bills. She dropped them in a large mailbox outside the postal building.

From there, the checks vanished — and Callas had no idea what became of them until Houston police contacted her several weeks ago to report her checks had been found in the hands of criminals running a large identity theft ring that has victimized 457 people and 83 businesses scattered across 25 states.

“After the policeman called me, I went to the bank and closed out my account that I had there for over 40 years,” Callas said. “It’s just been a headache.”

Houston police have arrested five people so far on allegations of taking part in the theft key rings. Authorities expect to make many more arrests before their investigation is over.

“They should be sent away for a long time,” Callas said.

The scheme operated by stealing people’s personal checks, then looking up their driver’s license numbers in an online database. Theft ring participants would then use high-quality fake Texas driver’s licenses featuring their pictures matched with the victims’ identifying information to buy things with counterfeit checks.

As many as 191 people were looking to get fake identities and checks, based on passport-size photos seized from the business earlier this month, police said. Investigators are now trying to identify all 191 in those photos with hopes of arresting them as well, said Lt. Robert Manzo of the Houston Police Departments financial crimes unit.

Arrest was a surprise

The accused ringleader of the operation is Robert Lee Lyles, 65, who is charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, a first-degree felony. He was arrested Sept. 2 when Houston police served a search warrant at his rented office space at 440 Benmar. Police said they found Lyles sitting at his computer necklaces, printing a counterfeit check and a fake Texas driver’s license, when officers stormed the building.

“He was definitely surprised when we showed up,” said Houston Police Department financial crimes unit Sgt. Tom Wood.

Lyles is not cooperating with police, but investigators believe he had a large network of people working for him.

“We have very good reason to believe he may have been paying employees (at some businesses) to provide copies of checks written to them,” Manzo said. “We’ve contacted those victims — almost 500 of them.

“We recovered hundreds of checks. … A good number of them had actually been legitimately processed for payment. Some of them had been mailed to various businesses and never made it to their destination. And some of them were simply copies of checks that Lyles had somehow obtained,” Manzo said.

Also arrested Sept. 2 were two of Lyles’ business associates, William Douglas Jackson Jr., 45, and Derald Lane Desso, 42, who are each charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, a first-degree felony. Evelyn Dixon, 46, who is believed to be Lyles’ “runner” — the person in charge of delivering the fake documents to participants who did not want to go inside the office — was arrested on the same charge, police said.

A rented mansion

In June, Houston police arrested Bobby Lee Harris, 31, after serving a search warrant at his Tiffany Accessories rented millon-dollar home in Spring and finding identification information belonging to more than 50 victims and a number of fake Texas driver’s licenses. Harris was charged with fraudulent use or possession of identifying information, a second-degree felony.

Police said Harris had furnished the entire mansion in the 16100 block of Chasemore near the Raveneaux Country Club with electronics and furniture purchased with stolen money. Investigators said they have since determined Lyles provided Harris with the documents he used.

All five suspects remain in the Harris County Jail, and all of them have prior criminal records, police said. Lyles, Jackson and Desso have been ordered held without bail, while Dixon and Harris are being held on $50,000 bail each.

A tip from police

Investigators have recovered pictures and other information from Lyles’ extensive list of clients looking to cash in on the scheme. They seized two of his vehicles, including a Mercedes, his computers, his cell phone and a large amount of cash.

“We want to remind citizens that anyone with criminal intentions can take one of their checks and make a copy of it and make them a victim of this type of crime,” Manzo said. “Because of that, it is imperative that citizens check their bank accounts at least once a week and immediately report any unauthorized transactions to their financial institution, as well as to the police department.”

Central Railway, Mumbai, said it had a requirement for supply of set of copper ring terminals.

According to the description: “Tenders are invited for supply of set of copper christmas tiffany sale terminals, 1) 1.5 sq.mm as per BRACO Catlog no. R 005 or equivalent Qty – 12 nos per set. 2) 2.5 sq.mm as per BRACO Catlog No. R 014 or equivalent qty – 12 nos per set. 3) 6 sq.mm. as per BRACO catlog No. R 023 or equivalent qty – 2 nos per set 4) 6 sq.mm as per BRACO catlog No. R 050 or equivalent qty – 2 nos per set. 5) 16 sq.mm. as per BRACO Catlog No.R 126 or equivalent . qty – 3 nos per set set. 6) 16 sq.mm as per BRACO Catlog No. R 030 or equivalent . qty – 3 Nos per set. Make: Braco Or Fixwell Or Kamlesh Or Dowell ( For All Ring Terminals) Qty : 200 Sets.”

Bidding type is a domestic competitive key rings bidding.

The tender notice no. is 48.09.5763.

The last date for the submission of tender is Oct. 26.

The opening date of tender is Oct. 26 at 11:30 a.m.For more information about necklaces US Fed News contract awards please contact: Sarabjit Jagirdar, US Fed News, Email:- htsyndication@hindustantimes.com.

For more information, contact Dy.Chief Material Manager at Central Railway, O/o The DYCMM (M), Parel, Mumbai – 400 012, Maharashtra, India Tiffany Accessories