![ring2.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQma6aCzVQ3p8PBHjmQdzAoLNrhsFWjAHA5in1jwAN32TLg/ring2.jpg)
*Picture taken by me*


![ring border.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcyKdkLRW1sEw84DyMsYeZTkKQ7ughuTzkKLpd6hSMWrp/ring%20border.jpg)



In 2007 I began an eBay venture. The  financial instability of that time left me uneasy. What could I, as a middle class person of modest means, do to build a crisis cushion? My options were limited.  Gold bullion was attractive, but I couldn't afford that.  What I could afford, was tiny bits of gold in the form of used gold jewelry.  I felt this might be a fool's errand, but it was all I could manage and doing this would serve as a kind of  emotional salve.  

![ring border.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcyKdkLRW1sEw84DyMsYeZTkKQ7ughuTzkKLpd6hSMWrp/ring%20border.jpg)


***Protesters in Iceland during the [2008 Financial Crisis](https://www.economist.com/media/pdf/meltdown-iceland-boyes-e.pdf)***

![Iceland protesters during Financial crisis 2008 Haukurth 3.0.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmeJ4DWHCEoYf6fFTTf1nH5xfoXBs5c86oU1ERegRCEUnv/Iceland%20protesters%20during%20Financial%20crisis%202008%20Haukurth%203.0.jpg)
*Picture credit: [Haukurth](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M%C3%B3tm%C3%A6lendur_vi%C3%B0_Al%C3%BEingish%C3%BAsi%C3%B0.jpg) CC 3.0 license*


![ring border.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcyKdkLRW1sEw84DyMsYeZTkKQ7ughuTzkKLpd6hSMWrp/ring%20border.jpg)

The ring you see at the top of this page was one of my acquisitions during my brief buying binge.

***Financial Crises as Part of My DNA***
It might be said, in a kind of [Jungian sense,](https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-collective-unconscious-2671571) that going through financial crises is in my DNA.   My great-great grandfather, Rudolf, immigrated to the United States because of a disastrous collapse in the [European economy.](http://www.helsinki.fi/iehc2006/papers3/Vanhaute.pdf) He had been a farmer in Germany.  The economic crisis resulted in the  [pauperization](https://www.ohio.edu/chastain/dh/econcris.htm) of many farmers and artisans.

![ring border.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcyKdkLRW1sEw84DyMsYeZTkKQ7ughuTzkKLpd6hSMWrp/ring%20border.jpg)

***View of the Valley Where My Great, Great Grandfather  Settled***
![View_of_the_Hudson_River-Robert_Havell_Jr-1866 oublic.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmRJAaU2skqVJhQFTfzjk1FibbtfntuFQSZfHpqbhj1Ye3/View_of_the_Hudson_River-Robert_Havell_Jr-1866%20oublic.jpg)
*Robert Havell, 1866. [Public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_the_Hudson_River-Robert_Havell_Jr-1866.jpg)*

Perhaps this new land, when he saw it, reminded Rudolf of the [Black Forest](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Belchen_black_forest.jpg) in his native Swabia.  He put down roots and began farming.  His son, my great grandfather, worked that farm.  In 1893 another disastrous financial collapse struck. 

In the [Panic of 1893,](https://www.historylink.org/File/20874) people began to hoard gold and a severe depression set in. Among the casualties of that depression were farmers.  


![border 7.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmV23bK5hM6FdtyHKboSeYobZ6LXcupZk37M27bKBR6PXK/border%207.jpg)


***Panic at the New York Stock Exchange, May 5, 1893***
![Panic at_the_NYSE_5_May_1893_cph.3b13869 unknown public.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcBJvLNbcAuYdDeozFiFRrQCh1X44PchzoRy5r4eFBEfd/Panic%20at_the_NYSE_5_May_1893_cph.3b13869%20unknown%20public.jpg)
*Picture credit: Unknown author, [public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panic_at_the_NYSE_5_May_1893_cph.3b13869.jpg)*


![ring border.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcyKdkLRW1sEw84DyMsYeZTkKQ7ughuTzkKLpd6hSMWrp/ring%20border.jpg)

My understanding is that in succeeding years, the family farm was nearly lost, but that my grandfather took  over and built it up again.   He had twelve children.  Perhaps it was their labor that helped to see him through the Great Depression of the 1930s.  

***American Union Bank,  New York, August 5,1931***
![American_union_bank.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmeUNp2XvQdfsUpvCPjzKQ62J2QdJzqRMuT9ybS1C77VBg/American_union_bank.jpg)
*Image credit: U. S. government. [Public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_union_bank.gif)
Depositors cluster outside the bank, which had closed its doors, permanently.*

![ring border.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcyKdkLRW1sEw84DyMsYeZTkKQ7ughuTzkKLpd6hSMWrp/ring%20border.jpg)

By the time I was born in the late 1940s, my grandfather had sworn off  banks.  He had no faith in the financial system.  His business was conducted in cash.  He thrived, but never took out a loan, and never deposited a penny in a bank.  

It seems my skepticism about money and the financial system was inevitable, given my family history.  This perhaps makes my mini-venture in gold jewelry understandable. 


![ring border.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcyKdkLRW1sEw84DyMsYeZTkKQ7ughuTzkKLpd6hSMWrp/ring%20border.jpg)

The gold ring at the top of the page cost $51.00.  Bidding on eBay started at $.99.  I didn't care about the ring.  I was looking at gold content. In this case the ring was described as having 4.49 grams of 14 karat gold. I think I paid between $9 and $11 a gram in those days.  I stopped bidding if the price went over that, unless the piece was 18K. Then I paid more per gram.

According to  [Midstates Recycling and Refining,](http://www.midstatesrecycling.com/karat_kalc) a gram of 14K today goes for about $35.00. 


***Gold Ring, with Tiny Emeralds and Diamonds***
![ring3.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmc8AYdEfVJ1zgyViJ84PkM2ida1WdFgwEGAjYGJgoz78q/ring3.jpg)
*Picture taken by me*

I can't find the sales form for this one, but it's rather light so I'm sure I didn't pay anywhere near $100.  I was never impressed by the gem content, because I know nothing about gems.  I was just interested in the gold. 


<center>![ring border.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcyKdkLRW1sEw84DyMsYeZTkKQ7ughuTzkKLpd6hSMWrp/ring%20border.jpg)</center>

***Pitfalls***
There are no pitfalls.  I only spent discretionary money.  I spread out my purchases, and viewed the whole venture as a sort of hobby that might pay off someday.  It is possible I bought jewelry that wasn't 14K, despite the markings.  It is possible that I overpaid.  But I'm not counting on these trinkets for anything.  They're just another really tiny piece of the stuff I'm planning to leave my children.  

If there is a crisis, in my lifetime or theirs, maybe these trinkets can be bartered.  Also, they  would make very nice presents.


<center>![ring border.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmcyKdkLRW1sEw84DyMsYeZTkKQ7ughuTzkKLpd6hSMWrp/ring%20border.jpg)</center>

<center>*Thank you for reading my blog*</center>


<center>![fox and squirrel friendsgif.gif](https://images.hive.blog/DQmVLV2kpmXe64d4Sf4boeo7X3UUpJjkwMj466n2WZv2DR2/fox%20and%20squirrel%20friendsgif.gif)</center>
<center>*Hive on!*</center>

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