When full-page adverts claim the price of gold has soared 30 per cent in the past six months, it isn’t only those facing big debts or mortgage arrears who are tempted to turn old heirlooms and unwanted gifts into cash. People looking to sell scrap gold could make enough money to pay off some debts

Strictly speaking, the claim isn’t true. At £576 per ounce this week, gold is down about 18 per cent on the £700 level seen in February, while the dollar price is down from $1,006 to $955 in the same period.

But this is unlikely to deter sellers who need cash.

Earlier this year, gold achieved its highest-ever price against sterling, the euro, the Swiss franc and the dollar in Canada, Australia and New Zealand – indeed just about everywhere except for the Japanese yen and the US dollar.

After years of steely jewellers looking dismissively at a well-worn keepsake and advising desperate owners not to waste their time, the internet is creating a world where it is much easier to turn surplus items into cash.

With British government debt soaring towards a trillion pounds, Adrian Ash, head of research at BullionVault, the UK’s leading online service for gold bullion investment, reckons the craze for turning valuable metals into cash may be only just beginning.

“When Cash4Gold, a big American company, gets going in Britain, you could see quite an impact on this business,” he says.

“These boys are big enough to take a two-minute advertisement in the Superbowl. A significant amount of the booming level of scrap gold supply may be down to the model they’ve established.

“Theirs is an impressive business model: heavy advertising, an efficient collection/ distribution network and a cheque rapidly despatched for vendors.”