ASHLAND, Ky. (WSAZ) – Across the country, people are cashing out on gold they've had lying around for years and making quite the pretty penny.

The price of gold is skyrocketing to record levels. And just about anything long forgotten in the jewelry box or around the house is being turned in to be melted down for cold, hard cash.

You don't need a magnifying glass to see a big bunch of zeros.

Thanks to record high prices, jewelry wholesales and pawn shops are seeing a huge spike in business from people wanting to sell their gold.

Cody Williams from Tri-State Pawn and Jewelry said “Our gold buys are up 185% over last year!. That's huge what we put out for last year for gold. We're paying almost triple what we paid last year."

The reason scrap gold is big business right now is because it's selling on the open market at $1000 an ounce.

Old chains are one thing, but Cody Williams says people are even trying to cash in their choppers, “He came in with his teeth with the gold in them and wanted us to take the teeth with gold, but we had to weigh it, so we had to get the gold outta the teeth, people are trying anything.”

The flip side is that gold jewelry now costs more to buy.

Something that would’ve cost $700 last year is now selling for around $1699.

Buying or selling it doesn’t matter. The gold rush isn’t in the hills of Colorado or the mountain of our region. For now, while the iron’s hot, it’s at a jewelry store or pawn shop near you.

Some perspective here, 5 year ago, gold was trading at less than $350 an ounce. It was $650 just a year ago.

Keep in mind, about $1000 an ounce is what gold's selling for. But you won't get that trying to sell it as scrap.

Different dealers will offer you different amounts of cash and the higher the karat the more it's worth.

Two ounces of 10kt gold isn't worth as much as two ounces of 14 or 18kt.