From the Chicago Sun Times:

The impact of gold’s high prices shows up in the worldwide market: Though the supply of gold mined from the ground has fallen in the last five years and gold jewelry sales have declined, the amount of scrap supply is high because of all of the melted gold jewelry that comes from people selling off their discarded jewelry.

The impact is also felt at the retail-store level: Though the average price of gold jewelry has stayed level in the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2008 — $80.28 this year vs. $79.08 last year — the numbers of pieces of gold jewelry sold is down substantially, to 71.9 million pieces nationwide in the first six months of this year from 83.2 million in the same period in 2008, according to the latest data compiled by Kenneth Gassman, president of the Jewelry Industry Research Institute based in Richmond, Va.