Consumers in the U.S. believe there is approximately $140
billion in gold and jewelry that they do not wear, or approximately $604 worth
of unworn gold and jewelry per adult, according to a survey conducted by TNS Global Market
Research.

When asked to detail the jewelry they do not wear, the
average adult claims to have approximately 4.5 pieces each, which works out to
a little over one billion pieces of jewelry in the country that are not being
worn, the company said.

The survey found that 44.3 percent of the respondents have
gold, jewelry, or diamonds they no longer wear (34.1 percent of men; 54.5
percent of women). The respondents that have unused jewelry estimated that, on
average, the items they do not wear are worth about $1,364, or $604 per adult.
With the U.S. Census Department 2009 estimate of 231,175,932 people in the
United States over the age of 18, that equates roughly $139.6 billion in
unworn gold and jewelry across the nation.

The results also show that consumers’ unused jewelry spans
multiple categories, with no one type of jewelry item more likely to be sitting
at the bottom of a drawer or jewelry box.

TNS conducted the survey online the week of Nov. 8 with
1,000 consumers, ages 18 and older, from TNS’ NFO Access Panel.

For more information, visit goldpromise.com/survey.

JCK