Witnessing impressive finds is part of Colleen Rivera’s job as a show manager for the Ohio Valley Gold & Silver Events.
The Springfield, Ill., based company will have representatives in International Falls from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. April 16-20 at the AmericInn, looking to buy precious metals, jewelry, historical artifacts, antiques and other collectibles.
When someone brings in an item, the Ohio Valley experts evaluate it, makes an offer, then writes out a check sending that person home with some extra cash.
“Our job is to find buyers for items. We’re the middle man. We try to find someone in that market interested,” said Jeramy Weese, also a show manager for the company, in a news release.
Weese said that when someone brings in an item, the buyers will enter the details into an online system which connects with more than 10,000 collectors. Items can range from coin collections to vintage guitars and everything in between.
“If we can get someone to generate an offer, they agree to the terms and we give them a check on the spot. However, if more than one collector is interested, the offer can go higher,” explains Weese.
David Ford, a buyer for the company, said he enjoys traveling to different towns each week and finding new and interesting items. Just a few weeks back he had a woman come in who had bought a coin from the casino she worked at for $1 the night before. She walked out that morning with a check for $50. She joked that this was the quickest $49 dollars she ever made.
Experts encourage the International Falls community to search through their closets and bring down any items to the AmericInn next week.
Admission is free to the event. For more questions, call 217-726-7590.
