THE rise in the price of gold has seen Prestons of Bolton buy more than £4 million worth of old jewellery from thousands of customers in the last two years.

To mark the modern day gold rush the company surprised the 10,000th customer to call in with their old gold with a £500 gift voucher.

The couple, Bernard and Iris Edmundson, of Astley Bridge, were delighted with their unexpected windfall.

Mr Edmundson said: “We were very pleased and surprised when we got the phone call to say we were the 10,000th customers at Prestons.

“Now we are looking forward to choosing something with the vouchers and the money we received from the gold will be spent on house repairs.”

During the past two years the price of gold has soared as the world experienced a recession and the banking crisis.

Each bundle of unwanted items is valued at around £400.

Andrew Whittingham, managing director of Prestons of Bolton, said: “We have seen a lot of unworn and unwanted items such as chunky chains, bracelets and sovereign rings.

“Many customers have been amazed by what they can get for items that are broken or no longer match their status or lifestyle.”

Customers bring their unwanted items to the store where their gold is weighed and tested, often while they wait, by experts.

For customers outside the North West, Prestons of Bolton offers a postal service, which guarantees an offer by phone, text or email within 24 hours.

If they are happy with the price offered they will receive a cheque by return post.

The company continually tests the market by sending a sample parcel of 9ct gold to five of the postal gold buyers and on every occasion say they have found that Prestons paid between two and four times more for the same package.

The gold bought by Prestons of Bolton is smelted into a block each day and sold on to refiners.