A gold crisis

Just saw another advert from a company encouraging people to throw away their gold for cash, it is really disheartening. There is more beauty in old jewellery than new and the thought of people throwing away their precious family pieces just so they can be melted down and go on something like a new piece of Argos jewellery is unbearable to think about. I know everyone is strapped for cash at the moment but please hold on to your gold as in a few years time you might regret it, maybe not financially but sentimentally.