MADISON, Wis. -- Stocks might be down, but the price of gold continues to climb.

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That high value has attracted the acute attention of not just investors, but regular people who just want to cash in.

Many people are trading in everything from their wedding bands to parts of their teeth, all to earn a little extra money. The 14-karat gold is worth thousands of dollars. Some local coin and jewelry stores said it's been "crazy" busy lately. As the price of gold increases, so do the customers armed with their personal stashes of yellow metal, WISC-TV reported.

It's a brand-new kind of a gold rush, and this time nobody's breaking their backs to cash in. They're simply stopping by their coin and jewelry dealer.

Mark Hermanson, co-owner of Capital City Coin and Jewelry on Monona Drive in Monona, said that he's seen nearly every kind of gold item in his shop.

"It's everything you can think of from wedding bands to broken chains to brand-new bracelets that aren't even used," he said.

The so-called "scrap" metal bag at Capital City is jammed packed with recent buys from people coming in to hawk their gold necklaces, chains, rings and even crowns from old dental work.

Lori Homa, of Deforest, stopped by on her birthday to pick up a little present. She sold an old herringbone necklace.

"I know price of gold is sky high, and I keep watching the news and they're like, 'If you've got any old gold bring it in.' So, that's what I did," said Homa.

Homa's crinkled 14-karat gold necklace earned her a $63 check. Hermanson said his business has been cutting 50 to 100 checks each day.

On Monday, an ounce of gold was worth $1,014, compared to the low of $250 an ounce in 1999, WISC-TV reported.

"We're paying almost $300 an ounce for 14-karat gold, and we can turn around and resell it to the refinery for about $450 an ounce," said Hermanson.

"I'm going to go through and pilfer my jewelry box to see if I can find anything of value," said one shopper.

At Midwest Fine Jewelry in Monona, owner Gordy Ottaviano said he enjoys the excitement of the gold rush.

"The camaraderie is just great," said Ottaviano. "I get everybody in here, all types; I have doctors, lawyer-types, schoolteachers, white collar, and blue collar. I think the best is yet to come," said Ottaviano.

With the ongoing financial industry crunch and weakening dollar, some experts believe the price of gold will get even higher. It's one reason more people are also buying gold now as an investment. People looking to buy gold will most likely pay the current market price plus $25, said some jewelry dealers. Those looking to sell gold pieces will find that dealers pay between 70 percent and 98 percent of the market rate, WISC-TV reported.