PORTLAND, Ore. – With the stock market in a historic slide, gas and food prices off the charts and the dollar shrinking on the currency markets, many people are finding out there is still one currency that is going up in value.

There’s a reason they call it the Gold Standard.

On Wednesday, the price of gold jumped an impressive $25 an ounce to close at over $900 an ounce.

That kind of price jump has investors snapping up the save-haven precious metal and regular folks digging through jewelry boxes and knick-knack drawers for bits to cash in.

A Michigan woman has been organizing Tupperware-style "gold parties" and cutting checks on the spot. She takes a small cut, melts the metal bits down and then sells it in bulk if the price jumps up a bit, turning a tidy profit.

She has hosted over 100 parties so far.

One woman at the party cashed in a wedding ring. Another proffered up her mother’s gold teeth – which had recently been removed.

And there are plenty of chains, charms and other baubles that ended up on the small electronic weight scale used to give them a value.

Most of the guests left with about $300, although some pocketed much more.

One woman said she was going to use her gold money to take her kids out for a special treat, something they had not done "in a long time."