It could be the right time to recycle your gold jewelry.

The price of gold tends to rise when the economy is doing poorly. Over the last two years, gold prices have risen about 70 percent. Though the price has dipped since reaching record highs, gold still shines.

And it is infinitely recyclable. "We are one of the greenest industries around," says Cecilia Gardner, president and CEO of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, a nonprofit effort to ensure industry ethics.

"Gold has been recycled since ancient times. Once gold comes out of the ground, it never goes back in. It's used over and over again."

The kind of gold you can sell ranges from inexpensive gold trinkets to dental gold to solid gold coins and fine jewelry.

Selling Jewelry

A jeweler, pawn broker, gold refiner or scrap gold dealer will buy the stuff in the back of your jewelry box at a price based on the weight of its gold content, minus a handling fee. He melts down the jewelry, extracts the gold and sometimes some of the hardening agents and resells it or uses it himself.

You can pocket the cash -- or if you prefer, many jewelers will trade the old jewelry in for something you