Gold bars found among Salvation Army donation in the U.S.

(Stock image)

Workers at a Salvation Army sorting facility in Florida, U.S., have found a number of gold bars and a gold ring in a bag of donated clothes.

According to Fox News Tampa Bay, authorities are trying to determine whether the bars and ring were intentionally left in the donation box.

“I have been here almost nine years, I have seen a lot of crazy stuff but nothing like this,” supervisor Arnetta Cummings told the news outlet.

The Salvation Army is prepared to return the items if they were not intended to be part of the donation. Not that they are worth much these days. Gold, in fact, is headed for a second consecutive year of drops.

The yellow metal has declined 2.1% this year, minor when compared to the whooping 28% registered last year, but still worrisome.

Holdings of the world’s top gold-backed exchange traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, are near six-year lows, signalling less confidence in the metal as a safe haven.

Source: Kitco live charts.

Physical demand in top consuming region Asia has plummeted from record levels seen last year. And the precious metal was trading close to a three-week low on Wednesday morning amid signs of an improving U.S. economy that added to the case for higher interest rates.