For years, the business of pawnbroking was a cliché, of cash-strapped men and women down on their luck trudging miserably through the door to borrow money, leaving Rolex watches, gold necklaces and diamond bracelets behind on the counter. That, however, was before the advent of the eBay generation.

Yesterday, Britain’s pawnbrokers revealed that an ancient trade had entered the 21st century, an internet age with a new take on value and valuables.

Suttons & Robertsons, which lends up to £1 million and is dubbed the “Harrods of pawnbroking”, is seeing a marked rise in the amount of signed sporting memorabilia and abstract art coming through the door. Harvey & Thompson (H&T), a pawnbroker that traces its history to the 19th century, is considering an unprecedented move that would allow customers to take out short-term loans against products such as iPods.

Steve Fenerty, H&T’s commercial director, said: “With the rise of eBay, people have become far more confident in buying and selling a range of different things. Most of our business is still in jewellery, but I can see we will definitely consider broadening out in the coming years. Anything with a reasonable loan value and strong secondhand market is possible, but iPods are definitely one area we would take a look at.”

Pawnbrokers on both sides of the Atlantic have been enjoying one of their best years since the early 1970s as the credit crunch forces banks to reduce lending to higher-risk customers. The high gold price has also been a significant boost. When gold prices rise, pawnbrokers can lend more money, which generates higher interest fees, as well as charge a higher sale price when an item of jewellery remains unclaimed.

Albemarle & Bond reported a 47 per cent increase in underlying pretax profits to £10.3 million yesterday for the year to June 30. The value of its pawn loan book rose 57 per cent to £24.8 million. Greville Nicholls, its chief executive said: “We’ve gone from fourth gear into fifth.”

American pawnbrokers are known for stocking a range of products, from guns to lawnmowers and wheelchairs. In Britain, where space is more constrained, H&T and Albemarle & Bond, the two biggest players, have specialised in watches and jewellery.

However, H&T’s shops in Scotland have begun to open the door to a wider range of goods.

Indeed, pawnbrokers north of the border traditionally have been used as broking houses for a range of weird and wonderful items. Margaret Hughan, of the Glasgow pawnbroker Smellie & Weir, once had a customer who tried to pawn their false teeth. Her shop has also been known to be full of sashes after the Orange Order’s marching season. An Aberdeen-based pawnbroker once gave £50 for a letter written by one of the Kray twins, while another paid out £5,000 for a minibus that an Indian restaurant used to pick up its staff.

Mr Fenerty said: “In Scotland, it can be anything from the mundane, such as storing golf clubs during the winter, to ceremonial clothing worn for Burns night. But at the moment it’s only really 5 per cent of our business.”

Suttons & Robertsons, whose two pawnshops are based in the heart of London, last month backed the launch of borro.com, an internet pawnbroker that, although focusing on jewellery, also lends money against novels, war medals and antiques. Since its launch the website has lent £120 against a signed first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, nearly half its £300 market value. It recently gave a customer £200 for a Great Britain Olympic rowing singlet signed by Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent. A signed Beatles photo fetched £1,520 while a customer pawning a Georgian teapot pocketed £200.

Jim Tannahill, a director of Suttons & Robertsons, said: “We’ve seen a lot more abstract art and sporting memorabilia coming in – signed football shirts and that kind of thing. Without doubt we are seeing more business. There are two or three reasons: the availability of bank credit, both in terms of banks tightening up on higher-risk customers and the number of actual branches closing down on the high street. But clearly the most recent factor is what has been going on in the economy.”

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