Some of us buy gold fashion jewellery because – it looks good, our mom said so, it compliments the color of our clothes, its a great possible investment, yaddy, yaddy yah. The reasons are as numerous as the overly honest dealers who would sell you the jewelry.
Perhaps I shouldn’t pass too quickly over the “great investment theme” because it is somewhat important to know that “10 Carat gold” all the way up to “18 Carat gold” is not generally considered to be shrewd investment material. It is simply not investment grade, hard assets even if your home insurance covers it in case of theft.
If investment is your reason and you don’t want to buy gold bars or certificates, and of course you want to flaunt your investment on your skin during special occasions then go for jewellery that is at least 22-24 Carat Gold. The trick, especially in North America and England, is – where does one buy 24K Gold?
Most jewellers who don’t sell 24 Carat gold are likely to inform you that there is no such thing in jewelry since its too soft for most applications. They do have a point there however from experience I can tell you that 22 Carat Gold necklaces of 110 grams have been known to support the pull of a 22 klg child.
I first started buying gold in the souks of the middle east. It was, at one time very inexpensive there. Then I frequented the gold souks of Dubai and the other Emerites. Real 24K stuff can be purchased there.
If truth be told, I thought I was buying 24, but it was usually only 97-98% pure, but hey, still better than the 14k stuff sold in North America.
Then I found them. These are massive jewelry shops on both the Hong Kong and Kowloon side. They sell fantastic pearl, emerald and exquisitely carved gold pieces. We are told and shown paper that indicates that, the HK government certifies what they are selling, but a few of these tourists traps have all kinds of interesting motivational **deals** especially in Kowloon. Anyway, they have certificates claiming their 24 Carat Gold is 99.999% pure, but when I took their stuff to London, I was told oh no, its only 22K not 24.
When I took their gold to an internationally known goldsmith to melt down, he again informed me that the material was only 22 to 23 Carats Gold purity. I keep thinking about how embarrassing it would be to pull out one’s own little gold volume/weight measurement tool in one of those massive elite stores and proudly if not loudly proclaim that their 99.999% gold isn’t truly what it claims to be – I am also imagining that one could expect a nice long talk with the local police for creating such a fine disturbance.
I am expecting a counter plug where someone will say I am from HK and the government certifies these big shops blah blah but I have purchased big items 4 times in 6 years and each time while trying to sell elsewhere in North America and the UK have been told similar bad news ( Even when I presented the govt stamped HK certificate|It made no difference to the buyers even when presented with the certificate of authenticity which comes with each piece purchased from HK ) Can authenticity certificates be faked? Certainly. Might certain shops fake them? I can’t say.
Lesson learned, when buying gold internationally don’t ever fully 100% trust your seller or your buyer because the value of the metal is so high, understand that if either of the two groups can sucker you for even 2-3% of the value, they will, they can and they won’t stop – irrespective of authenticity proofs blah blah blah.
Some might respond and say, but you still got 22 Carat right? Truly the answer is “Yes I did and perhaps even slightly better than 22″, even if I thought I was purchasing 24 Carats. And would I do it again? Oddly enough I would, particularly, now that I know that it is really 22.5 Carat necklaces and bracelets that I am buying and not 24 like the store is claiming, I would bargain the price down with a truer understanding of what I am probably getting.
If your aim is truly for investment and you have no real need to put on your bling then buy a certified gold bar from a western based dealer who is very much liable in western courts and has both insurance and liability coverage.
If what you are looking to purchase is 14 Carat or below, ignore almost everything said above since, 14 Carat is not investment quality anyway.
If you are in HK and hesitating to buy. Don’t hesitate, just understand that very rarely ever will a street vendor sell you absolutely 24 Carats, even if he/she believes it is so. Dicker the price with the knowledge that what you are getting is substantially more than 22 Carats but really not 24 Carats. Compare this to the North American or even Australian experience where you are most likely being sold only 14 Carats.
Don’t sweat it, just buy it, wear it, enjoy it, don’t lose it and have fun.
Mankind has been buying awe inspiring gold and jewellery almost since the trading began. One would think there shouldn’t be any of this precious metal left by now, lol. Surprise! There is still lots. Have a look at the best diamond wedding jewellery on the planet.
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