Gold Jewelry Transactions – Buyer Beware
Many of us purchase gold fashion jewellery because – it looks excellent, our mummy’ said so, it compliments the color of our skin, its a great possible investment, yaddy, yaddy yah. The reasons are as plentiful as the wonderfully honest dealers who would sell you the gold jewellery.
Perhaps I shouldn’t skip 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 generally not 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.
Some of us want to claim an investment while still flaunting the bling on our skin and there is nothing wrong with that so flaunt something a little or considerably better than 18 Carat in order to claim the investment angle. The trick, especially in North America and England, is – where does one buy 24K Gold?
Most jewellers who don’t sell stronger than 18 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 moved on to the gold souks of Dubai and the other Emerites. Real 24K stuff can be had there.
If truth be told, I thought it was 24, but it was often only 97-98% pure, but hey, still better than the 14k fluff sold in North America.
It was a while before I found them but I did. These were the massive jewellery shops on both the Hong Kong and Kowloon side. They sell amazing 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 stuff 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 show 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 would be set on not unkindly by the police for creating such a fine performance.
And I know someone else will post and tell me that they are from HK and the govt 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 precious metals in the form of jewelry from a store 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.
If you ask, did I still get 22 Carats Truly the answer is “Yes I did and perhaps even slightly better than 22″, even if I thought I was paying for 24 Carats. So the big question is 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 the true understanding of what I am probably getting.
If your aim is truly for investment and you have no overriding need to put on your bling then buy a regulated certifiable gold bar from a western based dealer who is very much liable in western courts and has both insurance and liability coverage.
If what your concern is to buy 14 Carat or below, ignore almost everything above since, 14 Carat is not investment quality anyway.
If you are in HK and hesitating to buy. Don’t hesitate, just understand that it’s not often that a street vendor sell you absolutely 24 Carats, even if he believes it is so. Dicker the purchase price with the knowledge that you’re are probably getting substantially more than 22 Carats but is unlikely to be truly 24 Carats. Compare this to the North American or even UK 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.
Posted in Art