Buying Gold Jewellery – Buyer Beware
Written by Janice Jopin on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 in gold.
Some of us purchase gold fashion jewellery because – it feels great, our mom said so, it compliments the color of our skin, its a great possible investment, yaddy, yaddy yah. The reasons are as plentiful as the overly honest dealers who would sell you the jewellery.
I guess I shouldn’t pass too quickly over the “great investment theme” because its somewhat important to know that “10 Carat gold” all the way up to “18 Carat gold” is not generally considered to be great 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 are not altogether incorrect 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 cheap there. Then I moved on to the gold souks of Dubai and the other middle east commercial centers. Genuine 24K stuff can be purchased there.
If truth be told, I thought I was buying 24, but the jewelry was often only 97-98% pure, but hey, still better than the 14k stuff sold in North America.
It was a while before I found them but I did. These were the massive jewelry shops on both the Hong Kong and Kowloon side. They sell fantastic pearl, emerald and wonderfully carved gold pieces. Supposedly, 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 Toronto, I was told oh no, its only 22K not 24.
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 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 could expect a nice long talk with the local police for creating such a golden 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.
The lesson to learn perhaps is when buying precious metals in the form of jewelry 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.
The lesson to learn perhaps is when buying gold 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 govt certifications blah blah blah.
If your aim is really investment and you have no real need to put on the 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 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. Haggle the purchase price with the knowledge that what you are getting is substantially more than 22 Carats but is unlikely to be truly 24 Carats. Compare this to the North American or even Australian experience where you are most likely being sold only 14 Carats.
Wear it, enjoy it, don’t lose it and have fun.
