Many of us purchase gold jewelry 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 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 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. Typically, the areas of the world where stronger than 18 Carat Gold can be purchased are parts of India,Philippines,Hong Kong and the Middle East
Some 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 50 pound child.
I first started buying gold in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. It was, at one time very inexpensive there. Later I moved on to the gold souks of Dubai and the other middle east commercial centers. Real 24K stuff can be had there – not the 10K worthless stuff sold in england or the 14K **not-to-die-for* stuff sold as gold jewelry in Canada and the United States.
If truth be told, I thought it was 24, but it was usually 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 are massive jewelry 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 this material 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 disturbance.
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 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.
Some might respond and say, but you still got 22 Carat right? Truly the answer is “Yes I did and perhaps even better than 22″, even if I thought I was purchasing 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 a better understanding of what I am probably getting.
If your goal 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 your concern is to buy 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 it’s not often that a street vendor sell you absolutely 24 Carats, even if he/she believes that is truly the gold carat. Dicker 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.
Don’t sweat it, just buy it, wear it, enjoy it, don’t lose it and have fun.
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