Many of us purchase gold fashion jewellery because – it looks good, our mother said so, it compliments the color of our skin, 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 pass too quickly over the “great investment theme” because it is or can be 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. And unfortunately the fact that your home insurance will cover it still doesn’t make it investment grade material.
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. Typically, the areas of the world where better 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 tell 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 cheap 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.
If truth be told, I thought I was buying 24, but the jewelry 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 jewellery stores on both the Hong Kong and Kowloon side. They sell amazing 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 London, I was told oh no, its only 22K not 24.
When I took this material to a reputable 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 the pure piece they were trying to sell wasn’t truly pure at all – 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 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.
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 authenticity proofs blah blah blah.
Lesson learned, 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.
If your goal is really investment and you have no real 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 you are looking to purchase is 14 Carat or below, ignore everything above since, 14 Carat is not investment quality anyway.
If you are in Hong Kong 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 that is truly the gold carat. Haggle the purchase price with the knowledge that you’re are probably getting 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.
So buy it, wear it, enjoy it, don’t lose it and have fun.
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