Many of us purchase gold jewellery because – it looks good, our mother said so, it compliments the color of our clothes, its a great possible investment, yaddy, yaddy yah. The reasons are as plentiful as the overly honest dealers who would sell you the gold jewellery.
Perhaps I shouldn’t pass too quickly over the “great investment theme” because its 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 great investment material. And unfortunately the fact that your home insurance will cover it still doesn’t make it investment grade material.
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
Most 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 Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. 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 – 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.
Truth was, 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.
Then I found them. These were the massive jewellery stores 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 Toronto, 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 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 would be set on not unkindly by the police for creating such a golden 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.
The lesson to learn perhaps is 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 govt certifications 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 govt certifications blah blah blah.
If your goal is truly for 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 said above since, 14 Carat is not investment quality anyway.
If you are in Hong Kong and not sure if you should 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. Dicker the purchase 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 UK experience where you are most likely being sold only 14 Carats.
Wear it, enjoy it, don’t lose it and have fun.