|
Gold is a safe buy. Unlike with gems, where you
really need to be an expert to judge the quality of the stones, buying
gold is straight forward if you go to a reputable shop.
There is no hallmarking system in Thailand but
the shop will put its stamp on the piece. This is useful if you
want to sell it at some future date.
|
|
The most critical thing to look for in buying gold jewelry apart
from the style, is the purity of the gold. The higher the gold content,
the more valuable it is. Pure gold is considered too soft for jewelry
and is therefore mixed with other metals. The percentages used in the
alloy is dependent on the metal and the way in which it binds with gold.
The maximum tensile strength of copper and gold is achieved with 75% gold
and 25% copper - 18k gold. With titanium the maximum tensile strength
is achieved with 99% gold and 1% titanium. The length of time and the
heat at which the metals are cooked are also significant. For example
a 99.3% gold and .7% titanium mixture heated at 500° C for 60 minutes
would result in a hardness of 229 HV (18k gold of 75% gold has a hardness
of 170 HV). With a different temperature or time the hardness could be
much less.
To find out how much your gold is worth use our precious
metal calculator.
The demand among Asian consumers for gold with a high fineness, which
can be easily transferred into money, but with improved mechanical properties
such as resistance to wear, distortion and breakage is leading Thai goldsmiths
to the use of titanium. Prima Gold and Gold Master for example both use
a titanium and gold alloy. However this represents a very small section
of the market in Thailand.
The level of fineness will depend on the country. The following table
is the result of a survey by the Gold Institute of Thailand:
|
karat
|
% gold
|
country
|
Color
|
|
24k
|
100%
|
Switzerland
|
gold
|
|
23k
|
96.5%
|
Thailand
|
dark yellow
|
|
22k
|
91.7%
|
India
|
yellow
|
|
21K
|
84.5%
|
Middle East
|
yellow
|
|
18K
|
75%
|
Italy, France, Japan
|
yellow, white
|
|
14K
|
58.3%
|
America, UK
|
yellow, white
|
|
10K
|
41.6%
|
America
|
yellow
|
|
9K
|
37.5%
|
UK
|
green yellow
|
|
8K
|
33.3%
|
Germany
|
pale yellow
|
The karatage and gram weight designate how much gold is in a piece, but
are not the sole determining price factors. The craftsmanship and level
of detail are also taken into account. Generally Thai goldsmiths
charge a design fee of around $7 per baht of gold although it might
be higher depending on the construction and design. There is not much
scope for bargaining. You might get the price down a dollar for each baht
you buy at most - hardly worth the effort! It is generally better value
to buy at least 1 baht of gold, as there is a minimum charge for the design
fee.
It is astonishingly good value. It is probably no more than 4% above the
spot price of gold. When one looks at the exquisite quality of the craftsmanship
following intricate, centuries old designs it is sometimes hard to believe.
One feels guilty about buying it so cheaply! If you buy gold
jewelry in the West you will pay more like 40% over the spot price.
To buy a chain and pendant you will probably want at least 2 baht for
the chain and one baht for the pendant.
Buying Gold Buddhas
The best place to buy statues of Buddha, Ganash, Rama or other religious
paraphanelia is probably Sao Ching Cha (àÈǵªÔ§ªéÒ) in Bangkok.
Buying jewelry for your girlfriend
A present that can be easily converted
into cash such as jewelry is probably not the best present to buy your
date as there is always the danger that she could be a 'gold-digger' who
is just stringing you along. A
worthless but expensive present such as a dinner for two in a plush restaurant
is probably a better bet. If you are determined to buy your lady jewelry
you should probably go for a piece from a company like Tiffany,
for example, which is expensive enough to impress her but which has a
poor resale value.
Selling Gold
Selling gold can be as risky as buying it. Thieves are attracted to gold
and precious metal as flies to a honey jar, and selling gold by credit
card, for instance, carries a substantial risk of fraudulent charge backs.
Gold shops will buy gold jewelry from you at the spot price of gold ie
the price of the piece you bought less the design fee although some shops
try to give you less. You generally get the best price by selling it to
the shop you bought it from. If you exchange you will be charged
the design fee for the piece you bought. If you exchange it only a few
days after you bought it, you will probably not be charged anything.
Selling the gold outside Thailand should be no problem. Selling it just
as scrap, you will get back the spot price of gold at the very least.
You could not do this with 14 or even 18 karat gold, where to extract
the gold would probably cost more than the piece is worth.
You can sell gold on this site for free using the form below.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Click here to browse our database
Using a Credit Card
You can use a Credit card for gold purchase at most shops on Yaowarat
Road although .there is usually a surcharge of 2-5%, depending on the
shop and the credit card. Amex is more expensive than Visa or Mastercard.
In addition to the shop adding a surcharge, your credit card company will
most likely charge you a fee for "foreign currency conversion".
Debit cards also have a similar charge structure, although it is hard
to see how the companies justify this...
Testing the purity of the gold
Testing the purity of gold is very hard and involves chipping off a small
bit from your jewelry. Even this does not prove the purity of the whole
piece, only the bit tested. This is why it is so important to buy gold
from a reputable supplier.
Most gold shops use a standard fire assay which uses heat to test the
purity of the gold.
The best place however is the Gems Institute of Thailand, which is one
of only 7 laboratories in the world recognized by the International Confederation
of Jewelry (CIBJO). They can assay the gold using:
- X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) which has an error rate of 2 or 3 per thousand.
This equipement finds the quantity of a sample by Energy Dispersive
X-Ray Analysis
- Inductivity Couple Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES)
which is a chemical assay and has an accuracy of 1 per thousand.
Testing Gold Coins
When buying gold coins you might want to use the Fisch Fake Coin Identification
Gauge. This is a simple device that checks the weight and size of a gold
coin. By checking both these dimensions all common metal counterfeits will
be detected. This is because gold has a greater density than the commmon
metals such as lead, copper, brass, steel. The only metals with a density
greater than gold are the platinum group metals and tungsten. The price
of platinum rules it out while tungsten is a very hard brittle which would
be very difficult to work into a passable fake. There are Fisch for all
the major gold bullion coins.
Advantages of Thai gold
Thai
gold is durable
Jewelry is for wearing. If
you have a piece of jewelry that you love you want to wear it day
and night. You can wear Thai gold jewelry twenty-four hours a day,
seven days a week without having to worry.
Gold does not tarnish or corrode. That is one of its remarkable characteristics.
However if you buy gold with low levels of purity such as 18k or 14k
the alloys mixed with the gold may corrode. Swimming in chlorinated pools,
hot tubs or using laundry bleaches for instance can cause the jewelry to
disintegrate. Tap water contains small amounts of chlorine and can cause
engagement rings to fall apart over time.
Thai gold jewelry on the other
hand, because it is 23k and therefore almost pure gold, does not have
this problem.
Thai gold is comfortable
The alloys mixed with 14k or
18k gold, especially nickel can cause an allergic reaction in some people
causing itching and irritation. Also when you perspire, the fats
and fatty acids released can cause corrosion of 14k or 18k gold, especially
when exposed to warmth and air. This problem can be worse in seacoast
and semitropical areas, where chlorides combine with perspiration to form
a corrosive element that discolors skin.
Because of its purity
you will not have this problem with Thai gold jewelry.
Farang Gold versus Thai Gold
A poster on an internet message board (now defunct) puts it succinctly:
"It's really very simple.
In Asia, particularly Hong
Kong, Thailand, India and Pakistan, but generally in Asia gold jewelry
is regarded as portable, readily convertible hard assets. This is because
it is worked almost pure, between 22K and 24K, actually closer to 24K,
and as the labor content (value added by workmanship) is small, gold bracelets
and chains etc can be bought for little more than the bullion value, and
resold back to the same shop or any other shop, or to a pawnbroker, for
a high percentage of its purchase price.
Westerners have been programmed
to regard pure gold as:
1. Too brassy
2. Too soft to be useful as jewelry
and to regard Asian high-karat
gold jewelry as of inferior workmanship compared to Western gold jewelry.
This is part truth and part
self serving lies from the jewelry industry.
The Western jewelry industry
wants you to buy 18 K (which is 75% gold 25 % base metals) and then pay
a HUGE inflated premium for 'workmanship' (which is really just mostly
multi-tiered profit taking). For 14K and less the situation is even worse.
To prove to yourself that
this is so, try to recover the bullion value of a 14K gold trinket some
time. You will end up owing THEM money.
Whereas Thai goldsmiths are
happy to take back the real thing and the loss on your side is rather
trivial.
The color issue is bogus as
Thai gold can be smelted to be about any color, and still be the same
high % pure gold; the Thais can and do make 18K and so on for export.
Thai gold sold in Thailand is...the color of gold. It is not attacked
by nitric acid, or other mineral acids except a particular mix of nitric
and hydrocloric acids called aqua regia (royal acid).
So it comes down to a value
judgement. Do you want real, almost pure gold for a tiny premium over
the bullion content, or do you want to be FLEECED by people selling you
ADULTERATED SHIT for NEEDLESS MARKUPS and justifying their thievery with
a tissue of lies about hardness, color and workmanship?
I rarely wear jewelry but
when I do it's Thai gold and nothing else.
The best shops are on Yaovarat
Rd. in Sampeng (Chinatown) and they NEVER cheat on weight or on purity.
Thai gold is typically around
97-98%, not 999 fine but still not garbage like 14K. It is sold by the
baht weight which is just slightly under a half a Troy ounce. Pls be aware
that the Troy system used for jewelry is NOT the Avoirdupois system used
commonly. There are 14 not 16 Troy ounces to the Troy pound and the Troy
pound is not same as the Avoirdupois pound. "
|
