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Feb 04 2012 At today's price of $1,723 an ounce gold has fallen 10% from its all time high of $1,921. 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. Estate jewelry will give you the best value.
With gold at $1,723 an ounce and platinum at $1,621 an ounce platinum is currently cheaper than gold. This is a very rare occurence and makes platinum a real bargain. There are many advantages to platinum. When white gold rings are made, they are usually coated with rhodium, to give it its silvery shine. Without rhodium, white gold rings have an off-white color that is slightly yellow in color without the shine of a yellow gold. Since the rhodium coating can wear off, white gold rings need to be serviced with new coatings periodically. By contrast platinum is used in almost its pure form (approximately 95% pure). It is extremely long wearing and keeps its brilliance forever. It also holds stones more securely than other metals. 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. The level of fineness will depend on the country. The following table
is the result of a survey by the Gold Institute of Thailand: 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. Optimal time to buy gold There are a number of big trade shows that take place in different countries throughout the year. One of the biggest is the Bangkok Gems and Jewelry Fair. The next fair will be held between February 9 - 13, 2012. Exhibits include gold and silver jewelry, gem stones, fashion and costume jewelry and equipment and tools. Just after this is the Hong Kong International Jewellery Show on 16-20 February 2012. It is possible to buy gold on eBay. The problem with ebay
is that their fees are so high and these fees must be born by the buyer some way. Ebay takes up to 16% of the value of each item sold. On top of this the seller will want to make a small profit. It is unlikely that you will buy gold from ebay with a markup of less than 18%.
There are better ways to buy gold.
Police auctions are one of the best places to buy jewelry cheaply. There is usually no reserve price as the police simply want to get rid of the items. When old people die leaving no successors the lawyers will often auction off the possessions of the deceased and usually don't put a reserve price on the items. When selling costume jewelry the auctioneers will put many worthless items in a box with a few valuable pieces. Rose Gold Gold's softer, pinker incarnation is the most-wanted metal of the season .
The coolest rose gold pieces around are chunky, unconventional and edgy to contrast with the pretty shade. And this trend is not limited to jewelry – some of the finest masculine watches are looking great in gold’s prettier counterpart.
Statement jewelry has been experiencing an incredible resurgence, but nothing more so than the statement necklace. Pairing up a large shiny necklace with a simple outfit is a hot trend nowadays and it is one of the easiest and trendiest ways to jazz up any outfit.
If it is stylish and not too gaudy, you can wear it to the office.
In Islam men are discouraged from wearing jewelry although it is not forbidden.
The only ethical way to buy jewelry is to purchase it second-hand. To produce enough gold for a ring,
about 18 tons of waste ore are created. Once it’s extracted, the ore is piled into huge heaps and sprayed with cyanide and then usually just abandoned. Gold mines can reach temperatures of 130° so they are not pleasant or safe places to work in.
The ongoing attempt by Gabriel Resources
to start gold mining in the beautiful unspoilt village of Rosia Montana
is typical the conflicts involved.
The No Dirty Gold Campaign has already convinced various companies and jewelry shops to ensure that the gold they sell is either recycled or comes from sustainable sources.
Hard times are forcing many people to sell their unwanted jewelry and they are usually more than happy to accept the scrap value of the metal, which is a much better deal than they would get from a commercial gold buyer. Buying directly from someone selling their own jewelry will give you a much better deal than you would get from a conventional jeweler. Jewelers will try to convince you that the price they charge is affected by the labor involved in making the item, the skill of the craftsperson, and the intricacy of the design. In reality most jewelry is made in countries such as Nepal or Thailand where labour costs of even highly skilled craftsmen are negligible. The mark up of the piece over the base metal price is almost entirely accounted for by the jewelers' profit margin and overhead. Understanding the economics of the business will tell you why jewelers need such large profit margins. To begin with, all jewelers turn their inventory very slowly, and that ties up a lot of capital. A once-a-year turn is par for the course. The reason is simple: People buy jewelry infrequently, and when they do, they are making both a major and very individual purchase. Therefore, they want to view a wide selection of pieces before zeroing in on a single item. Given that their turnover is low, a jeweler must obtain a relatively wide profit margin on sales in order to achieve even a mediocre return on their investment. In this respect, the jewelry business is just the opposite of the grocery business, in which rapid turnover of inventory allows good returns on investment though profit margins are low. In order to establish a selling price for their merchandise, a jeweler must add to the price they pay for that merchandise, both their operating costs and desired profit margin. Operating costs seldom run less than 40% of sales and often exceed that level. This fact requires most jewelers to price their merchandise at many times its cost to them especially given the massive investment in inventory. None of this applies to people selling their own jewelry.If people need to raise money in a hurry to pay off debt they will sell their jewelry for considerably less than it is worth. Our poll on the price that people would be prepared to sell a 14k gold chain for shows that 60% of respondents would be willing to sell it for 20% or less than its value and 25% of respondents would sell it for 40% or less. Buying people's unwanted jewelry is probably a better way to invest in gold than buying coins or bullion. Don't automatically believe everything you read in the mainstream media... There are several advantages to buying gold in the form of jewelry: If you use paypal to buy the jewelry you can always make a chargeback if you have problems. Paypal seems to favour the buyer in disputes. The premium over the spot price for bars is around 2%. Unfortunately it is easy to produce fake gold bars using tungsten, which has the exact same density as gold making a fake bar salted with tungsten indistinguishable from a solid gold bar by simply weighing it. Because tungsten is brittle it is hard to do this with coins. Testing the purity of gold is very hard. Most of the tests only show the purity of the piece being assayed. This is why it is so important to buy gold
from a reputable supplier. There are a few simple tests that you can make. A good place to test gold 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:
The ideal way to make purchases is to agree to meet at a bank and pay in cash after inspecting the item. - no fees, no shipping, no hassle. If this is not practical, Paypal is probably the best option. Paypal provides fraud protection for both buyers and sellers. If a seller's item is not as advertised, or not delivered a buyer can get refunded by Paypal if the seller is uncooperative. Similarly, if a buyer doesn't pay, files a fraudulent chargeback, or tries to use a stolen credit card, Paypal will cover the loss. This very valuable feature allows both parties to have the confidence to make high value transactions online and probably make the fees worthwhile. Be wary of
At the moment there are no restrictions on getting gold out the US, but there is no guarantee that exchange controls could not be introduced in the future. Most countries do not recognize gold as a monetary instrument (at least based on its market value), so
gold can be moved freely and privately across most borders. In the United States, the law requires that an individual is required to report if s/he is leaving
the country with more than $10,000, or foreign equivalent, in monetary instruments. So what is
a monetary instrument? Domestic and foreign currency, travelers checks in any form, money
orders, negotiable instruments, stock certificates, or any investment securities in bearer form.
If you leave (or enter) the United States with more than $10,000 in monetary instruments, you
must fill out form FinCen 105, which you can ask for upon arrival or departure.
Gold bars and coins are not included on this list. One-ounce American Eagle coins have a face
value of $50, therefore theoretically 200 Eagle coins would meet the $10,000 threshold. Of
course, it is not illegal to depart the country with more than $10,000-- you simply have to declare
the money... so if you are nervous or in doubt about leaving the country with your gold,
just ask for the form. In Canada, the rules are essentially the same. Entering or leaving the country with more than C$10,000 or foreign equivalent in monetary instruments must be declared to Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on form E667. In China it is illegal to take gold out of the country. In Thailand you cannot take 23k gold out of the country. There are certain countries, Taiwan and Uruguay for example, that require you to
declare ownership of gold upon entry.
Since laws change all the time, make sure you check your departing and arrival country’s customs
information before the trip.
1. Spread your holdings around. Not only is it wise to avoid keeping all your physical gold in one place, diversifying your storage arrangements allows you to buy more. Hide some at home in several locations, and then put instructions in encrypted form in a safe place. Keep some fake gold bars to confuse the burglars. 2. If you don't like the idea of keeping a lot of gold at home, you could consider using an allocated storage account such as bullion vault or goldmoney. Bullionvault seems to offer the cheapest and probably the safest way to buy gold or silver online. However it is still better to store your gold at home if you can think of a good way to hide it. To find out how much your gold is worth use our precious
metal calculator. |
Necklaces
How much is 21K jewelry worth? Getting Gold out of the Country
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