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You can buy and sell gold on this site for free. Please fill in the form below.
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.
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:
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. To buy a chain and pendant you will probably want at least 2 baht for the chain and one baht for the pendant. Buying jewelry for your girlfriendA 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.Using a Credit CardYou 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 goldTesting 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:
Testing Gold CoinsWhen 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 jewelry
Thai gold jewelry on the other hand, because it is 23k and therefore almost pure gold, does not have this problem. Farang Gold versus Thai GoldA 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 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. " Buying Gold BuddhasThe best place to buy statues of Buddha, Ganash, Rama or other religious paraphanelia is probably Sao Ching Cha (เศวตชิงช้า) in Bangkok. |