So let’s talk about gold. Notice any changes lately?
Uh-huh.
And how does that affect the average jewelry buyer?
Not much.
What?
Not much. And here’s why. Even a bump of $100 or more in the gold market price—which happened this very month—makes a small difference in many purchases.
How on Earth can that be true?
Because the market price is for an ounce of gold. That’s a lot of gold. If you think about it, most people are not spending, say, $1800.
I thought perhaps we should talk about this. So I spoke with one of my sources the other day and asked them to price a diamond pendant mounting (“mounting” is jewelry lingo for the metal part of the jewelry, before you polish it and add diamonds and gemstones to create a finished piece of jewelry) on August 1 (before the "big increase") and August 15.
The big difference?
$40.
If you then waited three days, it would have bumped up about another $20. It then went up smaller amounts three more times that week, before dropping below where it was on the 15th.
So the moral is watch the metal markets every day, right?
Well, how much do you like the taste of Maalox?
A much better solution is to work with a jeweler you trust (for example, the Jewelry Doctor). Tell your jeweler what you’re looking for, and let her keep an eye on things and do your buying for you, bearing in mind that in most cases you’re not looking at a big difference in the price of your jewelry.
©2011, 2014 Laynie Tzena.
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