Many of us buy gold fashion jewelry because - it feels great, our mummy' said so, it compliments the color of our clothes, its a great possible investment, yaddy, yaddy yah. The reasons are as numerous as the wonderfully honest dealers who would sell you the goods.
I guess I shouldn't pass too quickly over the "great investment theme" because it is or can be somewhat important to know that "10 Carat gold" all the way up to "18 Carat gold" is not generally considered to be shrewd investment material. It is simply not investment grade, hard assets even if your home insurance covers it in case of theft.
Some of us want to claim an investment while still flaunting the bling on our skin and there is nothing wrong with that so flaunt something a little or considerably better than' Carat in order to claim the investment angle. Typically, the areas of the world where better than' Carat Gold can be purchased are parts of India,Philippines,Hong Kong and the Middle East
Some jewellers who don't sell stronger than' Carat gold are likely to inform 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 frequented 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--K **not-to-die-for* stuff sold as gold jewelry in Canada and the United States.
If truth be told, I thought it was 24, but it was usually only 97-98% pure, but hey, still better than the--k fluff sold in North America.
Then I found them. These were the massive jewelry shops on both the Hong Kong and Kowloon side. They sell fantastic pearl, emerald and wonderfully carved gold pieces. Supposedly, 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 London, I was told that the purity was extremely good but a little more than 22 Carats.
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 show one's own little gold volume/weight measurement tool in one of those massive elite stores and proudly if not loudly proclaim that the pure piece they were trying to sell wasn't truly pure at all - I am also imagining that one could expect a nice long talk with the local police for creating such a fine performance.
I am expecting a counter plug where someone will say I am from HK and the govt certifies these big stores 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.
Lesson learned, when buying precious metals in the form of jewelry from a store 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 you ask, did I still get 22 Carats Truly the answer is "Yes I did and perhaps even better than 22", even if I thought I was paying for 24 Carats. And would I do it again? Oddly enough I would, particularly, now that I know that it is really 22.5 Carat necklaces and bracelets that I am buying and not 24 like the store is claiming, I would bargain the price down with the true understanding of what I am probably getting.
If your goal is truly for investment and you have no overriding 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-- Carat or below, ignore almost everything above since,-- 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 believes that is truly the gold carat. Haggle the purchase price with the knowledge that you're are probably getting substantially more than 22 Carats but is unlikely to be truly 24 Carats. Compare this to the North American or even Australian experience where you are most likely being sold only-- Carats.
So buy it, wear it, enjoy it, don't lose it and have fun.
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