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 Replies: 10 / Views: 1,784 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
730 Posts |
Went to a local mom and pop jewelry store to get a ring of my wife's sized. While I was there had a brief conversation with one of the jewelers about the price of metal. He told me that platinum was more per ounce than gold. I corrected him. Told him that used to be the case, but hasn't been for several years now. He insisted I was wrong. I would think being in the business he's in he'd know the spot price of precious metals.
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Pillar of the Community
7234 Posts |
Quote:
He told me that platinum was more per ounce than gold. Could he have meant Platinum is more "popular" nowadays to make jewely from? Right, anybody that follows metals as a jewelry person should know Gold around 1200 and platinum around 800 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5833 Posts |
I would have show him different metal prices in Kitco app.
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Pillar of the Community
7234 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
338 Posts |
That would bother me. I'd have to bring back a printout and prove he is wrong.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4333 Posts |
I would let it go. My jeweler told me that if silver prices suddenly skyrocket, junk 90% silver won't be in demand. I just let his comment slide.
When I listen to LED ZEPPELIN...so do my neighbors...
Roll hunting since '77
Dirt fishing since '72
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4593 Posts |
It really may not matter to him. If he's buying findings and stock at what's called triple Keystone (1/3 of retail)... those prices don't get adjusted for every minute variation in PM prices. He'll just see a new price when he goes to reorder.
-----Burton 50+ year / Life / Emeritus ANA member (joined 12/1/1973) Life member: Numismatics International, CONECA Member: TNA, FtWCC, NETCC, EveryCountry (online) coin club Owned by three cats and a wife of 40+ years (joined 1983) Author: 3rd Edition of the Sample Slabs book, https://www.sampleslabs.info/ |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1051 Posts |
I priced out having a ring made for myself in 10K gold, I think it was around $800. However, the jeweler wanted $4000 to make it in platinum. So, in that way platinum is more "expensive".
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Valued Member
United States
114 Posts |
smh, just another example of why you have to do your own research.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
665 Posts |
@1cent
$800 in 10K would be around $1,900 in 24K if only talking about metal cost. I doubt that the ring had an ounce of metal in it so I presume that a portion of the cost was the time and tooling to manufacture the ring. Gold has one big advantage as a jeweler's metal in that it is very easy to work. It is a soft metal and that is one of the reasons that circulating coins are never 24K. US gold was .900 and UK Sovereigns .917. Only bullion products are 24K or 99.9%+. It is also why most jewelry is 10K, 14K or 18K as alloying with a harder metal makes the item more durable.
Platinum on the other hand is a bear to work. Gold & Silver melt at around 1000 degrees C. Platinum is over 1700 degrees C. It is quite a bit harder than Gold & Silver and as a result, the tools are different, more specialized and take a bit more experience to use. I know when I had a Platinum ring resized, it had to get sent out to a specialized shop where they would size gold in house.
All this is to say that while Platinum may be cheaper than Gold in bullion form, the cost to work it is quite a bit higher. You may find though a Jeweler that specializes in Platinum would be cheaper as they will have the tooling and experience.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1051 Posts |
I'd be surprised if there was more than $200 worth of gold in the $800 ring, so labor was already accounting for 75% of the cost to make it. When the platinum price is broken down, even ignoring that Pt is cheaper than gold, the raw material accounts for less than 5% of the total cost, which is ridiculous no matter how you look at it. It's straight up price gouging. This is why you never, ever deal with typical jewelry stores that aren't equipped to work with Pt.
I don't need a lesson on beginner level PM metallurgy, but thanks anyway.
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Replies: 10 / Views: 1,784 |
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Posted 08/26/2018 7:20 pm
