Silvertronic
Member
Hello Stackers,
Had a shocking turn of luck almost a month ago, dived into the ocean and felt my wedding ring slip off (!!!!!) - disaster.
I'll skip the unenjoyable-marital-explanations-section of the story to todays return to my Sydney Jeweler who has being crafting bespoke objects out of gold, silver, platinum etc for decades.
Bad News Part = gold has doubled in price since early 2009, your $1,200 ring will cost $2,400 today
Then my sneaky inner stacker side started to prod with a few questions
Have you seen this before? how does your business adapt? etc etc predictions?
Well, firstly, demand for high end jewelry does not drop off in times of economic hardship nor metal prize surges, prices do go up but content shuffles. i.e. 9 carat gold replaces a lot of 18 carat, layers of gold with silver replace white gold on their own etc - design will always evolve to meet demand.
Secondly, his insiders view on market prices (albeit for small quantities and specialised use), was that, as has happened in cycles he has experienced in his business, as gold shoots up and up the gold content is reduced (in the jewelry), then as it keeps going up, then platinum reacts and shoots up after it. If platinum shoots up too high, he says he has seen it only once, but silver comes firing up very quickly, and at much higher ratios.
I can't remember the figures but his eyes lit up talking about it. The prices were in x grams (can't remember sorry! - small amounts), and went from something along the lines of 50c/ x grams to $2.20/x grams and he withheld all production and sold his inventory back to his supplier (only totaled a 5 kg or so) for almost 5 x what he paid. Then things correct and it all carries on.
Finally, his gut feeling is that the repeat will happen in the not too distant future at much higher stakes and that he is pre-planning by focusing on making many more scupltural silver objects now while he can afford it.
Anyway, just a nice little 'from the streets' story that made me feel much better about the 200% markup to replace something priceless, and that from an insider in an industry I know nothing about at all, the talk turned from design to silvers massive gains and a non-investment business that has already modeled how it will react when silver becomes the new gold.
S-tron
Had a shocking turn of luck almost a month ago, dived into the ocean and felt my wedding ring slip off (!!!!!) - disaster.
I'll skip the unenjoyable-marital-explanations-section of the story to todays return to my Sydney Jeweler who has being crafting bespoke objects out of gold, silver, platinum etc for decades.
Bad News Part = gold has doubled in price since early 2009, your $1,200 ring will cost $2,400 today
Then my sneaky inner stacker side started to prod with a few questions
Have you seen this before? how does your business adapt? etc etc predictions?
Well, firstly, demand for high end jewelry does not drop off in times of economic hardship nor metal prize surges, prices do go up but content shuffles. i.e. 9 carat gold replaces a lot of 18 carat, layers of gold with silver replace white gold on their own etc - design will always evolve to meet demand.
Secondly, his insiders view on market prices (albeit for small quantities and specialised use), was that, as has happened in cycles he has experienced in his business, as gold shoots up and up the gold content is reduced (in the jewelry), then as it keeps going up, then platinum reacts and shoots up after it. If platinum shoots up too high, he says he has seen it only once, but silver comes firing up very quickly, and at much higher ratios.
I can't remember the figures but his eyes lit up talking about it. The prices were in x grams (can't remember sorry! - small amounts), and went from something along the lines of 50c/ x grams to $2.20/x grams and he withheld all production and sold his inventory back to his supplier (only totaled a 5 kg or so) for almost 5 x what he paid. Then things correct and it all carries on.
Finally, his gut feeling is that the repeat will happen in the not too distant future at much higher stakes and that he is pre-planning by focusing on making many more scupltural silver objects now while he can afford it.
Anyway, just a nice little 'from the streets' story that made me feel much better about the 200% markup to replace something priceless, and that from an insider in an industry I know nothing about at all, the talk turned from design to silvers massive gains and a non-investment business that has already modeled how it will react when silver becomes the new gold.
S-tron
. But here I am, with skinnier fingers. I'd get a new one but I'm only half way to my goal weight 
