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Many of us purchase gold jewellery because – it feels great, our mom 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 gold jewellery.

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 great 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 18 Carat in order to claim the investment angle. The trick, especially in North America and England, is – where does one buy 24K Gold?

Some jewellers who don’t sell stronger than 18 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 the souks of the middle east. It was, at one time very inexpensive there. Later I frequented the gold souks of Dubai and the other middle east commercial centers. Real 24K stuff can be purchased there.

Truth was, I thought I was buying 24, but the jewelry was usually only 97-98% pure, but hey, still better than the 14k fluff sold in North America.

It was a while before I found them but I did. These were the massive jewellery 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 Toronto, I was told oh no, its only 22K not 24.

I took this material to a reputable 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 to pull out one’s own little gold volume/weight measurement tool in one of those massive elite stores and proudly if not loudly proclaim that their 99.999% gold isn’t truly what it claims to be – I am also imagining that one would be set on not unkindly by the police for creating such a fine disturbance.

And I know someone else will post and tell me that they are from HK and the government 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.

The lesson to learn perhaps is when buying gold 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 slightly better than 22″, even if I thought I was paying for 24 Carats. So the big question is 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 they say, I would bargain the price down with the true understanding of what I am probably getting.

If your goal is really investment and you have no real 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 your concern is to buy 14 Carat or below, ignore almost everything said above since, 14 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 it’s not often that a street vendor sell you absolutely 24 Carats, even if she believes it is so. Dicker the price with the knowledge that you’re are probably getting substantially more than 22 Carats but really not 24 Carats. Compare this to the North American or even UK experience where you are most likely being sold only 14 Carats.

So buy it, wear it, enjoy it, don’t lose it and have fun.

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