Russians have started buying jewelry en masse

 

The luster of gold beckons so much: Russians have started buying jewelry en masse

In recent months, Russians have started buying jewelry en masse — demand has increased by 30 percent and continues to grow, the Guild of Jewelers of Russia notes. Is it worth saving money by purchasing jewelry, jeweler and entrepreneur Mikhail Gorodedsky told the Evening.

Buying jewelry is not an investment at all. It is necessary to understand what the store price for products consists of. This is the cost of raw materials, the cost of processing and manufacturing. In addition, there is a store margin, and it is rarely less than 100 percent. When you see an advertising poster "70 percent discount" in a large retail chain, it only means that the store allows you to overpay for the goods not 100, but only 30 percent. Another point is the mark—up on the brand. World-famous brands make "cheating" of 200-700 percent, so the market for fakes is thriving in the world.

Total: if you ever want to sell the purchased jewelry, you will have to deduct from the cost of margins and markups. The main rule when choosing jewelry: you should like it. To please the eye and the soul. Try not to buy products blindly on the Internet. Before buying a thing, you need to hold it in your hands, measure it at least. It is better to make profitable jewelry purchases at jewelry exhibitions and sales, which take place almost every month at different exhibition venues in Moscow. By frequently visiting fairs, you will learn to understand the quality of products almost at a professional level.

The strange beast moissanite

There are a lot of advertisements on the Internet for moissanites — stones that supposedly surpass a diamond in quality. Their refractive index is really higher than that of diamonds, so they "play" more effectively. However, natural moissanite is almost not found in nature. What is being sold for hundreds of thousands on the Internet is synthetic moissanite. An engagement ring with such a 0.1 carat stone will cost 15,000 rubles.

A riot of colors

In the last couple of years, colored stones have started to come into fashion. And expensive (sapphire, ruby, emerald, topaz, amethyst, tsavorite), and ornamental (lapis lazuli, malachite, coral, citrine, quartz and so on). Not everyone will have the money for rubies, but a silver ring with natural rhodonite or chrysoprase is quite enough. The average price is from 6000 per ring.

"Cheap" silver

Large jewelry chains often announce sales with huge discounts on silver — up to 90 percent. However, the reverent attitude to this metal is only in Russia. In most countries, it is not considered precious. The exchange price of silver today is about 40 rubles per gram. That is, the "red price" of a ring weighing 1.5 grams is 60 rubles. But the store will sell it to you for at least 700.

More light!

Yellow, sunny, metals and stones are at the peak of fashion. Not everyone has a couple of extra million rubles for yellow diamonds. But high-quality citrine in a silver frame (from 3000 rubles) can afford anyone.

Chinese "miracle"

People learned to grow precious stones, which are difficult to distinguish from natural ones, back in the century before last. Today, the most popular mineral that is grown industrially is a diamond. The most dexterous of all mastered profitable production in China. "Almost real" stones have flooded the market so much that now, buying "diamonds" of an unknown company, you almost completely acquire a product from China. In principle, any stones should be bought from trusted sellers. The cost of a ring with a Chinese diamond on the market ranges from 3,000 to 30,000 rubles.

"Italian" quality

Often on the web you can find ads for "Italian", "Spanish", some other very valuable gold-silver. These are nothing but marketing tricks that play on our "primordial" worship of foreigners. In terms of quality, they are no better than Russian products, but the price for them is several times higher. The cost of foreign rings usually starts from 50,000 rubles.

The whole truth about white gold

Especially carefully choose products made of white gold. It comes in two types: with nickel additives or with platinum (or palladium) additives. Nickel and palladium are cheaper than platinum. White gold with a nickel additive will not be repaired. A platinum ring can cost from 60,000 to several million rubles. With "nickel" gold costs from 5500 thousand rubles.

Rotate everything!

Jewelry with moving parts is the most powerful trend in jewelry. The central stone in the ring or suspension can rotate, decorative elements, a frame, a tire — absolutely any part.

Bred for diamonds

Consumers always react to the phrase "Yakut diamonds" with increased demand. However, if these stones in the product are less than 0.2 carats, most likely they cost zero rubles zero kopecks. In fact, it is a diamond crumb, which is not appreciated by professionals as highly as products with a full-fledged stone. However, the price turns out to be low. The average store price for a gold ring with a crumb starts from 5000 rubles.

The mystery of the 925 th test

The most popular sample in jewelry is the 925. This is an alloy in which 92.5 percent is silver and 7.5 percent is copper. Silver is less susceptible to oxidation than other alloys, so it is very convenient in jewelry production. It is much easier to clean blackened silver than greenened brass. The price of the products starts from 700 rubles.

Volume and lightness

Rings, pendants, earrings with large openwork details, embossing and perforation are now in trend. Fashion-2022 makes jewelry look like large exotic flowers, but the volume is achieved not by weighing the product, but by author's work.

Handmade work

In the mass market, recently there have been lines of jewelry with handmade elements, combining the author's design, casting, drinking and stamping, that is, different types of processing. These things always look "complicated", unusual. Jewelers advise to pay attention to such jewelry. The price starts from 15,000 rubles.

Magnifying glass is our everything

When making an expensive purchase, be sure to arm yourself with a magnifying glass. A magnifying glass will show the places of the curves of the adhesions, will help to assess how firmly the stones are fixed, as well as the overall quality of the product. The product must be polished perfectly — no scratches and contortions — "like a mirror".

Do you want to be straight? Pay up!

A popular marketing ploy on the web is "natural stones". This refers to semi-precious and jewelry-ornamental minerals. For a bracelet made of gray lapis lazuli of poor quality, they require 2000 rubles at a real cost of 200 rubles. Sellers play on the concept of "natural", for which many buyers are willing to pay without looking at the quality.

DIRECT SPEECH

Evgeny Nadorshin, Chief Economist of a large consulting company:

— In the current situation, in my opinion, neither jewelry nor gold bullion are optimal tools for investing money. I am not sure that these investments can pay off. Perhaps bullion is a little better than a typical jewelry, and can bring income, but most likely only with the depreciation of the ruble. Therefore, it is more profitable today to invest in non-cash foreign currency. It can be exported abroad, exchanged, and so on, whereas this cannot be done with gold bars. In addition, the storage of products is quite high risks, because any damage, for example, to an ingot sharply devalues it.

Jewelry is no better. It would be possible to look for something of artistic value, but these are completely different budgets, require training and knowledge. You can't invest there quickly. In any case, you will not earn anything, regardless of how the situation develops further.