I’d love to have one! Unfortunately, humanity’s long desire to predict the future is not within my grasp; and despite the huxters urging you to buy gold or sell gold based on some ‘predictable’ future, their knowledge of the future is as severely limited as mine. So let’s see what seem to me to be reasonable guesses.

Precious metals, as a class, really owe their historic value to their common characteristics and their relative rarity. They do not readily oxidize, so they can be melted and easily used over and over again (most experts think that a large percentage of the gold currently in circulation was mined before the birth of Christ). Secondly, they are generally malleable; and when you combine their resistance to oxidation with their malleability they’re great for jewelry and coinage. So for thousands of years these unique metals have been attractive to the world’s wealthy – this despite its relative lack of any practical utility. Naturally, this conflict between price and value has led some to be skeptical; and last night an old friend and a client said of gold’s current price, “It’s a bubble, isn’t it?” I readily agreed.

Gold’s use in industry; that is, its practical use, is limited to about 20% of annual production, obviously, that leaves 80% to be used in jewelry or to be hoarded. For centuries India’s farmers have been the biggest consumer of gold for both purposes. They have bought gold when times have been good and sold it to meet their needs for survival when times have been poor. Their gold was usually turned into jewelry (most often of crude design and manufacture), but the purpose of this was two-fold. While serving as a visible sign of wealth, first and foremost, as jewelry, the family’s savings could be under constant surveillance. Naturally, the law of supply and demand applied; so when they wanted to buy gold, its price was usually high and when they wanted to sell it, it was usually low – just like any other commodity. And throughout it all, the price of gold was ‘invisibly’ connected to its demand by the wealthy.

Currently, you can largely count India out of the equation. When the price of gold exceeded $800/ounce Indian gold consumption contracted; and as gold has passed through ever higher milestones to today’s $1200/ounce, plus, that contraction has continued, as it did elsewhere. In the U.S. in 2009 and 2008 the price paid for all gold jewelry was roughly the same; but the actual amount of gold sold as jewelry was considerably less. This was repeated throughout most of the industrialized world; so much so that one might say that jewelry demand for gold has been so sharply curtailed as to be tantamount to a collapse. Inevitably, this points to speculation in the price of gold as the major force driving its rise in price. Equally as inevitable is my first guess. It is that the price of gold will collapse to somewhere between $750/ounce and $900/ounce as soon as the general level of investor confidence has improved. The same may not be said of platinum and diamonds.

Unlike the price of gold, that of platinum nosedived with the economic meltdown. Why you ask? The answer is simple; its price is driven by the automobile business – in normal times it uses more than half of the world’s annual production of platinum in catalytic converters. As the automobile business soured, industrial demand for platinum declined greatly. This year, as the U.S. automobile business has been on the rebound and, significantly, as China has passed the U.S. as the world’s number one market for cars, the price of platinum has climbed by about 25% over its recent market low. Currently, I think that at a little over $1500/ounce, its utility is so great that it’s still undervalued. Incidentally, it’s a superb jewelry metal; but price constraints limit jewelry consumption to about 25% of annual production. Diamonds? Chinese demand for diamonds and the absence of any recent diamond finds to offset that demand has caused DeBeers to ‘ration’ its diamond production into the foreseeable future – and the company has said it will increase prices for its rough material by 5% in each of the next three years. My crystal ball says buy platinum and diamonds now; it’s not likely that they’ll be cheaper in the near term.

I can’t tell you whether today’s buyers of gold are ‘the peasants’ or ‘the wealthy’; but last week I spoke with a designer who participated in a jewelry auction limited to shareholders in a very prestigious mutual fund. His conclusion, the wealthy are buying fine jewelry; so with prices for diamonds and platinum as good as they’ll get into the foreseeable future, perhaps you should consider a platinum and diamond purchase – particularly as a celebration of life. Celebrate your anniversary or a birthday with a diamond gift; and don’t wait for one of those ‘big’ numbers. Life isn’t certain; so when your feelings are, spell them out with a beautiful statement of your love. Naturally, feeling as we do about the beauty that is part of our humanity, we won’t sell you a diamond that is a disappointment. We’ll only sell you something that says ‘I love you’ as perfectly as the spoken word. Check out our website, particularly the collections; it’s hurstsberwynjewelers.com. Now call us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment. We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers; and we’ll help you realize your dreams.

While at jewelry trade shows in Las Vegas last week, our Kathy was fortunate enough to attend a round table that included Kathy Rose. If you’ve heard of her, I’ll bet it was in connection with Bravo Television’s fashion reality show ‘Launch My Line’. If you’re not familiar with her name, let me tell you a bit about the show and her.

The premise of the first nine week installment of ‘Launch My Line’ was that, with proper guidance, a professional person from outside the field of women’s fashion could demonstrate enough imagination and skill to create a successful line of women’s clothing. The winner would be rewarded with a big chunk of cash to start his or her new business – launch his or her line. To help them deal with any technical deficiencies, each of the ten contestants was partnered with a professional fashion designer – in Kathy Rose’s case, Emil Gampe (of EMIL Couture); but the designs were all theirs. Ms. Rose’s inspirations were mixed, with influences from animals (both land and sea), Native American culture and the palate of colors open to her. With it all, however, she insisted that jewelry and attire had to synchronize with one another; and she was successful – and her use of jewelry, helped bring her to that jewelry forum in Las Vegas.

In fact, as a former partner in a now closed Los Angeles boutique, Ms. Rose’s background had been in jewelry; and it was this background that impelled her into the contest. “Cuts on clothing,” she allowed, “never take jewelry into consideration.” In her perception, jewelry “stars” in the daily drama of “what shall I wear?” In Ms. Rose’s words, “(speaking of jewelry) I want it to surround and protect and lead.” To this end, her necklines were open and often deeply “Veed”, the better to showcase a pendant or necklace; and of course, to showcase bracelets, wrists were never covered. Judges called her work “cohesive” and “totally wearable.” There, of course, is the nugget of information that you might profit from.

It seems imperative that the core of your jewelry collection should be purchased strategically. That is, jewelry that you may only visit is much less enjoyable to own than jewelry that can be worn often; so your jewelry purchases should be considered from the standpoint of how they will work with one another and with the clothing you wear. In a word, you will want a “cohesive” look; and without verbalizing it, Kathy Rose has said that jewelry is, or should be, the durable part of your wardrobe. This certainly makes sense to one who knows the jewelry business; and while there are basics to consider – diamond studs, pendants and bracelets – it doesn’t exclude fashion. With one proviso, nothing is so forgiving of personal idiosyncrasies as jewelry.

The proviso? It’s a variation on what the late Duke Ellington once said of music – “If it sounds good, it is good.” In jewelry the question is really that of whether or not you love it; it is so durable that “like it” is not enough. In a practical sense this means that the pendant you love, but only wear occasionally because the chain is wrong (too long or too short) for most of your clothes, needs a different attachment. This would be a simple, and often inexpensive, addition to your jewelry wardrobe that would allow it to go places currently denied it. This also means that the diamond ring you don’t wear should be restyled. The rub, of course, is that doing this will not be cheap; so it should only be done when you know your diamonds will be showcased in something you see as beautiful. That piece of fine jewelry you find to be homely and without sentimental meaning? Trade it in for something that you will wear and enjoy. It’s not a matter of money, it is a matter of value. After all, what value is there in a piece of jewelry you won’t wear?

Of course, that brings us to the jewelry we sell. We won’t buy gold ‘over the counter’; but we will let you trade it against the purchase of new jewelry. We don’t buy diamonds ‘over the counter’; but provided that we can use them, we will take them in trade against more expensive diamonds. If you have a homely diamond with sentimental value, we can tell you whether or not it is the cut that’s the problem. If it is, one of our friends is an internationally known master diamond cutter; and his shop can make it sparkle. Restyle your diamond? We do that sort of thing every week – to rave reviews, I might add. Advice on what to do to enhance the wearability of your jewelry? It’s free. If it’s fine jewelry, we do it; so check us out on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment. We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers and we’ll help you realize your dreams.