By Classique Jewelry Inc. | Bronx, NY | Est. 1992
Gold came down this week. The price on a chain you looked at on Monday is not the price today, and it went down on its own.
DID GOLD JEWELRY GET CHEAPER THIS WEEK?
Gold is down about 3% over the past week and about 3.4% over the past month, sitting near $4,268 an ounce. Our prices follow the metal automatically, so pieces that are mostly gold came down with it. Pieces that are mostly labor or stones barely moved.
We read the gold market every fifteen minutes. Not because we enjoy watching it, but because the metal is most of what you are paying for on a lot of pieces, and we would rather the number on the page be right than be comfortable. That reading is what sets the prices on this site, and it runs whether the market is going up or down.
Gold is sitting around $4,268 an ounce as this is written. That is roughly 3% lower than a week ago and roughly 3.4% lower than a month ago. It is also about 9% below the highest reading we have recorded.
Over a longer stretch the picture is the other way round. The same readings put gold about 3% higher than it was at the start of July. So this is a pullback inside a rise, not a collapse, and anyone who tells you which of those it will turn out to be is guessing.
It means our prices came down, and nobody had to ask.
Most jewelry is priced once and then left alone. A tag gets written when the piece arrives in the case and it stays written. When metal climbs, a shop absorbs it for a while and then reprices in one jump. When metal slips, the tag often does not move at all, because nobody is in a hurry to charge less.
We do it the other way, and the honest reason is that it is easier to be consistent than to keep judging. The same process that raises a price when gold climbs lowers it when gold slips. Over the past week that showed up on real pieces in our own records: an anklet came down about 3.8%, a charm bracelet about 2.9%, a pendant about 1.3%. Nobody decided those and nobody announced them. The metal moved and the prices followed.
It does not mean everything got cheaper. Labor, stones and findings do not follow the gold market. A piece that is mostly workmanship barely moves whatever gold does.
A heavy chain tracks the metal closely because it is mostly metal. A diamond ring tracks it hardly at all, because the stone, the setting and the hours are the bulk of the price and none of those repriced this week. If you have been watching one particular piece, the only number that matters is that piece.
It also does not mean you should hurry. A 3% move on a $200 piece is $6. That is a reason to stop worrying about timing, not a reason to rush a decision you were not otherwise ready to make.
Some people come in for a chain and some come in for weight. If you are in the second group, the number worth understanding is not this week's move at all. It is the gap between the metal price and what any finished piece costs, because that gap is the making, and it does not come back when you sell.
We have written about both sides of that separately, in why your gold chain costs more than the spot price and in how trade in and scrap value are actually calculated. Neither of those changes because gold fell 3% this week, and both are worth reading before you buy metal for the metal.
Gold is off about 3% on the week and about 3.4% on the month, still up since the summer, and our prices came down with it without anyone deciding to. If you were watching something, it is worth another look. If you were not, nothing here needs acting on.
You can see what the metal is doing to our heavier pieces in the 14k yellow gold chains collection, where the metal is most of the price. Want us to check a particular piece for you? Write to us and we will tell you what it is made of and what actually drives its price.
Classique Jewelry Inc. is a family-owned jeweler based in the Bronx, NY, founded in 1992. This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
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By Classique Jewelry Inc. | Bronx, NY | Est. 1992 ❖ Gold came down this week. The price on a chain you looked at on...
