Turbulence in the world of Gold

Talk about under the pump! Ok girlies, if you haven’t been checking the financial pages or watching the news you might have missed the update. But the tipsy-turvy, crazy state of the world has basically thrown the commodities market into a bit of a tiz this last year.

People, unsurprisingly, are looking for some safety and there’s been a huge increase in squirrelling away money into gold and silver. What does this mean to the rest of the world?

Well, increased demand and stable supply means that the prices increase… for this little corner of the internet and why I’m invested in how this all swings, is that the price that we, as jewellery designers, are now paying for our raw materials has risen more than 72% in the last 12 months. A bonkers rise for those using gold as a base product in their business.

It has business owners like me rethinking the looks, and the overall weight of our new designs, because the raw material costs have changed. Aaaand this might not be the end of the rise.

Now it’s not just businesses like mine that are affected, and of course the customer who is now looking at paying more for a piece of jewellery, but those trading in both antique and vintage jewellery are also seeing new trends – why? Because as the market continues to surge and fluctuate, there are people choosing to melt down their old pieces for quick cash injection. A sad reality, but for many at the moment with the cost of living making things a bit tighter for the average fam, a necessity if you happen to have old solid gold pieces laying about.

While the changes noted above are important to those investing, it has lesser talked about implications for those who have previously purchased jewellery or been gifted pieces… at the heart of this? Their scrap value.

Every solid gold item has an underlying scrap value – how much it would be worth if you melted it down and sold just for the weight of the gold itself. For the most part, throughout history the scrap value has sat well below the value of a finished piece of jewellery – meaning it doesn’t make much sense to actually destroy a piece purely for its commodity-based worth.

However, the sharp rise in price that we’ve witnessed in the past 12 months as the scrap value increases, so does the lure of cashing in for those who might have a few pieces in their back cupboard that were handed down by some great aunt and you haven’t really thought about wearing because it wasn’t your style. Brooches, heavy chains, costume designs – pieces that run in and out of fashion cycles, are going to scrap dealers as their owners’ cash in for a few hundred dollars. You can’t help but feel a sense of sadness at the artistry is also lost with some of these works.

Round up of where we are;

1. Gold prices although turbulent are hitting record highs

2. Owners are cashing in as the scrap value starts to outweigh the sentimental value of these pieces

3. What we’re now diving into is what does this mean for Vintage or Antique jewellery?

Well a few things on this front. Firstly, in years to come it will be harder and harder to find pieces from time periods that are currently, you know from a 2026 perspective, out-dated. Heavy chains, chunky rings, brooches that aren’t in the current fashion cycle or might be a bit ‘dowdy.’

Jewellery is a real reflection of time periods and potentially, we could lose some really illustrative representations of what previous generations experienced. Think of the kinds of jewellery from a certain year as a reflection of daily habits and economic conditions of the time.

The 90’s we embraced minimalism following the excessive opulence of the 80’s; you know bucking against whatever our parents did. Victorian times had a very sentimental and religious skew, Mid-century leant towards optimism post war with their play in texture and bold designs. It all tells of a chapter in history. Once they are melted down – the stories they hold are also gone.

Now what does this all mean? Well this whole rambling is just food for thought, both when you’re purchasing pieces, as well as moving them on.

I’ve built this little business of mine on the back of solid gold. The intention is that one day, after you’ve loved and worn the heck out of them, that these will be the kinds of pieces that may also be a representation of the time period. Some future owner of one of these rings may choose to melt it down, but the hope is that there are future generations who will receive these pieces, or seek them out even and purchase them from vintage jeweller. They might recognise one of your love stories, see the life you lived in the dints and wear in a piece, or they may also share the same initials carved onto a signet ring.

These are your stories we’re building.

You in your choices when you have a piece made and me in the designs.

Here’s to those stories being worth more than whatever games the market is playing.

Ash x