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Buying gold in Turkey, particularly gold jewellery, is gaining large recognition proper now with the superb conversion charge in opposition to the declining Turkish Lira and the skill for customers to buy immediately from sellers and not using a intermediary.
Personally, I’m getting uninterested in losing my cash on low-cost costume jewellery that can begin to tarnish and break simply after 1 or 2 wears. This quick style craze has folks consuming equipment at an alarming charge. What at first looks as if a superb deal, solely $89 for a pair of gold-plated earrings, turns into such a legal responsibility with how briskly they exit of favor and begin to discolor.
After years of frustration with losing my cash on low-cost jewellery, I made a decision to go on a mission to seek out nice offers on gold in one in every of the most well-known markets in the world, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. My purpose was to seek out good high quality items for truthful costs that will final for many years as an alternative of some seasons.
Below you’ll discover tips about find out how to discover superb offers on gold, tips to check the purity and authenticity of gold jewellery, and every thing else I realized throughout my pursuit of high quality gold at the Grand Bazaar in Turkey.
My Hunt For Quality Gold Inside The Grand Bazaar
For this mission, I wanted an insider and gold skilled to assist me. My good friend Alyne and I met up with the fourth-generation grasp jeweler, Nurhan Gümüş. This man is aware of his gold, it’s in his blood. His great-grandfather was a gold jeweler in the Grand Bazaar in the 1800s, a occupation his complete household has upheld ever since.
We met Nurhan at the southern Carsikapi Gate that leads into Kalpakcilar Caddesi, the gold jeweler’s street of the Grand Bazaar. Before we obtained into the nitty gritty of gold purchasing, he merely took me for a stroll up and down the coated streets so I may get a good suggestion of the immense selection accessible inside the market. Basically, any type of silver or gold jewellery you’re on the lookout for, you’ll discover it right here. If you’ll be able to’t discover it on show, you’ll meet distributors who will custom-make it for you or discover you one thing comparable inside just a few hours.
We spent the complete day inside the market shopping, testing, attempting on, and finally shopping for many gold items, together with a classic Rolex, gold earrings, and a gold necklace. I’m going to share each insider secret and tip I realized throughout our time with Nurhan, so you’ll be able to comply with in my footsteps with your individual Turkish gold purchasing spree.
Top 6 Tips For Buying Gold Jewelry in the Grand Bazaar
Ok gold lovers – Here’s what you have to know to be an knowledgeable gold purchaser to greatest apply all the suggestions we’ve got for you all through this information.
1. Is it Hallmarked? (stamped)
Make certain the merchandise has the applicable karat marking stamp, also called a trademark.
Examples are:
22k, or 916
18k, or 750
14k, or 585
10k, or 416
This signifies purity and can be a manner of confirming the jewelers’ stated particulars.
Best observe: Ask the vendor to indicate you the hallmarks on the piece immediately.
2️. Know The Purity (what these hallmarks really imply)
The purity of gold is decided by karat.
24 Karat gold is 99.9% pure and it descends as you go.
Percent of gold in:
24k = (99.9% gold content material)
22k = (91.6% gold content material)
18k = (75% gold content material)
14k = (58.3% gold content material)
10k = (41.6% gold content material, which suggests lower than half is gold)
Investing in gold jewellery with out checking purity is a BIG NO. The worth between one thing that’s 22 karats and 10 karats will differ immensely.
3️. Figure out the Best Price (the difficult half)
The worth of the gold jewellery is indicated by its purity in addition to how a lot labor work has been spent whereas making the piece.
When shopping for a stable gold merchandise, the greatest technique to examine is apples to apples! Well in this case: karats to karats!
Similar-looking gold gadgets with comparable weights could be 1000s of {dollars} much less or extra.. HOW?? 🤔
Think of a 100-gram gold chain in 10 karats.. this comprises 41.6 grams of gold. But on the different hand, a 100-gram chain of 18-karat gold comprises 75 grams of gold!
This alone is a HUGE 34 grams of gold distinction!
Best observe: Only examine the identical karat gadgets! If you’re looking at a 14k chain, examine it to different 14k chains of the identical weight.
4️. Determining Weight (How heavy is it?)
It is important to examine the weight of the precise gold merchandise that you’re shopping for. Since different gem stones, supplies, or enamel colours could make the weight heavier, you would possibly find yourself paying a better worth for much less gold!
Best observe: Ask the jeweler to weigh it on a scale & take a be aware of that gram weight
5️. Color Shouldn’t Matter (Yellow, Rose, or White)
Gold can have coloration variations. Combining pure gold with particular alloy metals will create one other coloration or tone.
Yellow gold has been the hottest tone all through historical past. Rose gold & white gold are much less well-liked relying on present developments & worldwide places.
Best Practice: The coloration of gold mustn’t make the worth cheaper or dearer.
6. Do the math to get your per-gram price
How to get your gram price:
Take the complete worth of the merchandise & divide it by the weight = YOUR PER GRAM COST
Use that to match costs of things with totally different weights & identical karat purity.
While the per gram price doesn’t take different issues into consideration, like gems or different particulars the jewellery may need, or the store proprietor’s price of his storefront, it provides you with a superb baseline when purchasing round.
BOTTOM LINE:
Lots is to be considered when making a jewellery buy, however in case you have the precise karats and weight, you may make an amazing base for comparability.
How to get an precise estimate of how a lot it’s best to pay for gold jewellery
Below is an equation to make use of as a tough estimate, utilizing the present charge of gold, to find out if the worth they’re asking at the Grand Bazaar is truthful.
Step 1: Google as we speak’s market charge for gold.
Step 2: Let’s say the market charge for the day is $50 per gram (pure gold). We will take that $50 and multiply it by the purity of the merchandise we’re wanting at. For this instance, we’ll use a bit of jewellery that’s 18k gold. 18k has 75% pure gold content material.
$50 X 0.75 (purity p.c of 18k) = $37.50
$37.50 is the price per gram of the gold materials itself in an 18k piece with as we speak’s charge of $50 per gram.
Step 3: Now, faux the vendor has proven you an 18k bracelet and also you’ve put it on the scale to weigh it, and primarily based on the weight and worth, you’ll be able to see he’s charging $40 per gram. We can minus the uncooked price of the gold from the above equation ($37.50), which suggests he’s charging $2.5 per gram for labor and enterprise prices.
Now, there isn’t any ‘standard’ for a way a lot revenue a vendor needs to be making, or how a lot {dollars} per gram he’s charging for labor and enterprise prices. This varies drastically relying on the precise jewellery itself, how a lot element and design it might have, and different components like his hire and different enterprise prices. What the above equation means that you can do is be higher knowledgeable about uncooked prices, examine apples to apples when purchasing round, and to really feel extra snug about investing in gold.
Q&A – Buying Gold in Türkiye
Why ought to folks take into account shopping for gold in Turkey? Why not journey to Dubai to purchase gold?
Dubai (UAE) and Turkey each have very vibrant gold jewellery industries and each international locations export and import billions of {dollars} a yr.
Dubai does have some slight price benefits in comparison with Turkey on the subject of machine-made/engineered items like chains. That’s attributable to the reality their small and medium-sized companies have bigger budgets accessible to them for machines to provide extremely environment friendly, machine-made gold gadgets.
Turkey, on the different hand, has two nice benefits. One is in the handmade / artisan jewellery division attributable to the over 5000 yr historical past of jewellery making in Anatolia (present day Turkey). Turkey has an unmatched historical past of handmade jewellery that different international locations can’t compete with.
The different benefit Turkey has over the UAE is a decrease price of the general journey. You can keep in Istanbul for a month or longer for what your funds can be for just some days in Dubai.
We have curated a 3-day Istanbul itinerary for an ideal go to to the metropolis, with a gold purchasing expertise in the Grand Bazaar included!
Sometimes, it’s not at all times about the lowest price, however as an alternative the general expertise.
How can we inform if the gold is actual?
One of the best and quickest methods to inform if a bit of jewellery, let’s say a necklace in this case, is actual stable gold or one thing else like brass with an inexpensive gold plating, is to rub a magnet on it.
Keep a small magnet in your pocket at the Grand Bazaar and use it your self to check any items you’re looking at. Real gold isn’t magnetic and it’ll not stick. Many different cheaper metals are magnetic and can stick instantly.
If the gold is actual, how do we all know what the karat worth is? (Example: 10k, 14k, 18k, and many others?)
Sellers at the Grand Bazaar can do an acid check proper there in the store. This entails the piece of jewellery being rubbed on a touchstone often fabricated from slate, then a particular karat method of acid is used. So, a 14k gold bracelet can have its personal 14-karat acid gold check. Once the acid is dropped on the stone, if the acid eats away at the markings on the stone, it means it isn’t the karat it states. If the markings do stick with the 14-karat acid, or whichever karat-specific acid check was used, then it’s legit.
There are lots of gold retailers in the Grand Bazaar. How will we discover a good one? Anything particular to search for or to keep away from?
The greatest manner is to be an knowledgeable purchaser and learn about the fundamentals of gold, i.e. the gram weight, the karat purity, after which checking that the stated karat is hallmarked on the piece itself.
Knowing the fundamental pillars of knowledge means that you can extra correctly examine whenever you go in and ask some questions. If you see the salesman can’t level out the markings, doesn’t learn about an acid check, or can’t present the fundamental info you’re on the lookout for – you’ll be able to safely assume they don’t seem to be capable of present skilled assist. You needs to be cautious of locations like that. Most retailers are skilled and useful, however after all, it’s a bazaar and an everchanging market so the costs will differ.
X Avoid locations that may’t pay a lot consideration to you or can’t present particulars rapidly.
✓ Do enterprise with shops that may rapidly present details about the items, can provide the acid check, and are keen to be affected person.
Can I negotiate on worth at shops inside the bazaar?
Yes. Always negotiate with sellers. That’s what has been executed all through historical past at the Grand Bazaar and it’ll by no means change.
However, it needs to be famous that sellers can have totally different prices of doing enterprise and it might have an effect on how a lot they will negotiate with you. A store that has the most prime location and the highest hire in all of the bazaar could not have as a lot room as a second-level store. There is not any method for a way a lot to barter, however once more realizing the fundamental market worth of gold will assist immensely in this example.
Do jewelers in the Grand Bazaar take bank cards or solely money?
Both money and bank cards are accepted by virtually all of the retailers inside the Grand Bazaar. There are just a few smaller shops that won’t take bank cards, however they are going to often have a sign-up to tell you. Safe and safe ATMs can be found each inside and out of doors the bazaar.
If you’re utilizing a bank card, many distributors will need to cost a processing charge. The charge is often 2.5% to three%, however ought to by no means be greater than 5%.
Can I SELL my private gold inside the Grand Bazaar?
Yes, there are locations referred to as “sarrafiye” in Turkish (gold consumers) positioned immediately inside the bazaar.
Due to the Anatolian / Turkish tradition of giving, gifting, & saving gold it’s quite common for folks to commerce their cash, bracelets, & jewellery at these locations. You can enterprise inside the Grand Bazaar and ‘shop’ your gold round to see who’s paying the greatest costs of the day.
What we purchased
Istanbul really is the new cool, and we’ve got the gold to show it. Here’s what we obtained throughout our first mission at the Grand Bazaar (and we’ve obtained one other journey deliberate this spring for just a few extra items)
Alyne
Gold Hoop Earrings 6g 14k gold = $190
Gold Necklace 6.7g 14k gold = $230
Gold Huggie Earrings 3.5g 18k gold =$160
Kashlee
Gold Huggie Earrings 3.5g 18k gold =$160
Vintage Rolex $6000 (Ladies DateJust, early 90’s)
Now, some folks studying this would possibly suppose I obtained ripped off with the Rolex as a result of it ‘wasn’t bought at a licensed Rolex supplier” however I must remind you that is Turkey. Since then, I’ve had it verified and I’m over the moon with the buy, since it might have been significantly extra if I had bought it in the Western market.
One of the coolest experiences was attending to comply with the vendor by means of some tight alleyways, behind the scenes from the major bazaar, and obtained to look at how they cleaned our gold earlier than giving it to us.
I couldn’t have made this text with out the numerous hours and steerage from Nurhan, so I’d prefer to make a particular thanks to him.
Nurhan Gümüş is an Armenian fourth-generation grasp jeweler in the Grand Bazaar. He’s the founding father of GrandBazaarJewelers.com which focuses on wholesale B2B jewellery and TurkishJewelry.com which is the premier jewellery information & developments weblog for Turkey. He was born in Istanbul and his household immigrated to the United States in 1980. In the U.S. he began apprenticing at the age of 12 in his household’s jewellery manufacturing enterprise. He relocated again to Istanbul 13 years in the past attributable to its worldwide aggressive benefit (and his benefit of being a local English speaker Master Armenian jeweler).
He at the moment helps entrepreneurs create their very own jewellery line and gives one-on-one skilled jewellery help. You can discover him on IG @grandbazaarjewelers
We did the analysis for this text whereas being company in Istanbul with Go Türkiye. While the tourism board graciously hosted our keep, our itinerary and elective actions, comparable to gold purchasing, had been on our personal funds. Our concepts, opinions, and proposals stay our personal.
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