Another Trade Perspective on Sales, Increasing Prices and the New Buyers....
Although the foot traffic at our booth (Tucson 2011) seemed to be about the same as last year, people spent more money and high end goods were in demand. Other dealers we spoke with supported our view that high end and unique goods did quite well.
...the challenge has been to buy stones at the price we like. All fine stones have increased; some dramatically. Good to fine rubies lead the increases (verified by Christie’s sale of an 8+ carat stone for $3.6 million).
Sapphire, Tsavorites, Spinels, Tourmaline and other high quality stones have also taken big jumps. The reason is simple; increasing world demand and not much supply. Countries that are getting wealthy, like Russia, India and China, have populations that have historically stored their wealth in gold and gems. The continuing world turbulence, as witnessed in the Middle East and Japan, as well as the well documented financial crisis in the U.S and Europe, has increased people’s interest in owning portable hard assets.
The lower end and middle markers in the U.S remain sluggish, although they are showing some slight improvement. I have noticed that even these markets are getting somewhat more demanding as they require better cutting of stones and higher quality of workmanship. Our expectation is that the U.S market will continue to improve.
Another factor impacting our industry has been metal prices. With the surges in prices of gold, platinum and silver have come some interesting reactions. Palladium is getting closer examination by manufacturers. Silver is taking a more prominent position in high end goods. More consideration is being given to designs that use less metal.
(As we indicated in a previous publications, silver is becoming the new gold - visit our Jewelry Photos page for custom hand-made sterling silver pieces with unusual All That Glitters gemstones, cabochons and more! http://www.atggems.com/Photos_Jewelry.htm)
...the challenge has been to buy stones at the price we like. All fine stones have increased; some dramatically. Good to fine rubies lead the increases (verified by Christie’s sale of an 8+ carat stone for $3.6 million).
Sapphire, Tsavorites, Spinels, Tourmaline and other high quality stones have also taken big jumps. The reason is simple; increasing world demand and not much supply. Countries that are getting wealthy, like Russia, India and China, have populations that have historically stored their wealth in gold and gems. The continuing world turbulence, as witnessed in the Middle East and Japan, as well as the well documented financial crisis in the U.S and Europe, has increased people’s interest in owning portable hard assets.
The lower end and middle markers in the U.S remain sluggish, although they are showing some slight improvement. I have noticed that even these markets are getting somewhat more demanding as they require better cutting of stones and higher quality of workmanship. Our expectation is that the U.S market will continue to improve.
Another factor impacting our industry has been metal prices. With the surges in prices of gold, platinum and silver have come some interesting reactions. Palladium is getting closer examination by manufacturers. Silver is taking a more prominent position in high end goods. More consideration is being given to designs that use less metal.
(As we indicated in a previous publications, silver is becoming the new gold - visit our Jewelry Photos page for custom hand-made sterling silver pieces with unusual All That Glitters gemstones, cabochons and more! http://www.atggems.com/Photos_Jewelry.htm)
posted by All That Glitters at 10:54 AM
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