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Buying gold in Turkey, particularly gold jewellery, is gaining large reputation proper now with the wonderful conversion charge in opposition to the declining Turkish Lira and the capability for shoppers to buy straight from sellers with out 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 individuals consuming equipment at an alarming charge. What at first looks as if a great deal, solely $89 for a pair of gold-plated earrings, turns into such a legal responsibility with how briskly they exit of fashion 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 considered one of the most well-known markets in the world, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. My goal was to seek out good high quality items for truthful costs that might final for many years as an alternative of some seasons.
Below you’ll discover tips about tips on how to discover wonderful offers on gold, methods to check the purity and authenticity of gold jewellery, and all the things 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 knowledgeable to assist me. My pal 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 total household has upheld ever since.
We met Nurhan at the southern Carsikapi Gate that leads into Kalpakcilar Caddesi, the gold jeweler’s highway of the Grand Bazaar. Before we obtained into the nitty gritty of gold procuring, he merely took me for a stroll up and down the lined streets so I might get a good suggestion of the immense selection out there inside the market. Basically, any form of silver or gold jewellery you’re searching for, you’ll discover it right here. If you may’t discover it on show, you’ll meet distributors who will custom-make it for you or discover you one thing comparable inside a number of hours.
We spent the total day inside the market looking, testing, attempting on, and ultimately 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 may observe in my footsteps with your individual Turkish gold procuring spree.
Top 6 Tips For Buying Gold Jewelry in the Grand Bazaar
Ok gold lovers – Here’s what it’s essential know to be an knowledgeable gold purchaser to greatest apply all the suggestions now we have for you all through this information.
1. Is it Hallmarked? (stamped)
Make certain the merchandise has the acceptable 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 means of confirming the jewelers’ mentioned particulars.
Best observe: Ask the vendor to point out you the hallmarks on the piece straight.
2️. Know The Purity (what these hallmarks truly imply)
The purity of gold is set 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 implies 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 tough 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 option to examine is apples to apples! Well in this case: karats to karats!
Similar-looking gold gadgets with comparable weights is perhaps 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 similar karat gadgets! If you’re looking at a 14k chain, examine it to different 14k chains of the similar 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 gems, supplies, or enamel colours could make the weight heavier, you may find yourself paying a better worth for much less gold!
Best observe: Ask the jeweler to weigh it on a scale & take a observe 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 widespread relying on present developments & worldwide areas.
Best Practice: The coloration of gold shouldn’t make the worth cheaper or costlier.
6. Do the math to get your per-gram value
How to get your gram value:
Take the complete worth of the merchandise & divide it by the weight = YOUR PER GRAM COST
Use that to check costs of things with completely different weights & similar karat purity.
While the per gram value doesn’t take different issues into consideration, like gems or different particulars the jewellery might need, or the store proprietor’s value of his storefront, it will provide you with a great baseline when procuring round.
BOTTOM LINE:
Quite a bit is to be considered when making a jewellery buy, however when you’ve got the actual karats and weight, you can also make an awesome base for comparability.
How to get an precise estimate of how a lot you must 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 at this time’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 chunk 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 value per gram of the gold materials itself in an 18k piece with at this time’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 may see he’s charging $40 per gram. We can minus the uncooked value of the gold from the above equation ($37.50), which implies he’s charging $2.5 per gram for labor and enterprise prices.
Now, there isn’t a ‘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 tremendously relying on the precise jewellery itself, how a lot element and design it might have, and different elements like his hire and different enterprise prices. What the above equation permits you to do is be higher knowledgeable about uncooked prices, examine apples to apples when procuring round, and to really feel extra snug about investing in gold.
Q&A – Buying Gold in Türkiye
Why ought to individuals think about 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 nations export and import billions of {dollars} a yr.
Dubai does have some slight value benefits in comparison with Turkey in terms of machine-made/engineered items like chains. That’s attributable to the reality their small and medium-sized companies have bigger budgets out there to them for machines to supply 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 nations can not compete with.
The different benefit Turkey has over the UAE is a decrease value of the total journey. You can keep in Istanbul for a month or longer for what your finances 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 procuring expertise in the Grand Bazaar included!
Sometimes, it’s not all the time about the lowest value, however as an alternative the total expertise.
How can we inform if the gold is actual?
One of the best and quickest methods to inform if a chunk of jewellery, let’s say a necklace in this case, is actual stable gold or one thing else like brass with an affordable 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 is just not 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 so on?)
Sellers at the Grand Bazaar can do an acid take a look at proper there in the store. This entails the piece of jewellery being rubbed on a touchstone often manufactured from slate, then a particular karat formulation of acid is used. So, a 14k gold bracelet may have its personal 14-karat acid gold take a look at. 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 take a look at was used, then it’s legit.
There are plenty of gold outlets in the Grand Bazaar. How will we discover a good one? Anything particular to search for or to keep away from?
The greatest means 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 mentioned karat is hallmarked on the piece itself.
Knowing the fundamental pillars of knowledge permits you to 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 take a look at, or can’t present the fundamental info you’re searching for – you may safely assume they don’t seem to be in a position to present skilled assist. You needs to be cautious of locations like that. Most outlets 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 take a look at, 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 carried out all through historical past at the Grand Bazaar and it’ll by no means change.
However, it needs to be famous that sellers may have completely 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 might not have as a lot room as a second-level store. There is not any formulation for a way a lot to barter, however once more realizing the fundamental market worth of gold will assist immensely in this case.
Do jewelers in the Grand Bazaar take bank cards or solely money?
Both money and bank cards are accepted by virtually all of the outlets inside the Grand Bazaar. There are a number of 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 payment. The payment 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 known as “sarrafiye” in Turkish (gold patrons) positioned straight inside the bazaar.
Due to the Anatolian / Turkish tradition of giving, gifting, & saving gold it’s quite common for individuals 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 now we have 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 a number of 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 individuals studying this may suppose I obtained ripped off with the Rolex as a result of it ‘wasn’t bought at a licensed Rolex seller” however I have to 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 observe the vendor by some tight alleyways, behind the scenes from the predominant bazaar, and obtained to observe how they cleaned our gold earlier than giving it to us.
I couldn’t have made this text with out the numerous hours and steering 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 presently helps entrepreneurs create their very own jewellery line and provides 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 procuring, had been on our personal finances. Our concepts, opinions, and suggestions stay our personal.
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