Gold Jewelry - Print Story: Go-Go Gold: Latest Record Prices Confound Predictions, Have Americans Turning in Heirlooms on Yahoo! Canada News

Print Story: Go-go gold: Latest record prices confound predictions, have Americans turning in heirlooms on Yahoo! Canada News

Thu Nov 12, 3:19 AM

By Dave Carpenter, The Associated Press

CHICAGO – With gold futures closing at a new high, commodities investors will be watching the market closely to see if the gold rush continues Thursday.

While market analysts have been surprised by the trend, investors concerned with the dollar hitting a 15-month low continue to mine the market. The effect has hit Main Street, as more Americans take advantage of the rising prices by turning in their old jewelry for cash.

The price of the gold hit a record $1,119 an ounce on Wednesday – confounding market analysts who thought there was no way gold would remain so expensive when it first cracked the unheard-of $1,000 mark last year.

The remarkable run has implications far beyond savvy investors. In New York’s diamond district, more people started showing up late last year to sell their gold, and the crush hasn’t let up, said Anthony Iannelli, owner of Iannelli Diamonds.

“They’re bringing in jewelry from the ’70s and ’80s they don’t wear anymore,” he said. “They’re following the news and see prices are high. They realize they have a little cache, and want to take it out of the vault.”

Typically, gold is a safe place for investors to park their money, not something they buy to make money. It doesn’t earn any interest, and because it’s always sought-after, its value tends to be fairly stable. For example, when gold first reached $1,000 it was in March 2008, shortly after the collapse of investment bank Bear Stearns. Investors bought it up then because they feared for the stability of the financial system.

This time is different. Investors – think of them as the ’09ers – are buying gold to protect themselves against the falling dollar.

Currencies are weak investments around the world because of record-low interest rates. Foreign banks that hold substantial amounts of U.S. debt, such as China’s, want to diversify their holdings. News earlier this month that India’s central bank bought nearly $7 billion worth of gold from the International Monetary Fund triggered a frenzy of gold buying.

The surge has been remarkable. Gold is up 7 per cent just this month, and 26 per cent for the year. Some forecasters see it going to $1,200, $1,500 or beyond – unless the buying frenzy comes to a halt.

Some analysts are panning the gold speculation.

“You just don’t see increases like this over the short term” that last, says Steve Condon, director of investor advisory services for Truepoint Capital in Cincinnati. “This isn’t materially different from gambling.”

The rising price of gold has put a dramatic dent in jewelry sales, already suffering from the recession. Far fewer customers are looking to buy gold jewelry because of the soaring price, Perry said.

“I think it will just about kill the gold jewelry business” if the price rises and remains above $1,500 an ounce, Perry said. He predicted silver would become the primary metal used in jewelry if gold prices drive customers out of the market.

For the most part, though, demand for gold is coming from investors and speculators, not from people who actually want to use it. Demand for gold for jewelry and for industrial and dental uses was already falling during the second quarter, according to the latest data available from the World Gold Council.

Perry said customers looking to sell their gold should go to dealers with plenty of experience and expect to get, on average, about 70 per cent of the current price. And there are other ways to get into gold than selling family heirlooms.

There are gold funds, publicly traded gold mining companies and gold bullion or coins, depending on what makes someone the most comfortable. No way is certain to be the safest or most lucrative.

And of course, there’s no guarantee the bubble won’t burst.

Gold prices could fall when interest rates rise, the dollar strengthens, or when optimism about the economy takes hold again, as happened briefly the first time gold reached $1,000. If that happens, the damage could be long-lasting: Gold reached $850 an ounce in 1980, then took 28 years to return to that level. (Gold’s peak in 1980 is about $2,300 in 2009 dollars.)

Anyone who’s not sure whether this is a good time to buy can take heart from a Goldman Sachs forecast on Wednesday that said gold prices could reach $1,200 by year’s end. But it’s hard to forget what happened with crude oil prices, which shed more than half their value in less than a year after peaking at $147 a barrel in July 2008.

No one knows when a seemingly unstoppable rally will end badly.

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AP Business Writers Stephen Bernard, Candice Choi and Sara Lepro in New York contributed to this story.

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Can True Believers Wear Jewelry?

Or Are They Going to Be Stuck Forever with Cross Pendants and Olive Wood Rosaries?

One of the most controversial subjects debated in today’s churches is the transfer of culture from classic to contemporary. Some are embracing it with open arms, willingly allowing Christian rock and rap music to fill their youth group rooms and encouraging their adults to get up and dance in the aisles. Others do not. The same questions that are being applied to contemporary Christian music are also being asked of contemporary Christian jewelry. Are cross pendants and olive wood rosaries as far as they go? Or can today’s Christian share their own savvy sense of style without feeling like they’re violating the word of God?

When researching the issue of contemporary Christian jewelry (or really any jewelry) among Christian society you’re going to find a number of viewpoints. For example, did you know that some Christian sects even eschew the practice of wearing a cross pendant around the neck? It is, they claim, the equivalent of strapping on a miniature electric chair and walking around with it prominently displayed.

**For the record, these groups are in the minority. Studies show that Christians began wearing crosses around their neck after crucifixion was no longer considered customary capital punishment. Forthwith it became a symbol of faith and a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice rather than a symbol of death.**

The objection to contemporary (read: adorned) Christian jewelry, and really any jewelry worn by Christians, is that the Bible states that a person’s beauty and value should not rest on their adornments. To care about jewelry and outward appearances is vanity and should be eschewed, restricting Christian society to simple, plain expressions of their faith. There are several Bible verses cited to back this argument up. For example (and this is the one you will find most often repeated if you research this issue online) First Peter states that:

3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

1000
1 Peter 3:3-4.

There are many, many other arguments that have been cited over the course of time to back this argument up, but this verse gets straight to the heart of the matter. God doesn’t care what kind of Christian jewelry, Jewish jewelry or Holy Land jewelry you are wearing. He doesn’t care if you wear the cross or the dove, if it’s etched in gold or cheerfully outlined in leather. What he cares about is why.

So before entering into the jewelry debate take a moment to step back and consider the issue of motivation. Is a person’s jewelry truly a symbol of their faith? Do they have the heart to stand behind the promises made by their accessorizing, or are they just picking up a cool new trend and don’t have a clue what it means? If they have the heart to stand behind the beliefs they’re representing their jewelry becomes much more than jewelry.

It becomes a symbol of the Spirit of the Lord and its touch on all our lives, its presence in the ordinary and the extraordinary and the way that every aspect of our lives, including what we wear, should represent the commitment we’ve made to walk as a Child of God.

By: wwjd4u

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