I'm thinking about diversifying and investing in precious metals by buying a gold chain. How/where should I buy one...

Is white gold worth less than yellow gold? How important is the karat purity?

A good looking classic piece of jewelry doesn't lose value over time. You can still sell it for the percentage over weight that you bought it for. It's the same with the condition of coins. People will buy it because of how it looks above and beyond the value of the metal weight.

Your ideas are foreign and strange to me, they dont make much sense. I feel this is likely due to a cultural divide, flashy gold / wearable gold is kind of trashy in the west

tried to find the picture of that indian guy with a gold shirt but apparently I didnt save it, oh well

What looks tacky? a simple thin chain beneath a shirt? If you get white gold people probably will just assume it's silver. Is a silver necklace less tacky than a gold one?

Wearable gold is not necessarily flashy. People wear jewelry in "the west" all the time without looking trashy. I'm not talking about "ballin' out". A modest chain isn't much, but can hold a lot more value than someone might suspect.

nigga you did not just post a picture of kanye as an example of not trashy

>I'm thinking about diversifying and investing in precious metals

This is what you lead your post with. You want to invest in precious metals, well paying a significant percentage over spot for superfluous reasons is a poor investment strategy. Then visibly wearing your investment in such a way that is easily lost or stolen doubles down. At this point its not an investment.

I don't carry my gold bars around in my pocket for obvious reasons, why would you pay over spot to carry it around your neck?

See this the "cultural divide" shit
Also please note that when I refer to the west I refer to its european / white roots, not the media propaganda of the last couple decades
So yes buy up some wearable gold so you can climb the social hierarchy of non whites
But as people are telling you here
Its tacky and trashy to some
Mostly whites

>At this point its not an investment

Jewelry has been a good investment since people first figured out how to mine gold. Why is it suddenly dumb in this calendar year? Are you telling me that this is some sort of generational thing like "people don't invest in jewelry like they did 100 years ago"? Good jewelry holds its value it always has this is not some new dumb concept. That's why I'm looking for advice about how to find and buy good jewelry.

Pull up to redlight
Black next to you rolls down the window
"Nice chain"
Cocks pistol

Vs
buy safe
bolt safe to floor
keep bars safe in safe

>Its tacky and trashy to some

If you buy tacky and trashy jewelry it looks tacky and trashy. That's why I'm looking for advice about how to buy good jewelry. You obviously don't have any good advice to offer.

a thin chain underneath a shirt is not going to get noticed by nogs in the car next to me. The way I wear chains she probably won't even notice that I'm wearing it until she does because she's up close. I'm really not trying to show off. A thin chain is like $700. The type that people actually notice are like $3,000, which is not what I'm looking for.

My advice is "dont buy wearable gold and jewlery unless you want to look like a nigger / sand nigger / pajeet"

Considering you seem to be one of the those to begin with, go nuts m8

No they won't. Like everything else second hand jewelry is worth a lot less. How the hell do you think those cash for gold places make their money, don't you watch South Park?

etsy has some interesting and original pieces of jewelry, but they don't always put the weight.

that markup is for their service. Im guessing demand for a regular bar is higher than for a necklace. Unless you plan on selling it to a rapper. Just buy a fake gold neck to get the laddies.

A gold chain is always worth at least it's weight in gold. You can buy a nice piece of jewelry and it will appreciate over time. Why do you think that vintage jewelry sells for so much?? You're just scared because you don't have an eye for good taste.

>Just buy a fake gold neck to get the laddies.
Enjoy your neck turning green and chain corroding at the first tinge of sweat.

Has the cost of a gold necklace gone up or down relative to the underlying price of gold over the past 100 years? Has the cost of jewelry gone up or down compared to the price of the underlying base metal?

If you're serious about obtaining a chain for investment purposes, you should get a Thai baht gold chain (23k) for the lowest possible markup over spot. If you're not able to travel to Asia or a "Chinatown" retail marketplace (or want to haggle in either instance), your best bet is one of the online sellers that focus on this market.

Do you have a source for a graph of this? Or are you actually asking me this?

>Jewelry has been a good investment since people first figured out how to mine gold.

No it hasn't. You're conflating the value of the metals that go into the jewellery with the jewellery itself. The opposite is true, jewellery will always re-sell at well below the purchase rate for several reasons.

1) Markup and tax. Anyone who buys jewellery off you needs to leave enough room to re-sell at a profit. If you buy a $10,000 gold chain, straight away you are going to be down about $2000 as soon as you walk out the door if you want to sell it. Whoever buys it from you later needs to ensure he can make a profit himself.

2) Labor and craftsmanship doesn't appreciate. If you buy a $10,000 chain, it will maybe have $7000 worth of metal in it, the rest is to cover labor+profit+tax for the service. That labor, tax and profit margin does not gain value over time, only the metal.

So you buy a $10,000 .999 cast gold bar and that $10,000 gold chain and the price of gold increase 20%, your cast gold bar is now worth $12,000. Your gold chain has only seen an increase in the $7000 worth of gold in the chain, or $700. So your chain is worth $10,700 and your gold bar is worth $12,000. You just lost potential gains of ~11%

If you want to invest in precious metals, then buy cast bars in as big a size as you can to reduce the price over spot. Buying jewellery to "invest in precious metals" is a VERY inefficient way to invest in metals that will result in significant and unnecessary opportunity costs.

You're not talking about investing in precious metals now, you're talking about investing in antiquities and art which derive their value from very different attributes. "Investing" in jewellery is not investing in precious metals. It's just investing in jewellery with the metal content only being one of several attributes that define its value and it's still a poor investment vehicle.

I'm asking. Vintage jewelry sells for a lot.

14kt 13.3g Yellow Gold 20" Link Chain = $575

gold = 41.1 x 13.3g = $546

$575 - $546 = $29

Why am I not going to be able to sell the chain again for $575 exactly? It will always be worth more than the price of gold.

Certain pieces of jewelry, sure. But this is the same mindset people have with antiques, "it's old so it's valuable". No it isn't. As the other user said it falls under a whole other category and is subject to a whole new series of criteria.

Don't expect any old piece of jewelry to be worth much.

That's a 14kt chain you dip. 14kt is only 53% gold content

14kt = $23.81/gram

$23.81 x 13.3g = $316.50

That chain your paying $575 for only has $316 worth of gold in it.

That's why I'm asking where/how to get the good shit. Obviously you don't know.

People who will buy it will either pay scrap vallue (about $319I think). Or they will buy it as a second hand piece of jewelry. And again no one will pay you your original investment for your second hand chain. They would just buy a new one.

That doesn't change the fact that the chain will always be worth more than the price of the base metal weight. Good real jewelry is worth as much as you can sell it for. How did the people selling it buy it for cheaper exactly?

No I don't know since I am not into the whole art and design scene.

Best bet is to just look at famous designers today and see if they have limited series or something.

Why are you so hell bent on this terrible investment anyway?

Wow thanks for reminding me I have a very small 22kt necklace that my family got me. Keep it stashed away super safely to the point where I forget it exists. Hodl forever.

You got a lot of good answeres here, but thought i'd chime in since i'm a goldsmith.

I sell lots of gold to folks, but at a serious markup. Because, I put hours of work into it. If you only want money, just buy bars or coins. If you want to have some art, buy jewlery from a mom and pop. If your a total faget, buy from some big box store and enjoy your normie status.

Here's a Men's 14k Solid Yellow Gold Rope Chain Link Necklace 20" 21.5 grams on ebay.

ebay.com/itm/Mens-14k-Solid-Yellow-Gold-Rope-Chain-Link-Necklace-20-21-5-grams-3-5-mm-/172865530116?hash=item283f96a904:g:q~8AAOSw81dZurDD

I might not make a profit, but I can still sell it on ebay again for the price I paid for it.

What?

>Buy chain for $500
>Sell chain for $400
>$100 loss.

Or are you seriously expecting to sell it for $500 or more?

>hell bent
>diversification

Then just buy bars or coins. Why a fucking chain?

Is a silver necklace with gold plating smarter or dumber?

>my investment might not make a profit

Then it is a poor investment and the fact that there is a much higher (most likely) chance that you wont make a profit compared to just buying precious metals, its a terrible investment. Which is exactly what every.single.person in this thread is trying to explain to you for which you're hellbent on ignoring.

20 posts and counting of you dismissing all logic and conventional wisdom trying to explain to you why buying jewellery as an investment vehicle is a terrible idea.
If all you want is to confirm your existing bias then fine, go buy a gold chain. Absolutely nothing can go wrong and Im sure you'll make a lot of money in the future