Is fine jewellery a good investment?
What holds its worth, what does not, and how to buy with both your heart and your head.
In Indian families jewellery has always done two jobs at once. It is adornment, and it is security: the gold a grandmother gives at a wedding is both a blessing and a store of value. We describe our work as immortal art & investment, and I want to be precise about what that means.
Gold is the foundation
The gold in a piece of jewellery carries its value with it. Its worth rises and falls with the gold price, but it does not disappear. This is why purity matters so much. Know the karat you are buying: 22 karat gold is 91.6 percent pure, 18 karat is 75 percent. Insist on BIS hallmarking with a HUID code, which certifies that purity.
Making charges are the price of art
When you buy jewellery you pay for the metal, the stones and the making. The making charge pays for the design and the hours of skilled hands. It is the art in the piece, and it is not usually returned if you sell or exchange it later. That is not a reason to avoid fine work. It is a reason to choose pieces you will love wearing for decades, so that the making is repaid in pleasure rather than in resale.
Stones: rarity is what lasts
Natural diamonds, fine emeralds, rubies and sapphires hold value because they are rare, and the finer and rarer the stone, the better it tends to hold. Their resale value depends on quality, on certification and on the market at the time, so they should be thought of as long-term value rather than a quick return. Keep every certificate and invoice with the jewel.
Buy well, not often
The pieces that hold their worth best are those made honestly: pure gold, natural stones described accurately, and craftsmanship that will survive daily wear. One well-made piece will outlast many fashionable ones, in beauty and in value.
A word of honesty
No jeweller can promise that a piece will rise in value, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What a good jeweller can promise is transparency: the purity, the weight, the stones and the policy for exchange, written down. Buy from someone who will still be there when your daughter brings the piece back to be remade.
That is what we mean by investment. Not speculation, but something of real and lasting worth that also happens to be beautiful.
Questions about a stone or a piece? Message us on WhatsApp or visit the store on Shakespeare Sarani.