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- Mar 2, 2009
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Date: 12/30/2009 8:54:24 AM
Author: Chrono
MTG,
That necklace is gorgeous! I have some heirloom stuff too and they are too huge and heavy to wear. When I go ''home'', I always pick up some 24K (99.9%) plain gold bands or some pendants as future gifts for friends and relatives.
Ma Re,
They do have smaller pieces of jewellery in pure gold in Asia. They make teeny tiny pendants, earrings, chains and etc for younger children/teens.
Date: 12/30/2009 4:49:30 AM
Author: ma re
24k is the highest mark and is considered pure gold, but I remember reading somewhere that no gold is 100% pure, cause no one can (due to some refining restrictions) guarantee that anything is 100% pure gold, so it''s allowed to mark various purities as 24k, from 99.9, 99.5 etc., depending on the laws of a country where it''s been sold.
Now about the prices. While in some countries gold really is cheaper than in some other due to the lower cost of labor and/or lower duties, it''s not really so much cheaper. The reason is that in such regions gold is often sold in large pieces so you don''t really have a choice to buy those teeny tiny baby pendants - you can either buy a 50 gram bangle or a 200 gram necklace; so to speak... Someone told me that the lightest gold chain available at Dubai duty free was like 30 grams, so it''s not exactly a cheapy eventhough the price of gold is lower. And higher karatages of gold are much heavier than standard ones (22k is I think almost 40% heavier than 14k), so you also pay more cause the same piece weighs more.
MTG,Date: 12/30/2009 9:17:48 AM
Author: MakingTheGrade
Thanks Chrono! It''s heavy, but not so big that I can''t wear it to a cocktail type party and pair it with a little black dress type of number. It''s definitely not an everyday type of piece though.
And yes! I love the itty bitty baby jewelery! In China it''s customary to bling out babies in little golden chinese padlocks. It''s supposed to protect them from evil spirits. Anyways, I''m probably going to have my mom pick out a small 24k pendant for any future children in their zodiac sign to wear around when they are small. I just think it''s super cute to see little asian babies wearing traditional gold presents.