Understanding Fine Jewelry Prices

Standard retail fine jewelry stores apply a 200% - 300% markup on real gold, platinum, or sterling silver jewelry to cover their overhead costs, like mall leases, sales commissions, and marketing. 

Kuvera Jewelers 

In contrast, weight-based jewelers price their jewelry on the literal gram or pennyweight (dwt) of the precious metal plus a transparent labor fee, rather than a fixed retail sticker price. This practice is deeply rooted in Indian, Middle Eastern, and Asian bullion jewelry cultures, where gold is both (1) a wearable asset and (2) a direct measure of value.

Unlike Western luxury or fashion brands that charge a"brand tax,” of 300% plus, traditional weight-based pricing follows a transparent formula that is spelled out for consumers: 

Net Weight in Grams of Metal x Real-time Market Price + Labor.

Direct-to-consumer (DTC or D2C) is a business model in which a brand sells its products directly to the buyer, bypassing third-party wholesalers, distributors, or traditional retailers. Magnolia on the right →

A growing tier of direct-to consumer (DTC) brands and traditional weight-based jewelers bypass the middleman to keep markups to a minimum, ensuring a customer's money goes toward the price of the metal and real craftsmanship rather than for a luxury name.

6 Notable Weight-Based Jewelry Retailers include:

Bijouterie Minted

1) Menè - The retailer is famous for its “radically transparent pricing.” It sells 24k gold and platinum by carat weight. "Every product page has a live calculator showing the exact breakdown of the daily precious metal value + the cost of design or labor."

2) Bijouterie Minted: Based in Montréal, Bijouterie Minted scales solid 14k–22k gold jewelry purely by weight tied to its live market rates. The shop ships a complimentary digital scale with a customer's order so we can verify the weight at home.

3) Magnolia Jewelers: Focuses entirely on pure metals and avoids gemstones. Pieces are "priced by weight with a clear and transparent manufacturing premium.”

4) Kuvera Jewelry: Offers solid 24K gold rings, bands, and chains with pricing directly tied to the metal mass.

Quince

5) Quince Fine Jewelry: Known for offering high-quality, ethically sourced and recycled 14k gold and lab-grown diamond jewelry at transparent factory-direct prices (in addition to its gold-plated stock, so pay close attention to which one you’re ordering).

Mejui

6) Mejui is another DTC fine jewelry brand that focuses on sustainable, accessible luxury using recycled 14k gold and sterling silver with ethically sourced natural and lab-grown gemstones at fair markups. Again, avoid ordering from its gold-plated silver line a/k/a gold vermeil, if seeking 14k gold fine jewelry.

The following section comes from various sources, gathered not from my personal experience, but by a Google search. I haven't bought jewelry on the Asian market but I know owning real gold jewelry is important to wealthy Asian families. By tradition, an Indian bride’s jewelry is part of her dowry. Investors and serious expert jewelry buyers might buy jewelry from Asian jewelers including these:

Consider the details below in quotation ...

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Indian Jewelers & Bullion

Indian jewelers focus heavily on 22-karat yellow gold, intricate temple designs, bridal sets, and gold as an investment.

Joyalukkas: A premier international brand with a strong presence in the US, offering a wide range of traditional 22K gold and diamond collections.
Aabhushan Jewelers: Known for carrying extensive Indian 22K gold jewelry, certified diamonds, and silver items.
Local Hubs: In the New York and Manhattan area, shoppers frequently look to Jackson Heights in Queens or specialized districts for authentic regional craftsmanship.

Middle Eastern Jewelers & Bullion

Middle Eastern jewelry traditions emphasize rich 21K and 24K gold, heavy solid gold cuffs, custom nameplates, and bullion coins.

Yasini Jewelers: Specializes in high-karat gold including 18K, 21K, 22K, and 24K jewelry, bullion, and custom Arabic nameplates.
Taj Gold & Diamond Jewelers: Focuses on authentic 21K and 22K gold jewelry imported from Dubai, featuring traditional and modern Middle Eastern and South Asian styles.
Baladna Jewelers: Offers 18K to 24K gold pieces alongside domestic and international gold bullion and custom 3D designs.

Asian & East Asian Jewelers

East Asian and broader Asian markets emphasize high-purity 24K (999.9) gold pieces, jade, and intricate cultural motifs.

Chinatown Districts: Local storefronts in Manhattan and Queens feature specialized Chinese and East Asian jewelers dealing in 24K solid gold pieces, bangles, and jade artifacts.

Queen of Hearts Jewelry

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Readers, I hope you have a better understanding of how fine jewelry is priced, and it helps you get good value for the money.

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6 Better Hot Dogs

Frankly, my family doesn’t usually eat hot dogs for dinner. My practice is to buy a pack of hot dogs to toss into the freezer and add 2-3 sliced, pan-grilled links to beans or my quick vegetable meal. But a friend nudged me to eat a hot dog this past July 4th. She thought it was patriotic, so now I’m hooked on better hot dogs!

To my surprise, the price of hot dogs has risen a lot at the supermarket. No more messing around buying turkey or chicken hot dogs for the lower fat content, calories (about 80 per dog), or price for me! They too have gotten more expensive! From this day forward, I’m going for the better-tasting all-beef (accepting 130 calories; 160 is pushing it) per hot dog.

Since the cost of a package of 8 hot dogs at the supermarket is often well over $5, I headed straight to Fairway Market and bought the very best ~ Black Bear Natural Casing Beef Franks ~ a 40 oz package for $16.72; that’s 16 slightly bigger hot dogs in a package. I tossed 15 hot dogs in my freezer for later meals, eating one hot dog right away (of course with mustard and sauerkraut).

The natural casings have a snap I had all but forgotten about that the turkey and chicken hot dogs lack!

Still, I’m no foodie, so when I must buy hot dogs at the supermarket for convenience, the following brands are 100% beef with a well-balanced smoky and spicy profile: Nathan’s Famous Coney Island or Nathan’s Angus Beef, Boar’s Head Beef Frankfurters, and Sabrett’s Skinless Beef Frankfurters.

Reportedly, Costco’s Kirkland Signature Beef Hot Dogs are quite good too, although personally I’ve never eaten one. I do trust what customers say enough to include it here, and one day I have to try one as a tagalong with a Costco shopper.

Nowadays, hot dogs cost almost as much as other meats, so you might as well go for the best! No point in skimping on calories, fat content, or cost! When you decide to eat one, THE SAVVY SHOPPER recommends going all in.🙂

🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭

Dietitians rate Applegate Organics’ Uncured Beef Hot Dogs as the healthiest option on the market - another brand I’ve never tried. It’s relatively low in sodium, fat, and calories per link, but its still a hot dog ~ processed meat!

Feel free to tell us about your favorite hot dogs.

Making German Sauerkraut

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Making German Sauerkraut

These containers are great for stacking in a refrigerator.

Sauerkraut and mustard are delicious on a beef hot dog. I overruled a bossy friend who insisted I put Sabrett’s sweet-ketchup-onion topping on my hot dog. To each his own, but no, no, no, no, no, not on mine!

At home, I prefer canned sauerkraut to supermarket bagged refrigerated sauerkraut. The canned is blanched, so less raw in texture and less sour. I like the sour toned down a notch so it complements and doesn’t dominate the other paired food, like potato salad or pork chops.

Our favorite sauerkraut comes in jars from Germany, which is more costly (about $8 - $12 a jar) since it's imported.

Recently, using a medium head of cabbage (at 99¢/lb), I made my own batch of sauerkraut to see if I could match the German Sauerkraut in a jar. You only need 2 ingredients to make it: shredded cabbage and salt. You have to wonder why all forms of sauerkraut, including canned, have doubled in price. 

My recipe follows:

German Sauerkraut

Ingredients:

cabbage, a medium-large head, shredded

1 1/2 tablespoons of non-iodized salt (I used pink Himalayan.) 

Although you should keep sauerkraut simple, you can add optional flavors or textures to your batch if you wish --

Optional: I sprinkled in bay leaf powder (or 3 bay leaves work). I diced a carrot just to add color to the kraut. Some people like to toss in garlic or caraway seeds, which I didn’t do.

Directions:

4 days of fermenting

1) Mix the shredded cabbage and salt thoroughly. I used a fork and didn’t massage it. What am I, a masseuse? You can taste it to know if the salt is incorporated throughout.

2) Pack the sauerkraut into glass jars or food-grade plastic containers. 

3) Let it sit at room temperature for 7 days to 4 weeks. No need to add water, as the salt draws the water out, turning it into a pickled juice.

My sauerkraut, weighing 2 pounds, is fermenting and starting to look like sauerkraut. How exciting that it's coming along without effort! I don’t aim to go into the sauerkraut business, but it’s great to know where your food comes from and what goes into making it! We’ll use this batch as condiments whenever we need a bit of sour and crunch, like on Fairway’s beef hot dogs. Fermented sauerkraut keeps in the refrigerator.

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Eye Candy Friday: Cartier, LeVian and Van Cleef & Arpels

LeVian: Rarest Blue-Green Paraiba Tourmaline Gemstone

High jewelry is always fun to see, whether it's due to the spectacular design of top jewelers or the clean, heirloom-quality gemstones. What’s not to like? Well, the price, which has so many zeros that regular wage-earners can’t afford to buy it. At least we are spared the temptation, right? And we can be inspired to find budget-friendlier pieces that give us the characteristics we find attractive. 

Cartier’s Pathère Collection of white and yellow diamonds, or diamonds and emeralds

Nonetheless, never buy the so called more affordable lines from Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, or Bulgari, etc., etc, etc., because these same luxury brands that craft the high jewelry we admire charge inflated prices for their lesser lines, and you’ll pay thousands of dollars mainly for the names alone, not for the amount of gold or the quality of gemstones you’ll get. LeVian is the exception, as it sells its lower-end consumer-grade jewelry at major department stores such as Macy’s, which also runs its own sales.

The center vivid yellow diamond weighs 10 carats.

One place where you don't pay the inflated markup charged by the luxury brands named will surprise you. Costco! The discount retailer applies a low markup of roughly 14% to 15% on its fine jewelry. Unlike at Harry Winston, Cartier, or Van Cleef & Arpels, at Costco you’re paying for the gold, gemstones, and a small markup to keep the lights on, not a 500% markup for a fancy box, tissue paper, and a name.

Costco sells real gold and sterling silver. In the USA, real gold is regulated by stamps that state its purity, either by karat designation or fineness number (representing parts per 1000 of pure gold, and you will see these marks on fine jewelry at Costco):

- 24K (999): 99.9% pure gold (24 out of 24 parts)
- 18K (750): 75% pure gold
- 14K (585): 58.5% pure gold
- 10K (417): 41.7% gold, which is the minimum karat allowed to be sold as "solid gold" in the United States. 

Likewise, real sterling silver is marked 925 (92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metal to harden it) in the USA.

So now let’s ogle the very expensive high jewelry pieces and cute leopard.

LaVian Neon Blue Paraiba Tourmaline™

All images are from the respective jewelers’ ads or websites. Google the name of the collection for more information on the pieces. A look is all I need today since buying them is as out of the question for a Savvy Shopper as petting that pretty predatory leopard: "Goodness, what big teeth you have!"🐆

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I Learned About Scented Geraniums

Photo by Jenny Dettrick/Getty Images on Real Simple here

I have one plant in my apartment, a golden pothos, and it almost takes care of itself. All I have to do is water it every Sunday, but if I forget, it continues to live. It can live anywhere in a home, in or out of the sunlight. Still, it thrives when placed by a window to get partial sun.

My Golden Pothos

As potted plants have died over the years, I’ve lost interest in having them, although I still think they’re pretty.

Today I learned of the existence of Scented Geraniums. Here’s the article. Three characteristics make them appealing: (1) They don’t require a lot of care, (2) they smell like roses, pine, chocolate, apples, or strawberries, and (3) they keep pests away!

It’s enough to make a suburban homeowner want to buy scented geraniums to grow both inside and outside their house!🪴🪴🪴

Photo: soniabonet/Getty Images in R S 

Here in Manhattan, the city of concrete, our municipal government controls pests with pesticide sprays. I have the luxury of not needing plants for pest control. I think of Central Park, Carl Schurz Park, or Riverside Park as my backyard. Next time I go to the park, I’ll look to see if any scented geraniums have been planted by paid park gardeners or volunteers. Scented geraniums are lovely and fascinating! I want to smell them.🪴

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Temu's Storage Temptations

I bought this and had to position it on one side under my kitchen sink, away from the pope due to where the pipe was installed. Still works. $10 bucks and not for excessive weight.

In February 2023, I featured Temu, the bargain Chinese website of practical household and garden goods, beauty and personal care tools, bedding, apparal and odds and ends for cheap. You can read that blog here. Temu isn’t a scam, but a legitimate Chinese e-commerce company with an office and warehouse in Boston, Massachusetts. I’ve ordered some inexpensive merchandise that, once upon a time, US customers might have found at Woolworths, Odd-Job Trading, Big Lots, or five-and-dime stores.

Although Temu lets customers return things, personally I’d only order low-priced articles that you can afford to eat the cost of if they didn’t work out. Returns are a hassle. I selected low-risk items I'm happy with, like a silicone mat, a silicone adult bib for my senior mom, mini jewelry boxes, a long steel shoe horn, cable ties with snaps, and flexible rubber spiral wrap cord protectors.

Frequently, I ogle the organizing and storage merchandize for tight spaces since I like everything in my home organized and to have a place of its own. I’ve come to believe that my superpower is misplacing things in my own home. Frankly, I could lose anything at any time after I touch it! If I don’t create a spot for my things and train myself to put them back, I spend endless time circling my apartment to find where I left objects like my house keys, a cell phone, a remote control, or a pen and paper. It gets ridiculous! To spare myself endless frustrations and wasted time, I’m forced to be organized!

Moreover, lead me not into Temu’s storage temptations! The e-retailer has tons of organizers and storage choices for every room. I’ve picked out 5 to feature today. 

It costs less to manufacture goods in China because of lower wages. Trade between nations is good for both countries. Customers can expect good prices and reasonable shipping times. Still order mindfully!

Click this link to see this slim storage cabinet (here in 2 sizes) slide.

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Keeping Produce Fresh

Photo and more info from USDA - here.

We eat a variety of fruits and vegetables in my home as part of a healthy diet. A confession: I wash and refrigerate potatoes and refrigerate onions, which we’re not supposed to do. The reason why: I have a Manhattan-size, not a suburban-size kitchen, so I lack a cool dark place to store a bag of produce, and if I had to buy one potato or onion at a time, I'd lose the motivation to cook. I dislike having a job before I start a job!

Not including the above compromises, I try to follow as closely as possible the ways experts tell us to keep produce fresh. But it gets confusing. Certain fruits and vegetables release ethylene, a natural gas that speeds up ripening. Let’s learn which ones.

High-ethylene produce includes apples, bananas, kiwi, avocados, tomatoes, and peppers. What the USDA calls ethylene-sensitive produce includes leafy greens, mushrooms, broccoli, cabbage, and cucumbers. If we mix high-ethylene produce with ethylene-sensitive produce in the same crisper drawer, they will spoil sooner rather than later.

We’re supposed to keep apples, bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, avocados, potatoes, and onions at room temperature, but I don’t -- except to let avocados or bananas ripen at room temperature -- before tossing them into the refrigerator. Immediately, you can refrigerate berries, leafy greens, cauliflower, green onions, mushrooms, and peas.

Ways to make fresh produce last longer include storing the high-ethylene produce and ethylene-sensitive produce in 2 separate crisper drawers. There’s usually a slide knob on the outside of each crisper drawer to set for high- or low-moisture produce also. Plus I bought thin plastic bins to store like produce together, which I place outside on the shelves of my refrigerator since all my produce won’t fit into my crisper drawers. I also have refrigerator liners, which absorb moisture inside the refrigerator to some extent. Moisture and poor air circulation greatly contribute to food spoilage.

Food experts tell us not washing produce keeps them fresh longer (which frankly I also ignore). I wash berries, leafy greens, and a stalk of celery before tossing them in my refrigerator. Remember, I dislike having a job (washing celery or potatoes) before starting a job (cooking ). Washing produce also keeps my refrigerator and refrigerator liners cleaner. 

Often I slice or dice and freeze celery, peppers, and mushrooms to keep them from spoiling. Mostly I buy bags of frozen peas and mixed vegetables (diced carrots, peas, green beans, and corn) instead of fresh peas or mixed vegetables. 

Once produce like an onion or apple is cut, I store it in a Rubbermaid plastic food container, not plastic wrap, as I’m slightly afraid of the chemicals in plastic wrap touching the food.

Photo: Dreamtime free royalty image

What my family loses by my storing produce such as potatoes or onions in our refrigerator instead of at room temperature is some flavor, but not enough flavor that we detect it. Certainly we’d notice a difference if we had the luxury of farm-fresh produce, but we don’t. (Sometimes the freshness of supermarket produce is also questionable.) We deal with the compromises of city life. Our main objective is to get healthy food into our pie-holes before it welts, tastes bad, grows eyes, stems and fuzz, or decays! At least we’re eating a variety of imperfectly stored produce rather than not eating produce or rotted produce, right?

Do you have any hacks for keeping produce fresh?

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