How to Win the Gold

Diamond is girl's best friend. It’s more precious and valuable than any other stone or metal on the face of the planet. But no matter how precious an iridescent diamond is, it’s not as melodramatic as gold!

Processed pure gold is magnificently shinier and more useful than its multifaceted counterpart. Gold production, from the mining down to the smelting, is a jaw-dropping feat in itself. The value of gold starts its accrual from the production. Variation in manufacturing process spells the difference in luster and quality.

Gold bar: Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The durability of processed gold lasts for generations without losing its luminance, making it an ideal metal base for heirlooms. Recycling gold products is also a brilliant way of conserving, although the quality of the element may decrease when processed with other metals or stone. A single gold necklace, for instance, can be recycled into a bracelet, into a coin, then back to necklace while its composition remains constant all the time. This is the main reason why many gold collectors opt for gold – it is practically inconsumable!

Gold necklace: Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

 The standard measurement of gold quality is by carat which refers to the amount of gold in a certain alloy (the mixture of two or more metals). Since gold is touted to be the most malleable and ductile metal when in its purest form, it is often mixed with other metals to make stronger bonds and harder physical form. This results to a more viable material for commercial production.

Gold Rope: Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The highest carat is 24K. This means that the gold is at its purest. The lower the carat, the lower the gold content is. Carat is often used to qualify finish products like jewelry, dental fixtures, furniture accents and various collectible items.

People who are adept with the ins and outs of the gold market can outright tell the accurate appraisal of a piece of gold. But for first time buyers, picking a commercially sold gold product can be tricky and deceiving. As a rule of thumb, gold's value is determined by its composition. Under economic principles, this most-sought after metal should lose its value as more gold products enter the market. Black market for natural resources is used to bypass this economic principle, resulting to manipulation of price in the international trade.

Gold brick: Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

 In response, regulating bodies, like the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York that holds the largest gold depository in the world, observe practices that are widely regulated to minimize, if not totally control, the price fluctuation. The gold and derivatives market has set trading rules to limit the volume of gold in circulation. Hence, depreciation of value which may result to the meltdown of gold mining industry is avoided.

Gold nugget: Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

 If you plan to buy gold for depository purposes, the advisable forms are bars and coins measured in grams and troy (or kilograms if you’re rich enough!). Selling gold in times of highest appreciation is like hitting the jackpot in the stocks market. However, though it may be wiser to stock gold bars in banks, the value is still not always guaranteed to stay on top as international gold trading is as volatile as the monetary trade.

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James Henry Abrina is an editor, writer, SEO specialist and currently a Corporate Communication Professional, Market Desk Strategist, Business Development Officer and Unit Head for Business Profiles Incorporated.

He currently specializes in security management and business intelligence. Together with the company, he advocates Business Continuity Planning to change how the Philippine business sector sees the definition of crisis response and management.

For more useful information, read his articles at Triond and Masscom Tutor. Or his EzineArticles page.