Gold is it a bargain in Turkey?

[Jacqui Harvey]

I can tell you there was not a lot of workmanship in this piece, a small gold chain with some blue glass eyes. I would happily have given a profit, but not an over inflated one.
If an item of gold or silver is not Hallmarked in Great Britain, it has to be sold as either Yellow Metal or White Metal by law.  So if you tell an Auction to sell your gold unhallmarked watch as gold they will not do it, because they will be breaking the law.
I also have a gold watch Rotary watch(hallmarked) I paid £175.00 for secondhand two years ago in Scotland.  I had it into a Jewellery shop for a slight repair and was told this watch would cost £900.00 new.  However, being told something is worth a certain price, or even getting an insurance valuation at this price is no guarantee of the price you will get when it's sold.

[Jeannie]

My friend had a white gold bracelet made from   Onur's with 8 diamonds in it , she was never happy with it and decided to have it melted down with a lot of other jewellery she didn't wear at a jewellers  I have used for over 20 years here in the UK, when it was done she was told there were only 2 real diamonds in the bracelet!! She was horrified to say the least, while I was there in Calis I confronted the jeweller and he denied any knowledge of it although several people were witness to the order and purchase of the bracelet she was not given any paperwork.

[ringo]

I purchased two wedding ringe in turkey and they are both hallmarked.

[nichola]

I am shocked to hear the story of Jeannie's friend 

Doğan says he has heard this sort of story before to which I am doubly shocked    to think this may not have just been a one off bad jeweler

[stoop]

I would recommend anyone who intends to buy diamond jewellery to look at the link below and get familiar with the 3 c's. Clarity, Cut and Colour.

Cut usually determines how the stone reflects the light. The deeper the cut the more it does so and the more it costs. Not that easy to check without an eye glass.

Clarity is easy to check. There is a chart which shows what, for example, a diamond with VS1 should look like and explains it in simple terms. Basically if you ask the jeweller to borrow his loupe (eye glass) with a VS1 diamond you should just about be able to see some inclusions (bad - quite often small black marks in the stone but can be clouding also). If you see lots then it is probably a lower grade stone (S1 or I) and you should question the information they are giving you. If you cannot see any inclusions then it's either a flawless stone (which is quite rare and would be reflected by it's high price) or a fake.

Colour is again sometimes personal choice, if, for example you want a champagne or other fancy colour. However the most expensive ones are the ones that appear colourless.

I would recommend taking a copy of the chart with you as well as I have seen doctored ones in Turkey. I once questioned the clarity of a VS1 diamond as it was quite badly included and was at best an SI1 or SI2. The jeweller then showed me a chart which was very different from the official one I had at home.

Personally I would buy a loupe off ebay for about a fiver and practice with your stones at home. It's quite interesting to see the insides of the diamond and you will probably be gob-smacked at how much soap and crap your rings pick up!

ops - forgot the link

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000062973

[philrose]

I think it's also worth noting that in Fethiye gold is a lot more expensive than in other Turkish area's. So if your selling come to Fethiye but if your buying go to Istanbul...

[Carpete]

Also check the prices regarding the k of gold. A shop in Fethiye priced me at 90tl  per gram for a 7 gram bracelet (plus a sum for workmanship) which would have been correct  BUT only if the gold was 24 K!!! It was 14 so it was almost half that in reality as 14k was 53 tl. Buyer beware!
I shall stick to the UK for long term security of resale value.
Carpete

[micky mouse]

Not all gold is hall marked infact i recently took two items to the jewellers to prove they were gold by getting a acid test on them proved to be 9ct gold,gave me receite cost £5 per item,so how would i get on if i was to sell them if unmarked gold is sold as yellow or white metal?Also  i recently sold a chain that i purchased in chalis 10years ago paying £200 for it then on ebay 33grams 14k received £802 now thats a good profit in my books although i agree turkish gold is alot dearer than in the uk.

[Jacqui Harvey]

Mickey that was a terrific price from Ebay. If this was a melt price today's live price for 14ct Gold is £19.23 per gram.  This makes £634.9 for 33g.
So £802 was wonderful, someone must have bought it to wear and not melt.  Think they will have to keep it a while before it gets to it's gold value.
Must take a look at Ebay when I get my next piece of gold