Lightweight Jewellery flavour of the season

There arent a lot of jewellery shows happening in the capital. So when Reed Exhibitions came to town with the JCK jewelry exhibition last weekend, you surely cant miss it. The markets in a large part of Delhi remain open on weekends so Monday, being off, seemed the right time to make that beeline for the hall no. 10 in Pragati Maidan.

This was JCKs 3rd edition of their B2B show in Delhi. And if you are wondering about the timing then let me tell you that this is the appropriate time for retailers to replenish their stocks just before the wedding & festive season.

A special note of thanks to the marketing manager of reed exhibitions(yes they understand what role bloggers play) who allowed us to take pictures of the galleries inside the hall. We were told not to take close ups of the jewellery items or the sales staff to which we honestly adhered.

The show featured wholesale jewellery manufacturers from around India and international jewellers from Italy, Dubai and Hong Kong. Gauging from the mood of the exhibitors it was clear that the high gold prices meant most of the jewellery was light weight. And this was visible across the exhibition hall, except for the wholesalers from South India who still displayed chunky jewellery designs from your neckline to midriff.

Another trend visible at the show was the apparent shift of precious metal jewellery from a 'storehouse of value' to a fashion accessory. Especially the Kundan Polki jewellery designs reinforced that paradigm shift from value in favour of design.

We at Kathana Jewellers are taking note of such shifts in consumer trends and appropriately making changes which will reflect in our store this coming diwali of 2008.

In the picture from left to right. Ankur Gupta and Yours Truly Aditya Gupta.

Jewellery Code for Professionals, Angadia and the Economics of Gold Digging

Jewellery Code for Professionals
Are you getting ready for an interview? Not sure what jewellery to wear. As we adopt western attire at work we might as well pick some cues on how jewelry laden one should be. Virginia Tech has a simple guide on Interview Attire with excerpts here(via Jewelry Design Depot).


Jewellery code for Men:
Wear a conservative watch. If you choose to wear other jewelry, be conservative. Removing earrings is safest. For conservative industries, don't wear earrings. Observe other men in your industry to see what is acceptable.

Jewellery code for Women:
Wear a conservative watch. Jewelry and scarf styles come and go. Keep your choices simple and leaning toward conservative. Avoid extremes of style and color. If your industry is creative, you may have more flexibility than someone pursuing a conservative industry.

Angadia: Couriers of the Diamond Industry

If dabbawallas of Mumbai have attracted the attention of western media then angadias are next in line for their jaw dropping reliability in delivering diamonds across India.

Packets of diamonds called 'parcels' in industry lingo are carried on-person by these 'Human couriers' from the diamond hub of Surat and brought to major jewellery markets of India like mumbai, delhi, Kolkata and elsewhere.
For the value even a small diamond carries one would be hard pressed to believe that human couriers with not much of personal safety equipment can deliver reliably every day, every time and every parcel. It might seem archaic in these times to think of transporting these valuable goods without any lock and key but no ones complaining. Read more on JCKonline.


The Economics of Gold Digging
And finally, a must read from NYTimes' Freakonomics blog co-autohored by Steven D. Levitt talks about a different twist to The Economics of Gold-Digging. Enjoy.

Answers to the test

Ok time to go through the answers for the previous test. For the uninitiated its answers to the questions in the post below this one. I remember how I used to feel in my school days where soon after giving the test I would like to know the answers. Friends would huddle together to discuss them, of course now you have the internet to turn to.

One reason to give this test is to see how 'jewellery aware' the visitors or stumblers to this site are. I have no clue how many took the test and how many were even right. With not much actvity in that dept. I guess we are all left with wild guesses to make. I have a better response to the poll that is going on right now. The findings of that poll would be analysed in a post after this one.

So quickly the answers

1) c : there are 5 signs needed to identify a hallmarked jewellery. They are BIS logo, Purity fineness, Assaying or hallmarking centre's logo, Year of hallmarking and finally the jeweller's logo

2) d: the survey found 90% of the ornaments tested for the claimed purity to be grossly deficient in purity. More articles here.

3) b: The corresponding hallmark sign for 18k purity is 750. Want to know whats the sign for other purity levels? Read here

4) a: Hallmarking ascertains the purity of only the gold used in the ornament be it gold jewellery or diamond jewellery.

5) a: A consumer should lose only the making charges on return of gold jewellery.

6) a: Yes diamonds mounted on jewellery are certifiable . Thanks to the opening of diamond grading labs like IGI it is now possible to know the clarity and color of diamonds 'embedded' in gold.

7) b: A certificate by a reputed grading lab like IGI, GIA or EGL only indicates the characteristics based on 4Cs. It doesnt indicate the value of the diamond.

8) a: The 4Cs of a diamond are cut colour, clarity and carat. Diamonds sold with names as white, super deluxe or eye clean are a clever way of hiding the other qualities of a diamond.

Take this test to determine your jewellery quotient.

I have put up an impromptu test for you. Actually I thought of this test yesterday afternoon but decided on questions just now. What better way than this to quickly replenish your knowledge in jewellery 'must knows'. Leave your answers and email ID in the comments section.

Answers to this test will be revealed/explained in the next post. Here it goes:

How many marks does a hallmark jewellery have.
a) 3
b) 4
c) 5
d) 6

A survey conducted by BIS found how much(in percentage) jewellery were deficient in purity claimed
a) 20%
b) 50%
c) 75%
d) 90%

What is the corresponding hallmark for a jewellery made in 18k gold?
a) 916
b) 750
c)585
d) 958

Hallmarking ascertains the purity of
a) Gold
b) Diamond
c) Gemstones
d) Alloy

Best Practise Question: When returning gold jewellery how much does a consumer lose?
a) Only making charges
b) making +10%
c) making +5%
d) Nothing

Are diamonds mounted on jewellery certifiable?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Depends

A certificate of diamond also indicates its value
a) Yes
b) No

The main characteristics of a diamond are
a) Cut, Colour, Clarity, Carat
b) Cut, Colour, Eye-Clean, Carat
c) Shape, Colour, Clarity, Carat
d) Cut , Colour, Clarity, Deluxe quality

Let me give you a hint: Only one choice is correct in the above test.
You can use the internet and our blog to find answers to this test but you wouldn't know your real jewellery quotient then. So don't cheat.
More than one question is India specific and doesn't indicate behaviour/patterns in other countries.

Photo credit jubea via flickr.com

New Poll : Most important aspect when buying Jewellery

Dear Visitors to this blog. We have a new poll displayed on the right column. The poll 'Most important aspect when buying Jewellery' takes into account various reasons people shop at a jewellery store. You can select multiple options if you like.

The results are out. I am listing out the choices and the number of votes they received.

Purity --------7
Designs -------0
Occasion ------1
Gold Price ----1
Certification --2

The results indicated that the most important aspect while buying jewellery was Purity. Some kind of certification for the bought jewellery not just for the gold but also diamonds came in second. The occasion and price of gold tied for the 3rd place. And it seems it didn't matter so much as far as designs are concerned.

I am sure its not the same order for most of the people as jewelers like tiffany's have built business with their exclusive designs. You can be assured of the purity of gold by insisting on a hallmark jeweller. Gold and diamonds have different certification criteria. Gold is certified for its purity using 5 hallmark signs which are laser-carved on the ornament and doesn't come with an explicit certificate from the assay centre while diamonds are graded on 4Cs and should come with certificates from reputed institutions like GIA, IGI, EGL.

Customer Service: Stepping in their shoes

Came across this great youtube video via Himanshu Sheth's blog.



Now, how many businesses do you come across that make that much effort to win new customers or even retain their existing ones?

The Great Chain Festival - May 20th - June 20th

Summer is upon us and the thunderstorms and squalls might provide some relief but delhites know better. Fortunately Gold hasnt take a cue from the searing weather of Delhi. Gold hasnt breached the Rs.12,000 mark for 22k in quite some weeks now. So, you can say that we are celebrating that.

The GREAT CHAIN festival at Kathana is just that. With more that 200 designs in Italian and Handmade Indian chains this festival boasts of designs recently featured in jewellery magazines.
The festival features some very light chain just perfect for summers. Dual color chains with white gold and copper touch in Italian designs look very unique and desirable. Then there are enameled(meena) handmade chains which bring a tinge of colour to the selection.

The Italian chains are 18K gold and Indian ones are 22k gold. Also the festivities will last a month. Though slated officially to launch on May 2oth our blog visitors get to know in a little in advance

A special note of thanks to all our sales staff for banding this all together just in time, given just 2 weeks of notice to select design and place orders.

Sone Pe Suhaga is 1 year old

Woohoo! we recently completed a year of blogging. What looked like a fad has sustained beyond that. Thanks to all the visitors who keep coming everyday which really inspires me and Ruchika to keep going.

Your numerous questions either on comments of various posts or to the info@kathana.in ID shows there is a lack of credible source of information. And we are filling in those gap in our small way.

As we write, a lot of issues become clear to us and helps us step into the shoes of our customers. Honestly if this didn't happen to us we would be a lot poorer in understanding what drives this business and what consumers want.

This blog has not only grown leaps and bounds by number of posts but also in features, insights and number of visitors.This past year regular readers would have noticed constant changes from introducing feeds to regularly updating gold prices.

Blogging to us has also been a strategic way of getting our word out inexpensively( though it does take a lot of time and energy so its expensive by that measure).

And as we head into Year 2 of our blogging journey we will continue writing about issues that are of relevance to consumers of jewellery especially in India. We would urge you to drop small words of encouragement so we know our efforts are appreciated. Thanks for stopping by.

Akshay Tritiya : Kathana offers gold coins in 5gm and 8gm

Check out our Diwali Festive Offer for 2008 here.

We (Indians) love gold. And if there is a festival which gives us a reason to indulge in it then its surely Sone Pe Suhaga. Akshaya Tritiya is on 8th May and is believed to be a very auspicious day to buy gold. If you want to learn the significance of this based on our Hindu calendar wikipedia is a good place to start.

It could be an opportune moment to buy gold in any form be it jewellery, gold coins or bars for 2 reasons. One,this festival is believed to be a harbinger of good luck and never ending wealth and Secondly, So far gold prices as of today have been among the lowest after reaching upto Rs.13,500 per 10gms.

The gold prices earlier had been a dampener to the sales of every jeweller. If a jeweller says otherwise he/she is lying:) But that momentum fortunately didn't last long and gold prices have tapered just in time for the festival.

At Kathana Jewellers we are offering gold coins in 5gms and 8gms denomination. The coins will be 22k pure and hallmarked.

5 more things you should know when shopping for jewellery

Some homework you should do before you venture out shopping for jewellery. This only intends to make you more informed. Asking the right question will save heart burns later on.

1) 'Extra Charges' to get your jewellery hallmarked.
This is a little more complicated than other myths mentioned here. For jewellers following the BIS standard of hallmarking( you can identify them if they advertise 'hallmark jewellery available here'). After the ornament is manufactured its sent to a BIS certified assay centre to verify its purity( BIS only certifies purity of gold and not the grade of diamonds). This service costs the jeweller a nominal amount of money which is passed on to the consumer as making charges. The assay centre charges a minimum fee whether a jeweller sends 1 item or multiple items. Now if the jeweller only stocks hallmark jewellery then they will send multiple items to the assay centre for verification and subsequent hallmarking stamp. This in effect distributes the charges over multiple items, making it very nominal per item hallmarked.

On the other hand if a jeweller does selective hallmarking or hallmarking on-demand. At this point the jeweller has to pay a minimum charge for a single item of gold/diamond jewellery hallmarked. This is passed on to the consumer. Now when the consumer notices these 'extra hallmarking charges' it is bound to raise suspicion.

Their are 2 ways for consumers here. If its the only jeweller in town who can guarantee a hallmarked item, its better you pay up the extra charges and ensure hallmarked jewellery. If you are in a town/city where you have a choice of other jewellers you should exercise that.

2) After repeated use gold and diamond turns black
A gold/diamond ornament will lose it shine over the years due to dirt, grime, moisture etc. but a normal wash with soap water should bring back the shine on your diamonds and make your gold look almost as good as new. If you see black marks which cannot be removed even after repeated washing. Its an indication that the gold is impure.

3) 100% Lifetime buy back is a trust guarantee.
Though 100% lifetime buy back can be a good thing, it not a guarantee of purity or quality of craftsmanship. Infact it only indicates that the retailer will buy it back for sure. One should always ask how much of your money will you lose on returning. We offer a unique buy back program called 30-Day 100% Money back guarantee. This is very different from 100% lifetime Buy Back Guarantee. Please visit the difference here.

4) (Super)Deluxe Quality Diamonds.
Diamonds are characterized by their 4Cs no matter where you buy them from. They are cut, colour, clarity and carat. But unscrupulous elements will try to sell you home grown names like deluxe quality diamonds, eye clean diamonds etc. Always ask how these (super) deluxe quality diamonds fare against globally recognized 4Cs.

5) No wastage, No Polish:
The simple fact is that manufacture of gold ornament results in wastage and polishing charges. Now most of the time it is clubbed into making charges or price of gold to avoid the consumer knowing it. Any jeweller advertising int he above format could actually make up for it by selling non hallmarked jewellery.

Phot Credit: Davepatten via flickr.com