How is buying from Sigma Jewellers an investment?
Here at Sigma Jewellers, we only use Hallmarked materials that respect the North American Jewelry Hallmark standards. Our entry-level models uses 925 Sterling Silver which is an alloy commonly used in jewelry making. 925 stands for 92.5% Silver. The other 7.5% is composed of Copper. Copper adds hardness to the soft silver making it the perfect hardness to last for a very long time. Though Sterling Silver does tarnish if not worn on a regular basis, it is easily cleanable. When we offer a free yearly cleanup of your piece, we will quench your jewelry in an ultrasonic bath with diluted degreaser to revole oils from the skin. With such technology, the jewelry piece returns to its original shine. At home, many use a toothbrush and baking soda-based toothpaste or soft soaps to clean their Sterling Silver jewelry.
As for gold, its purity is calculated with karats. Not to be confused with precious stone's carats (0.2g). a Karat is a unit of purity that is on a scale of 24. Pure gold is in fact 24/24k which means 100% purity. 100% purity is not industry's standards. Mints certify 99.999% pure on their bullion bars. The most popular gold alloy is 10k gold, as it is the most affordable option on the market. such alloy contains 10/24k = 41.7% gold. To complete this alloy, the remaining 58.3% is composed of pure silver (99.999%). The other two options are 14k and 18k gold. The higher the karat, the more gold you have in your piece. 14k gold is 14/24k = 58.3% gold, 41.7% silver. 18k gold is 18/24k = 75.0% gold, 25.0% silver. The reason why gold is diluted with silver is that 24k gold is way too soft to make a lasting jewelry piece. Over time, the pure gold piece will lose its gold due to scratches, contacts, etc. You wouldn't want to lose any of your gold as it is what gives your heirloom value. In order to add more durability and harness to the gold, silver is added to the gold.
We also offer platinum as an alloy option for our clients. Platinum is extremely durable, and had a beautilul white tint (pale silver). When investing in platinum, you are investing in a piece that will still be worn in hundreds of years from now. Platinum is so durable that it makes it harder to work with, but hard work makes great results. The jewelry industry's standard for platinum is Pt950 meaning that the alloy contains 95.0% Platinum and 5.0% silver. Platinum is denser than gold so although two chains may look the same volume, one will be heavier than the other.
On the bullion market, you can purchase bars of pure Silver, Gold, and Platinum. There is a market price of each metal, that ressembles the stock market. These graphs tell the historical prices of these metals over time. Here are the graphs in Canadian dollar from 1996 to today (May 20th, 2024). The source is from Silvergoldbull.ca:
Gold
Silver
Platinum
As you can see, if you compare the historical prices, each of these metals have gained significant value over time. The prices of these metals are based on a mass of 1 Oz Troy = 31.1g. These are market values. Mints will base their bullion prices on these daily graphs, but will add a premium for publicly available bullion. If you purchase gold from a retail bullion supplier, the premium is even higher. One advantage, is that the more you buy in bulk, the smaller the premium. Buying a 1 kilo bar will have a closer price to the market price than an individual 1 oz bar.
Jewelry making is another class of prices. For each transformation step, the value of the metal goes up. For instance, simply turning a bullion bar into jewelry making wire can double even tripple the pricetag on that oz of precious metal. That is because of labour and operational costs. Here at Sigma Jewellers, we purchase our metal wire premade from Rio Grande, which is United State's largest and most trusted precious metal supplier. Our mission is to eventually expand our workshop to make our own alloys from pure metals, and turn them into wire, saving us a big premium on our material and offering more competitive prices to our clients.
One advantage in purchasing a Byzantine Chain or Bracelet from Sigma Jewellers is that our pieces are very heavy. For instance, the first prototype that was made was made of 925 Sterling Silver. It belongs to our CEO Sebastien Lord. This chain is 26" long, 7.6mm wide and weighs 114.99g. Its pure silver content is 92.5% = 106.37g of pure silver = 3.42oz. A common Figaro Chain weights approximately 20.0g for a 26" chain because it is flat and has a lot of hollow holes. The Byzantine design is an ancient design that is based on chainmail making it very sturdy and difficult to break. It is ideal for people with larger bodies that don't want to break their jewelry on hard labour. The technique combines a serie of 6 weaved jumprings creating its unique design. All these sequences of 6 rings are weaved together to desired length then welded into a secure life-lasting chain or bracelet. The jumprings used to make the design are made from 16 Guage wire (1.29mm) and coiled on a 5mm mandrel giving them a total diameter of 7.6mm with an inner diameter of 5mm. A single Sterling Silver jumpring has a mass of 0.2712g. Gold being denser than Silver, a single jumpring weights: 0.3762g, 0.4146g and 0.4532g for 10k, 14k and 18k gold respectively. 950 Platinum is even denser with a whooping mass of 0.4948g per jumpring. All this to say that according to the alloy that you chose when building your jewelry, the chain's weight will differ, which means that there is even more precious metal in your piece, which means that more metal gains value over time. Hopelly that justifies why some of our models may seem expensive for some people with more restrictive budgets. Below, is a table with all the masses and precious metal content in all our models sizes for the Byzantine Chains and Bracelets:
The prices of the different variables are updated on a monthly basis, meaning that the prices that you are seeing today will be rising over time. The sooner you purchase your custom piece, the more it will gain value over time, and the cheaper it will initially cost you. With precious metals, chances are slim that the prices will go down. You need to see today as an opportunity to purchase because tomorrow isn't. But, on the other hand, today, the value is lower, but if it belongs to you, you are the beneficiary of this rise in value. That is why investing in one of Sigma Jeweller's Bracelets or Chains is an investment. The fact that they are handmade by experienced jewellers in Canada and not imported from cheap Chinese machine-made manufactures makes these pieces a perfect heirloom to pass down from generations to generations.
So let me ask you, do you think that buying from Sigma Jeweller an investment?
I surely do :)
Thank you for reading,
Sebastien Lord
CEO of Sigma Jeweller
Master Jeweller / Metallurgical Technologist
Written on May 20th 2024