Retail focus shifts east: the rise of India and China Around 50% of the gold produced today becomes jewellery, so most of the world’s retailing in gold is driven by the jewellery trade. By comparison, other products containing gold, such as mobile phones and computers, account for a relatively small proportion of gold retailing. In fact, all industrial uses (excluding jewellery manufacture) account for only about 11% of the annual demand for gold, with the remaining 29% of total demand coming from governments and private investors alike.

In 2010, the world consumed 2,017 tonnes of gold jewellery, which was valued at approximately $79 billion.

Women drive Indian gold consumptionRapid growth in the economies of India and China has been accompanied by an equally rapid increase in demand for gold jewellery in those countries. Today, India is the world’s largest market for gold jewellery, representing about 746 tonnes of gold in 2010; an increase in volume year on year of 39.5%. This reflects both the increased wealth of the country and the huge cultural and social significance of gold among Indians, and particularly Indian women.

Indian women are estimated to hold about 18,000 tonnes of gold in jewellery form. When contrasted with the 8,600 tonnes estimated to be in the US national gold reserve, this illustrates both the scale of the demand for gold jewellery in India and the massive purchasing power of Indian women. It also signifies the cultural significance of gold in India, where it plays an important role at weddings and other celebrations.

China is the fastest-growing market for gold jewellery in the world; it grew 20.5% in volume in 2010, accounting for 400 tonnes of demand. More than 80% of gold jewellery in China is made from pure 24 carat gold.

High-value gifts dominate US retailingNotwithstanding the rise of India and China, the US remains one of the world’s most significant consumer markets. In 2010 it accounted for 129 tonnes of gold in jewellery. US consumers value gold jewellery for its beauty and for sentimental reasons, while also recognising it as a long-term investment. More than 50% of the total value of gold jewellery at retail is created by pieces over $1,000.


http://www.goldfacts.org/en/supply_chain/retailing/ 

Soviet Gold and Silver Jewelry is becoming a highly valuable commodity. These unique items are no longer viewed as antiques or simple jewelry. On the contrary, they are perceived as a profitable stock that is about to experience a market boom. Investors are interested in this new opportunity because of high returns - Soviet Gold grew over 300% in the last 4 years almost doubling the growth of gold bullion.  Collectors are also, more than ever, interested in Soviet Gold and Silver for the same reasons. The point that should be made here is this – it is the beginning for a big Soviet Gold and Silver Hype. When it starts it will not longer matter that it is gold or collectible, what will matter is that Soviet Gold is a rare valuable resource that is being depleted and there is money to be made. Once it is viewed as rare valuable resource on which money can be made everyone will jump in, mom and pops, investors, collectors, bankers, all will jump in into this market. Virtually everyone will find the little niche where they can make money because of quickly growing prices. Because these prices are already going up while Soviet Jewelry is only decreasing in availability, all necessary conditions for a big buy hype are emerging. 

Most of the Soviet Gold that’s available in North America and Europe is primarily from immigrants who left USSR in the 1950-90s. That’s it! Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, perhaps the largest potential suppliers have strict export laws that prohibit export of gold valuables in large amounts. This results in market conditions where all available gold in America and Europe will be soon scooped up by investors and collectors. Do keep in mind that collectors in Russia and former Soviet Republics will not just quietly stand by, they have news as well, and as previous years shows, they pick-up on western collecting habits very quickly. This means only one thing, The Soviet Gold and Silver Rush is about to start and when it does prices on this rare commodity will jump high. 

www.goldbulletin.org
                                                                                                                                   
"Gold jewellery produced in the old Soviet Union is becoming one of the most promising, although still largely overlooked, markets for collectors of antiquities, it has been claimed. 

Writing for News-Antique, Dmitry Tamoikin said Soviet-era art is already breaking records, with many pieces fetching millions at auction. 

Soviet jewellery is on the cusp of a similar boom in popularity because of its historical background, high quality, unique design and rarity. 

However, like Soviet art, much of the interest in Soviet gold jewellery is coming from outside of Russia and the former member states of the USSR. The United States currently has the biggest market for such pieces, followed by the European Union, China, Japan and Australia. 

Despite this "narrowing market" where savvy collectors are snapping up all the pieces they can find, there are still opportunities for investors to acquire "incredible items" at reasonable prices, Mr Tamoikin noted. 

"Regardless of any personal feelings towards the Soviet regime, the historical and cultural importance of jewellery created in that era cannot be denied," he added. 

Mr Tamoikin is one of the men behind the Tamoikins Museum, which developed the world's first universal appraisal system for art, antiquities and other collectibles."

Tuesday, 1st September 2009
http://www.goldbulletin.org/news/209/09/01/story/12855/soviet_gold_a_promising_market_for_collectors/ 

Political systems come and go, but gold always outlasts them all... Originally issued in 1923 under the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic government, the chervonetz trade coinage carried the same gold content as previously found in the 10 roubles coins minted from 1898-1911 under Tsar Nicholas II. Somewhat following the tradition of the British Sovereign, beginning in 1975 the government of the U.S.S.R. (CCCP) drew upon the classic RSFSR (PCOCP) design (albeit with modern dates) as the form for production of bullion-type coinage to compete in the world with the South African Krugerrand bullion coinage that was growing in popularity. You may recall, an act of Congress had taken effect so that 1975 marked the first year since 1933 that it was again lawful for Americans to enjoy ownership of gold bullion, and the gold price at that time climbed from $42 to nearly $200.

Looking back with the comfort of hindsight, the Cold War may have frozen your nerves, but this gold coinage will surely warm your heart -- an interesting token of modern history, demonstrating how substance triumphs over form as the contained gold value withstood the collapse of both the government and its currency.

In 1937, the USSR astonished the world with its jewelry. At the International Exposition of Art and Techniques in Paris, they presented a map of the Soviet Union, made of rubies, diamonds, amethysts and other gems.  

The map was made in the style of the Florentine mosaic and it was beautiful. It had a weight of 3.5 tons and contained over 4.5 thousand precious and semiprecious stones. It took 667 workers just 11 months to create it, which shows how much they all worked. Apart from the map, they made precious national emblems of all the republics of the USSR, except Moldavia and Baltic republics. Large cities were marked with precious stones framed in gold. Leningrad was marked with an alexandrite; the North Pole was marked with a diamond. Moscow was marked with a ruby star with a hammer and sickle, made of 17 diamonds. The map had been exposed at the Hermitage Museum up to 1988 (it was also shown in NY and Paris). They say that during WWII, Stalin prohibited selling the exhibits of the museum in order to purchase weapons categoracally, even though a lot of people suggested him to do that. Now the map is being restored, and soon you’ll be able to see it in Russian Research Geological Institute. 

http://englishrussia.com/2011/11/03/the-precious-map-of-the-ussr

New exhibition "Jewelry industry of the USSR in 1930s-1970s" opened at Moscow's State Historical Museum on November 1. The jewelry, which Soviet people used to purchase for others and themselves, differed a lot from piece works by experimental jewelry factories. However, the popular Soviet jewelry was relatively inexpensive and relatively beautiful.

Needless to say that a few people in the Soviet Union could afford diamonds. However, a gold watch, for example, was never perceived as something outrageously expensive and very prestigious.

Tatiana Sizova, the author of the exhibition, told Pravda.Ru that the exhibits at the show are not just the examples of Soviet jewelry.

"The exhibits that we have here are samples of the massive industrial production. These are items of every-day beauty. Nothing of what you can see here was ordered with jewelry artists. All of these things were produced at the special workshop of the Moscow experimental factory or at special workshops of other large enterprises, where rare products were made. We have other, more traditional exhibits too - diamond and sapphire rings, gold brooches, malachite from Ural, and other things - but they do not make the center of the exhibition.

"The industrial jewelry items, which common Soviet people wore every day, is much more interesting. All of them are not hand-made - they were made with the help of machines, mechanical devices and so on. Any Soviet citizen could afford this type of jewelry. People could even afford gold watches because they were considered comfortable for wearing and relatively inexpensive. All earrings, charms, brooches, sets of earrings and rings, necklaces with ambers, silver, glass and even plastic, were quite affordable for many. It's important to see the difference between a sapphire platinum ring made by the First Experimental Plant and a ring made by another Moscow factory in a stamping shop - a silver ring with crystal or any other ornamental stone. A jewelry item like that cost 60 rubles, whereas the monthly salary of a Soviet engineer was 120 rubles.           
                                                                                                                          
01.11.2010
Anastasia Rogova 
Pravda.Ru
http://english.pravda.ru/history/01-11-2010/115608-soviet_jewelry-0/