Whenever you plan to buy gold, it is important that you keep in mind certain things like a credible seller, the quality and purity of gold, the current rates of gold and the fluctuating trends of market. Buying gold should not be an impulsive decision because one has to be careful while buying it and consider the above mentioned characteristics.

People either buy gold for personal use like jewellery; gifts etc. or they buy it for investment purposes. Whatever the purpose of buying gold is, it should only be bought from an authentic and credible source. You can easily be fooled by frauds who may sell you fake pieces as gold.

Gold occurs in its natural and purest form when extracted from its ores. Pure gold is rated as 24 karat gold and it is priced against the US Dollar on daily basis. This form of pure gold is converted into bars, coins or bricks of different weights ranging from a few grams to kilograms.

This type of gold is sold and bought for investment purposes, and each gold bar, coin or brick is engraved with ‘999′ symbol or stamp, indicating its purity. Only licensed companies can engrave this on gold bars and this is the main sign that you should look for when buying gold for investment purpose.

Gold for investment purpose is also sold in the form of 22k and 18k in the market. Their prices are relatively lesser than 24k gold. The daily fixed prices of 22k and 18k are also rated and when you buy gold, make sure that you are aware of the actual prices. Usually there is no bargaining when you buy pure gold, but if you have done your homework well, you can avoid buying overpriced gold.

You should also keep an eye on the market trend of gold. Sometimes the price of bullion remains steady over a long period of time; sometimes the price is going up all the time; and sometimes the price of gold is declining. You should study the market trend and buy wisely and accordingly. One can get real benefit from bullion investment if it is done for a fairly long period of time.

Ideally, you should buy gold when the price of bullion is falling against the US dollar. Later when the prices get stable, or go higher you can sell it to get immediate profit. Being a small investor, you should not risk buying or selling bullion too often because instead of reaping profits, you might suffer heavy losses.

If you are a big investor, you can contact the London Bullion Exchange and buy gold directly from there. Gold stocks and bullion funds are also available for better and secure investment. You should choose a reliable investment company who deals in bullion funds, bullion futures and bullion stocks. According to some experts, bullion funds and stocks are more reliable, safer and more profitable than buying solid bullion.

Learn how to buy gold by taking help of professionals and reduce risks of loss for investment

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Gold has been highly cherished and loved since the primordial times. Gold has been recognised as the precious form of true and valuable fashion material or commodity. Gold is never found as an outdated or redundant object of fashion. Gold is always considered safe as an object of fashion and as a mean to secure your investment. This precious metal does not leave any harmful impact on your skin. Gold has the ability to melt and turn into any form or shape.

In the beginning, gold was the fashion of the rich people only, but the revolutionary industrial age made the middle class people get their hands on this yellow metal too. Previously, heavy ornaments were the order of the day, and the heavier the ornament was, the more impressive it used to be considered in those olden times. In the era of today, ladies prefer to wear delicate jewellery. Gold projects the personality of women as soft, humble and delicate as well. It has become an essential part of marriage in most of the societies around the world.

The heavy classical gold ornaments had dual effect. They served as prestigious fashion objects, and also as a secured means of investment. In recent times, the price of gold has risen sharply, and it has created a certain gap between the people who can afford to buy this highly precious metal and the ones who cannot think of buying it. Even today, gold is considered to be a safe object of investment for rich people. There is a big need to understand the types and varieties of gold.

The main difference is found out by the means of cartages. It is the purity level of gold; 24 carat is considered to be the purest form of gold. Since 24 carat gold is softer and gets scratched easily, therefore, we do not find jewellery in 24 carats usually. In olden times, rich people used to have tableware and wine glasses of 24 carats to satisfy their urge to impress their guests with their riches. After that trend, it was turned into fashion and was adopted by even middle class people. They used the tableware, which was very less in cartages; around 9 carat of gold was used to make tableware. The reason is that it was cheaper in this cartage and looked almost similar to the pure form of gold. Gold is mixed with other metals like copper or silver. This mixture of other metals makes the pure gold lose its natural colour too.

Every civilization has shown its cultural looks in the designing of the ornaments. Some all-time classic gold ornaments are “solid gold earrings”. This contains solid semi circle wire hoop with freely moving pendant and ring and a hook fastener. Gold ring is a hoop made from a flat gold strip with overlapping ends, widening towards the shoulders, forming a rectangular plate. Gold bracelet is a solid round hoop with rectangular cross section, spirally twisted, hammered flat at one end with a round opening and the other end tapered, forming a hook.

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Gold Jewellery – Care Advice

So you’ve been given a beautiful piece of gold jewellery? Here’s how to look after it properly.

Gold is the softest of the precious metals. In fact the greater the purity, the softer it is. Hence the ‘old’ prospector’s biting test – pure gold is marked by a hard nibble! (Not to be advised without a dentist on standby!)

This ’softness’ property is one of the reasons why it became so precious and desirable, to every civilisation. Gold, although rare and difficult to obtain could be easily ‘worked’ – Just one ounce can be beaten out to cover a surface area of over 27 square metres!

In it’s purest form it is too soft to be of any use in the making of Jewellery. The pure gold is alloyed with silver, copper and various other metals in order to render a material hard enough for jewellery. The percentage of pure gold, in a Jewellery alloy is denoted by its carat (k) weight. Pure gold is 24k (ie.100%), the other common alloy carat weights are 22k, 18k, 14k, 10k and 9k. 9k is the hardest alloy. Obviously, this means that 9k will scratch all the softer k weights. This is the reason it’s advisable to always wear items of the same  carat weight, if your jewellery is likely to come into contact (rings etc). Gold is resistant to oxidative corrosion – it won’t tarnish, rust or corrode.

A few ‘golden rules’:

* Remove your gold jewellery when using chemicals and engaging in manual work. Gold will scratch abrade reducing its lustrous appearance.
* Remove your jewellery when swimming – Chlorine will affect its lustre.
* To clean jewellery use warm water and cotton wool. For heavy soiling use a weak solution of warm water and detergent-free soap.
* Gold is softer than sand. Sand will scratch your jewellery. Don’t wear it on the beach!
* Always store your jewellery separately in a soft stable-temperature environment. Ideally, keep your jewellery in the box with which it was supplied.
* To give your jewellery a deep clean it can be immersed in a very weak (just a pinch), sodium bicarbonate/boiling water solution for a few seconds. Carefully dry the jewellery immediately with a soft cotton cloth. (*Do not do this if your jewellery contains gemstones).

White Gold:

White Gold was originally developed in the 1920’s as an alternative to Platinum. It’s not actually another type of gold; there’s no such thing as ‘pure’ white gold, or 24k white. It’s simply an alloy in which the choice of alloyed metals has been made to achieve a ‘white’ or platinum like colour.

Rhodium Coating:

Most white gold jewellery has a thin coating of Rhodium to enhance its ‘whiteness’ and reflective properties. Rhodium is a member of the platinum family of metals and serves as a good protective coating to the jewellery, as well as enhancing the colour. Rhodium is harder than gold and will wear much better as a consequence. However, this rhodium coating will wear through with time, which will expose the alloy underneath. As the white gold alloy will be a darker, less white colour, this wear will be noticeable. It is a simple matter to reapply the rhodium coating; most jewellers make a small charge for this.

Article written by Tim Vogel. To view a fine selection of Jewellery pieces featuring authentic Swarovski crystal components and precious metal fittings, visit us here: http://www.whitewolfjewellery.co.uk

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