Gold Jewellery

As I mentioned in the previous page, back in the 90s after I started working, I bought many yellow gold jewellery for my wife and myself too. At one stage I was wearing 3 gold bracelets and even had a Cartier Love Bangle but all my gold bracelets and bangle bought in the 90s have disappeared (either lost or can’t find it) but my wife’s gold jewellery are still around and like I mentioned it is worth 500% more today!

Let me tell you a story, sometime back in 2017 I bought a new gold bracelet from Tomei but after wearing it for a week or two I didn’t like the feel and went to Poh Kong and saw a bracelet I liked which cost me double. I traded in the bracelet bought at Tomei (of course I lost money in such a short period but I disliked the bracelet and wanted to get rid of it) and paid some extra money for the bracelet from Poh Kong.

To be exact, the 916 Gold (22 Karat) bracelet from Poh Kong cost me RM6.1K as it was 27 grams and the the price of gold at that time was RM217 per gram excluding labour.

So I was happily wearing the Poh Kong bracelet until I broke it in January 2025! As you know I am half blind and somehow I hit my hand against the side of a cabinet which was painted white in a narrow corridor which was also painted white! My favorite bracelet broke due to the impact with the cabinet (I would think that luckily I wore the bracelet as it absorbed most of the force instead of my hand getting badly injured), so I took what was remaining of the bracelet to Poh Kong and found out that 1 link was missing! And because the link was missing and they had to cut another link to repair the bracelet, eventually it would be too tight for me. Therefore, I had no choice but to trade in the bracelet. Below is the photo of what used to be my favorite gold bracelet.

What remained of the broken bracelet above was only 23+ grams. In January 2025 Poh Kong was selling 916 Gold for RM425 per gram. Below were 2 bracelets which I kind of like BUT I had to top up money even though both bracelets were about 20 grams.

You see, when trading in your gold at Poh Kong, they only pays 75% of the price of 916 they are selling.

Therefore, the trade in value of my 23 g bracelet was = 23g x 425/g x 75% = RM7331.25 which is more than the RM6.1K I paid.

But the new bracelet I was considering weighing say 20g would cost RM8500 (20g x RM425/g) excluding labour cost, which means I had to top up money!

I then went to Tomei where I also saw a bracelet I kind of like BUT I also had to top up money!

Then my wife suggested that I go to one of the stand alone goldsmith shops which she and my aunt go to. So I said ok…… to my surprise this particular goldsmith shop was super crowded and they were selling 916 gold for RM370 per gram and they pay 15% less for trade in! After checking out the bracelets they have I decided on one that was 18g simply because I got cash back of RM1.39K after considering the trade in price of my broken bracelet.

So points from the above story:

1. Our gold jewellery can be broken or even lost.
2. We can trade in our gold jewellery BUT there will be certain % loss. Now not necessarily trade in, you can convert your gold jewellery for cash.

So here is the breakdown of the Trade In Prices based on 916 selling price at the goldsmiths in January 2025:

a. Poh Kong RM425/g. After less 25% for trade in = RM318.75.

b. Shops like Tomei and Wah Chan selling RM420/g. After less 25% for trade in = RM318.75.

c. The goldsmith I bought my new bracelet from was selling 1g of 916 gold at RM370 per gram. After less 15% for trade in = RM314.50

AS you can see from above, Poh Kong, Tomie and Wah Chan 916 price are much higher than stand alone goldsmiths BUT the trade in price is about the same!

Please note that for new gold jewellery, the seller will also charge labour cost and not every shop or product is the same. If you like a particular design and the seller tells you it is an Italian Design, expect to pay more for labour cost…….. if you like it just buy it instead of being calculative and end up regretting not having to get to shiok sendiri wearing the gold jewellery and leave the cash to be inherited by someone else to enjoy!

Conclusion on Gold Jewellery,

Go to as many goldsmiths as you can to see the many different designs. Even different Tomei, Poh Kong and Wah Chan outlets have different stocks!

Also check out stand alone goldsmiths as you never know, you may like something there and pay less compared to Poh Kong, Tomei and Wah Chan. Of course we must understand that goldsmiths at shopping malls have higher overheads, more nicer Italian Designs and they also accept AMEX, haha.

When you trade in your gold jewellery, also go to different shops.

TODAY where we can easily buy gold bullion, if you buy and are not wearing the gold jewellery to shiok sendiri, i.e. buy gold jewellery and put into the safe box, then I tell you that you are stupid because you should be buying Gold Bullion instead!

Click the button below to Page 3 as to where to buy Gold Bullion: