In Reply to: Gold Jewellery posted by JIL on Sunday, 13. June 2010 at 18:58 Bali Time:
There are about a half a dozen or so gold shops next door to each other on Jalan Hasannudin, Just east of the river that runs through town. The taxi ride from central Kuta is about Rp60,000. These shops are worth a look to go into. The gold starts at about 16 carat and goes higher in purity ie 70%, 75% and 80% pure. The gold is sold in Rp per gram. They will weigh the item you select on an electronic scale and give you an idea of the price. It is probably wise not to go for fancy jewelry containing gem stones etc, as they could be created ones and as such would not be as good an investment.
There are abot 31 grams in a troy ounce of gold which is the commonly quoted measure for the price of gold on the western press. To find the price payable for a gram of 16 carat gold, multiply the latest $US price per ounce by 0.7 (for 70% purity:16 carat) and divide by 31 to get the price you should pay per gram. So, if the price per ounce is quoted as $1200 US, the price per gram of 16 carat gold is (1200 * 0.7)/31 = $US 27.10. Ofcourse, you will probably pay in Rupiah, not $US, making the price about Rp240K per gram given 1USD=Rp9000.
I would say that by and large, the shops don't tend to pressure you and they are generally fair in price as their clients are normally local people who buy and sell gold as a form of savings, much like westerners would operate a bank account to protect their earnings. With lessening in value of the local currency over the years and rampant inflation, gold has had an appeal greater than cash for the locals.
Cheers Lofty