COMMODITY STUDY

Commodity Study

Commodity Study

Introduction Use of silver has been increasing with time, since the cost of gold has gone beyond the reach of every individual. The cost for manufacturing silver is less than the cost for manufacturing gold by 3% and silver will sell at one tenth of the price of gold. Hence, there is little flexibility when it comes to gold content in the Jewelry. In contrast, the extent of silver content in the jewelry could be far more because of good margins in silver and lower cost.

Silver Manufacturing

Sterling Silver is mainly used for silver jewelry. It comes in different qualities and comes in 1/1000 parts per gram. The distinct qualities are due to the presence of different metals and impurities that are mixed with metals. Although these impurities are insignificant, but it is very costly to remove them. It is important to differentiate silver alloys, as they must be stamped or marked “sale for public”, in order to be legally available for use. Another important aspect of jewelry is the fact that they are non -reactive metals and allergies are very rare (Mizushima, 2005).

Raw Material

Silver ingots or silver strips could be used by Jewelers and Silversmiths for silver jewelry manufacturing. Since silver is very soft, they can mix the silver with other metals mostly copper. It helps to maintain the shape of the silver. Even after mixing silver with other metals, it can be molded by hand cut and could be changed to prepared molds. Hand cut silvery jewelry is very valuable as compared to the mass production of jewelry by the machine.

Most raw materials used for jewelry includes beads, harmony ball, abalone, coral and crystal. Designers use them as a combination for the ultimate jewelry product.

Manufacturing Process

Traditionally skilled goldsmiths employing craft skills and basic hand tools have ...