Prior to reading this piece, I ask you to take off your gold ring, necklace, or earrings you have on or go to your jewelry box and get a few pieces out.
For thousands of years mainly gold and silver, but also platinum and other precious metals have been a store of wealth. Even today, people own gold because it is a way to diversify ones portfolio as it has held its value relatively well over time.
Continuing with our history for a second, one of the countries that favors gold almost more so than any other country in the world is India. Gold is more than an investment, but has a strong cultural significance as well in India. Gold is one of the main status symbols as the more gold one has or wears, the wealthier they appear. You will often times see gifts of gold jewelry given as birthday and wedding gifts in this culture.
What makes precious metals unique is that they are tough to destroy, difficult to counterfeit, and are scarce in nature. There are three main sectors where the gold demand is derived from: jewelry, technology, and investment. With this upstart company we are going to talk about today, there has now been a true blending of the jewelry and investment sectors.
Gold coins or bars are difficult to travel with. If one were to travel from the United States to another country with gold coins valued more than $10,000 they would be required to declare this. On the other hand, if you are wearing your jewelry, this would not be subject to the same regulations. I think you are starting to catch my drift here. When you have gold jewelry, the wealth is portable and a lot more discreet than a couple gold eagles.
Before we jump into the company, it is important to get an overview of what defines the jewelry demand. When purchasing gold jewelry there are many characteristics that an individual looks at with the main one being purity and the other being price. When jewelers make a piece they will usually combine gold with other metals including silver and copper for multiple different reasons. It seems like the main reasons jewelers do this is to make the item be more rigid, but also to be able to upcharge the customer more for their manufacturing and design than actual gold content.
The system for fineness or purity of gold is based on the percentage of gold with 24 karats being pure gold. When gold is extracted from the ground it is pure or 24K, but most jewelry is not pure gold and consequently not investment grade.
By mixing the gold with other alloys the purity of gold typically fall in one of these purities: 10K is 42% gold, 14K is 58% gold, 18K is 75% gold, 22K is 92% gold, and 24K is 100% gold.
One of the biggest advantages to having pure 24K jewelry is that it does not tarnish and is hypoallergenic. For some time now, there have been some half truths about 24K gold being soft. To set the record straight, yes pure gold is more malleable than say gold mixed with other alloys, but it is still a very firm metal.
Most jewelry sold today is either 14K or 18K gold, but this company you’re about to learn about is disrupting the jewelry industry due their incredibly simple, yet effective business model.
Enter Menē
Mene, which is pronounced as “meh-ney”, creates and sells pure 24K gold and platinum jewelry with a vast selection of bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings, and even guitar picks and dice. They are continually adding new products constantly.
After looking on their website, you might be thinking, “that jewelry is extremely bright compared to what I am used to buying”. You would be correct in that viewpoint as these pieces are pure gold or platinum and because of this, the pieces have a brighter and darker yellow hue than what you would typically buy from a jewelry store.
The Menē Business Model
This is where Menē is going to disrupt the industry.
Historically, when purchasing gold jewelry, the majority of the price stems from other costs (design, upcharges, etc.) instead of the actual gold content. Menē prices their items by selling all of their jewelry based on the number of grams of gold or platinum in the piece and then they add on a fee, no more than 20% of the value of the precious metal, to accommodate for all other costs (manufacturing and design of the item plus the shipping and insurance) associated with the creation of the jewelry.
Take a look at the piece of jewelry you have on or brought out from your jewelry box. If you look at the purity of the gold and then weigh the piece of jewelry, you can find out exactly how much gold is in the item. Here is a comparison of a $1,000 Menē ring vs the typical ring at a jewelry store.
For comparison purposes I will put a ring from Menē against one of the largest and most recognizable jewelry stores in the world. The “Heart Knot” ring from Menē in 24K is currently priced at $390, while the competitor’s similar “Infinity” ring in 18K is currently priced at $775. As you can see the competitors ring, which is not pure and has less gold content is more than double the price of the Menē piece.
As you are aware, the price of gold and platinum are always fluctuating and consequently the price of your jewelry will mirror what happens in the market. This is where Menē is separating themselves from the rest of the industry. Their unique selling proposition is that you can sell your jewelry back to Menē at a 10% discount to the current price of gold or platinum.
Here is an example for you. Let’s say you purchased a bracelet from Menē that contains 50 grams of gold that you purchased at today’s price (roughly $40 per gram) + their 20% fee. This bracelet would cost you $2,400. If the price of gold increases to $100 per gram and your piece of jewelry, the value in terms of gold would $5,000. Menē would buy the bracelet back from you at 10% of the current market value, or $4,500.
Through their website, you can track in real time the value of your items you have purchased and sell them back or exchange the items if you wish.
Menē has the chance to alter the way consumers purchase jewelry due to their transparent pricing model. Consumers know they will always be able to sell their jewelry back at just a fraction below market value. No longer will you have to go those “We Buy Gold Jewelry” stores where they pay you literally pennies on the dollar when you chose Menē.
With Menē, you aren’t just buying a beautiful piece of jewelry, but investing in one of the safest asset classes in the history of mankind.
Purchase the finest, most affordable wearable jewelry in the world!
Join the revolution here: http://www.mene.com/invite/MhYtUY