Gold Market

The Gold Market was about one city block long with jewelry stores on each side of the street. The stores were each only 10 feet to 25 feet wide. There were all types of jewelry, but it was mostly gold.

This reminded me of Saudi Arabia. The price of an item is based upon 4 factors: a) the price of gold in local currency (fixed for that day), b) the exchange rate between the local currency and the currency that you want to pay in (fixed for that day), c) the weight of the item (fixed), and d) a premium for the workmanship. This 4th item is negotiable…It is never going to be less than 1.0, but could be a premium of 1.5x or 2x. So this is what you bargain. You should reduce their initial offer by 30% to 50%.

I think there are 3 factors that make gold so popular in this part of the world. First is the Muslim religion. Since a woman cannot own wealth, and since she can be divorced by her husband simply saying “I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you,” and she CAN own gold jewelry, this make ownership of lots of gold the primary means of financial security. Second is culture…related to the first point. A woman is give gold on her wedding, when she gives birth, and other occasions. Third is the history of trade since so much ship traffic has passed through this part of the world for centuries.

Photos:
1) Simple bracelets…but crammed in such tight space
2) More decorative bracelets
3) Who would wear something like this?