[knotty panda]

All I know is silver is dropping. Several of my vendors have dropped their prices accordingly, but some -- not naming names -- LIKE FIRE MOUNTAIN have actually raised their prices. Those sorry rascals. I haven't been very pleased with them of late and I don't think things are going to get better. Monsterslayer.com has dropped their silver prices accordingly. Thanks Monsterslayer!

[aggiep]

If you go to the kitco site and scroll down to the ibnternational market that is currently open, you will see that gold is falling again in the world market. So is silver. Companies like Hauser and Miller, Rio Grande, and David H. Fell all tie the price of their metals to the spot market. I would never go with a third party who has to go through a refiner like those I just mentioned. You only end up paying another layers markup. Another solution is to buy in a group in bulk. That way you get the bulk prices and can split it up. I hate paying retail that is why I became a bench jeweler.

[waimeamomi]

Aggie, Thanks for your expertise on this! I do check Kitco, but I don't know how to use it other than to check the spot market and to grab things from Rio Grande when the price is down. It's small time, but everything seems huge these days. I would love to find another way to do it, and I would LOVE to co-op with some other people to bring the prices down. I can't afford to buy huge bulk, but co-oping (we call it forming a hui here in Hawaii) would make sense since it is easy to split findings and supplies. I think it would be harder to do with pearls because of the variables in a lot. A bench jeweler - something else to learn in the future, hmmm.