blogcutter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
blogcutter) wrote2013-05-23 12:05 pm
blogcutter) wrote2013-05-23 12:05 pm
Entry tags:
Who wants yesterday's silver? Who wants yesterday's gold? Who wants yesterday's copper?
Just about everyone in the world, it seems!
I guess most people would agree that it's thoroughly reprehensible to steal copper wire in order to sell it to a scrap dealer. Or to rob tombs for corpses' dental work and any valuables that may have been buried with them. But it seems everywhere I look these days, there are ads urging us to trade in our "leftover" or unwanted gold and silver jewelry in exchange for cold hard cash. It's not just sleazy pawn shops, either. Even reputable jewellers like Birks are jumping on that bandwagon. Am I alone in feeling a tad uneasy about this trend? Isn't it a kind of preying on society's most vulnerable, sort of like the usurious rates charged by payday loan companies?
It's billed as being a "green" and thrifty thing to do, repurposing old metal. But is it really? After all, if the metal gets melted down, that's using energy too. And surely you also have to consider whether you're putting your precious metals to a higher or lower purpose in life?
When you buy a fine piece of gold or silver jewelry - even if it's 18- or higher-karat gold or high-grade sterling silver, there's usually still comparatively little of the precious metal in the piece. The vast majority of the price you pay is for the care, creativity and craftsmanship that went into it. Trading it in for the value of the metal brings to mind famous starving artists who painted over their already-artified canvasses because they couldn't afford to buy new ones - what a loss for our culture and civilization!
Or am I just being hopelessly sentimental about the whole thing?
I guess most people would agree that it's thoroughly reprehensible to steal copper wire in order to sell it to a scrap dealer. Or to rob tombs for corpses' dental work and any valuables that may have been buried with them. But it seems everywhere I look these days, there are ads urging us to trade in our "leftover" or unwanted gold and silver jewelry in exchange for cold hard cash. It's not just sleazy pawn shops, either. Even reputable jewellers like Birks are jumping on that bandwagon. Am I alone in feeling a tad uneasy about this trend? Isn't it a kind of preying on society's most vulnerable, sort of like the usurious rates charged by payday loan companies?
It's billed as being a "green" and thrifty thing to do, repurposing old metal. But is it really? After all, if the metal gets melted down, that's using energy too. And surely you also have to consider whether you're putting your precious metals to a higher or lower purpose in life?
When you buy a fine piece of gold or silver jewelry - even if it's 18- or higher-karat gold or high-grade sterling silver, there's usually still comparatively little of the precious metal in the piece. The vast majority of the price you pay is for the care, creativity and craftsmanship that went into it. Trading it in for the value of the metal brings to mind famous starving artists who painted over their already-artified canvasses because they couldn't afford to buy new ones - what a loss for our culture and civilization!
Or am I just being hopelessly sentimental about the whole thing?