Does anyone have any tips about buying a gold necklace and maybe a diamond pendant in Chinatown? I'm looking to spend maybe 4 to 8 kilobaht.

(I want to thank the wife for being such a trooper thru some recent tough times).

Has this been discussed before? Any pointers to info?

Not looking for exhaustive coverage of the topic -- I just want to avoid getting raped more than usual in Chinatown.

Of course I need this by tomorrow -- when do YOU guys shop for V day?

Thanks for any help ...

The gold shop on the corner across the street from the White Orchid Hotel is considered one of the most reliable in Thailand. Name is Hua Seng Heng and they have other locations also.

Buying gold from the gold shops is fairly safe.

Gold is sold by the Baht weight (16gm I think) currrent price 8000 baht.

A small fee is charged for the workmanship

for 40,000 banh you want a 5 baht chain.

Jewellery is another matter. See

http://www.amazing-thailand.com/Goldgj.html

Check out

http://www.americans-in-bangkok.com/

David Glickman is the owner and they will make any item of jewellery to order and guarantee it. They are off Silom Road, Bangkok

Take them a photo, picture, sketch of what you want.

So 500 baht per gramme. Which is roughly 10 Euro or 12 US Dollars

That is approximately equal to Middle East prices for 24 carat gold.

What is the Thai gold in assay?

Normally 24K

Ring most 20K

Normally 24K

Ring most 20K

Not in my lifetime! Thai gold should be about 22-23k when sold by a gold shop (those painted with red lacquer) but is often a little less.

Some shops in C-town try to add 7% VAT, most don't.

Thai gold is 22-23k, so called China gold (sold in bars) supposedly 24, but more like 23.5. Today's goldprice for buying and selling is written in white chalk on most shops windows. The additional labour charge should be 200-400 Baht.

One Baht weight is 15.2 gr.

Chains that look like good value- big, chunky and low weight- are made of hollow links and will wear quickly, Thai gold is much softer than the 18k used in the western world.

You will find the one baht gold price every day front page Bangkok Post . Price today is 7,500 bt Never paid for labour is this something new? They do put item on scales will ask you to pay extra if overweight. 15 grams=1baht.

I might add that practically all gold labelled as 24K will be 22K+, but not 24. 24 is pure gold, to get within 1% of that level of purity takes a lot of resmelting and purification steps.

Canadian mint, for example, makes 24K coins at 99.99% - These are pure as we can currently get and expensive. I have a 1000Baht note (HRH golden jubilee) which is labelled as 99.99%, it is very thin and for it weight (negligible) very expensive.

Indian and Arabian gold labelled as 24K are likewise - its just the colour that is different - based on the contaminents.

I have bought stoned rings from 'gold shops' before - and they turned out to be fake (although set in 24K gold (OK 23ish)). I now only ever buy stones from diamond jewlers in malls - certificated. More expensive, but real! Also, had a friend that took a ruby to a gold shop to have it mounted in a ring while in LOS on holiday. When he got home he had it valued for insurance - the ruby (which he knew was real originally), he was told, seemed to be beryll (worth a fraction of the ruby) - chemical tests returned that it was actually coloured resin!

Simply, buy gold from gold shops - and diamonds from diamond shops with a certificate (and buy with your credit card so you can get the dough back if its a fake).