For many men, the only thing more daunting than "til death do us part" is buying the diamond engagement ring that begins 85 percent of American marriages. But the intricacies of diamond buying probably wouldn't be much clearer if women did the buying.  There are the pushy salespeople. With new meanings to words such as girdle, pavilion and dispersion, there is almost a new language to learn. And the biggest anxiety-producer? The lingering worry, sometimes even after your beloved sports her new sparkler that you paid too much for what you got. 
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We're all too familiar with the following scenarios: heaps of tangled cheap chains packed haphazardly in worn display cases throughout America's mall jewelers and fly-by-night pushcart kiosks; new jewelry store employees, left to their own devices, "practicing" selling gold, while senior sales associates look for that one-carat engagement ring sale to make their "nut" for the month; jewelry boxes overflowing with poorly constructed, kinked Omega-style necklaces and boring, run-of-the-mill gold jewelry. It's no wonder the average mall or Main Street jeweler has such little enthusiasm for selling gold.  
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Bullish spot gold prices trading above the $520/oz level since January 2006 and soaring toward $600/oz last week have created gaps in the Japanese jewelry supply chain, local industry sources said last week.   Japan 's use of gold in jewelry in 2005 is estimated at 24 mt, up 7.6% from 2004, according to Gold Fields Mineral Services data. The 24 mt total includes locally produced jewelry and imports of finished products. Japanese consumption of gold for jewelry accounts for 7.9% of the world's total.
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Finished gold jewelry remains a strong seller at the retail level, but demand for gold by U.S. jewelry manufacturer's remains as low as it's been in more than a decade, and shows little sign of recovery.  Consumption of gold for jewelry fabrication in the U.S. peaked at 8.3 million ounces in 2000 and has since tumbled to 5.75 million ounces last year, according to Gold Survey 2005 issued Aug. 9 by New York-based commodities analysts CPM Group. U.S. demand for gold appears to have bottomed out last year and is expected to hover near 5.8 million ounces for 2005.  
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