More than 60 percent of respondents to a recent jewelry- buying survey spent from $1,000 to $5,000, according to the Diamond Information Center, the publicity arm of the De Beers Group, the world's largest diamond producer. An additional 5 percent spent more than $10,000.

Before you lay out that kind of money, said Ladera Ranch jeweler Barbara Parker, it's important to know your intended's taste in jewelry. She suggested looking at rings in advance or bringing in magazine photos of styles they like. When men come to her showroom to buy any kind of jewelry, she peppers them with questions about the women in their lives.
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The rise of competitive jewelry marketing and discretionary income products aimed at the affluent and near-affluent female consumer was the final piece of the puzzle in gold's commoditization.

Classic Swiss mechanical timepiece brands came back into vogue, first with the collectors market and then at the retail counter, with ad spending levels jumping to unprecedented levels.

Billions of dollars worth of merchandise flooded the pages of Departures, InStyle, Vanity Fair and Town & Country magazines. New ads broke for $1,500 nylon Prada handbags, $500 Jimmy Choo sling-back shoes, picture-taking cell phones and all sorts of new discretionary income products to compete for a share of the American woman's must-have list and, of course, her Coach wallet.

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JPC's Yamada said high precious metal prices had prompted jewelry makers to use more base metals to create "precious alloys".

"When the precious metal is mixed with other metals, its value as jewelry decreases, but the jewelry makers need to be creative in thinking and design," said Yamada. " Jewelry makers have resorted to production of white gold [an alloy of gold, palladium and nickel], which looks like platinum, but is cheaper."

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Total worldwide gold demand for jewelry is projected to rise 2 percent, to 71.397 million ounces this year.

The international gold market is five years into an upward price trend that is unprecedented since World War II. From an average of $271.67 per ounce in 2001, it has climbed to an average of $428.35 an ounce for the first seven months of 2005. This sharp increase, spurred by robust secular investment, has stimulated a revival in gold exploration and mine development worldwide. Gold's availability on the world market is projected to rise 3 percent in 2005, the first year since 1999 that global production has increased.

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