Love is being hit hard by US president Donald Trump’s tariffs, with engagement and wedding rings now costing hundreds of euro more than they did last year as global uncertainty sees investors flock towards what they consider a safe haven.
With stock markets in turmoil, gold prices continue to climb with the price of wedding and engagement rings climbing in lockstep.
“Things are going to get very tricky for jewellers particularly those who buy from wholesalers,” says Martin Gear, who owns a business based on Dublin’s Mary Street which buys gold from the public to be recycled into new pieces.
“Anyone looking to buy new stock is going to see significant increases. A wedding ring that was €1,000 a year ago could easily be €1,400 now,” he warns. “I don’t think people are aware of the price increases.”
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One person who is definitely aware is jewellery designer and retailer Chupi Sweetman, and while higher prices are not necessarily keeping her up at night, they are not sending her off to an easy sleep either.
“My colleague likes to send me the daily gold prices and I had to say stop because I can’t deal with the ups downs and the stress of the everyday rises so once a week is enough,” she says.
Gold prices rose back above $3,000 per ounce on Tuesday, about 15 per cent higher than the price at the beginning of the year. In April 2024, it was about $2,300 an ounce.
Ms Sweetman notes that for a decade from 2011, prices were “reasonably steady”, but since 2022, everything has changed.
“The price has doubled in recent years and it is up by well over 10 per cent since Trump took office,” she says.
She has managed to protect herself and her customers from recent volatility by hedging her gold purchases, but past prudence will only be of benefit for a limited time into the future.
She warns that the impact of higher prices will be felt most significantly in wedding bands, which might be made with 4g of gold.
“It’s hurting our margins and we will hold our prices for as long as we can, but if gold stays where it is much longer we’ll have to look at it – and that is happening everywhere.”
She says there isn’t much that jewellery makers can do in the face of a geopolitical crisis. “We can make choices about the world we want to live in,” she says. “We could go switch to a cheaper gold source but we’re not going to do that.
“For us, it’s really important our gold is recycled. There’s enough gold above ground and we don’t actually need to mine another gramme out of the ground. So for us it’s holding on to our ethics.”
The average spend on an engagement ring Ireland is about €3,500, with wedding bands about €1,500, based on current prices.
However, Mr Gear warns prices will keep rising if a trade war between the US and the rest of the world is not averted.
“Gold is a safe haven in uncertain times, so people invest in gold when everything is shaky,” he says.
“I have been working in the business since I was a child, I started in 1980 in the family business in Dolphin’s Barn, so I have seen everything from recessions and robberies to floods and fires, and this is just another challenge – and I am actually looking forward to them. I’m ideally placed and blessed that I’m a manufacturer, and if anybody can survive this particular upheaval I will.”
