by jaywhaley on October 21, 2010
I hope some of you caught the interview I had with Thomas Mann this afternoon at 3:00 PM Pacific on October 21st, 2010. If you didn’t, you can listen here.
What a talented guy! I asked him, at one point whether he thought we might be able to somehow distill the “essence” of Tho. Mann, bottle it, and market it. I thought it would be a great seller.
Tom is a wonderful mentor for many up and coming jewelry artists, and has so much vital business information that jewelers need to stay in business in these crazy times.
Thomas Mann said during his interview that he was on the road 240 days last year, doing craft shows, workshops, and lectures. Wow. This is a movin’ kind of guy, barely finding time for his hobbies sailing and cooking. He’s even working on a cook book, believe it or not!
I’d urge you to listen to what Tom has to say, by downloading his interview from our Whaley Studios website. Click on the BlogtalkRadio tab, and you’ll see the offerings of past interviews we’ve done there.
—Jay Whaley
by jaywhaley on September 29, 2010
I remember when I first started making jewelry in high school, it was 1968. I considered buying some gold to cast with, but it was horribly expensive… $35 an ounce. Now, in Sept. 2010, it just went over $1300 an ounce. I won’t even pretend to understand the many reasons gold has been driven to this insane price.
Investors with a lot more understanding of financial markets than I have probably can figure out the many market forces that make gold and other precious metals rise and fall. It’s just too bad that gold is such a critical material to us metalsmiths, and its price increases can really influence how ( or IF) we earn a living.
I really don’t know whether gold prices will just continue to go out of sight, or peak and head down into more realistic levels. My local coin dealer, whom I buy my 24K gold from, thinks that the gold investors who have driven up the price of gold by buying up lots of it for speculation, are getting ready to sell off their gold and take their profits, realizing that gold is near the absolute top in value. My dealer friend predicts gold to hit $1400 by Christmas, but to then plunge in price as investors sell off and the world gold supply increases. I like that scenerio.
I’d like to see gold come back to, say, $500 an ounce, still expensive, but more affordable, compared to today’s prices.
I guess we have no choice but to stay on the gold roller coaster and try to hang on. Cross your fingers that gold gets more affordable…and soon!
–Jay Whaley
