Wild swings in gold costs are reshaping greater than funding methods.
{Couples} are looking for engagement and wedding ceremony rings in a different way, rethinking every little thing from timing to supplies to proposal plans.
Whereas gold prices have been unstable, falling sharply from their report excessive above $5,500 per troy ounce in late January, spot costs are nonetheless 7% greater at round $4,650 — over 70% greater than in the beginning of 2025.
At jewellery shops, fluctuating gold costs imply quotes can shift rapidly.
“We’re seeing true sticker shock,” Peter Manka Jr., the co-owner of New York-based bridal jeweler Ben Garelick, informed Enterprise Insider.
The numbers are stark.
Ben Garelick’s common engagement ring with a middle lab-grown diamond prices $1,544 in 2023. In 2024, that rose barely to $1,633. By 2025, the common value had jumped to $2,408 — a 47% year-over-year improve.
That bounce got here at the same time as free diamond costs on the retailer have fallen practically 40% from 2023 to 2025, largely as a result of lab-grown diamonds — now nearly all of its gross sales — turned cheaper. In different phrases, many of the improve is coming from gold.
The surge is already altering client habits.
Manka mentioned 25% to 30% of engagement ring buyers have delayed purchases — and thus proposals — in hopes that gold costs will fall.
However with quotes shifting quickly, his retailer has urged prospects to maneuver rapidly as soon as they’re prepared to purchase, warning that costs can change in days.
For buyers who’re hesitant or not sure about their proposal timeline, layaway and financing choices have change into extra in style as a solution to lock in present costs, he added.
Getting inventive
Whereas free diamond costs have fallen, different supply-side pressures have compounded the influence of upper gold.
Increased tariffs on imported Indian items final summer time — the place 90% to 95% of the world’s diamonds are reduce and polished — raised prices.
As gold hits report highs, {couples} are additionally on the lookout for methods to stretch their budgets. Some are repurposing previous jewellery.
“We have seen them undergo their jewellery field, and generally their dad and mom’ jewellery field, with the intention to assist offset greater costs,” Manka mentioned.
The shop both melts down previous items to create new rings or presents gold credit score towards a purchase order. Manka estimated a ten% to fifteen% improve in prospects bringing in inherited gold for engagement rings and wedding ceremony bands.
Vivian Grimes, the founding father of Florida-based effective jewellery model Henri Noël, mentioned she has seen extra prospects revisit heirloom items in latest months.
“Shoppers are realizing that the jewellery sitting in a drawer is usually probably the most significant and invaluable property they already personal,” mentioned Grimes.
“Resetting these items permits them to each honor the sentiment and make a wise, lasting determination,” she added.
Henri Noël/Millers Photograph and Movie
For some patrons, the psychology round gold itself is evolving.
Max Baecker, the president of American Hartford Gold, mentioned he has seen shoppers assume extra intentionally about what they’re buying.
“There’s rising recognition that gold is not simply ornamental; it is a tangible asset with intrinsic worth,” Baecker mentioned.
So whereas {couples} might alter carat weight or design to remain inside finances, they sometimes nonetheless gravitate towards gold as a result of it represents permanence, he added.
“In unsure occasions, that symbolism turns into much more highly effective,” Baecker mentioned.
Shifting supplies
Materials decisions are shifting, although erratically.
Engagement ring buyers at Ben Garelick are largely sticking with 14K gold, which is 58.3% pure gold.
However extra males are choosing lower-karat gold of their wedding ceremony bands, with 35% to 40% of male patrons selecting 10K gold — which is 41.7% pure — or bands blended with different metals similar to tantalum, Manka mentioned.
Ben Garelick
Inflation throughout wedding ceremony spend, from photographer to venue, means they’ve much less of their finances for bands, Manka mentioned.
At Ben Garelick, common males’s wedding ceremony band costs rose from $1,050 in 2023 to $1,575 in 2025. Girls’s wedding ceremony bands elevated extra modestly, from $1,700 to $1,800, partly as a result of lab-grown diamonds and 10K choices helped include prices.
Not everyone seems to be buying and selling down.
“If something, we’re seeing the other,” mentioned Grimes of Henri Noël, who added that her shoppers are nonetheless selecting 18K or 14K gold for his or her engagement rings as they’re seen as future heirlooms.
“These are deeply emotional, milestone purchases, so {couples} aren’t sometimes seeking to downgrade supplies,” she added.
Business-wide shake-up
The shifts underscore how jewelers are rethinking materials and pricing as precious-metal markets develop more and more unstable after historic gains.
The influence is very pronounced within the mid-range reasonably priced luxurious section, the place shoppers are extra value delicate.
Pandora, recognized for its silver bracelets, is betting on platinum in 2026, introducing platinum-plated variations of its best-selling items to scale back publicity to unstable silver costs.
“We’re decreasing our reliance on silver to guard margins, however that is equally about strengthening our client proposition,” a spokesperson informed Enterprise Insider.
LVMH executives mentioned on a January earnings name that Tiffany & Co. can also be shifting from silver towards gold and effective jewellery, a notable transfer for a model lengthy related to sterling silver.
