Gayle

I have been looking for a gold omega chain and found that many of them come from Italy. I will be in Rome and Florence this summer and wondered if I should wait to see if there are good deals on gold jewelry in these cities. I would appreciate any information on where to shop. Thanks!

Paige

Go to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. It's a bridge lined with jewelry stores. They have a lot of interesting designs and reasonable prices. If you spend over a certain amount (and are a resident of a non-EU country) you can get the tax back (16%?).

leo

Hi Gayle, <BR>Yes gold in Italy, my favorite subject. The prices are much lower than in America (half to a third) and the gold is mostly 18K not the 14K of America, so it is a bargin. The Ponto Vecchio in Florence has tons of shops and tourists, but look for the out of the way shops as well where there are fewer tourists and lower prices. Don't be afraid to bargin a little, and don't forget to bring your passport to register for the VAT reduction.

Judy

<BR>What is a reasonable per gram weight price for 18k gold jewelry? I realize that "designer pieces" are not sold that way, but Gayle, if you want simply to buy an omega chain you should go into the negotiation knowing this in the U.S. and I assume it is the same in Italy.

pam

The amount to qualify for the VAT reduction was 300,000 lire, in 1999 at least. And it's nice--if you pay with credit card, they have you sign forms and deduct the price right there--you don't have to file anything. (How helpful people can be when you are spending a lot of money!) And to Judy, the shops on the Ponte Vecchio claim to sell the gold by weight. Gold prices are established on the world's commodities markets. For 18K, take 75% of the weight-unit price and guesstimate how much something might weigh. I keep thinking that surely there is some add-on for workmanship, especially the more-elaborate stuff, but they stand there with their calculators and figure out the weight x current (or yesterday's price) and then calculate what your price is with or w/o VAT. HOpe this helps. Gayle, one consideration is getting the thing home safely....don't know what your plans are. Also, take the US customs dept into consideration ($400 per person duty-free, families can combine their allowances; after that the duty is technically 10%).

pam

The amount to qualify for the VAT reduction was 300,000 lire, in 1999 at least. And it's nice--if you pay with credit card, they have you sign forms and deduct the price right there--you don't have to file anything. (How helpful people can be when you are spending a lot of money!) And to Judy, the shops on the Ponte Vecchio claim to sell the gold by weight. Gold prices are established on the world's commodities markets. For 18K, take 75% of the weight-unit price and guesstimate how much something might weigh. I keep thinking that surely there is some add-on for workmanship, especially the more-elaborate stuff, but they stand there with their calculators and figure out the weight x current (or yesterday's price) and then calculate what your price is with or w/o VAT. HOpe this helps. Gayle, one consideration is getting the thing home safely....don't know what your plans are. Also, take the US Customs Dept into consideration ($400 per person duty-free, families can combine their allowances; after that the duty is technically 10%).

Judy

Pam: <BR>I think there is an exception re U.S. Customs for antique jewelry(100 yrs.old)? (this doesn't sound like what Gayle wants to buy, but I'm curious).