As pearl and bead stringers, the price of gold is an issue for us. Although most of us are routinely using less costly metal, some clients insist on gold clasps and findings for their jewelry and some of us would rather work with gold than silver or other metals.

That’s why we should pay attention when John Taylor, founder of FX Concepts, head of one of the largest currency funds in the world says that the price of gold will climb to $1,900 sometime this fall. As of this writing gold is trading north of $1,600 an ounce.

JCK reported on this interview for its readers and not too long ago, I wrote an article on new gold scams.

But beyond the troubling prediction on the potential increases in the price of gold, were the comments from jewelers that appeared below the article.

Some focused on price increases for consumers; others see inflation ahead; and, still others see the weak dollar as responsible for gold prices.

One suggested that jewelers buy now before prices climb further.

For those of us who love gold and used to routinely use it in jewelry, none of this is good news and of course hasn’t been for some time. Nevertheless, the silver lining (pun intended) is that jewelers are using silver and base metals in wonderful new designs that stretch our concepts about ornament in ways that perhaps weren’t possible before the current run-up in cost.