First and foremost, do not trust the small stores in Spencer Plaza!! They would say that their jewelry are pure silver BUT do not fall for it. I had a terrible experience while buying a pair of bangles and the shopkeeper tricked me into believing it was silver and I had the shock of my life when I discovered it was some cheap metal coated with silver color! However pretty the design might be, do not go for it assuming it is silver. If you love the design, bargain and buy it for a lower rate since those aren't silver jewelry.
The question that then needs to be answered is, how to spot places that sell genuine silver jewellery? Here are a few tips to help you out!
- Try and choose the huge retailers (jewellery showrooms) which sell genuine jewelry and have the necessary quality stamps.These jewelry showrooms are accredited with a quality mark certificate. Check for that.
- Generally, the rates of silver jewelry are calculated based on the silver rate on that particular day. Apart from really small studs, prices of silver jewelry vary on a day to day basis. So if you go to a shop where they claim they sell silver jewellery, check if they calculate the price based on the silver rate on that day. Else ask them if they are accredited with a quality mark, for e.g, ISO and make sure you ask them for a guarantee card. Do keep the bill with you after you buy the jewelry. Do not throw it away so that you can go back and fight it out if you think you have been fooled. :P
- Lastly, to test if your jewelry is silver, test it with a magnet. Magnet does not attract silver. So if the jewelry you are buying does, then it isn't silver. Well, I learnt this only after I was cheated. :P An expensive lesson I must say!!
Now leaving all these aside, here are a few stores from which you can blindly buy silver jewelry and be assured of quality and be guaranteed of a resale value.
- Sukra Jewellery (Mylapore): Sukra Jewellery is known for their silver jewellery, temple jewelry and silver gift items. I love the jewelry collection here and other than the ring shown in the pictures here, the rest are from Sukra. They have also listed their quality mark certification on their site.
- GRT Jewellery (T.Nagar): GRT is one of the biggest jewelry retailers in South India and although their silver jewelry collection isn't as extensive as Sukra, they do have a decent selection of jewelry. I personally love the antique silver anklets and bangles here.
- Sundari Silks (T.Nagar): Sundari Silks has a limited but beautiful range of silver jewelry. They also have gold plated silver jewelry and temple jewelry which spell CLASS. The ring shown in the picture above is from Sundari Silks.
- Cane and Bamboo (Egmore): I was introduced to this store by my friend Mathangi and I've been hooked to their jewelry and bag collection ever since. They have beautiful silver jewelry which have stones embedded in them. I love their studs and ring collection. They have fixed rates though. Dainty yet classy is what I would call them. You can check a few of the pieces sold in their store here.
These are the 4 places from where I shop my silver jewelry. Do let us know where you shop your silver jewelry from. Maybe I can make an extensive directory out of all the information you guys give and compile it in the next post. ;)
Disclaimer: I do not get paid for mentioning the names of the above said stores. These are my personal choices.
