Gold Losing the Midas Touch

Gold Losing the Midas Touch
Gold is no longer the metal of choice for the adornment of the ruling class.

Rappers, hip-hop artists and youngsters copying their pop icons are gold's new poster-children and the move downmarket could hurt the gold price in the longer term, according to analyst Jessica Cross.

Cross believes that gold jewellery is losing its gilt-edged status.

Quoting from a British website, she defined the modern British jewellery lover as someone who drapes their body with "hunks of worthless 9 carat gold crap".

Britain's "chavs" -- new slang for the urban underclass -- and their "bling-bling" and hip-hop U.S. cousins buy high-fashion brands of clothes but bargain basement pendants and rings.

This is putting off the traditional -- and wealthy -- gold buyer, according to Cross.

Some might call this snobbery but there are signs that demand for gold jewellery, which makes up around 80 percent of annual demand for gold, is waning.

Over the last five years gold "as a proportion of retail expenditure has been losing share", said Philip Olden, managing director of international marketing at the World Gold Council.

In September last year, the Council launched a 10 million pound advertising campaign called "Speak Gold" to address the problem.

While pop fashion icons have only a limited effect on the longer-term price of gold