When I started Dharmashop in 1999 the price of silver was hovering around $5 an ounce. When we order silver jewelry from our Tibetan artisans one of our staff in Nepal goes to the Nepal Investment bank and picks up bags of silver which he then drops off to our artisans so they can create our traditional jewelry. Silver prices have risen 800% since that time as prices now hover around $43 an ounce and this threatens our jewelry makers survival. The cost of doing business has been so high that many of our jewelry makers have left Nepal to find jobs in Thailand, the UAE and other countries where Tibetans and Nepalis are hired for their skill in metal work and wood working.
We are working with our artisans to create silver pendants and jewelry that are smaller then they used to be and use less silver then they used to. We still use sterling silver in all of our products but we have made pendants smaller, and bracelets thinner so they contain less of the suddenly precious metal.
We hope that the price of silver will drop to the $12 an oz range where it has been for several years, but we are ready to continue to innovate and find ways to bring you traditional crafts without breaking the bank.
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