Silver has gone up almost 300 percent, from $28 an ounce in 2025 to a peak of $114 so far in 2026, and Siminski thinks it could hit $500. “That has created unbelievable chaos for many people. [With] the tariffs, it’s almost like the perfect storm,” he says. There are numerous contributing factors, one of the biggest being a lack of con- fidence in the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasury-backed deriva- tives, according to Siminski. “With all the fallout when it comes to the current presiden- cy and the constant bickering back and forth with geopoliti- cal stuff, a lot of countries and central banks are buying physical met- al. They’re driving up the price,” he explains. He notes that the other factor is retail investors “hitching onto the wagon” by adding or increasing the amount of metal in their portfolios through physical metal purchases, exchange-traded funds, or stocks. “Gold is like another form of currency because there’s a real question about the U.S. dollar, which has been the stabilizing factor around the world,” Siminski says. Metal is also in demand in the electronics industry, specifically gold and copper, for the circuit boards found in computers, phones, and cars. That drives up the price too. Siminski predicts that, based on gold’s trajectory, it will con- tinue to rise for years and could reach $10,000 an ounce. He believes that one day people will look back at $5,000 gold as a bargain. “Even if gold or silver corrects by 10 percent or even 20 percent, it doesn’t matter,” he says. “Usually what happens is, it’ll fall, it’ll build a base, it’ll go up a little higher, then come back down. This is just shooting up like a rocket ship.” THE TREND RISING WITH THE PRICE OF GOLD One trend coming to the forefront as the price of gold continues to increase is the use of alternative materials. Many designers don’t choose to use materials like leather, glass, wood, or resin specifically to make their jewelry cheaper. The alternative material trend is about being creative and designing in ways that are both true to one’s brand and cause them to stand out among the many gold pieces in the market. If the materials cost less, that’s simply a plus. “The rising price of gold has certainly changed the conversation, but it hasn’t diluted the creativity. If anything, it’s pushed designers to be even more intentional,” says Jennifer Shanker, founder and creative director of Muse, a fine jewelry showroom in New York City. The Muse family includes brands like Anna Maccieri Rossi, Bea Bongiasca, Francesca Villa, Lorraine West, Mark Davis, Silvia Furmanovich, Ten Thousand Things, and Vice Versa. Shanker is seeing an increase in jewelry that is meaningful rather than excessive. She says, “That mindset trans- lates into pieces that justify their value through craftsmanship, con- cept, and longevity.” It also brings one-of-a-kinds to the forefront because it allows designers to be more flexible and thoughtful with pricing than they can be with production pieces, which constantly need to be repriced because of the volatile market, explains Randi Molofsky, founder of brand development agency For Future Reference. “It’s about being thoughtful and making things unique so they aren’t overlapping with other things in the market,” says Molofsky, noting that Continued on page 56 THE STATE OF DIAMONDS JEWELRY DESIGN COLORED STONES 54 STATE OF THE MAJORS 2026 HOWL’s one-of-a-kind “Tembo” pendant features a cobalt blue Venetian glass intaglio set in 18-karat yellow gold and accented by a 1.35-carat rose tourmaline ($12,000). Silvia Furmanovich’s Tibetan leaf print marquetry earrings incorporate wood, green enamel, pear-cut citrines, diamond accents, and 18-karat yellow gold ($8,800). “The rising price of gold has certainly changed the conversation, but it hasn’t diluted the creativity. If anything, it’s pushed designers to be even more intentional.” —Jennifer Shanker, Muse RETAIL
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