Royal Hoo-Ha

Right, so I promised no Royal hoo-ha on my blog, there's enough of it in the actual press without every blog going nuts over it. However, I had to post this and break my promise.

You can, from the jewellery makers supplier I use most frequently - Cooksons Gold - buy a five gram bar of either fine silver or nine carat gold to commemorate the auspicious event.

Now, good luck to Will and Cate, I hope they have a very happy wedding day and they have a wonderful life together, but seriously? Am I the only one thinking this is all a little bit insane? Has everyone gone a little loopy with wedding fever?

Over the weeks leading up towards the big day we've seen commemorative plates; cups; tea; gloves; sticks of rock; pez dispensers; dolls; fake videos; Hollywood Telly Films; nail art; biscuits; cakes; stamps; bags; fridges and artwork from people like Willard Wigans (who I blogged about last year) and paper artist Rob Ryan. You name it, there will be someone making a quick buck out of this Royal Wedding. But Cooksons, really, a commemorative gold bar?

Now the silver bar, that's a not unreasonable £9.80. You could almost say that would be a nice gift for someone who's really very into the Royals. However, as a jeweller, how many more pieces could you make out of the £69.60 you'd pay to buy a nine carat gold bar to celebrate the marriage of people you don't know? Translated into silver. That's a 10cm x 7.5cm piece of 0.7mm thick, which is what I would normally work in. I could make so many things out of that piece of silver!

Stamped with Prince Williams coat of arm, inscription and hallmark, this ingot measures in at a whopping 14.5mm x 25mm x 1.4mm thick...that's about as big as my Caps Lock key.

If you're a jeweller and wish to commemorate the wedding by spending £70, spend it on materials and tools. You could even buy a commemorative pack of biccies with the change, or have hours of mindless fun getting sweeties out of Cate and Wills Pez Heads!

For more insane Royal commemoratives head over to Susan Leahy on Pinterest, who has a board dedicated to all the ones I mentioned above - Link

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Listening: Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1000000