Silver emerges as new wedding gift amid soaring gold prices

ISTANBUL

With gold prices reaching 5,000 Turkish Liras ($212) per gram, the precious metal is losing its dominance at weddings.

Silver, which has delivered a 65 percent return to investors over the past eight months, is increasingly becoming the new choice for wedding gifts. The surge has prompted silver producers to expand their wedding-themed designs.

While the ounce price of gold has been trading at $3,685, its gram price in Türkiye has climbed to 5,000 liras. Rising prices have led to a poor wedding season for jewelers, while silver — which has gained more than 65 percent in the first eight months of 2025 — is positioning itself as an alternative to gold.

Silver’s gram price, which stood at 36.4 lira at the start of the year, rose to 55 lira by September, breaking a 14-year record in ounce prices.

This rally has been reflected in retail sales, with silver’s affordability and high return potential attracting investors and wedding shoppers alike. Jewelry shop windows now display packaged silver products, from grams to kilos, similar to gold.

Hüseyin Kaygısız, President of the Silver Jewelry Manufacturers and Businesspeople Association (GÜMSİAD), noted the sector’s shift toward silver. He said that three years ago, Türkiye imported 500 tons of silver, with 70 tons used in jewelry production.

This figure has since risen to 150 tons, while the remaining 350 tons are consumed by the battery and electronics industries.

“Gold prices will continue to rise and eventually disappear from shop windows because it will become unattainable,” Kaygısız said. “Jewelers are now turning to silver. Producers have increased designs for weddings, such as bracelets and rings. Customers are even setting solitaire diamonds in silver instead of gold.”

Kaygısız also pointed out that until a year and a half ago, Türkiye was the world leader in silver exports, selling to a market of 300 million people in surrounding regions. “Due to recent taxes, we have now fallen behind Italy, India, and China,” he added.

However, jeweler Nazar Özsahakyan believes silver cannot replace gold as a wedding gift. “Silver is not expensive enough to be given at weddings,” he said.

“Its craftsmanship is costly — you pay 2,000 lira for a chain, and only 200 lira of that is silver. Jewelers don’t buy it back. I don’t think it will suit our traditions. Those who can’t afford gold give money, not silver,” he said.