Jewelry is changing this Valentine's Day — and not just the price
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Valentine's Day jewelry is quietly changing as higher metal prices push brands to rethink materials and price points.
Why it matters: This holiday could test whether shoppers care more about meaning — or metal weight.
Catch up quick: Precious metal markets have been volatile heading into Valentine's Day. Gold and silver surged through much of 2025 before plunging sharply late last month, with silver posting its steepest one-day drop since 1980.
- Even after the selloff, both metals remain well above where they started the year — and that volatility is filtering into jewelry pricing.
How it works: Jewelry prices don't track daily metal swings. Pieces are often manufactured months in advance, so retail pricing lags.
- Gold spot prices, however, have been rising rapidly for more than two years, with silver soaring since the summer. And that's helped drive up the average price of jewelry along with it.
The big picture: To balance margins and maintain key price points amid the volatility, jewelers are getting creative.
- Some have leaned into styles that use less metal weight — such as open links and smaller-scale settings, Amanda Gizzi, senior vice president of Jewelers of America, tells Axios.
- Pandora, the world's largest jewelry brand by volume, recently announced it will introduce platinum-plated jewelry in part to reduce its reliance on silver and "navigate the new realities of raw material costs."
- Platinum is widely recognized as a premium precious metal, and Pandora says the move will help maintain accessible price points while diversifying its exposure to metal volatility.
Reality check: Jewelry sales have remained strong despite the surge in metals prices, Gizzi said.
- "Consumers aren't settling. They know what they want and they are making significant purchases," Gizzi said, adding that some may buy fewer items "to allow for the one purchase."
- That's evident in the jewelry market's "premiumization" trend, where higher-end sales are growing, but fewer purchases are being made for pieces under $1,500.
What we're watching: Valentine's Day spending overall is expected to hit a record $29.1 billion this year, with $7 billion projected to go toward jewelry alone, according to the National Retail Federation.
- "Jewelry remains resilient because it carries symbolic weight that few other categories do, making it far less substitutable than other gifting items," Ali Furman, PwC's consumer markets industry leader, tells Axios.
- Furman said the pressure is cyclical, not structural. Elevated gold prices may influence how much consumers spend — but not what they aspire to buy.
The bottom line: Valentine's Day jewelry isn't disappearing. But as metal costs stay elevated, shoppers may adjust at the margins — even if their desire for fine jewelry remains intact.
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