The jewellery market in Portugal is a €1 billion per year industry. And yet today, more and more people are buying luxury goods such as jewellery on the internet, and turning to places like our weekly online Jewellery auctions to make their purchases. So how did this happen? What affected the market in such a strong way? Pedro Tarelho is one of our in-house modern jewellery experts who oversees and curates the selection of our jewellery auctions. He has more than 20 years of experience in the jewellery industry and is the owner of a jewellery store in Portugal. He has first hand experience and understanding of how the Portuguese jewellery market has been transformed in recent years, and he’s here to tell you more. Watch the video below and read on for more information.
Pedro’s Background
In Pedro’s own words; ‘Jewellery is inseparable with my life; it's in my blood.’ His family has been linked to the jewellery business for many generations, and his father and uncles all opened their own jewellery stores. Today Pedro continues his family tradition with his own jewellery store in Portugal and of course, as a jewellery expert at Catawiki. He has been following the jewellery market for many years and has seen the changes that led to the birth of the internet and the transformation of the jewellery business into an online world. But what factors affected these changes?
Hand-crafted Portuguese filigree necklace - Sold for €2,850 at our Exclusive Antique Jewellery auction in 2017
The Portuguese Jewellery Market Booms
Between 2008 and 2014, Portugal experienced a crippling economic crisis. The entire country went through a critical phase and thousands of Portuguese people lost their jobs. And yet it was at this time the Portuguese jewellery market showed a huge financial growth. But why? ‘The Portuguese have always been the kind of people who buy gold in times of crisis; they want to collect as much as possible. We have a tradition in the North of Portugal were women wear large quantities of gold during religious celebrations or for social events, not only to show their status but because of vanity.’ It’s for this reason that when the crisis blew up in Portugal, people were keen to sell off their assets and make money. And so the gold was sold cheap due to the need to make money fast. This meant there was then a huge boom in second hand gold shops and pawn houses and thus the jewellery market flourished.
18K gold ring with sapphire detail - Sold for €1000 at our Jewellery auction in 2017
Moving to an Online World
These operations quickly extended to online channels. The idea was that buying and selling jewellery online could be much more advantageous because more buyers could be reached and better prices could be achieved. And so this is exactly what happened. Pedro says that ‘thanks to online outlets like Catawiki, there’s a greater opportunity to buy and sell jewellery to more people from all over the world.’ We now have 40 weekly jewellery auctions, ranging from antique to modern. And so even now that the country’s economy has steadied, Pedro stills sees a huge supply and demand for jewellery online in Portugal which continues to feed into the now €1 billion per year industry. The market has truly been transformed.
We have 40 weekly Jewellery auctions, ranging from antique to modern
Looking to browse for some special and unusual jewellery online? Discover our Jewellery auctions for an exciting and diverse range of necklaces, rings, earrings, bracelets and more. Or if you’re interested in making money by selling your jewellery at auction, simply register as a seller and start offering up your items for consideration by Pedro and his team.
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