At a quarter of the price, lesser metals are becoming the choice, especially for men's bands Increasingly, the familiar phrase "With this ring I thee wed" may not refer to gold. With the price of gold on a remarkable nine-year run and still peaking, some couples are turning to metals such as tungsten carbide or titanium to symbolize their love. It may not be as romantic, but at a quarter of the price, the lesser metals are becoming the choice, especially for men's bands. At Schwartz Jewelers in College Hill, 85 to 90 percent of new wedding bands sold for men are tungsten or a composite of other metals, none of them considered "precious," owner Sandy Schwartz said. "It's strictly a high-tech product." Prices can be as low as $80 for a tungsten carbide men's band, compared to $550 to $900 for a band of white gold. "Gold wedding bands aren't selling like they used to," said James Wolf, owner of James Wolf Jewelers in Mount Healthy. The price of gold this week hit a record high of $1,254.50 an ounce. With the exception of a sharp decline in 2008, gold prices have been rising since 2001, when an ounce of gold sold for $255. Friday's closing price of $1,229.10 is a gain of 382 percent from the 2001 low. By comparison, investors in stocks have played a losing hand. The Standard & Poor's 500, a broad measure of the stock market, fell about 5 percent during that time. The dramatic, extended rise in gold prices has changed the jewelry business. Record prices have people rummaging drawers and jewelry boxes searching for old gold to sell. But sales of gold fashion jewelry are down. "Everyone's selling gold jewelry but no one's buying," said Jeffrey Long, a master goldsmith and owner of JL Jewelers in Fairfield and Glendale. "It's changed the industry." That's created an opportunity for jewelers to buy gold and then resell it to refiners. "It's become a real important part of our business," Schwartz said. Richter and Phillips Jewelers downtown organizes gold parties at homes where friends can gather and bring their old tennis bracelets, class rings and herringbone chains to be sold. The host keeps 10 percent of the total sale. "People use the parties as a way to raise some cash," said Rick Fehr, Richter and Phillips' gemologist. Beneficiaries have included a Little League baseball team. The reasons for the sustained surge in prices aren't entirely clear, but are most likely due to simple supply and demand. In volatile times, gold is seen as a safe, stable investment. That drives up demand among investors and others around the world. But the supply can't keep up. It's not easy to quickly boost production of gold, because it takes years to bring new gold mines into production. With demand outstripping the supply, prices go up. Whether they'll keep going up, and how high, is a matter of speculation among those who trade in precious metals. Gold is in global demand, as it's bought by investors in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere, it's used in jewelry and religious rituals in India and is a key ingredient in making electronics in China. That, combined with the global economic problems and uncertainty - the threat of terror, two wars, a global recession, and a financial crisis in Europe - are making gold seem like a safe place to be. The World Gold Council predicts demand will stay strong in 2010. "The outlook for gold as a liquid, reliable asset and as a store of wealth remains highly favorable," said Aram Shishmanian, the council's CEO. Others say gold has had its run and that predictions of gold at $3,000 an ounce or higher, which some have made, will never pan out.

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