Key Milestones - Singapore Jewellers Association

In the early years post World War 1, the Singapore jewellery trade landscape was crippled by disunity and lack of trust between fellow merchants. The pioneering generation of jewellery merchants, in the likes of 陈学敬, 彭百唯, 许如璧 and 林师万would not settle for this. They dreamt of fostering co-operation and trust amongst fellow jewellers and striving for their welfare to be looked after. Thus, the idea of an Association was conceived and this led to the birth of the Singapore Gold & Silver Merchants Association on 7 May 1939, housed on the 3rd floor of the Four Seas Communication Bank.

In the early stages of establishment, Association members were classified into three categories :  Goldsmiths, Silversmiths and Gold-silversmiths. There were more than 30 members with the majority from the Gold-silversmiths trade followed by the Goldsmiths trade. The members were also from distinct dialect groups such as Cantonese, Teochew, Hokkien, Hakka and Hainanese.

In 1940, Association relocated to 39 Upper Cross Street. It was a time of overwhelming prosperity and pre-eminence for the Association and the jewellery trade as a whole due to the able leadership of Association leaders and the sincere co-operation amongst members.

However, things took a bad turn in 1942 when the Japanese occupied Singapore. The Japanese classified jewellery as a luxury commodity, imposed a levy of 100% on all jewellery and instituted a system of jewellery registration. Association was also tasked by the Japanese Special Financial Department to collect monthly luxury goods taxes from all its members.

Post war, in 1948, the British colonial government revived civil administration in Singapore and put in strict financial controls. Outside of Singapore, the American government adopted the Gold Standard System (GSS) and stipulated the price of every ounce of gold at US$35.

The Gold Control Decree restricted the supply of gold bars. Hence, besides purchasing trade-ins, additional supply of gold bars had to be sourced from Hong Kong, Macau, Switzerland, Lebanon and France. Economic activities gradually resumed and business began picking up again.

Economic growth brought about membership increment. The premises at Upper Cross Street was no longer able to accommodate a large influx of members. Securing a much bigger and better premises for permanent use became of paramount importance. With wholehearted dedication, overwhelming generosity and an unyielding spirit, the then leadership team and members raised a large sum of $42,740. This sum of money paved the way for the acquisition of a property at 75 Neil Road and the Association office became officially operational on 22 December 1948.