European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 23, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Is photos by Lloyd Perkins weighing in to set Price jeweler Hanefi orak. Jewelry maker Vedat Yavuz Balkan with apprentices Workbench sprinkled with Gold dust. All that glitters in by Mike Spear staff writer Hanefi orak demonstrates Quality of Gold Chain. Old glitters along the Street like a Mellow Sunset. Everywhere the Eye Falls it sees Gold. It s enough to make Goldfinger gyre and Gimble with greed. Surely so much Gold in one place makes a King Midas fantasy Pale by comparison. It s it. Knox East and its Gold is much More accessible. In fact the shops along Gold Alley in Izmir Turkey Are literally gorged with Gold jewelry to the extent that it might be considered vulgar even cheap if it weren t Gold. If such a Street existed in the states the National guard would have to be called out to protect it. But along Gold Alley it s common for a merchant to bring out tray upon tray of bracelets rings and necklaces then walk out into the Street to talk to a Friend or to order Tea for the customers while they run their hands through it As if it were so Many dime store trinkets. There s a Blas atmosphere about it All that would give an american jeweler a nervous breakdown. If it s True that everyone has some larceny in them then the sight of All those trays of Gold jewelry lying on the counter strikes a Strong chord for the urge to steal. More than one customer in the situation has had to wrestle with his conscience. It s so easy to think now if i dropped Only that Small Little ring there the one with the Diamond in it into my pocket would the store owner know How could he possibly miss it but the store owner s Trust gets to the conscience. Maybe Trust Breeds a certain amount of honesty. And with All that Gold jewelry there is another intriguing aspect. It s cheap comparatively speaking. Turkey is the place to buy Gold jewelry says Hanefi orak who runs one shop. And the reason is a simple matter of economics. Hand produced items Are cheaper than those that Are machine produced he says and adds Friday september 23, 1977 labor is cheap Here and probably 98 per cent of the jewelry is  most americans in Turkey find this out quickly and one of the items of jewelry they often buy is a Gold ring with their name in turkish script inscribed on it. Much of the jewelry comes from the City of Diyarbakir in Eastern Turkey orak says. Diyarbakir which lies along the Tigris River has been noted for its Goldsmith ing since ancient times. But jewelry is made in Izmir too. Just Down the Street from orak s shop master jeweler Vedat Yavuz Balkan makes jewelry and trains two Young apprentices. He has cafes and Tiffany Cata logs open and there Are no items of jewelry in either that he cannot copy. His Bench is Bright with Gold dust and Gold scraps the byproduct of the jewelry he makes. When the Gold dust gets thick he lifts the Gold wire Gold bars and tools and with a Rabbit s foot he sweeps it carefully into a contain  will demonstrate the Quality of his workmanship by looping one of his Gold chains around his knee and pull ing on it. It takes nearly 200 pounds of Force to break it and he can t do it. Even his very Fine Gold chains will sup port More than 50 pounds. Orak and the other jewellers along the Alley sell their jewelry according to the Quality of Gold plus the Gold Smith s charge for making the item of jewelry. For example 14 Karat Gold costs a Little More than $3 per Gram 18 Karat Gold costs about $4 per Gram and 22 Karat Gold costs about $5 per Gram. As might be expected Gold Alley is often crowded with people. And probably As Many come to see the spectacle As come to buy. But because the Days of the traditional Gold Rush Are Long past it s probably one of the last remaining places where you can still get a genuine Case of Gold fever. The stars and stripes Page 13