Study: Silver Kiddush Cups Turn Into Investments

With interest rates hovering around zero, Israelis have been investing in alternative channels in order to make money. With banks paying next to nothing for customers’ deposits, investors have helped pump up prices on the stock market, and especially the real estate market, making both expensive and intimidating to negotiate for many people.

The result is that many who have sums of money to invest can’t afford to get into those markets – but still, they want to earn money on investments. And in recent years, an unlikely investment channel has emerged – in the form of silver Kiddush cups.

A new study examining sales trends in the silver and Judaica market has found that sales of silver Judaica, especially Kiddush cups, have risen consistently over the past few years – 15 percent in 2016 alone, over 2015 levels. A total of 95,000 Kiddush cups were sold in 2016 so far – 20,000 of them made out of silver. The recent crash in the price of silver – which is now about $15 an ounce – has helped the trend, says the study, with many Israelis seeing Kiddush cups as an investment vehicle that has great potential for the future.

Hazorfim, Israel’s largest seller of silver Judaica, said that its biggest-ever sale took place in recent months, with a client paying NIS 160,000 for a silver Kiddush cup.