I received some very nice jewelry from a relative with the expectation that I would sell it. There’s no sentimental value, and the pieces aren’t my style. It was basically a gift of money that I have to do a little work for.
So what’s the best way to sell these? There are five rings, all of them gold, three with precious stones. I don’t need the money today, but I’d like to have it before “indefinite,” maybe by Christmas. I’d also like to get as much as possible out of these, so I’m thinking no pawn shops.
The rings were appraised last in the 1990s (I have the appraisal papers) so I have no idea how much they’re worth today. Does anyone have any suggestions on getting the most buck for my bang and not getting duped?
No pawn shops? Well, then you better try craigslist or possibly small, locally owned jewelers in your town. But seriously, pawn shop is going to be your best bet.
Also, I can’t help but laugh and think about the cash4gold South Park episode.
I’m not saying use this guy, but pawn shops are usually a terrible idea for jewelry where the value is in the metal. Basically, separate gold and stones, weigh gold, calculate against spot price. You should be able to find at least 85% of spot like this guy says somewhere, if you have the correct carat and weights:
That article is really well wrtten and pretty much correct. But…
It’s rather hard to find a buyer paying 80% of melt in many communities. Bigger cities are better, smaller are not so easy.
And, the market the last few years for diamonds and precious/semi-precious stones is crap. Much like the housing market.
I do this as part of my job.
If you have a 14K wedding band that weighs 4 pennyweight, today I would have paid you $160 for that item.
If your wedding band weighed 4 pennyweight and had a 1/4 carat diamond(nice quality), I would have paid you the $160 for the gold and $50 for the diamond. Not much when you consider what you paid for the item. But, them’s the facts.
Good to know - I would have thought the pieces would be worth more whole instead of melted down, but shows what I know!
One of the rings is a sapphire and diamonds, like what Princess Di had. I wish we’d had it when William and Kate got married, but I’m hoping to maybe still get lucky and find some royalty-crazed buyer for it.
Going this weekend to check out some local jewelry shops. Wish me luck!
The jewelry business is tough these days because of the high price of gold (and other metals and stones). For gold jewelry the value of the metal tends to overwhelm the esthetic value. Get quotes from jewelers and melters. Jewelers who do more estate jewelry may give you the best value depending on the type of jewelry.
Don’t get caught in the expectation, that you are going to get the retail value for these items. The people that will buy your jewelry are going to turn around and resell it. So they are only going to want to pay you 50-60% of retail value. They are taking the risk that it might sit in their store for a year or longer before it’s sold if at all, so their capital is going to be tied up. And they will need to make a profit to pay for their overhead, etc.
If your want closer to retail. List the items on Ebay, but you may need certifications of the metal and quality of any stones before people would be willing to pay what you want.