NoCoolSpouseName was once married to TotallyUncoolExSpouse. The ring is still in our possession. We have a current need for cash to finance our 3rd adoption, so we’d like to sell it. Where can we do that? Yeah, I know, “pawnshop” will be one answer. For some reason 
I’m not convinced that this is the best solution. Can someone help?
Ebay?
If you live in a metropolitain area, the phone company most likely produces what is called a “Business to Business Yellow Pages” and this is what you need. Call your library and ask them if they have them. It will have listings not found in consumer Yellow Pages and “Jewelery Dealers” should be among them. These are generally not storefront jewelers or they may have a store but also deal commercially with other jewelers and they will be the ones to talk to about selling your ring. Talk to more than one. You can also just look in your regular Yellow Pages for jewelers that say “We buy” and/or “We appraise” in their ads. When you go for an appraisal, don’t say that you are looking to sell the ring, say that you need the appraisal for insurance purposes and once you have the appraisal, then you can say something like, “If we ever decide to sell this ring, were should we take it?”
I buy diamonds and coins for a living.
Ebay is probably not gonna be the way to go. Nor is trying to sell in newspaper.
Selling it to a friend or someone you work with is always a possiblity, but it’s hard to sell used jewelry.
Can you give me any specifics about the biggest diamond? Size(weight), color, clarity, etc. And, if side diamonds, what the total carat weight of the side diamonds. I’ll try to give you a realistic idea of what an over-the-counter fair offer might be.
Pawn shops won’t offer the most, mainly because they make money by NOT buying things, rather by lending money. That’s a tough biz, and I’m not slamming them.
The suggestion to ask a few jewelry retailers in the area WHO they suggest might buy is good.
Here is an earlier thread that I posted about selling gold: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=130253
I never did post a follow-up. I took Samclem’s advice and called a couple of coin stores. One guy was very nice and told me to just bring in whatever I had, and he’d see if he could take it. So I brought in the bit of gold jewelry and a few things I wasn’t sure of. He tested the unknown stuff, and took all the gold. He paid the going rate, and it was all very easy.
I also had a pair of small diamond studs. He asked me to bring them in, as he might want them. I shopped the diamonds around a bit before bringing them to him. He offered me the same amount as everyone else, so I gladly sold them to him. (The guy has since moved into a larger store and expanded his business to include some cool collectible stuff. I’m glad he’s doing well.)
So, anyway, I did find quite a few jewelers in the area that deal in “estate jewelry,” and were more than happy to have me bring the earrings in, and make me an offer on the spot. Given the style of the earrings, I guess they’d be extremely easy to re-sell as is, so all the dealers I showed them to wanted them. I don’t know how the ring would fare. But it’s probably worth at least showing to some dealers and seeing what they say.
I think you’ll be a little surprised at what the resale of diamonds isn’t, though. Especially if you know what was paid for it originally. DeBeers has worked very hard to make sure that “Diamonds are Forever” - it’s been very effective for them.