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cupofkindness

Simplifying My Life: Selling Jewelery

cupofkindness
10 years ago

I have a several pieces of fine jewelry that have been given to me by relatives over the years (older relatives that are now gone) that I would like to sell since I will never wear these pieces and I would prefer the space (both mental and physical) and the money that I would have in their stead.

I would appreciate any advice on this matter. I know very little about this and do not want to be taken advantage of by unscrupulous precious metal buyers. For example, how can I tell if something is platinum or white gold? Thank you in advance for your ideas and advice.

~Cupofkindness

Comments (3)

  • LuAnn_in_PA
    10 years ago

    I would seek advice from my local jeweler.

  • mic111
    10 years ago

    You can pay an independent appraiser to give you an idea of the value. They will tell you the metal type, the weight if they can ascertain it, the cart weight and quality of the gems etc. The insurance value will be much higher than what you can probably sell it for but you can tell them your planning to sell it and want to understand what it is worth wholesale.

  • camlan
    10 years ago

    Unless your jewelery is really old, the white gold and platinum should be marked differently. Gold is marked with a number followed by K. The number indicates the amount of gold in the alloy--pure gold is 24k, but most jewelery is an alloy with 20 or 14 or 10 K gold and the rest a mix of other metals for strength and color.

    Platinum is usually marked Plat or P followed by a number indicating the purity.

    If you have a mix of gold, say a few 10K pieces and some 14 K, make sure that the buyer does not put them all on the scale at once and give you the 10K price for all of it. Have them divide the jewelery by the amount of gold before weighing.

    Most places, you can go in and have them weigh your gold, and then leave without selling it if you don't like the price. The chain gold stores will give you a lot of pressure to sell now, and say things like, "We can't guarantee this price for more than 12 hours," and stuff like that. That's fine. There are other stores. But if you shop around, you can get 3 or 4 estimates for your jewelry.

    And the reason they can't guarantee the price is usually that they go on that day's price for gold, which changes daily, but usually not by a whole lot. They are trying to pressure you when they say this.

    If the pieces are plain metal, you will most likely be offered an amount of money based on the weight of the metal. If there are stones in the pieces, you might do better shopping them around to see if there is a jeweler in your area who sells vintage jewelery who will buy them as jewelery, not as scrap metal.

    For some pieces, you get the most money when you sell the metal separately from the gemstones.