Re-Selling Your own Jewelry...this is not a spam message (sorry for the confusion)

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

I hate to say "has anyone sold jewelry" because of course some of you have. What has been your best experience? I have some just straight gold pieces that are just worth the weight I suppose. A few pieces with stones...mostly sapphires and diamonds (i am under no illusions that these are super pricey, probably 10k with low quality stones). I just don't know the best way to sell them for the best price I could get. I'm not unrealistic and don't think I'm going to end up on Antique Roadshow, but do not know the best place to start. Is it a jeweler or one of those cash for gold places? I'm not trying to make a killing, just get a fair price knowing they are going to make a profit.

 

[Travel60]

After death of in-laws, we sold a few small silver and gold pieces along with old silver coins when the silver market was high. We used a store recommended in the area - not a jewelry store. However, if stones are involved, I would think a jeweler would be your best bet.

If the jewelry is just not what you like, have you considered having stones reset? We had diamonds from MIL ring removed and gave to SIL for DD ring.

 

[LoveDaisy]

After my grandmother passed we sold a few pieces of her jewelry. We each kept a few pieces that we loved or were sentimental and my mom had custom pieces made from her jewelry for me and my cousin (only 2 granddaughters) We went to a jewelry place that specialized in antique jewelry to sell the couple pieces we didn’t keep.

 

[LuvOrlando]

You could sell on Nextdoor or something and meet at a public place closer to Christmas as that is probably when it will sell best. I sold to a jeweler once and got ripped off so you could but it won't be fair money.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

You could sell on Nextdoor or something and meet at a public place closer to Christmas as that is probably when it will sell best. I sold to a jeweler once and got ripped off so you could but it won't be fair money.

This is what worries me. I have some things I'd like to sell, but an encounter with an unscrupulous jeweler 20+ years ago has me nervous about doing anything. I wasn't even trying to sell anything to him. I wanted him to take something I had and make it into something a bit different. I would have been paying him. Instead, he tried to tell me that the stones were fake, but he could dispose of them and replace them with real stones. Several other jewelers confirmed all was real, so he was just a scammer working for a highly regarded local jewelry store that had been around for ages.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I’ve sold jewelry at various places, depending on it’s perceived value:

Swann Auction Galleries
Poshmark
West 47th Street is known as the Diamond district in NYC but lots of shops (and booths) sell broken and whole pieces by the weight. You can often find them on line. This is where I found out that the ex had bought me an opera length strand of fake pearls; such a sweet man.

 

[_19disnA]

Over the years have helped relatives sell some old jewelry they wanted to dispose of for the money or had a few pieces we had inherited at a couple of different places. All of those store-front gold/silver places work pretty much the same way and seemed very reputable. They first test the jewelry with a magnet to see if it is really gold or simply gold-plated. Magnets won't stick to gold. If you have a magnet, you can do the same test yourself at home to see whether or not something is simply gold plated. There will usually be markings stamped into the piece that indicates its purity. They have no interest in anything gold plated as the tiny amount of gold over a cheaper base metal isn't worth the effort to reprocess. Then while you watch they will perform some chemical tests to see the purity of the gold (i.e. 10k/14k/18k). Pure gold is 24k carat and too soft/pliable to be made into jewelry, so I believe the highest gold used for jewelry is 18k. They do a calculation using the current spot price of gold to see how much they will offer you. You can then decide to accept their offer or simply take back your jewelry so there is really no risk to doing this.

My impression is there is virtually no active resale market for used diamonds. Whether that is because DeBeers who has control of virtually all of the newly mined diamonds discourages jewelers from buying used diamonds or for some other reason I don't know. You could probably find a jewelry store who will remount whatever stones you have into new jewelry (i.e. ring/earrings/pendant/etc.) to further enjoy. It seems most jewelry stores don't want to be bothered buying/selling 'used' precious stones so the only real 'value' to you is the enjoyment of wearing it.

Have occasionally seen TV ads for a local jewelry store who also offers to buy old gold/silver. If you have such a place near where you live, you could probably go there and also get some idea what your pieces might be worth. There are also some places where you can mail in your items for their appraisal. While some might be reputable, I would feel far more comfortable taking them to a local store instead.

If the gold/silver relates to collectable coins, you should first go to a coin store and determine what the value of that particular item might be. Some rare old coins are worth far more than the scrap metal value of the gold/silver they are made from. The 'value' of a coin that has no collectable value is fairly easy to determine since the metal purity/weight is known and can be calculated.

 

[leebee]

Maybe 20 years or so ago there was a very active "sell your gold" thread here on the DIS... maybe the Budget Board, can't remember. People seemed to have very good experiences with some of the companies where you send in your jewelry, they evaluated it and make an offer, and then either send you a check or return the items. I don't remember the names of any of these sites, but at the time the gold market was hot and people were making a lot of money. If you choose to do something like this, I'd get an evaluation of the items (gold purity, stones, actual value) before sending it off. OH I should add they weren't interested in the stones at all; IIRC people either had the stones removed before sending the piece, or the company returned the stones with the check.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

Thanks everyone. Some great advice from all of you and I appreciate the time you took to respond. I figured the stones were relatively worthless. Which is totally fine. These aren't pieces I want remade (jewelry from ex boyfriends/ex husband) and I don't have any children so no one that would be interested in the items and it seems dumb to just keep hanging on to them in my jewelry box. There is a place practically around the corner that buys gold. I think I will start there for a base price just to see what they offer and then determine where to go from there.

 

[White Cat]

Gold prices are up so you have that on your side.

 

[DebbieB]

When my mom passed, I took her gold and some of mine to a local family run jewelry store and got great prices.

 

[Imzadi]

I've bought some sterling silver (used) jewelry on eBay. They sell items with semi-precious stones. I've seem some go for quite a high price. I have a bracelet I really love that is unusual. And I missed out on another on by several minutes.