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Don't Scrap Your Estate Jewelry...Sell It.
People have been calling us lately and asking us for advice on what to do with some of their inherited jewelry and/or estate jewelry pieces that they just cannot wear (for whatever reason).
I have seen an unfortunate practice by some jewelers who tell these unsuspecting people that their jewelry is only worth the "scrap metal" or "melt down" price of the precious metal. The price they usually offer these people is often well below the "penny weight" for just the precious metal content alone..and is certainly less than what these items are really worth.
Therefore, I just wanna give you all a heads up here.
Many of you no doubt have some gaudy looking gold jewelry that may have been passed down to you from a grandmother or great grandmother. You being the trendy cosmopolitan women with impeccable taste in diamonds and jewelry wouldn't be caught dead in some of these outdated pieces.
However, keep in mind that the asthetic look of the jewelry pieces themselves are NOT reflective of their quality and value. Many of these heirloom jewelry pieces are quite substantial, are rare, and worth alot of money.
While some jewelry items are only worth their weight in gold, or platinum, most fine jewelry has an intrinsic value far in excess of its scrapping value, especially if it includes diamonds or gemstones.
So while the easy thing for many people to do is to just walk into a local jeweler with all of your Grandma's jewelry, throw it on the counter at wait for the guy to offer you next to nothing for the "scrap value" of the merchandise...and you sit there thinking..well, some money is better than no money....and I'm certainly not wearing this stuff...
You need to realize that in most of these cases your ignorance is being exploited, your indifference taken advantage of, and your just plain old getting rooked.
If you could use the extra cash that the sale of this jewelry will afford, do yourself a favor and invest a bit of your time in doing some proper research. With a bit of effort you will find that many of these jewelry pieces you have buried in the drawer are quite valuable and worth a significant amount of money to the right buyer.
Comments
Great, so how do you find the right buyer?
Posted by: Susie on March 24, 2007 9:00 PM
Yes, how do you find the right buyer?
Posted by: Debbie on March 28, 2007 10:49 AM
Here is a good place to start for both of you:
1. www.diamondtalk.com
2. www.pricescope.com
Posted by: Judah on March 28, 2007 10:50 AM
My mother passed away 6 months again. She has several pieces of jewelery and loose stones that she purchased over the last 7 years. How do I go about selling these pieces.
Thank you
Posted by: P Brady on June 9, 2007 11:17 AM