Hope this fits forum: Selling inherited rings

[Jackie762]

Okay, it's financial to me, so not sure if anyone has any idea on this one, I've googled a lot about it, but you all know that it's hard to sell pre-ownd jewelry, and estimates (papers from jewelers that give idea what something is work, I guess only for insurance, because you never are gonna sell it for what the appraiser says it's worth)...anyway....I inherited a couple really nice rings from my step mother, and is it true that if you get a price from the pawn store they only give you what like 10% of value, or does this super vary, I have went to 2 pawn stores, and want to go to a few more, to see if they all are close, I think they just like the gold for sell down purposes, the rings are all 14K gold, and some are wider bands, making them pretty nice gold, but the diamonds in some are tiny and they say not worth much at all, only bigger diamonds get better prices because they can reuse them in things.....so, have any of you used pawn stores to SELL items......the way I see it, being the minimalist I am, the value of something is only worth what someone will give you for it and no more really......unless you are sentimental and attached to it, which I don't have a lot of that in me really, I never got attached to things much because I'm a doer, and would rather live smaller and travel bigger, that's just me......so, as I just digressed, back to it.... Have you all pawned things before? 10% or better? are appraisals worth it? ($100 each ring, or goes down the more you do, but 3 or 4 things are very pricey to appraise, not gonna spend all that, defeats the purpose really)....

Has anyone safely had any luck selling jewelry online?? thanks in advance for all your help everyone, love this forum!!!:)

[iris lilies]

Okay, it's financial to me, so not sure if anyone has any idea on this one, I've googled a lot about it, but you all know that it's hard to sell pre-ownd jewelry, and estimates (papers from jewelers that give idea what something is work, I guess only for insurance, because you never are gonna sell it for what the appraiser says it's worth)...anyway....I inherited a couple really nice rings from my step mother, and is it true that if you get a price from the pawn store they only give you what like 10% of value, or does this super vary, I have went to 2 pawn stores, and want to go to a few more, to see if they all are close, I think they just like the gold for sell down purposes, the rings are all 14K gold, and some are wider bands, making them pretty nice gold, but the diamonds in some are tiny and they say not worth much at all, only bigger diamonds get better prices because they can reuse them in things.....so, have any of you used pawn stores to SELL items......the way I see it, being the minimalist I am, the value of something is only worth what someone will give you for it and no more really......unless you are sentimental and attached to it, which I don't have a lot of that in me really, I never got attached to things much because I'm a doer, and would rather live smaller and travel bigger, that's just me......so, as I just digressed, back to it.... Have you all pawned things before? 10% or better? are appraisals worth it? ($100 each ring, or goes down the more you do, but 3 or 4 things are very pricey to appraise, not gonna spend all that, defeats the purpose really)....

Has anyone safely had any luck selling jewelry online?? thanks in advance for all your help everyone, love this forum!!!:)
I havent used a pawn shop,but I did sell a gold ring of mine for melt value. I sold it to a jeweler I use and trust. It had an unremarkable ruby and two small side diamonds which I imagine were not worth anything.

Some vintage women's rings are popular right now, especially Deco styles, so if you have one of those, it will be worth more than melt down value.

[Birdie]

I've sold some inherited jewelry at a consignment shop. And yes, it does not bring anywhere close to the original purchase price.

[ToomuchStuff]

Never used a pawn shop for selling to. I have bought a couple small things there for jobs (multimeter, sander), because I know there is a lot of stolen stuff that goes through them (not everything has serial numbers, even then things will go through cracks). My understanding is you get melt value, which is why one relative debated on some jewelry about having it torn down to use the gems in something they would have made.

[razz]

I have a trusted jeweller as IL does who has passed opinion on some jewelry of my mother. Most is not worth much beyond the meltdown value if it has genuine gold or silver so I would pass on the appraisal and go for a simple sale to a good jeweller. Ask around if you are not aware of who to approach as longtime members of a community know who has been in business for a while.

If the jewelry has some significant meltdown, I would make something of it for my children or grandchildren as a gift. Another idea I might consider is to donate the jewelry to an organization that I value who will do the investigation to get the best dollar return or use them as a prize in a raffle or similar fundraising idea.

[jp1]

A friend in high school's mother melted down her wedding ring after she got divorced and had it made into a bass clef for her daughter, an avid cellist.

[ctg492]

Good Luck and let us know how you did selling the jewelry please.

I have had crummy luck because I had a silly idea that because the jewelry was older it would be a value much more than I got. What I found out was that the gold and the diamonds held the price that I would be given, not the style or age. I got melt down price. Next was a "gold" watch. We were told by the FIL before he passed that it had a value of $8,000. He got verbal quote from a jeweler IF the watch was gold. We were given the family heirloom to hold safely forever. 20 years ago we had it cleaned and a glass case at the time it was $85, then the crystal broke so we fixed it. Stopped running so I took it in, the jeweler told me you have more into this than it is worth. He showed me a case of heirloom watches and said I can sell you any of these for $85. Our priceless watch is about $50 on eBay.

[Miss Cellane]

See if there's a local jeweler who buys/sells vintage jewelry. There is one such shop in my town, and while some of what they buy is for meltdown, sometimes they will buy a vintage piece for resale. They won't pay as much as they will sell it for, but the price is sometimes higher than the meltdown value. They've also bought pieces of vintage costume jewelry for much more than I thought they would, depending on the condition of the piece and how popular that particular style is at the moment.

I inherited a ton of old jewelry, almost none of which I will ever wear, but it just didn't seem right to hand it all over to Goodwill or a consignment shop. I made about $800 from the sale of the good stuff--the best of the costume jewelry and the gold and silver, and donated the rest.

One thing I learned is that older diamonds were cut in a different way than they are today. So it is difficult to make a piece of jewelry blending old and new diamonds, because they won't look the same, because of the way they refract light. (One of my college roommates was from a family that has owned a diamond/jewelry business for decades. Even though she is not involved in the business, her depth of knowledge is remarkable.)

[iris lilies]

OP, I strongly suggest checking in with a local family jeweler rather than a pawn shop because a retail jeweler will know current trends as well as melt value. He will be able to assess your rings for their worth as fashion jewelry.

I have looked over the wares in two pawn shops here in my city and they have NO IDEA of current jewelry trends. All of the rings they show are yellow gold with tiny diamonds ( under half a carat) and none are vintage. I dont know who buys their rings, poor people who don't care about trends, I guess. But pawn shops are local, so perhaps those around you are different.

That said, I think yellow gold is classic, and most importantly for me, it requires
No maintenance. Every other precious metal requires fussing. White gold has to be dipped. Platinum has to be polished.But good old yellow gold, the gold of kings, just keeps on keepin on. I also think these simple rings with small diamonds would be charming engagement rings, but young women now expect a carat in huge halo settings. Ugh.

[Teacher Terry]

I had two rings worth 3k that I got 600 for in a consignment shop. I sold 2 gold rings with diamonds that cost 1k for 100 each at a garage sale. Pawn shops are the very worst place to go.

[bicyclist]

It makes sense to go to a local jeweler who has some specialized knowledge and a reputation to protect instead of a pawn shop which just knows things like scrap values. If you think you have something out of the ordinary, an appraiser like Freeman's in Philadelphia has people who know how to research the history and making of items. bicyclist