how to sell gold jewelry?

[LazyBoy]

My mother-in-law wants us to sell a bunch of her old gold jewelry (and a bit of silver) for her. Her father-in-law was a NYC jeweler (as in they made the jewelry), so she has what seems like a lot to me.

Even though I recently got into goldmoney.com and bought a quantity of gold, at 83, I think it's reasonable for her to sell and have some fun money. (She called us today because breaking $900 made the news.)

Anyway, what's the best way to do this? Go to a jeweler? An estate jeweler? A "We Buy Gold" advertiser?

Will they just weigh the lot and offer us a % of the bullion price? Will they divy it up by carat weight first? Should we take a few pieces to multiple shops and get offers?

What are the odds it's more valuable as jewelry than melted down? It's mostly very old-fashioned, "bulky" pieces. (My wife wouldn't wear it.) Some of it may be Tiffany designs (w/o Tiffany markings) because grandpa's shop made jewelry for them. Could that a difference?

We're in the NJ suburbs. Does this rate a trip to NYC?

Thanks!
LB

[cobben]

Re: how to sell gold jewelry?

First you should have it all looked over by someone or preferably several different people you trust who know quality & antique jewelry, to see if there is anything there that is not just "junk". If there is, put that aside to try to find the best way of getting a good price on it. Probably at a quality auction house, hard to say, depends on what it is.

The remaining junk stuff is probably most profitably sold on Ebay, if you are willing to do the work & take the hassle. Otherwise you could sell it to any number of dealers, who should offer you something like spot minus 8% or so, which is the best offer I've seen recently (Kitco, for example).

I forgot to add, just because jewelry is "old" doesn't necessarily mean it has any antique or collector value. Just like old Roman coins, if there is a lot of it that survived, it's not worth much over the metal content. I bought a 18K bracelet last year from 1877 made in Stockholm, in very nice shape with fully readable marks (provenance is everything in the antique business) at a 20% discount to spot. Partly the seller had written a confused advertisement, and I took a chance, but mainly there is just a lot of that kind of stuff still around. As with watches, you almost have to go back to the 1700's to get high collectors' prices.

[LazyBoy]

Re: how to sell gold jewelry?

Thanks,

My wife sold some of it today for a melt-down price of $360/oz. I guess jewelry is usually 14ct or 58% pure, that's about $617/oz-real-gold.

Yesterday's close was almost $900. I'm not sure what "spot" is. Did she get "spot minus 30%"? Not so hot by your measure. But now that she knows the process, she can call around and ask what they're buying for, before she sells the rest.

All the pieces date from the 50's or 60's. A lot of it is charm-bracelet charms. Apparently nothing worth reselling at this "estate jeweler". (We should go back in a couple of weeks to see if any of the pieces are behind the glass.)

Anyway, my mother-in-law is happy with the amount of money she's getting. I won't tell her about the exchange rates.

LB

[ax]

Re: how to sell gold jewelry?

My mother-in-law wants us to sell a bunch of her old gold jewelry (and a bit of silver) for her. Her father-in-law was a NYC jeweler (as in they made the jewelry), so she has what seems like a lot to me.

Even though I recently got into goldmoney.com and bought a quantity of gold, at 83, I think it's reasonable for her to sell and have some fun money. (She called us today because breaking $900 made the news.)

Anyway, what's the best way to do this? Go to a jeweler? An estate jeweler? A "We Buy Gold" advertiser?

Will they just weigh the lot and offer us a % of the bullion price? Will they divy it up by carat weight first? Should we take a few pieces to multiple shops and get offers?

What are the odds it's more valuable as jewelry than melted down? It's mostly very old-fashioned, "bulky" pieces. (My wife wouldn't wear it.) Some of it may be Tiffany designs (w/o Tiffany markings) because grandpa's shop made jewelry for them. Could that a difference?

We're in the NJ suburbs. Does this rate a trip to NYC?

Thanks!
LB

I had asked Fred and all a few weeks back if it was worth it to purchase gold at the mall at heavily discounted rates to turn around and melt/sell it. Fred said he would go to the mall and check it out. Fred, any news?

[metalman]

Re: how to sell gold jewelry?

I had asked Fred and all a few weeks back if it was worth it to purchase gold at the mall at heavily discounted rates to turn around and melt/sell it. Fred said he would go to the mall and check it out. Fred, any news?

these guys are good...

http://www.scpm.com/

[cobben]

Re: how to sell gold jewelry?

with spot (world market price for pure or 24K gold) at $900/oz, you should be able to get up to around $484/oz for 14K or .585 pure.

But probably not at any ordinary jewelers or small local coin shops, etc.

[hoodoo]

Re: how to sell gold jewelry?

Ed McMahon suggests cash4gold.com!

How could you go wrong?

Hoo