Fine jewelry has an unusual attribute compared to so many consumer goods...because of the materials used, there is intrinsic value to it. As a consequence, jewelry is often a possession that folks will trade in towards new jewelry they prefer, or just outright sold for cash to spend on other things entirely.
If you are considering selling your jewelry, gems, or diamonds, here are some important things to know, so that you are prepared for the bid you will receive:
in most, but not all situations, a jeweler will base their bid on
the meltdown value of the precious metal (minus refining fees)
less-than-wholesale value of the diamonds and gems
in some situations, particularly if the jeweler already has enough of what you're selling, the offer will be lower.
in some situations, particularly if the jeweler already has a customer in mind for one or more of your pieces, the offer will be a bit higher
in even fewer situations, particularly if something is in mint condition and has collectible value, a jeweler will bid even more
i have an appraisal--how will your bid compare?
If you have a retail replacement value appraisal (usually used for acquiring insurance), you need to know that is the highest appraisal value a piece of fine jewelry will ever show. That value includes not only the metal and gem values, but also the cost of labor to craft the metal and set the stones, any profit above and beyond all those amounts, and also an inflationary allowance.
Depending upon the formulas used by the appraiser, and when the calculations were done, there can be a very broad variance here. But it's pretty rare that I make an offer on an item with a recent appraisal that my offer is more than one-third of that value. Somewhere between 1/10th and 1/6th is most likely...but there's always exceptions.
we are professionals
Which means, we will give you the benefit of our knowledge and advice. But we will not blow smoke up your patootie. It's not fun for us to tell you facts that you might consider "bad news." But the truth is where any transaction like this should both begin and end.
