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What to do with 22ct earrings?

K

kenneyd

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 11, 2016
Messages
12
First off, thanks to this site for helping me in the past with both upgrading my wife's wedding band, anniversary studs and trellis ring.


I've had a set of earrings just sitting in a safety deposit box for almost a decade. While beautiful, they are quite elaborate, and frankly not something my wife would wear. My wife and I have several pieces of jewelry that are deemed heirlooms or sentimental by family, and those will never be for sale, however these are not, as such we are looking at our options
We debating having them crafted in to a other smaller items, tennis bracelet, sweet 16 studs for my daughter, gifts for others etc, but that just doesn't seem cost effective after speaking with our jeweler.

I spoke with Christies and Sotherbys, both were very eager to send them to their fall auction, but I have zero experience with that would need to really research to make a decision on that.

I am not in a hurry, but they aren't being used. We did have them recently appraised, 22ct, H, VG, si1. Made by "Giovane" who i really cant find much info on.
 

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i'd get them appraised by a trusted appraiser. Something so large isn't worth going to a PS vendor like Grace so Christie's sounds good, from what i have read, they take chunk for selling but you are sure of a buyer etc. They are lovely, I cannot imagine wearing such earrings, I would have them made into tons of rings because of course, I love bands.. best of luck !!
 
Wow those are some amazing earrings! Can we get more pics before you sell them?
I agree getting solid written certification makes sense.
I hope you find the right way to sell - no idea what that would be.
 
I kinda wonder if you can have them split, keep top portion as earrings and then bottom hearts as a convertible piece? Matching pendan necklaces for mother and daughter?

otherwise definitely send to auction
 
Yes, you can easily split them. I believe they're called day/night earrings. I suppose you could easily make a pendant out of the bottom just by putting a chain through the loop20200727_183324.jpg
 
Well least costly alternative lol but it all depends if the ladies would wear either items. If it’s too much then it’s too much, could go a long way towards a college fund or a car for that sweet 16
 
They are very beautiful but massive and not exactly practical, comfortable or easy to wear, even when “split”.
If you aren’t attached to them and can’t see them being worn and enjoyed then it makes sense to sell them on.
Jewellery should always be worn and enjoyed otherwise why have it.
 
My bling loving heart is screaming NO DONT SELL THOSE THEY ARE STUNNING but I do recognise there’s no point hanging on to them if they aren’t being worn.

I think a good way of figuring out what you can do with them, even though you said it’s not cost effective to reset them, is to calculate the minimum number of items you can turn them into that your wife and daughter will actually wear. For example, would your wife wear the top clusters as earrings? Would she like to convert one to a ring the way it is? So instead of converting the earrings into 10 pieces that require scrapping them and using them as raw material, maybe try for 5 pieces where 1-2 of them keep the piece as close to its original form as possible. Then you can estimate the price for such items if bought new, subtract the cost of resetting from it, and this amount now becomes an indicator for selling - whatever estimates you get from Christie’s less the consignment fee should be at least in this ballpark.

Best of luck! Also, WOW WOW WOW on the earrings once again :D
 
Just incredible!
 
Wow, just wow! :kiss2: :kiss2: :kiss2:

And I love convertible jewellery.

I am all for re-purposing pieces given to me by my mum into something that I could wear.

And if I had a child to pass my collection to, he/she can do whatever he/she likes with them.

Selling via auction would be an option, however the fees could be hefty.

DK :))
 
Dream dream dream earrings!!!

I can see, however, that it's nothing one would wear all the time...

I think I'd start by wearing the heart as a pendant and see if it goes into my regular rotation. The upper earring parts could easily be worn for a night out.


But then I'd be wearing a tiara every day if I had one... LOL


As far as I'm concerned auction houses will take 18 -30% of the hammer price from you as a seller plus another 18-30% from the buyer.

Just be aware of this.

I think you're right that converting into a bracelet is tempting but likely not much less money than buying a new tennis bracelet, since the setting would have to be custom, especially if one would incorporate some of the fancy shapes.
I'm a big fan of vine -style diamond bracelets but the quotes that I've received going custom were multiple times the price of regular tennis bracelets...

All in all not too shabby a dilemma to have!!!
 
Wow is all I can say for the jewelry! A search in 1stdibs for "Giovane" brings up some items that are similarly signed. Some sellers have more context than others but most align on Italian, 1980-90s, fine jewelry designer.
 
I saw quite a few of the Giovane stuff on that 1stdibs website. Some of the asking prices were crazy high.

I looked a little bit more into Sotheby's and Christie's, looks like it cost 10% for the seller and 25% for the buyer. (Ouch) Looks like a great business to be in lol.
I guess the perk is they can market it in markets where the stuff might be popular like Asia or Dubai etc however the huge drawback is the risk. It could hammer for double what you expected, or it could also go for half lol.
 
Asking prices tend to be higher than actual transaction prices. If you looked behind the scenes you'd find many of these items that have crazy asking prices don't have any market at all, or a very thin one, at best. Jewelers from everywhere have an oversupply of smaller diamonds. There is a ton of carat weight in these earrings, but there are no diamonds of important size. Unfortunately, size matters when it comes to finding a willing buyer. Smaller diamonds are subject to low demand and oversupply.

I suggest you take the smaller portion along with the marquise and put a threaded post back under the marquise and make earrings of a size than can be worn. Then you have the two larger segments left. Make on a pendant and add a chain. Finally, break up the other large part. You could use some of the diamonds to make the chain a diamonds by the yard chain. Make a diamond wedding ring, or a colored gem halo ring set with your diamonds.etc. Use them up, but efficiently.

The auction houses can't make miracles. You'll darn near give these away to sell them in that manner. It is far better to make use of the diamonds without going wild on custom or handmade designs.

I made you a photo of what the earring I proposed would look like. Hope this helps.earrings.jpg
 
absolutely stunning. When My mother passed she had an extravegent Cocktail ring. Although your earrings are much grander, I took the cocktail ring had had pieces made for each of the 7 grand children and 3 daughters .Rings for the older girls and for us and and studs for the youngest girl. UseD the gold to pay for The settings. Now we all have a legacy shared and didn't have to fight over a piece that was too over the top for any of truly to enjoy
 
heididdl said:
absolutely stunning. When My mother passed she had an extravegent Cocktail ring. Although your earrings are much grander, I took the cocktail ring had had pieces made for each of the 7 grand children and 3 daughters .Rings for the older girls and for us and and studs for the youngest girl. UseD the gold to pay for The settings. Now we all have a legacy shared and didn't have to fight over a piece that was too over the top for any of truly to enjoy
Click to expand...

not meaning to thread jack ;)2 but do you have pictures ?
 
Just out of curiosity, but it’s been months and what did you end up deciding?
 
Bling_banned said:
Just out of curiosity, but it’s been months and what did you end up deciding?
Click to expand...

they are sold,

I looked into both Christie's and Sotheby's, Christie's just wanted to put it in their regular online auction, but gave me a range of 18 to 22 k. Sotheby's wanted to put it in their Mary Lou Whitney important jewels auction. However they only put it estimated of 10 to 15k.
I ended up going with the Sotheby's because of how he really talked up how much exposure the auction was going to get, they told me all the things a seller would love to hear, like how most of their lots go for well above the estimate.
Anyway, seemed like the auction took all of 4 seconds, hammered at 12k, although it says 15.5k with the buyer's premium If you look at the auction website.
I thought their pictures were terrible, And they didn't have a picture showing they could be worn without the lower pendant as they promised me they would. But I'm not going to cry over spilled milk. I'm still really blessed, and thankful, just wouldn't use them again.
 
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