What to do with unwanted jewelry?

[mrbrightside695]

Hi all! Since this is my first post let me start by thanking all the forum members here for so willingly sharing their vast knowledge to educate others. I am sure my future wife will greatly appreciate all that I have learned from reading through this forum. However, before I put my knowledge to use buying something, I first need to apply it to selling (at least, I think).

I have been given a number of rings, from my grandfather's estate, to sell. My family has already chosen the pieces that they want to keep, be it to wear or for sentimental reasons, as have I. The rest just sit collecting dust, so it was decided that we should do something with them - selling is an obvious option, though I will appeal to the collective mind here for any suggestions on re-purposing the jewelry into more regularly wearable pieces. I have very few details on many of the rings, but some do have sales receipts or "appraisals" (I took my best guess as to which appraisal went with which ring, since there was a lot of paperwork for jewelry long since sold or traded in). I know appraisals are not indicative of actual value to a buyer, but I'm not even sure how well to trust them, since most are from around 1989!

With that lengthy intro, here are a select few to start us off:

Ring 1: Ladies 14kt white gold ring, set with one 23.41ct aquamarine and fourteen full cut diamonds weighing 0.63ct total weight. "Appraised" value in 1991 at $7500



Ring 2: Mens 14k yellow gold gypsy style ring, set with one star ruby weight about 6 ct. "Appraised" value in 1987 at $6000. I can't see a star at all in this ring, even with an example of an excellent one side by side.



So, pricescope, what do I do with these rings?

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Are their any Estate dealers in your city that can provide help in this regard? Any friends who might recommend jewellers they've used who buy Estate pieces and were happy with the outcome?

BTW, You have appraisals that provide information on what you possess--but those values listed are for "insurance replacement" and not "Estate" value.

Hope this was helpful.

cheers--Sharon

 

[mrbrightside695]

Hi Sharon,

Thanks for the suggestion! I unfortunately don't have any friends or family in the area who would know of such a dealer. However, I'm close enough to NYC to be able to make a day trip, so a local jeweler recommended J.S.S. DeYoung. I am also close to Betteridge (which I found by looking at the sticky in the Antique & Vintage forum). Are you familiar with either of these places?

As for the appraisals, I would never expect the values to be indicative of what they are worth wholesale. However, the fact that the appraisals were done almost 25 years ago makes it especially hard to predict what offers I might get, even just accounting for the increase in the value of gold. The best I can do is compare the sale price to inflation, but that seems pretty suspicious. For example, I'm no expert on jewelry at all, but $7500 in 1991 comes to ~$12800 in 2013 (accounting for inflation), which seems pretty high to for the aquamarine ring, as large at is is.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

I am familiar with Betterridge, not because I have sold anything to their Estate department, but because I have been in contact with them about purchasing from their Estate department.

Does Yelp offer any feedback on the other vendor you mentioned? You are close to a huge buyers market for Estate jewellery!

Success to you.

cheers--Sharon

 

[pearlsngems]

Betteridge sells stunning jewelry, including estate items. We go have a look any time we are in Greenwich.