Selling old gold jewelry - Where?

Since gold has hit the stratmosphere and the wifey has a lot of old gold jewelry that she never wears, she was thinking of selling it off. But where? How do we get the most from it?

You won't get as much from it as you think; most jewelry is 14karat or less, meaning just a little over half gold. The European system is slowly starting to take over on some things, where they label 18 karat 750 (75%) etc. If I remember right, 14k is 560.

Make sure first to weigh the jewelry as accurately as you can, just so you have an idea. Then figure out how much actual gold is in that weight by doing some analysis of the karat numbers on the jewelry. You can probablly google a karat converter to the 750, 560, etc. numbers I gave you. You will probablly not be exact on weight or content.

Next, your gold will have to be assayed. Essentially measured for pure gold content. Assay fees vary widely, and can be brutal. The radio ad places usually will totally screw you. Best to call a gold dealer in your area and ask about a reputable dealer or assayer who can help you out.

You of course will get paid based on what the assay says, and the melt fees of getting the gold out of the other metals, even if the place you sell it doesn't have any intention of melting it.

I can't help you with exact places to go, but I imagine if you called California Numismatic Investments in Los Angeles, they could send you to a reputable place.

You may be able to have your local jeweler weigh all your gold and give you good figures. It's even possible he'll give you your best deal. Frankly I would use his weight and content figures and call a few places to find the lowest assay costs and the lowest fee for melt and scrap value. You will not get spot prices. Most likely the best case scenario is 1.5% less than spot, and much more likely you will end up getting approximately 90-95% of spot.

Good luck. Just don't rush it and get raped.

Incidentally, you may have some luck finding a local gold bug that will melt and keep the gold for himself. This is a guy who wants to beat the spread of coins and bars and will go bargain hunting on his own. If you go this route, be very very careful and meet in well-lit public places only carrying a small amount of the gold you intend to sell. There are at least a handful of down-to-Earth goldbugs scouring any local market for mutually good deals, but there are at least an equal amount of scammers and outright thieves.

Clean it thoroughly and sell it at a garage sale, Craigslist, or EBay - you'll get more money from someone wanting a nice piece of jewelry than just the scrap value of the material.

I think what bothers me most are all these Gold commercials that prey on unsuspecting people, I can see seniors selling off ehrlooms. Ir, younger people that have no clue of value. "because it's on TV it's ok" . I'm sure some of the jewerly is probably worth more as an antique than melted down.

I know these gold smelters are making bazillions of dollars, but it's also sad to see those people getting sucked in. I can see the day of the valuable antique going by the way side in lieu of the almighty buck.
You can't tell me that ALL the gold is melted. Think of the gems layed in between the gold iself because someone didn't know any better.

That one guy that does the Cash-for-Gold commerical is annoying. I really hope he gets laryngitus one day.

+1 on avoiding the ones that advertise on the radio/TV and run local roadshow events. They gave my mom $45 for a gold commemorative coin worth $275. I wanted it, not for the value, but because of the neat story that she told the day she got it.

If you have ANY coins, check the value on the net first.

Dan

My sister took a gold chain to one of those gold for cash they offered $60.00, I sold it for 180 on ebay for her. This is a good link to see what your gold is worth.

http://www.dendritics.com/scales/me...17&Purity=0.417&PrOzt=&CurrencyN=USD&Markup=0http://www.dendritics.com/scales/me...17&Purity=0.417&PrOzt=&CurrencyN=USD&Markup=0

Thanks for the link... does anyone have any ideas on how to get the most out of something like a class ring that is really only of value for the gold. Via that link mine is worth around $340 and the most I have been offered is $175. I know they need to make money at the gold-buying stores and if I ran one I would probably only offer me around half as well. So are there any tricks or any better places to sell than what seems obvious (cash for gold stores, jewlers, etc...?)

Access a scale that measures in troy ounces or grams. Check the spot gold price and calculate what you have bearing
in mind that the price shown is for pure gold and 14kt is .585 pure and 18 kt is .750.
If you are in a large city like NY,LA or Chicago, I'd suggest a visit to the jewelery district where there are numerous vendors wanting to buy.You could also list it on eBay (show the weight and take good pics.

I tried once to sell used jewelry at ebay and didn't had much success. However I have sold 4 pieces but not all of them. If you go with ebay, make sure you clean them before posting for sale. It's very important the pieces to look good.

you should get at least 90% of the bullion, or spot, price. (spot is about $1730. right now) A reputable gold bullion dealer will give you that.
Or, you could try cutting out the middlemen, and look up a gold smelter near you.

oronocova said:

Thanks for the link... does anyone have any ideas on how to get the most out of something like a class ring that is really only of value for the gold.

Click to expand...

I would be cautious about believing that a "gold" class ring contains actual gold. The marketing for those things is, er, interesting.

Uh guys, it's been 19 months since the last post.

~ Chance

..just tryin to be helpful..

A friend's mom sold some jewelry last week. The 'We buy Gold' person weighed the pieces, then casually told them that there was 'about' 3/4 oz of low gold content in the necklace and bracelet clasps that he deducted. Then he discounted for 18K alloy, then offered much less than the spot price "because it had to be melted down". They took the offer.

Only later did it occur to them that that 1) the clasps did not weigh that much and 2) they were selling jewelry in the store so it was not all being melted and 3) they ended up with less than 1/2 spot prices even after adjusting for the percentage of gold in the alloys.

There is a reason that every town has several "we buy gold" stores. The markup is outrageous and the work is easy.

Daniel

www.coinflation.com has linked to a very consistently interesting selection of stories over the years that shows that most of the "We Buy Gold" stores are scams and that ALL of the gold buyers that travel from city to city and set up shop for a few days in each to buy gold are scams. They have also linked to articles describing how to get the best price for your gold.

Unless one is purely a speculator gold's high prices just mean one should probably hang on to it as our money continues to get cheaper. Our gold and other commodities have not gotten more expensive, the paper money has just gotten cheaper.

For example, the place where I do my laundry charges $7 for a pack of cigarettes (I mention that price as its the absolute highest I've seen anywhere). Most think the price is high but actually, it isn't. I remember in 1960 a pack could be had for three dimes. A quick look at the second table half way down the page at coinflation.com shows that because of the silver content of pre-1965 US dimes, they each have a melt value of $2.4674 today as scrap silver. That, of course, is just melt value and does not reflect the added cost of the premium one must usually pay when purchasing precious metals. So reselling three dimes from the early sixties will easily pay for the most exorbitantly priced pack of cigarettes I can recall seeing in our current economy.

I wonder what percentage of cigarette salesmen would take 3 '60's dimes as payment for a pack...?!

Only the smart ones.

Actually, its only pre-1965 dimes that are the equivalent of Sterling.

If I worked in retail I'd do it and keep the dimes and put my own legal tender in the til so no one would get shorted. I'd give the customer better than spot for their trouble.

TedTheLed said:

I wonder what percentage of cigarette salesmen would take 3 '60's dimes as payment for a pack...?!

Click to expand...

All the unique currency I got working retail came from kids who raided their parents' collections to buy candy and such. Still have a silver certificate from one such kid..

Last year my 79 year old father told me he was going to take all his Morgan silver dollars to a hotel where the "We buy gold & silver" guys were renting a hall. I told him the people there wouldn't give him a fair price, and that if he was interested in finding out what the coins were worth he should pay to have them appraised. A week later I'm over at his house and he shows me the $800 he got for the coins. I asked dad if he had an appraiser look at the coins before he went to the "We buy gold guys" and he said "No, I just went to the hotel to check it out, and they made me a great deal."

A little over a year later and dad is in a home for people with Dementia and or Alzheimer's Mom and I are going through the family paper work and come across the receipt for the coins. Dad had paid over $2,100 for the coins.

I'm sure there's a special place waiting for people who take advantage of our most vulnerable.

~ Chance