Is an appraisal for a piece of jewelry really what you could expect to sell it for?
If I get an appraisal (from a reputable company) for a piece of jewelry for say $10,000 can I really expect to get that much for the jewelry if I sell it? I assume an appraisal value is the maximum amount I could expect to get under the best possible situation---the person buying it is really interested in it and I am really interested in selling it.
If I instead decide I have to sell it to a jewelry store, I assume they will NOT pay the appraised value since they will need to resell it and make a profit? If I have a fair amount of expensive jewelry, how do you go about selling it?
Thanks
Tom
13 comments
tombillet
OP2 years agoThanks for your response. I personally dont have any jewelry to sell or own any jewelry. I have been helping someone else and was curious about how to get decent money for jewelry when someone passes away and they collected jewelry and have vast collection. It seems to me that if you collect jewelry as an investment you might be surprised that you cant get as much as you think you should get. Im curious what others think about buying jewelry as an investment?
jklfindings
·2 years agoJewelry as an investment is pretty straightforward. If you can afford rare stones, like red diamonds, diamonds over 5 carats, or historical pieces, you can successfully "invest" in jewelry. You're looking for rarity and high quality when investing. If you are looking for a monetary return over a few years from items purchased at your local jewelry store, or QVC, it's not going to happen. Everything is just way too mass produced. Jewelry is similar to cars when purchased. As soon as you make that retail purchase, the value drops. Rarely will you ever get out what you put into jewelry.
Markets inside the industry change rapidly and if you aren't constantly paying attention, you will lose out big time. 2 good examples are diamonds, and preowned Rolex at the moment. Lab created diamonds have entered the market en masse in the last few years, and have sunk a huge portion of the diamond market. We lost about 35% of the diamond market value just last year on the stuff most of us see on a daily basis. In my area, this has essentially destroyed the preowned side of things for lower grade diamonds. The actual rare diamonds sitting in the higher echelons haven't been affected though. Similar issue happened with preowned Rolexes recently. 2 years ago the market was insanely high, and all of a sudden it plummeted drastically.
Now if you have the cash to invest in museum quality pieces, it can be a cool hobby. I remember touring the Carlsbad campus of GIA years ago and going through the grading rooms. Seeing some insanely rare items being graded and just drooling lol.
As for how to go through a vast collection, you've essentially got 2 options. Break it down piece by piece, do the research, and eBay it, or sell locally. Or find someone in your local area who deals in estate jewelry, and is willing to purchase the whole lot. Just remember, if you go the route of selling to a dealer, unless there are stand out pieces, or designer pieces, we see everything as parts, because we can pretty much have anything made easily. Your grandmas engagement ring that has been passed down over the generations, is actually just 2 grams of 14k white gold, with a quarter carat chipped diamond.
idealgems1
·2 years agoFWIW, eBay's authentication guarantee does cut down on the scammers buying and replacing your jewelry with a NAD claim. GIA will authenticate the item, and if it is returned, they reinspect it for the seller. It covers most jewelry selling for $500 or more.
If you have expensive jewelry to sell, the quickest and safest bet (for both monetary and personal safety) is to get offers from 3 reputable dealers in your area. As @jklfindings indicated, selling on eBay can be an ordeal sometimes. If you get the three offers first, you will have a good idea what to ask for it if you do sell on eBay. Or you may well think that an offer is fair and just take it.
simba6
·2 years agoNot even close. They say it's worth far more than you paid for it to make you feel better. Just see if they will buy it for that amount. As others have stated, don't try to sell an item you can't afford to lose.
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@tombillet
What everyone else has told you, plus this: Do not offer your $10,000 piece of jewelry for sale on eBay.
Your item (especially its price) is too attractive to eBay scam artists, who would eagerly scoop up your jewelry, file a NAD claim, and then return an inexpensive piece of junk in its place -- and 99.999% of NAD cases are found in favor of the buyer.
Or the buyer can simply do a credit card chargeback -- and eBay is no help whatsoever in those cases.
Sell it locally, and for cash. You might not receive $10,000 for your item -- but a handful of something is better than a handful of nothing.
Good luck.
idealgems1
·2 years agoAs a Graduate Gemologist and for many years a former member of the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers, maybe I can shed some light. There are appraisals and then there are appraisals. The same piece of jewelry could have three or more different values assigned to it, even by the same reputable appraiser.
The most common type of appraisal, and the one outlined by many people above, is an insurance replacement appraisal. This is an opinion of the selling price of a piece of jewelry at full retail value. It is not an opinion of what a jewelry owner could get it for. Insurance appraisals tend to be on the high side; and insurers love this. The premiums you pay for insuring the item are, of course, based on this value.
But interestingly, this is not likely what your insurance company would replace the jewelry for or what they would pay you for it if you lost the piece. Insurers are only required to replace items with like kind and quality. They tend to be very picky about making sure that the diamond, for instance you lost is replaced with one as large and of the same quality as the one you lost. But they will make this replacement at a discounted price from a jeweler or a replacement service that will not charge them full retail for the diamond. If you think about it, it does make sense; a company like State Farm buys millions of dollars worth of jewelry...shouldn't they be able to buy it at wholesale?
If you want to cash out the piece instead of replacing it, that is even worse. The insurance company will only pay you what they could replace it for. When I had my store, I got to the point where I wouldn't do replacement advice estimates for people who didn't want to replace the item. It only led to customers getting mad that the estimate was for less than full value; even if it was what I routinely sold the diamond for to that insurance company. A starting point for replacements was 40% over cost for diamonds under $1,000 cost for a jeweler in the State Farm program, for instance.
A second kind of appraisal is for estate purposes. This value is vaguely "what a willing buyer and willing seller are likely to agree for the sale of the piece". It should be what a piece would likely sell for at auction, or what an individual would pay for it person to person, or if you took it to like three strong dealers, maybe who would offer the most for it. Most NAJA appraisers really didn't do this kind of an appraisal; it's more of an ASA type of qualification. In lieu of an estate appraisal, I often submitted a written offer to purchase to an estate and courts and lawyers in my area would willingly accept it because we were recognized as a long established, reputable dealer.
A third type of an appraisal is a valuation for donation in order to establish a tax write-off amount. Again, this is for the ASA and similarly qualified appraisers, and valuation can be tricky.
A fourth type of appraisal is a cash market appraisal. This is what you could sell a piece for today for cash. It doesn't have to be the strongest offer a person could get, but shouldn't be ridiculously low. This type of valuation is often argued about in divorce cases, and I have had to testify when a spouse offered a ridiculously low appraisal like on a wedding ring.
To further muddy up the scene, many unscrupulous sellers use an inflated, lofty insurance replacement value as a selling tool. Full disclosure here, I do offer a point-of-sale certificate of appraisal for the listings I sell here on eBay just in case a buyer wants to insure the piece. My appraised value is for the regular, tagged selling price of the item when it was in my store; which is more than the listings sell for. Many retail jewelers routinely abuse this, though, and appraise pieces they sell for ridiculous prices, much higher than the pieces ever really sell for at retail. With gold prices hovering over $2,300 per Troy ounce, if anything, my tagged retail prices from three and a half years ago are way too low in today's market!
tombillet
OP2 years agoThank you for your detailed response. I have learned that it seems tricky to figure out the value of a piece of jewelry. 😀
jklfindings
·2 years agoAppraisals are strictly for insurance purposes, and they tend to be inflated a good bit on top of that. I've seen appraisals on similar pieces vary greatly depending on the company that wrote it out. No jewelry store or dealer will pay anywhere near an appraisals value. (Heck, I have a ring listed here for a third of the price of the appraisal!) I buy jewelry every day, and we see appraisals every day. If you are dealing with a gem dealer, or a jewelry store, you are working on a wholesale basis, not retail. Your item appraised at $10,000 may only have $1000 worth of materials in it, and unless there is a designer name behind the piece, any dealer is going to be focused on the materials, and not paperwork. With todays technology (3D printing & CAD), it's very easy to make pretty much anything you can think of at the cost of materials plus a few hundred dollars.
tombillet
OP2 years agoIs this true if it is appraised by GIA too? Is there really anywhere to get a good idea of the real value of a piece of jewelry?
Tom
jklfindings
·2 years agoGIA does not appraise items, they offer grading services, but never with a dollar amount attached. One of the most common degrees for an appraiser is the GG or Graduate Gemologist, and that certification comes from GIA, but they do not represent GIA when doing an appraisal.
Depends on what you mean by "real value". If you are looking for fair market value as in person to person, ebay's sold listings is a really good source that a lot of us use. If you are looking for wholesale value, any jewelry store's offer on your piece would be just that. A lot of value will depend on how large of a buyer base you have when selling, and how long you are willing to be actively selling the piece. Jewelry sales are fickle. I've had pieces that sold as soon as they listed, and other pieces that have been around for years, and seem to be cursed lol.
lakefor94
·2 years agoI agree with @chevymontecarlo88 , sell locally for cash. Sure, you could try to milk a higher price for it online but the pitfalls are many. Like a minefield.
Get your money upfront from a reputable, local dealer.
chevymontecarlo88
·2 years agoIt's only worth what someone will pay for it of course. Appraisals are good for a insurance replacement and to document originality. It is a good starting point for what it may be worth but that does not mean it could sell for less or more. Provenance is important when dealing with antiques as long as it is appraised from a reputable place. It does not hurt asking what the jeweler would pay for your item(s) and i would also shop it to other dealers locally. Some dealers may be interested in the vintage value of the item and some may be interested in it for the precious metals or stones. (gold/diamonds) Selling bulk jewellery can be exhausting especially dealing with people you do not know. That being said, i would sell them locally (to dealer or end user) instead of online. Take your time if you can and understand if your items are made of precious metals, (Gold Silver) the value may change based on spot pricing. Up or down.
-Good luck
tombillet
OP2 years agoThank you for your response.