Knowing we have specialist knowledge on here on just about about anything and everything, I thought I'd take a sounding on this. Advice on selling antique jewelry? My wife has a nice antique platinum/diamond ring which passed to her through the family. She's had it for some time, worn it very occasionally but it's not really her thing and despite the family history, there isn't a big emotional attachment to it. It now spends its life in safe storage and we would quite like to sell it. We've had it valued for insurance a few times and about 5 years ago she did try to sell through a jeweller on commision, but unfortunately this coincided with the pandemic so it languished with little interest for a few lockdown months. We haven't tried since. It's not ridiculously valuable, we are talking nice used car type money.
So, any inside knowledge or good advice on how to sell and get the best price? Auctions? Direct to specialist antique Jewellers? Sell on commission? I've obviously done a bit of googling and could just send details to a load of Jewellers and see what comes back, but was hoping someone on here might have some relevant insight.
I'd guess it's probably just worth the weight of the metals and stones, plus a bit maybe, unless it's really special?
unless it's really special?
It's very nice, or so I'm told if you like that sort of thing. We don't particularly. Not just this, but bling and "posh" jewelry full stop. There are enough jewellers around who specialise in antiques to suggest it might be worth more than just scrap value.
Might be worth looking into having it remade into a different style that might be something she’d wear. A good goldsmith is what you need, not a jeweller, particularly as it’s platinum, which is a hard metal and not so easy to work with. My mate is a goldsmith, and he doesn’t like working with platinum, although he’ll make something up if he has to.
That way she gets something she likes, and the ‘essence’ of it, it’s history, remains within the family and can be handed on further down the line.
The difficulty with trying to get more than scrap value is that you need a buyer who really wants that specific design, and on the whole people don't (and in some cases they would rather buy new anyway, as it's the symbolism more than the value they are looking for). We've also inherited some similar items (mostly silverware but a bit of jewellery too) and have resigned ourselves to not getting much for it. A lovely silver tea pot that I want to keep, but not much else.
Thanks. We are realistic about it, if it has to be "scrap" value, that is not the end of the world as it has some (apparently) high clarity, well cut stones of decent weight in it, as well as the metal content. It's well over 100 years old though, so it seems a shame to go that way. We'll have a good go at selling it intact first, before resorting to someone wielding a dremel!
Mrs Kilo had a similar ring; gift, not worn, etc. She had the stones put in a design she liked, might be an option.
double post
With auctions don't forget that you'll be paying commission. Depends how quickly you want to sell it, if you're willing to wait then ask around jewellers etc. Valuation for insurance could well be a lot more than you can realistically get for it.
With auctions don't forget that you'll be paying commission. Depends how quickly you want to sell it, if you're willing to wait then ask around jewellers etc. Valuation for insurance could well be a lot more than you can realistically get for it.
I know we'd be paying commission with an auction, but you do if you sell it via a Jeweller. I'm wary of auctions unless I knew there was a well respected one that specialised in good quality antique jewelry. We are inclined towards trying again to sell on commission with a respected antique Jeweller.
