Three easy pieces of jewelry to sell (and two that are hard)
The jade bracelet sold first, then the diamond ring. The diamond earrings (left) didn’t sell; they are “worth” more, but few people will spend money on something they’ll almost never wear.
Do you have idle assets you’ve forgotten about? For many of us, among the most valuable things we have just sitting around doing nothing is jewelry. This could be anything from a broken neck chain or one-half an earring pair, to that brooch you inherited and will never wear.
Should you sell these items? What are they worth? Here is a brief guide to starting you on the road to decide what to do with them.
First, the easy ones. They’re really categories, not pieces, but you get the drift.
Scrap jewelry: Anything that’s 10-, 14, or 18-karat gold jewelry in poor condition should be liquidated quickly – and, since the price of fine gold is over $1,900 per ounce (check here for the current spot price), without giving it a second thought.
A lot of yellow gold jewelry from the 1970s and 80s also falls into this category – things like men’s nugget jewelry, worn-put diamond tennis bracelets of commercial quality, and small diamond bridal sets. I often tell clients this rule of thumb. When something is too new to be “old” and too old to be new, it may be scrap jewelry. Why? It’s neither “vintage” nor modern, neither fish nor fowl, and no one wears it anymore (see below).
Diamonds: Diamonds can always be sold. Of course, some perform better than others. Going by the Four C’s: Carat Weight, at least one-half (0.50) carat, but the game really starts at stones that weigh one full carat. Clarity, at least Imperfect-1 (I-1), especially if they weigh more than 2.00 carats. Slightly Included (SI) and Very Slightly Included) (VS) are more in demand than VVS or Flawless. Color, colorless (D, E, and F) down to near-colorless (G through J) are best, but yellowish or even brownish may be acceptable if the stone weighs more than 2.00 carats. Cut, round diamonds that are or can be designated Excellent or Very Good; otherwise, they must be re-cut. The most popular “fancy shapes” are (in order) ovals, pear shapes, and elongated emerald cuts and radiant cuts. In last place are heart shapes.
Collectible jewelry: Famous brand-name jewelry, such as pieces by Tiffany, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, Rolex, and Patek Philippe. In the realm of collectible period jewelry, Art Deco jewelry is the holy grail of the major antique and vintage periods, followed by Edwardian, Art Nouveau, and Victorian. In all cases, if an item is in poor condition, this usually kills its saleability.
Now, the hard ones.
Items that almost no one wears anymore: most brooches and formal, diamond-intensive 1950s jewelry (see the dangle earrings in the image above). This is a painful category to deal with. It’s worth a whole lot more than scrap, but who wants to wait years?
Small pearl jewelry, even Mikimoto, although the brand name does help. For a long time, necklaces of small pearls were the number one thing people called me about that I usually couldn’t sell for them. It’s hard to remember that, in the 1950s, a woman would go to the grocery store wearing a necklace of small pearls. No more.
Most unmounted colored gemstones: a few colored gems can be valuable in the resale market, but almost no one owns them. That huge sapphire handed down in the family turns out to be glass. That alexandrite bought in Mexico decades ago turns out to be synthetic sapphire. Those stones the military service person brought home from Afghanistan aren’t what he was told (they’re usually frauds). All those stones bought at 2 a.m. from one of the TV shopping networks? Here’s their formula: average quality + average size = poor results.
A subcategory of unmounted colored stones is “I have this uncut [jade] [opal] [diamond].” I get these calls all the time these days. When it comes to rough material, it’s very, very unlikely you have what you hope you do or that it is worth cutting. I’ve never seen it happen.
It would be nice if we always acted in our best interests without a crisis to prompt us. but unfortunately, that’s not the case. One thing the pandemic did for us: we were home for a while and many of us turned our attention to the ocean of forgotten stuff in our closets and attics, inside our drawers, and on top of our dressers. This included jewelry we no longer wanted or needed.
We used that time to practice better hygiene in every aspect of our lives, and we hope we still do that today. By turning idle jewelry into cash, remounting it, or giving it away, it will be reborn in a new form. For more than 30 years, I have led hundreds of Oklahomans to the right jewelry choices for each of them. Please contact me.