Where Your Jewelry and Metals Sell Best

For many people, there is no direct answer to the question: “what should I do with my jewelry if I want to sell it?” To such a one-sided question, the best answer would probably be another question: well, what kind of jewelry do you have?

This is why it’s important to be cognizant of the different types of jewelry and the different avenues that are appropriate selling places for each type. Here is a quick guide to seeing where your jewelry should go when you want to sell it, and what will usually fetch you the best price.

-You have a stone or jewel, but not an article of jewelry. What you’ll want to do in this situation is get the stone mounted on a band (for rings) or some other type of chain (for necklaces and bracelets). With these types of jewels, you can usually take them to jewelers, auctions, or directly to buyers because they’re looking either for the article itself, or for a preview of what the stone will look once its mounted.

-You have whole articles of jewelry that aren’t old or broken. This is usually when you find your options are the most full: you can take it to a jewelr, an auctioneer, or other direct buyers that can use them for resale or are simply interested in the articles for their own purpose. What you’ll want to do in this case is get a verification from an established jeweler that verifies the value of the stones and metal present in your article of jewelry.

-You have old/broken jewelry with metal that can be melted down. You can still extract some really nice value from these pieces of jewelry by selling the precious metal itself to an online metal broker. Companies like JewelryPaq will be willing to give you a fair price - while not totally market value - for the gold, silver, or platinum in your possession. This can fetch anywhere form 7% to 90% of the market price of the precious metal, and won’t require much work on your end.

These are three of the most common situations that people find themselves in if they have some spare jewelry that they’re looking to sell. The best bet in any case is to make sure to get a number of appraisals and consultations before doing anything with your metals - you don’t want to make the mistake of putting too much down to repair a piece of jewelry that still won’t fetch a solid price, for example. You want to play this situation like chess, in which you look a few moves ahead before you take your finger off the pieces.

Now that you know where your jewelry and metals sell best, it helps to be aware of how they sell best in each situation. There are a number of tricks to the trade that you’ll want to keep in mind in order to maximize the value you can still get out of your articles of jewelry.

For example, if you’re looking for complete resale value on a perfectly good piece of jewelry, did you know that the original packaging of the jewel can help raise the resale value? It might also help to have packaging made, if you can’t find your old packaging, simply to increase appearances - you’d be surprised what an article of jewelry can fetch if it is pieced together as part of an entire “package.”

Similarly, you’ll want to be careful about the condition of your jewel. Before you have your jewelry spiffed up, be sure that what you’re selling isn’t an antique: antiques often have a special quality to them. This quality, to people, often suggests that the piece of jewelry has “lived a life,” and often jewelry buyers aren’t just looking for a beautiful stone, but a stone with a beautiful story behind it. This can increase the sentimental value, especially at auctions, when people generally view these opportunities as once-in-a-lifetime events.

Cleaning your jewel up too much is something to watch out for, but if you’re looking to boost the resale value on a piece of jewelry with no story to tell, then cleaning it might be just as viable an option.

Also, any paperwork you can include that verifies the prices and quantity of the precious metals in a piece of jewelry will be helpful in proving that your jewelry has a “bottom price,” simply for the metals it contains alone.

The key is, as always, do your research, and keep your mind open to the different possibilities and avenue you can take to get the best possible value for your jewelry.

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