Know the Value of Old Estate Jewelry or Coins before Selling to Cash-for-Gold Merchants

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Perhaps you’ve been rummaging through some old jewelry, either your own, or some inherited pieces, and wondering about the values; the thought, “worth its weight in gold” coming to your mind. Any gold pieces in your collection are certainly worth their weight in gold – but perhaps they are worth more. How can you tell? Well, before you pop grandma’s old brooch into the mail for some quick cash, you might consult with companies that specialize in old or vintage jewelry, such as estate sales or auction companies.

Estate sale companies work with people everyday who have either inherited an estate and need help liquidating it, or who have sizable estates and want to downsize. In either event, because day in and day out they are dealing with other people’s treasures, they either have knowledge, or, in the case of better companies, staff experts who can offer personal property appraisers to help you fairly value what you own. It’s important to consider carefully whether or not to have an item appraised. Every dollar spent on an appraisal reduces the bottom line from selling the same.

Putting craftsmanship and collectability aside for the moment, the key measurement in valuing gold jewelry is the karat weight. This is usually expressed as 10K, 14K, 18K or 24K gold. The higher numbers indicate more gold content relative to other metal fillers in your piece. Jewelry made of 24K gold is relatively uncommon because it is soft and does not hold up well to a lot of wear. Therefore, plain wedding bands or class rings are usually either 10K or 14K in the U.S. and 14K or 18K outside of the U.S. Foreign manufactured gold items will be marked by their purity percentage, i.e., 585 for 14K and 750 for 18K. The karat weight is usually inscribed inside rings or on necklace or bracelet clasps.

While not as valuable as higher karat weight gold jewelry, don’t dismiss gold-filled jewelry which is usually market 10KGF or 12KGF. With the current price of gold, buyers are purchasing gold-fill items to recover the gold that goes into them for surprisingly good prices.

Now that you have a handle on how to assess the value of the gold in your collection, you could go ahead and sell it with a cash-for-gold merchant. But this is only appropriate for scrap pieces that have little to no artistic or historic value and therefore would resell for no more than the discounted gold value.

If you decide to go this route, be sure to take your merchandise to a couple of reputable vendors, or at least call ahead to find out how much of the value they retain as their handling charge averages 10% – 35%, so the vendor you choose can make a considerable difference in how much cash you take home.

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Selling gold coins is similar to jewelry. Some pieces will be very valuable due to rarity. If your coins are not rare or collectible, you should not expect anything more than the value of the gold, and again, even coins are priced according to purity of the metal and karat weight.

Be sure to maximize your personal economy by doing your homework, getting a fair evaluation of your piece and watching the markets. The cost of gold, even with a collectible piece, could affect the value, but not nearly as much as if you are selling purely for the gold value.

Regardless of what you own, if it’s old, if it looks valuable, unusual or rare, if it looks like a work of art, estate sale companies and auctioneers are a great resource and should not be overlooked in your efforts to maximize your personal return.

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If you have gold or gold filled jewelry to sell, whether yours originally or inherited, author Stephen Daniels recommends you seek the services of Four Sales, a highly regarded tangible personal property appraisal service business in Northern Virginia. Their experience in liquidating estates makes them professionals in determining fair market value of your most precious possessions.