The price of gold has shot up to never-before seen levels since 2000 and it’s likely that it’ll stay that way for a while still. Does this mean you should sell your old or unwanted jewellery?
Individual pieces of jewellery have differing values. Rarity is one of the factors that determine the resale value. An unusual design is very often not one of the factors that would increase the resale price of jewellery. Nor would you want to sell such a piece to be melted down; instead, take it to someone such as an estate jeweller.
Loose gold jewellery may not sell that well so it’s best to get the gemstone mounted if you want to sell the entire piece. This will work well, even if it’s only a temporary mount. This will help the appraiser to see what the piece looks like. Doing something as small as this could add up to 15% to the resale value.
Different grades of gold
Gold has differing values depending on its quality. Gold’s rating system – the carat system – comprises 10 gradings: 24, 22, 20, 18, 15, 14, 10, 9, 8, and 1 carat. 24K gold is the finest and purest of all gold and this generally fetches the highest prices. The lower the carat grading, the lower the quality of the gold and therefore it will have a much lower resale value than 24K gold.
The quality of the piece counts
It counts far more than you may think. Some of the best pieces to sell are those broken chains or rings that have little or no emotional significance. Pawnbrokers generally do not favour these items so it’s far better to take or send them in to be melted down.
Items that are gold-plated and those that are less than 10K generally do not sell for much.
Which factors help to sell your jewellery?
And finally, there are really only three things that can transform your grandmother’s unwanted heirlooms into a lovely wad of cash: the carat, the gold’s market value, and the gold’s weight.
Carat
Appraisers are far more likely to pay a higher amount if the carat is higher than 18K. Anything under 18K is unlikely to get a good price.
Market value
This is also known as the ‘spot price’ and is something that changes on a daily basis. This is the current price that the appraiser can pay for your goods.
Gold weight
This is as easy as weighing the gold and determining how much it is worth based on that.
Author bio:
The Gold Company wrote this article about how much you can expect to get by selling your gold jewellery.