Old Jewelry: Final Update

[Grayfox54]

I was in my safe yesterday and realized that I have two large boxes of my late wife's old jewelry taking up space in there. The stuff has just been sitting in there for years. Its an odd collection of stuff going back to both our mothers and grandmothers. Maybe even farther. Most of it is just cheap junk. But,  I know my wife had said that some of it was worth quite a bit. The problem is that I know nothing about jewelry and couldn't tell junk from valuable.  The question is what to do with it? 

I have no use for it. I don't need to sell it. Don't need the money. But its just sitting here doing nothing. My older son is coming by later today to look through it. But I really doubt he'll want me than a couple of pieces to remember his mother by. I'm seriously considering just giving it to my Daughter-in-law as she's the only woman in the family. But i don't even know if she will want it. 

I'd really like to have a jeweler take a look at it. But there's a lot of it and that would take hours. Anybody know an honest jeweler in the Memphis area who might be willing to take a look? 

Any other suggestions on what to do with it? 

Edited September 13, 2022 by Grayfox54

[jpx2rk]

Might consider finding someone who deals in "estate sales" and let them look at it. They will know whether it is worth anything or not.  Some of the older costume jewelry might be worth more than you might think due to the age, and possibly who made it, etc.,  

My brother and I are going thru mom's things now since she is no living in assisted care.  Some of the stuff she has will sell like hot cakes according to the estate sale lady we are using.  

[Luckyforward]

I would also check with an antique store to get their opinion about your jewelry.

I'm somewhat in the same boat.  My mother died in 2017 and we dealt with all the known jewelry of worth, but are left with one box of assorted items that we are unsure if costume or real.

[Snaveba]

for certian look for markings (14k, 18k, Sterling, etc.).  If there are probable diamonds or precious stones, they will not likely be in a cheap setting but will likely be set in 14k or 18k gold.  GF (gold filled) jewlery might have precious stones (diamonds, rubys. emeralds, etc.) but more likely they will be semi-precious stones.  If the setting looks cheap, it probably is, However, something that looks real may still be good costume jewlery.  Heck, some costume jewlery, if it is vintage, can still be worth something.

[deerslayer]

Check with Design Jewelers on Kirby Whitten.  I can’t remember the owner’s name.  He used to also teach carry permit classes and he worked on a 1911 for me years ago.  Stand up guy.  I would also trust Weimar’s on 64.  

[gregintenn]

You wouldn’t have a buddy that runs a pawn shop, would you? They usually know jewelry.

[Grayfox54]

I just got back from the Jeweler. As i suspected, most of it isn't worth much. He did find 10 rings and one old watch that are the real deal and worth some money. One ring in particular he valued at $1000. 
The bad news is that those places that buy jewelry generally only pay about 15% of what its worth. He said that's pretty much industry standard. He guessed that for all the good stuff together I might get around $400-500. 
The rest of it, while not worth a whole lot is pretty nice stuff. I'm guessing any one item could sell for $5-10 at a yard sale or flea market. There's quite a bit of it and that could add up. But I just don't want to go to the trouble. 

I think I'll just give it all to my DIL. Or at least let her go through it and pick what she wants. If there's anything left maybe I can sell it to one of those people who buy up yard sale stuff and take it to the flea market. 

[gregintenn]

What jewelry is worth when a jeweler is buying and what it’s worth when he’s selling is a pretty wide spread.

[Snaveba]

fIf any of it is just gold (14K, 18k), you should be able to get 75% of the current gold value at a decent shop that buys gold.  If yoiu know rhe karet of the gold jewlery, and can weigh it in grams, you can look up the value on line based on the current price of gold.  Then figure you can get 75 % of that.  If it is precious stones, I am not sure.

[gregintenn]

Perhaps daughter in law could at least rob a stone/stones Crome some of it and have it set in something of her choosing. That way it would suit her tastes and have some sentimental value as well.

[Jeb48]

Lots of good advice. I had a lot of mostly costume jewelry to get rid of when I cleaned out my Mother's stuff. Was going to donate it all to a church jewelry sale but the timing wasn't right initially so I asked a friend that did eBay sales to look at it. I use to do eBay sales but wasn't interested in getting back into it. Told her I would split profits 50:50 she did all the work. Turns out she use to work at a pawn shop in her younger days and new all the tricks to do the research. Did a great job and we cleared close to $1000 each and we still had a large box of what was left to donate to the next years church sale. We did the eBay sales after we let our then daughter inlaw, my sister inlaw and niece take what they wanted so a lot of good stuff was already claimed.

[Grayfox54]

Last update: Just out of curiosity, last week I took the good stuff down to Accent Jewelers. They are all the time advertising about buying gold and jewelry in Memphis. The guy who looked at the stuff for me said that they pay the usual 15%, but they are honest. They offered me $699 for the whole pile. I passed as that wouldn't make a big difference in my life and I'd rather just keep it in the family. I did sell them one old small lady's watch with  a gold case for $60. I thought that was pretty good considering how little it was. It didn't work anyway. 

 Saturday I handed it all over to my DIL. She was quite tickled about it and I got a big hug.  I'm happy, she's happy, It was well worth it. 

 

 

[gregintenn]

On 9/13/2022 at 12:27 PM, Grayfox54 said:

Last update: Just out of curiosity, last week I took the good stuff down to Accent Jewelers. They are all the time advertising about buying gold and jewelry in Memphis. The guy who looked at the stuff for me said that they pay the usual 15%, but they are honest. They offered me $699 for the whole pile. I passed as that wouldn't make a big difference in my life and I'd rather just keep it in the family. I did sell them one old small lady's watch with  a gold case for $60. I thought that was pretty good considering how little it was. It didn't work anyway. 

 Saturday I handed it all over to my DIL. She was quite tickled about it and I got a big hug.  I'm happy, she's happy, It was well worth it. 

 

 

Sounds like a great ending to me.