Getting things appraised....

John Madill

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There was a very recent post about what find is worth getting appraised and i can't find it now.

But someone commented that unless a diamond was a certain size or the ring was really special it wasn't "worth" getting appraised.

I haven't had to worry about this yet but hope to find something valuable one of these days.

What does it cost to have an item appraised? And what is the difference of having something appraised and going into a "We buy gold & silver" shop and asking about an items worth?

Are such shops a good source of info or are you likely to get lowballed?
 
It’s not so much that that the “we buy...” places are gonna lowball you as it is that they trade in the precious metal and in their eyes things have no value beyond the actual scale weight. You could take them King Tut’s face mask and they’d throw it on the scale and offer you melt price.

The typical, average diamond has little value once you exit the jewelers shop. I once sold five or six diamonds, maybe about 4 1/2 carats combined. After checking with several different places the best offer I got was for $600. Big diamonds are in a different league. Had mine been two 2 1/4 carat stones I would have had a real nice payday. Made me sad 😢
 
The "We Buy Gold/Silver shops" are most likely a BAD source of information.
In order to not get lowballed or fooled you must first do your homework and gain knowledge from reading about the subject you're interested in. This takes time and effort but is a must. There are many books and magazines on the subject of coins and precious metals with info that will get you started. After that you still have to "shop around" a bit from dealer to dealer in order to get the best possible price for what you're selling.
 
It cost me $10 for an appraisal from the local jewelry store.
 

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I go to eBay a lot for price comparison, using “sold” auctions as an example. I believe eBay sets the standard on prices for collectibles. I used ebay recently to price some old bottles that I’d dug over 40 years ago. I had a successful sale (not on eBay).
 
Having the appraisal from a jeweler I was able to put it on eBay and got $3,500. Sold some of my gold, $4,000 worth, and bought this 1982 collectors edition vette.
 

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My jeweler will appraise things for me for nothing if I want...I've been going to him for about 20 years and we're friends. I've never bothered since I don't plan on selling any of my finds, since I have so few "great" finds (one diamond ring, and one palladium wedding band). After I find more goodies maybe I will but for now I like looking at them and showing them off.

That being said, an appraisal is typically twice what "retail" would be in my experience. But, a lot of buyers don't know that so they'll pay close to appraisal.
 
Local we buy places will low ball the heck out of you as will pawn shops. When 14k was at 22 per gram the local we guy gold was offering 17. Pawn shops in this area will offer even less.

Jewelry store near me charged me 50 dollars for an appraisal and if i had two done the second one was 30. Her appraisals were Retail for the items.

She said that i should not sell for less than half of her appraisal.

So i sold one of the items for $1400. thanks to her written appraisal.

There are some places that do offer more than the we buy gold places along the road.
 
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