Jewelry, gold and coins

Chen

So my parents asked me to valuate their old crap and if possible sell for a good price. The problem is I don't know jack how and where I can appraise this stuff. Gold is easy, but there's a diamond ring, no idea how many carats, that's probably worth thousands. Same cluelessness about sapphire and other gems. They also have a few constitution coins, 1987 San Francisco mint silver dollar with certificate of authenticity, and a bunch of others.

How do I go about this without being scammed?

adytum

Go to a legit jewelry store and pay for an appraisal.

They don't cost that much.

Aldo

A professional jeweller should be able to help you out with those gemstones, maybe drop by more than 1 jeweller to get a second opinion.

Coin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins#The_value_of_a_coin

Improvolone

To sell the coins, go to a numetist.

Esh

Chen wrote: »

So my parents asked me to valuate their old crap and if possible sell for a good price. The problem is I don't know jack how and where I can appraise this stuff. Gold is easy, but there's a diamond ring, no idea how many carats, that's probably worth thousands. Same cluelessness about sapphire and other gems. They also have a few constitution coins, 1987 San Francisco mint silver dollar with certificate of authenticity, and a bunch of others.

How do I go about this without being scammed?

I really wouldn't go in with expectations about what things are worth, you're most likely going to end up disappointed. Watch some Antiques Roadshow and get the idea.

Djeet

The coins should be easy, assuming you're just wanting their bullion value. There should be stores willing to buy it off you (for example there are several gun stores where I live that would buy it off you). And legit places will give you just a few points off of spot (edit: for the gold, not sure about the silver).

Now if the coins have some kind of numismatic value then I'd do some online research and then find a coin dealer, who will likely give you a better price then a pawn shop.

The jewelry is a lot trickier; you'll get more from it by selling them as pieces rather then breaking them down into stones and precious metals. Ebay might be a good place to sell it, but you're not going to do well without papers and provenance. If it's a really nice/valuable piece you might look into a traditional auction house like Sotheby's. If you can get an appraisal from an independent jeweler that'd be a starting point, but that's mainly for insurance purposes (e.g. how much would I have to pay a jeweler to replace this if lost?), which is a completely different number then "how much will someone buy this off of me?" IME most jewelry stores won't appraise your stuff, just their stuff. Try an estate jeweler, and a trusted one (one known by jewelry stores).

Hypatia

When you do get it appraised at a jewelry store, some of them will do a map of your diamond for you and let you approve it both before they send it off and after you get it back, that way you can verify for yourself that it's the same diamond. This is nice, just make sure that they clean it very well before looking at it.

Ruckus

There are also independent jewelry appraisers in pretty much every city. Look up Appraisals in the yellow pages. The person you want inspecting gems is a Gemologist.

an_alt

You probably don't need to be told this, but stay away for any of those scammy "mail us your gold" places.