Advice/guidance needed on selling my engagement ring

[PattyCo]

Hello to all!

I usually lurk and admire from afar but now I am hoping for some guidance in the process of selling my engagement ring. I have a lot of question and I am uncertain on how to proceed towards the best sale for me and the person who buys my ring. Am I right in thinking I will get a better price if I consign my ring? Plus an appraisal is highly recommended, right? I figured the first step would be to see if the center diamond is certified so I took it to a jeweler to see if it has an inscription on the girdle and it doesn't. The center diamond is between 1.8 and 2 carats so I am thinking it would be worth unsetting the diamond and having it certified and also getting a Sarin report, right? It seems to be a lot of back and forth, unsetting the diamond and sending it to be certified and get a Sarin report and then setting the diamond again and THEN having it appraised and sent out for consignment. Is there a "one-stop" person for all of this? And I don't think it is insured, which I know is a crime, lol! I am sure insuring it will be of the first priority. Who do you recommend for jewelry insurance?

Thank you for reading my novel, lol! And thank you in advance for helping me. It is truly appreciated.

Warm regards,
Patty

 

[denverappraiser]

Hi Patty,

I do this often, as do most professional appraisers. Exactly what details you want/need depends on what you have and your sales strategy. That's part of the point of getting an appraisal from a pro. Yes, I would insure it first, before you take it out of the mounting and yes, I would expect to get lab papers on it unless you are in a great hurry or the expected grade is really bad. The appraiser should be prepared to give advice on this. There are several risks to this process and the related insurance is very inexpensive. Get it. The company will prorate the policy after you sell it so, for example, a $10,000 policy from most companies will cost you something like $10/month.

Yes, start with a professional appraisal. There’s a list of them linked at the top of this page under the ‘resources’ tab.

 

[PattyCo]

Thank you Denver Appraiser.

When you say you do this often, does that mean you unmount the diamond, send it to GIA, get it back, set the diamond again, and then do the appraisal? Do you also consign items for customers? How important is a Sarin report?

And to the other members, who do you recommend for me to use to insure my ring throughout the appraisal/consignment process. Has anyone used USAA? And who do you recommend to use for consigning my ring?

I apologize for so many questions but I am trying to understand the whole process so I don't expect too much, nor leave out a vital step along the way.


Warm regards,
Patty

 

[Golden_bird]

Thank you Denver Appraiser.

When you say you do this often, does that mean you unmount the diamond, send it to GIA, get it back, set the diamond again, and then do the appraisal? Do you also consign items for customers? How important is a Sarin report?

And to the other members, who do you recommend for me to use to insure my ring throughout the appraisal/consignment process. Has anyone used USAA? And who do you recommend to use for consigning my ring?

I apologize for so many questions but I am trying to understand the whole process so I don't expect too much, nor leave out a vital step along the way.


Warm regards,
Patty

You can sell the diamond without any GIA report ,just with any appraisal . Do you have any idea what color/clarity the stone is ? If the cut is not great ,sometimes it’s worth even do a recut wich will increase the value of the stone . You have lots of options ! Bring it to any local store to at least get a verbal evaluation of the diamond . Is it antique stone !? Or modern cut ?

 

[PattyCo]

Thank you Golden Bird for the ideas. I guess I thought that having a report will help me know what I am selling, AND the buyer to know what they are buying. Plus, I "think", it would help me to know what to charge for it. When I first got the ring 15 years ago a local jeweler told me he thought it might be an L/M color. I see arrows so it is modern. It has florescence. And it is close to 2 carats. The setting has soooooo many little diamonds in it. It is disco ball! As far as the cut, won't a Sarin report show how well it is cut? Or is the GIA report sufficient to show the quality of the cut?

 

[denverappraiser]

Thank you Denver Appraiser.

When you say you do this often, does that mean you unmount the diamond, send it to GIA, get it back, set the diamond again, and then do the appraisal? Do you also consign items for customers? How important is a Sarin report?

And to the other members, who do you recommend for me to use to insure my ring throughout the appraisal/consignment process. Has anyone used USAA? And who do you recommend to use for consigning my ring?

I apologize for so many questions but I am trying to understand the whole process so I don't expect too much, nor leave out a vital step along the way.


Warm regards,
Patty

I do all of those things except consignment although often people prefer to sell it loose rather than back in the mounting. I also can assist in identifying damage that may be present and in getting it repaired or recut if it will help the client.

For most buyers, Sarin is not necessary or even particularly desirable. Certain people here know what to do with it but such clients are very few and far between and, for those, if the data is less than stellar it will do your sale more harm than good.

USAA is a fine company but I would add a comment that they won't insure a loose diamond. Most insurers won't. If you're going to get insurance, which I recommend, you need an appraisal first and it needs to be done before you remove the stone from the mounting.

 

[Golden_bird]

Thank you Golden Bird for the ideas. I guess I thought that having a report will help me know what I am selling, AND the buyer to know what they are buying. Plus, I "think", it would help me to know what to charge for it. When I first got the ring 15 years ago a local jeweler told me he thought it might be an L/M color. I see arrows so it is modern. It has florescence. And it is close to 2 carats. The setting has soooooo many little diamonds in it. It is disco ball! As far as the cut, won't a Sarin report show how well it is cut? Or is the GIA report sufficient to show the quality of the cut?

Sarin report will def help you ,and it’s more accurate than GIA cut grade because they round numbers . But not a lot of jewelers can have a sarin machine to make you one ! Plus unmounting diamond of that size is like 100-200$, sending it to Gia also will be around that amount 300-400$ Plus shipping cost and insurance ( I am not 100% sure about prices )then setting the diamond back is again fee. Reselling diamonds is always hard ,the best case you can get around 60% of what you originally paid , plus being on the bigger side , it makes it little bit harder to sell . Lots of local jewelers can purchase a stone from you ,but they usually will give you very very low price ,maybe 30% . When you find out more about your stone ,you can try to sell it through this forum or LoupeTroop , love affair diamonds ,jewelers by grace can help you consign your stone .

 

[denverappraiser]

By the way, not to sound self-serving but I specifically disagree that this is work that can be done by 'any local store'. There are quite a few specialty questions included above and some, even most, jewelers don't know how to handle it.

 

[tyty333]

Any pictures? Would love to see.

 

[rockysalamander]

By the way, not to sound self-serving but I specifically disagree that this is work that can be done by 'any local store'. There are quite a few specialty questions included above and some, even most, jewelers don't know how to handle it.

Totally agree!

 

[the_mother_thing]

@denverappraiser has provided good advice here from experience.

I also have USAA, and it’s true, they generally won’t insure loose stones; however, they did agree to insure one I had upon purchase to get it set, but it was a very short period of ‘loose’ status, and I kept it insured with them for awhile after it was set as a rider on my homeowner’s policy.

I believe Jewelers Mutual will insure a loose stone for the circumstances you noted, though I may not tell them I was doing all of that for the purposes of selling it. I seemed to recall them being rather inquisitive about why I needed a loose stone insured, if I was planning to keep it after setting, etc. Not sure if they were just asking for the policy, or if they would charge me a higher premium if I didn’t plan to keep it insured after setting. I got the feeling they thought I wanted “oh sh!t”/just-in-case temporary insurance for shipping & setting, and then would cancel the policy.

 

[PattyCo]

Thank you everyone for such detailed advice.

It sounds like the first thing I need to do is get the ring insured. But for how much do you think I should insure it for pre-appraisal? Second I need to get it appraised, unset the diamond, sending it to GIA, remounting the diamond, then another(?) appraisal.

And I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner, but how should I send the ring to be appraised, USPS, FEDEX, UPS? I am assuming that sending it overnight, early in the week, with a signature upon delivery is best.

And tyty33 I would be happy to show you pictures because I love this ring so much, but strangely I can't email pictures from my phone to myself so I can open them up on my computer and put them on Pricescope. I will poke around on my computer and hope I have some pictures that I forgot about, lol!

 

[the_mother_thing]

@PattyCo You may want to call the insurance company/ies and see what they suggest in terms of value. Usually, you have an appraisal before you insure so they know what value to insure for. In your case, that’s what you’re sending it off for.

Do you have any information from the purchase, such as a receipt showing what you paid, the stated specs, etc., so they have something to start with/go on?

 

[PattyCo]

TMT, the diamond and setting were bought 16 years ago and through multiple moves everything has been lost. Should I just look at some diamonds online in the weight range I think my diamond is and use that as an amount to initially insure it at?

 

[the_mother_thing]

TMT, the diamond and setting were bought 16 years ago and through multiple moves everything has been lost. Should I just look at some diamonds online in the weight range I think my diamond is and use that as an amount to initially insure it at?

You could do that to get an idea for your own mind, but really, it’s up to the insurance company to agree to accept your value assumption. If you think about it from their perspective, there’s nothing stopping someone from claiming they have a diamond ring with XYZ specs, insuring it for a lot of money because they say it’s worth that, and ... I’m sure you see where this is going.

This is kind of a catch 22 - you need an appraisal to get insurance, but you want/need insurance to get the appraisal (assuming your appraiser is out of town/state). That’s why I suggest just calling them and explain you will need to insure your ring while the diamond is unset, sent to GIA for a report, returned and reset and the independent appraisal completed; I’d (personally) just leave out that you’re wanting to sell it.

 

[PattyCo]

Thank you for the advice TMT. I will definitely leave out that I intend to sell the ring. I do not own a home to add the ring to homeowners insurance. I have heard of Jewelers Mutual. And what other jewelry insurance company could I look into?