Did my mom get taken?

[pianoman1976]

Hello,

I'm sick over discovering that my mom sold a ring of her fathers to a gold store for only the weight of the gold. THis ring contained two real diamonds. The person at the gold store said that the diamonds are real but are not worth anything. How can this be?! They appeared to be at least one carat a piece. THis person said that the diamonds were worthless because they would have to be reduced in size considerably after being taken out of the ring (as you can see it is an old ring and indeed the diamonds need to be removed). So this gold store took the ring WITH the diamonds in it. They did not take the diamonds out - and like I said - only gave her cash for the weight of the gold band.

Could someone please look at these photos and tell me if indeed these diamonds could somehow be worthless?

Thank you.

 

[perry]

This thread probably belongs in Rocky Talk - but here goes:

It is not really possible to tell if a diamond looking "stone" is real by looking at an ordinary picture - sorry.

Did your mom get taken?

How large would those "stones" be? If they are 1/4 carat or less they may have surprisingly little resale value as diamonds. So the question is how did the store buyer phrase it: "The diamonds have minimal value - and the value of the gold is...." or "Diamonds are so common that they have no value, and the value of the gold is...." The first statement may be true if those are small diamonds. The second statement would usually not be true.

Unfortunately, I am not sure if anyone could answer your question now that the rings are gone.

Perry

 

[pianoman1976]

You're right -wrong forum. I didn't mean to post it here.

The diamonds were indeed real and they were at least .5 carats a piece. (Based on the charts I'm looking at online)

 

[Gypsy]

Well. If they are real diamonds of decent quality yes, it is possible she got taken. If they were included or chipped or cracked... there's a possibility she didn't get taken on that. The part about destroying the diamonds to get to the gold is mostly crap though. So they weren't giving her great information.

Um. But, unfortunately... she still probably got taken. I was selling gold earlier this year and there were a HUGE range of percentages the buyers took for themselves. I found only three good buyers in my metro area (SF Bay!) and none of them were 'obvious' or super advertised sources. It was really only through the help of a fellow PSer I didn't get taken.

What price did she get per troy ounce?

Maybe it's best to just... let sleeping dogs lie. Unless she can get the piece back.

 

[JewelFreak]

As stated, impossible to tell whether they're worth much or little from a pic. The jeweler could have been right, though. I have my mother's diamond half-eternity wedding ring from her 1st marriage (her husband was killed in WWII). They had zero money when they got married, bought this ring new for something like $125 in around 1942. I took it to a jeweler I know & trust when she gave it to me 30 yrs ago -- he said it still isn't worth much more than $125. It sparkles but the stones aren't so good. The gold is probably worth more.

So you never know. It's water over the dam now anyway -- at least she got the gold value from it, which is a great deal more than if she'd sold it a few years ago.

--- Laurie