Have you sold any gold?

[bebe]

So this morning I walked into my local neighborhood jeweler to sell some old gold. I had all kinds of things, from an old charm
bracelet that was broken and kinked up, old rings made from dental gold (!) and just a bunch of stuff.

I also brought along 3 pieces I wasn't sure I wanted to sell, but I wanted an estimate. 2 were pieces my husband bought
in Saudi many years ago and I assumed they were 18K or more. And the 3rd piece was a gold Lady of Liberty gold coin with
a diamond bezel. I bought it in St. Thomas about 20 years ago. I haven't worn that in eons.

Ok, so here's what I did and where I went wrong. The jeweler offered me $1200.00 for the other stuff. And his estimate on
the 3 other pieces was $880.00 I sold the other stuff to him and took my $1200.00 and walked out feeling pretty dang good.
Then I was out running errands and stopped at another local jeweler to get an estimate on the 3 pieces I didn't sell to the
1st jeweler. His estimate was $1202.00 OMG. That's a lot more than jeweler number 1. I got screwed by the 1st guy.
I know the jewelers can offer what they want and it varies, but that much ? (I didn't sell the 3 pieces)

Anyone else have any experiences selling gold these days?

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Hi,

I sold some gold 2X now. . .both times the amount given to me was calculated by gold weight (grams) rather than condition. First place gave me $16 a gram and the 2nd was $13. The first was sort of a jewelry store/repair store/pawn shop. They has very nice stuff in there, including a 1 ct Tiffany solitaire. The 2nd was an actual pawn shop with old electronics, etc.

I called around before deciding where to go AND I checked the gold weight prior to going in there so I knew I wouldn't get ripped off!

 

[Dancing Fire]

bebe...you need to find out the actual gold content in grams before selling any of your pieces.that way the buyer wouldn't be able to jerk you around.a fair offer would be about 90% of the actual gold content.

 

[bebe]

I certainly messed up. Unfortunately, I sold everything I had this morning, darn it !!!

 

[Kaleigh]

Bummer. Bebe, I sold some, but did so at a place that pays top dollar. They are not in the jewelry business..

 

[Miss Sparkly]

bebe...you need to find out the actual gold content in grams before selling any of your pieces.that way the buyer wouldn't be able to jerk you around.a fair offer would be about 90% of the actual gold content.

A fair offer would be about 90%. A more realistic offer would be 80%. Here's an easy way to calculate -

Say you have 10 grams of 14k gold

Spot price is 1369 per troy ounce
31.2 grams per troy ounce (rounded)

So...1369/31.2 = 43.88
14k gold is aprx 58% pure so 43.88 X .58 = 25.45
Last 80% of value would be 25.45 X .8 = 20.36
Times your 10 grams by your value of $20.36 and you'd end up with $203.60 worth of gold

Therefore $20.36 per gram would be a fair price. And, that shows you how to quicly calculate the value once you know how many grams you have. If the person uses pennyweights there are 20 pennyweight per troy ounce.

 

[reader]

I did about two years ago. My bench jeweler was nice enough to provide me with the refiner's name in Virginia that he uses. I had to remove the stones, my jeweler weighed it, and the refiner took out a $100 fee for handling, the same as what he charges my bench jeweler. Granted, the check wasn't instant, but I think I did rather well at the time.

 

[Steel]

Awh shoot.
But, what's done is done. You will know for the next time.

 

[that_someone_special]

It's not gold, and I posted this in another thread, but I had 4.5 grams of platinum from my old setting. One place offered $184, another place offered $90. I had previously sold gold to the $90 place so yeah, I was ripped off before but I shopped around this time!!

It sucks though, doesn't it.