My grandmother passed away last year and left behind boxes and boxes
of loose gems and jewelry she had purchased on Jewelry Television.
The prices of the loose gems and jewelry range from $9.99 to
$10,000!!! A lot of it is tanzanite, a gem I had never even heard of
before I found the jewelry. She apparently was a shopaholic and must
have been on the phone night and day ordering the gems and jewelry.
She even ordered a Gemologist Kit for $600 that I have no idea what
she would have done with! In any case, I am now looking to sell the
jewelry and wanted to get the readers of Ganoksin Orchid Forum
opinion as to how I should do this. I have created an Ebay Store but
I know I will not get anywhere near the value she paid for the
jewelry through Ebay. Does anyone know of another venue or way to
sell a huge lot of jewelry or any other ideas as to what to do with
it? There are a ton of loose gemstones and so many rings, as well as
earrings, bracelets, pendants and necklaces. I am a bit overwhelmed!
If you have any advice for me please email me at alyssa11222 at gmail
dot com. I would so greatly appreciate it!
Your grandmother was the type of person these people depended on. No
real idea of value or what they were buying, just an addiction to
spending money nonstop. IMHO, almost everything sold on the jewelry
channels is: 1) junk, 2) badly made junk, 3) inferior quality
4) more junk and 5) even worse junk. Can you sell this
stuff? Well maybe to someone like your grandmother if you’re feeling
cut throat enough and want to try to jam it down someone’s throat. Or
maybe on Ebay (although don’t expect any great returns as many of the
bulk buyers on Ebay are extemely savvy). But do any jewelers I know
really want this stuff? Not likely. Frankly, I would take all the
metal and sell it for scrap and take all the stones and if there
really is a huge quantity of the stuff see if the jewelry channels
might have any interest in buying a quantity of the stuff they sold
already for substantially less than they sold it for to begin with.
Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
Sounds like you have receipts. I think if you got thirty cents on
the dollar you’d be doing pretty well. Do you want to sell it or sit
on it? Price acordingly.
Don’t really have any good news for you. In the gem trade, the
problem is always what to do with the mediocre and poor quality
material. Guess what-- a lot of it ends up on Jewelry TV, EBAY, and
similar outlets, often (usually) misrepresented as to it’s value. As
an appraiser, I’ve seen many large lots of these types of goods-- if
you are trying to sell the items one at a time, you will probably
have a long hard battle-- you are competing with everyone else at the
bottom of the food chain.
If you are willing to pay for professional advice, you can work with
a gemologist appraiser or a really knowledgeable jeweler to try to
establish a realistic idea of the current wholesale for the gems.
For this type of consultation, I charge an hourly rate, but beware–
boxes and boxes may mean lots of hours to go thru everything.
The finished jewelry may have recycling value if it is gold-- if so,
have your appraiser weigh all the gold items, record the weights and
karatage of the metal. Many jewelers will buy such items to recycle
(we do), or you can sell directly to a refiner. Remember, the value
of the gold fluctuates daily with the metals market. Silver also has
some value, but you must have a lot of it to make it worthwhile to
recycle.
Once you have a realistic idea of value, then you will be prepared
to deal.
One alternative is to try to find a dealer who works with
distressed, discounted, or remaindered lots and will buy the whole
kaboodle for cash. Be prepared for a real hardnosed buyer and to
accept pennies on the dollar- cash is very hard to come by in today’s
world, especially for jewelry.
A simpler idea may be to simply add up all of the receipts, then dump
the entire lot your favorite worthy charity such as a church or
orphanage. Or even just drop the entire bag in a Salvation Army
kettle. Just be sure to a copy of all of the receipts along with the
jewelry. You could also even donate the stuff to a fine arts
department for their students to take apart and play with.
Then THEY can have the headache of trying to sell the stuff, while
your grandmother’s estate gets a charitable donation against the
final tax return.
Or find your local gem and mineral society; high school earth
science program or recreation council, etc.; if you donate, how about
to the youth of your area for educational uses. Some schools (we have
a Governor’s School for Art and Humanities) actually have metal/stone
working courses.