hello all –
writing with what might be a question slightly outside the scope of
this forum, but i’m always amazed at the responses, so here goes! a
friend of mine who is getting a divorce and in a bit of a money
squeeze approached me with the task of helping her to sell her
wedding and engagement rings. the wedding ring is what it is, it’s
worth the weight of the gold and nothing more, and i’ll only be able
to get scrap value for it. the engagement ring, however, is a very
nicely made custom ring, with what is probably a 6mm sapphire (round,
faceted), and two tiny diamonds, in an 18k white band with celtic
knot saw work. obviously (i think), the best thing would be if
someone miraculously were to see it on ebay or something and pay for
the ring. it’s really very lovely and much more attractive than most
engagement rings for modest amounts of money. but i realize that the
likelihood of finding the buyer that way is probably very slim. i
prowled around the new york jewelry district with her a bit today and
left in disgust and needing a shower. basically, no one would offer
more than what the gold is worth which is ridiculous because the
sapphire (i think) is worth more than the gold. but she doesn’t have
a certificate, and i have very little gemological knowledge when it
comes to sapphires. so, my question is what is her best bet? put it
on ebay for a while and see what happens? is there a merchant who
might buy the ring? destroy it and sell the gold but try to sell the
stone separately? if so where? i tried to explain that i am much
better at making jewelry than selling it, but that didn’t seem to
deter her! to be clear, i can’t approach a higher end place, because
i think there is about $250 of gold, probably $600 of stones. Her
soon to be ex husband likely paid around $2500 6 years ago for the
rings, but I think the majority of that was labor. Any ideas would be
very appreciated!
Best,
Hilary