Too many gems!

Jewelry Discussion
1

I have too many gems. :confused: Before I even started doing ‘real’ jewelry,
I’ve been accumulating loose stones and some pearls. Some people even
just give them to me sometimes. Now that I take a good look at
everything, I really doubt I’m going to use a lot of them and I was
thinking it’d be nice to sell off the extras or trade them for gems
I’d actually use.

Two problems:

One is, while I know what they are, not all of them have
documentation. In fact, most don’t, but they’re not pricey enough to
be cost-effective to get them all appraised.

Second is, I don’t have a huge stock (like a gem dealer might), and
while I have no objection to breaking even or taking a slight loss by
selling them, I can’t compete with the foreign sellers on eBay and my
listings just get lost among them.

Has anyone else had this kind of problem? Is there any ‘good’ way to
get rid of these? Or anyone have any other tips on what to do?

–Marcy

2

You can look into any colleges in your area that have jewelry
courses and see if they will let you come in and sell to their
students.

Daniel R. Spirer, GG
Spirer Somes Jewelers
1794 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-6000
@spirersomes
www.spirersomes.com

3 
I have too many gems.... it'd be nice to sell off the extras or
trade them for gem I'd actually use.

Hi Marcy, You might consider donating them to a school and take a
tax deduction (make sure the school is a non-profit and check with
your accountant to see if you can use the deduction). When I taught
at Maine College of Art, the students- many were on a very tight
budget- would have loved having some stones to work with. It would be
much simpler than trying to figure out the worth and find buyers. HTH
Kate Wolf in Portland, Maine http://www.katewolfdesigns.com