Anyone ever have to sell a diamond ring?

Parent Cafe
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<p>I hope CC wisdom can help out a friend. She is in the unfortunate position of needing to sell her diamond solitaire ring ASAP. I know that you usually get only a fraction of appraised value if you go to sell pre-owned jewelry. What percentage of appraised value can she expect to get for the sale of her ring? Does anyone have advice on how or where she can get a fair price? </p>

<p>PMs are welcome. Thank you.</p>

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<p>I’m not sure why she would get so much less than the appraised value, assuming the appraisal is a relatively recent one. I’ve never sold used jewelry but I’ve bought some and I didn’t get much of a price below the appraisal.</p>

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<p>Before I passed on inherited jewelry to my children I had two appraisals. One was for insurance purposes and was what it would cost to replace the piece. The second was for estate purposes and was what a retailer would pay me for the piece. There was a significant difference in the amounts.</p>

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<p>Interesting- I was just talking with a friend today whose son’s engagement was broken off. He has an $8000! ring to pawn. He’s been to a few snazzy (not chain) places-- no takers. I suggested he head to 47th street in nyc- forget selling the actual ring / setting- just take the stone out and sell the stone on its own. Then dump the gold by the ounce–. The diamond is the cash-cow.</p>

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<p>I thought the price to sell to a jeweler or pawnshop is much lower than if you were to buy the same piece because of markup. Buying new retail is highest and buying or selling privately, which she won’t consider unless she knows the person, is somewhere in between. </p>

<p>I have heard that appraised value is for insurance purposes only with little similarity to selling price. I think my friend would be lucky to get a quarter to a third these days. She thinks that cant be right, but she is going out this week so we will see. I think there might be a huge glut of these on the market because of the economy.</p>

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<p>Mom2012and14, he ought to sell just the setting and hang onto the diamond. If he gets engaged again, let the new fiance pick a setting. Just being practical…</p>

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<p>Streetsmarts: whenever you take a diamond to be appraised in any jewelry shop, don’t let them take it to a back room to study. They should look at it through their eyepiece (“loop”) at the counter. You don’t want a lesser diamond to be replaced onto the setting while in the back room.</p>