<p>With the prices of gold at an all time high, has anyone tried selling any of their old gold? I took in an old watch and got more than I expected. I’m wondering whether their really is any substantial difference between what different shops will pay? The jeweler just gave me an amount rather than asking how much I wanted to get for it.</p>
<p>Any experiences to relate?</p>
<p>I only buy gold; I don’t sell it. Sometimes I give it away though.</p>
<p>Perhaps the old watch had some value unrelated to the gold.</p>
<p>If the place buys and sells coins, you can get an idea as to the percentage buy/sell spread relative to spot. Jewelry is typically a terrible way to buy gold and silver as there’s typically a huge markup on the base precious metals.</p>
<p>I once saw a young man try to sell a returned engagement ring at my dealer. The man was surprised at the offer as he had only recently paid a lot more for it. Wholesale is a lot different from retail.</p>
<p>BC, do you advise shopping things around if I’m in a selling mode? I have several other old things I would as soon divest in favor of something I would actually use.</p>
<p>The jeweler said people don’t really buy “old ladies watches” so he was just offering for the gold. He took out the movement, weighed it, applied some factor because it was only 10K gold, and gave me $360. I really had not expected that much, as I had tried to sell it once before at a different jeweler and they weren’t interested (before gold increased so much). It wasn’t really all that attractive a watch.</p>
<p>The local tv reporter went to 3 different shops with 8 pieces of gold jewelry and was quoted $1400, $1500 and $1600. Yes, it pays to shop around although the price of gold fluctuates daily.</p>
<p>I think that it depends on the value of your time and your relationship, if any, with your dealer.</p>
<p>BCE, do you buy physical like maples or instruments like GLD? I’ve dabbled briefly in the latter years ago, but have always preferred the black kind instead, but DW wants to include the yellow ones in our portfolio over the next several years.</p>
<p>syl</p>
<p>make sure you check the brand and style of your gold watch online before you sell. Antique gold watch is iin demand and there is more to it than just gold contents.</p>
<p>I bought Eagles, Maples, Krugerrands, Panda and Philharmonics between $250 and $412. Since then, I’ve used Central Fund of Canada to buy paper gold. They just hold gold in a Canadian Bank vault that is audited annually. I also hold gold mining company shares.</p>
<p>For silver, the 100 oz bars are far more convenient than buying coins though the Treasury sells 500 oz boxes of Eagles. The boxes contain 20 coin plastic tubes. Silver has to be kept in air-tight containers or it oxidizes.</p>
<p>Platinum coins are quite a bit harder to come by and the value of platinum is pretty close to gold so they don’t make a lot of sense unless you just want to have a few. They are a lot harder than gold coins without a hardener. The gold Maples don’t have a hardener so they scratch very easily. Eagles and Krugerrands do have hardeners but the hardener can throw off the color of the coin.</p>
<p>CEF has some tax advantages over other forms of paper gold - it doesn’t have to be treated as a collectable. At least that’s what I’ve heard.</p>
<p>I asked at the jeweler if he bought old platinum as well (I have an old ring), and he said most jewelers don’t because it can’t be melted down easily.</p>
<p>Why not keep it? Platinum will last for a long time and there may be some historical or sentimental value attached to it.</p>
<p>You might try a coin shop on the platinum ring instead of a jeweler. My precious metals dealings have been at one shop, except for some miscellaneous transactions and he buys and sells a small amount of jewelry in addition to his main business of coins. He has a few cases of jewelry.</p>
<p>I sold some old gold pieces several months ago - wish I had waited now. I thought perhaps a couple of them were valuable other than the melted down gold value, but they weren’t. Old watches don’t have much value. </p>
<p>I now want to sell a heavy white/yellow gold necklace. I was offered about $800 melt down price at jeweler months ago but prices are up quite a bit since then so I’m curious about what it’s worth. It was a gift many years ago and cost over $2k then. I know I won’t get that of course.</p>