Etsy has sellers that specialize in vintage jewelry.
If you do try to sell it online yourself, make sure the photographs are really good. Study other examples or find someone in the family who is good at that.
I’m with thumper about getting someone to take a look at the lot. You can’t always tell on your own what the value range is or what the quality of a stone is. That’s both for insurance and a “resale” value. There’s a difference between what it’s worth and what it can sell for.
A savvy restorer told me I’d get more for some old/good furniture pieces by using craigslist, rather than selling consignment. (I have some hesitations.) But for jewelry with any real value, there can be mailing issues.
consign them! I sold one of Mom’s rings and it took a long time, but sold for a slight drop in price. That was an expensive gaudy cocktail ring. I also sold a ton of “sort of nicer than costume, but not super nice” stuff on consignment at the furniture consignment store. The expensive place told me I’d get $X and I don’t know what % they kept because I got $X. The furniture consignment store kept 35% and told me what they thought they would get. Both would try to sell it for a year. The big ring took just over a year to sell, so be patient. I felt like the consignment shops were fair in their pricing and could give an honest opinion on the “rough” appraisal.
I got double what the jewelry store buy back offered, and this was a place that knew Mom.
And ebay can be very very iffy, IMHO. The pro’s somehow do not bid against each other.
edit to add, and both places are a safer place to store them if they don’t sell, they have insurance.
There is a significant difference between replacement value and resale value; the former is higher than the latter. Your appraisals are probably for replacement value, but as others have said, they may be very out of date.
You may want to check out Diamond Bistro, a website for selling pre-owned jewelry:
http://www.diamondbistro.com/