1. Material Value
The material value of jewelry, also known as the scrap value or gold value, is the most common value you would receive when selling jewelry to a jewelry store. A big benefit to selling your jewelry based on the material value is it requires the least amount of time and effort.
To calculate the material value of jewelry we use the current gold trading price. At the time of writing this gold price per ounce is $1,900. This means that gold price per gram is about $60. These numbers represent the pure gold trading price or 24k gold. Most jewelry is made of 14k or even 18k of gold though so we need to recalculate our per gram price based on the karat we are looking to sell. In the case of 14k gold we take 58.3% of $60 - or with a simple Google search, "How much is 14k gold worth?" The answer: about $35.
So does this mean if you have 10g. of 14k gold you can sell it for $350? Well, not really. The average jewelry store probably won't offer you the exact spot price for your gold. They have to take into account their needs as well, one of which is to make money. When a jewelry store looks to sell their own 14k gold to a gold refining company chances are they won't even receive this full $35 "gold value" per gram. They may only receive $25 per gram.
When it comes to selling your jewelry maybe a more important question to think about, more than just a per gram price, is this: do you feel safe in the jewelry store you've chosen? Do you trust they are providing you with a fair value?
When you come into David Douglas Diamonds & Jewelry we provide you with a cash value higher than any other jewelry store around. If you find someone who's offering more we will always match it! Transparency is a rare thing in the jewelry industry but want to be different. We look to be as transparent with you as possible.
2. Re-sell Value
The re-sell value represents an estimated price a consumer may be willing to pay you for your item. Craigslist and Ebay used to be a great option for this but in recent years Facebook Marketplace has become the most popular avenue. Typically re-selling your jewelry to a consumer nets the highest return but requires the most amount of work.
To aid in this process we can provide you with a fair selling price for both you and the end consumer. We offer our jewelry store showroom as a free and safe meeting place to conduct the sale. We have provided many sucessful instances - one of which totaled just under $10,000.
3. Appraisal Value
The appraisal value of an item represents how much the item would likely retail at today's market value. However, this value is used to insure jewelry rather than sell jewelry. If your item is appraised you're likely to receive about 10%-15% of the total value as a cash offer from various jewelry stores. Of course this just depends on the needs of the specific store.
We recommend checking with many of your local jewelry stores and sometimes even antique stores when looking to sell jewelry with an appraisal.
