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 Replies: 10 / Views: 1,518 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
Sometimes I check with some of the local gold buyers, to see what gold jewelry they have. Of course to be able to do this you have to develop a good relationship... and not be to bothersome. Sometimes you can pick-up jewelry at or near gold melt price that also can make good gifts. Here is a example of one I am picking up today. Do any other CCF members do this?  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2843 Posts |
i buy gold and silver coins from those shops.
I can do really well there sometimes. I have developed a nice relationship with the owner.
I am always amazed at what comes in to such a shop. People selling highly collectible coins for silver. How do they not know that they can do better- way better- in a coin shop.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Not something I could see myself getting into, but I can see the opportunity to get some great deals.
Do these shops compensate for the gems in the ring, or just for the gold itself? I honestly don't think I would be able to tell the difference between a real gemstone and a good quality knock off (e.g. diamond versus cubic zirconia, natural vs lab grown).
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4211 Posts |
Nice ring GR58. Who will be the lucky recipient of this gift?
@Finn. I can only speak for one but my hubby for a worked part time for an independent jewelry store.
The owner was big into the we buy gold thing at the time. He closed a couple of years ago.
And no he really did not compensate for a gemstone. He mostly offered a % of melt for the gold value only.
Unless it was a larger diamond. 1/3 carat or so.
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
You can really get some nice jewelry this way. The key, as has been mentioned, is never take up the sellers time if they are otherwise busy, and buy if you are looking to buy.
Nothing will turn a broker off faster than having someone come in time after time and look at a dozen or more pieces and never buy anything.
I usually take my own test kit and scale and offer cash for what I like. My broker loves that, and I probably pay more than they would have asked for in a few cases, but I always get to look at nice stuff (most vintage) for near or below melt price.
My wife loves all that nifty stuff for every occasion.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5239 Posts |
In my LCS, they do not compensate for the gems. They have no market in gems nor any ability to determine grade/ value. If the customer wants, they will cut the gems out and give them back to the customer
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
11951 Posts |
As being posted places like this buy these for just the gold value. If they are bigger diamonds, they estimate the size and give a wholesale price for the diamond. The rings I am picking will only be based on gold weight, they even take some weight off for the stones. They have to hold the ones I am looking at for two more weeks. The law is that the police gets so much time to see if jewelry comes up stolen. ------------- Debrajc ........ my wife's birthstone is emerald ..so I am sure she will want to wear them. ... But I might want to put them in my treasure box ..... -------------------------- The ring above is a done deal .... but looking at all these now.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Unfortunately, they are not genuine emeralds.
If they were, they would be valued at $hundreds per carat at the size and clarity that is pictured.
This is where a hand held 20x muntiple element gemstone examination lens comes in handy for examining the internal flaws inside emeralds. They have a very narrow depth of field of around 1mm only.
Genuine emeralds have lots of internal flaws, and emeralds of good clarity at that size would be close to unique in rarity.
The best emeralds come from the Muzo, Galacha and Chivor mines in Colombia. The emeralds are found in pegmatite veins, which run through the country rock.
Unfortunately, there is also much corruption in this part of the World.
The best 'created' (I hate the term) emeralds are Chatham (American) Imamori (Japan) Gilson (France) and Biron (Australia), that are manufactured from the same mineral as the natural.
The mineral is Beryllium Aluminum silicate; trace amounts of Chromium and occasionally Vanadium oxides in solid solution give rise to the distinctive color.
Synthetic emeralds are expensive to manufacture, and large synthetic emeralds can still be worth $50 per carat (before cutting) and upwards.
So these stones are probably not even 'created' emeralds, and would be made from some other completely different material.
So buy for the gold only if you don't know how to identify fake emeralds.
Edited by sel_69l
11/28/2016 8:10 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
I guess I should have said that ... most likely lab created emeralds.
That is part of why rings like these sell for the gold value.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3843 Posts |
I've purchased some decent coins from these types of establishments over the years on several occasions. Lots of cleaned/damaged coins that they price way too high, you have to look for the gem amongst the junk. Some great deals occasionally but these places aren't well suited for the newbie collector who is relying on the proprietor to treat them fairly.
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Pillar of the Community
Norway
1358 Posts |
When it comes to buying gold from pawn shops and the likes: sure, that's very common business in a lot of countries and indeed it can be for as low as the melt value, sometimes plus a few percent. This sometimes includes coins other than modern bullion coins. I haven't attempted this in the US for quite a while now.
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Replies: 10 / Views: 1,518 |
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Posted 11/28/2016 12:31 pm
