Is Your Old Jewellery Worth A Fortune?
Written by man on February 24th, 2010 in Diamond Jewelry.
When you go to your jewellery box, do you often wonder what it’s all actually worth? By the value of each piece of jewellery, I am refering to the price you could sell it for today, rather than the price you actually bought it from the store.
Working out that number is no walk in the park, this is because there are various factors that you need to consider. You have to remember though that when you bought that lovely piece of silver jewellery, you payed the price that the shop was selling it for, which is not the price it’s worth.
When you buy jewellery from a store, you have to pay the price that the manufacturer charged the store, plus a mark up fee that the store puts on to make a profit. This figure is very difficult to come across, but what is even harder is trying to get the figure that the manufacturer puts on the item. The manufacturer of the item will put their own mark up onto the jewellery to ensure that they make a profit on the cost of materials and labour that it took to make the product.
Due to all of the above factors, you never pay the true value of the jewellery, so what is it really worth? The biggest factor when valuing your jewellery is the actual value of the raw materials. Say you have some silver gemstone jewellery or silver pendants. You can weigh the precious metals and once you have obtained the weight, you can find the current value of that metal to find out how much it’s worth. Jewels and other materials on the jewellery will affect the price, if you are unsure of how to value jewels, a local jeweller can value them for you.
The price of the raw materials will often come as a shock to you, this is because the value of the raw materials will only be around 10% of the actual price you payed for it. However, you will have to consider some other factors that will have an effect on the value of your jewellery.
Another factor that you need to consider is sentimental value, your jewellery will be worth more if you have a connection with it, rather than an unwanted gift. The manufacturer is also a factor that you need to take into account. If the manufacturer is famous or popular, this would add considerable value to your jewellery. This is a very hard value to judge because the manufacturer may be popular because a celebrity was seen wearing it, or just that they have a high quality of craftmanship.
Overall, the value of your jewellery will be less than the original retail price, unless the manufacturer has gained any reputation that would increase the price. Unfortunate, but that’s the way they make their money.
