Precious Art or Scrap Metal ???

When we went to visit my Mom over Thanksgiving, she asked us if we could try and get some money for her turquoise jewelry that she no longer wears. We replied that we would be happy to do that for her.

So today, after we took care of Cousin Shane's kitties, we headed to a local Coin & Precious Metal shop. We also brought some of our own personal gold jewelry (previous marriage crap :o) that we have had sitting around for the past decade.

The man who owns the store was very knowledgeable. There were several customers ahead of us, and it was interesting to see how he could tell just by looking at a piece if it contained gold/silver or not. It was also intesting to see the gun in a holster at the small of his back every time he turned around. He had an electronic lock releaser to let people into the store. Not a business for the faint hearted.

When it was out turn, he even accepted a gold crown of mine that had come out [thanks Sugar Daddy], and he stated that he would just use a hammer to get the composite dental material off of the crown itself.

The results of our trip were mixed.

Our gold crap netted us $146, with two rings (woman's engagement ring and men's wedding band) not part of the mix. He did not want to take those two rings because they both have diamonds, and he stated that we would do better to sell them at a jewelry store where they would want the diamond, than to sell them just for the gold content. So that was an interesting little tidbit.

The main purpose of the trip was to try and sell my Mom's jewelry to help her finance their move from Springfield Missouri up here to South Bend. So, take a guess at how much we could get for the ensemble pictured here.....[pause while you look at the picture, pull out your calculator, head over to E-Bayfor a price check, go to the bathroom, and so on......].

Turns out that the necklace is considered costume jewelry (real turquoise, but no silver). The two rings and bracelet are sterling silver. He would have given us a whopping $6.37. I think I will not share with my Mom what they were willing to offer.

So, I will be venturing into the world of E-Bay. While we were there, I pulled out a piece of paper that contained the results of on-line research that I had done. New, at a Native American jewelry store, the pictured collection would be about $1200, and on e-bay, maybe about $200. He collects a lot of this type of jewelry for the precious metal value, but was very intrigued about the chance to earn even more by selling it on E-Bay. He asked if he could make a copy of my paper, and I gladly acquiesed. He said, "Don't worry, I will wait a couple of weeks so you can sell yours first."

Overall, a positive and educational little sojourn today.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend :o)