Five Things To Know Before Selling Your Gold

1. Gold jewelry is not 100% gold.

18K is 75% pure gold, 14K is 58 % pure gold, 10K gold is 41 % pure gold.
Therefore if an item is 18K gold, it is worth more than a similar item made of 10K gold. Hint: Sometimes yellow dental gold can be worth more than 14K gold!

Platinum jewelry is 90% pure platinum. An ounce of platinum is much smaller than an ounce of gold because it is heavier and denser. In addition, platinum costs more per ounce. Therefore, all platinum jewelry is significantly more valuable than any gold jewelry of equal size and weight.

2. Damaged gold isn’t worth less than wearable gold.

If you are selling scrap gold, a single earring, broken gold jewelry or damaged jewelry is worth the same per ounce, gram or penny weight as a piece that is in wearable condition.

However, if you are selling wearable gold jewelry to an antique and estate jeweler like St. John & Myers, then it may be worth more because it can be resold. With a large network of contacts, your item may be resold out of the city, or even out of the country – not melted down.

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3. Older jewelry may be more valuable.

True antique or period-correct pieces of jewelry can be worth MUCH MORE than the value of their metal content. If you have jewelry older than 50 years and are considering selling, you owe it to yourself to bring it to an antique and estate jewelry expert like St. John & Myers. Our primary business is buying and selling antique, period-correct and estate jewelry. Come sell to the experts. It’s what we do.

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4. When you compare offers, be sure that you are comparing “apples to apples”.

While some companies buy gold in troy ounces (Toz), others buy in penny weight (dwt). Still others may make their offers in grams (g). A gram is less than a penny-weight, a penny-weight is less than an ounce. Therefore, if you receive 3 offers for your jewelry; one is $ 300/oz, another is $ 14/dwt and another at $ 10/gram, which is the better offer?

5. Before you sell your gold, know your expert.

When the price of gold rises, the number and types of businesses that buy gold also rises. But are all of them experts? No, most are not! Be sure that you understand the motivation behind each type of business buying gold, silver, platinum, coins and other items of value BEFORE you sell:

Pawn Shops – their main business is to loan money at a rate of interest, not to buy jewelry. They deal in everything – tools, cars, videos, guns and musical instruments – anything of value. Jewelry is usually not the primary focus of their business. Loaning money on items, not buying items, is their primary focus and expertise.

Coin Shops – their primary business and expertise may lie with coins. They tend to be very low buyers of gold, jewelry, and diamonds.

Hotel Buying Events – these businesses usually travel from town to town and conduct business for a weekend only. They offer very little for items of value. These events only occur when the price of gold is high. If there is a problem, the seller has little recourse. The event does little to support the local economy and the buyers are usually strangers to the town.

TV Mail-In Companies – these businesses don’t exist in your community, but they spend lots
of money to appear on your TV. Customers ship their gold far away to be appraised and bought by someone they will never meet. These companies are typically very very low buyers of gold, and there will be little opportunity for recourse should your experience be unsatisfactory.

Chain Jewelry Stores – their primary business is selling new jewelry. Normally, these types of businesses do not buy, but sometimes they will host buying events in their stores. The buying events are run by non-local vendors. If there is a problem, the seller usually has no recourse with the store. If you shop their offers, you will find that the outside vendor typically pays less than a local business.

Independent Stores – their primary business is to sell jewelry, but when the price of gold is high, they may start buying jewelry from the public. Usually, these businesses are ok buyers of gold and jewelry, but lack expertise in coins or antique and estate jewelry.

Antique Stores – their primary business is furniture, glass, collectibles and art. They usually lack expertise in coins or antique and estate jewelry. Therefore, they tend to be low buyers of gold and jewelry.