Trying to declutter and stumped by my mother's gold jewelry....help!

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Trying to declutter and stumped by my mother's gold jewelry....help!

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Started 1 year ago by irishskier
Latest reply from SunshineR
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irishskier
Member

Help! My parents died about 2 years ago and I am finally just now sorting through my mother's jewelry. She had lots of big, gold (14k), chunky bracelets, earrings and necklaces that I can't see myself ever wearing. I realize I could sell them to someone who buys gold by the ounce but I'm assuming those buyers just melt everything down. A lot of my mom's gold jewelry is beautifully made (just not my taste) and it seems like such a waste to imagine it being melted down.

I don't have children, my sister doesn't wear gold and thinks we should scrap it all and I can't imagine trying to get rid of each piece individually on e-bay (I can't even guess at a basic reserve price, nor do I want to deal with shipping, insurance, auctions etc.)

I feel like sticking it all back in the safe-deposit box and leaving it alone for the next 20 years until my brother's daughter is grown up and then I'll give it all to her. But she might hate it all too or not wear gold or just decide to scrap it at that point in which case I'd rather get the money for it now when gold is at record-high prices.

I'm going to keep the most sentimental pieces but I wish I could consign or send the rest to auction. It wouldn't be antique - most of it is only a decade or two old at the most. Does anyone know of any good way to sell it or have any suggestions for what to do with it? Will the price-per-ounce for gold exceed what I could get for it if I can find somewhere to consign it? THANKS!

Posted 1 year ago #
javamonster
Member

Take the jewelry to a reputable dealer and find out how much the jewelry is worth as jewelry. Then to a gold dealer---NOT those that you see advertising on TV. They melt the gold down, and pay pennies on the dollar.

Posted 1 year ago #
chacha1
Member

Agreeing with javamonster. 14k gold is actually only a little over half gold - 24k is pure, so 14k contains 10k of alloy metals. Typically, 14k gold is not worth much at resale because it has to be melted down and the gold filtered out from the alloy in order to re-use it.

Consigning or auctioning is a bit of a headache. Look in any mall jeweler, and see just how inexpensive new 14k jewelry is; then go to a pawnshop and see what things are going for there. I doubt the proceeds would really compensate you for the hassles of trying to sell them individually. If you'd rather have a little money than a lot of unworn jewelry, then because it's neither fine gold nor antique, a pawnshop is probably your simplest route.

If you do wear gold at all, you might consider having a new 14k piece or two made by simply recasting the metal in your mom's jewelry. My mom gave me her wedding and engagement rings - after decades of outdoor work, her fingers were too arthritic to continue wearing them. DH & I designed a pendant using the metal and had it made by a local jeweler (who also made *my* engagement ring).

Also, don't forget gold can be plated with rhodium to look like platinum. If your sister doesn't like yellow metal but does like white metal, this might be an option for you to have matching pieces made but hers could be plated.

Posted 1 year ago #
irishskier
Member

Thanks, I never even thought of plating it to look like platinum. Great suggestion! The pawn shop idea is also a good one - I wasn't sure if I could just walk into a "mall" jeweler and ask them to value it but a pawn shop will give me an idea if it's even worth selling. Thanks again!

Posted 1 year ago #
chacha1
Member

you're welcome, glad that was helpful!

Posted 1 year ago #
Lori Paximadis
Member

Yes, gold is at a record high right now, but as @chacha1 says, you're not going to get anywhere near the $1200/ounce spot price. Find a reputable local jeweler, not a mall jeweler or a pawn shop, and certainly not one of those mail-it-in "we buy gold" places. Ask friends and colleagues for recommendations. A good one will give you a fair evaluation and let you know if you're better off trying to sell or consign the pieces (assuming there's design value there) or sell them for scrap.

Posted 1 year ago #
Cathy11
Member

Hi Irishskier,

Do you live near a big city? i am faced by similar questions since my mom left many unsorted things behind and we don#t know what she wanted her children to have. However re gold jewelry, I have looked into what to do with inherited jewelry that is valuable but not my style. Here in germany, in big urban areas with many ethnic jewelers, there is quite a trend toward brinign in old jewelry and having it melted down. Then the jeweler designs a new piece of jewelry to your taste. Here, it is not that expensive. Last week i took a lot of jewelry that were family gifts and found a young gold-and silversmith who fixed what was of clear value and also told me what was junk, ie alloys not worht hanging onto - the rejects went to charity.in my expereince Greek and orental jewlers are experts at melting things down and recasting . If you are near a place like Chicago or NYC I would google jewelers preferably from the Orient who advertise that they do repairs. it is an old tradition in those countries to keep gold in the family, you just have to modernize it! Good luck cathy11

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

my mother arrived today sporting a rather gorgeous hand-hammered gold bangle she had had made out of various odds and ends of gold.
old worn out chains and rings and bits and bobs and so on.
rose gold, yellow gold, white gold...it was all grist to her mill.
i was mighty impressed with this spinning of straw into gold, so to speak.
she will wear this bangle and enjoy it daily, where the scraps gave no pleasure to anyone at all.

Posted 1 year ago #
djk
Member

I have my rings from a previous marriage and a diamond, and have been pondering over the years what to do with them. Actually I like to wear them as fashion jewelry, but DH is sentimental and feels weird about it (should NEVER have asked, frankly. Some things are better left unexplored) So it irritates me to have unused things. I love fun jewelry and have little yellow gold and would like to have it all melted down and remade into something "new". I just don't know where I could do that around here.

Posted 1 year ago #
suzjazz
Member

Here's what I did (and you won't believe it, but it's true)

I went to my local antiques dealer, who sells some good jewelry, with a box containing my mom's and grandma's gold jewelry. I even had a gold tooth (grandpa's?)
There were some odd cufflinks, chains, old lockets, etc. She told me to take it to a coin dealer she does business with who will pay me on the spot by check for whatever the value is less his commission.

So I brought it to the coin dealer, a real character. He scrutinized and weighed each piece, removing some black jet from great-grandma's odd earring so it could be melted down (I didn't even know it was gold!) Well, he gave me a check for $530 which I have deposited in my Move to France Fund.

If you have old gold jewelry, no matter how finely wrought, and you don't wear it, you'd be crazy not to take it to a coin dealer (they also take silver) Five hundred bucks goes a long way!!!

Posted 1 year ago #
ozegal
Member

I like the idea of having sentimental pieces melted down into something you'd wear. My mother gave me her wedding ring 10 years after she and dad got divorced. Even after they split up, my mother didn't stop wearing it. She said it was complicated and she did love my father and was attatched to him, but couldn't live with him any more.

I like the idea that I've got something that my mother wore everyday for 20 years. But I don't like the idea its a wedding ring from a marriage that didn't work - besides if I wear it how do i explain its my mother's and not my husband's? I would like to have it melted down into something else, so it still feels like I'm connected to her - and inadvertantly to my father too - but without that symbol of their failure weighing on me.

Posted 1 year ago #
SunshineR
Member

ozegal: I think your idea of making your mother's ring into something else is a great one. Imo, it all depends on how you feel about the person from the beginning.

Posted 1 year ago #

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