advice-selling an antique gold diamond ring

mrsgreenwood_2

sorry if this is the wrong place, but im looking for some advice....

i have a rare sold 18k diamond ring. it has 65 diamonds in and i believe it to be antique.

it does need a small repair one side of the ring, but we had it valued 2 years ago and is worth £2500 in its current condition.

we are thinking of selling it, but not sure where would be best? we have tried jewellery shops, but they only offer scrap gold price for it.

we live near newmarket/cambridge and would prefer to sell locally rather than online etc.

does anyone know of any antiques fairs or similar, TIA

bravobeastie

http://www.antiques-atlas.com/listings/suffolk/?type=ac

mrsgreenwood_2

bravobeastie wrote: »

http://www.antiques-atlas.com/listings/suffolk/?type=ac

thanks for that, will have a look

Crowqueen

Get the repair done if possible - that will enhance its value, probably by more than the repair costs.

jlux111

Hi,

Unless your piece is particularly special or attractive then scrap value is what it's worth.

The valuation you were given was the cost to replace the ring and it, would cost you that much if you were to walk into a jewellers and buy something similar but it is not indicative of true value as high street jewellers work on a quite outrageous markup to begin with.

Regarding diamonds, what's important are cut, colour, clarity and carat. Small low carat stones are surprisingly cheap, antique cuts are often fairy crude and not desirable today, the colour and clarity of older stones is often not great also.

Unless there is one or more larger stones, It is very likely that the diamonds will not be factored into the price you will be offered as they will not be suitable for reuse.

This leaves only the scrap value of the gold, this is not the scrap value to you, this is the scrap value to the jeweler. They will not simply melt the ring down and reuse it, it has to be sent away and reprocessed, they will receive a scrap value themselves.

The final sum you will be offered will be somewhere between £150 and £300 depending upon weight.

Regarding the repair, don't do it. If the ring is special enough to fetch a good price at auction. Buyers will be savvy enough to cost repair into final price, i.e. you will gain very little from a good repair but a bad repair could lose you a lot.

Referring back to my opening sentence, if the piece is special in some way or particularly attractive, then you may easily exceed this amount by taking it to auction. You must bear in mind though, most bidders will be interested in the ring for its scrap value and this may be all it realises, in which case you will have a similar amount to what you would have been offered elsewhere, minus auction house fees.

I am sorry if this all sounds very negative, it's just the reality of this particular market.

All the best with the sale.