Massively overpriced ring

Manxman_in_exile

It's pointless asking an auction house for a valuation.

Go to a decent independent local jeweller as suggested by @TonyMMM and ask for an insurance valuation.  Your daughter and her boyfriend might be pleasantly surprised.

(And two useful lessons for your daughter and her boyfriend: (1) never be pressured into any sort of impulse purchase and (2) don't buy from a stall in an "antiques center" unless you know what you are doing and/or it's something you like and you won't miss the money.)

theoretica

I expect most people have been pressurised into buying something and had buyer's remorse afterwards - I know I have!  And it armed me to be more stubborn in future. 

But also this seems a very clear example of the different prices things have - what you need to pay (and how that can vary) versus what it can be sold for.

Undervalued

Suppose this was the other way round and they have bought at £300 then got an auction valuation of £1200....

Would they be popping round to the dealer to give him his share of the profit?


Sorry, but you buy antiques for one of two reasons....

Either you like it and are prepared to part with £XXX for the pleasure owning and wearing it will give you.

or

You buy in the expectation of making a profit, in which case you need to know what you are doing!

Even those that do know what they are doing make mistakes from time to time if that is any consolation!

Ergates

Rockchick71 said:

My daughter and her boyfriend were "persuaded" on impulse to purchase a ring from a trader operating in an antiques centre on Saturday. They paid £1200. It's not an engagement ring as such, more of a commitment ring. Today the local auction house has valued the ring at up to £300. It is sapphire and diamonds as described, but they were led to believe that they were underpaying for the ring!

The retailer has indicated in a phone call that he wont give them their money back. They bought two rings, and for the other ring he did indicate at the time of the sale that they could return it. They didnt think to ask if this also applied to this one.  All thoughts, especially any wording that they might use, gratefully received! 

If they liked the ring enough on Saturday to spend £1200 on it and it's not fake (i.e. the gems are as claimed etc), then the value to *them* must be at least £1200.

I would suggest that unless the intention in buying the ring was to sell it, then drop the matter.  They were happy with the ring on Saturday, pursuing this might sour that for them.

TELLIT01

More as a matter of interest than anything else, but why did they take the ring to an auction house for valuation just a couple of days after purchasing it?  Auction houses are generally pretty conservative in their estimations.

bris

TELLIT01 said:

More as a matter of interest than anything else, but why did they take the ring to an auction house for valuation just a couple of days after purchasing it?  Auction houses are generally pretty conservative in their estimations.

Not really conservative no, just more accurate.

Auction houses know the real value not the highstreet retailers value, a high st retailers markup is huge.

The auction house knows the value by looking at the weight and quality of the stone, the weight and value of the gold and adding them together. They work on scrap value unless it's a known designers make which will add a significant amount to the value but ultimatlely decided on what someone is willing to pay.

Bottom line is if you get something from a high st retailer never go looking for it's true value.

Rockchick71

Thanks everyone, comments all greatly appreciated. 

They felt pressured into buying a ring that they didnt really want, believing that they could take it back if they wanted to, but of course this proved not to be the case. So they ended up at the Auction Room to see if selling it that way was an option. 

The original retailer has now offered to a) display it on their behalf or b) exchange it for four smaller rings. There was at least one other that they actually liked. So...hard lessons learnt, and a difficult decision to make on whether to keep, try to sell or swap. 

Sandtree

bris said:

TELLIT01 said:

More as a matter of interest than anything else, but why did they take the ring to an auction house for valuation just a couple of days after purchasing it?  Auction houses are generally pretty conservative in their estimations.

Not really conservative no, just more accurate.

Auction houses know the real value not the highstreet retailers value, a high st retailers markup is huge.

The auction house knows the value by looking at the weight and quality of the stone, the weight and value of the gold and adding them together. They work on scrap value unless it's a known designers make which will add a significant amount to the value but ultimatlely decided on what someone is willing to pay.

Bottom line is if you get something from a high st retailer never go looking for it's true value.

Scrap value isn't the normal way that things are priced... buy a secondhand car at auction and you will pay a lot more than the scrap value for the majority of vehicles. I'm not even sure if its the normal way of pricing jewellery for auction, certainly seen items go both well above their scrap value and what is potentially below it too. 

Something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it and the reality is that different people buy in different ways and expectations are different through different sales channels. The issue with auctions is that its what someone is willing to pay on the day whereas a retailer can spend weeks or months (or longer) finding the person that loves it and is willing to pay the asking price. Sure auction houses market items etc before the day but that is a very different process for a fairly run of the mill 2nd hand ring -v- an old master painting. 

Think the bottom line is more that you'll rarely get the best value from the high street but if they have the 1970s ring you love it could take you years to find the same item coming up for auction and you may get it for cheaper but there may be two others that love it just as much and you end up paying more (esp when you realise you have to add the fees on top of the hammer price)

RogerBareford

Rockchick71 said:

@TonyMMM thanks so much for this, so it looks as though the price is probably about right. 

The other part of this is that they changed their minds about a purchase that they felt very pressured into..but there seems to be little that can be done about that :-( 

Just tell to take this as a lesson learned to walk away when pressured and tell the salesperson they need to think about it before committing to an expensive purchase. Nobody wouls have been physically stopping them from walking away so any pressure they felt was because they chose to stay there.

TELLIT01

Sandtree said:

bris said:

TELLIT01 said:

More as a matter of interest than anything else, but why did they take the ring to an auction house for valuation just a couple of days after purchasing it?  Auction houses are generally pretty conservative in their estimations.

Not really conservative no, just more accurate.

Auction houses know the real value not the highstreet retailers value, a high st retailers markup is huge.

The auction house knows the value by looking at the weight and quality of the stone, the weight and value of the gold and adding them together. They work on scrap value unless it's a known designers make which will add a significant amount to the value but ultimatlely decided on what someone is willing to pay.

Bottom line is if you get something from a high st retailer never go looking for it's true value.

Scrap value isn't the normal way that things are priced... buy a secondhand car at auction and you will pay a lot more than the scrap value for the majority of vehicles. I'm not even sure if its the normal way of pricing jewellery for auction, certainly seen items go both well above their scrap value and what is potentially below it too. 

Gold and other jewellery will often be valued at its pure 'melt' or scrap value by auction houses.  You can't sensibly compare the way jewellery is priced with used cars.