You won the auction, cut the lock, and found a jewelry box under a pile of old coats. Or maybe you found some old necklaces when cleaning out grandma's storage unit. Now what? The jewelry could be costume, which means it is simply cosmetic and not worth much. Or, it could be made with gold or silver and be worth more than the rest of the unit combined!
At Accurate Precious Metals, we offer a free and secure mail-in program where you can send us your jewelry and get paid if you accept our offer. We'll test and appraise your items for free, and give you an offer for any valuable gold, silver, or platinum items. https://accuratepmr.com/we-buy/mail-in-your-jewelry
Most jewelry buyers, including us, start with the same three questions: what is it made of, how much does it weigh, and is there a premium (anything about it that makes it worth more than its metal)?
1. Lots of jewelry is made with gold or silver. If it is made with one of these metals, chances are it is stamped somewhere. Look inside rings, on the clasp of chains and necklaces, and on the back of pendants and earrings. A magnifying glass or your phone’s camera zoom helps. Here is a little guide to what the stamps mean:
Gold: 10K, 14K, 18K, 22K or 24K, or the European numbers 417, 585, 750, 916 and 999.
Silver: 925, STER or Sterling for sterling silver, or 800 and 900 for lower-grade silver.
Platinum: PLAT, PT or 950.
Warning marks: GP, GF, GEP, HGE, RGP or EP mean the piece is plated or gold-filled, not solid gold. Plated pieces are worth little as scrap.
Make sure you understand how purity works. The karat number tells you how much of the piece is pure gold. Gold karat is purity on a scale of 24. So, 24k gold is 100% pure gold. 18k gold is 75% pure gold (18/24).
The rough scrap formula is: weight in grams × purity × the current price of gold per gram. If you want to see the current spot price of gold or silver or platinum, you can check out our spot price charts: https://accuratepmr.com/gold-and-silver-price-charts
2. Scrap value is based on weight and purity. If an item is made with 24k gold, its value will depend on how much it weighs.
3. Look for premium on the jewelry! Most broken pieces will just be worth the melt value. But if a piece of jewelry still looks good and is wearable, it may be worth more.
Storage units get filled with the contents of a household, so you’re most likely to find a mix of everything. We buy lots of different precious metals items.
Jewelry: Chains, bracelets and rings made with silver, gold, or platinum. Even broken or tangled pieces are worth their weight in metal.
Silverware and flatware: Forks, spoons, plates and tea sets used to commonly be made out of sterling silver (92.5% pure silver). If you find any old silverware or flatware, check to see if it is stamped "sterling" or "925". A boxed silverware set in a closet is one of the most common valuable finds, and it’s easy to overlook.
Dental gold: Crowns, dentures and bridges,are often made with gold.
Watches: Look for names like Rolex, Omega, Cartier and Patek Philippe, plus older gold-cased pocket watches.
Coins and silver bars: Old US silver coins, silver dollars, and bullion bars and rounds are often packed away with jewelry. Dimes and quarters made before 1965 contain 90% silver, and dollar coins may be worth a lot depending on condition.
If you are interested in seeing all that we buy, check out our we-buy hub page: https://accuratepmr.com/we-buy
Your main options:
A local pawn shop or “cash for gold” store. Fast, but pawn shops usually pay a low percentage of value, and they may resell your item rather than refine it.
An online gold buyer. Many online buyers resell to a refinery, so there’s a middleman taking a cut.
A jewelry store or consignment shop. Fine for designer pieces, but slow, and they usually won’t buy broken scrap.
A refinery. This is the shortest route from your jewelry to the people who actually melt and refine it.
At Accurate Precious Metals Refineries, we have an in-house refinery, which means we are the last stop for precious metals before they are melted. We’re headquartered in Salem, Oregon, and we buy from customers in all 50 states by insured mail-in. If you are interested in selling your jewelry you find in storage units, check us out!
