How would you 'liquidate' a large amount of gold jewelry? Online sale to a smelter?
Stork
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I am on a completely unrelated facebook group--about investing in general for a subset of professionals (a well vetted group). Someone asked about 'how to sell gold'. Well, I know a little about that part...but upon further questioning he says he has '$100,000 in jewelry' in his SDB he wants to liquidate.
Assuming this were non-collectable and he was purely trying to recover the gold (and it really is $100K in actual gold, not the 'I paid this much for it' nonsense), how best does one do THAT? He lives in NYC by the way.
I was thinking a direct sale to a smelter (who is good?) vs. checking with a local jewelry store that might use it, vs. even a brick and mortar coin shop? Not the street corner 'WE BUY GOLD' dude/dudettes, or if he did that route, what % of spot is reasonable?
I also told him if there was any kind of significant value above the gold content then perhaps having that amount of jewelry appraised/looked at (would Heritage be interested if it was really cool stuff??) might be an option.
That said, I also said stay away from eBay--that is a rip off waiting to happen not to mention he would be completely untrusted given his lack of eBay history.
If you were shipping to a smelter, who would you ship to? I vaguely remember looking into this years ago, but I can't remember who was worthy.
Comments
A difficult problem. It's hard for me to imagine $100,000 worth of gold jewelry in a safe deposit box being run of the mill scrap jewelry. A thumbnail sketch shows that would be somewhere around 8 pounds of scrap. That's about what gallon of milk weighs.
Maybe that's what he's got. But if it's in a SDB, it seems more likely it's better quality jewelry, maybe some with stones. A scrapper won't pay anything for stones--may even discount for them. But they'll definitely resell them at a huge mark up if they can.
If he really knows nothing about jewelry and can't tell a carat from a karat, here's what I would suggest: Take a rough accounting of what he has. A simple spreadsheet. You don't have to list everything, but the more the better. Take lots of photographs. Spend an hour, it won't kill you.
THEN find a trusted local B&M jeweler who will do an appraisal. Expect to pay a few hundred dollars. DO NOT SELL to them and make sure they know up front you won't be selling to them. You're paying for their expertise and time, don't make it a conflict of interest.
If they say it's all scrap, then ship it to Midwest or another refiner. But I suspect there is some good stuff in there that will more than pay for the appraisal.
--Severian the Lame
Have him go to the diamond district and walk to a handful of the store fronts down there and ask for offers.
What he should accept for offers depends on what he has. If it is 100k in broken jewelry or junk that wouldn't be able to be retailed, I would say 97%-99% of spot and closer to 99% with that large of an amount. If it is undamaged chains, designer jewelry and stuff that consumers can buy without any work I would hold out for more...hard to say how much more without seeing what they have. I would recommend pulling out anything with designer names or intricate designs and that should be sold individually. Obviously don't let anyone take the lot out of eyesight or keep it overnight to price it...
How does someone with 100k in jewelry not have an exit plan or knowledge on where to unload some of this stuff???
I got a bit more info--sounds like it is traditional Indian jewelry, family gifts, etc. Stones are probably involved. If I had to guess a bunch of gifts and were put away for storage. I imagine that is why no real exit plan initially.
I won't link him to this thread--can't have different parts of my life intersecting
but will pass on the advice. Midwest Refinery right?
Thanks!
Really hard to give advice with such a small amount of information. Sounds like a lot of silver if Indian jewelry...likely turquoise stone with red coral. There could be pieces of value (signed etc.), but hard to say without actually seeing it. Appraisal will be the best path. Cheers, RickO
It might be Indian like from India.
That could mean some 24k stuff..
There is a market for Quality estate and antique jewelry, obviously it depends on the contents, condition, and how much time and effort someone wants to put into getting a bit (or possibly a lot) more than melt..
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Good point. It’s India the continent, not Native American.
I hadn’t thought if it but on that Facebook group other people told him to try Indian jewelers which never crossed my mind.
He seems reasonably fine with getting melt after some discussion which seem sad given how intricate it can be. But jewelry as a store of wealth boils down to what it melts for I suppose.
I hope he takes the advice to get it appraised at the very least. Well, I have passed on the recommendations so at the very least he can pack it up to Midwest.
He was thankful for the ideas!
There are specialty auctions for jewelry. If he's looking for melt, he may be looking for under the table, which is tough these days. The appraisal/NYC diamond district may be the way to go.
I have watched dealers whom Previously I Had High Regard For make huge chunks of money off of similar situations. The owner needs to use due diligence & get educated before turning this stuff loose. If it all goes to one buyer there is the possibility of leaving 30%+ on the table.
Scrap-stones-marketable or collectible nice jewelery.
He sent me a message--he was appreciative of the information and now plans on having the jewelry appraised, then offering to jewelers in NYC (specializing in Indian jewelry it sounds like). Much better than an automatic trip to the smelter should there be any additional value. Or, if is only worth the gold, he will at least have the information.
I'll stick to bullion coins and pre 1933 stuff, I understand that. (Lucky for my husband, I am NOT into jewelry, though unlucky I suppose as I AM into coins
)
Take your time and shop around. Good luck. I wish some of them were offered here !!! 👍
If it's Indian gold jewellery, it's 22K yellow gold.
Weigh everything and figure out the gold value based on weight.
They should get between 85% to 95% of this value.
$1800 per ounce, divided by 31 (grams in an ouce) = $58 per gram.
Multiply this by 22/24 which equals $53 per gram of 22K gold.
Gold jewelry is unlikely to face government theft.
The jewelry was likely worn on the person as they made trips to the US.
All perfectly legal.
Rte592
I suspect the phrase- 'govt theft' would translate to 'govt confiscation'.
Indians(India) frequently keep their gold in jewelry form. As do a lot of cultures to minimize the chance of an executive order a la 1934.
It's been a long time.....how are you, Stork?
I knew it would happen.
Doing well--quit my job and retired! I picked an interesting time for that
Hanging out on internet groups too much--just not my coin ones. Bought a spin bike and put together a set of dumbbells and started exercising more than I ever did at the Y. My blood pressure is much better! And my COVID-15 is a loss, not a gain.
Coins have taken a bit of a backseat right now. I'm suffering from some ennui there. Missed out on a coin in a Japanese auction I wanted and things are feeling 'meh'. I'm planning on paring down my collection too--way too much extraneous stuff and unfulfilled tangents. But so far I haven't actually done much.
How are you doing?
I was thinking along the lines of transport wealth.
After high school one of the guys in the neighborhood went to Africa to work for a company and 3 times a year he would visit his family.
He would exit the airplane with a heavy gold chain and 2 bracelets...not sure what was in the briefcase.
He always had some really cool looking custom jewelry for his father and family.
Always returned to Africa without any bling.