When a dear family member passes away, surviving family members often struggle to make sense of what has been left behind. If you find yourself in this situation, let me just say, “I’m so sorry for your loss.” This sensitive time comes with high emotions, high stress, and diminished reasoning ability. Your trusted local jeweler can help guide you through the process.
May I suggest a few empowering do’s and don’ts to help you decide what to do with the jewelry?
Don’t walk into your local jewelry store asking for an appraisal of all your jewelry. Appraisals are official documents, and they take considerable time and money to produce. Besides, most of Grandma’s jewelry may not be worth appraising. Instead, explain your situation and let your trusted jeweler guide you. The first priority is separating the fine jewelry from inexpensive imitation jewelry before considering an official appraisal.
Only then can your trusted jeweler give you an idea of which pieces in the valuable pile are worth appraising and which are not. Often, all that is needed is a general idea of value—not an official appraisal.
Don’t expect your local jeweler to donate hours of their time for free. No one likes to feel taken advantage of. Instead, be respectful of your trusted jeweler’s time. Consider selling the gold or buying new settings for the heirloom gemstones. Fortunately, sorting heirloom jewelry into piles usually takes only 30 minutes or so, and Belliston Jewelry is happy to provide that initial service at no charge.
After sorting the jewelry into piles, don’t expect a jeweler to produce official appraisals while you wait. Instead, expect to leave your jewelry with the jeweler so they have appropriate time to clean, measure, grade, appraise, photograph, and document the most valuable pieces.
After you know which jewelry is valuable and which isn’t, what do you do with it?
Don’t assume that, just because a piece of jewelry has high sentimental or appraisal value, you will be able to sell it for that price. While an appraisal value is helpful when fairly dividing an estate, it generally represents the high end of what you might expect to pay at a typical retail store.
A buyer is only willing to pay what they believe an item is worth. Jewelers buy new, trending styles at wholesale prices, so they typically will not pay retail prices for used jewelry in older styles. However, it may be worth exploring what your jeweler is willing to offer, if anything. You may simply want to cash in for the gold value.
I often hear people say, “I want to keep Grandma’s diamonds, but I don’t like the setting.” In my opinion, the best way to retain the value of gemstones is to retain the gemstones themselves. However, it can be extremely difficult to find a setting in a showcase that you like and that also happens to fit all of Grandma’s diamonds.
Fortunately, Belliston Jewelry has in-store jewelers and CAD designers who can create a brand-new ring, pendant, or pair of earrings to fit your heirloom gemstones in any style you want. They will carefully measure all your gemstones, recreate them in CAD software, and then create a new design specifically to fit Grandma’s gemstones. Additionally, you may be able to cash out the value of the old gold.
Your trusted local jeweler can help guide you through this delicate and sensitive matter. At Belliston Jewelry, we are happy to help you determine what is real and what is imitation. Don’t stress—just stop by to get started. We’ll help you separate valuable jewelry from inexpensive imitation pieces. We’ll help you determine which pieces, if any, need an official appraisal and which need an unofficial estimated value.
This can help you divide the jewelry fairly among family members. You may also consider cashing out for the gold value or recycling beautiful heirloom gemstones into new, modern styles for another lifetime of enjoyment.
Any content, resident submissions, guest columns, advertisements, and advertorials are not necessarily endorsed by or represent the views of Best Version Media LLC (BVM) or any municipality, homeowners associations, businesses, or organizations that this publication serves. BVM is not responsible for the reliability, suitability, or timeliness of any content submitted, inclusive of materials generated or composed through artificial intelligence (AI). All content submitted is done so at the sole discretion of the submitting party.
