Divesting old gold in Bklyn, no intimidation wanted.
September 4, 2011 2:40 PM   Subscribe

Need guidance for a friend in Brooklyn who wants to sell some old (personal and family) gold and jewelry.

I found this post from 2006 looking for suggestions on selling rings and bracelets and various jewelry. Since then there has been the big gold bubble and there are too many (shady looking) "cash for gold" operations to try to sort through. There is nothing that is particularly vintage or antique, they just want to divest themselves of things that they do not use but do not want to feel like they are getting ripped off or taken advantage of. Can anyone suggest a place to go for a person not familiar with the process? Neither of us want/are comfortable with a protracted negotiation over this.
posted by cgk to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Rocks have no resale value, except as antiques or especially artistic works. That includes diamonds.

Expect to get the value of the metal. As in, you may as well remove and keep any gems set into this jewelry for their "oooh, shiny" value, and just hock the metal as scrap.

That said, you can try selling it on EBay first. Perhaps you'll find a sucker to pay something decent for it.

Sorry.
posted by pla at 3:01 PM on September 4, 2011


Previously.
posted by DrGail at 4:00 PM on September 4, 2011


Please read this before selling your gold, it is a fantastic introduction to the gold trading business. EBay and Etsy are probably best for things that arn't precious metals.
posted by Blasdelb at 4:32 PM on September 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


take it to a refiner, pay to have it melted into bullion bars and keep it.

Gold is definitely not in a bubble.

You'll know it's in a bubble when

- those cash for gold ads are replaced with gold for cash ads.
- your hairdresser starts telling you about how much gold they've bought
- when the people around don't just talk about gold but actually start owning bullion
- when the US gvt actually starts to rein in the 211 trillion dollar debt ( not 14 trillion like mainstream media tell you )
- when talking heads on msnbc and cnbc start telling you to buy gold instead of mocking gold investment
- when the Euro zone saves Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Merkel and Sarkozy are re-elected
- when the Fed starts to contract the M1 and M3 money supply
- when the US gvt starts calculating CPI INCLUDING food and energy costs and stops using devious tricks like substitution and hedonics in the calculations

when those tell tale signs and many more start to happen, then gold will be in a bubble. Until then tell your friends to keep their GOLD / the only real money ( non FIAT currency left on the planet ).
posted by dawdle at 5:11 PM on September 4, 2011


as for getting ripped off if they sell their gold they WILL get ripped off, although as you state in the original question they just don't want to FEEL like they're being ripped off. As a friend you should counsel them NOT to sell it.
posted by dawdle at 5:14 PM on September 4, 2011


« Older Looking for Portuguese/India gold wedding bands...   |   Transferring a car title from an auction sale in... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.