Featured Antique gold watch chain

That is a work of art! Amazing. I will top the best offer by a buck!

 

The sold called experts aren't always with it either.

Years ago, before I started buying and selling, I had an unmarked pin that came from my mother. It was gold colored and had opals set in it. I took it to an estate jeweler to ask if is was gold or costume. She looked at it, never even picked it up, just looked at it in my hand and said it was costume.

A few years later I got my first gold test kit and yes, it was 14K

 

ok 21.00 and a slobbery Tonka kiss.

 

I've done it too. Feel just a LITTLE guilty... but not real guilty. Got a real pearl necklace with an 18K clasp for $1.50...I never realized it till months later when I went to price it! Another occasion, I got a gold filagree ring FREE in a box of jewelry after I paid for what I had and found another little box I wanted... she poo'd me and said..."take the box"... I didn't realize it was gold till I got it home. Got a GREAT box of jewelry for $10 and there was a Deco era wedding band in it with 5 diamonds in white gold. Another occasion a lovely boulder opal hat pin with gold... in a baggie of jewelry for 50 cents. I'm waiting for the 'motherlode'! That's why we "pick", right?

Leslie

 

A lucky man paid 14$ for this exceptional piece... I wish I were there... before him
https://www.langantiques.com/university/golash-brooch/

 

Me too! EEP! Natural purple pearls for $14!!! OOK! Some dealer has been kicking themselves up one side and down the other ever since.

 

This is the stuff I live for. I've had a lot of luck as well, finding gold jewelry at yard/garage/estate sales. I don't think people look for marks, and others don't know what they mean.

 

Yes, I've heard this story before! You gotta know your pearls!

 

Recently, I cashed in some broken gold chains from yard sales and bought myself a diamond ring with the proceeds. So there is a method to my madness.

 

I used to feel guilty, now I don't.
Is that bad?
My rationale is that if I find a white gold bracelet that the professional seller tells me is silver and he accepts £8 for it that's his look out. It's his job to know.
If it's a charity shop or car boot sale, they have every opportunity to get something checked out and valued before selling it, most jewellers will do a quick check for free and if you need the real experts you come on here.
Some of my best finds have come from catastrophically tangled joblots and sorting through the filth and broken glass at car boot sales. If they couldn't be bothered to untangle or sort I have no sympathy.
I've probably sold stuff undervalued because I didn't know but that's my loss and no one else's fault.
Still to make a profit on my Tokyo poo pendant and my *ahem* 'family jewels' dodgy glass candlestick though.............

 

I once scored a diamond ring at a yard sale. Actually a community tag sale, but close enough. Bought a bag full of the stuff they'd cleaned out of Grandma's jewelry box. Gave a wedding ring back, but in another box ... half a carat of champagne diamond in a platinum 20s filigree setting. BINGO. That one isn't going anywhere. So yes, it can happen.

 

An acid test kit was one of the best things I ever bought!
Oh, and a diamond tester, too.

 

Ooooh! Sounds lovely!!

 

I'll have to take another photo of it at some point; I'll never find the other one I took.

 

I’m a little mixed on this. If it were a tag sale and I bought this for $2 I would probably buy it and then send them $50 or $100 in the mail later and say I found out it was worth more. Maybe I wouldn’t actually do that but I think I might. Thrift store I wouldn’t hesitate. Thrift store I sometimes point out if something is silver if I’m not going to buy it and they missed it... I found a nice wedding band metal detecting the other day. I’m having mixed feelings on what to do. I want to post a lost and found posting locally. If someone by chance actually replied I don’t know if I would want to give it back free though. Since we are on the subject would it be wrong to ask for the melt value for it? If I lost my wedding band I would be very happy to pay the melt value to get if back. Obviously they would have paid way more for it new and it would have lots of sentimental value probably. I would feel kinda sleazy asking for something for it but at the same time I put a lot of time and effort into finding it. Any thoughts?


Edit: absolutely nothing against you or anyone who decides to do whatever they do in this situation. It’s all of our goal to buy for as low as we can and sell for as high as we can in the long run.

 

Amazing find!
Sorry!
Just realized it was a yard sale piece so, editing my post. Most people in our area who do yard sales honestly are just cleaning out their closets, and really don't care to do the research and bother trying to sell and get the best price. They just want their clutter gone. You knew what to look for and took the chance. Imo, ya did great!

 

I appreciate your point of view. However, I never had any intention of selling it.
So I paid the lady $2, and it's staying in my possession. And I wear it. So If I don't ever sell it, is it still "iffy" in your opinion?

 

This is an interesting thread. I don't do metal detecting, but if I were in the same situation & thought there were any hope of returning the ring to whoever lost it, while I wouldn't go to any huge effort or expense to reconnect them, I would feel funny asking for money. After all, I would have been out with the metal detector whether or not I had found the ring, which to my mind is different from going to a lot of effort to find it. Not sure how I would feel if some sort of reward offered spontaneously. Once found a wallet, thrown away after money removed, with cards still in it that let me get it back to its owner. She gave me a chocolate bar & I was fine with that.

 

I should have said to pay as little as possible for the highest valued items we can. Wether we sell or keep. I wasn’t saying your choice was iffy. I was saying my feelings would be iffy on what to do. I think wether I was keeping or selling it I personally would feel a bit guilty and want to pay a little more. It’s a tough situation though and I totally get you doing what you did. I would keep it too!

 

Great find power to you. I would’ve paid him in full, turned around smile and walk away but first look around some more