How much are gold earrings worth? Asked Liz
Hi! My name is Liz, I would like to find out how much gold earrings are worth? I have very nice diamond earrings inherited from my aunt and because I will move to New York, I need some extra cash, that’s why I want to sell them. Please help me with the evaluation of my earrings.
Liz from Philadelphia in Pennsylvania
Good morning Liz! Thank you for your friendly message. Of course we will help you to estimate the value of your diamond earrings. Finding out how much gold earrings are worth is not that complicated if you consider just a few important things. I will tell you how to determine the value of your jewelry, let’s get started right now.
reDollar appraiser, Maria Tait
Liz wants to know, how much are gold earrings worth?
Liz: Thanks for your email. I have just sent you some photos of my earrings. I thought that might be helpful for the evaluation.
Maria: Yes, it’s more than helpful, it’s essential. The photos help me a lot to find our more details about your jewelry.
Liz: What do you think about my earrings? Don’t they look pretty with this gorgeous diamonds?
Maria: Yes, truly beautiful. But I also like the two yellow sapphires. Do you have any background information regarding this earrings or a certificate?
Liz: No unfortunately I don’t have a certificate or an appraisal but I have an old bill of sales. The earrings were bought in Washington, January 7, 1946. The amount paid was $400. My aunt lived in Washington D.C. with her husband Richard who was a senior civil servant of the Government. That’s all I know.
Maria: That’s great! This information helps us a lot. Now we know that this two earrings must be 69 years old, so nearly antique. Do you know if your diamond earrings are made of gold or platinum?
Liz: No I’m not 100% sure but I think they must be made of 18 karat gold.
Maria: Let’s check your hypothesis. Please use a 10 x loop to find a marking on your earrings. If you don’t have such a loop handy, you can also try to spot the markings with the naked eye.
Liz: What can we learn from these markings? I don’t have the best eyes but I will try my luck.
Maria: If it’s too hard for you to find the markings by yourself, please ask somebody to help you with that task. This markings, which were also called hallmarks, indicate the purity of the particular precious metal. For each precious metal like gold, silver or platinum we have different hallmarks, indicating the precious metal’s purity.
Liz: Interesting and what if my earrings don’t have any hallmarks? Then my earrings are not made of gold or other precious metals?
Maria: No it’s not that simple. There are also pieces of jewelry in circulation which are not hallmarked but even though this pieces are made of precious metals. However the majority of jewelry is hallmarked. It happens very seldom that we detect jewelry which has no markings at all.
Liz: Ah, I’m relieved. So if I can’t find markings I don’t need to be disappointed?
Maria: No, of course not.
Liz: My son helped me to find the mentioned markings. And finally we could find them. We found hallmarks which show something like symbols, looks like hieroglyphs and also a hallmark with numbers. The marking shows “18K”. What does that mean?
Maria: Great! 18K means 18 karat. Your diamond earrings are made of 18 karat gold. In your case 18 karat white gold.
Liz: Good to know! Maria, how much are my 18k gold earrings worth?
Maria: Before I can set an estimated value, we have to check the sapphires too. The yellow sapphires have an oval-cut and I would guess they have one carat each. Could you please measure the length of one of the sapphires please? And please also count the diamonds and let me know the total length of the earrings. I know this are several details and questions but it’s important to know every detail to make a proper and accurate value estimation. If I would have the piece of jewelry in my hands it would be easier but the visualization on photographs can differ strongly from the reality. Thank you for your brilliant assistance and you patience Liz!
Liz: No problem at all, I do my best to get a realistic and accurate estimation because I’m excited to find out how much my earrings are worth! The total length of the earrings is 3.8 cm and the sapphires have a length of circa 6 mm. In total we have approximately 20 little diamonds each earring.
Maria: Aha, that confirms my theory. The majority of diamonds have a brilliant-cut I think so, only one diamond each earring has a baguette-cut but that’s a random information only. As I have guessed before, it seems that the yellow sapphires have one carat each and it also seems that the stones are really clear with less imperfections or inclusions, very nice.
Liz: That sounds promising! What’s the price for my earrings?
Maria: I estimate a fair market value of $1,900.00 Dollars for your diamond earrings. I think this is a good price for fine jewelry pieces like that. It seems that your earrings are not made from a famous jeweler like Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, or Bvlgari. If you own jewelry from a famous jeweler you can count with a substantially surcharge, just for the brand.
Liz: I think $1,900 is a great offer for my earrings. Now I know how much my gold earrings are worth. Although I have no clue of appraisals, I’m convinced that this is a very fair price. Thank you so much for your help! It’s awesome how great such a customer advisory service works online. I thought it’s a must to visit a jeweler or appraiser in person to get a proper evaluation, but obviously that’s not necessary. I love doing things online and your platform is a great place for businesses with jewelry and other valuables.
Maria: Thank you for your compliments Liz, the entire team appreciates your friendly words. We do our best to serve our clients with the best possible services, like we expect them from others. We run our business the same way as we wanted to be treated from other service providers. Our high standard is our success. We are very happy that our clients honor that. If you need further help or appraisals, please feel free to contact me whenever you want.
Liz: Thanks Maria!
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