A young man walks into our shop with a three drawer vintage jewelry box and a lost expression on his face. Over the past few weeks he had to handle the estate of his beloved grandmother. Handling the details of her last resting place along with just the loss itself was a lot for this young man and then to top it all off…this jewelry box and trying to sort through it. Was all of it real? Did it need to be insured? Was the Cartier watch an authentic one? Could these items be sold? Could some of the jewelry be repaired and salvaged? With so many questions on his mind, the young man was amazed to find smiling faces, a private room, and a knowledgeable staff at Oaks Jewelry to answer all these questions and provide options that he didn’t even think of.
I hope to answer these questions for you in this blog post for the “if and when” you find yourself in a similar situation.
First off, it doesn’t matter if you have one piece or a whole jewelry box (or 4) of estate jewelry, our estate jewelry buying team can handle it!
We will look at and evaluate each piece. Looking for a karat purity mark or chemically testing for gold purity, testing each gemstone, and accessing each diamond for clarity/color/weight.
These aspects will tell us a lot about each piece. From there, we can offer an appraisal on the pieces you wish to have insured or we can offer a price on the pieces you wish to sell. There is never any pressure to sell but if you choose to, it is a hassle free, quick process and you walk away with cash on the spot.
For our young man, many of the pieces were real and he chose to sell some of them to have monies available for gifting to other family members and even stashing away some for his son’s college fund.
Keep in mind that any precious metal jewelry has value so while you are looking through things that you are interested in selling don’t worry if the piece is broken, missing stones, or only one earring can be found. Just bring it all in and we will do the rest!
If you find a piece that you love and it has missing stones, a broken prong, the wrong ring size, etc., not to worry, our amazing jeweler and design team can help with restoring your estate pieces to “like new” status or better. You can even trade them in for something else in the showroom or a custom piece that we can help you design! So many ways to preserve or re-purpose an heirloom if you choose!
If your item is a designer piece, our experts know how to look for hallmarks, serial numbers, date codes, and other factors to determine authenticity.
So whether you yourself have things to part with or if you find yourself in a situation with an estate of jewelry to manage…we are here to help!
Feel free to ask us any questions on the topic and we would be happy to help you in your specific need. Happy Friday and thank you for trusting Oaks Jewelry with your precious treasures and heirlooms.
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