What’s the true value of your jewellery collection?

Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 2:04 pm

When looking through your jewellery box, do you ever wonder what the actual value of the piece is? I don’t mean the actual price you payed for it, but what the actual value of each item if you were to sell it right now.

Attempting to come across this figure is harder than you may think, this is because there are a number of considerations to think about. You have to remember though that when you bought that lovely piece of silver jewellery, you payed the price that the shop was selling it for, which is not the price it’s worth.

When buying your jewellery from a store, you have to pay the price that the manufacturer charged the jewellery store, plus the mark up that the store put on to make a profit. This figure is not easy to come by, but what’s even harder to come across is the mark up that the manufacturer puts on the product. The manufacturer will put their own mark up on the piece to make a profit on the amount it cost them to make the jewellery.

Due to those factors, you never pay the actual value of the item, so how do you figure out the true value? The actual price of the materials that have been used to make the jewellery is the biggest factor when coming to value your jewellery. Say you have some amber jewellery which is made of silver or gold. You can weigh the materials and once you have the weights, you can find the scrap value for these metals which will allow you to figure out the raw materials value. Jewels and other materials on the jewellery will affect the price, if you are unsure of how to value jewels, a local jeweller can value them for you.

When you find the value of the raw materials, it will come as a shock, this is because the raw materials value will only be about 10 to 15% of the price you payed for the product. There are a number of other factors that can increase the value of your piece.

Some other factors that need to be considered, one being sentimental value, this will increase the value you think the jewellery is worth. Another factor to consider would be whether it was made by a famous or popular manufacturer. This figure varies based on how the manufacturer became popular, whether it was because a celebrity wears the make, or it might be down to the quality of the items.

Overall, unless the manufacturer of the jewellery has gained some reputation since you bought the piece that drives up the value, your jewellery will often be worth less than what you actually paid for it. Unfortunate but it’s the way the manufacturer and jewellery store generates all their money.