Scrap Gold Jewelry with gemstones - How to Maximize profit?

I've been picking up gold jewelry at auctions and yardsales when the price is right and have amassed a decent amount that I got on the cheap.

The stuff that is solid karat gold is straight forward enough to sell, but some of the pieces have small (tiny) diamonds. Does anyone have any experience in selling scrap jewelry with these little diamonds, and if so how does it effect the value compared to spot?

For instance I have a pair of 14k earrings that have 8 little diamonds on each earring. The pair together weighs 3.1 grams. Just trying to figure out what a fair price would be for stuff like this. Assume scrap value only since a lot of it isn't in condition to resell as wearable jewelry.

Thanks for any input you can give.

I have used a company called ara. they have a great reputation. They will process your gold and pay a percent I think 98 or something like that. They then return all of your stones. Highly recommended.

American Recycling ? Dallas, Texas

I still need to figure out the selling of the stones, but don't have enough to worry about yet.

Hope this helps. I found them from the gold recycling forum. They were great for me.

Thanks Parrot. They were on my radar already but I hadn't looked into them in some time. Still would be nice to have some sort of monetary value that I can quickly use to calculate value like $1 for each small diamond or whatever.

Have you considered talking to a local jewelry shop? Not sure where you live, but if you're in a small/medium town, there are usually dozens of jewelers (mom & pop types) who you should establish a relationship with (just one of them, of course). I did this in my town and anytime I need anything done with jewelry scrap (on the rare occasion I pick something up at an estate sale/yard sale/auction) I can swing by and get info/value on the spot. Not only that, but also a potential customer. All of these little jewelry shops are buying scrap gold/stones.

Just a thought. It's just like making friends with the owner of a scrap yard.

I used to do a lot of underwater metal detecting and found lots of jewelry. I found that most diamonds are of little value unless they are large. My wife and I found that selling the jewelry to individuals was the best way, this was in the 80's. Other wise the small diamonds and other stones were of little to no value when selling for gold content only.

Today there is ebay and lots of jewerly is sold there. I believe the better the photos the better the price. Check out the completed listings to see what they really sell for.

I agree with parrot on American Recycling (ARA). I found out about them from the metal detecting forum, Find's Treasure Forums The guys on there that a doing the underwater detecting have a lot of jewelry to sell. Mike.

My understanding is that the market is flooded with diamonds right now do to the gold boom last year. Unless it is a high quality diamond, they are not worth much.

I agree to check with a local store. Maybe you could trade for something.

The diamonds that are small and are studded in unique designer jewelry have a lesser probability to sell, than the ones that are bigger. Still, you could go to your local jewellry stores to check if they can offer you something for your precious....