[bruce511]

I second this, jewelry has very little value on the 2nd hand market.

Gold, Silver etc have a daily published value, and you can expect a number close to that (allowing for margin). But "precious stones" are really not all that precious, or rare.

When selling (to a dealer) you discover the margins they make- often upwards of 90% (as my father discovered selling jewelry he inherited.) To be fair, crafting takes significant labor and most old jewelry has to be melted down and recrafted.

None of this negates the significance of one person giving another jewelry. That adds substantial sentimental value which is what makes them valuable at all.

(It does make me smile though when movies use uncut diamonds as some sort of compact currency...)

[fbdab103]

So, resale market on stones is trash. What is to stop an intrepid jeweler from purchasing grandma's/ex-spouse's/whatever's precious jewelry for 10 cents on the dollar, and reselling it back into circulation as "new"? Maybe with a perfunctory shaving off a face to make a "new" item. Or is this already regularly done (as I would assume)?

[bruce511]

That's exactly the point. It's what they do do. If you take 2nd hand jewelry to a jeweler you get about 10 cents on the dollar.

Some gets resold as is (there's a (limited) market for vintage jewelry) but most is reworked. And of course that reworking takes significant time and skill.

[Suppafly]

I don't know if it's still a thing or not, but my grandpa was telling me you can get decent jewelry from pawn shops pretty cheap if you find out how often they sell stuff to metal buyers, because metal buyers only pay around the melt price regardless of what its made of, so if you offer anywhere close to that for rings and necklaces and such, they'll often sell them to you for that.

[schlauerfox]

Fashion. I had my great grandmothers rings appraised for probate and got the "these are nice heirlooms, utterly worthless for resale though, the stones are just an okay clarity and the cut is very out of fashion these days. Keep them as nice rememberances." They must have said the same thing thousands of times.

[mtnGoat]

Yes that is regularly done. The jewelry buyers take them out and sell them in lots for very low cost to just about anyone willing to pay, those buyers then recycle the stones into settings or back into stores. The buyers are buying on pure wholesale value, whereas the end jeweler is selling for sentimental value.

[xeonmc]

Yes. I can’t recommend enough the manga “Nanatsuya Shinobu's Jewelry Box”

[jachee]

Assay marks.

[teddyh]

Relevant link: Have You Ever Tried To Sell A Diamond? (1982) <https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/82feb/8202diamo...>

[teddyh]

> (It does make me smile though when movies use uncut diamonds as some sort of compact currency...)

My pet theory is that those are all effectively product placements; i.e. they get paid to portray diamonds in the movie as valuable.