antique jewelry value Archives - | Sarasota Antique Buyers

Jan 13 / 2016
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Where to Get Antique Jewelry Appraisals Online?

Whether you’re a fan of Antique Roadshow and started digging around in those boxes in the basement or you bought some jewelry at a garage sale and think you’ve hit the jackpot, you want to find out if that gem-studded bangle can be sold for money that reflects its right worth. What would you do now?

Narrowing Down What Your Jewelry is Worth

There are several ways you can get a handle on what jewelry is worth if you just knew where to look. With the advent of the internet, even if you live in a small town that doesn’t have an auction house, you can start your quest online.

Many antique jewelry dealers are more than willing to give you an antique jewelry Value/Appraisal without you ever setting foot in their establishment. They have online forms that you can complete and a way to upload pictures of your piece. Before you decide to go this route, though, you should do a little research. The more you know about your jewelry the better able they are to give you their best appraisal.

Inspect Your Pieces Closely and Learn Its Nuances

Check out your piece of antique jewelry and look for any Maker’s Marks that may exist. It could be a symbol or a name, but valuable antique jewelry will have something. If it is made of gold or silver it will have the carat stamped on it. In the online form, tell the antique buyer what the marks are or what they look like.

antique jewelry appraisal

Antique Jewelry Value

You will also have to take pictures. You have to take them in high resolution and be sure they are close ups. If you have found the marks take shots of these so the jeweler can read them. They will help them determine the value of antique jewelry. As with any antique, certain jewelry makers can fetch a higher price. Some are valued because of who they are others simply because they are currently in vogue. The appraiser will know because they track auctions and also get requests from private collectors.

Carefully Inspect the Stones of Your Jewelry

If there are gemstones in your jewelry be sure that when you take the pictures you take them from the inside and outside of the piece. How they are set in the piece can give the appraiser a clue as to their value. Just because it looks beautiful and shines like the sun doesn’t necessarily mean it is the real thing.

If it is a bracelet or necklace, be sure to take a shot of the clasp. This can place the piece in certain periods. Some styles of clasp are associated with certain time periods. The key here is to give them the most information possible as clearly as possible so they can give you their best valuation.

antique jewelry apprisal

Most online appraisers can give you an answer within less than a week. They will research the piece using auction catalogues, antique catalogs and simply their own general knowledge.

If you don’t trust online Appraisals/Value you can get a local antique jewelry appraisal. If you aren’t sure where to go, start with your local jeweler. If they don’t do appraisals themselves, they will certainly know where to send you. Appraisals are frequently performed for insurance purposes, so don’t be discouraged, someone in your area will be able to help you out.

You can call us to fix an appointment and we will visit at your place. We are headquartered in Sarasota but we also provide Antique Jewelry appraisal services in Osprey, Englewood, Nokomis, Ellenton and Palmetto on prior appointments.

Nov 19 / 2015
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Antique Jewelry

Tips to Value Gold Plated and Silver Plated Antiques

Marks to Know for Antique Silver-plate and Gold-plate

If you have been trying to sell antique jewelry, you probably have come across terms such as gold-plate and silver-plate. These terms also will be used for other antiques, especially silver-plate as it is quite common. It is important that you know a few things about gold plating and silver plating, and the marks to identify them, as this will help you to know your pieces and assess the value of them before taking them to a dealer for a professional opinion.

Antique Silver-plate and Gold-plate

Plating is a method by which thin layers of fine metals, including gold and silver, are transferred to an object made from another less expensive metal. This is nowadays done by electroplating, although traditionally other methods were used on early antiques.

Understanding Gold Plating Marks

Karats are a way of measuring how much gold there is in a particular item. While it is possible for a piece of fine jewelry to contain less than 10 karats gold, it is lowest amount any jeweler would be willing to accept. A piece of fine gold will have a karat mark on it, if your jewelry does not feature a gold mark stating its weight in karats, it is likely your item is plated or gold filled. These two terms themselves may be impressed upon the jewelry.

How Much is Gold Plate Worth?

Generally, gold-plated pieces are of less interest to buyers, as they have little worth of gold content. However, this does not mean gold plated jewelry should be considered not valuable. Countless vintage and gold-plated pieces jewelry available in the market are desirable. You can know more about the pieces with these marks:

10 KGP: The number 10 states the karat of the plating gold, it may read 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22. KGP is short for Karat Gold Plated.

10 HGE: Again the number states the karat of the plating gold and may read 10, 12, 14, etc. This gold is plated with the help of electrolysis and stands for Karat Gold Electroplated.

24 K Gold Plated: This gold mark indicates the plating layer is of 24K gold.

RGP: Rolled Gold Plated, this is a common mark in antique and vintage jewelry. Rolled plated is similar to gold filled, and these both denote thicker layers of gold plating.

Other marks include the word ‘gold plated’ or ‘gold-plated’ or possibly gold filled, among many additional ones.

Understanding Silver-Plate

Silver-plate, like gold-plate, has been covered with thin layers of fine silver. Silver-plate has less value than fine silver, but certain antique pieces are still collectible and may have value due to their age, rarity or provenance. Some silver plating marks to watch out for are different because like fine silver, each antique piece would have different marks based on maker, area, and varied by countries.

electroplated Britannia metal.

Electroplated materials might have a mark of EPNS (which stands for electroplated nickel silver, or EPBM (stands for electroplated Britannia metal.)

Other marks to look out for include well-known maker names, cities that these makers would have been in (New York, Hartford, Boston) during the late 19th century or past. Each maker would also have their own hallmark icon, used for fine silver as well, a design around their name mark or a picture that represented them as a trademark. However for silver-plate manufacturers also used generic marks that merely imitated a sterling silver hallmark. A crown is the most common, from the English marks, and other common generic marks include clovers, lions and of course initials to refer to the maker’s name.

Due to the high quantity of reproductions, both over the last 30 years and today, silver plated antique pieces should always be brought to a knowledgeable dealer for valuation. In addition, a dealer can assess gold-plate antique jewelry and tell you their value for reselling. At Sarasota Antique Buyers, we can give you a free consultation.

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