General Chat

I sold an antique signet ring which had a diamond in it. The dealer said that when he sold gold to a scrap man, he used to remove the diamonds and leave them on the counter, they had such little value. I debated about having the diamond reset, but it would have cost far more than it was worth. Didn't get a lot for the ring either.

I took some gold jewellery to be melted down a few years ago and they weighed it in front of me having said all but one of the stones had no value as such. I never thought about how they deducted the weight of those from the gold. The jeweller made the stone that was valuable into a new, different style of ring for me. I'm going to ask the question next time I go now!

Love to see them melt down the stones. :-D

I think that unless they were really good stones then the value would be quite small. I think the value is all in the gold. I expect that a dealer would extract the stones and wait until they had enough to sell on.

Yes Ann, I wondered that but the chap said, the weight of the stones is discounted so somehow, they have a system of working out the weight of say a 9ct gold ring with say 2 diamonds and 3 rubies(small). He did explain but it was several years ago now and i cant remember exactly what he said.

Because if you have say a huge Emerald that weighs heavy, but the actual gold is small, they are not going to pay you for the Emerald. All the gold is melted down but what happens to the gems?

I cant believe they are all melted down too? Surely, a good jeweller would take out the stones and either sell them or remake another ring with the stones?
My knowledge in this field is pretty minimal.

I just wanted to know a bit before the next time i pay a visit so I don't get ripped off.

Interesting, when they weight the rings with stones in how do they subtract the weight of the stones from the gold, or do the stones contribute to the weight and therefore you are getting some money for the stones.

The stones are not broken, just the ring settings cracked as the gold was quite thin.I do have an eternity ring with about 8 small diamonds too which cost over £300 so thats why I wondered if the diamonds would be worth much.

If they are in one piece I would ask what they are worth as they are.

If they are broken I would ask about the value of the gold and also the value, if any, of the stones.

Has anyone ever had a broken ring that would cost too much to fix so you have sold it to a jeweller for cash? A few years back, I went through al my old jewellery and found a few broken rings and necklaces. I went into a jeweller that bought cash for gold on the mainland.

The weight of it all was quite a bit and I got about £400 which I was happy with.

When I telling a friend recently that she should do the same as gold is a good price just now, she said but what about the diamonds and amethysts that were in your broken rings? I actually didn't give it a thought.

So I do have a couple of pieces I no longer want and when I next go to the mainland, I was considering doing what I did before except, should I remove the stones first as its the weight of the gold you get paid for not the gemstones?

Has anyone else been in this position? Selling them privately is not an option. What do the jewellers do with the gemstones as they must be worth something?

Florence in the hebrides