Financing A Better Lifestyle

Posted on: 22 September 2020

If you are looking for a quick influx of cash, one of the quickest ways to get the money you need would be to raid your jewelry box or cabinet and sell your gold. But before you take your entire jewelry collection to the first seller you can find, there are a number of things you should probably know if you want to make sure you get good value for what you have to offer. Here are some of the things about selling gold that might affect the price you are offered. Keep these facts in mind when setting your expectations for what you can get out of this.

Understand the Troy Ounce

A typical U.S. based scale will tell you that there are 28 grams of gold in one ounce. But if you will be selling your gold to a jeweler, especially a high-end one, you should go in with the expectation that they will likely be using a Troy ounce scale. A Troy ounce scale requires 31.1 grams of gold in order to create one once. 

So, in other words, if you measure your gold at home and come up with a specific number of ounces, understand that the amount measured inside the jeweler's shop might actually register as fewer total ounces because it will take slightly more grams to reach the same amount when converting from grams to Troy ounces.

Your Gold is Not Pure

If you have a gold chain, you should know that the chain itself might be coated in gold, but it likely has some other material underneath. This is because gold by itself is simply too soft of a material to be effectively crafted into anything. So most to all jewelry will mix gold with other valuable materials like silver or copper in order to create the final piece. This is why it's important to know the amount of karats your gold has. The higher the karat number, the closer to pure gold the piece is. It's unlikely to find much gold jewelry that's actually 24 karats or pure gold for the reasons previously described, but it is possible you could have a 21 or 22 karat necklace or ring in your collection that will fetch a high price.

You Are Allowed to Negotiate and Haggle

When working with a gold buyer, you should know that their first offer may not be their final one. Most gold buyers are used to sellers getting multiple quotes and will make a competitive first offer, but feel free to ask for more if you feel that some aspect of your collection is being overlooked. The gold buyer may up their offer to prevent you from walking or going to get a quote from a different store or shop.

If you are interested in learning more, contact some professionals like those at Rocky Mountain Coin.