Jewelry Valuation

[ld2366eh]

Well, I took my jewelry to a "Jewelry Evaluation Center" over the weekend to find out how much cash I could get for it. I don't have much (quantity), but I thought I had decent quality, which is why I originally figured it was worth about $10K in total (probably paid $30K in total for it throughout the years). WRONG!!!

Here's the scoop, for anyone out there estimating the cost of their jewelry (and definately go and find out how much someone would pay you for it).

My wedding ring, appraised at around $15K - the priciest of the bunch. It's a Marquise diamond, which apparantly isn't very popular. They said they would give me $2,030. Another diamond ring I probably paid about $7K for - they would give me $750. The total value of everything I took ended up being about $3,000 not $10,000.

WOW. I think I need to get better estimates on our cars and household goods as well! I thought I had some non-exempt assets, but apparantly, they aren't worth squat! LOL. Household goods I am probably fairly safe on - I really was using garage sale prices as I was figuring them out.

We'll take the 2 cars that I think there is some equity in, to CarMax to see what they would give us for them. Probably not as much as trade in on the KBB site?

Any advice out there on how to get the most accurate price on this stuff?

It's hard to determine the '67 Galaxie. My husband thinks it's worth about $6500 but really? Now I really wonder. Not much of a market for the '67 Galaxie.

[AngelinaCat]

The question on your Galaxie is the condition it is in. We had a 1968 Chevy Impala that was the 4 door sedan model--definitely the low end of the totem pole as far as classic cars are concerned. 'Hub had paid 2K cash for it in 2002. We played with it a bit, and it was in pretty good shape, though had been rear-ended, repaired and repainted. In 2004, we had 4 hurricanes in Florida, and 'Hub got the big C, so playing with the car came last on our 'things to do' list. The brakes were going bad when we parked it in the garage. It had been sitting for four years when we filed.

The trustee asked at our 341: "On a scale of from show-room quality, to housing squirrels, where do you rate it?" I replied "that while it was in better shape than 'housing squirrels', the color green that it currently is, is MOLD, not paint." It was a blue car. The trustee ended up formally Abandoning Interest in it. I believe we may have declared a value of $500.00 on it--I don't have my paperwork at hand. But that would have been the salvage value if we had taken it to the junk yard.

For jewelry, it is usually best to take those items to a pawn shop, or two or three, and see what prices they would pay if you were selling them the items.

[ld2366eh]

Thank you for the advice! The "jewelry evaluation center" is probably similar to a pawn shop. The prices they quoted me, they would have given me a check that day if I would have been willing to turn them in (no way, what a waste). I could have gotten more if I had turned in gold jewelry (I don't have any of that)!

My husband has been searching ebay and such to see what the cars are listed for but I think that is too high. Those people have all the time in the world to get what they feel they should get for a "classic car".

[SiftedLikeWheat]

When estimating assets, you have to use the market value, or what someone will actually pay you. For jewelry, go to a reputable jeweler, because you might be asked how you came up with your estimates and a jeweler estimate will be trusted. They will usually do this for free.

For cars, use the Kelly Blue Book, kbb.com. For most furniture, clothes, etc., garage sale prices are what you would get if you had to sell. If you have antiques, art or valuables, once again you need to go to an antique shop, art dealer, etc.

If you have no idea, look in the newspaper, Pennysaver and eBay for similar items.

[jst4f]

Take the cars, other than classics, to car max. They will give you a written quote you can use as backup for you petition, if asked. If the jewelry evaluation center will give you a written offer, use it. There is a huge markup on jewelry, as you have found out. Furniture should be priced at tag sale prices. Check all of them with your attorney.