What's In Your Jewelry Box?

Everyone has a jewelry box filled with jewelry - a little bit - or a lot - of gold, some silver, some costume.  Some even have a jewelry box filled with broken pieces such as broken chains, rings with missing stones, or missing earrings, etc.  Others have allowed their children to play with their gold chains/necklaces because they think it is costume or “junk” jewelry. Some have even gone so far as to sell their items in a garage sale for .25 /.50 cents or $1.00 - not even knowing the real value of the piece.  How do I know this? I am an event planner for LA Gold Parties and we buy jewelry! I have met a number of people at parties that had no idea how much money they had just sitting in their jewelry box. So, I thought I would share with you what I have learned about jewelry this last year.

Gold is a precious metal and one of the first known metals - element Au. It has very unique qualities: it is resistant to rust, tarnish and corrosion.  Although the metal is very strong, it is the most malleable of all precious metals.

Gold Content - Purity: The Karatage of gold is represented by a number followed by the abbreviation “k” which indicates purity or how much of the metal in a piece of jewelry is gold. Pure gold is very soft for everyday wear so it is alloyed with a mixture of metals like silver, copper, nickel and zinc to give it strength and durability:

24k = 100% pure

22k = 91.6% pure

21k = 87.5% pure

18k = 75% pure

14k = 58.3% pure 

10k = 41.7% pure

Color of Gold is determined by two factors - 1) the type of metal alloys included; 2) the percentage of each metal alloy:

Yellow Gold is made up of natural gold and color-saturated alloys such as copper with a red hue and silver with a green hue. The expert mixture of the alloys gives yellow gold jewelry a rich shine.  

White Gold is combined with metal alloys such as nickel, zinc, copper and manganese,  that are silvery-white in nature. It is often Rhodium plated to provide a bright non-tarnishing finish. 

Rose Gold is created using a copper alloy giving the gold a beautiful pink hue. The percentage of metal alloys is the same for rose gold as it is for yellow or white, it just has a higher proportion of copper. 

Price of Gold is factored based on the purity of the gold or karate weight, the market value of gold - which varies throughout the day, and the level of craftsmanship and design of each piece of jewelry. As of the time of this writing, gold was selling for $1,280/oz and silver $17.80/oz. 

It doesn’t take a lot of jewelry to add up in price. For instance, the picture you see below is a ring and a few charms - the client received $112. 

In this picture, the client really cleaned out her jewelry box - she made $3500!

So, before you decide to give your jewelry to the little ones to play with or sell it in a garage sale, why not take a look at what you have. Your jewelry box could have a few hundred dollars - possibly a few thousand dollars - sitting in it!  You may be pleasantly surprised!

For more information on how to host a jewelry party or to simply sell your jewelry privately, send me a message - I would be happy to help you!