Gold jewellery encompasses gold necklaces, bracelets, charms, earrings, and all other forms of jewellery made of precious metal.
You can sell new jewellery, of course, but you can also sell old jewellery that’s mismatched, scratched, broken, or in any other way imperfect. Just because a piece of gold jewellery isn’t in the best possible condition doesn’t mean you can’t sell it for a reasonable price.
You can sell old heirlooms that are no longer in the best condition, as well as most any piece of gold jewellery that you no longer want, like the gold bracelet that’s been in your jewellery box, untouched, for years.
The best way to sell your unwanted gold jewellery for the price it’s worth it to find a reliable gold buyer that will offer you the highest value for your gold and be completely transparent about its pricing process. To sell gold for cash, it’s crucial first to shop around, look up online reviews, and talk one-on-one with expert jewellers either in person, online, or over the phone.
Some gold buyers are more honest than others, and some will pay more for a piece of your unwanted gold jewellery than others.
Expert jewellers at reputable gold jewellery buyers in Canada will evaluate your gold based on several factors, in addition to aesthetics, rarity, and originality. The main factors are:
- Precious metal content
- Hallmarks
- Melt value
Precious Metals
Precious metals are naturally occurring, rare kinds of metal—technically speaking, metallic chemical elements—that are financially valuable. Four of the most precious metals are palladium, gold, platinum, and silver.
However, another precious metal, rhodium (which is extremely rare), is the most valuable of all precious metals. For scope, the price per ounce of rhodium as of this writing is USD 9,750, whereas the price of gold per ounce is USD 1,769. The price of silver per ounce, meanwhile, is only USD 23.
Precious Metal Content
The precious metal content of a piece of jewellery refers to the purity of the metal it contains. A piece of gold jewellery at a high purity will typically sell for more than a piece with low purity. However, some pieces of jewellery are also evaluated for their rarity and design.
Expert gold jewellery buyers tend to use three terms when evaluating the precious metal content of a piece of gold jewellery:
- Troy ounce (the measure used to determine the weight of precious metal)
- Karat (a grading system used to determine the purity of precious metals)
- Fineness (the proportion of pure precious metal in the alloy)
Hallmarks
One way to determine the purity of a piece of gold jewellery is to search for hallmarks on the piece of jewellery itself. Typically, you will find hallmarks near the clasp of a necklace and on the inside of a ring.
To determine whether your piece of unwanted gold jewellery is, in fact, made of real gold, gold buyers will be able to accurately test the purity and weight of the piece using an XRF machine and an industry-approved scale.
Some pieces of gold jewellery will come marked by their karat numbers. 18k gold, for example, is simply 18/24 on the karat scale, or 75% pure gold.
Melt Value
The melt value of a piece of gold jewellery refers to the spot price of its precious metal content. The spot price of gold is the current price that pure gold can be bought or sold at in the marketplace. When you factor in your purity and refining costs, the price you will receive will be less than the spot price.
One of your goals when selling your unwanted jewellery to a gold jewellery buyer should be to sell it when the spot price of gold is high.
