Estate Jewelry Buyers on Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan

Estate jewelry is simply jewelry that has had a previous owner, whether it was bought last decade or handed down across generations. A single estate often holds a mix: gold chains, diamond rings, a pocket watch, a few loose stones, a strand of pearls, a handful of coins. We sort, test and value each piece in front of you, explain what we find, and make an offer on the whole lot or on any part of it you choose to sell. There is no pressure to sell everything, and the appraisal is free.

What estate jewelry means, and what we buy

The word estate carries no mystery. It means a piece has been owned before, nothing more. Estate jewelry runs from a modern diamond ring sold after a divorce to Victorian and Art Deco pieces that are generations old. The oldest and most collectible items, genuine period pieces with real age, are covered on our antique jewelry page, because those are valued as much for their craftsmanship and era as for their metal and stones. Everything else in a typical inherited collection belongs here.

Most estates we see are mixed, so we buy across categories in a single visit:

• Gold jewelry, from solid chains and bracelets to broken, bent or odd single pieces sold for their gold content.
• Diamond jewelry and loose stones, graded on their own merits; our diamond buyers page explains how.
• Engagement and wedding rings, which many sellers prefer to handle through our engagement ring buyers page.
• Signed and designer pieces from recognized houses, where the maker adds value beyond the materials.
• Pearls, colored stones and older brooches and pendants.
• Watches, both everyday watches and luxury watches such as Rolex, Cartier and Patek Philippe.
• Gold and silver coins, valued off the metal and, where they carry it, a collector premium; see our gold coin buyers page.

If you are not sure what a piece is, bring it in. Part of a free appraisal is telling you what you actually have. If your collection is mostly one type of item, the specific pages linked above go deeper, and our general jewelry buyers page is a good starting point for a truly mixed lot.

How we appraise an estate lot

Everything happens on the counter in front of you, not in a back room. We work through a collection the same way every time, and we explain each piece as we go, so you understand how the offer was reached rather than being handed a single number to take or leave.

1. We sort the lot. Pieces are grouped by type and metal: gold together by karat, silver apart, diamond and gemstone jewelry on its own, watches and coins separately. Costume pieces are set aside and named as such, at no charge.
2. We test the metal. Each gold piece is checked for its karat mark and verified, because a stamp alone is not proof. We tell you what each piece is as we check it.
3. We weigh the gold. Gold is weighed on a scale you can see. Jewelers read precious metal weight in troy ounces and pennyweights, the trade’s standard units rather than the ordinary kitchen ounce, and we show you the reading.
4. We examine the stones. Diamonds and colored stones are looked at under a loupe, and any diamond is judged on the characteristics that set its value.
5. We identify signed and period pieces. A maker’s mark or a recognizable design can lift a piece well above its scrap value, so these are set apart rather than melted in with the rest.
6. We make an offer, piece by piece or on the lot. You see how each figure was built, and you decide what to sell and what to take home.

What decides the value of estate jewelry

A mixed collection has several kinds of value in it at once. Here is what we are actually measuring when we put a number on an estate lot.

Gold content: karat and weight

Most of the metal value in an estate lot is gold, and two things set it: how pure the gold is and how much of it there is. Purity is measured in karats, parts out of twenty-four, so twenty-four karat is pure gold. The common stamps tell you the rest. 18 karat is 75 percent gold, 14 karat is about 58 percent, and 10 karat, the lowest that can legally be sold as gold in the United States, is about 42 percent. A heavy 14 karat chain can hold more gold than a lighter 18 karat one, which is why both the karat and the weight matter.

The gold itself is priced from the live market. Gold trades per troy ounce, and the LBMA Gold Price is a benchmark used across the market, so a fair cash offer for the gold in a piece is built from that day’s per-ounce price together with the weight and the purity. The price moves daily, which is why no honest buyer quotes a fixed figure sight unseen.

Diamonds and colored stones

Any diamond in the lot is valued on its own, on the four characteristics the GIA calls the 4Cs: color, clarity, cut and carat weight. GIA is an independent nonprofit that grades diamonds but does not buy or sell them, which is why its reports are treated as a neutral standard. If a stone comes with a GIA report, bring it. If it does not, we assess it under the loupe and explain what we see. Our diamond buyers page works through the 4Cs in full.

The maker and the era

Scrap value is the floor, not the ceiling. A piece from a recognized house, or a genuine period piece in good condition, can be worth far more intact than melted, and we price it that way. This is where an inherited collection often holds a pleasant surprise, and it is the reason we never treat an estate lot as a pile of scrap by default.

Condition and completeness

Condition matters most on watches and on signed pieces, where an original box, papers or a clear maker’s mark support both authenticity and value. For plain gold sold by weight, a dented or broken piece is worth essentially the same as an intact one, because the value there is in the metal, not the shape.

Selling an estate: what an executor should know

Settling an estate is rarely only about money, and we try to make the selling part straightforward. You are never obliged to sell the whole collection. Many people sell the plain gold and keep the pieces with meaning, or sell one ring and take the rest home to think about. Because every piece is valued separately, you can make that choice with real numbers in front of you.

New York regulates buyers of used jewelry for the seller’s protection. A business that buys second-hand jewelry and precious metals in New York City must hold a Secondhand Dealer license from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, and the law requires the buyer to record each item purchased and to see identification from the seller. We keep those records as the law requires, so bring a government photo ID when you come to sell.

The same law sets a waiting period. A second-hand dealer generally may not sell, melt or refine a purchased item until fifteen days after the purchase. That hold exists to protect the public and honest sellers, and it is one more reason to sell to an established, licensed buyer rather than to someone offering fast cash with no paperwork.

What to bring to your appraisal

• Everything you are considering selling, including broken and single pieces. Sorting is part of what we do.
• Any paperwork you have: receipts, prior appraisals, GIA or other grading reports, and watch boxes and papers.
• A government-issued photo ID, which the law requires a licensed buyer to record.
• Your questions. A free appraisal is also a chance to learn what your pieces actually are.

You do not need to clean or repair anything first. For gold sold by weight it makes no difference, and for anything we might buy intact we would rather see it exactly as it is.

Why sell with a Madison Avenue buyer

Our showroom sits on Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, easy to reach from anywhere in the city. We have bought gold, diamonds and jewelry from the public here for over fifteen years, and every appraisal is done in person, in front of you, for free. That track record and a fixed Midtown address are the reason a seller usually gets a sharper, better-informed price here than at a suburban cash-for-gold counter.

We buy directly for our own account, not as a middleman passing your pieces up a chain, and we have done it here for over fifteen years. Every piece is tested and weighed in front of you, every number is explained, and the appraisal is free whether or not you sell. If your collection leans toward older, collectible pieces, our antique jewelry page explains how we handle those.

Questions to ask any estate jewelry buyer

You should get clear answers to all of these from anyone you sell to. We are glad to answer them before you decide.

• Are you licensed? A legitimate New York buyer holds a Secondhand Dealer license and records every purchase.
• Will you test and weigh in front of me? You should see the karat test and the scale, not be handed a figure from a back room.
• What is today’s gold price, and how did you reach my offer? The math should track the live per-ounce price, the weight and the purity.
• Are any of my pieces worth more than scrap? A buyer who melts everything by default is not looking out for you.
• Is there any fee or pressure? A free appraisal should be free, and selling should be your choice, piece by piece.

Questions people ask