Buying and selling fine jewelry can be rewarding monetarily, but it can leave you at risk of purchasing or selling pieces you don't truly know the value of. Whether your business transactions take place on the internet or locally there are a few tools that make both buying and selling easier. If you are not familiar with the tools that are available, you may miss some important features of your jewelry and jewels.
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Difficulty:
Moderately Easy
Instructions
Things You'll Need
just reading skills, since this is information to help get started
Buy a loupe. This is essential if you are learning about jewelry or are looking at jewelry to see its quality or damage. A magnifying glass is handy for an initial check, but only the loupe will show you fine details like cracked stones and flaws in a piece.
2
Purchase a gram scale. There is no substitute for weighing gold or silver jewelry. An electronic gram scale is the most accurate.
3
Get access to an electronic gold tester. If you plan to buy or sell gold jewelry, use a gold tester. It may take some practice for you to get a good reading, but once you know how to make solid contact with a piece your gold tester will tell you with accuracy if the piece you have is gold. A gold tester is expensive, but the assurance and knowledge gained before you purchase or sell a piece will pay for it.
4
Own a diamond tester. If you are purchasing diamonds from a secondary market source like garage sales, collectibles malls, shows or auctions guessing is a good way to lose money. The new diamond testers can also test moissanite, which is also helpful.
5
Buy some inexpensive tools for sizing and measuring. Buy a mandrel so you can find ring sizes. Use a caliper to measure in millimeters. A silver test kit may be helpful until you can feel silver jewelry and identify it. All of these will help you buy and sell your pieces with accuracy.
Tips & Warnings
Make sure the loupe you buy has a magnification of at least 10 times.
If you buy or sell loose jewels, invest in a pair of jeweler's tweezers.
Polish jewelry before you sell it.
Put new batteries in any watches you have for sale.
Even with the proper tools, it is worth your while to be wary and well-informed about all your transactions.
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