Bought a small ebay jewelry lot... what would you pay? what is it worth?

[AndyE89]

Vintage Ladies Wittnauer Geneve Date Windup Watch 4UFIX | eBay

Here is the closest style of watch to the one you have pictured that I could find. Seems you could make about half of your money on it. I would list it at 80 BIN OBO. Just to see if you get any bites.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

How to Research for Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting From Lead Generation to Vetting - Grab it through Amazon!

[insontis]

Awesome, thanks! Just got the lot today. Super fast shipping. Just tested the rings. 10k acid, no change. 14k, slight fade after few minutes. 18k acid almost all faded after a few seconds.

 

[insontis]

Going to post close up pics in a moment. Rings apparently were a bit dirty but some marks I haven't gotten off with polishing cloth on the pearl ring.

 

[insontis]

 

[insontis]

The first pin seems to be a Delta Theta Tau pin weighing 2.3 grams. Similar ones seem to sell on ebay for $35-40 which is unfortunately only spot. Delta Theta Tau 10k pin | eBay

The second is a Kappa Delta pin & guard at 3.0 grams. These seem to do quite a bit better - going for 3x to 4x spot at $120 - $200. Unfortunately the higher priced ones contained seed pearl outlines. kappa delta 10k pin guard | eBay

The plain 18k band weighs 1.9 grams and 18k pearl ring weighs 2.8 grams for a total of 4.7 grams. $136 minus pearl weight.

Pair of 14K buttery fly backs sell for probably $5-10.

The watch is a Wittnauer Geneve with a 10K rgp back (and possibly band?) and 10k bezel. It appears to have two diamonds above and below the face. I do hope it sells for $50ish+ like you said, Andy, but a few that seem more similar to its design are these: Vintage Wittnauer Ladies 10K Gold Diamond New York Geneve 17 Jewels N R | eBay
Vintage Wittnauer Geneve 17 Jewel 5D4 10K GF Diamond Bezel Ladies Watch | eBay

Unfortunately those only went for $20-25. Hopefully I can learn more about mine and find a past sale of the exact model for comparison.

 

[AndyE89]

Ok wait wait wait, that watch may fetch much more that 50. That is a SWISS face. They usually fetch a premium just for the watch body/case. IF it is solid 10k I would put a BIN of at least 100, and hope for an offer of around 80. Most likely they will take the case off the band, but that is where the money is, in my experience.

 

[insontis]

Ok wait wait wait, that watch may fetch much more that 50. That is a SWISS face. They usually fetch a premium just for the watch body/case. IF it is solid 10k I would put a BIN of at least 100, and hope for an offer of around 80. Most likely they will take the case off the band, but that is where the money is, in my experience.

Whattttt? That'd be awesome! I knew the watch was a wildcard in the lot, but honestly thought it'd only be around $20.. I'm going to have to list some of these tomorrow.

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

No way will I ever buy precious metals on Feebay... Its nearly impossible to know what your getting. I got an acid test kit and if you are doing this you need at least that. Just to many way's people can get over on you with these things. Its hard enough knowing if you have real PM's (Precious Metals) at a thrift shop, pawn store or garage sale. Let alone, online with a picture and a persons word to go by. That 18k pearl ring would be really valuable if real. However I don't think its real. That pearl is near perfect and very large. It would be a very costly pearl if it was genuine. No one with a working brain would sell a pearl like that for melt... If the pearl is fake then likely the Karat is fake too... The only thing that I think is real is the 10k pins and the earring backs.. As for the watch RGP stands for I think (Rolled Gold Plate). Again I would not buy PM's from online auction sites... I used to buy bullion bars, and if you know what your doing you can buy certified gold to protect yourself. Back then not so many fakes. Then the China market hit the auction sites, now you can't even trust bullion bars... I think feebay is trying to do things to limit the fakes market that are working a little.. If that pearl ring is real, its going to be very valuable !! I hope I'm wrong and its real !!

Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[AndyE89]

This is true with buying precious metals, but many nice jewlery pieces are still gold plated, or even low karat. It all has to do with the demand and the style. The watch does not have the most value in the metal, it is more in the face and the mechanism that comes along with SWISS watches. The ring you are correct, it would be based on the pearl for value, but pearls just are a shot in the dark on their own. I would never purchase a piece with a pearl without examining it in person.

 

[diggummup]

No way will I ever buy precious metals on Feebay... Its nearly impossible to know what your getting. I got an acid test kit and if you are doing this you need at least that. Just to many way's people can get over on you with these things. Its hard enough knowing if you have real PM's (Precious Metals) at a thrift shop, pawn store or garage sale. Let alone, online with a picture and a persons word to go by. That 18k pearl ring would be really valuable if real. However I don't think its real. That pearl is near perfect and very large. It would be a very costly pearl if it was genuine. No one with a working brain would sell a pearl like that for melt... If the pearl is fake then likely the Karat is fake too... The only thing that I think is real is the 10k pins and the earring backs.. As for the watch RGP stands for I think (Rolled Gold Plate). Again I would not buy PM's from online auction sites... I used to buy bullion bars, and if you know what your doing you can buy certified gold to protect yourself. Back then not so many fakes. Then the China market hit the auction sites, now you can't even trust bullion bars... I think feebay is trying to do things to limit the fakes market that are working a little.. If that pearl ring is real, its going to be very valuable !! I hope I'm wrong and its real !!

Keep @ it and HH !!

Although I agree that anyone buying pm's should own at least an acid test kit, I disagree with not buying them on ebay for the reasons you stated. For the simple fact that if it isn't what it was listed as, then you can always get your money back, so I don't see where it is a big deal, nor a big risk. I would be more nervous as a seller selling them on there because of scammers and dishonest buyers looking to get over on someone by claiming what I sold them was not real or of less karat weight than what I listed it at. It's not hard to file a claim and give ebay a tracking number to a package with a piece of junk in it, then get your money back and the piece of gold. That is why I stopped selling pm's for melt or .99 starting bids. If I can't get at least double melt as a piece of jewelry then I'm not selling it on Ebay.

 

[insontis]

I agree that ebay has more than its fair shares of risks. I've had counterfeits and falsely described items 15% of the time or more get sent to me. So far no problem with full or partial refunds.

As for the watch, it says clearly that it has a 10k bezel AND a RGP back. I'm pretty certain by the way that it is worded the RGP only applies to the back while the bezel is solid 10k gold, but I could be wrong.

The pearl ring and the plain band are both marked 18k and acid tested as 18k. Plated pieces would fail the acid test, right? It is white gold and streaks the same color. It is non responsive to 10k acid, responds little to 14k acid, and faded not immediately and leaves some specs behind with 18k acid. As I said both rings tested identically. I can take them to a jeweler or testing, but unless they use an electronic machine I don't see them getting a different outcome.

An for the pearl -- I'm not sure how to judge if one is genuine. I'm not sure that putting a fake pearl on an 18k setting would make much sense, but I don't know that it impossible. Either way I'm pretty certain the metal is genuine. I don't really think I need to be a concerned with the authenticity due to the other items being genuine and seemingly being worth over 2x what I paid (sold on eBay as jewelry pieces). I'm pretty sure if he knew the value of the other jewelry he would have sold for more. In short it doesn't surprise me that he'd undersell a ring that may be worth a lot more than its scrap value.

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

I just got an acid test with the silver the plated stuff will often test as sterling. Unless you use a file to get to the metal under the plate you can test wrong. I'd try the file on an unnoticeable area and see if the base metal is still gold. If it is 18k then the pearl is likely real. The pearl is nearly perfectly round and that is a rare valuable trait for pearls. An easy test is just lightly rub it across your teeth. If it feels gritty then its likely a real pearl. If it feels smooth then its not real. That would be awesome if its a real pearl and set in 18k that is a good come up.

Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[insontis]

I've never done that with a pearl before so I don't know what it should or shouldn't be like. That being said it does seem to have a slight scraping affect when I do that. I don't have fake pearls for comparison, but I'm applying hardly any pressure and it's at least not completely smooth.

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

Haha, it will feel gritty like sandpaper. If its a real pearl it will be easily over $100 a carat, the size is rare and valuable too. It makes sense though if its set in 18k gold !!
Awesome find, now i'm leaning to real !!

Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[insontis]

Wow 100 a carat? That's pretty awesome. I'm not going to celebrate until I run it by my local jewelers in a few hours and make sure it all checks out. Hopefully I've finally hit a few hundred profit on a jewelry item.. The last few I got with the potential weight etc to be that profitable have been counterfeit, but we'll see what happens. I'll post the results on here as soon as I find out

 

[insontis]

OK! Just got back from jeweler. He said both rings were genuine. He even bother to test them, just looked under intense magnifications. The dark spot or two on the pearl band he said was where it was welded before which would not have been done with a plated piece. He buffed one of the spots out a little bit so it isn't as noticeable now. He also offered $100 for the two of them (which would be about 74% of spot and includes the pearl weight). I didn't sell, but I'm now feeling so much better about the lot & am planning to list them online where hopefully I can get considerably more.

He told me that the pearl didn't really add any value to the piece. He feels the same way about most used gemstones except for diamonds though, so I still feel a customer interested in it as a jewelry piece would be willing to pay more. Still though, do you really think it could fetch that high of a price? I do not know the weight of the pearl, but it is 7mm wide,

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

Haha,

Congratulations I'm so happy for you !! People who buy these kinds of thing will often use the excuse that... Stones are not worth anything, or they'll say " We don't buy stones cause we have no way of knowing the value " We only pay melt for the gold... The truth is they do this to make as much money as they can. Its very dishonest and not right. No such thing as a used gemstone, lol antique stones hold a high premium. He was just trying to get one over on you !! Even the price of the gold he offered is a real low ball offer. Four grams of 18k gold is worth $116 alone in scrap. I'd say that ring has at least 4 grams of gold in it likely more, then you have the other one two... Stones always have value if real and if over .05 Carats. Stone chips don't have value but... Big huge nearly perfect pearls set in 18k gold have big huge value !! lol, yeah easy $100 a carat and at 7mm its at least a carat maybe a little bigger. So maybe 1.2 - 1.3 Carats.... Selling it will be a different task, I've not sold jewelry online in a long time... That guy you took it to was honest about what you had just not honest about the value... Its at least a few hundred dollar ring wholesale, retail its around a $500 ring... Awesome find, again congratulations !!

 

[insontis]

Thanks! I do know that he was low balling a little bit and I would never take stones there to sell. The pearl ring only weighs 2.8 grams, but that's still $81 as scrap metal. As far as selling it goes, what do you think a good listing price would be? It's not in perfect condition (the pearl seems just fine, but the ring could use a good buffing perhaps). I was thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of $200-250 OBO. What do you think? Higher/lower/auction instead?

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

As I said, I've not sold jewelry online in a long time a lot has changed.... I think posting a good picture of the mark is important, of coarse you don't want to list it to high. People are always looking for a deal on feebay, I'd list it for $289- $350 OBO and say that it would retail for $490 -$500 in the description I'd also explain the repair mark and that no one would repair a plated ring.. Maybe you'll get a bite.. Do me a favor and let me know what you end up selling it for. Best of luck !!

Keep @ It and HH !!

 

[insontis]

I am planning on listing it now. One thing I don't know is what type of pearl it is. I'm sure its a natural pearl - but what kind? Is there a way to tell or should I just be vague and list it without a specified type?

edit: And would I be correct to list this as under vintage? I'm not sure of it's exact age, but would it be safe to assume it is a vintage ring? I know the jeweler I took it to said it's a hand made band, but other than that I know nothing.