Once in a lifetime

[MRBeyer]

There is a story behind this one. Here it is. Whenever I go on business trips I stop by yard and garage sales to find any gold and silver I can pick up cheap. Sometimes I find collectibles, sometimes I pick up some junk I then get rid of when I get home in a yard sale. I figure hitting the sales is better than hitting the bars like some others I travel with. Besides, it means I bring home presents for family and friends. Every once in awhile I get to bring the family, when my wife comes along she loves to hit the thrift shops. This just opens up my options so I look over thier jewelry while she shops. Anyhow, while visiting one of the local thrift shops two weeks ago, my wife found some exercise equipment she wanted to buy. While talking with the floor help while loading up the equipment I mentioned their jewelry was way overpriced for a thrift store. He agreed and said they had several boxes of mixed jewelry in the back that had accumulated and was gettign in their way. He (Scott) then offered to let me come in the next day and have first dibs on whatever I found in the boxes. Needless to say my daughter and I were waiting the next day when they opened. After an hour and a half of looking we had only gone through about half a box. Scott's manager was getting nervous so Scott arranged for me to buy the boxes unsorted. With a hundred dollars budget I could only dump the half a box I had into one other box, and pick up two more boxes. This left four more boxes I couldn't get the mrs to let me buy. Oh well, it is what it is. Since then I have been back to buy the other boxes but the manager won't let it happen again. I paid $90 (30 per box) for the three full boxes. My tally so far, I turned over $160 in 10 to 14k small gold pieces to a local pawn shop (50%) rate (yeah, my bad there), =$80 cash in hand. Also turned over over 30 pounds of mixed costume jewelry at a local resale shop for another $50 in trade. After my wife and daughter picked their way through the remainder I have over 80 watches and a couple pounds of silver and some gold. I don't have my scale with me but together in bags the weight compares to a three pound weight. Also, there is several semi precious pieces, pearl necklaces, and designer pieces. Here are the pictures

 

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[MRBeyer]

Further info. I have about 40 sunglasses with some being deisigner glasses. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to sell the sunglasses and watches? I still have two shopping bags full of stuff to go through. What you are seeing is half of the stuff, my wife and daughter together have about the same amount, they won't let me take a photo of it though.

 

[diggummup]

I'll play devils advocate here- If it were me, i'd be researching each and every piece of jewlery. After I was satisfied it wasn't collectible or made of precious metals, then I would lot that together and sell for whatever I could get for it. The signed/collectible pieces, would be sold accordingly on Ebay (possibly in small lots depending on the amount and collectability), along with the gold and/or silver pieces be sold by weight in their own classes (10k,14k sterling, etc.). Never, ever would I go to a pawn shop to sell gold unless I was in an emergency situation or if I was on dope and needed a quick fix. LOL. Just because you find a good deal doesn't mean you should settle for any less than the full market value of the item/s. Do you have an Ebay account? It's still the best way to turn a profit on someone else's "junk". With the sunglasses, be very careful to check the lenses carefully for any scratches whatsoever, that can make or break their value.

 

[jerseyben]

I'll play devils advocate here- If it were me, i'd be researching each and every piece of jewlery. After I was satisfied it wasn't collectible or made of precious metals, then I would lot that together and sell for whatever I could get for it. The signed/collectible pieces, would be sold accordingly on Ebay (possibly in small lots depending on the amount and collectability), along with the gold and/or silver pieces be sold by weight in their own classes (10k,14k sterling, etc.). Never, ever would I go to a pawn shop to sell gold unless I was in an emergency situation or if I was on dope and needed a quick fix. LOL. Just because you find a good deal doesn't mean you should settle for any less than the full market value of the item/s. Do you have an Ebay account? It's still the best way to turn a profit on someone else's "junk". With the sunglasses, be very careful to check the lenses carefully for any scratches whatsoever, that can make or break their value.

+1 on this!!!!

Individual pieces that may look like junk can be made by designers and can be worth big bucks (despite their precious metals content). Check and double check each and every piece for marks that can often be very well hidden. Look on all sides of the pin on earrings, as I often find 14K stamped there. Save Gold Filled and sell that separately because IT IS actually worth something. Lastly, if you THINK a piece might be gold or silver, it just might be. So far I have found 2 pieces that were NOT marked but tested ok for 14k with acid. Pawn shops are good for buying but never for selling. Sell PM's either on ebay or one of the major refineries that are discussed on this site over and over again. Good luck!

 

[redfish76]

I'll play devils advocate here- If it were me, i'd be researching each and every piece of jewlery. After I was satisfied it wasn't collectible or made of precious metals, then I would lot that together and sell for whatever I could get for it. The signed/collectible pieces, would be sold accordingly on Ebay (possibly in small lots depending on the amount and collectability), along with the gold and/or silver pieces be sold by weight in their own classes (10k,14k sterling, etc.). Never, ever would I go to a pawn shop to sell gold unless I was in an emergency situation or if I was on dope and needed a quick fix. LOL. Just because you find a good deal doesn't mean you should settle for any less than the full market value of the item/s. Do you have an Ebay account? It's still the best way to turn a profit on someone else's "junk". With the sunglasses, be very careful to check the lenses carefully for any scratches whatsoever, that can make or break their value.

+2

 

[MRBeyer]

Thanks for the input. My family put in 60 manhours in sorting and untangling this stuff. Everyone went through an attempt to find out who made it and if it was designer. Some of that we kept but most was not worth anything. Anything suspected of being precious metal was kept. All the rest, if absolutely known was sold in bulk. I only sold part of the gold, just enough in my estimate to cover what was spent up until that point. This put some cash back in my hands for more purchases. Of which I intend to post those purchases when I get the chance. This trip has been good to me so I have several things to post. Most of the precious metal jewelry is unsigned and not designer so its a toss up in my book as to which is better, Ebay or the smelter. As I have a modest rating on Ebay, not being a super user as most people here are, I do pretty good at reselling on Craigslist. With this type of nestegg though, Ebay has alot of appeal. I'll have to get myself a metals testing kit. I have pretty much eerything else I need so that will be my next purchase in my kit of treasure related goodies. Keep the good ideas coming guys. This way I learn more.
Just remember, sometimes the good idea now isn't so good an idea when viewed in retrospect.
So far my regrets in this are:
1. I should have bought out the whole lot when I had the chance.
2. No pawn shop selling.
3. I had another option for reselling the bulk costume jewelry that would have made more over the long run but I couldn't count on those I was working with on the deal. I should have taken it instead, been more patient.

Now, I also know many of you will very pointedly make out I failed or at least did not hit the true potential of this find. I am sure you all learned through the school of hard knocks as well. My reasons for making the spot decisions stem from the needs at that time. Those needs did not go away due to wishful thinking so I did what I had to do.

 

[diggummup]

I wouldn't say you failed, not at all. I just have a deep hatred for Pawn shops. Good luck and looking forward to seeing more of your finds.

 

[2Minnesota]

Hello! I just wanted to add that in your first photo there appear to be some silver looking pieces with turquois, some with turquois, coral and onyx, and some further back with more turquois. Check these over for maker marks as they could be valuable just because of the maker. Some of these pieces may be sterling but unmarked and made by native americans...and collectible to many people (worth more than scrap prices). I like this type of stuff and have done well on ebay with some I sold. Good luck and have fun researching!

 

[MRBeyer]

Ok, latest update. Identified some Taxco jewelry, still working on some makers marks on a couple pieces of silver jewelry. Had the local pawn appraise some stuff for me which found me two more small gold earrings amongs the junk. Posted half the watches, some jewelry, and 10 sunglasses online through a local ebay seller. Sold the rest of the junk sunglasses locally for 20.
my tally so far.
$90- Paid
$40+ junk Jewelry
$20+ junk sunglasses
$80+ pawn shop gold (my duh there)
=+$50 so far

approx 1500 grams of silver
approx 38 grams of 14k average gold

plus the stuff the mrs and daughter latched onto

 

[diggummup]

Oh nooo! A local ebay seller? What kind of percentage are they gonna get?

 

[MRBeyer]

20 percent