How To Sell Antique Rings

If you find it necessary to part with heirloom jewelry, whether it's of sentimental value or Aunt Nellie's plug-ugly collection of chicken-themed costume brooches, the first thing you need to do is...research!

In the case of antique rings, the more you know, the better the chances of getting the right price for them. So examine the ring thoroughly (use a strong light and a magnifying glass, if necessary) and make note of any marks or imprints on the inside band of the ring. Don't worry if they don't seem to make sense; jewelry metals have a language all their own, and it's easy to look up what the symbols mean; just type "jewelry marks" into your computer's search engine. These codes are one of the first indicators of what the ring is made.

If your antique ring is of yellowish metal, it may be gold, gold-filled, gold-plated, gold-washed...or brass. Use the markings to figure out which it is. Similarly, a ring may be silver, platinum or white gold if the metal is shiny gray. All forms of solid gold and platinum are valuable, while brass and silver are much less so, so it's good to find out Usually a jeweler will help you answer any questions about your antique ring.

To sell antique rings, you can do any one of a number of things:

1. You can sell it to a jeweler for the value of the gold (most have programs that make it easy to do this.) These rings will be melted down, so think carefully before doing this to a lovely object.
2. You can sell it at a consignment shop, knowing that the owner of the shop will get a percentage of the profits.
3. You can sell it on eBay, where the listing fee will probably be considerably less than a consignment percentage. But to sell your antique rings for the best possible price, you need to be very specific about the ring's size, the materials it's made of and what kind of shape it's in. And most importantly, you need to have several really wonderful pictures of it. Happily, digital cameras when used properly take great pictures of jewelry. Photograph your rings in natural sunlight or using a "daylight" bulb in your light source. Keep the background simple and tasteful so as to display the ring at its best. Set the camera on manual so the flash doesn't automatically go off and steady the camera against something. Finally, don't be afraid to tweak the contrast with Photoshop to make the ring pop.