One pair of loopy gold earrings has been with me since high school. I wore them all the time in college and years afterward. Eventually, the back stem broke off one earring. Yet, I kept them. They were a high school graduation gift from a treasured journalism teacher.
So, really, there was no way I was about to lose one earring at a Warren pawnshop.
Drive down the road and billboards are proclaiming "We Buy Gold." Newspaper and television ads shout "Cash for Gold." Plenty of jewelry stores and pawnshops are offering to buy gold on the spot, too.
Seems like a perfect time to sell: Gold is bouncing around record levels, as is economic anxiety. [See chart, below]
So I wondered: How much is my stuff really worth when the price of gold was soaring at record levels?
I dug out those loopy gold earrings and my school ring from St. Florian High School in Hamtramck. I found an old ring that I think belonged to Uncle Joe; my father's thin, heart-trimmed wedding band, a locket and other earrings.
I asked my husband one day at dinner to hand over his gold wedding band.
I don't own much gold, but my friend JD had set aside some broken chains and unloved earrings that she thought about selling. I could price JD's stuff, too.
I tucked two plastic baggies of gold in my purse and one Friday afternoon recently, I visited five locations -- three jewelry stores in Oakland County, one coin and jewelry shop in Detroit and a spontaneous stop at a Warren pawnshop.
My advice if you try this: Don't plan to pay the mortgage by selling your husband's wedding ring.
Reverse sticker shock
One of my stops was Rottermond Jewelers in Milford, which has had "We Buy Gold" billboards on I-96 for months.
At Rottermond, I was quoted a price of $204.58 for my goods.
I could get $226.71 if I threw in a watch with a 14K gold backing.
I then asked the jeweler to specifically price out some individual pieces.
He'd give me $8.85 for those loopy gold earrings, $32.45 for small gold earrings with tiny emeralds that my husband had bought me one anniversary and $73.75 for my husband's 14-karat wedding band.
Talk about reverse sticker shock.
My husband paid at least six times more for those earrings than I'd get now.
I paid more than twice that for his classic gold wedding band in 1995.
I later phoned jewelers and asked why.
"What you're actually getting is the scrap value -- the meltdown value. It's not the retail value," said Christopher Terterian, vice president for Artisan Jewelers in Novi.
Gold was trading at about $925 an ounce on the day I did my pricing. It has tumbled since, but still closed at $828.30 on Monday.
Yet, consumers got quoted about $14.75 per pennyweight for 14-karat gold at some stores on the day of my travels -- or $295 for an ounce of 14K gold.
Other fees -- including the cost of refining the gold -- bring down what a consumer actually gets for a wedding band.
So that's why a heavy gold wedding band could bring you $75 or less, even when gold is near historic highs.
It surprised me that I got similar prices at four out of five spots. No store offered 50% more than another.
Still, you could get more money if you shopped around.
JD's bag vs. mine
Let's look at JD's bag alone. I picked up quotes ranging from $123 to $185.
First stop: JD's bag was getting $175 at Artisans Jewelers on the upper level of Twelve Oaks Mall.
My quote for my stuff: $205 at Artisans.
The store separated out two items of mine that were 10-karat gold -- my class ring and Uncle Joe's ring. The rest was 14 karat. Jewelry of different karat value should be weighed separately -- as it was -- so you're paid according to the appropriate weight.
After two more stops, I saw a sign for "Instant Cash for Gold & Diamonds. Top $ Paid" on Van Dyke, north of 8 Mile.
So I parked near the door and walked into Motor City Pawn Brokers in Warren.
It was quite a contrast from Rottermond, where my eyes kept turning to the stunning blue topaz and amethyst rings. Here, I had to stop myself from staring at all the tools from somebody's garage.
More advice: Don't get distracted, and know exactly what you've got in those bags.
I handed the woman behind the plate glass my gold and JD's gold.
Everywhere, I explained that I was pricing some items for a friend and some for me.
JD's bag: $123.
The lady behind the counter dumped all my stuff out. She dropped some of my things on the floor, accidentally. As she sorted out the items, I asked: "Don't I have a second gold earring?"
No, she insisted.
I looked in my purse for a second loopy gold earring. Nothing.
I asked her again. She insisted, no, hardly looking around.
She weighed all my items -- 10 karat and 14 karat at once. She offered me $160.
A third time, I politely said: I really think you dropped one of my earrings.
Oh, she now found it on the floor.
Sorry, she said. I said sorry, too. I couldn't have been any sorrier.
Contact SUSAN TOMPOR at 313-222-8876 or stompor@freepress.com. |
