Newbie question on what to do with finds

[harleyroadangel]

I really appreciate everyone's input to all my many questions asked so far. I hope you will bear with me and answer a few more.

For those of you that detect and sell whatever they do not wish to keep for themselves.....what is your process for selling?

I'm thinking.......clean and polish everything up as good as possible......if in great shape, try to sell on ebay.....establish a good working relationship with a jeweler, for cleaning/valuation and possibly selling for you......lastly sell poor pieces for scrap. What do you do with the costume jewelery.....just give it to friends, or has anyone had any luck selling it on ebay? How do you folks get such great close up pics of the jewelery?

I know nothing about coins, so not sure best way to sell those......individual...as a set.....on ebay.....to a dealer?

What about those relics? Is there any market for those things? Ebay? I may get access to some places to detect up north when I visit.

Thanks!
Joy in Fl

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[petersra]

Angel, Get out there and find something first. LOL..... Okay, so you like to plan ahead.... ARA refiners has the best price on scrap gold I have found: http://www.aragold.com/refining-schedule.html 98% of spot gold price. I have not sold to them but others say they are accurate on their weight and price. (you need a gram scale so you know what you are sending them by mail) Local pawn shops, Cash 4 Gold, and Jewelry stores generally are a scam and will pay you at best 2/3 of spot gold price and I have seen as little as about 50% spot gold price offered. It is unlikely you will get a jewelry store to sell your jewelry on consignment, but there are other "Consignment" shops that might do that. Ebay is a market, but don't expect retail from any of those outlets. Your thoughts of Clean, polish, and market, you have the right idea. After you have cleaned and polished, shop around various outlets for the best price.... Coins and relics. Yes there is a market for coins and relics, but you have to find it. The harder you look for the right nitch buyer, the better the price you will get for your treasure. Ad in the paper or on Craigslist, etc. If you sell a Stratavarious violin to a pawn shop you will be offered $200 for it, but if you have it auctioned off by a dealer that handles and markets rare violins, you might get $2 million for it. So like anything, you need to shop around once you find something you want to sell. I have been told that larger diamonds command much higher prices from jewelry stores if you have a GIA certificate to go along with the stone and that it is worth the $125 investment to get any stone 3/4 ct or larger GIA certified. Since I haven't actually sold anything myself, these are just my own thoughts on how to go about it that I have gleaned over the years. On the topic of great photos of finds. Get a camera with a "Macro" setting and some optical zoom capability. A Macro will focus as close as 4" away from the subject and provide great detail. Happy Hunting once you take the plunge. Ralph

 

[harleyroadangel]

Ralph,

Thanks for the insight! Yes, I would have already been 'out there', except for a family emergency, [fire], which delayed my purchasing power. So.....I'm trying to gain knowledge and get to know members of the detecting comm. Everyone has been quite wonderful to me. I hope to meet up with some of you soon, after I get that first detector, and so forth.

What draws me so much to this, is you never know what is in the next scoop.............a pop tab.....a diamond.......a piece of history. What a great way to satisfy that sense of adventure and wanderlust I have. I'm not really a collector, so after the fun of documenting finds, yes, selling them to augment retirement trips will add to the fun.

Joy in fl

 

[DewGuru]

Melt down your solids, and individually sell your stoned items. As for the costumes, I found it best to make a "lot" of them all in a box and ebay that off as well. Those lots that I have sold over time, the parents had purchased for their daughters for playing dress-up.

Alot of folk use ARA. While they claim 98% - they can also come back and tell you about "carat loss" on the assay ... I'm seeing more and more posts around about people not getting what they had expected. While I am sure its a good service, I personally prefer to deal locally, knowing exactly what I am getting, with who, and do business eye to eye. Too much can go wrong with the mail. Sure, you can get it "insured" just as the carrier can "deny" your claim.

Craigslist & eBay - give em both a whirl and see what works best for you.

 

[stevemc]

As for the macro position on a digital camera, if you go into menu, and scroll down, it is the one that looks like a flower, It allows you to push in slightly to focus and get close, but as was said, it is only 3-4 inches.