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Jewellery valuation could be tricky and it’s not a surprise that several of our customers tell us that prices they have been previously quoted for differ significantly. Jewellery valuation depends on many factors used to determine the final price of your item. Let’s explore this topic and understand how jewellery valuation works so you can be a smarter and more profitable trader.
If you want to:
Then you will enjoy this article. This is the ultimate guide to better understand jewelry valuation.
A Valuation Certificate is a document that explains the features of your jewellery including a price estimate. This certificate represents the subjective opinion of a jeweler, not to be confused with the price you are likely to be offered when you try to sale it. Typically, the price you will receive for selling your jewellery is significantly less than what the jeweler would estimate on the Valuation Certificate.
Diamonds as opposed to gold are very difficult to evaluate. Diamond value is based on several factors mostly relating to the stone’s properties such as colour, clarity, cut and carat weight. Normally jewelers will not have reliable machines to accurately evaluate these features, which is why valuation certificates cannot represent the actual market price of your diamond.
If you want to protect yourself against loss or theft, getting insurance is great. Jewellery Insurers typically use the valuation certificate as a price indicator to remake or replace the jewellery item. Even if valuation certificates represent a higher price mark they are still accepted by insurers and should be used for this purpose only.
Be careful and do some research about the jeweler you chose to prepare your valuation certificate. We recommend you use a reputable local business in Sydney that could support you with this process.
If you wish to trade your item in the second-hand market, we recommend you get a Lab certificate as opposed to a Valuation Certificate.
A lab certificate document represents a reliable result of an organization that used proper equipment, standards, and processes to evaluate the features of your jewellery.
There are different lab certificates on the market therefore you should understand which ones are more reliable. In Australia, the best certificate is GIA. There is also another Sydney based company that is well known in the diamond sector called Gems Studies Laboratory (GSL).
The most popular benefit of getting a Valuation Certificate if for insurance purposes, but there are other benefits to consider:
For this process, you will need to check what is the market price of your jewellery.
Checking gold, silver, platinum is a straightforward process, you just need to check the purity of the metal and its weight. We recommend you to visit your local gold dealer that the tools and experience to check your metal.
Diamonds on the other hand is more complicated to evaluate. As we mentioned previously our best advice is to get a lab certificate from a reliable organization or you can contact us, we could give you a free appraisal and direct you to a trusted jewellery lab.
If you are selling other types of jewellery do not expect to get back what you have paid for it originally. Unless you have an item such as a limited addition jewellery like a Rolex watch, which its value could have increased with time. When you go to a pawn shop, they usually offer less money on an item so they can make a profit on it when they resell it.
If you are looking to buy any jewellery and you want to save money, we recommend you to go to a wholesaler company that can provide you with the wholesaler price, but these are hard to find, and you either require a certain membership or to buy jewellery in bulk.
What should you do when you finish a relationship and you have to divide your marital assets? Does your partner have a right to the money that was given as a gift? or is your jewellery part of your marital assets?
These are some questions that we frequently get from our customers and we highly recommend you to find lawyer support. You should be aware that jewellery settlements are based on their current second-hand purchase price rather than their value at the initial time or retail price of purchase. So don’t confuse yourselves with the retail price that you could see at your local shopping mall.
A second-hand purchase price is really low compared (30% – 80% less) to the initial price that you can find in retail shops. As we mentioned earlier, as soon as you pay a premium price and you walk out of the shop, it will be difficult for you to get your money back if you decide to resell the jewellery at a later stage.
Written by: Santiago Parra Suarez 
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