To sell my nans ring(passed on to me) to fund a much needed holiday?

[happyandsingle]

Basically this.Have an old diamond ring passed down from my mum it was originally my nans.
Have worn it for years but basically it only fits on one finger(that I think is meant to be the engagement finger or so I've been told) and I am most definitely single!.
It's a nice ring but my dilemma is I'm desperate for a holiday abroad next year for me and my dd.
It's been a shit couple of years and I've had one holiday in ten years paid for by my mum.
I could save but basically on my budget it would be very tight and would mean sacrificing a lot.
My idea was to pawn the ring to get the money for the holiday. I would probably feel guilty but on the other hand I'm sure if my nan was alive she would want me to make the most of it.
My AIBU is do you feel it's a bad thing to do as it was passed down to me? And will I feel guilty after?

Right then mumsnet jewellery experts, riddle me this:

Every time I visit York I'm entranced by the beautiful vintage jewellery flashing fire from various window displays. I'm drawn in like a moth to a flame, as are other women as I see loads of people practically licking the glass like me.

My dream ring is a sapphire and diamond cluster, similar to my mums engagement ring but better (I don't think hers was best quality). One day I will buy myself one.

The price tags on these rings are rarely less than a thousand quid, sometimes reaching multiple thousands.

They're second hand. How does this business work? Do people go in andake offers instead of paying the tag price?

Seems a huge discrepancy between 'second hand jewellery isn't worth much' and 'look at our pretty rings! Only two grand to you madam'.

Hi OP

Whatever you do don't pawn it - you won't get much money that way!

Why don't you put it on EBay or preloved with a set value you'd be willing to sell for? Lots of women like antique rings as engagement rings and with Christmas coming up maybe there's a market for an antique diamond ring. And post the link so we can all see it and it might increase the chance of selling it.

At least that way you may be able to find your well deserved break!

Good luck!

Sell it but only if you get a good price.
I used to work in a high end jewellers, which I loved, I learnt so much. The most shocking thing I learnt was how little jewellery such as diamond rings would fetch on resale. Literally just scrap value (couple of hundred quid max).
I have sold engagement and wedding rings only for the same people to come in a few years later to value and resell the rings on divorce. The difference in what they paid for it initially to the price they were offered secondhand was jaw dropping.
If the ring is by a respected name/ diamonds are excellent quality with no occlusions you’d get a better price. Otherwise it would most likely be scrap value which wouldn’t get you a week in Skegness let alone Spain.
Don’t just get one valuation, get a few as there are scammers out there as a pp found. Good luck OP.

Just to update that I've decided to keep the ring as thinking it through it is my only link to my nan and I know that near the end of her life she did mention me a lot which surprised me as we were not particularly close. She was German and survived a lot of hardship during the war so there is history behind the ring.Im still determined to have a holiday may well have to fund on the credit card but oh well story of my life.
Thanks for all the advice definitely gave me something to think about and as others said the little re sale value I'd probably get would not make it worthwhile any how.

@MorrisZapp it's because the buying price of gold and precious stones is ridiculously low - markups for re-sale are approximately +600% if not more in jewellers, you'd be better off going direct to the seller so they have a bit more in their own pockets :(

Yanbu it's just stuff. I'm sure your nan would want you to have a nice holiday rather than holding on to her old trinkets for the sake of it.

Meh, I don't hold sentiment attachment to things just because they are expensive. When my grandmother died I kept a little china bird which I remember from her display cabinet when I was a kid; if she had left me jewellery, I would probably have sold it on and still just kept the bird. It meant more to me. My mum used her inheritance money to buy a holiday place in the UK so the whole family can get away for a few weekends or weeks every year. My nan loved a holiday with her family, and the memories mean more than stuff ever could. So you do you, OP.

OP don't despair, there are other ways to raise a few quid. Could you work some extra hours, cut any bills or sell other things? Clothes etc, then there's always the roaring eBay market for well worn shoes .

Don’t put a holiday on a credit card and end up paying more for it.
You want the holiday next year - so that’s why, 7 months away? More, if you aim for October. So you could already be setting aside the sane monthly amount that you would have to pay off after.

In your situation, if your child is doing OK at school, I’d look into taking a term time break to reduce the cost.

Whish I could sell stuff but dont have anything hardly myself.My only valuable item was a designer bag given to me as a present but I had to sell that on Ebay when my cat died to cover his cremation costs. At the end of the day I have a roof over my head and food on the table which is more than some I guess it's just that when you haven't had a break in ten years and basically work just to pay Bills it's nice to have something to look forward to.

I don’t often add my comments as feel others always sum up what I want to say better.... But saw this and felt I had to comment.

I too was left a ring by my beloved grandmother and I did sell it with my mother’s blessing to be able to afford a family holiday, and have never regretted it. We have so many happy memories of that holiday and that would be what my grandmother would have wanted for us.
Fashions in jewellery have changed so much so I would never have worn that ring and cannot imagine future generations ever wanting to wear it for that same reason - and even if I had had the money to get the stones removed and made into a new ring, I am not the kind of person to want to go out and about a big rock on my finger. (As a teacher it would also have been constantly catching on things and been a nuisance to wear.)
I felt it would be something that would be put away in a box, never worn, never looked at, and I personally don’t feel that would help me remember someone I loved. Instead we had the holiday and thought of her, and it was very, very special. We have up a lovely photo of her and I look at that and think of her, and I also think of how she would have so approved of being the one who enabled us to create a happy family time together away.
Go on that holiday and toast her, and come back and put up a photo of you and your daughter in holiday and think of her when you look at it.

On a practical note I took my ring to a reputable jeweller but ended up going via a London auction house in order to sell it. Yes, the money was not as much as one would expect considering the long ago original price but that ring would not have gone up in cash value if I had kept it longer and it was enough to pay for the holiday. Never regretted it!

My husband designed and had a ring made for me 30 years ago. I hated it, never wore it and sold it, my husband was all for me doing this, as I never wore it. Honestly, it was really ugly.

I'm not an overly sentimental person, but I regret doing it now. So I'd keep hold of it, if you're even asking if you'd feel guilty about it, you will.

What does your mum think?. Ask her.

Just seen your update sorry, I took too long to type! Do whatever you feel is right for you.
Perhaps though if you do ever sell it, an idea then might be to use the money for a holiday to Germany if that is where she came from, as a way of remembering her.

Can you get it valued anyway?
It would be interesting to know, if nothing else.

FWIW I'm in the "sell it & enjoy a well-deserved holiday" team

OP, I bet you didn't anticipate how crazy this thread would be! So many posters reactions are so extreme. It's not difficult to see both sides of the argument for selling the ring. Personally I would feel happy to have sold it but I might have kept it if I wasn't able to get much for it.

I always think jewellery should be worn and enjoyed and of it isn't then you should sell it. Jewellery that's kept hidden away seems pointless.

Anyway OP I'm glad you have made a decision. Hope you manage a holiday one way or another. Maybe one day when you have some money to spare you could do something with the ring to make it wearable in some way or other.

I pawned a little gold knot ring I had had since I was a child. For only £30. I wish I didn't and still had it to give to my niece (I have boys).

If you might sell it have it absolutely certain in your mind what it is worth selling it for. So if you decide you will only sell it if it is worth £300 for example then stick with your decision and if you aren't offered that walk away.

Mine was a pretty little ring and I think rather than scrap value they would have been able to sell it straight on for £90.

"She was German and survived a lot of hardship during the war so there is history behind the ring"

I'm so glad you've decided to keep the ring as a last link to your dgran. I believe you've made the right decision and also I believe she will find a way for you to have your much needed holiday.

As you've said, with a roof over your head and food on your table you have much to be grateful for. Google 'gratitude journal', start keeping your own journal, make a note of all of the small miracles that happen for you every day, and watch the magic unfold.

You're likely to get very little for it tbh, it's probably only the gold that you'd get money for by weight - not the diamonds.

Depends. Worth hundreds or thousands/many thousands? Sell if you’re not sentimental.

Hey a few hundred from a family heirloom? Don’t bother.

You'd be extremely lucky to get £500 for a diamond ring, especially one with a small band. Jewellers buy by the weight of gold not buy the quality of the antique. Having a go at people - when you plainly asked for opinions - and calling them 'jewellery experts is just childish.

MorrisZapp

I’m not in the jewellery trade, but surely the explanation for a ring not fetching much when sold to a jeweller and then being sold for much more in the shop to customers is that the shop has to make a profit?

They’re not going to sell jewellery on at the price they paid for it, they’re a business. And with shop rent, staff, furniture etc. all to pay for there has to be a significant mark up for the items to cover all those costs and leave a margin for actual profit for the shop owner.

I can easily see why I might wander in and sell a ring for £50 and it be sold for £500 later to someone else. An item is only ‘worth’ what somebody is willing to pay for it. If you could sell that ring for £500 directly to the shop customer yourself you would, but people will pay much more from a jewellery as there’s the perception that the shop has people working there who know their stuff and can authoritatively say the item is worth £500, that convinces the customer it’s worth £500 too and therefore if they can sell it for that that’s what it is worth. Whereas you’re not gonna give a random person on Facebook £500 for a ring when you have no reason to think they know anything about jewellery.

Not to mention that people are paying for the experience of shopping for the jewellery, the range of choice, the excitement and feeling special going to a jewellers to choose something, the sales assistant fawning over them.

Personally I think the idea that jewellery is ‘worth’ something is a bit smoke and mirrors, if you really adore a ring you may be willing to pay £1000 for it, I don’t care about jewellery so I wouldn’t pay £100. The ring is only worth £1000 if the sale can be made to someone for that price. It’s all about perception.

Moondancer please read my update you clearly haven't bothered to. And please no more sneery comments not nice to kick someone when there feeling down.

Anyway as I've now decided what to do I dont feel the need for anymore comments so might ask mumsnet to hide thread.Thanks all.

It is your ring, it was given to you and therefore your decision what you want to do with it. Sod traditions and all the other bollocks that people talk about ie passing it down to your daughter. Will your daughter honestly wear the ring or will it sit in a jewelery cabinet collecting dust? Do what makes YOU happy, as im pretty sure thats what your Grandmother would want.. for you to be happy.

Life is short, sell it and enjoy it while you can