anyone got any idea what the resale value of diamond jewellery is... i want to sell 2 diamond rings & bracelet but got NO IDEA what i might get from a dealer compared to their retail value...?

[LadySanders]

will be taking them to hatton garden, but just spoke to a dealer on phone who said he will give me a price and its a take-it-or-leave-it there-and-then job IYSWIM

i'm kinda hoping i might get 50% of what they would cost to buy, but is that totally unrealistic?

Unlikely. You'd get the 2nd hand value of the diamonds, based on carat, cut, clarity etc. If there are other stones as well they will usually be totally disregarded unless exceptional. You won't get anything near it's original value unless it's an original Cartier or something like that.

I used to buy 2nd hand jewellery for my job a long time ago and the sad fact is most of it is only worth a paltry fraction of what was originally paid, so it is not a good investment.

Money was tight a few months ago and I tried to pawn a ring of mine worth £4000 - was offered £70 Not sure what that was based on, possibly just the weight of the gold and not the stones in it? But anyway your best bet would be Ebay, but alot of the time you are paying for the name with jewelery.

hmmm, useful, thank you, i did wonder if that might be the case.

its all diamonds, reasonably good ones, a 2 carat then lots of (smaller but not tiny) ones in an eternity ring and tennis bracelet. but if i'm going to get, say £5k for jewellery that cost £20k, i may as well just hang onto it

Try ebay with a reserve? Second hand sells really well on there as it's riddled with immitations from China/Hong Kong so when something nice from a private seller comes up alot of people bid. You can look up similar jewelery also. You can ask more if it's a well known make etc., but generally a 2carat ring is a 2 carat ring... (on there) Also it helps if you have valuation certs. Remember a jeweler will want a profit on it, so will offer way under his retail price.

It'll cost you nothing to take it down and see what they'd give you, you might be surprised. Usually, however, it's the LOW described. I used to value stuff for pawning (where you get given a bit less than if it was bought off you) and some people were lucky to get a tenner for their engagement ring.

LOW - unless the stones were diamonds or of exceptional quality (eg. a huge, perfect cabochon ruby) the ring would be valued on gold weight only. Sad but true.