How to Appraise Antique Jewelry
Antique jewelry can be hard to appraise. It's generally passed through generations, and the age can make it difficult to identify. If you want to insure it you'll need to have a good idea of what the piece is worth. You may also just want to appraise it out of curiosity. With a good identification guide and a camera you can generally estimate the value pretty quickly.
With a good jewelry identification book and a few other simple tools you can find the value of your antique jewelry pieces. You may need to send photos to an appraiser for an exact value. If you just need a ballpark figure for insurance purposes you can do this on your own.
What You'll Need
- Identification guide
- Digital camera
- Magnifying glass
- Find a good jewelry identification and price guide. Your local library will likely have these at no cost. If you acquire a lot of antique jewelry it will be worth it to find a new guide and purchase it. You want to look for a guide that has photos as well as detailed descriptions.
- Use the magnifying glass to inspect the piece. Jot down any scratches and blemishes you find. This doesn't necessarily mean the piece is less valuable, but it will have an effect. Also look for jewelers' marks. Most jewelers did, and still do, include some type of engraving or emblem to designate who made the design. Some antique pieces of jewelry may even have a year etched in to the piece somewhere. Take note of any of these that you find. Compare the markings with your book.
- Use the digital camera to take several photos. You want photos not only of the piece as a whole, but of any markings and blemishes that may be present. Take photos from several angles. Be sure the digital camera is set to capture high resolution photos. The more details the photos show the better. The photos can be used for insurance purposes and to get an actual figure for the appraisal.
- Have a professional inspect the jewelry. If this is not affordable for you, you can find websites that will do estimates on the value based on the photos.