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Comment by Arete314159 | Hacker News Reader

I inherited some very nice jewelry, including diamonds, from my grandmother. The "estimate" of the total worth was $20,000. However, when I tried to sell it, it turned out that I would only be able to realize a fraction of that estimate, from maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the "value." All jewelry is like that.

Jewelry prices, for reasons I don't entirely understand, are sort of like car values...once you drive it off the lot, so to speak, the price plummets.

So when I got married I did not ask for a diamond, as I knew it was basically worthless -- except to the jeweler.

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Estimate value is replacement value from a store. (Mostly for insurance). People think it's "new" and "never worn". And stores have very high margins.

But, if you buy wholesale/used the buy/sell will be closer together. The issue is people think "used" stones are tainted for some reason. Divorced? Bad luck!

It's like a gold band. It might cost $600 in the store. But, really the cost is the weight of the gold (~$50). But, you can buy/sell it at $50 all day.

Yeah, the cost of the gold may be $50. But the cost to make it more than just the gold. It's also the skilled time of the guy making it, and the cost of other materials used (wax, plaster, etc. for the mold), and amortization of the tools.

I mean, if you just have a plain, unadorned ring, those costs are pretty low. But if it's got interesting designs on it, or is multiple materials, that's going to cause it to be more expensive.

Looking at Zales' website, they've got a 4mm 14K plain men's wedding band for $225. That's probably around 5 grams in weight, with an actual gold content probably around 3 grams. a gram of gold is ~$50 right now, so they're only getting $75 at most in profit from that ring.

There are places around the world (India) Where you can pay for jewelry at the weight in gold. There is little markup for labor/design. The pieces are just as "beautiful" as anything you would get from Zales.

Loved below article. It explains everything. Was recommended by someone else on HN 2 weeks ago.

https://priceonomics.com/post/45768546804/diamonds-are-bulls...

Thats true for a lot of luxury goods. Try selling an expensive watch for the same price you paid for and you’ll be in for a big surprise. Some collectible items go up in price but in general thats not the trend.

The first buyer purchases sentimentality

The second purchases metal [with a % chance of being re-sold again as sentimentality]

All jewelry isn't like that. Gold jeweler tends to maintain its value.

Gold jewelry only maintains value from the metal itself. Since what a jeweler will pay for it is based on the melt value of the gold, minus a certain percent to account for purity, you will never get back what you paid for generic gold jewelry, unless the price of gold rises significantly.

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