Ester mans is gone (retired). Try Boone & sons in DC. They have a small estate jewelry section. Just try a bunch of jewelers (not in the mall) downtown.

Anonymous wrote:Find a place that sells antique and estate jewelry.

There was a place like this in White Flint called Esterman's - not sure what has happened to it since White Flint has been cleared out.

How much could op get at a pawn shop?

Here's the thing: the appraisal is what the ring would go for in a store. The store needs to make money, so they will pay you much less so they can make a profit. As an example: my ring appraised at $30k, but I was told a jewelry store would likely only offer me $11k for it (and that would be a high end store, not a pawn shop).

Find a place that sells antique and estate jewelry.

If it is a very nice piece, you could try to sell it at auction. Most of the large estate auction companies routinely sell jewelry.

You may be able to get 1500 for it. Seriously - I have a +1 caret solitaire that's appraised at over 7K and I can't get an offer for it above 2K.

The only exception is if it is from a very high-end store (like Cartier).

Anonymous wrote:Think there's a chance I can get $4-5K for it?

Nope.

Something you can do is look for similar items on ebay and see how much they are selling for and if people are having good luck selling them. It's sort of hard to tell just based on your description. I love shopping for estate jewelry on ebay and it's surprising how high the prices of some pieces can go on auction, especially if they are objectively high quality, beautiful pieces.

If it was appraised at $7K, it is probably worth $3.5 tops -- but that would be for retail. You are talking about selling it to a wholesaler (unless you get lucky privately on Craig's list and don't get robbed). So, if, it really is good quality and the diamonds are decent, you'd be lucky to get about $2K for it. You might be able to get a jeweler to take it on consignment, but they'd take a large cut of the sales price.

Go to a jeweler for advice. A lot of the cash for gold places are just that ...cash for gold. They won't really care about the value of the diamonds. At least that has been what I've heard from a couple of people who have sold their engagement/wedding rings post divorce

I have a ring passed down from my great-great-aunt. She purchased it in the 1980's and it appraised last year at $7K+ and I have the paperwork to support it. It is 1.25 karat set in white gold and is gorgeous but the setting has multiple diamonds and 3 center stones, so there isn't a huge solitaire.

Think there's a chance I can get $4-5K for it? Or how would I get cash for it easily but not get a rock bottom ripoff price? I'd like to put the money toward an educational certification to further my career.

Thanks for advice!