Selling Jewelry

If you’re selling or pawning a piece of jewelry for the first time, the appraisal process can be a bit confusing. At Windy City Jewelry & Loan, we want to make it as easy as possible for you to pawn or sell jewelry in Evanston. Therefore, we want to explain how we assess your jewelry’s value to help you understand what to expect.

Numerous factors are considered when valuing a piece of jewelry. These factors include, but aren’t limited to:

  • Weight of the metal
  • Weight of the stones
  • Clarity of stones
  • Color of stones
  • Precious or semi-precious stones
  • Cut of the stones

But that’s not all. The jewelry’s manufacturer, designer, style, popularity and desirability also affect how a particular piece is valued. The appraisal process is much more complex than just pricing a piece based on type of stone or metal. Given that it’s such a detailed assessment, we use licensed appraisers.

Windy City Jewelry & Loan’s Evanston jewelry appraisers are all GIA trained and certified. Due to this certification, all major insurance providers accept their reports. Assigning a dollar value to the insurance policy helps you insure based on the value of the piece just as you would a car or home. Our in-store jewelry appraisers’ GIA training allows them to understand the complex market factors that help determine your jewelry’s worth (such as the prices of precious metals in  the traded open markets, manufacturing costs and price trends of shopping retailers). Evaluating the amount people actually spend on jewelry helps our jewelry appraisers determine the “Replacement Retail Value” or “Replacement Market Value” of your merchandise.

After we’ve evaluated your item’s worth (no matter if it’s jewelry, a watch, or an antique), our staff provides you with a written appraisal. This computer-generated appraisal features a specific description of the item, a picture of the item, and the item’s “Retail Replacement Value”.

Whether you want to sell your jewelry or simply use it as collateral for a pawn loan, you’ll encounter the appraisal process described here. If you need a quick cash loan, but aren’t interested in permanently selling your item, a pawn loan is an ideal choice. Your item is appraised the same way, but it’s then used as collateral against a cash loan. You get your item back as soon as you repay your loan. Everybody wins!

There are so many factors involved in jewelry appraisal that it can be overwhelming. If you want more information about how Windy City Jewelry & Loan determines the value of items, please reach out to us at 847-475-7296 or visit our pawn shop to talk to one of our Evanston jewelry appraisers in person!