Not quite the William Tell Overture....
 

> the William Tell overture, perhaps??

Heheh... I wish I could say I was like Einstein and listened a lot to Mozart while I was working (Einstein was apparently a big fan of Mozart's compositions) -- it would make me seem more cultured.... Or any kind of classical music, like Rossini's William Tell Overture (one of my favorite pieces, by the way).... :)

But, actually, I happen to really like working to rock'n'roll.... :) (Except when I'm writing....)

> I like that idea, Dien; strange thing, tho -
> when I really enjoy the music, I find myself
> listening to it and sometimes all work stops
> completely!!

Yes, this is a danger! :)

> Have you made any inroads into the jewelry
> market?

Margaret, I don't think the "opportunity" I thought I might have spotted was a real opportunity at all, unfortunately....

One discrepancy I noticed was how "expensive" jewelry was selling for well below (like about 25%) of its "appraised" value. For example, you can notice this a lot at online auctions -- they will often give the "appraised" value, and the value it finally sells for is often around 25% or less of the appraised value....

Then I realized that this was also the same in various second-hand stores....

My original thought was that maybe I could buy these, and resell them through proper auction-houses which specialize in auctioning high-priced jewelry to try to get something closer to the "appraised" value. Well, this might still be an opportunity, I didn't investigate it further....

It made me think twice that it seemed so common that the "retail" value of jewelry through certain channels was consistently about 25% of the "appraised" value. I guess I thought there might be a reason for it.... What do you think, Margaret? Do you know much about this?

So I've been focusing on other things lately, but I've found I really enjoy the whole process of buying and selling, though I still haven't done it with jewelry yet.... :)

- Dien

It would be nice if music wasn't
 

categorised so much - there are lots of great pieces of music across the whole spectrum; I guess lots of people miss out just because they have preconceived notions about whether they like jazz, classical, pop etc.

As for jewelry; huge topic and I'm by no means an expert. We only sell new silver and gold pieces which carry a hallmark and maker's mark.

The second-hand/antique area requires you to know a whole lot about the metal quality and gem quality. So, I guess there's a huge risk in buying second-hand/from auctions and that may well affect the price. Another thing which affects the resale value is the scrap value of the silver/gold. I have attended local auctions in Glasgow where dealers would only buy at below scrap metal price for the goods - to give themselves a profit margin if they had to sell for scrap. (Unless, of course, they wanted to keep some upstart out of the game!) And then when you check second-hand jewelry stores, the resale value of ordinary pieces is nowhere near the original retail price. There is enough room between saleroom price and second-hand store price to give a good living; but you really need to know the market very well to spot the good opportunity. You also need the knowledge to test the quality of metal and stones.

I have seen occasions where manufacturers would use auction houses to turn over new stock which hasn't proved to be a good seller to retailers. But that tells you the design possibly may not be good enough for you to sell on .........and you could be left with it on the shelf for a long time.

Well, not sure if that's helpful to you or not. There's quite a lot to think about and it will no doubt make me revise some of our purchasing decisions as well!

Margaret

Trading jewelry for fun and profit....?
 

Hi Margaret!

> there are lots of
> great pieces of music across the whole
> spectrum; I guess lots of people miss out
> just because they have preconceived notions
> about whether they like jazz, classical, pop
> etc.

I agree, I like a wide range of music styles too.... Jazz is actually one of my favorite styles too, but I really love to listen to it live.... :)

> As for jewelry; huge topic and I'm by no
> means an expert. We only sell new silver and
> gold pieces which carry a hallmark and
> maker's mark.

> The second-hand/antique area requires you to
> know a whole lot about the metal quality and
> gem quality. So, I guess there's a huge risk
> in buying second-hand/from auctions and that
> may well affect the price. Another thing
> which affects the resale value is the scrap
> value of the silver/gold. I have attended
> local auctions in Glasgow where dealers
> would only buy at below scrap metal price
> for the goods - to give themselves a profit
> margin if they had to sell for scrap.
> (Unless, of course, they wanted to keep some
> upstart out of the game!)

Thanks Margaret, this is great information.... If I do go ahead and try jewelry out, this seems like a very safe strategy. If you know (or have a good idea) of the scrap metal value, it gives you a very good upper limit which you'll pay in order to at least be able to break even (in the worst case scenario)....

I realize it is definitely a "specialist" area, though, so if I go ahead I'll have to gain some expertise or somehow find a jewelry expert to partner with....

One of the reasons jewelry interests me, though, is because a small amount (by weight) of jewelry can have a very high value. Its portability makes it convenient, though I expect that many other "traders" also find that appealing too, so I expect that the second-hand jewelry market could be very competitive....

> And then when you
> check second-hand jewelry stores, the resale
> value of ordinary pieces is nowhere near the
> original retail price. There is enough room
> between saleroom price and second-hand store
> price to give a good living; but you really
> need to know the market very well to spot
> the good opportunity. You also need the
> knowledge to test the quality of metal and
> stones.

Yes, thanks Margaret, this is really good advice....

> I have seen occasions where manufacturers
> would use auction houses to turn over new
> stock which hasn't proved to be a good
> seller to retailers. But that tells you the
> design possibly may not be good enough for
> you to sell on .........and you could be
> left with it on the shelf for a long time.

Yes, thanks for the warning!

> Well, not sure if that's helpful to you or
> not. There's quite a lot to think about and
> it will no doubt make me revise some of our
> purchasing decisions as well!

I found that VERY helpful, Margaret, thanks!

So far, apart from speaking with you about this, I've mainly only had the chance to speak to an expert gemmologist.... He really knows his gemstones, and their value. Talking to him was very interesting, but the main problem with gemstones is I expect that gemstones (by themselves) could be hard to resell.... And that was his real expertise, identifying and valuing the pure gemstones (cut or uncut)....

However, once gems or precious metals are made into jewelry, it becomes a saleable item, but I don't really understand the market well enough yet to go into it.... My "guess" is that specialist auction-houses might be the best place to resell them if you don't have your own store, but I still don't really know for sure.... I think I will check this out further, though.... :)

Thanks Margaret! I'm really enjoying being a "trader," every trade is different and it can be quite interesting.... So far I've mainly focused on computers, and only just recently bought the whole stock of a music CD store (with the intent to resell it all), but I still might eventually add jewelry to my repertoire too, once I understand jewelry better.... :)

Dien

Re: Trading jewelry for fun and profit....?
 

Dien - another thought - I think (although someone else might correct me on this) that here dealing in second-hand bullion/jewellery might need a license .......... I don't know if that's something you've discussed? I guess it's required here for consumer protection.

Margaret




eGreyl Software Solutions

The hazards of the business....!
 

Hi Margaret,

> Dien - another thought - I think (although
> someone else might correct me on this) that
> here dealing in second-hand
> bullion/jewellery might need a license
> .......... I don't know if that's something
> you've discussed? I guess it's required here
> for consumer protection.

Ah, no, I haven't looked into that yet.... Thanks for noting that!

It makes sense, of course.... I really didn't think about it, but you're right, this is probably an area where it's definitely "buyer beware," since it's often not easy for a non-expert to spot fake jewelry....

I asked this gemmologist I mentioned about distinguishing diamonds from cubic zirconium. (Cubic zirconium looks like diamond, but it's artificially made and much cheaper....)

He said that there's no fool-proof way to tell the difference between the two without specialized equipment. He said the only way he can tell by sight is if a "diamond" looks "too" perfect (that is, has no flaws), he says it's most likely cubic zirconium, since natural diamond tends to have flaws, while artificially made cubic zirconium often doesn't....

I guess this illustrates the hazards of the business!

- Dien