Most estate jewelry is worth what its metal weighs. As of October 2026, with gold about $4,000 an ounce, 14K gold holds about $75 per gram and scrap buyers pay roughly 70-90 percent of that, while sterling silver holds about $1.70 per gram. Unsigned costume pieces sell for $1-15 each. The exceptions are signed makers, period pieces with real craftsmanship, and natural diamonds of about half a carat or more.
Estate jewelry simply means previously owned jewelry, usually from someone who has died, of any age. A box from a grandmother typically holds four kinds of thing: solid gold, sterling silver, costume, and a few signed or period pieces worth more than their metal. Sorting into those four piles is most of the work, and it can be done at a kitchen table with a loupe, a magnet and a scale that reads grams.
Quick answer
- Gold by karat at $4,000 gold, as of October 2026: about $54 per gram for 10K, $75 for 14K, $96 for 18K. Scrap offers run about 70-90 percent of that.
- Sterling silver: about $1.70 per gram melt; signed silver and Mexican or Scandinavian designer pieces sell above melt.
- Costume jewelry: $1-15 each unsigned; signed Trifari, Coro or Monet about $10-100; Haskell, Eisenberg or vintage Chanel more.
- Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco gold with original stones: often well above melt, from a few hundred dollars upward.
How to sort a jewelry box, step by step
- Set up. A bright lamp, a 10x loupe or a phone camera on zoom, a strong magnet, a kitchen scale that reads to 0.1 gram, and four trays labeled gold, silver, costume and set aside.
- Read every stamp. Look inside ring bands, on clasps and on the backs of brooches and pendants. Our guide to reading jewelry hallmarks covers the marks in detail.
- Sort gold. 10K, 14K, 18K, 22K, or the numbers 417, 585, 750 and 916 mean solid gold. British pieces may read 9ct, 15ct or 18ct. Marks like GF, 1/20 12K GF, RGP, HGE or GP mean gold filled or plated, which goes in costume. Gold filled has a thick bonded layer; plated has a thin one.
- Sort silver. STERLING, 925, .925 or 950 means silver. Mexican pieces often carry an eagle assay mark or TAXCO. Continental pieces may read 800 or 835. These all sell by weight unless signed.
- Test with the magnet. Gold and silver are not magnetic. A piece that jumps to the magnet is base metal under the stamp, or has a steel spring in the clasp only, which is normal.
- Look for signatures. Costume makers signed on the back or on a small tag near the clasp: Trifari, Coro, Monet, Napier, Weiss, Sarah Coventry, Miriam Haskell, Eisenberg. Fine jewelers signed too: Tiffany & Co., Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, David Yurman. Every signed piece goes in the set aside tray.
- Look for age and quality. Hand-pierced gold, rose cut or old mine cut diamonds, seed pearls, enamel, platinum filigree and closed-back settings are signs of period work. These go in the set aside tray too.
- Weigh gold and silver by karat or purity. Write down the weight of each group, minus any large stones.
- Price each tray separately. Gold and silver by weight, costume as a lot with signed pieces priced singly, and the set aside tray by sold comparables or by an expert.
What estate jewelry sells for
Prices as of October 2026, with gold at about $4,000 and silver at about $58 per troy ounce.
| Type | How it is priced | Typical value |
|---|---|---|
| 10K gold, any piece | Weight times purity | About $54 per gram melt; scrap offers about $38-48 |
| 14K gold | Weight times purity | About $75 per gram melt; scrap offers about $53-68 |
| 18K gold | Weight times purity | About $96 per gram melt; scrap offers about $68-87 |
| British 9ct gold | Weight times purity | About $48 per gram melt |
| Sterling silver, unsigned | Weight | About $1.70 per gram melt, often a little less from a buyer |
| Sterling, signed designers, Taxco and Scandinavian | Collector demand | Often several times melt |
| Gold filled and gold plated | Resale only | $1-30 a piece; scrap value is tiny |
| Unsigned costume jewelry | Resale lots | $1-15 each; $20-100 for a lot of 30 to 50 |
| Signed Trifari, Coro, Monet, Napier, Weiss | Collector demand | About $10-100 |
| Miriam Haskell, Eisenberg, Trifari jelly bellies | Collector demand | About $100-800 |
| Victorian and Edwardian gold brooches and rings | Era, craft, stones | Often $100-3,000 |
| Art Deco platinum or white gold diamond rings | Stones, craft, platinum | Often $500-5,000 |
| Signed fine jewelry: Tiffany, Cartier, Van Cleef | Brand resale market | Hundreds to many thousands |
Our deeper guide on costume jewelry breaks the signed makers down further, and the era clues below help place the period pieces.
Melt or resale: which number applies?
Melt is the floor, set by the metal. Resale is what a buyer pays for the piece as jewelry. For most estate gold, the two are close: a plain 14K chain, a worn wedding band or a class ring sells near melt, because a buyer would have to pay for the gold anyway and plenty of similar pieces exist. Resale climbs above melt when the design is wanted for itself: a signed piece, a well-made period jewel, a natural diamond or colored stone of size, or a heavy chain in a style that sells retail.
| Piece | Better sold for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Broken chains, single earrings, bent rings | Melt | No wearer will pay more than the gold |
| Plain wedding bands, class rings | Melt | Common, personal, resized |
| Heavy gold chains in good condition | Melt or a little over | Some resale demand |
| Victorian, Edwardian and Deco pieces | Resale | Collectors pay for craft and age |
| Signed fine jewelry | Resale | The brand doubles or triples the value over melt |
| Diamonds of about 0.5 carat or more | Resale of the stone plus melt of the mount | The stone often outweighs the gold |
| Sterling designer pieces | Resale | Collectors pay for the maker |
Era clues you can check at home
- Georgian and early Victorian, before about 1860: closed-back settings, foil behind stones, rose cut diamonds, often no karat stamp.
- Victorian, 1837 to 1901: 15ct and 9ct British gold (the 15ct standard was used from 1854 to 1932), seed pearls, garnets, hair work and black enamel mourning pieces, C-clasps on brooches with no safety catch.
- Edwardian, 1901 to about 1915: platinum or platinum over gold, lacy pierced work, milgrain edges, old European cut diamonds.
- Art Deco, about 1920 to 1935: geometric platinum and white gold, step cut and calibre cut stones, engraved shanks.
- Retro, about 1935 to 1950: chunky rose and yellow gold, large synthetic rubies and sapphires, scrolls and bows.
- Costume after 1955: a copyright symbol beside the maker's name generally points to 1955 or later. Rollover safety catches on brooches also suggest the 20th century.
Say you find a jewelry box
Say you sort your grandmother's jewelry box and find: an 8 gram 14K rope chain, a 10K class ring weighing 12 grams with a synthetic stone, a sterling charm bracelet of 30 grams with a dozen charms, a gold-tone Trifari brooch, and about 40 unsigned costume pieces.
The chain holds about $600 of gold, so expect scrap offers of about $420-540. The class ring, with the stone deducted, is about 11 grams of 10K, about $590 of gold, and scrap offers of about $410-530. The charm bracelet holds about $52 of silver, but charm bracelets with varied sterling charms often sell for $40-150 to collectors, so it is worth listing whole. The Trifari brooch sells for about $15-60. The costume lot brings $20-100 as one listing. The box is worth roughly $900-1,380 in total, most of it in the two gold pieces, which is the typical pattern.
What buyers pay, and where
| Buyer | What they pay | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Refiner or bullion dealer | About 80-95 percent of melt on larger lots | A pound of broken gold |
| Local jeweler or gold buyer | About 70-90 percent of melt | Scrap gold and plain pieces |
| Pawn shop | Often below 70 percent of melt | Speed only |
| Estate jewelry dealer | Above melt for period and signed pieces | Victorian to Retro gold |
| Auction house | Market price minus commission | Signed pieces and important stones |
| eBay, Etsy, Ruby Lane | Market price minus fees | Signed costume and sterling designer pieces |
Our guides to where to sell gold and where to sell jewelry compare these channels in detail.
Common mistakes
- Scrapping the whole box. Signed and period pieces can be worth several times melt. Pull them out first.
- Trusting the color. Gold-tone costume looks like gold; tarnished silver looks like base metal. Read the stamp and use the magnet.
- Selling by the piece instead of by the gram. Ask any gold buyer for a price per gram by karat, and weigh at home first.
- Weighing stones as gold. Large stones should be deducted, or removed and sold separately if they are valuable.
- Discarding single earrings and broken chains. Broken gold is still gold.
- Cleaning antique pieces hard. Polishing wears away detail and enamel. A soft cloth is enough.
How WorthPic reads estate jewelry photos
WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. From clear photos of a piece, it reads the stamps and signatures, the construction and settings that place it in an era, the cut and shape of stones, and the design that separates a known maker's work from generic pieces. It gives an honest value range in US dollars with a most likely figure, explains whether melt or resale applies, and says which extra photo would settle a question, often a sharp close-up of a stamp.
What it cannot know from a photo is the true metal under a stamp, the exact weight, or whether a stone is natural, lab-grown or glass. It identifies and estimates. It does not test metal or stones, authenticate, grade or appraise.
What to photograph
- The whole piece on a plain background in daylight.
- Every stamp and signature, sharp enough to read each character.
- The back of brooches and pendants, which shows clasps, catches and construction.
- Stones from above and the side.
- The piece on a scale if you want a gold or silver estimate.
When to get it looked at in person
Take pieces to a jeweler or gold buyer for testing when stamps are missing, worn or doubtful. Take Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco pieces, signed fine jewelry and any diamond that looks half a carat or larger to an estate jewelry dealer or an auction house jewelry department, and get a jewelry appraisal if you need a document for an estate or insurance.
Sources
- Jewelers Mutual: jewelry appraisal costs: typical appraisal fees and the advice to use credentialed appraisers.
- GIA 4Cs: how to sell gemstones and jewelry: fair market value and the main selling routes, from auction to consignment.
- eBay selling fees: the 15 percent final value fee on jewelry up to $5,000.
- American Gem Society: jewelry appraisals: appraiser titles and how the purpose changes the value.