It is thought in most communities around the globe that buyers of estate jewelry, watches and art
double or triple their money. This fallacy for the most part is untrue.
Doubling your money sometimes occurs. Sometimes with older, less-expensive watches as well. The public doesn’t take into account the costs of a jeweler’s time buffing and polishing, or a watchmaker’s time bringing a watch to acceptable standards.
Our profit margin on luxury goods is typically only 5% to 20% (few believe it, but it’s true).
Sometimes, something just falls in our lap. A Connecticut jeweler posted on social media a spectacular Christian cross. It was rather plain looking, but was signed Tiffany and other dealers clamored to be the winning bidder. Many bidders just bid gold value — a couple of hundred dollars. The last two bidders were us and a New York estate buyer. We beat the New Yorker by 10%, winning it for $2,200.
The appeal? A) It had original Tiffany papers, almost unheard of for a pendant made in 1879. It was bought by a New York doctor, who managed a large psychiatric hospital. The purchase was likely for his ailing wife, who passed away just a few months later. B) We also knew, because of the manufacturing date, the 5.5 mm pearls were natural, since cultured pearls were not perfected until the early 1900s by the Mikimoto family. Natural, matched 5.5 mm pearls like this are VERY rare and we had customers standing by for them. Did we double our money? Yes. (And then some.) It does occasionally happen.
Natural Pearls + Tiffany = Big Value
If you have pre-1900 pearls with platinum or old-cut diamond clasps, they may be natural! Katrina is a graduate gemologist, and has her pearl diploma. And they could be worth thousands of dollars.
P.S.: We are actively helping people whose watches were soaked, damaged or otherwise destroyed during the last two hurricanes. We are offering drying-out services for free, and all watchmaking and strap and band services for the next 30 days are half off. No charge for first responders. And we will give more than ample trade-ins for your damaged watches.
We are Tampa Bay’s luxury watch headquarters and we love vintage!
Go ahead, Google us! We don’t just buy museum pieces.
Always buying rare and valuable items.
Cash or auction. We make house calls statewide.
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