Some people seem to enjoy columns when it’s about us losing money. And some accuse us of “fibbing” when we say we lose money on about 5% to 10% of our acquisitions. But our motto is that if we don’t
lose money on some of the things we buy, we aren’t aggressive enough buyers.
Today we will highlight a loser and a “score.” The score was this Tiffany & Co. medal made for the Utah semi-centennial in 1897. A Minneapolis jeweler bought it for scrap value and knowing our love of Tiffany offered it to us for 20% OVER the metal value of the heavy 18k gold. We jumped at it. As written before, heavy objects sometimes have more gold than the collectibles market will pay. But we noted upon cursory research on the net that the recipient of this award was a noted Mormon and well-documented
assistant of Brigham Young! Knowing the collectible aspect of anything Mormon, we figured we would take a gamble. This medal ended up bringing many times the gold value. Much to the dismay of the seller, who good-naturedly ribbed us about our success.
On the loser side this past month, a local jeweler sold us this incredible Audemars Piguet diamond watch
for $10,000. It failed us miserably at auction, hammering for far less. (After all, the “appraised value” of this was an astounding $85,000!)
We pay more for gold & silver than anyone in Tampa Bay!
We are Tampa Bay’s luxury jewelry 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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