How Much is My Ring Worth?

Selling your jewellery is always a great way to make some quick cash.

Even if you aren’t thinking of selling your ring, it’s still important to have an answer to the question “how much is my ring worth” for insurance purposes or even simple interest.

Either way, if you want to figure out the value of your ring, you’ll need to think like an appraiser.

It’s common for rings to have one large stone in the center. If yours does, what type of gemstone is it? Different gemstones are worth different amounts of money per carat.

Many people think diamonds are some of the most valuable gems. They’re certainly up there at R30,000 to R100,000 per carat in the retail market, but white diamonds rank well below a handful of other gemstones.

A gemstone’s value mainly depends upon its rarity. Red diamonds are some of the most valuable gemstones in the world at about R10,000,000 per carat. Other pricey stones include fire opal, benitoite, and red beryl.

Rubies can range in price from R1000 to nearly R100,000 per carat in the retail market. Sapphires prices also vary drastically between R200 to several thousand per carat.

The value of diamonds and other precious stones depends upon four factors: carat (weight), color, cut, and clarity otherwise known as the four Cs.

Some gemstones, like opals, have additional quality factors due to their unique mineral deposits.

1. Color: Each gemstone variety has its own ideal color.

When it comes to diamonds, white is best and any yellow or brown tints can reduce the stone’s value. Unless, of course, the diamond is of a naturally occurring blue or red variety.

Artificially colored diamonds don’t hold the same value. As a general rule: the rarer and more aesthetically appealing, the higher the price.

2. Clarity: With many gemstones — and especially diamonds — the clearer the better. If the stone is cloudy that can decrease its value.

Appraisers also look for discrepancies both inside and outside the gemstone. Blemishes appear on the stone’s exterior while inclusions are inside the stone’s structure. The Gemological Institute of America (GMI) has a special chart for grading a diamond’s clarity.

In other gemstones, like opals, experts usually revere opaqueness instead of clarity.

3. Cut: A stone’s cut doesn’t necessarily refer to its shape but rather the structure and inferior facets. In a transparent stone like a diamond, the appraiser will look at the stone’s symmetry and brilliance.

The cut also refers to the stone’s polishing and exterior structural points such as the table, crown, girdle, and pavilion.

4. Carat: Carats refer to the stone’s weight. One carat weighs 0.2 grams.

It’s important to keep in mind that larger stones are significantly more valuable than smaller stones. So the price per carat amount increases as the size of the stone increases.

Larger stones are much rarer than smaller ones so this is taken into consideration when determining their price per carat.

5. Additional factors: In some stones, experts look for color patterns, textures, and other factors relative to the specific variety.

When you bought your ring, you may have received a certificate of authenticity for the diamond or gemstone.

A handful of organizations evaluate and certify gemstones. The most reputable organizations include the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), .European Gemmological Laboratory (E.G.L)

Each organization differs in its evaluation techniques and many have their own scales for measuring clarity, cut, and color.

If you don’t have a certificate, you can send your stone to an organization’s lab for testing and evaluation. This might be worth considering if you’re wondering “how much is my ring worth” and you think it may hold significant value.

The value of your ring’s metal varies even more than that of the gemstone’s. This is because metals like gold are traded on the open market and their value fluctuates — sometimes drastically — every day.

Most rings are made with either gold, silver, or platinum. Each metal has its own criteria for measuring purity.

Gold, for example, uses the karat system. The higher the karat, the purer the gold. Although 24 karat is the stereotypical ideal, this level of gold is uncommon and somewhat undesirable due to its softness.

Most silver jewelry has the purity percentage stamped into the piece.

People tend to think that platinum is more valuable than gold, but this is not always the case. Platinum is actually much more abundant than gold but it is more expensive to produce. As a result, sometimes gold is worth more than platinum and sometimes it’s not.

Experts will also take the ring’s design into consideration. Jewellery with labor-intensive intricate patterns is usually worth more money than a simple band.

When you visit an appraiser and ask “how much is my ring worth,” they’ll probably ask where you bought it and how much you paid.

Unfortunately, you’ll likely only receive between 20% and 45% of what you originally paid. This is because all buyers need to turn a profit from the transaction and preowned jewellery doesn’t sell as well as new jewelry.

There is, however, an exception to this: brand recognition.

Brand names matter when it comes to jewelry. If you have a piece from Cartier or Tiffany & Co., for example, you may receive closer to 50% of your original price provided you have the original packaging and paperwork.

If you have a vintage or antique ring, you can throw many other factors on this list out the window.

Vintage jewellery includes anything between 20 and 100 years old. Antiques are anything older than 100.

If you think you have a valuable vintage or antique piece, you should seek out an expert appraiser to help you understand the ring’s origin and price.

A skilled appraiser should also understand the changing trends and history relative to vintage jewelry.