Sometimes bills come in or you get sick and can’t work and that ends up leaving you a little short to make all of your payments and take care of the things that you have to take care of. It happens all the time and to a lot of good people.
In these scenarios it can make good sense to use your jewelry to make a short term pawn loan against to help you get through the rough patch that you might be in.
Learning how to pawn jewelry is really very simple.
Basically you just have to make sure the jewelry you intend on pawning is clean, complete and that you take an documentation that you have with you when you visit the pawn shop in your area.
Sounds a little too easy?
I understand why that may sound too simple, but in reality once you hand the jewelry over to the pawn broker they are going to do most of the work.
Since you probably want to get the most out of your item possible, you should make it as easy for the pawn broker as possible to evaluate your item(s).
So how do you do that?
Tip #1: Clean Your Jewelry
This is a basic step that seems like common sense when you hear it, but unfortunately very few people actually take the time do it.
There’s a variety of cleaning solutions on the market to help you with things like bracelets, necklaces, or earrings. You can also find articles to help. However when it comes to diamonds and rings in general, there are a few trouble spots you should pay attention to.
Pay Attention Around Stones
Use a toothbrush and a jewelry cleaning solution to clean around you diamonds or other stones. Dunk accumulates around the prongs in particular, but be sure to clean the facets of the stones as well.
The facets are edges on the bottom of the stone that helps give it ‘fire’ or appearance of blue/orange sparkling when the stone is moved in the light.
The karat of your gold jewelry will make a difference when you go to pawn it.
If the jewelry that you want to pawn is made out of a precious medal, it will normally have a ‘karat marking’ on it. Some common markings like 10k, 14k, or 18k you may already be familiar with but there are also other numeric markings that can tell the pawnbroker about the metal your item is made out of it.
So as a general rule of thumb, clean any surfaces where there may be karat markings so that the pawnbroker can quickly and easily identify what metal it is, what purity it is and therefore give you the greatest possible amount for your item.
If the pawnbroker can’t see the karat markings in your items they may give you the lowest price possible or turn down the item all together.
On rings the karat marking will normally on the inside surface of the band. Unfortunately this area often gets lotion and dead skin caked in it, so scrub it out to uncover any karat markings there may be.
On bracelets and necklaces, the karat marking is normally on either end of the chain or on the clasp itself. For these make sure you clean the ends well, as well as the clasp. If the bracelet or necklace has stones, make sure those areas are cleaned as well.
Tip #2: Make Sure It Is Complete
Some watches, necklaces, and bracelets have extra links that can be put into the piece to make it fit larger individuals. If your item has any of these, make sure you take them with you.
Some rings have ‘wraps’ that dress up the ring itself. This is particularly common with wedding sets. If your ring as a wrap, be sure to take that with you as well.
These extra parts and pieces should be cleaned just like the rest of your jewelry.
Tip #3: Take Any Appraisal With You
Appraisals don’t always mean much to pawn shops, but when you take your jewelry in it may not be a bad idea to have it with you just in case.
When you get an appraisal on your jewelry it should contain all of the important facts about the metal and stones involved that can help a pawnbroker detail how much he should loan you against the item(s).
It’s important to note that just because your appraisal has an approximate value listed on it does not mean that a pawnbroker will loan you anything close to that dollar amount against your jewelry.
The price listed on your appraisal is simply a reimbursement amount for your insurance company to replace the item from a retail stores marked up prices.
A pawnbroker on the other hand lends against the actual base value of the item, before it has been marked on by a jewelry store. That ‘base value’ is what they could actually get for the item should you leave it behind and they had to liquidate it to get their money back from your loan.
Tip #4: Be Understanding
We all want to feel as if that piece of jewelry our loved one purchased for us was a unique and one of a kind. After all, it is one of a kind to us. Even if we were to get another ring exactly like it, it would never be ‘that one.’
Pawn shops will inspect your jewelry closely when you go to make a pawn.
Unfortunately a lot of jewelry sold in the United States is ordered through a large set of generic books. Merchandisers for large jewelry stores will look through these books and order the inventory that stores will then sell.
Because of that, there are a lot of rings, bracelets and necklaces that look exactly the same.
Pawnbrokers see a lot of jewelry every day. Often times they see the exact same style piece several times a day. Because of that, they won’t have the same natural attraction to your jewelry that you do.
So when you take your jewelry into the pawn shop, realize upfront that they may have seen 3 items just like it so far that day alone. If you walk in expecting them to have a large, expressive reaction to your piece of jewelry then you may be sadly disappointed.
And That’s How To Pawn Jewelry…
Pawning jewelry is really simple. Just make sure it’s clean, complete and that you take any information about the items you have in with you. The easier you make the pawnbrokers job to correctly inspect your items, the more you may get for a loan against it.
If you have any questions or comments, just leave them for me in the comment form below.
Thanks as always,
The Head Nerd
Mandy Dormain started working for Pawn Nerd in 2020. Mandy grew up in a small town in northern Tennessee. But moved to New York for university. Before joining Pawn Nerd, Mandy briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers politics and economy stories.
