When consider which piece of jewellery to wear, do you consider the actual value of the piece? I don’t mean the price that you payed for the item, I mean the price you would get for your jewellery if you sold it at market value now.

Working out that number is no walk in the park, this is because there are various factors that you need to consider. You have to remember though that when you bought that lovely piece of silver jewellery, you payed the price that the shop was selling it for, which is not the price it’s worth.

When buying your jewellery from a store, you have to pay the price that the manufacturer charged the jewellery store, plus the mark up that the store put on to make a profit. This figure is not easy to come by, but what’s even harder to come across is the mark up that the manufacturer puts on the product. The manufacturer of the item will put their own mark up onto the jewellery to ensure that they make a profit on the cost of materials and labour that it took to make the product.

Because of all those factors, you never actually pay the true value of the jewellery, so what is your jewellery really worth? The most important factor of trying to value your jewellery is the actual price of the raw materials that make up the particular item. Say you have some silver gemstone jewellery or silver pendants. You can weigh the precious metals and once you have obtained the weight, you can find the current value of that metal to find out how much it’s worth. Jewels and other materials on the jewellery will affect the price, if you are unsure of how to value jewels, a local jeweller can value them for you.

The price of the raw materials will often come as a shock to you, this is because the value of the raw materials will only be around 10% of the actual price you payed for it. However, there are other factors that can increase that price.

Other factors to consider are sentimental value, this will increase the price based on how you feel about the piece. Another factor to consider would be whether it was made by a famous or popular manufacturer. This figure varies based on how the manufacturer became popular, whether it was because a celebrity wears the make, or it might be down to the quality of the items.

Overall the value of your jewellery will be less than the price you payed for it in the first place. Unfortunate, but true.