Cash for Gold

As featured in



March 2009

By Glenn Bradford
 

Your old, outdated jewelry is far more valuable than you have been led to believe. Who can you really trust?

The lack of transparency in this sector of the jewelry industry, from the pawnshop to the Main Street jeweler, is extremely troubling.

Award-winning jewelry designer, Glenn Bradford, is leading the way by being completely transparent in evaluating the value of his customer’s gold and diamonds.

He states, “We strive to build life-long relationships with generations of our clients.” He educates each of his clients, and patiently explains the benefits and setbacks of disposing of family heirlooms.

Glenn actually makes his living from design, and typically will excavate his customer’s sentimental gemstones from their outdated settings for them to retain and reset into a new magical design.

Bradford continues, “You can never purchase diamonds at the disposal rate, especially when most jewelers don’t pay for the stones to begin with. The more diamonds and gold a customer brings us, the less expensive a custom job will be.”

Bradford continues, “Our typical customer wants to reset their sentimental outdated gemstones into a timeless hand-made design that reflects their personality. After excavating their gemstones we will either rework the old gold into a new design, or the old gold will be scrapped, often paying for the majority of the custom job.”

Bradford’s refiner pays close to the spot rate for gold or platinum based on the London Fixed Commodity price. Bradford takes a small handling fee, ensuring that each customer receives more money than from other jewelers. Bradford’s transparency is extremely reassuring and refreshing.

One of Bradford’s clients-Debbie-initially visited another local jeweler to sell heirloom pieces that she inherited from her Mother and Grandmother. The jeweler offered her only $650. She left in disbelief and was referred to Glenn.

Debbie ended up resetting her two-carat diamond engagement ring and incorporated several carats of diamonds that Glenn excavated from the out-of-date heirloom designs. Debbie actually inherited in excess of $10,000 in diamonds, sapphires and pearls and her scrap gold credit exceeded $3500.

Another couple, discovered Glenn Bradford from a feature article appearing in Newsday in the Winter 2008, titled Found Money in Old Gold, touching on this very issue.

Bradford states, “They visited us on a Saturday, on a day filled with custom appointments, with two shopping bags filled with jewelry from the husband’s Mother and Grandmother. I briefly enlightened them with regard to the tremendous sentimentality that these pieces represented and encouraged them to consider keeping the gemstones, while only scrapping the outdated jewelry and broken metal. We scheduled an appointment on the following day, to allow us to spend adequate time to evaluate each piece and to authenticate the quality, size and value of their gemstones.”

Bradford continues, “Prior to the appointment, they showed the two bags of jewelry to another jeweler, who after less than ten minutes offered them $10,000 cash on the spot for everything. Fortunately, they left and came to us.

My gemologist and I spent over six man-hours separating and evaluating and detailing each piece. They actually possessed in excess of $50,000 in diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies and pearls and after excavating over 750 gemstones their scrap gold credit was $15,000.

Until meeting us, this couple never considered keeping their sentimental gemstones, and we ended up creating several one-of-a-kind designs- new heirlooms-which incorporated many of the sentimental gemstones. “

So, do not be hasty in discarding your old jewelry at a gold party or “Cash for Gold” jeweler. Small bags of gold are potentially worth many thousands of dollars more than these offerings. And your gemstones may be priceless. What might seem like a lot of money is often just a fraction of the real worth.

Make an appointment with award-winning jeweler Glenn Bradford to discuss the benefits of preserving your family heritage by excavating your sentimental gemstones and incorporating them into a new heirloom that is all about your sensibility and style.

Glenn Bradford will also host a legitimate “Girls Night Out” Gold Cocktail Event out of his couture fine jewelry shop, a safe, trustworthy and intimate setting. Glenn will be on hand along with his staff and refiner to evaluate your gold and sentimental gemstones. If you decide to part with your old gold be assured that you will receive the most value for your scrap gold or platinum.

For additional information, visit Glenn Bradford Fine Jewelry Corp at 279 Main Street in Port Washington, view their web-site www.glennbradford.com, or call @ 516-767-1600. Winter Hours are:

Tuesday-Saturday 11:00-5:30, Sunday 11:00-2:00 or by appointment. Closed Monday.

Glenn Bradford is an award-winning jewelry designer who has won nine fine jewelry awards within the last nine years. He was named by The World Gold Council as one of the "top one hundred fine American jewelry designers." His Jewelry has also been featured on the runway during, " “Seventh On Sixth”. Glenn’s specialty is custom one-ofa- kind resetting, where he can take your diamonds, pearls and other out-dated jewels and transform them into new phenomenal versatile designs. He uses environmentally certified reprocessed gold and platinum and specializes in antique diamonds and gemstones.