Approaching Experts

A jeweler is probably not going to want to go through your stuff without being paid. You can always call first and ask, but the best way to get help in that manner is if you have a friend in the business. Getting an evaluation is pricey and not worth it unless the item is particularly valuable.

I have a cousin who is in the business, and she once showed me how to generally assess whether jewels were gems or just crystals. I’m sure you can Google it, but the gems have a brighter, clearer appearance.

The best way to do it yourself is to look for a gold or sterling symbol and then the designer name or symbol. Then I look at similar items from that designer and see if they typically make gold, silver, or costume pieces.

I’ve tested one gold item using the acid & stone test, and it did come out positive. However, I had no way in which to determine the carat, so I just listed it as gold plated.

I also struggle with reflections of framed art. I looked up You Tube instructional videos. In one, a guy created a black free standing screen and cut out a small hole for the camera to peek through. Ah, well, no thanks. I’m living with the reflections and just trying different positions of the camera and lights to get something reasonable. If Jay and Ryanne have some suggestions (or anybody else on the forum), I’d love to hear them!

Yes as Sharyn says, jewelry pricing is tricky just like pricing art. If you ask others, because of the time it takes away from their business efforts they most likely will charge. Same for most items, clocks, old radios, etc., etc. You are asking so you can get a base line as to where your profit is. You are asking for their “valuation” by utilizing their years of experience, educational training, schooling and years of their own trial an error. Just like when you go to a doctor or lawyer for advice. You plan on gaining a profit from using their knowledge to form your base line and pricing / reselling strategy, so yes, expect to pay for their advice.

About reflections, their are many YouTube videos on “how to photograph” framed art work. I suggest you take a look at several of those. Some will focus on light placement others on certain techniques.
Here are a few we have used through the years.
We have a thin sheet of frosted plastic that we lean up on the piece and shoot through that. The frosted surface kills the glare. We also have a larger piece of real non-glare glass and photograph through that. We place it about half way between the camera and the artwork and have a helper hold the piece upright and we then just shoot through it. On smaller pieces I have also taped off the edge of the frame, then used a very light spray of a water based spray to actually place a light matte transparent coating on the glass, take the shots, then clean the glass off.

Using angle placement and light placement can work as well as using a polarizing filter and or transparent matte gel over your camera lens.

But again I strongly suggest searching Google and YouTube videos using proper keyword searches and watching as many as you can. This advise also applies to how to properly ship framed art prints and shipping original bare surface paintings.

Good luck…

Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta