I personally enjoy talking about buying more than talking about selling; it’s always sad to see a nice piece of jewelry leaving my possession. But the reality is that you come into the situation to sell Native American jewelry for whatever reason. It also happened to me and because it will happen to almost every collector, I thought this topic needs to be discussed.
First of all, and this is important, we have different situations in life. The worst situation is having an urgent need to money. A collector, who is in a rush to sell a Native American jewelry collection, will always leave some money on the table. There is nothing to add. A quick liquidation for the highest possible price is really never possible.
Besides the urgent need of money, selling a collection for an approaching bill may be something you experience. That’s for sure better circumstances. Time is precious when selling something special, something rare or something that is looking for a very specific buyer. It’s not a big deal to sell some old gold chains for a high price. You would simply go by the current gold price and move on. But that’s not so easy with a beautiful Native American jewelry collection.
First and foremost, get very clear on how fast you will need the money. For instance, you know how many months you got to come up with the money needed to replace your roof. The more time you got, the better it is.
If you own a high-end collection and you have at least six month to come up with some money, my preferred way to sell Native American jewelry, is a live auction. Christies, Sotheby’s or Heritage auction are great ways to sell a collection. All three mentioned auction companies are pretty reasonable on their selling fees and they all have a responsive customer service. The downside is the value-requirements. They only accept items worth at least $5,000. Once you know that you can meet this requirement, moving forward is usually easy. They will email you a consignment agreement along with an auction schedule explaining when your item may be auctioned and when and how you would receive the selling proceeds. You are well advised to plan with some extra time to get paid; especially if you have some significant payments coming up.
Another critical thing to consider is that your item may not sell. They do have minimum prices in place and it’s not uncommon that items don’t sell – you are very well advised to have a plan for this situation ready.
Another way to sell a Native America jewelry collection is trough networking. Many collectors are part of a network. Some may be even members of a society or they know someone in the trade. I cannot point out that you should never blindly trust the company you are usually buying from. Please also understand that a commercial buyer works for a profit. With items that may need a lot of time to be sold, a 30% to 50% discount wouldn’t be unusual.
You see, selling will cost you some money. That’s not unusual and dealing with the situation to let a beloved item go is always a hardship.
Sell Native American Jewelry To an Expert
Another great way to sell Native American jewelry may be a trustworthy online buyer. Many of us collectors are living not next to a good buyer. The internet is providing us with some really great, new opportunities to sell. Online auctions (with a reserve price) may be one way to go. Another way is consulting a reputable online buyer where you know that you are dealing with good and knowledgeable folks.
I have made a very good experience with reDollar – I haven’t used them for my high-end Native American pieces but for some medium-priced silver necklaces and for some gold rings. You can sell gold jewelry and any items made of silver with them. They provided me with a rock-solid estimate before I shipped my items off. I knew how much money I will receive and they kept their promises.
If you also plan to sell Native American jewelry or if you are looking for an estimate: click here to sell Native American jewelry with redollar.com
This Is How a Selling Form Would Look Like
Sell Your Native American Jewelry To A Museum
I have sold quite a few items to museums. Please understand that if museums are buying, they are really looking for the very rare items. Be very selective and only offer Native American jewelry where you know that they are (a) really rare and (b) that they are 100% authentic and originally bought from a trustworthy source. You should also enclose a short letter telling the museum who you are and why you are selling. It does not hurt to mention that you really love the pieces you own and seeing them being sold to a museum would just satisfy you. Getting a connection to the person being responsible for buying is not always easy. While small or smaller museums are very responsive, big or huge museum like the Smithsonian may be hard to access.
I got quickly disappointed and discouraged when I was reaching out to museums for the very first time. I received no feedback and had the feeling that I was going the wrong path. After adjusting the way how I would contact them, changed my success. I quickly learned that an old-fashioned printed letter in the mail would give me better feedback than just an email. I also added quite a few, highly interesting people to my network – even when I would not have sold something to the. I think the passion for Native American jewelry is what unifies collectors – no matter if they are buyers, sellers, scientist, or appraisers.
Where You Should Never Sell Native American Jewelry?
At the end, I want to speak about don’ts when it comes to selling a nice collection. The worst place to sell Native American jewelry is a pawn shop. You may certainly add to your collection by buying from them but I would highly advise you to never sell your beloved items to a pawn business. The many issue is the lack of knowledge. Dealing with Native American jewelry requires experience and expertise. It’s not something you can learn in a few weeks. Most pawn shops simply don’t employ the people with the required knowledge. They do buy your collection but in most cases, your jewelry will be put on a scale and priced based on the current silver value.
Do give you an example, a jeweler that I personally know just recently learned that a pawn shop payed $3,000 for a set of earrings that have been stolen by a housekeeper. The housekeeper, obviously, did not know that the set was acquired for over 200,000 dollars. While the housekeeper could not know, the pawn shop should have been able to understand about the tremendous value in this set of earrings. One question remains: did they really not know how valuable it was or did they just take advantage of the situation fully knowing what treasure they were about to buy? Nobody will probably ever find out.
Sincerely,
Doctor Sarah Davis, Expert for Tribal Art