augustus gold

Going through some old emails, this exchange with a client came up. He was not sure where to sell gold jewelry or if he would get the best price for his gold by sending it in to us, so we challenged him to go on a covert mission to secretly price shop his local jeweler. I had forgotten that I made a deal with the client that if we won his business, he would have to allow us to share his testimony like this. For historical reference, the spot price of gold at the time was around $955/oz. Here is his story:

Subject: what to expect?
From: “Ron K”
Date: Sat, August 08, 2009 10:06 am
To:

Hi-

My wife and I are thinking about selling some jewelry we inherited from relatives. We have 2 rings, and a matching gold rope necklace and bracelet. Weighing on my (inexact) kitchen scale, I came up with 3 oz. Here’s the tricky part: The necklace also has a matching pendant with an 1898 gold double eagle $10 piece. I estimated the weight of the gold minus the coin and the stone in the ring that I would remove. I really have no idea what the coin is worth. It’s held in the pendant by prongs, so it’s not permanently in there. It’s in good shape, save for a few nicks and dings. I’m a little wary of storefront jewelers (or should that be “jewelers”) who advertise buying gold. A neighbor went to one and came away with a really bad vibe. But I’m also equally wary of putting the pieces in the mail and sending them halfway across the country.

I understand that you can’t be definitive without seeing the pieces, but would you be able to give me a “ballpark” sense of where I’d stand if I were to send the pieces to you. I’m particularly curious how the coin factors in. I’m writing because I’ve read some good things about your operation on the ‘net. Yeah, it’s the net, so anything should come with a grain of salt/suspicion, but there were some positive responses out there, so I figured…why not throw this out there.

Thanks in advance for your response.

Have a great weekend,

Ron K
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Subject: RE: what to expect?
From: rholley@augustusgold.com
Date: Sun, August 09, 2009 12:25 am
To: “Ron K”

Ron,

Thank you for your email.  It sounds like you’ve got quite a bit of stored value in the items you have to sell, and I’m very glad you contacted us rather than being taken in by some of those TV ads- We’ll get you a much better price for them.

As far as the ‘ballpark price’ you’re asking for, it sounds like the 3oz will be somewhere between $650-1175 depending on the precise karat value, and the bezel around the coin will add some ($40-75?). If the items were all 14k, I would go so far as to say pretty close to $920 plus another $50 for the bezel.

The coin is 90% gold- 1/2 ozt. so the coin itself should be worth about $250-350. The coin could actually be worth more than just the gold value depending on the condition, but we’ve almost always found that coins stuck in bezels like that for decades degrades the collectible value of the coins terribly.

It has been our experience that most jewelers will not offer you estimates like this sight unseen… They will insist that they are doing you a favor by not telling you unless they can see the items in person ‘because they could have more value depending on the possibility of them being suitable for resale.’ It is such a dishonest tactic that it just makes me mad talking about it! These guys just want to get you down to their store so they can size you up to see how much they thnk you know about what you’re doing…. and they want to see if you look desperate enough to take whatever little amount of money they pull out of their cash register. We have even seen jewelers who were prominent and thought to be trustworthy do the same thing…. They look both ways, and if they don’t think anybody else is looking, they’ll buy the items for 15-25% of spot. It has also been our experience that the higher the total value of your items is, the more willing they are to put the screws to you.

I’m sure you already planned on doing this, but this is what I would do if I were you… If you’re up for a good laugh, take all your items to a local jeweler. I tell people this all the time, and hearing the stories they come back with always renews my faith in the retail jewelry community.

Do this for both of us, and we’ll be friends for a long time. Just promise me that we can use your testimonial about this on our new website that should roll out soon…

Best regards,

Ray A J Holley
Co-Founder
Precious Metals Exchange, Inc
c/o Augustus Gold
6324 N Chatham Ave 112
Kansas City, MO 64151-2473
888.839.2851 office
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from Ron K
to Admin AugustusGold
date Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 11:33 AM
subject RE: Ray Holley from Augustus Gold

Hi Ray-

Sorry it’s taken me a bit to get back with you…it’s been a crazy week. Thanks for the detailed (and entertaining) response to my initial query. I did as you said to do and visited a local jeweler that advertises (everywhere—on billboards, in the paper, with a guy spinning a sign outside the strip mall where the store is located) that they buy gold. What an experience.

I was greeted by an attractive young woman who immediately asked if I had anything to sell “today.” I told her that I lived around the corner (true), had seen their signs (how could I miss them), and was curious about what I might get for the pieces of jewelry I had with me. I might note that I did not exactly dress up for the occasion—soccer jersey, shorts, backward baseball cap. She took my envelope beck behind the counter and started weighing the items. She asked if I’d been shopping around (I said “no”), if I was wanting to sell “today” (I told her that I was going to need to talk with my wife first), and whether I’d done any research (I fudged here and said “no” again). She came back with a price of $550…”today.” I then asked whether the coin was more valuable than its weight. She hemmed and hawed and said she needed to get “her boss.” The boss slithered out of his office, gave a limp handshake, asked (again) if I wanted to sell “today,” and then re-examined everything…coming back with a price of “about $1000” for everything. He also said he’d beat any local price and would top it off with a $5 gas card for my trouble if I sold to him. I asked him for a card and if he could write down the estimate so I could go elsewhere and be above board with things. He refused. I told him I’d look around and get back with him. I will on the 1st…of never. I felt like I needed to take a shower when I got home.

So needless to say, I appreciate your openness even more, and am about ready to embark on the process to send my pieces to you. I have someone here interested in buying the coin from me, so I’m going to give him a day or so to think about it, and then I’ll need to get the bezel back from him and get everything packaged and ready to send your way.

You were dead on with this process…way, way worse than trying to buy a car. So again, I appreciate your open and friendly communication. I’ll be sending my stuff your way at the beginning of next week.

Thanks, and have a great weekend!

Ron

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Now, that’s classic.