Mark Goodge wrote:
On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:49:26 -0800 (PST), Gary Baldi put

My mother-in-law went into 2 local jewellers to value an early 19th
century 22ct ring (a big bugger too) plus diamond
One said £307, one said £312.
She said to the one offering £312, ok, I'll take it..........at which
point she was advised that the scrap value was about £40 and that's
all they would pay.

When most people ask for a valuation, what they most commonly need it
for is for insurance purposes. And in that case, the value that
matters is what it would cost to replace it, not what you would get if
you sold it.

Plus the high street jeweller is probably not in the business of selling
second-hand stuff. Hence they offer an opinion of what it might fetch at
auction or whatever, but they're not interested in buying it themselves.

Pete