The first gold strike of the 2013 yard sale season happened on a Thursday morning in May. With my yard sale list in hand, I set out on a grey, rainy morning. The sale took about 10 minutes to arrive for the opening. Now, this yard sale ad said jewelry, so I knew it was there. As I entered the garage, I saw some jewelry, but there wasn’t any gold or silver in this batch. As I was getting ready to exit the garage, the gentleman and lady running the sale told me to go over to the other bay of the garage. It was separated by a wall.
As I turned the corner, my luck turned to golden. As I entered this other bay, I spotted more jewelry. As I was looking through the jewelry, the lady told me it was her excess jewelry she never wears. She traveled a lot and bought jewelry everywhere she visited. She no longer wanted these pieces, so she was selling them. She had some spread out on the table and some pieces were in two shoe boxes. I found a few pieces of sterling silver on the table and while searching the shoebox, a ring caught my eye. I quickly picked it up, searching for a mark. Just as I suspected, it was marked 10KT on the inside of the band. It cost me 25 cents.
Here are the specifics on the ring. It is 10KT yellow gold with a red stone (I didn’t test the stone). It weighed 1.44 grams. Although there were 2 small chips in the stone (under 20X magnification), it sold on November 28, 2013 for $30, minus the initial purchase price and eBay fees, it was a profit of $25.25 for me on this ring.
It was a great way to ring in the season with the first gold strike.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting,
~Vicki Priebe
Author of "Cheap Gold and Silver"