I’ll walk a mile in this golden shoe any day. Well, I might get a toe cramp and only have one shoe on, but I’ll take this deal again again. Here’s the scoop. I arrived early one morning to go to a garage sale listed on Craigslist. It turned out this sale never opened. Well, I stayed in the area for what turned out to be a neighborhood yard sale circus. That’s what I like to call them. They have the atmosphere of a circus; lots of people and tons of stuff going on.
I arrived at one house with jewelry, but it was costume jewelry and overpriced. I quickly walked to the house across the street and entered the almost empty garage. As I walked around the table, my eye was drawn to a closed jewelry box.
Here's the Closed Jewelry Box at the Garage Sale.
When I opened it, my eyes bugged out of my head; I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was an 80s Add-A-Bead necklace with 4 gold beads and a pendant. I closed the lid and read $2 on the sticker. I knew this chain was a gold necklace, because I am familiar with these chains. I didn’t need to look for a mark. I bought the necklace and examined it when I got home.
Gold Baby Shoe Pendant and Add A Bead Necklace with 4 Beads.
Here’s what I found: It was a 14K yellow gold Add-A-Bead necklace with 4 gold beads. The baby shoe charm was marked 10K gold inside the shoe.
The necklace was 21.75″ long and weighed 0.9 grams. At the spot price ($1273.90) on the day I listed it on eBay, it would have been $21.72 in scrap gold. The necklace sold on November 24, 2013 for $76.00 plus shipping.
14 K Gold Mark on the Add A Bead Necklace Clasp.
Now, I didn’t sell the baby shoe with the necklace. I figured I’d get more money if I split them up, because not everyone who wants the necklace would want the baby shoe. The baby shoe pendant was marked 10K inside the shoe. It weighed 1.74 grams and measured 0.75″ long. At the spot price ($1273.90) on the day I listed it on eBay, it would have been $29.86 in scrap gold. It sold on eBay for $40 plus shipping on December 25, 2013.
10K Mark Inside the Enamel Baby Shoe Pendant.
So, this deal netted $116 ($76 + $40), not bad for paying only $2.00. That’s a profit of $98 after all the fees and original purchase price. If I sold them as scrap, they would have come to $51.58 X 80% (since it isn’t an ounce in gold, I’d get this amount from my gold buyer) = $41.26. I received $56.74 more than what I’d gotten for scrap, so it was better in my case to sell it as retail jewelry, since there was nothing wrong with the pieces.
Gold Add A Bead Necklace EBay Sold Screen Shot.
Gold Enamel Baby Shoe Pendant EBay Sold Screen Shot.
There are a few take away lessons on this story.
First – Great booty can be found even if a lot of people have visited the sale before you and you didn’t arrive at the sale’s opening.
Second – Open boxes up! Don’t assume what is inside – SEE what’s inside for yourself.
Third – When selling items, some times it is more lucrative to separate items.
I hope you’d walk a mile for this golden shoe. I think that’s what I did during that neighborhood sale circus that morning – walked a mile!
Good Luck and Happy Hunting,
~Vicki Priebe
Author of “Cheap Gold and Silver”
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