Costa Mesa, near Newport Beach
Cash for Gold Jewelry
We buy gold jewelry you no longer wear, in any condition: broken chains, single earrings, dated rings, class rings, inherited pieces. Sort the box by karat stamp at home, then bring it to our Costa Mesa counter.
- 4.7★ from 89+ reviews
- Family-owned since 2007
- Jewelry in any condition
Jewelry box checklist
Before you come in
- Bring
- Valid government-issued photo ID
- Sort
- One pile per karat stamp
- Not solid gold
- GF, GP, HGE, RGP, vermeil
- Stones
- Leave set; priced separately
- Obligation
- None, and no fees
Unsure about a piece? Bring it anyway. An acid or electronic test at the counter shows what it is.
Start with a list
What’s in the jewelry box?
List the pieces and any stamps you can read, and we’ll get back to you. A firm offer comes once the gold is weighed and tested.
Karat
tested, acid or electronic
Weight
measured in front of you
Day’s spot
rate behind the offer
How selling your jewelry works
You don’t need to know what anything is worth before you come in. A little sorting at home helps, and the weighing and testing happen at the counter while you watch.
- 01
Sort the box at home
Take out anything you want to keep. Group the rest by karat stamp and put plated or filled pieces in their own pile. Broken pieces count too.
- 02
Send us a short list
Use the form to tell us what’s in the box and any stamps you can read, and we’ll get back to you.
- 03
Bring it in with photo ID
Bring the jewelry just as it is, with a valid government-issued photo ID, which state law requires to sell jewelry. Your pieces are tested and weighed while you watch.
- 04
Decide on the offer
The offer is built on the day’s spot rate, with stones and settings priced separately. There are no fees, and same-day payment is available if you accept.
Selling at the counter
Same day
Payment is available the day you accept an offer.
- Fees to sell
- None
- Stones & settings
- Priced separately
- Silver & platinum
- Bought at the same counter
- Photo ID to sell
- Valid, government-issued
Visit the shop
1860 Newport Blvd, Costa Mesa, CA 92627
Mon–Fri 10:00am – 4:30pm
After-hours appointments available
Text us: (714) 679-8591
Gold from the jewelry box
Broken chains
Snapped links, knots and missing clasps. Stamps often sit near the clasp.
Single earrings
A lone hoop or stud, with or without its back. Check the post for a stamp.
Dated rings
Styles you no longer wear. Any stones are priced separately.
Class rings
Look inside the band. Some carry a karat stamp; some aren’t gold at all.
Charm bracelets
A charm can be a different karat from the bracelet, or not gold at all.
Inherited pieces
Estate jewelry is bought too. Set aside anything the family wants to keep.
Sorting at home
Sorting the jewelry box by its stamps
Start at a table with good light and your phone’s camera zoomed in. Karat stamps are tiny. Look inside ring bands, on clasps and the small tag beside them, on earring posts and on the backs of pendants and charms. A stamp is a first clue, not proof. Stamps wear thin, vanish with a lost clasp and are sometimes missing on older pieces, which is why gold is tested at the counter before it is priced.
Sort what you find into a few piles: gold with a karat stamp, pieces marked plated or filled, silver, and anything with no mark you can read. Bring the unmarked pile too, since testing settles it, and move anything you want to keep somewhere else first. The piles, and what goes in each:
- Karat-stamped gold
- Anything marked 10K, 14K, 18K or 22K, or 417, 585, 750 or 916. Keep one pile per stamp.
- Plated or filled
- Pieces marked GF, GP, HGE or RGP carry a gold layer over another metal. Give them their own pile.
- Silver and vermeil
- Pieces marked 925 or Sterling, including vermeil, which is gold over sterling silver.
- No readable mark
- Bring these as well. The acid or electronic test at the counter decides whether they are gold.
Stones and pearls
Stones, pearls and the parts that aren’t gold
A scale weighs everything on it. A diamond in a ring, the pearls on a strand, beads, cord and the steel spring inside a clasp all add weight that isn’t gold. That’s why stones and settings are priced separately rather than lumped in with the gold weight. Only the gold is priced as gold.
Diamond pieces are bought as well, so there’s no reason to pry stones out at home. Loose stones are easy to lose. Leave every piece as it is, and if a stone would have to come out, ask about it at the counter before anything is removed.
Pearls are a common case: on a strand, the gold is often just the clasp. Mention pearls, colored stones and any maker’s name when you fill in the form. At the counter, ask how each part of a piece is priced before you decide to sell it.
Karat by karat
How a mixed jewelry-box lot is priced
A jewelry box rarely holds just one karat, and two pieces that weigh the same can hold very different amounts of gold. A gram of 18K holds 0.75 grams of pure gold; a gram of 10K holds about 0.42. Pricing a mixed lot as one lump would blur that difference, so it is sorted by karat and each karat is priced at its own purity.
You can check every input. The scale is in front of you, the test confirms the karat, and the spot rate is public, so you can look it up on your phone. Because the offer follows the day’s spot rate, a figure from another day may differ. If a number doesn’t trace back through the steps below, ask to see it worked out.
- Sort
- Pieces are grouped by karat, so each one is priced at its own purity.
- Weigh
- Each piece or karat group goes on the scale. Spot is quoted per troy ounce, which is 31.1 grams.
- Test
- An acid or electronic test confirms the purity, whatever the stamp says.
- Work out melt value
- Weight × purity × the day’s spot rate is melt value. Gold bought as metal is offered a percentage of it; a well-made piece can be valued as jewelry.
Common questions
Do you buy broken chains and single earrings?
Yes, in any condition: snapped chains, lone earrings, bent rings, rings missing a stone. Broken gold is priced by karat and weight, like the rest of the box.
What do I need to bring?
Just the jewelry and a valid government-issued photo ID, which state law requires to sell jewelry. Bring pieces as they are, tangled or broken, with stones left in their settings.
What happens to the diamonds and other stones?
Stones and settings are priced separately, and diamond pieces are bought as well. Keep stones in their settings when you come in, and ask about any stone before it is taken out.
Do I have to sell everything I bring?
No. There is no obligation and no fee, and you can take everything home. If you only want to sell some pieces, say so at the counter. An offer follows the day’s spot rate, so it may differ if you come back another day.
Can you give me a price before I come in?
A firm offer needs the gold weighed and tested, and it follows that day’s spot rate, so it is made at the counter. A list of pieces and any stamps you can read, sent through the form, lets us talk you through what to expect.