Some of you are curious about how the pawn industry works.
When they try to read pawn shop reviews in Hollywood, they become inquisitive about what to expect when they do pawn jewelry.
Most of these people are wondering what the pawn shop is looking for when it examines a piece of jewelry. Or they are curious of how the store determines the value or price of an item.
What are the types of jewelry that you can pawn?
It depends on the kind of metal the item is made of. When you read about pawn shop reviews in Hollywood, you will know that every store accepts gold jewelry. Unfortunately, pawn shops don’t take gold-plated items.
Gold is a precious metal, and it has a significant intrinsic value. That is, pawn shops can melt it anytime to get their money back. So when you pawn a gold-plated jewelry, the store can’t melt it. There is little value in it that is sufficient to loan against.
Some pawn shops, not all, would take silver jewelry. The amount of silver is less than the gold’s value. The small value will make it more difficult for pawn shops to loan on. But if you bring in a lot of silver at a time, pawn shops would accept them.
However, you need to keep in mind that silver is worth less than gold. That said, don’t think that the pawnbroker is just trying to rip you off.
Evaluating the jewelry
The pawn shop does not work like a jewelry shop. It evaluates the item based on its actual value. That is its weight and the purity of it.
Gold can be made in 10k, 14k, and 18k. The karat (k) is the gold’s purity. It means the amount of gold present versus the other metals that make up the jewelry.
Another thing that a pawn shop looks at when it evaluates a piece of jewelry is the stone. Does it have diamonds, fake diamonds, or semi-precious stones?
Typically, pawn shops are after with the diamonds. They usually go with diamonds that are .25 carat or larger.
Fake diamonds have no value to pawn shops while birthstones have tiny value.
When evaluating your jewelry, the pawn shop will combine the total value of the gold or silver and the stones before it makes an offer.
Most of the time, the offer is between 60 percent and 70 percent of the final value of the time.
Because of these factors, some people would assume that pawn shops are just trying to rip them off. But it’s not true. These shops would only give a realistic value of your item, and it is entirely different from the marked value provided by a jewelry store.