San Diego Jewelry Buyers — Local services in San Diego

I had inherited several diamond rings from my mom and wanted to get the maximum I could. Of course I knew zero about diamonds. I had the stones removed from the settings and sent to GIA to be graded. Once I had the GIA certificates I sent the the GIA certs to 14 companies, 9 local (SD to LA areas) and 5 out of state. Anyone worth their salt will be able to give you a ball park price as to what they will pay for a stone as long as it is at least a VS2, F and has little or no Florescence. Yes I now know way more than I want to know about diamonds and I still do not know squat.

I got the price ranges from several places with only a few not being interested at all and we are talking about $20,000.00 worth in just 2 stones… So I took them to Kevin as he gave me the highest price range and he was in SD and I am in North County. I liked that he had a real store in the heart of the SD Diamond district and not having me meet in some rented office like others suggested. While places out of state have good reputations I just could not trust shipping these. Kevin was great, we were in plain view of our stones the whole time and he explained the GIA cert in greater detail and showed us the difference in values between the 2 stones (one at $14.5K). We could clearly see why the values were what they were and learned why a stone that glows a strong blue under florescent light is not worth nearly as much as one that has no florescence.

His final offer was in the middle of his range which is what I expected as I knew from the GIA cert that there were some imperfections in the center of the larger stone and the blue florescence of the smaller stone was a real killer. I was happy to take his offers as they were either higher than what others estimated or right in the same price point. We all have to make money and I am super glad that Kevin walked us through the process. I will for SURE bring him all my business in the future.

Parking is a pain down there, but there is a pay lot right across the street for Kevin’s shop. You can park on the street, but the meters are only 15 minutes in duration, so you have to feed and even move your car if the meter maid comes by.

I also sold Kevin my 1988 Rolex Daytona while I was there as I had it with me on the way to another meeting with a buyer. Kevin surprised me with his knowledge of Cosmographs and I got top dollar (again enough to make it worth Kevin reselling it as well) or at least the same price others were quoting me… and I am a Rolex collector so I know a good price when I see it.

Kevin is an honest and nice guy to deal with. I am guessing that this is a family business as well which makes me like them even more. This was so much easier and pleasant than trying to drive hours to LA or ship the items and hope you get them back or payment of any value.

My advice is get the GIA cert and contact different shops… then when you are ready to actually sell, make Kevin your first stop… I am sure it will be your only stop as well. Best prices offered and superior service by far!

Thanks...

The lady working there seemed very cool and nice. However I took in my grandmother's as antique jewelry, like a 3 tiered with over 10 garnets in gold cocktail ring, along with another gold ring that had 4 rubies in it. She counted them as scrap gold only. She was going to give me less than $300 for a huge pile of silver (she scraped it all- some antique with authentic turquoise stones), the 2 rings mentioned above, along w a few other white gold rings w stones other than diamonds (also antique) and and a modern white gold necklace and pendant w 15 diamonds in it! So we went to pawn shop today- sold only 7 of the close to 100 items she was going to accept and we were got $500 for them. They counted & paid for all diamonds, as well as tested the metals. She was going solely on what was marked on the jewelry, refusing a lot of the antiques that I had because they were not marked. Also, they should say they will only accept antiques that are big diamonds, or gold...even then only offer scrap price or less. Very disappointed but pawn shop proved reputable so at least...

Mr. Alex was very honest about the deal he was giving me on all of my jewelry. He gave me the option to go leave and find other jewelers to sell to see what offers they would give me for various items I was trying to sell. I sold a lot of gold, gemstones, and some pearls and the deal was a lot higher then a few other places I went to. Some places won’t even accept my jewelry; even though it was in great condition barely wore out the box! He gave me an understanding of the jewelry industry and the differences between shops like this one vs the typical Macy’s, Dillard’s, Kay’s jewelry etc. very important information so I recommend doing your homework before you buy from any of those kinds of stores! I really appreciate Mr. Alex’s honesty and advise even if I wasn’t going to sell to him. I would definitely recommend this store to buy or sell any jewelry 5/5 you’re going to get a genuine offer with respect...