How Much Money Are Old Class Rings Worth?
If you search for “class rings” on eBay, you are going to find a lot of them for sale. There are old high school rings and old college rings. And if you visit a junk shop, an antique store or even a pawnshop, chances are you will find class rings for sale in them too. Why? There are a lot of reasons. Sometimes when people need cash, an old school ring is the first thing they think of selling. And then there is the unfortunate fact that when people pass away, their heirs often end up with the deceased person’s valuables, which often include a class ring or two.
The Anatomy of a Typical High School or College Class Ring
You don’t need to concern yourself with the gemstone that a ring contains. It is almost certainly glass, so you can pry it out and toss it. Then, it is time to figure out how much gold the ring contains and how much it is worth.
If you take a close look at an old class ring, there is a high probability that it is stamped as being made of 10k (10 karat) gold. Most all of them were. As you have read before on this blog, that 10k rating means the ring is made of 41.66% pure gold. So if the ring weighs 20 grams (a typical weight for a class ring), that means that you are looking at 8.33 grams of pure gold.
Now you have to do a little converting because those 8.33 grams of pure gold will equal 0.2678157 Troy Ounces of gold. (You need to do this conversion because trading prices for gold are reported in Troy Ounces.) And if for example, one Troy Ounce of gold is trading on the London Fix for $1,659.20. So after you have crunched those numbers, you will determine that the gold in that ring is worth about $423.00 at current trading prices.
So the bottom line is, read the karat rating that is almost certainly stamped on the ring, then weigh the ring, then determine how much gold it contains, then determine how much that gold is worth at current trading prices.
What Are Old Gold Class Rings Selling For?
Now if you go back onto eBay and search for 10k gold class rings, you will discover pretty quickly that most of them are being sold for prices that are pretty close to that $423.00 price point that we mentioned just above. (Smaller ones are selling for less, bigger ones for more . . . but that is obvious.)
The fact is, nobody is giving away money by selling a gold ring for less than what the gold it contains is worth. Why would they?
But there are still places where you can buy old class rings for prices that undercut the value of the gold they contain. You can sometimes find them selling for low prices in antique stores, for example, or at garage or estate sales. And if you do, we suggest that you buy as many of them as you can.
Then call our expert precious metal consultants at 800-426-2344. Although the karat stampings on a class ring are generally reliable, you will want to have us test that ring for you so you will know exactly how much gold it contains, and what that gold is worth at current trading prices.
Another good thing about class rings is that they are small and easy to send to us for testing or, if you decide, recycling.
So, is there money to be made in old class rings? The answer is, it could well be, provided you don’t buy them for more than what the gold they contain is worth. So keep your eyes open and when one of them comes along, be ready to buy it if the price is right.