Sister getting a divorce – debating on selling her wedding ring?

I'm of the mindset that you don't keep stuff like this around "just in case". It creates unnecessary clutter in the physical realm as well as the emotional realm. Does she have kids with this man? My mom saved the diamonds from her first wedding ring and made cufflinks with them for my brother, whose father was her first husband. Or if she is close to her ex's mother or family member, she could repurpose it into some kind of gift for them.

They may also decide to give all gifts back to each other in the divorce process so this is too early to be thinking about, honestly. The rings seal the deal in the contract of marriage and now that contract is being broken. There may be different rules for things like that depending on the state.

Some independent jewelers will appraise the stones and offer her cash. She should call a couple places in her area.

Yes I sold my engagement ring. I had no qualms about it and I needed the extra cash.

If she sells it privately on a site like eBay she will be able to get more for it, but obviously it will take longer for her to sell.

If she goes to a jeweler, they might offer to buy it in the spot, but she will most likely only get 25% of what was originally paid. For reference, my engagement ring had a .75 round solitaire and was set in white gold with pave down the shank. It cost 3300. I happily unloaded it for 800.

Are we taking a solitaire diamond or a wedding band with small diamonds?

My FH struggled to sell his ex-wife's ring after his divorce. Jewelers were offering him 1/3 or less than what he paid, and no one was responsive on Craigslist or other sites. I believe he ended up selling it for one of those cash for gold type places and they gave him more than he would have gotten anywhere else but still substantially less than what he paid.

The resale value of her rings is likely a little less than half of what she paid. Her best bet of getting the most cash is for her to sell it on idonowidont.com. I wanted to buy my engagement ring from there or a pawn shop but my FI believes in things taking on bad luck.

Honestly, it probably is not worth the effort for her to sell it. It's far better to repurpose it after the divorce. I second pp who mentioned that she needs to wait on the settlement agreement.

I will add that used wedding bands are a much harder sell. Sometimes people will buy a used engagement ring for the stone, and take the diamond out to re set in another setting. There is not much you can do with a wedding band in terms of making it your own.

Source : I used to work for an engagement ring manufacturer

I would sell it but would wait until the divorce was finalized.

Yeah, she should wait until it's final in case he or his lawyer demand it back.

From there.... I highly doubt she'll regret it.

I gave my engagement ring and the wedding ring I had purchased for my fiance from my first engagement back to my ex, in part because it was a gift from his mom (not her old wedding ring but one of her old rings), and in part because I thought it held more sentimental value to him then I could sale it for. Yes, he broke off the engagement with me and not the other way around, but he had a lot of problems at the time and I know for a fact that he later came to regret it. I just needed to get the rings out of my life and he wanted them, so it was an easy decision to make to give them to him... plus, tbh, it's not like they were worth a ton anyway. You normally don't get much at all from old jewelry.

She could go around and see what she can get for it than decide what she wants to do. My mom and her husband both kept all of the rings from previous marriages, I have no idea why, but they are all in their jewelry boxes. And who knows, they may hold more value some day than they do today.

To answer your question about where to sale them, I do see people doing pretty well on online facebook sale pages. A pawn shop is most likely going to offer the value of the gold and diamonds and nothing for the design of the ring, as most of the larger ones send them off to get melted down anyway.

I would say that if it's a family heirloom on either side,it should stay in the family. I kept mine but my divorce was very amicable. If that hadn't been the case, I would have given it back.

I think it really is up to her, but as others have said, you don't get a lot for old jewels unless the stones are spectacular.

Circa.com is another site that buys them.

Cash them in and give the $ to a good cause. If they are heirlooms give them back to the Ex. Move on with your life.

@Nancy

- it's her sister's ring

- not hers

- she just said her sister needs cash so I'm fairly sure charity's not on the horizon

I got married way too young and we divorced after a year. I sold my rings and to this day I don't regret selling them! Unless you have kids with that person.. I'd save it for them.

Tell her to save at least one wedding photo!

I made my dad keep one at his house so when my kids are older and hey ask about my first marriage I can show them

@ A: I read the scenario. I am aware that the rings are her sister's. she asked for an opinion and I gave it. My advice is the same. Sell the rings and give the money to a charity. This might make the sister feel good that she had done something nice for somebody else. Positive from a negative. Heirloom rings should go back to the EX.

I know someone who had two bands in her set and turned them into hoop earrings, but sold the engagement ring.

For my previous set I was going to sell it, but did not get an offer I was willing to accept. For now I'll hang onto it and maybe try again later to sell it. I can't imagine regretting the decision to sell mine after the fact, but it will definitely depend on the individual.

I would definitely wait until the divorce was final though.

When I got divorced, I went to a local jeweler. He gave me the "meltdown" value as a discount on a new ring. He took the diamond from that e-ring, I purchased a turquoise, and they made the 2 stones in to a "mother's ring" for me (thankfully, I had a son born in April, so I used the diamond for that! I wore this ring on my left hand until.......

When FH gave me my current e-ring, I took the mother's ring that I had been wearing, and he set each of the stones in a setting that I wear on a necklace on each side of another necklace bauble that FH had given me. It looks really good, and I love it!

I have all the rings from my previous marriage, they weren't worth enough to bother selling when I looked into it.

Sell the diamonds to a jeweler. Sell the gold to a cash for gold place after researching their reputation and the price of gold

Thank you all for all the responses! I haven't had a chance to write back yet. I talked to my sister about all your thoughts and she eventually decided to sell her ring (once the divorce was finalized). She tried through ebay but she didn't get any feedback, but managed to sell it on worthy.com.

thanks again!