Hello, New here and I just wanted to introduce myself

I’m so glad I found you all! I adore turquoise, all Native American jewelry, and really, I just love all jewelry, stones and crystals.

My love for turquoise and Native American jewelry began in the 1970’s, on the many road trips my parents and siblings would make from California to Louisiana.

We’d drive through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and into Louisiana, and my father would always stop at venders along the roadsude, and sonetimes We’d go to stores full of Native American jewelry.

My father always gave me something. And thats how i began loving adorning nyself with jewelry.

Many pieces have been lost over the years, but i still have a few from my youth. Sentimental at best, but I still wear them occasionally and look at them with fondness for the gift my father whose no longer with us, gave me.

I have a small collection of Native jewelry, some basic, some cheap. But all that i love to mix and wear.

I havent been able to get a dream piece yet. And that would be a big heavy squash necklace. But i dream about it!

I have a genetic diease called hypermobile Ehlers Danlos, which is a connective tissue and collegon disorder, and it affects my mobility, so finding pieces i love for good deals online, is how I’ve grown my jewelry collection, over time.

I read, research, and try to find what I feel drawn too, and its been hit and miss, I think.

So, I look forward to sharing some of it with all of you more experienced and knowledgeable collectors, get some honest opinions, and I hope to learn a lot from you all!

Thanks for reading this far, if you have, and I look forward to more communication.

Best wishes,
Gia

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Welcome to Turquoise People! You can really learn a lot from this site. It will especially help you with online shopping. :pray: for your health!

I also have pieces from my deceased parents that mean a lot to me, and I love to wear them in their memory. Glad you joined us!

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Welcome @Gia . Check out some of the online auctions for NA jewelry. Familiarize yourself with the online shop prices and watch items you are interested in. Many of your bidders are shops and a collector can always outbid a shop since they typically have to mark it up triple what they paid.

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Can confirm the same logic for coins. Companies hammer it for some price, and have to add about 40% for premium, fees and taxes. Then they double this price for sale.

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Thanks so much for the warm welcome, all of you! And the valuble tips! Interesting that you mentioned about coins. My grandfather began gifting me with coins in my early childhood and i recently got them back (they were locked in my mothers floor safe) and theres a big bag full. I have yet to go through them and try to research their worth. Thats next on my to do list. :upside_down_face:

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Ive been an antique and jewelry consultant since the 1980s and am still advising clients so they do not get ripped off. Here is my 2 cents worth @Gia if you are looking to sell them.

Coins are a magnet for unscrupulous dealers. I advise you to become familiar with PCGS and NGC coin grading services. Go through your coins and compare them to the price guides. Look for key dates that have high values. Invest in even a low cost magnifier so you can compare grades. Pick out your most valuable and best looking coins and have them graded by PCGS or NGC. People pay higher prices for “slabbed” graded coins. Then contact someone like Heritage Auctions in Dallas to consign them. I’ve used them and have been satisfied.

Never take them to coin dealers, pawn shops, or jewelers. Stick with the known industry professionals.

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I second Heritage, they were so helpful with my father’s large collection of coins and currency. They can advise about grading, what they will buy outright and what should go to auction, etc.

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Thank you both so much for the informative advice, which i will definitely abide by. I am so grateful and appreciative. I don’t know my way around this forum that I’m on from an android phone. I’m not tech savvy and I’m trying to learn that too, but can anyone tell me how to tag the names of those I’d like to respond to, in my replies?

I have an android, and you can hit the reply arrow directly below the member’s comment. Sometimes that doesn’t seem to work for me so I hit the @ button and names of contributors to the thread show up. If the particular person’s name doesn’t show, try typing their first letter next to the @, and it should show. Here’s a screen shot…

@Ziacat Oh, thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it and I’ve got it now, :+1: YAY!

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@StevesTrail thank you so much for your sound advice, it’s much appreciated! Can you tell me what the price range wouod be on a low cost magnifier, and what kind you recommend? Are they available on Amazon Prime?

log into your amazon account and type best magnifier for coin grading into the search bar.

the different types available is staggering so reading the reviews is key.

straight up low tech/low cost would be any handheld magnifier or jewelers loupe with or without onboard lighting.

you can upgrade after you find and sell your 1st unc. gem :sunglasses:

edit to add:

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Thank you very much for the information and the article, @Steve , I appreciate the help and advice!

I think @Steve covered the magnifier issue well. Thanks Steve! And PCGS has photos of just about every coin in the different grades plus a standard coin example in the various grades.

For common circulated coins I’ve been working with a great auction house in the SW. I send all mine there as he gets more than I’ve seen elsewhere. I can PM you the contact info if and when you get to that point.

Just one more: Keep your eye out for error coins.

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Those are brilliant tips. I have some more.
Use these websites and apps to identify your coins

  • Numista
  • MA-Shops
  • Apmex, Numiscorner/CDMA, Leu, cgb.fr
  • Google Lens
  • Coinoscope, Maktun

Get yourself some cheap micro scale, plastic (not metal) sliding caliper and a tiny strong neodymium magnet. All together $25, that’s enough for starters.

And very important, never clean old coins that might carry some value. Cleaning reduces the value to the intrinsic value of the used metal. People have cleaned $1000 dollar silver coins which has cut down the value to $15, maybe some will still pay $100, but rule is simple - don’t treat old coins in any way except you are a professional really knowing what you are doing. In my collection, each coin above metal value gets into a plastic capsule, or similar.

In the US there have been many silver circulation coins which are sometimes really valuable today. Everything before 1971 is potentially silver. Silver is very heavy, that’s a good first indication, along with a magnet test.

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@gt75 @StevesTrail @Steve you’ve all been so helpful, and I’m so appreciative for all of your informative and helpful information! Thank you all so very much!

I truly would have never known all of that information and can see that I probably would have made some really detrimental mistakes had you all not have been so kind as to let me know those wonderful tips. :blush:

Now I’m really excited to purchase the needed items so I can start the journey of identifying all of my coins. It is kind of overwhelming though, because there’s so many.

So thank you all again, and i wish you all a very Happy New Year!

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