Estate Jewelry Making Equipment & Gemstone Inventory - Appraisal & Value

Question
My deceased uncle was a semi professional jewelry maker. He left me all of his equipment and raw materials. I have a saw, a machine that uses diamond plates for grinding and polishing down to a final machine that is a maple wood lathe for the finest polishing. Most important I have many containers of raw materials. He traveled the states on vacations seeking the best materials available. I have a large container of tiger eye, amethyst, and many others. Most of these are cut into slices about 1/4 thick, and generally 2" wide by 6" to 8" long. He would cut out from these in shapes and polish until it was a smooth beautiful shining gem. My question is how can I determine the value of this raw material and the equipment? Thanks for any information you can share.

Answer
To determine the value of these items, you'll have to take two different approaches...one for the equipment and one for the materials. For the equipment, I recommend looking up the equipment to see if you can find them being sold online in places like ebay or in online classified listings. You might also contact the manufacturers to learn more about them. They may be able to point you in the direction of resellers who may be interested. Local jewelers and lapidaries may be another option worth exploring. If they don't want the equipment themselves, they may know others who do.

For the materials, it would help to have someone look at it to determine the quality and if possible verify authenticity. I'd probably focus on lapidaries, jewelers, and jewelry designers. Many jewelers stick with their established sources and usually aren't very open to change, but the popularity of alternative and designer jewelry has produced many new independent jewelry designers who are always looking for new materials to work with and create something unique.

I can't be of much more help than this. Hope it helps. Good luck!