I paid £2 for an antique shop ring – people said it could be worth £1k so I got it valued & was stunned by the results
SHE picked up a cute ring for just £2 from an antique shop 10 years ago.
But after one woman found herself inundated with requests to get the ring valued, she started to wonder whether or not it could actually be worth some cash.
“I’ve had this ring probably close on 10 years,” she said in a video on her TikTok page.
“I paid £2 for it initially when I first bought it from an antique shop, and it’s just been sat on my shelf ever since then.”
She’s even nearly thrown it away a few times, because she’s just “forgotten it’s there”.
“Then I decided to Google Lens it yesterday, and it came up with listings that started at about £370 and went all up to £1000,” she continued.
“Now I’m taking it to go and be valued today, so hopefully we’ll get a rough estimate.”
Eleanor added she thinks the band is gold because it’s got marking on it, but wasn’t sure whether the stones were actually ruby and diamond – as they appeared to be.
“Could it be worth up to £1000? Who knows?” she mused.
“These are just some of the listings that come up, and they look absolutely identical, but we’ll see.”
“Imagine the mental profit % if it is though!” she added in the video caption.
She then returned to TikTok a few days later after getting the ring valued at a few different places so she could get an average.
While the value they gave differed, she explained they were all set on what the ring was made of – 9 carat gold, ruby and diamond.
“The value in gold weight alone is between £45 and £50, depending where you went,” Eleanor added.
“But the resale value, you’re looking anywhere from about £200 to upwards of £500.
“And it’s basically gonna be whatever people are willing to pay for it.”
Having looked online, she said the value she was going to go for was about £350, and was considering putting it up at auction.
She captioned the video: “POV: You thought you were just popping into the antique shop for a browse and accidentally walked out with a £500 ring for £2.
Top charity shop tips for bagging a bargain
Ross Dutton has been a manager for Crisis's charity shops for four years and currently runs the charity's Finsbury Park shop in London.
Choose your area – As a rule of thumb, the posher the area, the better quality the clothes that are donated.
Don’t hang around – If you see something you like, buy it, as it’ll likely be gone when you come back
Look out for cut-off labels – Some of your favourite high street stores will have deals with local charity shops to donate stock that isn’t sold during their own sales. Often part of the deal is that they need to cut the labels off the clothes.
Stay at home – While some charities have their own site, like Oxfam and Crisis. many also sell from dedicated eBay stores, such as British Heart Foundation and Scope. You won’t get the range of bargains that you would get in a physical store, but if you’re looking for something specific it may be worth checking online too.
“I’m basically a treasure hunter now!”
People were quick to comment on the TikToks too, with one writing: “I have that ring my husband paid £80 secondhand.
“It is my engagement ring and I love it.”
“Don’t sell it, just keep it, it will always be worth more than you paid for it,” another added.
“Used retail would be around £300, trade price to sell around £100-130 used, private price around £200.”
“I’d pay around £350-£370, it’s lovely,” a third commented.
” If you auction it with a starting bid of £5,” someone else said.
“You will get a real interest.”
The reseller explained that since she’s started her TwistedTreasures business – alongside her brother and sister – she’s inspired her nine-year-old daughter to try and do the same in a bid to raise some money for a new PC.
Eleanor also buys clothes in bulk from a local charity shop and does hand embroidery on them to sell and stop them going to landfill.