An older woman's hands opening a jewelry box
The Appraiser's Playbook · First Edition · 2026

Your jewelry box knows more than the man behind the counter wants you to.

“This isn't a book about selling your mother's jewelry. It's a book about never letting anyone take it for less than it's worth — whether you sell one piece, insure the rest, or pass every bit of it down.”

— Diane Whitmore

The lowball offer works for one reason: the buyer knows what your pieces are worth, and he's betting you don't. This is the 109-page reference that ends that bet — every hallmark, every test you can do at the kitchen table, every number a dealer hopes you never learn.

  • $37 once — no subscription
  • 30-day keep-the-book guarantee
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Launch price $37 — ends Sunday 11:59 PM --d --h --m --s
A pawn shop counter with a written offer slip
01 — The first offer

The first offer is never the real number.

When a Florida TV station took an identical set of jewelry, appraised at $1,722, to four different buyers, the offers ran from $525 to $1,200. Same pieces. Same day. And one buyer raised his offer from $1,050 to $1,200 when the seller simply pushed back. The number on the slip isn't what your jewelry is worth. It's what the buyer hopes you'll take.

Appraised value of the set$1,722
Highest first offer — after the seller pushed back$1,200
Lowest first offer — same jewelry, same day$525

Documented by a Florida TV station's hidden-shopper test. Your pieces, your town, and the day's gold price all move these numbers.

The gap between $525 and $1,200 wasn't the jewelry. It was what the seller knew.

The printed Appraiser's Playbook 109 PAGES · PDF · 2026
02 — The book

What the jewelry in your jewelry box is really worth — costume and fine.

Nineteen chapters in nine parts. The maker's marks that turn costume into cash. The kitchen-table tests for gold, silver, stones, and Bakelite. What dealers actually pay, where to sell, who to trust with an appraisal — and exactly what to say when the offer comes in low.

It's illustrated, it's in plain English, and it's in the order you'll actually need it: sort the box first, read the marks second, and never talk price until you know your number.

See all 19 chapters ↓
03 — The offer

Everything you need before anyone weighs your gold.

  • The Appraiser's Playbook — 109-page illustrated PDF$59
  • Bonus: The Jewelry Box Triage Checklist — printable one-page sort$17
  • Bonus: 12 Questions To Ask Any Buyer Before You Sell — red-flags sheet$14
  • Bonus: The Trusted-Venue Directory & Fee Sheet — where to sell, what they charge$19
Total value $109
$37$59
Launch price — ends Sunday · Pay once · Yours forever
Get the Playbook — $37 →
30
DAY 30 days, no questions. Email Diane and the $37 comes back the same day. The Playbook stays yours.
Launch price ends Sunday 11:59 PM--d --h --m --s
04 — The arithmetic

The arithmetic of the first offer.

The Playbook isn't priced against other books. It's priced against what walking in unprepared costs. Here's the same jewelry, two ways.

Take the first offer
The TV-station set, appraised at $1,722
Lowest first offer: $525
Pawn shops commonly pay 30–60%
of melt value alone
What never gets asked: $0
Up to $1,197 left on the counter
on one set of jewelry
Read the book first
The Playbook, once: $37
Reputable competitive buyers
pay 70–85% of value
One push-back in the same test
moved the offer $1,050 → $1,200
One push-back: +$150
four times the price of the book

Here is the entire bet: the first time a written second offer beats the first offer by more than $37, the book has paid for itself. Everything after that is yours. And to be plain about it — your pieces, your town, and the day's gold price all move these numbers. Nobody can promise you a figure. The book's job is to make sure the figure you get is the real one.

“Take one gold chain you own, weigh it, and do the arithmetic in chapter nine — before anyone else weighs it for you.”

Appraisal-vs-offer figures: a Florida TV station's documented hidden-shopper test, identical jewelry taken to four buyers.
Percentage ranges: commonly reported buyer margins; every figure varies by piece, buyer, and the day's metal prices.

A loupe held over a hallmark
05 — What's inside

Nineteen chapters. Nine parts. In the order you'll need them.

PART I2 CH.

Start Here: The Jewelry Box Triage

  • The 10-Minute Sort That Finds the Money
  • What Never To Throw Away (Or Send To Goodwill)
PART II3 CH.

The Marks That Matter

  • Flip It Over: Hallmarks, Maker's Marks, and Signatures
  • Trifari, Haskell, Weiss: Names That Turn Costume Into Cash
  • The Hot-Water Test and Other Bakelite Tricks
PART III1 CH.

Ugly Pieces Worth A Fortune

  • Why the Ugliest Brooch in the Box Sells First
PART IV2 CH.

Real Or Costume

  • Gold, Gold-Filled, or Gold-Tone: Reading the Tiny Numbers
  • Is That Stone Real? Checks You Can Do at the Kitchen Table
PART V2 CH.

What Dealers Actually Pay

  • The 50% Problem
  • Why the First Offer Is Never the Real Number
PART VI3 CH.

Where To Sell

  • Where To Actually Sell It (Not eBay — Unless It Is)
  • Auction Houses, Consignment, and Specialty Buyers: Fees Compared
  • Selling Gold and Silver Without Getting Skinned
PART VII2 CH.

Getting It Appraised

  • Who To Trust With an Appraisal — and What It Should Cost
  • Verbal or Written: Which Appraisal You Actually Need
PART VIII2 CH.

Never Take The First Offer

  • What To Say When the Dealer Lowballs You
  • Walking Away: The Move That Raises the Price
PART IX2 CH.

Protecting The Collection

  • Write It Down: The Inventory Your Family Will Thank You For
  • Insurance, Photographs, and Passing It Down Without a Fight

You don't have to do all of it. Sort the box, read the marks, know your number before anyone else does — that alone changes every conversation that follows.

A jeweler's loupe held over a tiny hallmark stamp
Flip it over. The back tells the truth.
06 — The quiet advantage

Look it over with a loupe before anyone else does.

Most of what decides value is already sitting in your drawer, stamped in letters smaller than a grain of rice. A signature that reads Trifari or Miriam Haskell. A tiny 750 or 14K on the clasp. The warm-water smell test that separates real Bakelite from plastic that only looks like it.

None of it takes equipment beyond a $10 loupe and your own kitchen table. What it takes is knowing what to look for — and that's a thing you can learn in an afternoon, from a book, before you ever stand at a counter.

Handed-down pieces, estate sale finds, the costume jewelry your grandmother kept in the good box — the Playbook treats them all the same way: check the marks, run the tests, know the number.

07 — From the viewers

The jewelry boxes are real. So is the problem.

These are comments, verbatim, from viewers of the channel this book grew from. They're not buyer reviews — the book is new. They're the reason it exists.

I have ten bakelite bracelets, a pin with cherries, and a lot of Trifari. Love jewelry! Thank you.

Channel viewer

Even jewelers will not give you near what your stones are worth

Channel viewer

When selling jewellery you NEVER get what it's worth... The worst mistake is selling to a pawn shop. You'll get less that 50% of the value.

Channel viewer

I am a boomer and have a very old cameo that I inherited from my grandmother-in-law... I have no idea where or how I could get it appraised, though.

Channel viewer

I used to make headpieces for the ballet. I would roam second hand stores... Guess I need to take a second look.

Channel viewer

I felt like I was playing with my Granma's jewellery, in front of her big old dressing table 60 years ago.

Channel viewer

Buyer results will appear here as they come in.

Diane Whitmore at an estate table, examining a piece through a loupe
08 — The author

Diane Whitmore

Twenty years buying estate jewelry across the Midwest

“I've spent twenty years buying estate jewelry across the Midwest. I've seen what dealers pay, and I've seen what widows accept — and I made this channel so you never take the first offer.”

I've sat on the buying side of the table. I know what the trade pays, what it offers, and how wide the space between those two numbers can get when the seller doesn't know her pieces. The Playbook is that space, written down.

This book is the channel's teaching, organized — every test, every mark, every number, in the order you'll actually need them.

09 — Plain terms

$37 once. No subscription. Yours forever.

  • The Appraiser's Playbook — 109-page illustrated PDF$59
  • The Jewelry Box Triage Checklist$17
  • 12 Questions To Ask Any Buyer Before You Sell$14
  • The Trusted-Venue Directory & Fee Sheet$19
Total value $109
$37$59
No app · No login · A PDF you can keep, print, and hand down
Get the Playbook — $37 →
30
DAY 30 days, no questions. Email Diane and the $37 comes back the same day. The Playbook stays yours.
Launch price ends Sunday 11:59 PM--d --h --m --s
10 — Before you ask

Plain answers.

Most of it, yes — scattered across dozens of videos in no particular order. The Playbook is the channel's teaching, organized: every test, every mark, every number, in the sequence you'll actually use them, with the fee tables and the word-for-word scripts that don't fit in a video. You're paying $37 for the order, the completeness, and a reference you can hold open at the counter.

Then don't — knowing what it's worth doesn't mean selling it. Most readers won't sell a thing. But the inventory chapter means your family will know what's real, the insurance chapter means the good pieces are covered, and if a day ever comes when something must be sold, nobody in your family takes the first offer.

It's a plain PDF — the same kind of file a recipe or a bank statement comes in. No app to install, no account, no password, no subscription, and nothing locking it down. It opens on any computer, tablet, or phone, and you can print the whole thing and keep it in a drawer with the jewelry if you like.

That's exactly the box this book was written for. Signed costume is where the surprises hide — a Trifari, Haskell, or Weiss signature on the back of a piece that looks ordinary can be worth many times what the plain gold chain next to it brings. Part II shows you which names matter and where to find them. The ugliest brooch in the box is often the first thing a dealer reaches for.

You have 30 days, no questions. Email Diane and the $37 comes back the same day. The Playbook stays yours either way — refund or not, you keep the book and all three bonus sheets.

Volume II is already underway: The China Cabinet Playbook — Depression glass, Pyrex, milk glass, and the rest of what's sitting in the hutch. Playbook owners get first notice when it's ready, and a discount that won't be offered anywhere else.

An older woman's hands resting on an open jewelry box
Last call

Somebody will name the price for your jewelry. Make sure it's you.

The buyer across the counter already knows what your pieces are worth. For $37, so will you — before the box ever leaves the house.

Get the Playbook — $37 →
$37 $59 Launch price — ends Sunday