Jewelry industry is a good way to find some pocket money o the side. There are some great websites that you can showcase some of your vintage or handmade jewelry pieces to be sold. One website includes Esty.com, which is a US website.

Selling your old gold jewelry or coins can be a great way to raise cash during the recession, but you should not expect to get the full market value for an ounce of gold if you do so. Instead, you will get a portion of the scrap value.

Buyers melt the gold down, so they will not pay anything for the artisanship or style of the jewelry. Dealers must pay a smelter to melt the gold, which costs up to 30% of the value, and added onto this is the buyer's profit. Also, some gold items are purer than others, with pure 24 karat gold being most valuable.

Operations where you mail in your gold and they mail you back a check are convenient, and the companies promise to return your gold if you're not happy with the price. However, this convenience is expensive because these companies typically offer just 11 to 29% of the meltdown value of the gold.

Though I've had the odd piece of bronze-colored jewelry in the past, I'm only now realizing the beauty of the actual thing when it comes to jewelry. My husband recently received two (yes, coincidentally two!) Panerei watches for a big promotion he received, one I gave him and one from the company he works for–I wish I had known! He feels so overwhelmed that he wants to treat me to something of my liking. Not to be greedy, but I told him I'd like a few things, rather than one big thing! This is because I already have some magnificent pieces of jewelry from him. So there are some other things I'd like to have, like season tickets to the symphony…and…some bronze jewelry! He asked me to repeat that when I told him! I showed him a wonderful bracelet I fancied and he could see the appeal. It's the kind of bracelet you wear over the wrist of your sleeve, not under it. The color would really work beautifully with some of my favorite colors, including a slightly shimmery soft grey sweater I like to wear. I have a scarf that has both the pearly grey and a bronze color, along with a soft pink and some white, which would really tie the outfit together. I also have my eye on a bronze necklace that matches the bracelet, so that's basically what I'd love to receive from my gracious husband in terms of jewelry right now.

US have been one of the prominent markets for India's gem and jewellery industry with about 50 percent of our jewellery being exported to their markets. Just before the festive season of Christmas start ringing bells, good news for all the Indian Jewellery Exporters has started pouring in with the increase in demand for our jewellery in US markets. However, an industry official reported that though the early sales have improved by seven percent, the volume of the sales is expected to remain low. This increase is mainly noted in value terms and not in volume terms. The official further confirmed that the increase in value has been mainly observed owing to the depreciation of Rupee value against the dollar, following to which consumers are more inclined to invest in the Gold and Silver. As per industry reports, Diamond and Jewellery Exports of India in the financial year 2010-2011 amounted to Rs 58,668 crore. It is being speculated that the sales value of the jewellery industry will report higher numbers as compared to the last year. The industry has been growing comfortably at a rate of 20 to 25 percentages. The considerable increase in the prices of gold and diamond, over a past few years, has been significantly contributing to this growth.