Turn Your Rock Collection into Cash

Transform Your Hobby Into a Thriving Business

- BY MARK OROS

All of us love to collect rocks, gems and minerals. We make purchases and travel to see and collect. Is this money well spent? Here are business guidelines and strategies to capitalize on your hobby and investment.

UPCYCLE YOUR COLLECTION

Chances are good that the rocks, gems and minerals you bought in previous years are now worth more than you originally paid for them. This is primarily due to inflation, demand and increased scarcity. As a collector, you probably do not want to part with your beloved pieces, but at the same time, you may want to add to your collection and have limited funds.

This is a good opportunity to look for redundancy in your collection and sell off pieces that are duplicates or even triplicates. You also may discover that you have a piece that has increased significantly over the years. Or you may want to sell a piece of your collection to replace it with a specimen more suited to your collecting needs.

Usually, the same dealers you purchased from will buy back the pieces that you want to sell. This is more of a trading process much like memorabilia. There is also the option of selling your pieces on eBay and online forums.

ACQUIRE A FULL COLLECTION

Buying and selling whole collections is a way to create income in the rock and gem world. It is better to buy collections in the same category where you are most knowledgeable and understand both the value and market. Buying collections is always a good bet because you seldom have to pay for the individual retail price of each item in the collection. Most people selling collections are trying to minimize the work of selling individual pieces by giving a discount for the whole collection.