What steps do I need to take to sell this jewelry?

Some is very old, even antique — some would only be grandparents or great grandparents (1800s-1900s)

Mainly gold chains, but a few key pieces of costume jewelry with heavy amounts of gold and gems inserted. (Not sure how much they weigh, im guestimating them all)

Other than weighing the gold myself, how would I go about actually getting the value of these pieces I want to sell? I would take to a jewelry shop that purchases — but I don’t want to get ripped off. Nothing is appraised. And some of the older pieces do not have visible karat labels on them that I can see.

Absolutely clueless about the gems.. how do I find out the actual quality and value of my diamonds and other gems…

Answer:
I’m a refiner and diamond buyer in Florida, and will give you the information you need to sell your items without getting ripped off.

Gold (Based on todays price of $993/oz)- 10k- $9 gram, 14k- $13 gram, 18k- $17 gram.

Silver- 925/Sterling- $9 a ounce.

This is the absolute least you should get per gram. A lot of place purchase it according to pennyweight (DWT) to convert grams to pennyweight just multiply the gram price by 1.55.

I pay around 6% more than the numbers I listed above, if you want to sell them to me give me a call at 877-487-1386. If you know the weight I can pay you via paypal even before you ship out your items.

The diamonds are nearly imposible to know because so many factors go into the selling price. I personally WOULD NOT sell any diamonds, gems etc. right now because of the economy. Diamond prices are down 60% from 6 months ago. Now is the time to sell any gold or silver but not diamonds, gems, or costume jewelry.

Hope this helped.

Answer:
I advocate that you actually get it valued professionally.
I had similar situation, got my old gold chain broken and a silver bowl that i never use. i gave them to (url in source) and i got decent return (more than i expected). Absolutely safe and fast.