A source of expert guidance to help you enter today's fastest-growing marketplace for gems and jewellery. This definitive guide to buying and selling at auction covers both the unique risks and opportunities to be found -- how to make a profit on yesterday's treasures or find a valuable treasure of your own. Entertaining, informative, and packed with tips from an 'insider', this practical, easy-to-understand guide makes available -- for the first time -- detailed information on: What distinguishes auction buying and selling from other methods; How to buy and sell at auction: The rules of the game; What you need to know before bidding on: diamonds, coloured gemstones, pearls, gold and platinum; Design and style: Great jewellery periods and great jewellers; Special concerns when buying and selling on Internet auction sites; How to avoid the pitfalls when buying and selling at auction; What auctions do guarantee, and how to protect yourself against what they don't ...and much more. With comprehensive price charts and auction results, as well as resource information on auction houses and websites, this is a book no potential auction buyer or seller can afford to be without.