AAA Jewelry Appraisal

An exceptionally great appraisal service. Sam’s knowledge and customer service are beyond excellent. His knowledge of gemstones is second to none. He even spent hours with me walking through the jewelry district searching for the perfect stone and educating in the meanwhile. I never expected such wonderful care. Sam’s prices are also very, very reasonable. If you need an appraisal, look nowhere else. You will get the best with Sam.

I got a great deal on a loose diamond and so I wanted to have someone appraise it to get their opinion on whether I got a good deal, or taken for a ride. I took it to Sam and he was very friendly and patient. He answered all my questions and even taught me a lot about how diamonds are priced. He also gave suggestions on how to get it insured. Overall, he took his time with it and I didn’t feel rushed at all.
He gave me an appraisal that I was happy with. It was actually a lot higher than I expected and I think he was being objective so I’m not too concerned, and it’s better than getting a low appraisal value! I took his advice on the insurance and it was a pleasure working with him and I would go back for another appraisal.

Sam was AWESOME! I recently got engaged and wanted to get the ring appraised and insured. I started looking online and decided to give AAA Jewelry Appraisal a shot because of the positive and reviews. Best decision I ever made. I went there with my fiancé without an appointment and called the number on the door. Sam quickly left wherever he was at and met us within 10 minutes. As he was appraising the ring, he explained every step to us. He was very informative and I felt very at ease. He spent 1 ½ hours with us answering every question I had with a smile. He never seemed annoyed or frustrated and even offered advice on cleaning and places that would insure the ring. I highly recommend Sam for any appraisal needs! I will definitely use his services again in the future!

I can’t say enough good things about AAA Jewelry Appraisal. Sam is so nice and caring and a wealth of knowledge. Affordable, to the point where I wish he’d cut out more for himself. Such a pleasure, highly recommend.

My fiancé and I went to see Sam two weeks ago and was happy with the service we received. Our appointment was at 11 am on a Saturday and we luckily found street parking nearby. Which was still $ 6 for 1.5 hours but better than some lots nearby. The entire appraisal took about an hour for my engagement ring although it could take less if you are short on time. Sam takes his time to explain to you qualities about diamonds and what to look for which was very interesting. He even gave me cleaning solution for my ring for free which was very nice! We received a pdf version of our appraisal by email the next night and a laminated paper copy via mail a few days later. Will be recommending him to friends who are also newly engaged!

I brought in an old necklace this morning to see if it happened to be worth anything. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. But, Sam was wonderful. He fit me in for an appointment that day and was extremely friendly, polite, and funny. He was very thorough before giving me the disappointing news, even bringing me downstairs to have another person check the metal content, just to be sure nothing in the necklace was valuable. You can tell that he knows his stuff. And, he did not charge me anything for his service, which I thought was really classy. If I ever have any questions about another piece of jewelry, I will be going back go Sam.

Went there for a appraisal on my wife’s wedding ring on July 1, 2015 with the family. Right away we were treated with excellent customer service. My wife had a lot of questions since we need the appraisal to insure the ring since the store that I bought it from is only located in Los Angeles and since I am in the Military, we are moving to Connecticut. He took the time to explain the quality of the ring and answer all the questions we had concerning the appraisal and ring. Sam is friendly and professional, would recommend him to everyone!

Sam was very helpful, and really nice. He showed me how to examine my ring, and was very honest. I originally wanted to sell the ring, but he said I wouldn’t get much for it Downtown. I would recommend AAA Jewelry Appraisal to anyone.

I have been to Sam twice and both times he has been absolutely amazing! I would recommend him to all my family and friends. He is very experienced and has so much knowledge in regards to both diamonds I have brought him. He answered ALL my questions to my satisfaction. A plus is that he is hilarious and makes the appraisal an enjoyable experience. Most of all I believe he is honest and I trust his knowledge and opinion. I had my engagement ring appraised on a thurs and had the appraisal in my email on fri evening. I then received the original appraisal by mail with a professional laminated three-​fold copy with a seal that Saturday. The turn around was fast and now I can get my ring appraised immediately. Great guy! Thanks Sam

I was lucky to find Sam after browsing several jewelry appraisers in the area. I needed an affordable appraisal for my girlfriend’s engagement ring to ensure that I made a good choice on the ring. From the moment I made the appointment with Sam until I left the office, Sam was extremely professional, humorous, friendly, and considerate in facilitating the process. I felt comfortable asking questions and he did a thorough job inspecting my diamond ring for about an hour. His stories made me feel at ease and I left with a much richer knowledge of jewelry. It is apparent that Sam enjoys sharing his knowledge of diamonds/​jewelry in the most honest and straightforward manner that definitely would make me recommend him to friends/​family. I left Sam’s office feeling confident in my purchase and had the emailed appraisal document by the next day!
Side note: Sam’s office is in middle of the jewelry district so it isn’t the most convenient or safest of areas which is probably why later appointments are harder to accommodate. However, I will certainly go back to Sam if I need an appraisal in the future.

I am saddened to join a site to leave such horrible feedback…
My fiancé and I went to him (Sam) a few months ago. She liked his service so she mentioned I should go back and have a few things checked out by him. I called in the AM to set up an appointment for later the same day. Once en route I gave him a courtesy call to notify him I’m running about 15 minutes late to our 4:40pm appointment, according to my GPS. It’s California in the heart of rush hour. His comment to me left me baffled… His exact words;
«I’ll pass on the appointment, I don’t want you to shoot me in the head, kill me and take my stuff.»
Wait… What? Are you kidding me… Who in their right mind says that? One: you’re comparing me to a murderous criminal, a savage who kills people and robs their belongings. We just met months before with my special needs son and fiancé (after hours might I add). Two: that can be worded so much differently if that is truly what you’re thinking. Three: where did that even come from? A few hours ago we were speaking on the phone setting up this appointment and I was describing myself, my fiancé and our son to help you remember us. You said you remembered which clearly was a lie…
That’s just poor business practice talking to customers like that. I can’t even express how offended I was. I asked if he was being serious because he likes to joke around. When he said he was serious I told him to go kick bricks and take a hike. Never again will I go there or refer anyone to him!
I understand the importance of positive reviews and as a business owner myself it takes a heck of a lot for me to want to leave a poor review for someone. But that comment was so extreme and unprofessional.

Sam was very cordial and friendly! He told some jokes and made me very comfortable in his office. As a note: He does not appraise synthetic diamonds. He was very kind and explained the situation to me and didn’t charge me for his services despite taking up a lot of his time and asking him a lot of questions. So, if you have a synthetic diamond, Sam is a great guy who follows the rules of his gemologist certification and cannot certify those stones. He recommends contacting the creator/​manufacturer directly and asking appraisers before you schedule a meeting (my mistake!).
Although I didn’t get my appraisal, Sam was very kind and I definitely recommend him for all of your jewelry needs!

I had my diamond originally appraised when I purchased it but the insurance company needed additional information for proper coverage so I brought it over to Sam. I am not an expert in diamonds or jewelry but Sam did a wonderful job explaining to the layman how diamonds are graded.
He took his time to explain the two major organizations, GIA and EGL, for diamond grading and how they both may have different grades even though the same diamond is being graded. The entire process of the appraisal takes about 30 minutes to an hour depending on how many questions you ask but it is all done in front of you while you watch in his office.
He did a thorough job of inspecting the diamond and also educated me on how to care for the diamond to keep its shine last for years. This place is great especially in an area where there are tons of jewelry shops and hard to figure out which one to trust.

My day started out HORRIBLY. I went downtown to pick up mine, and my fiances wedding bands, and decided to get my diamond band appraised while I was down there. I stopped at the first place that offered to do jewelry appraisals, who also happened to be another dealer I had purchased another ring at. I thought I trusted them, but that turned out to be a huge mistake.
The first bizarre thing, was that they took my ring to a different building, and returned 15 minutes later with a sheet of paper that they were still filling out when they came back to me. They also asked me to pay for it, but didn’t have a price, and also didn’t ask for me to pay for it prior to DOING the appraisal. So I gave them $ 25 because when I looked at the appraisal I knew it was wrong. First, it said my ring was 14k gold, when it is actually 18k. Then they didn’t estimate the diamonds correctly, and they claimed the whole ring was only worth $ 350! Well thats a problem, because I spent quite a bit more than that… then she asks «would you like to sell it to us for that amount» and at this point i realized something shady was going on. They obviously appraised it LOW, hoping I’d sell it to them for that amount.
I decided to get a second opinion and went straight to Sam. Sam was able to fit me in right then and there, and without giving him any prior details about the other appraisal, I let him do his thing. THANK GOD. Sam does an excellent job, and is really just a NICE guy. And funny! It took about 30 minutes, and he just called to tell me I’d be receiving my certificate today.
PLEASE don’t make the same mistake I did… go DIRECTLY TO SAM.
I walked back down to the original place and demanded my money back, since they obviously couldn’t even tell the difference between 14k and 18k gold…
GO TO SAM. Don’t waste time with these other shady places. Sam is honest, nice, and funny. And his prices are VERY reasonable!

I had a very good experience with Sam. I was changing insurance companies and needed an appraisal for my engagement ring. By the time I contacted Sam, I needed the appraisal in a hurry. Sam fit in me in that day. He took his time examining the ring, and gave me a good crash course on diamonds to boot. On top of that, his price was extremely reasonable, and I received the certificate in a timely manner.
Overall, Sam is a warm and honest guy, and the person I would go back to if I ever needed another appraisal.

Sam’s the best! Thank you Unilocalers for helping me find him! I had some family heirlooms that we needed to get appraised and he did a fantastic job. I learned so much too. He is honest, thorough, fair and works with your budget. In fact, he even charged us less than the price he quoted on the phone. I can’t recommend him enough. Excellent communication too.
There is parking in a lot across the street that charges $ 5 on weekends.

Sam is awesome! This guy knows his stuff, he’s extremely knowledgeable about gemstones and metals. I know he’s in the business and all, but I was really surprised on how fast he could tell the quality of something just by glance. I got my engagement ring appraised for insurance purposes. And yes, my now fiancé did amazingly! But also impressive, right when I showed Sam, he knew all about the diamond before I showed him the certificates that came along with the piece. I can’t stop sharing enough on my pleasant experience. Sam is very welcoming, personable, and most importantly professional in his line of work. All my paperwork was received when promised, I definitely recommend him!

Sam is a hidden gem! Located on the 8^th floor within the heart of Los Angeles’ jewelry district (in 606 S Hill St) is one amazing gemologist. Sam is professional, personable, and has great sense of humor — did I mention he is extremely compassionate and willing to accommodate your budget? Well, he is all that and more. We called ahead of time to secure an appointment and later, got an appointment the next day.
While parking is traumatic, it was worth it. Sam is your guy in jewelry appraisal. In fact, he is now my designated jewelry guy in town should I acquire anything in the future that needs appraising. Back to parking — Prepare ahead of time and either park on Olive or further — avoid trying to find parking on Hill, there’s a movie filming crew there these days and all the parking spaces are taken. You can park at 602 Olive, I recall, it says members only, but I parked any way and paid about $ 13 for about an hour’s worth of parking.
Sam gave me an amazing deal, made me feel like a VIP, and I am so happy to have found him. through my hubby. I had some jewelry from my parents and recently bought some items from an estate sale and wanted to make sure that some of them were real. It turned out the ones I received from parents and hubby are real, the ones purchased by myself were unfortunate — so half and half. He gave me a great mini-​brief/​lecture on how to tell real pearl — and how it is knotted to keep it from harming each other. He also told me about certain markings of gold, such as pure gold is 24k and when you have a 14k or 10k gold whatever, it is either paired with 10k or 14k, respectively, alloy to make gold, or copper to make rose gold. He also went over some aspects of gold plating, and heavy gold plating info– but that kinda flew over my head, really hard to remember when you’re not in the biz.
This experience was fun and informative, can’t wait to go back when I have something amazing that needs to be appraised.

Sam is well deserving of his 5 star review.
He knows his stuff. He is honest. And, I find him funny. His price was also very reasonable.
I bought a pair of earrings with 6 diamond stones about 2.3 carats total. I was promised a G, VS1 quality. I had gotten such a good deal when I compared it to the costco price for a like pair of earrings, almost 700 dollars difference. I started to question the validity of the earrings that I bought from the jewelry district. So here I am with Sam. See my review for this jewelry shop if you are interested.
I like that he does the appraisal right in front of me so we know that there hasn’t been any funny business. He spent a good time educating me on how to clean and take care of my jewelry as well as a good lesson on how the industry grades diamonds. Told me how much the item was worth and how much I should have paid. He first quoted me 15 dollars for a verbal appraisal then finally when I paid him, he only took 10 dollars and threw in some jewelry cleaning solution. I did not bargain or ask him to take less money. It tells me that he clearly loves doing what he does and is really good at it. His office is full of all the certifications he has. If you talk to him long enough, he has some really funny stories about the pieces he has seen in the past.
A very nice guy. I trust him.

This review comes a couple months late, but I just wanted to say how great Sam is to work with. I need to get an appraisal on a couple pieces of jewelry and searched Unilocal for a jewelry appraiser who would be authentic, good experience and reasonably priced. I went with Sam. He’s located in the heart of Downtown LA and was worth a drive from West LA for his expertise. He spent about an hour with us to educate, tell us what to look for when purchasing jewelry and provided an excellent appraisal where I could understand the rating system. He was quick to mail his appraisal paperwork. Very friendly, funny and someone who I can rely on for a good appraisal.