For many people collecting charms for bracelets is a serious hobby or interest. There are thousands of charms listed as collector items on online auction and sales websites, so knowing a bit about what makes a charm valuable and what is a reasonable price to pay for a charm is important.
 
Learning about gold charms and how they are marketed and sold is important when first starting out as a collector. It will be important to be able to spot high quality gold charms and also which ones to avoid as replicas or poor craftsmanship.

Gold charms are fairly easy to identify because of both the surface hardness of the metal as well as the overall sheen and luster. Poor quality or gold plated charms may have the gold color peeling or flaking whereas true gold charms will not.

Knowing what timeframe specific types of charms were popular in can help, however some charms have been manufactured since the early 1900's when the fashion really became popular. Mechanical charms typically came from the period of time between the thirties and the sixties; however replicas of these charms are now much more common.

Old charms that have been worn on charm bracelets, particularly gold charms, will show some minor signs of wear. This may include a small amount of light scratching as well as wear on the ring or shank of the charm.  This is due to wear against the bracelet and is very normal.

One sure sign that a charm is really rare and a collector's piece is that there aren't numerous copies of the charm on various websites and auction services. Use the internet to look for the specific charm in both new charm collections and on other seller's sites to determine if it is truly a "rare" charm.

Be very careful of the terminology used by various sellers. Vintage does not necessarily mean antique or rare, and it definitely doesn't always mean expensive. Some gold charms and gold charm bracelets sold as vintage were made in the 1970s and 1980's, hardly rating these items as old let alone antique or rare.

The more detailed and beautifully designed and colored the charm is the more valuable it will be. For those charms that are colored or enameled be sure to check the condition of the paint and note any damage.

While most gold charms are reasonably priced, some of the jeweled charms or platinum charms can actually be several hundreds of dollars each. Rare gold charms and unique styles of gold charm bracelets need to also be something you would wear to make them of value to your collection.