Tiffany & Co. Ceylon Star Sapphire Ring, ca. 1922
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GUEST:
My grandmother, when she passed away, left me all of her jewelry. I'm the only grandchild in the family, and she was quite a gal. And this was probably one of the most beautiful things that she left me.
APPRAISER:
And she was a model in New York?
GUEST:
She grew up in a farm on Weston, Connecticut, and then she went into New York. And at first she was a model for Stein and Blaine, and later on she became a buyer.
APPRAISER:
And who's the gentleman next to you?
GUEST:
And this is, um, her husband. He was the manager of the Sherry-Netherlands Hotel in about the '30s.
APPRAISER:
So they were very social.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
You know that this ring is made by Tiffany & Co.
GUEST:
Yes, I saw that printed.
APPRAISER:
Yeah. Yeah. And it's what we call a Ceylon star sapphire. Ceylon was where it comes from, the island of Sri Lanka today. They used to find these stones many years ago this size. Today there's less and less of this size. This particular blue stone is roughly about 25 carats, and that's large.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
Men used to wear pinky rings with star sapphires like this one here, see?
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
But the ladies got jealous, okay, and they said, "Why can't the women wear nice star sapphires?" So Tiffany designed a ring for them. And it's all platinum, all diamonds. And, if you notice, in the back here, it's all set with diamonds underneath.
GUEST:
Ooh...
APPRAISER:
You don't even see it. Now, this is something that was done in the '20s. And it's being done again today, where you don't see the diamonds when you look at the ring from the top. Star sapphires have a chatoyance that becomes a six-pointed star. And how clear that star is, it makes the ring more valuable. It's blue, which is nice. And when you shine a light on it, when the sunlight hits it, you get a beautiful star. See? And since it is Tiffany, and since it is a Deco period, all these things are plusses for it. A ring like that in today's market could easily be sold for somewhere in, in retail end for $25,000 to $35,000.
GUEST:
Oh, that's wonderful! My children will be happy to know that.
APPRAISER:
And what, what else did you inherit from them?
GUEST:
Well, I brought this bracelet and the, the necklace that I have on.
APPRAISER:
Now, I don't want to scare you, but when I saw the bracelet and when I saw the necklace... I'm going to tell you, my father was a jeweler in 1927.
GUEST:
I'm getting scared. (chuckles)
APPRAISER:
Okay? He made that necklace.
GUEST:
(gasps) (laughs)
APPRAISER:
When I saw that, I flipped.
GUEST:
Oh, my God!
APPRAISER:
That's, that's jade, carved jade, 18-karat yellow gold.
GUEST:
He made this?
APPRAISER:
My father made that. This is providential. And my uncle, his brother, made that bracelet. That... your relatives had very, very good taste.
GUEST:
(laughs)
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