Schiaparelli Eyeglasses, ca. 1955
Watch
GUEST:
I've been collecting antique glasses for about 50 years, and I have a lot of very old glasses. These are some of the newer ones. These are probably in the late '50s, but these are Schiaparellis. These are some of the first designer glasses, I think, that hit the U.S. market, and these are prototypes. The one on my right is 14-karat gold, and this one is platinum. And these were sold with semi-precious stones and real pearls in them. So they were very expensive glasses at the time.
APPRAISER:
Anybody in fashion is excited when they see Schiaparelli because she was one of the most incredible Paris couture designers of her time. It's amazing to see some of her eyeglasses. The eyeglasses are hard to come by. If we look right here, the yellow ones are marked 14 karat. Now, to be sure of that, I took these over to our jewelers, and when they looked them over, the gold ones indeed are 14-karat gold. And the white ones are actually plated. They are not platinum and they're not gold, but they are plated. Because they're marked 14-karat, we know that these are prototypes. These are the first ones made by Schiaparelli, and the copies of these that actually went out to the market were not gold, they were made of other types of metals. The white ones are really pretty incredible. The jewels in them are paste. In the gold ones, the pearls are real pearls. The gold glasses are from the same period as the silver ones. What did you pay for them when you bought them?
GUEST:
I'm not sure because I've bought so many glasses over the years, but maybe $100 apiece or something likes that.
APPRAISER:
This particular pair, retail in today's market, is basically between $1,100 and $1,200. However, these, that are real 14-karat gold, with pearls, are valued in the $6,000 to $9,000 price range. A case will actually add 20% value. It could add another $1,000 to $1,500 to the value of the glasses.
GUEST:
Interesting. Thank you very much.
Appraisal Details
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