Sapphire & Diamond Brooch Pendant
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GUEST:
My grandparents married in 1926, and they went to Europe, and particularly France, for their honeymoon, and she came back with these pieces and several others. My grandmother loved these pieces. She wore them a lot, my mom did. Both of them passed away when I was fairly young, so my sister and I inherited, and we've worn them and enjoyed them, but we don't know much about them.
APPRAISER:
All right, well, the piece was made in France in about 1926. And really judging from the quality of the piece, it's certainly something that would have been made in Paris. You actually have a pave diamond set brooch. It's set in platinum. You've got a baguette diamond in the center, and then you have two tapered baguettes at either side of this piece. What's very unusual about this piece-- I just have to take it off and show you-- is the brooch itself is fully articulated. And this is where this gets a little bit more interesting. The actual brooch fitting on the back of this pin unscrews. And so you would take this brooch fitting off, and then you take this piece, and it would hang from this piece here. So what you have here is you have the original platinum and diamond chain, and then you have the original platinum and diamond bail. The aquamarine has been added. This piece would hang where the aquamarine is. What I would suggest you should do is probably at some point remove the aquamarine and have a good goldsmith look at it, and then rehang everything. All the pieces are there, for actually to put it all back together, and it's an incredible piece. It's absolutely wonderful. And to have the original chain, the original bail and the brooch, and the pendant fittings is quite something.
GUEST:
So there's no way to know who made it?
APPRAISER:
No, not unless we can find marks on it. There's nothing that I've been able to find so far.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Have you any idea as to the value of the piece at all?
GUEST:
Not really. The brooch, I know my mom, I think she had it appraised back in the '70s somewhere, about $5,000, but again, I was young. It didn't really mean anything to me except I knew she'd done it. The rest of the pieces I don't think so.
APPRAISER:
If you were to get the piece back in its original condition so it could be worn as a pendant and also as a brooch, I would say that if you had to replace this item, you would have to spend about $30,000.
GUEST:
Whoa!
APPRAISER:
So it's a little bit more than $5,000.
GUEST:
My sister's going to be amazed.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
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