18th C. White Jade Pendant
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APPRAISER:
Tell me what you know about this pendant.
GUEST:
Well, I know it's a white jade carving. That's... I know not much other than that. We inherited it from my husband's mother.
APPRAISER:
Oh yeah? And do you know where she got it?
GUEST:
I have no idea. She traveled the world, so I don't know.
APPRAISER:
And you tried to sell it at one time. What happened there?
GUEST:
Yes, well, we put it in an estate sale and the girl that did the estate said that she did some research on it and thought it might be worth $1,200. But it didn't sell, so it's been incognito for...
APPRAISER:
I wish I was at that estate appraisal. It's an 18th century jade pendant. And it's very, very pure white nephrite. And a very, very high translucency. And it's the kind of material that... it was probably made during the Qianlong reign between 1735 and 1796. And it's very finely carved, and the carving is just typical of that period with these undulating waves between the scrolling that's there. And it incorporates all sorts of animal elements. There's birds' heads here, there's an occasional hoof coming out of it. It's also a fairly large piece for this kind of style. Usually, the pieces are about half this size. It would have been hung from a belt.
GUEST:
Oh, okay. I was going to say, they actually... they didn't display it, like, in this little thing that it's in.
APPRAISER:
No. And do you want to know what we think it's worth?
GUEST:
I would love to know what you think it's worth.
APPRAISER:
We think that at auction, this would probably sell for between $15,000 to $20,000.
GUEST:
That's better than $1,200.
APPRAISER:
Exactly.
GUEST:
$15,000 to $20,000, that's amazing.
APPRAISER:
It's a good jade and there's very little of it on the market right now.
Appraisal Details
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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."
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