Sapphire & Diamond Ring, ca. 1925
GUEST:
It belonged to my mother, and she bought it probably in the early '50s from Louisiana at an estate sale. She paid $1,000, and that's all I know.
APPRAISER:
Did she wear it a lot?
GUEST:
Yes, all the time.
APPRAISER:
And have you been wearing it? (laughs)
GUEST:
No.
APPRAISER:
Well, this ring, it's an American ring set with sapphire and diamonds in at least 14 karat gold with platinum tops around the diamonds. The sapphire by calculation is 12 and a quarter carats, give or take, and the diamonds, old European cut diamonds, come to about six to six and a half carats total weight. It's a big sapphire, and we can see from the silkiness that it's also an unheated sapphire. Now, origin is very important with sapphires. Since 1951, sapphires have gone through several levels of popularity, and since 2011, sapphires have really hit the market and really taken off. So without knowing its origin, a fair auction estimate is in the range of $30,000 to $40,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my! How exciting!
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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