Art Deco Yellow Diamond Ring, ca. 1925
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GUEST:
I brought in a ring that has been in my family for years and years and years. It was my great-great-grandfather's.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
He acquired it as a gambling payoff, and it's been handed down to the oldest daughter every generation since then.
APPRAISER:
And have you worn it at all, or had it appraised?
GUEST:
I wear it every day of my life-- no.
APPRAISER:
Okay. All right, well, do you know what it is?
GUEST:
I know it's a champagne diamond.
APPRAISER:
Okay, right. I would call it a yellow diamond. It has a lot of saturation in it. It looks like to me it's from about 1925, thereabouts. And it's platinum and diamond, and it's just a really great-looking Art Deco diamond ring.
GUEST:
Art Deco, okay.
APPRAISER:
And they're very, very en vogue right now. Most likely, this ring was made in New York. This was a big diamond capital of the world-- it still is-- but the manufacturing in the 1920s in New York City was roaring. So it looks like the mounting and the diamond was probably cut in New York. It's got some beautiful side stones of little emeralds and tiny little diamonds. And the center stone is about two carats. It does have some issues inside the stone, so internally, it does have some flaws. But the color itself is a really nice saturation of yellow. There is something really interesting about this diamond, though. Have you noticed sometimes it has some sort of a glow to it?
GUEST:
Yes, yeah.
APPRAISER:
Right, so that's, 30% of diamonds have this quality called fluorescence. And I'd like to show it to you.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So this is a little ultraviolet unit. And when we put it on the stone...
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
...it fluoresces. It actually glows.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
That's strong fluorescence. Now, as far as that fluorescence goes, it's not necessarily a great thing.
GUEST:
(laughing): Oh, okay-- it's pretty!
APPRAISER:
So it's cool, it's interesting, but like I said, 30% of the diamonds do have this quality. But if a stone has this, it brings the value down about 15% overall.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So do you have any estimate or ideas to what it might be worth?
GUEST:
I thought about $7,500? $7,500?
APPRAISER:
Well, that might be a good insurance value. For an auction, I would say anywhere between $5,000 and $7,000.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
But it would be worth about $7,500 if it were not fluorescent.
GUEST (laughing): Fluorescent, okay.
APPRAISER:
So it is what it is, and you can't get rid of that fluorescence, but it's actually a really interesting quality, and some people are attracted to it because it does glow in the dark.
Appraisal Details
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