Diamond Bracelet & Van Cleef & Arpels Ring
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GUEST:
My husband and I are originally from Los Angeles. He's a congregational rabbi, now retired. And while I was working in Japan in the late '80s, he had a phone call asking if he would officiate at the funeral of somebody that wasn't a member of the congregation, and met this woman, and she was charmed by him, and he officiated at her husband's funeral. And she invited him to dinner, and he said, "Well my fiancé is coming back from Japan. Would you mind if it was the three of us?" And on Sunday evenings, she had a particular restaurant in Los Angeles which she would go to, Trader Vic's, and we were part of the Trader Vic's Sunday night dinner event. And this took place probably once a month for almost 12 years. And when she passed, she left these two items to me in her will, and I remember admiring the ring because that was something that she would always wear when I would see her Sunday night.
APPRAISER:
Now, have you ever had an appraisal done on the bracelet or the ring?
GUEST:
Just on the bracelet. And, at the time, in the early 2000s, I think they said it might have been ten grand. But I've never had the ring appraised.
APPRAISER:
The bracelet's kind of a classic 1940s…
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
…bracelet. We can tell it has some European-cut diamonds in it. If you look through the bracelet, the larger round stones…
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
…all add up to about eight carats, total weight.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Then we have these baguettes, what they call "straight baguettes…"
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
…kind of basket-weaved throughout it. And in those is another ten carats of diamonds. It's a Jewish appraisal.
GUEST:
Wow!
APPRAISER:
18 carats, that's chai. It's good luck.
GUEST:
That is good luck! (laughing)
APPRAISER:
And then it's made out of platinum, classic. It's built like a truck. That bracelet will never wear out.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
And it's fantastic. Couldn't find a signature.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
But when I see this kind of bracelet, and the metal work is a little heavy, it leads me to think something like this was probably made in the United States, probably New York.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
I mean, she was out in L.A., it certainly could have been made there. And if I told you that $10,000 today appraisal is low. Today, if I had to reappraise that for auction, I would tell you that bracelet would be $15,000 to $20,000.
GUEST:
Wow. That's... (breathlessly) ...quite, quite a gift.
APPRAISER:
Well, I'm not here for the bracelet. I'm here for the ring.
GUEST:
Oh, really?
APPRAISER:
All right?
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So let's go. (chuckling)
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So, first, I love the... I love pearls. The pearl in the middle is about 14 millimeters. It's a little bit of a button pearl. Instead of being very round…
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
…it's sloped down a little bit.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
Some pearls are cultured, some are natural…
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
…and we're kind of assuming that this is cultured. I mean, down the road, you could always have it X-rayed. If we turn it to the side, everybody can see it's beautifully set, what we call "pavè-set" diamonds.
GUEST:
Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER:
They're set so close together, there's one or two beads holding each other in.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
It's made out of platinum. The pearl is later. The bracelet's from the '40s. I talked to my colleagues and we feel the ring is probably mid-20th century, maybe early '60s.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Platinum, about six carats of diamonds.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Now, when we turn the ring around…
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
…and we pull it off, over here is where the magic starts to happen. We can see right over here…
APPRAISER:
Mh-hmm.
GUEST:
…it is signed. "V.C.A."
GUEST:
(gasps) Van Cleef and Arpels!
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
Holy moly! She said something about Van Cleef and Arpels. I always thought it was the bracelet!
APPRAISER:
I know you did. (laughing)
GUEST:
Wow! Wow. Amazing, because I asked you earlier. Wow.
APPRAISER:
What did I say?
GUEST:
You said, "No, not the bracelet." But you didn't tell me anything about the ring. Wow, what a pleasant surprise.
APPRAISER:
And it was a pleasant surprise for me, too. This is the kicker. If the ring came up for sale, I feel very strongly for it, at auction, at $20,000 to $30,000.
GUEST:
As Shirley Temple would say, "Oh, my goodness!" (laughing) Wow.
APPRAISER:
And it's the kind of thing, I think, would get to the high end of the estimate pretty quick…
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
…because, frankly, this is very sought after. If I was doing this for insurance replacement value, I believe you'd have to put the bracelet at $35,000.
GUEST:
Wow. Amazing.
APPRAISER:
But the ring, because it's Van Cleef, for insurance replacement, would probably be closer to $60,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness, thank you.
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."
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