Diamond & Gold Stork Brooch, ca. 1900
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GUEST:
This brooch belonged to my grandmother. She always called it the Phoenix, and, you know, it was, like, forbidden to touch the Phoenix.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
But I would go and touch the Phoenix, and I looked at it, and it's a stork, but it, all the time I was growing up, it was the Phoenix. My grandmother died in 2012. It came to my mom and to me. In 2018, our house burned down.
APPRAISER:
Oh, my.
GUEST:
I had time to get my dogs out, thankfully, but I couldn't grab anything. Everything was flattened. But this we found in the rubble. I was lucky to have it in an old dental cabinet. It has the metal...
APPRAISER:
So that's how it was protected. It is a piece that would date from about 1890 to 1910.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And during that time, they were doing a lot of animal brooches. And what is really lovely about this piece is to see all the beautiful engraving and how realistic it is.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The piece is made in 18-karat gold, but then along the edges here, it's beautifully crafted with platinum and diamonds. You can see the burn damage. This damage can actually be restored. It affects the value a little bit...
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
...but not too much. We would put an auction estimate on the piece of $2,000 to $2,500.
GUEST:
Okay. Wonderful, well, thank you so much.
APPRAISER:
Thank you.
Appraisal Details
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