Belle Epoque Diamond Necklace, ca. 1910
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GUEST:
It is my great-aunt's necklace. We think it was made in Paris. She wore it back and forth to Europe on ships, and we know she went on the Lusitania in about 1912. They were from New Orleans. Uncle Henry, who probably bought this, was the first Jewish cotton broker in New Orleans, and I suppose that was pretty lucrative. (chuckles): He and his wife, Virginia, whose necklace this was, were special people to my Aunt Sue, for whom I'm named. Most of their possessions came to her. And... Here it is.
APPRAISER:
Wow, it's, it's beautiful. It's a beautiful necklace, and you said it sailed on the Lusitania.
GUEST:
Well, we know she sailed on the Lusitania. I'm assuming, you know, they dressed for the evening.
APPRAISER:
She would have worn it, I'm thinking.
GUEST:
She would've worn it on the ship.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
And maybe in Paris, um...
APPRAISER:
Well, it's the right time frame for that. It looks like it would've been made in the Belle Époque era, around 1910. It's set in platinum. Belle Époque style, it's a very delicate, very pretty, airy, way of setting diamonds. And if you notice these bars, they look like the edge of a knife. Very thin, very seamless.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And what it's doing is showcasing these beautiful collet-set diamonds. It's really meant to showcase this design of these beautiful tendrils, and just this sort of ongoing motif that you have graduating up into the neck. You've got some old-mine-cut diamonds in here. The bigger ones, they're about a carat 25 to a carat and a half. They're very clean stones. They have a little bit of body color to them, which is typical from that time period.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The old-mine-cut stones are a little bit larger, and then we have some more old-European-cut stones that are graduating in the back, which is getting to around 25 to 30 carats.
GUEST (chuckling): That's a lot of carats.
APPRAISER:
Yeah. There's one thing I want to mention. The chain in the back, that's an addition to the piece. That would not have been original to the piece. That's an extender. The marks on the back are gone with that new chain. So there's no hallmarks on the back.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
But it possibly could be French or Parisian. Diamonds, especially old-cut diamonds, were really meant for candlelight. They were dining by candlelight.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And so the diamonds reflect better in candlelight. They just come alive. When they're in bright sun like this, they flatten out a little bit. Have you ever had it appraised before?
GUEST:
I think we did, sometime in the '80s after I got it.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
I was just on a trip to New York, and I think I went to one of the big places in New York. And at that time, it was about the value of my first house.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST(laughing): Which was maybe $30,000 or $32,000.
APPRAISER:
Okay, well, outside of the chain in the back being added, it's original as to its time period, which is great. I would say in this condition, you'd be looking at anywhere between, conservatively, $40,000 to $60,000 for insurance replacement value.
GUEST:
Okay, okay.
APPRAISER:
Yeah. That's... And that's conservative.
GUEST:
That's, it's conservative, but it's, it's such a beautiful family piece that I'm, I'm thrilled with the family value, and the dollar value is not bad. I love it.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
Thank you.
APPRAISER:
I would wear it if I were you, once in a while.
GUEST:
Give it on.
APPRAISER:
Maybe not in the bright sun.
(both laugh)
GUEST:
Let me go find some candles.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
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