Edwardian Diamond & Platinum Ring, ca. 1920
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GUEST:
So this is actually my great-grandmother's ring. And she, um, gave it to me when I was five years old. We walked out of the house and my parents immediately took it away from me. (laughing) It had one of the diamonds, the side diamonds, missing from it. And so my mom actually had it fixed and gave it to me for my 18th birthday. When I was living on my own, I had actually been homeless once already, and I didn't want to do that again, and I wasn't going to be able to make rent. So I took everything that I had that had any kind of value, I took it to a pawn shop and I sold it outright. I didn't even pawn it, I sold it to them. When my husband and I met a while later, when he asked me to marry him, I said, "I don't want a diamond. In fact, if you buy me a diamond, I'll leave you." And I didn't tell him why. And a couple of years after we got married, I said, "You know what? "I lied, I do want a diamond, "but there's only one diamond on the whole planet that I want, and it's the one that was our family heirloom." We went back to that pawn shop, I went back in there, and there it was. And so my husband bought it back for me and it was eight years later.
APPRAISER:
That is incredible.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
That is, like, borderline miracle...
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
...is what that is. Now, when you bought it again, do you remember how much he paid for it?
GUEST:
Um, about $400 was what he paid for it. I think I got about $75 for it.
APPRAISER:
And do you remember how long ago it was when you bought it back?
GUEST:
Um, in 2005, we bought it back. I know it's platinum and diamond. I really don't know anything other than that.
APPRAISER:
Well, that is true, it is platinum and diamond, and it's in the style of the early 20th century, about the 1920s. This is from the Edwardian era, kind of moving into the Art Deco. It has some of the elements of both. It has some of the open spaces. It's platinum and diamond, which was typified by the Edwardian style, and platinum was a very new material at that time. If you go back to the Victorian era, in the late 1800s, they were, everything was made out of gold. And it was probably made somewhere on the East Coast. New York, possibly-- a lot of jewelry manufacturers there. And so that would be my best guess. We don't know exactly who made that. And in the center, we have a full-cut diamond, an old-European-cut diamond, and it weighs just short of a half of a carat. And on the sides, we have two rows of single-cut diamonds, and there's probably about another half of carat diamonds on the side.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
In total. I think in today's market, to buy this at a retail store, you'd have to pay around $1,800.
GUEST:
Wow. That's a little bit more than we bought it back for.
APPRAISER:
It's a lot bit more than what you bought it back for.
GUEST:
(laughing)
APPRAISER:
That's right.
GUEST:
And it's certainly more than I got for it. More importantly, though, I would never get rid of this. I mean, it's just clearly meant to be mine.
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