Art Deco Diamond and Ruby Jewelry, ca. 1925
GUEST:
Well, it belonged to my great-aunt. And her husband was a congressman, they had no children, and he spoiled her with jewels.
APPRAISER:
He certainly did. Now, roughly when was he a congressman? What years?
GUEST:
Mid to late '20s, so maybe '27.
APPRAISER:
Okay. Now, what you have here is Deco, Deco, and this is earlier. The cut of the diamonds. These are two pear-shaped diamonds. The large one is two and a half carats, and the smaller one is one and a half carats. And a minor detail on that is the color is not as good as the other diamonds.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
The interesting part about this ring is the diamond is roughly about three carats, and the ruby is about two and a half carats. These are large stones. The natural Burmese ruby comes from Burma. It's an old stone. It hasn't been color enhanced, hasn't been in any way treated. And the ring was made roughly around 1925. There's no maker's mark in the ring, but it's a very good jeweler, probably in New York City. Now we get to the diamond and ruby bracelet. The ruby, the center stone, is three and a half carats. You say she took some out.
GUEST:
Yes, nine more. It was reduced in size to fit her wrist.
APPRAISER:
Nine more. That comes to a total of 31 rubies. Those weigh 27 carats. You have 70 baguette diamonds and 144 round diamonds. And that comes to close to 15 carats of diamonds. These rubies also are Burma quality. The small ones are a little better than the center one. The center one has a tiny bit of white in it, which is very, very small. But still, as far as a ruby goes, they are quite rare today. And the make on the platinum is excellent. To give you a rough idea what this whole thing is worth, the pendant is worth somewhere around $12,000. The two diamonds, they're off color. The ring with the fine ruby and the very, very white diamonds, that's roughly about $80,000.
GUEST:
$80,000?
APPRAISER:
Wait, you haven't heard anything yet. Now, your rubies in here are magnificent. Your bracelet is worth $165,000.
GUEST:
I never thought it would be that much.
APPRAISER:
The three pieces together in today's market is worth somewhere about $257,000, in that area.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
It is magnificent.
GUEST:
Thank you.
Appraisal Details
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