Jade Beads with Tiffany Clasp
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GUEST:
My cousin was in China in the 1920s, and he brought them back at that time and gave them to my grandmother, who in turn left them to me. And so I don't ever remember seeing anyone wear the beads.
APPRAISER:
Have you worn them?
GUEST:
No, I have never worn the beads.
APPRAISER:
And why not?
GUEST:
Well, I don't know. I just...she valued them, and we just put them away in a safe place, and we haven't worn them at all, no.
APPRAISER:
Well, when I saw you come in today and open the box, I was so excited, because jade is one of my favorite things. In fact, I wear jade rings all the time. And this is the first strand that I've seen in three years on the show, and I just couldn't believe my eyes. They are in fact jadeite jade. And they measure only four millimeters-- that's the smallest one-- to 8.1. And that's a negative. We always like to see them be bigger because they're worth more. But what I'm going to show you is how we look at jade. I'm going to take these off. And what we do to determine how good jade is is we backlight them to look for translucency. We want to see if you can see through them, because if they're opaque, the light doesn't come through as well. But these are very translucent, so that's great. When I looked at them carefully, what I did notice was some cracking, some veins, and that's a negative. But what I loved about them was the color. They are not the best color. The best color we would say is emerald green, and they're not quite that green, but they have a lovely tone and quality. And I was so excited that I forgot to look at the clasp, and when I turned it over, it said, "Tiffany and Company."
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
Whoever brought them back probably took them to Tiffany's, had them strung...
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
...and then put a very appropriate clasp on them. Now, do you have any idea what these...
GUEST:
I really have no idea.
APPRAISER:
I'm going to say $25,000 to $35,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness, how wonderful. That is wonderful.
APPRAISER:
So are you happy?
GUEST:
Yes!
APPRAISER:
I think you should wear them.
GUEST:
Oh, you do?
APPRAISER:
I absolutely think you should...
GUEST:
I'd be a nervous wreck now to wear them.
APPRAISER:
I absolutely think these should be worn every single day.
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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Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
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