Art Smith Silver Necklace, ca. 1960
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APPRAISER:
What is someone from Wellesley doing with that necklace? How did you get it? What is it?
GUEST’: It's the first time I've ever worn it. It's always been hanging on the wall.
APPRAISER:
And where did you get it?
GUEST:
It had been my mother's. She bought it to wear, but she never wore it either. It didn't translate well from her excitement of New York to Andover, Massachusetts, where I grew up.
APPRAISER:
And where did she buy it?
GUEST:
She bought it, I think, from someone in Greenwich Village.
APPRAISER:
And that would have been what year, you think?
GUEST:
When I was in high school, probably in the early '60s.
APPRAISER:
Now, do you know who made it? You sort of--
GUEST:
Yes, she told me someone named Art Smith made it.
APPRAISER:
And she bought it from the artist directly, right? Well, I can tell you about Art Smith. He was one of the art jewelers that worked in the '50s. He started in 1953, and he had an upstairs studio in Greenwich Village. And he was part of that movement. We call them... actually, there was a book called The Messengers of Modernism that talks about all these people like Calder, Sam Kramer, Ed Wiener, and of course, Art Smith. Now, Art Smith was black, and he was one of the first black artists to do jewelry during that period. The necklace is in silver. The stones that you're looking at here, they are out of the quartz family. They don't have great value and they're just very colorful, and some of them actually move when you move them, they actually turn. The necklace is grand and certainly eye-catching, and I think it's probably an extraordinary one-of-a-kind by Art Smith. You know, in the market today, these necklaces are very, very collectible. And I think what you've done by wearing it on a wall, so to speak-- wearable art-- is the perfect venue for something like this. But I'm hoping that you'll wear it again. Um, any thoughts on it? Do you love it? Are you afraid of it?
GUEST:
Well, no, I'm not afraid of it. I couldn't decide what to wear it with. And I also noticed, I couldn't find his name. Could you find his name anywhere in it?
APPRAISER:
Now, this one is not signed. Art Smith signed some pieces, didn't sign others. I didn't think he'd have to sign this piece because to me, this is the ultimate piece of jewelry by Art Smith and it continues all the way around. Any thoughts as to value? Are you curious?
GUEST:
Oh, well, of course I'm curious. I have no intention of doing anything beyond hanging it on the wall or maybe wearing it.
APPRAISER:
You are at a level today at $5,000 to $7,000 in the market.
GUEST:
Oh. Is that your final answer?
APPRAISER:
No, because, you know what? It could bring $10,000. (laughs)
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