Retro Flower Brooch, ca. 1940
Appraised Value:
$1,000 - $1,500
IMAGE: 1 of 1
Appraisal Video: (2:36)
Appraisal Transcript:
APPRAISER: You came down from Canada, I heard.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Just to find out about this piece of jewelry that you purchased at an auction--
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: --in 1997.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: And you came with the bill of sale. I love the bill of sale. What did you know about it? Why did you buy it?
GUEST: It caught my eye, and, uh, I thought my mother would like it as a gift.
APPRAISER: Any idea when it was made?
GUEST: No idea at all. No.
APPRAISER: And there was no description in the catalog, just...
GUEST: Nothing. It was just an antique estate sale that was, uh, it was just described as a brooch.
APPRAISER: Brooch. Okay, well, it's not antique. This is not a hundred years old, but it is from the 1940s. And it's a retro style, that's what we call it. And it has some interesting stones in it. Do you know what the stones are?
GUEST: I had an idea of what, maybe, the green stones were, but I wasn't sure...
APPRAISER: About the blue.
GUEST: About the yellow ones, too.
APPRAISER: The yellows are the tricky ones. When I looked at it, I wanted it to be yellow diamonds, but we eliminated that quickly. And then I wanted it to be yellow sapphire, and it wasn't yellow sapphire. But it's actually a beryl, and a beryl is a stone that comes in many colors-- yellow, blue, green. The green is emerald.
GUEST: Oh, really?
APPRAISER: Emerald is also in the beryl family. Aquamarine is in the beryl family. But these, I think, are yellow beryl. Uh, value-wise, not such great value, but color-wise, beautiful. The blue is carved sapphire.
GUEST: Oh, really?
APPRAISER: So you've got a nice coloration. It's 14-karat yellow gold and 14-karat white gold. It also has a signature. Right down here, it says "14K" and "S.J.P." Who was S.J.P?
GUEST: I have no idea.
APPRAISER: And you know what? I couldn't find it, either. But I know that it was manufactured in New York City.
GUEST: Oh, really?
APPRAISER: Just by the construction of the piece and the style-- it was very, very popular in the '40s. But I don't know who it is. It would require a tremendous amount of research. But it's not going to really impact on the value. Any ideas on value?
GUEST: I'm not sure. I know it's the value of the gold, possibly.
APPRAISER: You think it's more than $28 today?
GUEST: I hope so.
APPRAISER: I would value this between $1,000 and $1,500--
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: --as an auction estimate, so it has a wide range, because it's very pretty. So are you glad you crossed the border?
GUEST: Yes, I'm very happy.
APPRAISER: And you need to bring that back across the border, because that tells you that you brought it in.
GUEST: Yes. Thank you very much.
