20th-Century Sporting Motif Reverse Crystal Jewelry

Appraised on: August 13, 2005

Appraised in: Los Angeles, California

Appraised by: Virginia Salem

Category: Jewelry

Episode Info: Los Angeles, Hour 1 (#1007)

Originally Aired: February 20, 2006

IMAGE: 1 of 2  

Appraisal Video: (2:42)

GUEST: When I was a teenager, I was involved in riding hunters and jumpers. And I did some showing with Max Bonham. And the hunter and jumper people collected these. And they used them for different things-- rings, bracelets, pins. They came in various sizes.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And so I wanted some, and so my father, for my 16th birthday, bought me one at Charlie Meyers and Company,which was a fine jeweler in Indianapolis. And at that time, they came uncut. You just, you bought the crystal, and then you had it set in whatever setting you wanted. Over a period of two and half years, between '46 and '48, my father bought me the five that are in the bracelet. Probably 15 years ago or so, my sister-in-law, who had the earrings, she had also bought them at Charlie Meyers, sold those to me.

APPRAISER: Okay. Okay, this is called sporting motif jewelry. It's a reverse crystal bracelet. And the technique is really interesting. The jeweler actually takes a piece of rock crystal that's been rounded and smoothed out and he carves it from behind he carves out the exact image and then it's painted from behind as well. At that point, it's backed with mother-of-pearl. So you can see a little bit of the shine behind the actual crystal-- that is mother-of-pearl. And then it's joined together with a stirrup strap and this snaffle bit which is a really great motif. So it's all in keeping with the actual piece. We've got a hound dog, we've got a horse, a fox and completed with the other two at the end as well. When we go to appraise these we always take a look at the quality of the carving and how well it's done and executed. The detail on the dog and the little whiskers are really crisp. I can tell you've taken really good care of it.

GUEST: Oh, yes.

APPRAISER: Which is fabulous. It's in really good condition. Reverse crystal can get scratched easily. And then we have the matching pair of earrings, too. The are very popular in the sporting jewelry world. As far as I know, they're not making too much of it today. Now, as far as value, do you have any idea?

GUEST: No. I know that at the time they were bought the unset crystals cost $50.

APPRAISER: Okay, all right. And then you had to have them set. Well, I was speaking with my colleagues and if this were in a retail arena the bracelet with the matching pair of earrings set in 14 caret yellow gold with this great stirrup and saddle strap motif it would retail right around $3,500 in today's market.

GUEST: Thank you.

APPRAISER: Yeah.

GUEST: That's really wonderful.