Conch Pearl Stick Pin, ca. 1915

Appraised on: August 13, 2011

Appraised in: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Appraised by: Kevin Zavian

Category: Jewelry

Episode Info: Pittsburgh, Hour 1 (#1607)

Originally Aired: February 13, 2012

IMAGE: 1 of 2  

Appraisal Video: (1:32)

APPRAISER: Where did you acquire all these stickpins?

GUEST: Yard sales.

APPRAISER: Really? What do you pay for these things when you go get them?

GUEST: Usually like a dollar, two dollars.

APPRAISER: Tops.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: So you brought a bunch in.

GUEST: I did.

APPRAISER: And you know what's going to happen. I'm going to pick one out. I'd love to tell you I'm going to pick out three, but I'm going to pick one out and I'm going to tell you about it, okay?

GUEST: Sure.

APPRAISER: All right, so, I'm going to go for this one right here.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: All right. Do you know anything about this?

GUEST: I have no clue.

APPRAISER: Okay, let me tell you about it. Aside from being a stickpin. The pink stone in the center...

GUEST: Coral?

APPRAISER: Coral, that's actually a great guess. Certainly coral has that color.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Right, but it's not coral.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: But it does come from the ocean. You know when you were a kid, the big shell you hold up to your ear?

GUEST: Conch?

APPRAISER: Yes. Here we have a pearl that formed in a conch.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: Now, conch pearls are very collectable, and they're quite rare. I wish this was much larger.

GUEST: (laughs) Yeah.

APPRAISER: But it's in this beautiful fan design from the early 1900s, and the green stones underneath it, they're not emeralds.

GUEST: Oh... oh!

APPRAISER: Surprise. Surprise. They're demantoid garnets.

GUEST: Oh!

APPRAISER: So that's another sweet little surprise. And they're surrounded by old mine diamonds. So you put that all together, and you got a stickpin. You paid a buck, right? Okay.

APPRAISER: $1,500 to $2,000...

GUEST: Get out.

APPRAISER: ...and that's at auction.

GUEST: So what should we insure that for?

APPRAISER: (laughs) I would think you'd probably have to insure it for around $3,000.

GUEST: Wow. Thank you.

APPRAISER: You're welcome.

GUEST: That was well worth the wait! (both laughing)