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Citrine & White Sapphire Set, ca. 1940

Value (2013) | $3,000 Auction – $4,000 Auction
Watch  

GUEST:
I was very blessed to inherit this necklace from my great-aunt Mimi. She was born in Scotland in Motherwell. She was one of ten children and moved to the United States and moved to Chicago, where she had an insulation company, and then she moved to the Los Angeles area, where she became a realtor in Venice, California. She was a realtor to the stars: she was always wearing the glitz and the glam and was always mentioning this movie star or that movie star. She entertained a lot. When she passed away in 1994, she had no children, and I was the lucky niece that got this necklace and earrings and beautiful ring. I've always admired it, and I've never known anything about it.

APPRAISER:
Aunt Mimi, she did some unusual things in the day for a woman, right?

GUEST:
She did! She was quite brave and adventuresome. She got her pilot's license in the 1930s.

APPRAISER:
So she was a woman to be dealt with and she would never take no for an answer, and I think maybe her jewelry shows a little bit of that too. You brought it in and you thought it was what?

GUEST:
I thought it was costume jewelry. To me, it's pretty much over the top, so I didn't think anything like this could be real, and I know there's still a market for costume jewelry.

APPRAISER:
Sure there is. It's not costume jewelry.

GUEST:
Seriously?

APPRAISER:
Seriously. It's real-- genuine, as we say. But it's interesting. The yellow stones are citrine. Now, citrine in itself is not a terribly expensive stone. It's one of those stones when they're matched up so nicely like this, it's a beautiful color and it creates a great look. And this is what we call a demi-bib, a kind of bib necklace, but it's a little shorter. You see the citrines and then you see the diamonds accenting it, but when I tested them, they're not diamonds.

GUEST:
Oh.

APPRAISER:
But they're not glass. They're white sapphire.

GUEST:
(gasps) Seriously?

APPRAISER:
Yeah, so it would be great if they were diamonds, but they're white sapphire-- still very good.

GUEST:
Oh, my God!

APPRAISER:
I tested the gold.

GUEST:
I saw you doing that, yeah.

APPRAISER:
And I didn't tell you anything, of course. You would expect a piece like this to be an 18 karat, maybe 14 karat gold, but it's not. It was strange, and I tested it a couple of times. It's nine karat, so it's a low karat gold, so that starts telling us where the piece was made. We think this piece was made in South America. I would think that a piece like this was probably made sometime between 1935 and 1945.

GUEST:
Really?

APPRAISER:
So it really falls into this land between great, real jewelry, it's not costume, it's kind of in between. But it's a fabulous piece. You've got great drop earrings to match it, and then to cap it off, you've got a great ring. I would sell this as a suite-- in other words, the necklace, the earrings and the ring. Not the kind of thing I'd want to break up. You keep it all together. So if you put it into an auction, this would go into the catalog for $3,000 to $4,000.

GUEST:
Oh, my gosh, really?

APPRAISER:
Yes, it certainly would.

GUEST:
Yo! I can't believe it. That's wonderful, thank you.

APPRAISER:
You might have to wear it out to dinner...

GUEST:
I might have to wear it a few more times.

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Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Kevin Zavian
Jewelry, Watches
Doyle New York
New York, NY
Appraised value (2013)
$3,000 Auction – $4,000 Auction
Featured In
Detroit, Hour 1 (#1804)
Event
Detroit, MI (June 01, 2013)
Category
Jewelry
Period
20th Century
Form
Earrings , Necklace , Ring
Material
Citrine , Gold , Sapphire

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."

Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.

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.

Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.

Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.

Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.

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