1970 Aldo Cipullo-designed Revson & Cartier Love Bracelets
GUEST: Well, my brother passed away in 2014 and he left them to me. And he wore this all the time in the '70s. And then he showed me this, and said, back in the '70s, that Charles Revson gave this away as a gift to... He was advertising his makeup or perfume.
APPRAISER: It's the first time I've ever seen one with the original box.
GUEST: Ah!
APPRAISER: Now, in 1969, Aldo Cipullo came up with this idea of making the Love bracelet. And, and the premise was that it would be worn every day. It wasn't...
GUEST: All the time.
APPRAISER: All the time.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: It wasn't something you took off, you put on. He went to Charles Revson, who was the owner of Revlon cosmetics.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And that's what this one is, over here on the left. This is the costume jewelry Version of the Love bracelet. Now, it's a little bit different from the versions you see, like this one and then the ones you see today.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: If we take this off of here, one glaring thing is, it has a hinge over
here.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: You can see, inside, it says "Charles Revson."
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And then we flip it around. And it says over here, "1970, Aldo Cipullo, "Gold electroplated.”
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: “Made in England." So he takes it to Tiffany, and he says, "Hey, I got this great bracelet I'm doing. Let's do it in gold." And Tiffany says, "Nah, we'll pass." He takes it to Cartier, and they decide to go ahead with this bracelet,
the Love bracelet. Of course, they start making it in 18-carat yellow gold.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Instead of having a hinge, at two ends, there's these tabs. These tabs slip into there.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And you put the screw on.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: But it's only meant to go on once.
GUEST: Exactly.
APPRAISER: And it came with a screwdriver. This is the early ones--this is done right after this. "Cartier," then it says "love," stamped in there.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And then with a different font, which I find interesting, "bracelet." And then over here, you have Aldo Cipullo's name.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Right? If you see a new one, his name's not there anymore. It's wholly Cartier. It's really so much about, "Make love, not war," that ethos that started to sweep the country when we all were living in the '70s. You want to know who made it cool? Richard Burton gave one to Elizabeth Taylor.
GUEST: Oh, okay. There you go.
APPRAISER: The fact that your brother was wearing this was pretty cool.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: He was definitely a trendsetter. It's harder to find the men's size. If you go to replace that today, retail—and you got the box-- you're looking at, I would say, $1,000 to $1,500.
GUEST: Oh, my gosh!
APPRAISER: Yeah, for, for the..
GUEST: Oh, my... (laughs): For the gift with a purchase, right? You bought makeup and you got, or perfume, and you got that. That's...
APPRAISER: Amazing, right?
GUEST: That is amazing.
APPRAISER: So what are these worth?
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: A smaller size, lady's...
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Retail, they're around $7,500.
GUEST: Good night!
APPRAISER: Yeah, I'm sure the men's version i, i, is at least $1,000 or so more.
GUEST: Wow, okay.
APPRAISER: So I would say at least $8,000.
GUEST: Oh, my God!
APPRAISER: You know, $8,500.
GUEST: (softly): Wow. (aloud): He would be so thrilled. He would think this is just so cool.
$9,000 - $10,000 Retail
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Understanding Our Appraisals
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."
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