GUEST: Well, I've been just picking up pieces here and there at antique shops and estate sales and some people have just given them to me. And I just take them home and stick them in a drawer.
APPRAISER: Do you ever wear them?
GUEST: Well, at Christmas time!
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: or some holiday, but I wouldn't wear them to, you know, go grocery shopping.
APPRAISER: Right.
GUEST: My daughter did wear some of these.
APPRAISER: Okay
GUEST: She wore them more than I did.
APPRAISER: Which ones did she wear?
GUEST: This one...
APPRAISER: Uh-huh.
GUEST: and maybe this one.
APPRAISER: Okay. And how long have you been collecting them?
GUEST: Oh, about 30 years.
APPRAISER: We'll start with the brooch on the lower left. It's a costume piece of jewelry, and it's probably from the 1940s to '50s, set with paste stones. The value is just about $50 to $75 on that one. Then on the upper right side here, this double circle brooch, this really classic motif, is set with paste stones as well, so it's costume jewelry. Missing a few prongs, so the value of that is not much more than about $25 to $50.
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: But then, interestingly, it turns to precious jewelry, which is diamond and cultured pearl. And these would be probably from the 1950s, set in platinum, and they're very wearable and very salable today on the market as well. Value on these is going to be between $800 to $1,200.
GUEST: Oh.
APPRAISER: The brooch that your daughter wore is a clip brooch. It is in one piece right now, but we can separate it and put it into two pieces, so it could be worn as a lapel brooch. This style was very popular in the 1920s to 1930s. The geometric stones, the triangular-shaped stones here, the baguette cut diamonds, along with this sort of angular motif, really tells us that it's art deco. The value on this clip broach for auction, is going to be between $2,500 and $3,500.
GUEST: Hmm.
APPRAISER: The broach on the upper left side is set with diamonds. The calculation, approximately seven carats total weight of diamonds.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: The center stone is a carat, it's set in platinum with these very delicate, knife-edged platinum bars, to sort of showcase all the diamonds. So I would say that when this was made would be the early 1900s, because of the sort of snowflake, very delicate motif. Value on this would be, at seven carats, at auction, between $5,000 to $7,000.
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: Do you remember how much you paid for the more expensive one?
GUEST: I didn't pay any more than $10 for anything that I bought. That would be the highest. And I'm not even sure if I paid $10 for that one.
