Natural Pearl Necklace with Diamond Clasp, ca. 1920
GUEST: So in 1981, my grandmother gave them to me for Christmas. So I was ten years old. She had originally given it to my father, and my father gave it to me on Christmas Day, and I opened it, and in the letter, it had said that she had acquired them from my grandfather, so, her husband, around 1934, um, when they lived in Marblehead, Massachusetts. And so my father and mother took care of them until I was old enough. She's, wrote that in her letter, "Your daddy's gonna take care of them until you're old enough to have them yourself." So I didn't start wearing them probably until my late teenage years and my 20s, but I didn't wear them that often. It was said that they were a natural string of pearls with a diamond clasp, so I obviously took the warning to heart. (chuckles): I do remember wearing them for Easter Sunday or maybe a Christmas here or there, but I have not worn them for a very long time. They've been kept in a safe place, and, um, my grandmother was this beautiful, stylish, very slim woman, um, and so, obviously, they must have looked perfect on her, uh... (laughing): But I don't quite fit that. And so they're, um, it's more like a choker on me.
APPRAISER: We can make it longer. (both laugh) Yeah.
GUEST: True.
APPRAISER: It is in fact a graduated strand of natural pearls.
GUEST: Mm-hmm. They are?
APPRAISER: Okay?
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: How do I know that?
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: Okay, because I've been doing this a really long time.
GUEST: Okay. (laughs)
APPRAISER: However, today, to determine if it's natural pearls...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...um, we send it off to a lab, and much like the dentist, they X-ray.
GUEST: ...Ray. (laughing): That's what I thought.
APPRAISER: Cool, right.
GUEST: Okay, yeah.
APPRAISER: All right. And they X-ray the whole strand.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Because, sometimes, people string a strand of natural pearls, but when it gets to the larger ones...
GUEST: Mm.
APPRAISER: ...they're rarer, and sometimes, on some of these old strands, people cheat and they put a cultured pearl.
GUEST: (chuckling): Okay, yeah.
APPRAISER: These all look right and correct to me.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Right? We do have a diamond clasp, and the diamond is probably about 40 points.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: So there's... 50 would be a half a carat, so a little under.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Then we have some tiny old European-cut diamonds, much like the center stone, around the outside. So in the whole clasp, there's maybe 60 points of diamonds.
GUEST: Okay. Okay.
APPRAISER: And when you see a clasp that nice in platinum, you tend to go, "Ah! "Let's check these pearls out. There's a good chance they're natural." With the clasp, platinum, the types of diamonds, and things like this, this strikes me as very much 1915 through 1925.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: To put it in context, the average house was just under $5,000.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: The average car was just under $1,500.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: These pearls very well could have cost somewhere between $300 and $500.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: I mean...
GUEST: That's huge, yeah.
APPRAISER: That's a lot of money.
GUEST: At that time.
APPRAISER: So, at auction, these pearls today-- and they're still, they've always been desirable...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...um, I would say most likely $2,000 to $3,000.
GUEST: Wonderful. That's wonderful.
APPRAISER: For insurance purposes, it would be $6,500. You, you can make it longer. You can wear it.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: Yeah.
GUEST: Absolutely.
APPRAISER: And they're special.
GUEST: They are special.
APPRAISER: Yeah.
$2,000 Auction
$6,500 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."
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.
