GUEST: Uh, about 20 years ago, my husband and I were in New Orleans, you know, one of the auction houses. And we happened to walk by, and I saw a baroness was having a bunch of her pieces, um, being auctioned off. I saw that ring, and I knew it was mine. (chuckles) And when I found out it was from a baroness... (chuckles) ...well, that even made it more special to me. And I decided, before purchasing it, to have an appraiser come and take a look at it. And they had a list of appraisers that would come to the shop and, and, and look. And the particular guy I chose decided he wanted to purchase it from the auction house, right in front of me, while he was there being paid by me to look at this ring.
APPRAISER: Wow.
GUEST: The auction house was pretty upset about it, and they told him he had to come the day of if he w, had any interest in it, that they were not gonna just go ahead and sell it outright to him.
APPRAISER: Sounds unethical to a point, with you paying someone to give you a professional opinion, and here he tries to buy it. Did you get a refund for the appraisal?
GUEST: (laughing) No-- I should've.
APPRAISER: (both laughing) And can you tell me what you paid for it?
GUEST: Uh, I was talking to my husband earlier, 'cause I didn't remember exactly, but we think it was around $20,000. Don't have it insured, work out in the garden all the time with it, so... (laughing)
APPRAISER: Okay, what you have here is a European-cut, uh, diamond. So, it's an older cut. Of course, it's in a setting, so it's hard to pinpoint exact carat weight, but by measurement, it's about 5.80. It has a little bit of, uh, warmness to it. It's hard to get an actual color grade on it because of the setting...
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: ...but we all agree it's about a K color. It was very difficult to find any type of inclusions in the stone. So, we're gonna call it a VS2, though I do believe it's a, a better-quality stone. But...
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: A VS2 is what we feel comfortable at the moment calling it. So, it's not insured? (chuckles): Okay.
GUEST: Should I quit working in my garden with it?
APPRAISER: (laughs) I would say yes.
GUEST: (laughs): Okay.
APPRAISER: Retail value on the diamond, we're looking at $130,000.
GUEST: Oh, you're kidding me! Oh, my gosh! Really?
APPRAISER: And the setting adds another $8,000.
GUEST: That's unreal, that's... I really got a good deal. I guess that's why the guy wanted to buy it out from under me. (laughs) Thank you so much.
APPRAISER: You're welcome.
GUEST: Very much.
