GUEST: I acquired that ring some years ago, back in the '70s, from a friend of mine.
APPRAISER: Why did your friend give it to you?
GUEST: Well, it wasn't actually a gift. He kind of got in a little bit of trouble, and called me, and I told him I needed a little collateral. So I went by his house and picked up the ring, and told him when he gave me the money back, he could have his ring. And that was in 1972, and...
APPRAISER: Now, when you say he got in a little bit of trouble...
GUEST: Well, it was a phone call from the jailhouse.
APPRAISER: Oh, my!
GUEST: Yeah, yeah. He was one of those people who enjoyed life kind of illegally, they say.
APPRAISER: Ah-hah! I see.
GUEST: So he needed a little bail money, and the $500, what I had to get for the bail money.
APPRAISER: It's a great old ring, and it's an early-20th-century ring. It's an Edwardian ring. It's got some old mine-cut diamonds in there. There's a couple of them that are about three-quarters of a carat. A couple of them, they're about a half a carat each. Have you ever had anybody else take a look at that ring for you?
GUEST: Well, we took it to a jewelry store in Charlotte, North Carolina. Weren't too happy with what the lady told us.
APPRAISER: Can you tell me what she said that didn't make you so happy?
GUEST: Well, it was actually the money.
APPRAISER: (laughing) Oh, yeah. That's, that's always the story, isn't it?
GUEST: Yeah. She was telling us the weight of it. Then she was telling me what kind of metal the ring was, which I'm not sure what she said it was. But she offered to purchase it for $1,200.
APPRAISER: Ah-hah! It sounds a little bit unethical to me.
GUEST: Exactly.
APPRAISER: A ring like this is, it's pretty desirable in today's market. We see these from that era pretty regularly. It's platinum, which is commonly what they used to make jewelry back then. That was kind of the new metal in town.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: This ring is probably made in America, would be my guess. I see a lot of rings like this made from people who emigrated to the U.S. who had the craft of making jewelry like this. And it's in great shape. So, so nobody wears it now?
GUEST: My wife, uh, she says it's too big for her.
APPRAISER: Oh.
GUEST: She's got little hands.
APPRAISER: I see, okay.
GUEST: So she says it's too big for her hands, so she doesn't wear it, so it just kind of just...
APPRAISER: So, so it's not hers now? It's still yours?
GUEST: It's hers.
APPRAISER: Okay, all right.
GUEST: I give, I 'fess, it's hers.
APPRAISER: Okay, all right. I think in today's market, an auction value on something like that would probably in, be in about the $3,000 to $5,000 range.
GUEST: Whoa!
APPRAISER: Yeah. So a little different than what you had originally heard at your jeweler there.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: Yeah. So hopefully that's a little bit, a better number that sits with you better.
GUEST: That's, that's good news.
