Jewelry

Gold, Platinum & Diamond Pendant Brooch, ca. 1900

Appraisal: Gold, Platinum & Diamond Pendant Brooch, ca. 1900

Transcript

GUEST: This piece was originally an engagement ring of my great-aunt.

APPRAISER: Wow.

GUEST: Her name was Renée Thornton. She was actually a coloratura soprano at the Metropolitan Opera in the 1920s.

APPRAISER: In the '20s, okay.

GUEST: Right-- after that, she divorced her husband, who was a conductor of the Met. And she ended up marrying in the '30s, early '30s, a duke from Italy. And she was the Duchess d'Andria, and this was her engagement ring. My mother inherited it, and she didn't like it as an engagement ring. So she changed the back of it, and changed it from a ring to a pendant that my mom could wear.

APPRAISER: Okay. It's a very beautiful piece.

GUEST: Thank you very much.

APPRAISER: I think it's from around the turn of the century.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: And I think that because it is topped in platinum and backed in 14-karat yellow gold.

GUEST: Wow, hm.

APPRAISER: You can see the platinum running along the top and the yellow gold along the bottom. If it were earlier, it would be silver-topped yellow gold.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: The diamonds around, so you have a great group of diamonds. These are all mostly old European-cuts.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: That center diamond is a carat, about a carat 17. And this is by calculation. So I'm measuring and figuring out what I think it is.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: But the whole brooch, excluding the center, you have about four-and-a-half carats of diamonds.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: Okay? Now, I do see that this bail has been changed...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And this pin stem, as well. So there could have been marks on the back of the piece.

GUEST: Mm.

APPRAISER: And they've probably been removed with these two additions.