Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

Well, I bought this in 1996 at an antique mall in San Antonio.

APPRAISER

And did they tell you much about it?

GUEST

Nope.

APPRAISER

Or did you know much about it?

GUEST

They didn't know anything about it at all. I, I noticed on the marks that it was made in France, and I was wondering if the gems are genuine or not.

APPRAISER

It's gold-washed silver, and, uh, with a, not a huge, high grade of silver. It's a lower grade of silver, but the gems are all real, and they vary in quality tremendously. This one sapphire here is the best stone, actually. It's about probably two-and-a-half to three carats, and it's a Burmese sapphire. Really, really good color. And all of the emeralds are real, the diamonds are real. The two other sapphires are inkier, and so they're darker and lesser-value. But did you pay a lot of money for it?

GUEST

I paid, uh, $2,500 for this.

APPRAISER

That's a very good buy-- I would say, conservatively, just in the value of the jewels and the craftsmanship, you could add a zero to that.

GUEST

Really?

APPRAISER

This is probably worth about $25,000 to $35,000 if it were to come up for auction.

GUEST

Awesome. Well, that's wonderful-- thank you.

APPRAISER

It's a very good buy.

GUEST

Yes, it is, indeed, thank you.