Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

It was handed down in my family. It belonged to my grandmother, and she got it on a wedding trip to New York, back, probably, about 1918. And then my mother got it. When my mother died, I received it.

APPRAISER

What have you found out about it?

GUEST

I've gone to some jewelers, and, you know, they say, "Oh, it's pretty, but we don't know anything."

APPRAISER

And what do you think it is?

GUEST

Honestly, I don't know.

APPRAISER

Do you think it's real?

GUEST

I don't know. I mean, it could be a piece of glass. I think it's pretty, and I just like the design and...

APPRAISER

You know what? You're on the right track. It is a piece of glass. It's frosted glass.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

But it's made by a great French maker, very, very rare. We found the signature-- I was looking. I said, "This looks better than just glass jewelry."

GUEST

Uh-huh.

APPRAISER

And right in the back of this is a signature.

GUEST

Oh, my.

APPRAISER

And it says, "G. Fouquet." Georges Fouquet comes from a great French jewelry house. His father, Alphonse Fouquet, started the firm back in the 1800s, and Georges continued the firm until about 1930s; when the crash came, they closed it. And then his son, Jean, actually worked with him, then continued. It's quite rare.

GUEST

Oh.

APPRAISER

You know, these are diamonds.

GUEST

I thought maybe they might be.

APPRAISER

Yeah, they were diamonds. The metal could be white gold, doesn't necessarily have to be platinum, because Jean Fouquet, the son, didn't really care for white looking like platinum. He liked blackened white. He liked odd materials. The material was not what's important-- it was design. And the son, Jean, I think, is actually who designed it, because he was known for large planes, flatter surfaces. But I see you changed it, or your mother shortened it.

GUEST

My mother did that, right.

APPRAISER

And made some earrings, because...

GUEST

Exactly.

APPRAISER

...it was very long, because that was the style then. So, the earrings are really not worth much, but if we add up the glass and the few diamonds, it doesn't amount to much. But this is where design is everything. So I'm going to say, conservatively, $10,000 to $15,000.

GUEST

Oh, my gracious.

APPRAISER

Yeah. So what do you think? A nice piece of glass, huh? (chuckling):

GUEST

It is a nice piece of glass.