Antiques Roadshow

APPRAISER

Well, Nadine, this piece of jewelry was made by your friend?

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

Tell us who your friend was.

GUEST

Jos Ruiz de Rivera.

APPRAISER

Uh-huh, and he became quite a famous sculptor after you first met him, right?

GUEST

Yes, yes he did.

APPRAISER

Uh-huh.

GUEST

And he made several pins like this and gave them to friends as gifts.

APPRAISER

Uh-huh. And we have this wonderful picture of you with Rivera here on the beach at Fire Island, was it?

GUEST

At Fire Island.

APPRAISER

Uh-huh. And that's you?

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

Yeah.

GUEST

And then he was drafted, or he went into the Army, anyway.

APPRAISER

Uh-huh, uh-huh.

GUEST

He wrote me that letter, which is a wonderful letter.

APPRAISER

Uh-huh.

GUEST

So I've always kept it.

APPRAISER

And when you met him, was he a struggling artist or, yeah?

GUEST

Yes, you'd say that, yeah.

APPRAISER

And he...

GUEST

Lived in a little dingy garret.

APPRAISER

When he started out, he worked for the Works Progress Administration, which got him through the Depression. And he became quite successful in the mid-'50s and the 1960s...

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

...making these abstract sculptures...

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

...that look a little bit like the pin that he made for you.

GUEST

Yeah, uh-huh.

APPRAISER

His work is in major museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian. He did these wonderful large, monumental pieces. And he was friends with another sculptor who made jewelry.

GUEST

He was a friend of Alexander Calder.

APPRAISER

That's right.

GUEST

He called him Sandy.

APPRAISER

His work is very highly sought-after now.

GUEST

It is.

APPRAISER

Yeah, it's very, very popular. It sort of epitomizes the modern movement of the 1950s, with these wonderful, sleek, elegant forms. Some of his pieces rotated and moved, didn't they?

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

And did you stay friendly with him?

GUEST

Yes, yes.

APPRAISER

Through his career?

GUEST

Then I left New York, about 1948. But we corresponded.

APPRAISER

And when did he give you the pin?

GUEST

About '44. He was especially noted for the beautiful finish.

APPRAISER

It is nice. I mean, it's made out of sterling silver. It has this wonderful bead here on it. It's signed on the back.

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

And he fabricated the whole thing himself. It's really quite beautiful.

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

I would think at auction, it would probably bring between $5,000 and $7,000.

GUEST

(chuckling) Oh, okay. That's good to know.