Odds and ... Ends, Actually

Just got back from the appraiser's. This is the same guy I went to for my jewelry tutorial last year, the one who helped me understand and be more discriminating in my buys. It was kind of ... weird.

Mostly, the weirdness was because my main purpose was to have the inherited pieces evaluated (for insurance). As you can see, much of it's either personal or (look far right) junky. Yep, I took all the stray earrings - hey, I have a metal-detector obstacle course to set up! But most are simply nostalgic - the pins on the left mostly belonged to my grandfather, and are plated, not gold. (The Delta Chi pin is the exception - but the 10K gold beauty is either my uncle's or one of my mother's conquests from his fraternity.) The watch was my grandmother's, and is also plated (with glass insets).

I didn't take the pins, the scrap, the XO earrings, or that pretty chain with me today simply because the price of gold will determine their eBay value, which I'll just double for insurance (I think that's what I read to do). But the rings, and the other earrings ... now they're actually pretty awesome.

First the cluster. It was a gift from Mama years ago - about a carat TW of diamonds, 14K, pretty earrings (there's a picture in one of my past posts). The others (emerald cut diamond in the middle) belonged to, I believe, my grandmother; I need to check with my uncle to be sure, but it was in a box with those pins, most of the rings, and the watch so it's a safe guess. Plus, I vaguely remember playing with them as a child, and I even had one of those "relive the moment" dreams in which I did some damage to one (see later).

The engagement ring (the one without the main stone) was also in my grandmother's jewelry box. Kind of eerie when I found it because it's an exact match to the fused set I bought in Ohio (minus the stone ... and the wedding band), but I'm not sure to whom it belonged. The big, fat ring was a gift from my stepfather to my mother so nobody wanted it (he was a snake). I'm going to sell it for the estate. The two solitaires were Mama's, and the band in back was Grandmama's, maybe even Great-Grandmother's. (In case you hadn't noticed, everything I took falls into the "broken," "cursed", or "big, soppy cheesehead" categories. What does that say about me?)

Anyway, I found out a few things. First, the cluster earrings eval'ed out to about what I thought it would. The emerald-cuts have one small stone missing, and three others that are crap so I'm getting them replaced (and my guy'll eval them once after the repair, but I suspect they'll be about the same). I quizzed him on the rest. That white-and-gold band, for example - I believed it's turn of the century, and that the tiny rubies (one missing) are natural. He concurred with a smile (and I felt a mile tall). In fact, they're probably tiny Burmese rubies, which he knew because of a single inclusion. (He marked it with a Sharpie then gave to me as homework - I love that man! He flustered me so much with his tacit praise, however, I forgot to ask him for value.) The white solitaire I knew was a CZ, but the green, I couldn't identify ... and turned out to be glass (French, dense, with no bubbles or pulls - hence my confusion). These two go into the sale pot (we still have to pay the lawyer).

The big ring was fun. Unsurprisingly (if you knew our ex-step) four of the smaller stones were not diamonds. I knew which ones were bad because I checked them all but I wanted to see if my guy could tell (without a tester). Damn he's good. He tagged them all faster than I did - and I had an electronic cheat! Then he told me to sell it as a ring would be problematic, since it was "polluted." I thought he meant the pool of disgust we all feel for our mother's ex, but he meant the bad stones. It's a really heavy ring, though, and (as far as I'm concerned) there's no such thing as a cursed diamond so I'll either sell the gold and stones separately, replace the four and sell it to pay for probate, or maybe ... well, I might have a scathingly brilliant idea for Christmas gifts. We'll see. Basically, I need a rider for more than I thought I would, though.

I also took in the Tiffany pin (which he said is likely sorority or college, glass not enamel - more homework for me to see and ID), the 18K star pin (which he loved), and the platinum watch (three-quarter of a carat of diamonds but heavy, amazing stones; and the watch works). I showed him the necklace from last week, too - I had to know. First thing he asked was "is this South American?" I shrugged and told him where I'd gotten it, but my pulse picked up. He really took his time with it, said it was probably meant to be together when I asked - not a story piece, after all, but very good (if small) stones - but he'd never seen another piece like it. And then he appraised it for almost exactly what the cert said it would. My $390 in thrifts and pawns need to be insured for nearly $4700!

It almost balanced out the choked-up quality of the day.

Going through anyone's estate isn't fun. Going through a parent's stuff is really not fun; I'd rather have my mother and grandmother back, any day. But if I can't have them, I'm glad I have the coolest memories - and now the coolest stories to tell about the jewelry, too. That is, after all, the real value of an inheritance.