What resides in your jewelry box? Do you know the worth of all of the pieces? Perhaps you have some old gold that would be better off recycled. Or perhaps, like this story illustrates, you have a treasure chest.
An old piece of pearl earrings was lying neglected in the back of a desk drawer for over 35 years in Wiltshire but has now fetched £1.6m at an auction. The pearl jewelry has a history to boot. It was originally a gift from a Romanian king to his mistress, who left the pearls to a British friend on her death in 1977. The friend who got the earrings didn’t realize its worth. She didn’t like the design as she found it to be too large and ostentatious to wear.
The earrings were consigned to drawer and came out only when they were inherited by the lady’s nephew. He had taken some articles to an auction and casually showed the earring to the auctioneer. He was taken aback when told about the real value of the earrings. Apart from the beautiful and luxurious design its historical association has made it a collector’s item and has generated huge interest from collectors around the world. When it first found its way into a catalogue it was estimated to have a value in the range of £80,000 to £120,000.
The auction was held at Wiltshire at the Woolley and Wallis sale-rooms in Salisbury. The earrings had generated a lot of excitement and it witnessed frenetic bidding before reaching its final price of £1.6 million.
Source: Elite Choice
