Beautiful antique brooch for sale on ebay

[Isi]

I like it !

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Nat...973?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a378e9695

 

[kiwipaul]

Cool brooch, although for that price I'd want to see some chatoyancy in the conch pearl.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Cool brooch, although for that price I'd want to see some chatoyancy in the conch pearl.

My thoughts too. From that image, it appears to be a cabochon or at the very least a blister.

 

[kiwipaul]

The one I REALLY liked (from the same seller) was this necklace,
1905 Antique Edwardian 22.50ct. Conch Pearl Diamond Necklace in Platinum & Gold
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181288698705

The seller listed it a couple of times recently in the high $40k's then took a best offer.

 

[GemGeek]

Paul is right. Without some flame pattern, it looks like coral, so too expensive.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Austria is listed #74 CITES membership, since 1982. The auction makes no mention of certification.

The seller notes it was once owned by Roberto Sciaguato, who incidentally wrote a book on natural conch and melo pearls, yet neglected to divulge the name of the "well-known" family.

Perhaps these were mere oversights, but at 12.5k omitting that level of detail is suspicious.

 

[kiwipaul]

It is a small world in the high end jewelry trade.

The conch pearl necklace I mentioned above is now on Lang Antiques for $45,000.

Chatoyancy is clearly visible in some of their close-up pics on the link below.

http://www.langantiques.com/products/item/90-91-884

Here's a pic from the original listing on eBay

 

[GemGeek]

I was just hanging out with the owner in Tucson. Brillliant.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

It is a small world in the high end jewelry trade.

The conch pearl necklace I mentioned above is now on Lang Antiques for $45,000.

Chatoyancy is clearly visible in some of their close-up pics on the link below.

As the seller suggests, it's "Magnifique". A very rare piece indeed.

In the description they mentioned conch pearls retail at $3000 per carat. Single conch pearls are not at that level of valuation. Value add comes from matches. For each matched pair of natural pearls, the value doubles. This piece has fifteen nearly matched pearls, but on close examination appears to be seven matched pairs (for symmetry) with a single large pearl at the center. When you divide 3000 by 7 the value would be about $430/carat per pair or individually about $200-225/carat.

From glancing at other websites, many individual conch pearls are listed at $400-500/carat.

Even though this piece is offered at whopping $45,000, it's actually a good buy (although I would insist upon an accompanied CITES certificate). It would be very difficult to replicate for less.

Thanks kiwipaul for posting this piece.

 

[kiwipaul]

Yes it seems very realistically priced, surprisingly so in fact. I wonder how "wearable" it is.

According to the Lang description the central "spear" is about 1 and 1/8 inches long.
That's about the actual size shown in the pic above.
So it is quite fine in size, and I wonder how the elements actually "hang" when worn?

Still, I'd love to have it in my collection, and I'm sure Lang will find a buyer quickly enough!