Chic, You have to read this story. My aunt and her BFF went to an estate sale maybe 15 years ago at least. They brought out a cameo brooch for bidding. My auntās friend fell in love with it, but it kept bidding up and up and she didnāt know why. Finally, it stopped at somewhere around 2 grand. She wanted to ask her husband how high she could bid, but we were out on Lake Erie fishing, so reception wasnāt very good. She decided to just āgo for itā and bid $2300. She won the bid. There were 3 of us, but actually 6. The 3 women were shopping and the guys went fishing.
When we got in the car later to come home, we met the girls about 20 miles away at a fancy smancy restaurant as I called it. While waiting for our food to come, the lady showed her husband, who was also a Trooper, but in Ohio, the brooch. He asked how much, $50 bucks? She laughed. When she told him, he didnāt have much to say, except āmore money wasted on someone elseās heirloom.ā He saud it jokingly. We all had a good time out there and one of the other guys caught a shoplifter.
The friend I was with did the driving and I sat in the third row of seating in the SUV by myself. Iām 6 foot 1 or so inches, so it was a squeeze. They handed the piece to me and after examining it for awhile. I said, āThis is a locket or something, but I can tell it opens up.ā They all looked at it and agreed.
On Monday, the lady with the brooch took it to her jeweler and asked him to open it, which he couldnāt. He said his brother owns a jewelry store in NYC and would she mind if she sent it to him. I think the reason was he had more tools and experience to do the job. A few days later, she got a call from the jeweler. He told her that he did get the piece open and there was a small picture inside. No one knew who it was.
They decided to take it to the college where another friend of mine wife teaches. She teaches at Georgetown University in D.C. They were all shocked when they found out that the picture was Napoleon and Josephine. They sent it to some man in NYC that verifies the authenticity of antiques and estate jewelry. He suggested they allow one of the big auction houses put it up for bid. They decided to do that, but they also put a reserve price on it. The piece sold for a lot of money. They wouldnāt tell us how much, but my wife said it was probably well over a million or more.
The lady that owned the piece said she probably never would have known itās worth if I hadnāt found it to be a locket type. Her and her husband invited us back up to Cleveland and took us to see a really nice concert and bought us dinner. It was a fun evening. I am still very curious as to how much the locket went for.
And you're welcome, of course Kaila. Collecting for sentimental reasons is good.