Everyone talks about the Rolex Daytona (A), like the stainless steel one pictured here, which we paid $100,000 for last year.
However, Longines – unlike today – was a true innovator in the 1930s and ’40s, and some designs like this chronograph (B) bring big dollars even in stainless steel.
We paid $16,000 for this one because of the unusual Longines movement, the blocky case and the military issue, even though it is missing parts.
What's It Worth? Lucky? Maybe. Stunning? Definitely.
Tampa Bay Times
In our business, it is a constant struggle between passion and profit. And with vintage (our favorite) the struggle is also one of knowledge versus chicanery.
A Miami Jeweler called us to describe an interesting piece that a customer of his had. He asked us to meet personally with this customer, relying on our knowledge to buy it, our honesty in pricing it and our reputation for integrity when it came to commissions. (We often pay jewelers a commission when they send people our way.)
Similar in design to the “lover’s eye” pendants that were popular in Victorian times, this unusual and historical pendant was sent to us by a Kansas City jeweler last month. He was selling it for a woman in her 50s who had inherited it from her maternal grandmother, who was born in the U.K.
While it’s universally accepted among gemologists that round brilliant-cut diamonds are the only diamonds that hold their value, we at Old Northeast Jewelers favor a number of other cuts. My personal choice is the emerald cut, because it can be used with a variety of designs – including Art Deco and other unusual styles that lend themselves to the rectangular, streamlined look of emerald-cut stones. Personal collectors tend to seek kites and rhomboids, along with other unusual shapes.
Six years ago, a Tampa resident brought in a selection of estate jewelry. Two items caught our attention – the first, a large, fancy, vivid yellow diamond that we offered over $30,000 for. The customer was shocked because she had been told by a Tampa jeweler that it was a citrine and had very little value. She sold us many items over the next six years, but the second item from that first group was our favorite – a demantoid garnet and diamond-encrusted bug or roach brooch (which we call a B-roach, upper left).
While we have covered the subject of jade before, we wanted to share this incredible find of a museum-worthy example that just blew us away.
At Old Northeast Jewelers we are nationally known as buyers of vintage rubies and sapphires for several reasons. First, we are very knowledgeable; second, we are strong payers and third, our graduate gemologists can tell whether a stone is heated, which is very important in valuation.
Tiffany & Company reportedly unleashed the “new” gemstone in the late 1960s, with Tiffany’s executives being quoted in 1969 as saying, “Tanzanite is the first transparent deep blue gemstone to be discovered in more than 2,000 years.”
When it comes to black opals, there is a big disparity between retail and fair market value.
This past month we have been fortunate to see and own several nice black opals. These opals, mined at Lightning Ridge Mine in northern New South Wales, Australia, display incredible play of color — from yellow and green to blue and red. The more red and blue you see in Lightning Ridge Mine opals, the better.
Last week, a San Diego jeweler offered us a chance to buy an unusual diamond that is rarely seen.
These are called chameleon diamonds because they temporarily change color in reaction to heat or light.
When put into a dark drawer or safe deposit box, the diamond will change color — looking different when it comes out than when it went in. (Some people can’t even recognize their own diamonds if they haven’t seen them in a while.)
