Comments about ‘Weighing its worth’

In 1951, when I was a baby, my aunt and some friends were literally hijacked on a rural Georgia road while returning home from Florida. The robbers held them for hours and robbed them of their jewelry before releasing them before dawn. My aunt saved her wedding ring that night by tying it into her gray hair. When the robbers asked her if she had a wedding ring and she answered "No", my uncle turned to her and said,"What happened to your wedding ring?" We have laughed for years about this comment. My aunt, long passed, left the ring to my daughter. She had it placed on her charm bracelet which she wears often. The bracelet is heavy with charms, all which tell a story. She particularly enjoys telling the story about my aunt's wedding band.

Why wouldn't he know if it is an aquamarine rather than a blue topaz? A professional gem appraiser should be able to identify a stone accurately, or so you would think, and the value could change significantly.

Anonymous,

I believe you need a spectrometer to tell topaz and aquamarine apart. I don't think it is as simple as you suppose to tell one stone from another. Some lines between stones are a bit blurry.

....and IF that appraiser was there to PURCHASE the jewelry, the appraisals have to have been low-balled.

The only honest appraisal is an "insurance appraisal", given by someone who is not interested in buying the item, and who has no profit motive.
That's true of ANY item, not just jewelry.

Liz's family member must have remembered that trick from reading a story, because it's actually part of folklore and fairy tales worldwide.

It may be part of folklore, but I promise you it happened to my aunt. The FBI was called in because state lines were crossed and it was a kidnapping. We still have the police reports and newspaper articles. All the other jewelry was taken, except for her thin silver wedding band.

I wasn't doubting you a bit! But the fact that the story began as folklore, means your aunt probably read it.....and thank heavens she did - right?