value on Angela Cummings for Tiffany design pearl necklace

[amybeth]

Hi -

I'm trying to determine a value for this 18 inch pearl necklace by Angela Cummings for Tiffany (circa 1980). The clasp is platinum and there is one pave diamond encrusted pearl and the average size of each pearl is around 10mm. I think they're freshwater naturals. I am looking to sell them for my mother and want to determine a proper value for them. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[pattye]

Amybeth,

Lovely necklace! Give the date you've indicated, the color and shape makes me wonder if these are cultured freshwater pearls from Lake Biwa, Japan.

Have you tried google-ing her name and pearl jewelry?

It appears you already have it listed on ebay. Jewelry is only worth what someone will pay for it, and I think your asking price is quite a bit too high.

 

[Marianne]

Hi amybeth,
Looks like there is an identical necklace listed on eBay for $7,500.00. The pearls appear to be natural color freshwaters, however unless they are certified as actual natural pearls, the price seems very high. Chinese freshwater keshi with this same appearance are plentiful today and are priced very reasonably. The clasp and diamond bead are of some value. To me the designer and store names are of no value. It is a beautiful piece.

 

[amybeth]

My local Tiffany store wasn't much help either...all I know is that my dad paid $8000 for them in 1980 (a gift for my mom) and now she wants to sell them (she maybe has worn them four or five times) but we just want to see if they have increased or decreased in value since that time.

 

[amybeth]

Marianne - that Ebay posting is mine. Just want to see if that is a reasonable price.

 

[Ramona]

The pave piece is unique and the necklace is beautiful. If you have the original documentation you may be better off selling it on a more specialized auction site like Portero. It will be very hard to sell it for that price on ebay. You probably are going to get much less even if it is for a collectible because the pearls nowadays are quite common as Marianne pointed out.

 

[dmj]

what helps with pieces like this is documentation do you still have the receive or any old papers that came with it ? also if there are pictures in a cummings book it will help a lot.

even for experts its hard to say a price simply because the one month t&co get normal prices in auction etc and other months there are some people bidding agains each other and prices go crazy

i might have a buyer for you that sells and buys vintage tiffany pieces if you can send me a pm with your minimum price i can see what he says of it

 

[GemGeek]

This type of necklace with baroque freshwater pearls and a diamond-encrusted kidney-shaped bead is very popular right now, so the designer was ahead of her time for the 1980s. Is that a diamond missing from the bead? DMJ is right - provenance is everything in trying to get top dollar.

 

[amybeth]

thanks for your input. No diamond missing - must have been something on the lens. I have the receipt from Tiffany - is that provenance enough?

 

[pattye]

Doesn't get better than that! Does it give the diamond weight? Do you mind sharing the original cost?

 

[Caitlin]

If you have a receipt from the 1980's, it is the best provenance possible, because those pearls are so unique-

And they happen to look like the latest word in pearls, they are so much in style again today!

 

[GemGeek]

A receipt! Yes, it's very significant. You need a buyer that collects Tiffany. The colors are so lovely -- I can see why your Dad picked it out. And what a gem your father was to treat your mother like a queen.

 

[Alex]

I agree, take your time and find the right buyer - you have a very beautiful piece

"The least known of Tiffany's three trendsetting young designers (Elsa Peretti and Pablo Picasso's daughter, Paloma, are the other two)... Cummings, proclaims former Tiffany President Harry Piatt, "is one of the world's great jewelry designers." She finds her inspiration in nature.... Born Angela Bauemker in Klagenfurt, Austria to a scientist and his physician wife, she moved to the U.S. with her parents at age 3 and was educated in Catholic schools in Maryland. She returned to Europe to study at the Art Academy in Perugia, Italy, then earned degrees in gemology and goldsmithing in 1967 from the world-renowned Zeichenakademie in Hanau, West Germany. Arriving in New York that same year, Angela was promptly hired by former Tiffany Chairman Walter Hoving as a $5,800-a-year design assistant. Three years later she married Tiffany's chief gemologist, Bruce Cummings. They moved to a rustic, shingled house (the grounds are "an orphanage for abandoned ducks and geese," says Angela) in Wilton, Conn. Closer to nature out there than in Manhattan, by 1975 Cummings had created her first collection. Now, says Hoving, "Angela has fulfilled her promise?and much more." -- People Magazine; Vol. 18, No. 11; September 13, 1982

here is another one of hers

Sixteen Strand Cultured Pearl, Platinum and Aquamarine Necklace, Tiffany & Co.,

 

[Katbran]

Definitely ahead of her time! Lovely piece , and Alex thanks for the info and the beautiful necklace photo! That's gorgeous.

 

[Honey_and_Lemon]

Having the original receipt is critical. You may want to try a real B&M auctioneer like Skinner, or Christie's etc, as they will most likely take the item if they think it will go for $10,000+, The real trick is to find a tiffany collector who likes this necklace and has money.

What makes the necklace unique is that it is from 1980, long before the chinese freshwater pearl boom. I doubt that Tiffany sold very many of these, and $8000 in 1980 was roughly equivalent to $22,290 today (http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm/). However finding a strand of badly misshapen ("freehand") CFWP is not so difficult in 2012, and Tiffany hasn't kept this design in circulation.

The folks at Pacific Pearls may also have insight as they deal in baroque pearls.

http://pacificpearls.us/contact/

 

[Kaththee]

The necklace is stunning. I read that you have the receipt which is great because collectors like buying one owner pieces. Is it marked Tiffany as well? No matter the cost of freshwater pearls on the open market, a piece of Tiffany jewelry is worth far more than the sum of its parts. I still dream about a designer necklace they did years ago (Positive Negative necklace) that was made of mother-of-pearl beads. The value wasn't in the clasp versus the beads, it was in the execution of the beads with that clasp- a marriage made in heaven. Like your necklace,it was sublime. You have been given a lot of good direction, but I wanted to add that I have seen a lot of Tiffany jewelry on 1stDibs as well. People seem to get top dollar there. - Kathy