Woman Buys Antique Necklace for Mere Change, Later Learns Its Real Value from a Jeweler

When a woman found an unusual necklace at a thrift store, she immediately decided to buy it. However, she didn't know how precious it was until she asked her jeweler to examine it.

After listening to her jeweler's analysis, she realized she had hit the jackpot. She bought the necklace for a few dollars, not knowing it was worth thousands.

It took her more than a month to discover the necklace's real value after going back and forth with different jewelers and stone specialists.

The woman with the username TOMORROWS-FORECAST posted a photo of the necklace on Reddit, asking other users if they knew anything about the green stones.

She revealed that she bought the necklace for $6.10 plus tax. She regularly visited the thrift store and always went to the jewelry counter first before looking at other things.

When she held the necklace in her hands, she immediately felt an urge to buy it. Her heart raced as she watched her jeweler examine it. He was as surprised as the woman while testing the necklace for gold and staring at its diamonds.

The woman disclosed that the necklace was 18K gold, but she didn't test the silver part. Her jeweler guessed that the diamonds were real, but he wasn't sure about the green stones. He asked the woman to visit again when the senior jeweler was there to use better equipment to test it.

She revealed that it was getting difficult to estimate the actual price of the necklace.

He also estimated the price of the gold was somewhere near $2000. The woman shared that she was excited to take the necklace back to the jeweler. Meanwhile, she compared the diamonds to a diamond ring from the 1800s that she owned and concluded that the diamonds must be an older cut.

A week later, OP (Original Poster) updated other Redditors on the progress. Her jeweler couldn't figure out the green stones, so he advised her to take the necklace to a stone specialist.

She realized she had to spend some money finding out what stones they were and which country they belonged to. She updated the Redditors three weeks later after consulting a gemologist.

The gemologist looked at the stones closely and then examined them under a microscope. He concluded that the stones were Colombian emeralds after noticing the three-phase inclusions.

However, he still didn't quote a price because he wasn't sure about the carat weight of each stone. The jeweler told her that he would quote a price after measuring the carat weight and studying the maker mark on the necklace.

OP took a month to share her progress with other Redditors. She revealed that it was getting difficult to estimate the actual price of the necklace because the stones weren't certified. She explained:

"The one jeweler I was talking to said I could possibly sell it for up to $15,000 without certification and maybe 25,000+ with certification."

The woman explained that the certification could cost her up to $1500 if she applied for an AGL (American Gemological Laboratories) or GIA (Gemological Institute of America) certification.

She preferred waiting for some time until she could save for the certification fee. She also believed the necklace was a great thrift store find and wished to visit the Antiques Roadshow someday to show her precious discovery to the world.

A Redditor named NeonWaffle noticed that OP posted about finding good quality jewelry in thrift stores regularly. She asked OP how often she visited thrift stores, to which OP replied that she visited thrift stores 2-3 times per week.

Most Redditors were surprised at how OP found such a precious necklace at a thrift store. They praised her and wished they could also find something special like her.

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