GUEST: I collected things,
always, from when I was
very young, because my
mother was, collected

things. And then I started
to get older, and I fell
in love with Modernism.

APPRAISER: I don't think Claire
Falkenstein is that well-known
to a large jewelry audience

because she really was known
for sculpture. The most famous
sculpture she made was for

Guggenheim, "The New Gates
of Paradise" in Venice.

GUEST: Yes, yeah.

APPRAISER: And did not use
expensive materials, and
that was really because
she didn't, couldn't

in the beginning, but then
she continued to use wood and
glass and iron and silver and

very rarely used gold. And
what you brought are two quite
rare pieces. I have actually

never seen a pair of
her earrings. I mean,
it was not a big body
of work. But this piece,

this is very unusual. I
imagine it was worn as a head
ornament, probably in a bun, and

then you'd put these in the
back and they would dangle.
There's brass, there's iron,

there's silver and gold,
and also, it's signed.
Her full name, Claire
Falkenstein. Where did

you get this?

GUEST: The hair ornament I
bought online. It came from
Paris. It was about 20 years

ago. It was at an auction thing,
and it didn't sell, and in
those days, you could contact

the owner.

APPRAISER: And buy it.

GUEST: Which I did, and she
said, "Nobody bid on it. If
you want, you can have it for

$50." The earrings I bought when
we were living in Milwaukee at
a church thrift shop. I paid

probably like two, three
dollars. I'm thinking
this was made in the '60s.

APPRAISER: That could
be in the '60s...

GUEST: But that's,
that's what I'm thinking.

APPRAISER: And the earrings
were probably late '40s.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: I am hard-pressed
to put a value. It's
not for everyone, it's
not that wearable,

but if you want to be
avant-garde and cool,
hey, that says it all.
On this head ornament,

I would put a value, at auction,
$4,000 to $6,000. And I would
say as an insurance value,

probably in the $15,000 range,
at least. And the earrings I
would also put up there, maybe

$4,000 to $5,000 as an auction
price, and a replacement, I'd
have to say $10,000, $12,000.

I think people will all
of a sudden say, "Claire
Falkenstein-- who was she?"