GUEST: It's a snuff bottle. A
gift from a friend. She bought
it in the 1960s as a possible
Fabergé piece.
APPRAISER: Well, it's a stunning
piece, I really love it a
lot. It is a Fabergé piece.
GUEST: That's amazing.
APPRAISER: Fabergé was opened
in 1842 by Gustav Fabergé.
And then his son, at the
age of 18, Carl, toured the
world, came back to Russia and
came into the business. And
then Tsar Alexander III had them
declared goldsmith by special
appointment to the imperial
crown, thus beginning the
association with the Russian
tsars. Also, Tsar Nicholas III
commissioned the first Easter
egg to be made in 1885. So
what we have here is really a
fabulous jadeite snuff
bottle. The snuff bottle
dates from the 18th century.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: So it's from the
1700s. And then Fabergé put this
cap on top of it here, probably
around 1890 to
1900, in that era.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And the cap is
made out of 14-karat gold,
which is a Russian standard.
And I looked at these little
round cabochon stones. Do you
know what kind of stones those
are?
GUEST: They look a little
bit like rubies to me, but...
APPRAISER: They are rubies,
and they're the best kind,
they're Burmese rubies, they're
Burma rubies all the way around
there. And it's capped on top
with absolutely a fabulous
cabochon garnet. Do you have
a wild guess if we had to put
a value on it what it could
be worth?
GUEST: I really don't--
Fabergé. I wasn't even
sure it was real, so...
APPRAISER: It is real, and
I'm very happy to tell you,
retail, this easily would sell
between $50,000 and $75,000.
GUEST: Oh, my gosh.
That's fabulous.
APPRAISER: And it is a unique
piece, it's not replaceable.
GUEST: No, no, absolutely not.
APPRAISER: It should be
insured for $100,000. It's
absolutely a fabulous piece.
GUEST: That's wonderful.
APPRAISER: It's museum-quality.