Recently my hubby and I were out and about searching for lovelies at yard sales. We came across a sign for an estate sale down a windy cliff lined road. We of course decided to check it out. As we passed the house not knowing where to park I took a long look at what seemed to me a somewhat scary situation. The house was ancient and looked as if it might slide down the cliff it was built upon at any moment. Also there was trash strewn all over the place. The 3 ladies standing on the porch were also staring me down. One was sitting cross legged and pounding a drum. Needless to say my first instinct was to keep driving. This place is probably full of mice and bedbugs. But then I told myself buck up lady, and I told my hubby the same.
We parked and went in. There was no electricity so thank goodness we have iPhones with flashlight apps. We slowly perused the items that were for sale, mind you this house looked like it hadn't been touched since 1965. They said everything was for sale, and nothing was priced. At first glance I was a little overwhelmed because there was piles upon piles of items. Some things had been set out. I first looked through all the glass and porcelain, picking out a few milk glass items. I then spotted a few other collectibles that I wanted to add to my stash. I asked their prices and they seemed reasonable, so I kept searching. As I walked up the rickety stair case praying that I wouldn't be the catalyst to make the house crash to it's foundation, the lady searching through the upstairs screamed because she found a dead mouse in a dresser drawer. That's when I knew this was a treasure trove.
I went through the bedrooms looking at the many items of costume jewelry that were lying about. I picked up a few pieces, and one ring had another ring that was entangled with it. I got them apart and that's how I found the beautiful piece you see above. It's a 14k white gold art deco style ring, with real diamonds and a giant beautifully cut synthetic ruby. My heart started pounding. I added it to my costume jewelry finds and went to ask the lady for prices. She had no idea what she had so I bought everything as it was priced. Needless to say I walked outta there with excitement boiling over. I had to get the ring appraised!
I went to my local jeweler in town and he said he thinks it's from the 1940s to 1950s and that besides the ruby everything is real. I almost jumped for joy.
So the lesson to be learned is that the best treasures can come from the least likely places. An average person with normal tendencies to run away from the strange house on the cliff with no electricity and the eccentric ladies out front would have missed out on this amazing find. Plus the lady playing the drum said we could come back anytime and hang.
