Islanders bring out their crowning jewels
About $900 was raised for PIMHAG at a jewellery valuation day.
About $900 was raised for Phillip Island Health Hub Auxiliary at a jewellery valuation day at the Phillip Island RSL last month.
Jeweller Ronnie Bauer - better known as a Bass Coast Shire Island Ward councillor – offered his services for free, via donation, along with staff from Klepner’s Fine Antique Jewellery in Little Collins St, Melbourne.
In an Antiques Roadshow-style valuation, about 26 local residents brought their precious treasures for the team to evaluate.
“The most memorable one was when a woman brought what she thought were mediocre emerald earrings and they turned out to be very fine jadeite worth quite a few thousand dollars,” said Ronnie, who is the vice president of the Jewellers Association of Australia and Australian representative of the World Jewellery Congress.
“Regrettably there was the odd dud.
“But what was interesting is how many old jewels had been repurposed – jewellery from the ‘50s and ‘60s using diamonds cut in the 1800s.”
Ronnie is a fifth-generation jeweller in the city family business.
