Chapter 5 - The ring had been appraised recently
Three weeks before the ceremony, Thayer arranged a private jewelry appraisal.
That emerged from email.
Why?
He told Gwendolyn:
“For insurance.”
Reasonable.
A valuable heirloom at a wedding could be lost.
The appraiser:
Lansing & Roe Fine Jewelry
Estimated value:
$485,000 to $560,000 depending auction conditions.
Not because the stones alone were worth that much.
Provenance mattered.
The Bellamy family history.
Original setting.
Documentation going back to 1891.
Then insurance.
A temporary event rider had been obtained.
Policyholder?
Estelle Bellamy.
Additional interested party?
Gwendolyn.
Who coordinated paperwork?
Thayer.
Again:
Reasonable.
Then one strange clause.
The appraisal packet included:
High-resolution stone mapping.
Measurements.
Mounting photographs.
Microscopic inclusion images.
Why so detailed?
Normal for serious insurance.
But also enough to reproduce a convincing replica.
May you like
That did not prove anything.
Yet.
