Appraiser to evaluate jewelry, accessories
Concord Journal, MA
Have you always wondered what your grandmother’s jeweled brooch or your mother’s Judith Leiber purse or that mesh clutch you picked up at a yard sale for $1 is really worth? At 7 p.m. Thursday, May 18, come to the Concord Museum for What is it Worth?, a jewelry and purse appraisal evening, and learn more about your treasure from the expert.
Gloria Lieberman, director of Skinner’s Fine Jewelry Department, is one of the nation’s experts on antique jewelry and an auctioneer and appraiser at Skinner. She lectures extensively both locally and nationally including the Boston Center for Adult Education, the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, Harvard University’s Extension Program, Brandeis University and the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. She is also a teacher and lecturer at Rhode Island School of Design’s (RISD) Decorative Arts program. Her television appearances include BBC’s “The Great Antiques Hunt,” the PBS series “Antiques Roadshow,” and the Boston-based series “Chronicle.
This two-hour event is an open format appraisal. Each guest may bring a purse or piece of jewelry to be discussed by Lieberman in the lecture format. Cost is $10 for Concord Museum members, $15 for non-members; price includes one item for a verbal appraisal and description. Reservations required, 978-369-9763. Reserve early as space is limited
The program is offered in association with the Concord Museum’s special exhibition, “The Purse & the Person: A Century of Women’s Purses.” Purses are far more than containers for life’s necessities; they are private repositories of life stories. The exhibition, on view through July 4, in the only New England showing, combines purses with the everyday objects that filled them. Bejeweled, embroidered, crocheted or made of gold mesh or the most sumptuous leather, these handbags and their contents from gloves and sunglasses to compacts and chewing gum were brought together by a collector who has a passion for purses
The exquisite designs of Whiting and Davis, Judith Leiber, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, and Kate Spade are side by side with the timeless day and evening styles carried by generations of women. Sassy and chic or staid and matronly, kitsch or classic clutch, these vintage purses reveal the personalities, the fashion sense and the day-to-day concerns of women of the 20th century.
The Concord Museum is located in historic Concord at the intersection of Lexington Road and Cambridge Turnpike. The Museum is wheelchair accessible and has ample free parking on Cambridge Turnpike. The Concord Museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums.
General admission to the museum is $8 for adults, $7 seniors (62 and over), $7 students with valid identification. Museum hours are Monday-Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday noon to 5 p.m. (open Sundays June-August 9 to 5 p.m.)
For further information call 978-369-9609 (Taped information) 978-369-9763 (Reservations) E-mail: cm1@concordmuseum.org Web site: www.concordmuseum.org
