Lifestyle

He Paid Pocket Change for a Pretty Little Purse at a Thrift Store. Then the Appraiser Saw “Cartier” Inside: “It Was Worth the Trip”

By Erica Coleman · November 14, 2026

He was not hunting for treasure. He just liked the look of it.

In a clip posted by Antiques Roadshow PBS (@RoadshowPBS), a gray-haired thrift-store shopper sits down with jewelry appraiser Katherine Van Dell of Heritage Auctions and explains how he came to own a small purse. “I just picked it up in a thrift store, and liked it, and thought it was pretty,” he says. He thinks he bought it in “2018 or ‘19.”

Van Dell clearly saw more than a pretty purse. She calls it “an absolutely exquisite Art Deco purse” and points to the jeweled panel on the front, a style she says was known in the Art Deco period as Tutti Frutti. The panel, she explains, is made of platinum, carved rock crystal, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and old European cut diamonds.

That style, she says, was made popular by one maker in particular: Cartier. She tells him that when he brought the purse to her table, she immediately wondered whether it was the real thing. Then she opened the bag. “I saw here that it’s signed Cartier,” she says, adding that she believes it is probably Cartier France, though she can’t say for certain without seeing the back of the panel.

Then came the question every Roadshow guest waits for. What did he pay?

“$1.50,” he says.

He had his own guess about its value, and it was hopeful. “I was, I was hoping maybe $2,000 or $3,000,” he tells her.

Van Dell’s number was far higher. “Conservatively in an auction situation today, it’s worth about $35,000,” she says, and she adds that this is fair market value. For insurance purposes, she says, the figure “would easily be over $100,000.”

The guest is clearly moved. He says “Wow” more than once and apologizes as he collects himself, and Van Dell tells him he has “an incredible eye.” His reaction sums it up: “Wow, it was worth the trip.” He adds that he has been treated like royalty all day, and she admits it was hard keeping the news from him for the last three hours.

PBS lists the piece on its Antiques Roadshow appraisal page as a Cartier Art Deco Tutti Frutti clutch from about 1925. The page says it was appraised at the show’s 2025 stop in St. Louis, Missouri, with a value of $35,000 at auction and $100,000 for insurance. The appraisal appeared in the Season 30 episode filmed at Grant’s Farm.

Finds like this are rare, and a Roadshow estimate is not the same as a sale. Still, the story is a good reminder of a few things anyone with an old piece of jewelry or a vintage bag can check.

Check the inside as well as the outside. In this case, the signature that mattered was inside the bag. Marks, stamps and signatures are often where appraisers start. An auction estimate and an insurance value are also two different numbers, as Van Dell’s figures show, so ask which one you are being given.

Taxes can matter too. The IRS says in its Topic 409 on capital gains that net capital gains from selling collectibles, such as coins or art, are taxed at a maximum 28% rate, and that the basis of an item is generally what the owner paid for it. Anyone thinking of selling a valuable find may want to talk with a tax professional first.

This article is for general information and is not financial or legal advice. The appraisal details and quotes are from Antiques Roadshow’s own video and its official transcript on PBS.org; tax rules are as stated by the IRS. This article was produced with the assistance of AI and fact-checked against the sources cited by LightWave Reports.