Posted 13 years ago
beachtrave…
(6 items)
Some background....my father-in-law is a retired Secret Service agent who served on either the Presidential detail or the family detail starting with Eisenhower and through Ford. After that he became a SAC for a field office and did the counterfeit money tracking thing. He has very little interest in his past, so has given us a lot of his memorabilia. Look what I found yesterday, again, in a box. This is a 1969 Inaugural Ball ladies bracelet (10k gold), given to women who attended the Inaugural Ball (the men got cuff links). It's in the original box. Wonder what type of value this has. It's definitely very special to our family, to have so much history to share with our children.
This bracelet is not exactly 10k gold. It states on 1 side that it is 1/20 10k Gold Filled. I'm not sure how that breaks down to the exact amount of gold in it, but I don't think it's alot. That is why you have a tarnish look to it. That comes from whatever metal is mixed in with the gold. Thanks for sharing, still a cool item. TG
Thrifty is right about gold filled items. If you can have it authenticated a collector of presidential stuff would probably be interested. I would think the library of congress or the Smithsonian would have detailed information.
I was wondering about the tarnish if it was supposed to be gold, but that makes sense. "Part" gold, lol. It's authentic all right, my father-in-law was there. I have a lot of his Secret Service memorabilia too. Not that I'm necessarily interested in selling it. It's family history.
I have no doubt your father in law was there. However, with all the fake reproductions in every area, authentication makes it the real deal and increases the value.
The same item is for sale here for $25. It is referred to as a charm with a loop for hanging it on as opposed to a bracelet. Also the Smithsonian does have info.
http://www.fleatique.com/catalog.asp?action=showitem&id=20172&subcat=94
10K gold is only 41.7% gold, the rest being alloys and will tarnish.
Those are really great items!
Thanks fhrjr2. I see that one doesn't have the loop that goes with it. I've heard it referred to as a bracelet, and to me that makes more sense, seeing as the men got cuff links. But I can't say for sure. I doubt my father in law would eve remember to be honest. He's 80 now and his memory isn't the best. Plus he just doesn't like to talk about that stuff for some reason. It will definitely remain a family historical piece.
If you read the narrative in the above link it does have the loop it just isn't shown. The ball in 69 wasn't held until May 4th. I didn't read all the info on the Smithsonian site and didn't even look in the library of congress. You should be able to find out how many of them were produced. Some of the info I did read lead me to think these weren't gifts but were sold as a souvenir or memento type thing. Regardless, they are a piece of history even if old Tricky Dickie wasn't the most popular president.