A man who spent just $1.50 on a clutch bag at a thrift store discovered years later that his inexpensive find was actually a Cartier Art Deco piece valued at about $35,000.The unnamed buyer brought the bright orange velvet clutch to an episode of PBS’s ‘Antiques Roadshow’, where it was examined by jewellery specialist Katherine Van Dell. He told her that he had bought the bag in either 2018 or 2019 simply because he liked the way it looked.“I thought it was pretty,” he said when asked why he had picked it up. At the time, there was little reason for him to think that the $1.50 purchase could be worth thousands of dollars.But Van Dell quickly noticed that the clutch was far from an ordinary thrift-store find. She described it as an “absolutely exquisite Art Deco purse” and began examining the decoration on its front flap. What initially looked like a colourful ornamental design was made from valuable materials and showed characteristics associated with fine jewellery from the Art Deco period.
Precious stones reveal first clues
Van Dell explained that the decoration on the front of the purse was made using “carved rock crystal, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and old European cut diamonds”, along with platinum.The stones were arranged to resemble a small container filled with flowers. Van Dell described the design as “giardinetto”, an Italian term meaning “little garden”.Another important clue came from the way the small coloured stones had been carved and arranged. Van Dell identified the style as “tutti frutti”, a design associated with colourful combinations of carved gemstones.While similar designs can also be seen in costume jewellery, Van Dell explained that the style was pioneered in fine jewellery by Cartier during the Art Deco period, although it was known by different names at the time.That raised the possibility that the purse could have been made by the French luxury jewellery house. The answer became clearer when Van Dell opened the clutch.
Cartier name found inside clutch
Inside the bag, ‘Cartier’ was printed in gold on the lining. Van Dell said she suspected the piece was Cartier France.According to Antiques Roadshow, the clutch was likely made in the 1920s. The combination of its Art Deco design, precious stones, platinum construction and Cartier identification turned the thrift-store purchase into a much more valuable object than its owner had expected.Before hearing Van Dell’s valuation, the buyer said he had hoped the purse might be worth $2,000 or $3,000. Even that would have represented a huge return on the $1.50 he had paid for it. The actual estimate was far higher.“Conservatively in an auction situation today, it’s worth about $35,000. And that’s fair market value,” Van Dell told him.The buyer appeared stunned by the figure and became emotional as he took in the appraisal. Van Dell praised his incredible eye for spotting the clutch at the thrift store in the first place.She also said the piece could carry a much higher figure for insurance purposes. According to Parade’s account of the appraisal, Van Dell said the Cartier clutch could easily be insured for more than $100,000.
The $35,000 surprise
The difference between what the man paid and the appraisal was striking. A purchase made for just $1.50 because he found the bag attractive had turned out to be an Art Deco Cartier piece with a fair market value of about $35,000.The appraisal did not involve an auction sale, meaning the $35,000 figure was Van Dell’s assessment of its fair market value rather than a price the owner had actually received for the clutch. The insurance figure was also separate from its estimated market value.The episode was filmed at Grant’s Farm in St Louis, Missouri, and aired on May 11, 2026. The appraisal later drew attention online after Antiques Roadshow shared a video of the exchange, Parade Magazine reported. Viewers reacted to the buyer’s emotional response after learning how much his thrift-store purchase could be worth.One viewer wrote, “He teared up knowing that $35k is life-changing for him. Wow.” Others said they were happy for the buyer, with another commenter saying, “Looks like this happened to the right person.”
