Appraisal Day the Moment of Truth for Dreams of Fortune : A glance by an expert will tell whether the fabulous history of a treasured family heirloom bracelet was only a tall tale.

You carefully remove the solid gold bracelet from the false bottom of your wife’s jewelry box and make a note to tighten security. The bracelet, you suspect, is worth a fortune.

It was left to your wife by her spinster Aunt June. Years ago, according to family legend, a Spanish paramour gave her the bracelet and said Columbus originally presented it to Queen Isabella after his second voyage to the New World.

A tall tale? Today, you will find out.

You’re headed to Appraisal Day at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art. Experts from Butterfield & Butterfield, the distinguished West Coast auction house that was established a mere 373 years after Columbus’ first voyage, will tell you whether to simply make vacation plans at McGrath State Beach or go out and buy a summer chalet in France.

In a light mist, you walk into the museum’s interior courtyard. Sitting on benches under a portico, prized possessions at their feet, dozens of other hopefuls wait to be called into the Smith Gallery, where the appraisals take place.

“No. 7, furniture and decorative arts,” an official announces. A young man, cradling a vase as if it were a child, stands up, straightens his tie and walks into the gallery.

You pat the gold bracelet in your shirt pocket, reassured by its heft. An official asks you to fill out a form. You learn that the appraisal cannot be used for insurance documentation but is merely the potential selling price of the item at auction. If you decide to consign the piece to B & B, you must pay 10% commission if it sells.

As you wait your turn, you chat with Katherine Fairbanks of Fillmore. Huddled in a raincoat on the damp bench, her Botke etchings protected in a plastic bag, the gray-haired woman says she is secretly “searching for a wonderful surprise,” but readily admits that she’s there for practical considerations: The appraisal will determine how she divvies up her art among her heirs.

“You just don’t send these things to a rummage sale,” she says.

Robin WoodwB’s regional representative with offices in Ventura and Santa Barbara, says most people attend appraisals “to see if the old butter churn handed down for a few generations is as valuable as Mother says.”

Never mind butter churns. What about gold bracelets with links to Columbus? “We sometimes find something wonderful,” she says. “Not millions of times, but once in a while.”

As you stand outside the gallery entrance, museum Curator Tim Schiffer tells you that nobody has hit the jackpot yet. “I’m not hearing any shrieks and screams,” he says.

But you’re buoyed when a 23-year-old Ventura man discovers that his small diamond brooch, purchased weeks before for only $100, turns out to be worth as much as $5,000.

Your number is called. You stride into the gallery, a long, dark room with several tables set up around the perimeter. An expert sits behind each table, studying ceramic Viking mugs and blue stone ashtrays and Rembrandt look-alikes. A lady is disappointed to hear that her pewter plate is worth only $50 to $75.

“But it’s from 1918,” she says defensively.

In the back, an official-looking woman sits behind a table marked “jewelry.” She’s Elizabeth Cook, a B & B jewelry appraiser and the master of your fate.

You sit on a folding chair. She studies your application. You mention Columbus, the Queen and the modest castle in France. She cocks an eyebrow and takes the bracelet, dangling it, rays of golden light deflecting like sparks. Peering through a jeweler’s loupe, she examines the filigree for what seems like three days. Your heart flutters.

“It has an unusual floral pattern,” she says.

Your heart races. “And the design’s pretty,” she adds.

Your heart pounds. “But it could have been made 30 minutes or 30 years ago,” she says.

Goodby, Columbus.

“Five-hundred years ago, jewelry makers were not as sophisticated at making clasps,” she explains.

Betrayed by a simple clasp.

“I’d say the value is between five- and seven-hundred dollars,” she says.

You throw out a feeble what if: “Suppose the bracelet belonged to a famous celebrity, like, uh, Madonna?” you ask.

“If there were no markings indicating it belonged to Madonna, but you could authenticate it,” Cook says, “it would probably bring more money. You would have to sell it at a memorabilia sale, but it wouldn’t go through the roof.”

You slouch out of the gallery. In the courtyard, you catch the eye of the woman with the practically worthless pewter plate. She averts her eyes, recognizing a fellow loser. You take the bracelet home and wonder how Aunt June ever could have fallen for that obviously bogus pickup line about Columbus.

Details

* WHAT: Third annual Fine Art and Antiques Appraisal Day.

* WHEN: Friday from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.

* WHERE: Ventura County Museum of History and Art, 100 E. Main St., Ventura.

* HOW MUCH: Registration $10 (non-members); $5 per item, five-item maximum.

* CALL: 653-0323, Ext. 10.