The referee would be correct in actions of trover under ordinary conditions. But if the property involved is of fluctuating value, the rule announced by the referee is not correct. Cf. Hedges v. Burke, 147 Tenn. 247, 247 S.W. 91; Clark v. Simpson, 1 Tenn. App. 397. And where property is pledged the conversion is not consummated until sale of the pledged property and value to be fixed as of the time of the sale.
Our courts have adopted the rule that the plaintiff in such cases is not limited to the recovery of merely the value of the property at the time of the conversion, but may recover the highest value which the property had reached between the time of the conversion and a reasonable time to replace it on the market. 26 R.C.L., 1151, sec. 66; 38 Cyc., 2096; Clark v. Simpson, 1 Tenn. App. 397; Morris v. Wood, 35 S.W. 1015; Hedges v. Burke, 147 Tenn. 247, 247 S.W. 91. We think the Chancellor was not in error in fixing the price as of the date she first learned about the conversion.