Following the value of an inherited item, one Antiques Roadshow guest was at a loss for words.
The little brooch, encrusted with diamonds and rubies, provided a large payout to one lucky lady, as expert Geoffrey Munn determined on the Easter Sunday episode of the BBC programme.
‘It’s a brooch I inherited via my mother from my great aunt,’ the guest said of the treasure.
‘They come from Silesia, which is today southern Poland, and they had to flee from the Russians during the end of the war, and they made it over to west Germany.
‘She was cook and housekeeper to Prince Ernst August of Hanover for 37 years.’
Taking a look at the stunning item, the jeweller said: ‘This is a very typical gift from a royal personage, there’s no question at all.’
And it turned out that the visitor understood more about her brooch than anybody else, as Geoffrey quipped that he was’redundant’ because she’d already done her study.
‘It’s Russian and it’s got a 56 kokoshnik mark, I believe, which is 14 carat gold,’ she said.
‘And it’s got an assayer’s mark of Ivan Lebetkin in Moscow between 1899 and 1908.’
‘The style of it is absolutely typical of pre-revolutionary Russian style,’ the valluer stated.
However, neither of them could figure out whose design it was.
Geoffrey initially assumed it was crafted by Karl Faberge after studying his work in depth and noticing parallels.
However, the brooch lacked a maker’s stamp, prompting Geoffrey to believe it was made by one of the Russian jewellery maker’s competitors.
Unfortunately, this meant that its monetary value was “not as sweet.”
‘The craftsmanship is the same, the quality is the same,’ Geoffrey said.
But, that didn’t matter so much, as the woman gasped when she discovered the actual value of what she had been sitting on.
‘So, what’s it worth?’, Geoffrey teased.
‘Well, I’m going to say… £7,000, £8,000.’
There were quick gasps from the audience as the visitor became wide-eyed in shock.
‘Speechless,’ she exclaimed.
‘I never believed that. Wow!’
‘You’ve gotta believe it!’, Geoffrey chuckled.
‘Oh thank you! No, really?’, she asked, just to make sure she heard him correctly.
‘Yes, really!’, he assured.
Viewers at home were astounded by the estimate as they were by the brooch itself.
‘That Russian brooch is quite a thing’, one person tweeted.
‘£8000 for grandma’s pre-revolution brooch, made with ruby and diamonds and full respect, she was stunned by that value’, wrote another.
Antiques Roadshow continues Sunday on BBC One.
Source My Celebrity Life.