'Antiques Roadshow' guest says 'goodness me' after expert revealed the value of her vintage brooch
Even the smallest objects can fetch massive valuations on "Antiques Roadshow," and even if they're studded with jewels, the owners are still surprised at the appraisal. In a lot of cases, people also find out a lot about the history and making of the items apart from the valuation. One such piece of jewelry was a tiny brooch that was studded with diamonds.
The brooch had a pin behind it, which would help it be attached to an article of clothing. However, the owner wasn't aware that there was another way to wear it. The expert turned a screw at the back of the brooch and took off the pin. He then revealed that it must have come in a box with a couple of long, white feathers. Those feathers were attached to the brooch, and it could be worn over the hair.
The item was estimated to have been made between 1870 and 1890, a time during which such jewelry was worn by women before they got married. The guest had no idea about this and was pleasantly surprised upon learning it. She also did not know when it might have been made, but believed that even her grandmother had inherited it.
The expert then went on to praise the incredible precision and craftsmanship that must have gone into making such an intricate piece. “Well, it’s a positive blaze of diamonds, isn’t it?” he asked. “You can see along the bottom here, what we call a gallery, which just raises the diamond work up when it’s worn as a brooch, away from the material, to let the light come through.”
“Pierced by hand, drawn out with a little diamond work, and then filed away by an apprentice. Then the silver settings are let into this and tubes of silver, and each diamond set into it - pushed round, rubbed round, and then cut down - they call them cut down settings. So it’s a hugely sentimental one for you, really, isn’t it?”
The guest said that she hoped to pass it on to her daughter, who would, in turn, pass it on to her kids in the future, and so on. After all the formalities were observed, it was time to place a value on the brooch that could be worn as a hairpin and a lapel pin. “I think, let’s put it down at £3,000 ($4,015) for insurance,” the expert added. This came as a surprise to the guest, who believed her husband would also be surprised by the valuation.
“Goodness me,” she said. “That’ll give my husband a shock.” The expert then chimed in and said that it would be a good kind of shock. “All you’ve got to do is look after it, and all you’ve got to do is wear it for him, really,” he added.
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