'Antiques Roadshow' guest who rescued a ring from gas station drain couldn't believe its real worth
Sometimes, realizing an item's value at the right time could literally save something precious from going down the drain. As seemingly insignificant yet vintage jewelry and artifacts get high valuations on “Antiques Roadshow,” more people are starting to salvage such items from basements and attics. But a guest walked in with two of her mother's rings, and while one was worth £100 ($136), the other, worth thousands, was saved from a gas station drain.
The guest claimed the rings belonged to her mother, who had sadly passed away a couple of months before the episode was shot. “Yes, my mother’s. Well, sadly, my mother passed away a couple of months ago. I knew she had the rings, but she hadn’t worn them for quite a while,” she said. While one of them had a sizeable diamond in its centre, the other was a jewel-studded gold band.
She claimed that her father had bought the diamond one for her mother many years ago, but had no idea about the other one. The expert, John Benjamin, said that it was a traditional ring that was half-hoop with turquoise stones and small diamonds made in the early years of the 20th century. The expert said that the rings could bring something around £120 ($163) to £150 ($204). However, the interesting one was the other ring.
“The bigger one, she went down to friend’s, she was on her way to Brighton and she stopped at a gas station. She went into the ladies’ room and it fell off of her finger and went down the drain. Luckily, it was very early in the morning. She went out, someone came along, opened the trap, and luckily, it fell out,” she said.
“It could be a colourless big stone, or it could be something slightly more interesting. Of course, what we like it to be is something more interesting,” Benjamin said. He then revealed that it was a 4.3-carat “large” brilliant-cut diamond from the 1950s, according to a report in The Sun. “It’s got a little tint of colour. The best diamonds you can buy are colourless, known as D colour,” he added.
“The colour of this diamond is probably around about J colour, so you see it’s a few grades down the scale. But the overall impression that it makes, for a ring that was lost down the sink, it’s pretty good. Now the diamond ring is a little bit more interesting than £100. 4.3 carats - £20,000 ($27,205),” the expert added.
The people gathered around the guest let out a collective gasp. She was also in shock and thankful for the person who helped her mother get the ring out of the filth one early morning on the way to Brighton. “Wow. Ok. That’s very nice. I’m pleased she got it out of the sink!” she added with a smile on her face.
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'Antiques Roadshow' guest says 'it's lot more than I thought' after hearing the value of her jewelry
'Antiques Roadshow' guest was taken aback after expert revealed the value of her mom's wedding ring
