'Antiques Roadshow' guest asks 'that much?' after hearing the value of her 1915 horseshow pin
A horseshoe can be expected to turn up in many places, but one being featured as a valuable item on “Antiques Roadshow” is unusual. When it was brought to the show, the horseshoe was valued in thousands. But this wasn't just any horseshoe, as it was studded with diamonds and was meant to be used as a piece of jewelry. The guest who brought the item also brought two pictures of her grandmother wearing it as a pin. When the expert revealed its real value, the guest was left wide-eyed.
There was no sign or stamp on the horseshoe, so there was no way of knowing which company made it. However, this was nothing to be surprised about as it was the norm in the United States during the early 20th century. That’s when expert Kevin Zavian believed it was manufactured. There was a total of 37 diamonds on the horseshoe. The other element used in it was platinum.
Zavian noticed that the guest’s grandmother wore the horseshoe upside down, which he said was believed to be a symbol of luck running out. However, the guest said that her grandma was happily married for several years. She wore it at her wedding and her son’s wedding. The expert also revealed that it could be used as a necklace or a pendant, which pleasantly surprised the guest.
When the time came for it to be appraised, Zavian said, “Well, I feel today, at auction, a pin like this would be $5,000 to $7,000.” This surprised the guest quite a bit as she stared at the expert wide-eyed. “That much?” she asked. She then said that she had no idea that it would be worth so much and was clearly pleased about it.
Jewelry can be worth a lot of money, and “Antiques Roadshow” has proved that time and again. Sometimes, guests are so shocked by the appraisal of a piece of jewelry, they struggle to speak. That’s what happened on another episode of the show in which a guest had brought her great-great-grandmother’s sapphire ring. It was believed to be around 125 years old at the time of taping.
The ring had a stunning sapphire right in its center, and it was no ordinary gem. It was a rare Kashmir sapphire, and the guest had no idea about this until expert Lucy Grogan Edwards revealed it. The sapphire is flanked by two European-cut diamonds, which is the exact cut of diamond you would expect to see during the Edwardian period. The featured aspect of this ring is, of course, the sapphire. And when I saw that sapphire, my eyes lit up,” the expert added.
When the time came for a valuation, the expert said, "If it is indeed a Kashmir sapphire, which I feel pretty confident it is, at auction, I think we're looking at somewhere between $100,000 and $150,000." This shocked the guest, whose voice trembled as she spoke. "That's quite something. Thank you so much, I don't know what else to say. I just, I'm..." she said.
