'Antiques Roadshow' guest says 'oh my goodness' after expert revealed the value of his 1915 brooch
Guests coming to "Antiques Roadshow" make things entertaining with reactions after realizing the real value of the items in their possession. Some of them are simply surprised, while many even break down and struggle to find their balance after appraisals. Experts are the ones making the revelations that surprise people, but sometimes, they're the ones who are stunned by artifacts that they come across. When a man brought a diamond brooch with a rare 'Kashmir Sapphire' in the middle, the expert did not shy away from sharing an astonishing appraisal, although he had to get a lab test done to confirm its authenticity.
In the episode, the guest shared that he got the diamond brooch from a safety deposit box belonging to his father, and it was part of their family's estate. "We had to open it [the safety deposit box] when he passed. We actually had to, someone had to drill it open, and we found a bunch of jewelry that I had never seen before," he shared.
The guest further added that he believed it was his grandmother's jewelry and it was probably from Germany. "My family on both sides left Germany in the '30s in a kind of a hurry. And I believe, because of some of the other jewelry that was there, like a pocket watch, which I knew came from Germany. I believe this was from Germany as well," he explained.
The show's expert, John Colasacco, then took over to explain the significance of the item. "When I first saw this pin, there's something about how the light just hits that center stone and makes you go, 'Whoa,'" he exclaimed. When he asked the guest if he knew anything about it, the guest said his wife told him that it looked like a sapphire. The appraiser confirmed that it was a sapphire, but it wasn't just any sapphire. "It's the kind of sapphire that, in the jewelry industry, we prize very, very much because, in my opinion, that color suggests that it's a sapphire from the Kashmir origin," Colassaco explained. He added that in about 1880, a huge deposit of the precious gem was unearthed in the Himalayas region by a landslide, and by about 1887, the mine was depleted.
"So, these sapphires are quite rare. We can't know for sure without a laboratory report," he noted. The appraiser explained that the labs take "a very high-quality, close-up, in-depth imaging of these stones" to compare them to the known samples from the area, hence, they can tell with some certainty where they came from. However, the expert noted that he could tell that the stone was from Kashmir by looking at the way light refracted off its surface. "I would date the pin to about 1915. I think it's a classic art deco style with the Greek key and beautiful rose-cut diamonds," he explained, after looking at the other details of the brooch. He then noted that the metal was platinum-topped 14-karat gold and that one of the stones was missing and replacing it wouldn't be inexpensive.
However, he suggested that the item weighed about a carat, so it would be of some value. Getting down to the numbers, he estimated that the item would be worth in the $15,000 to $20,000 range at an auction. "Oh, my goodness. I guess we're gonna have to reopen the estate. I'm gonna have to divide this three ways," the guest replied.
However, the expert had a warning in store for the guest. "Well, if the sapphire is not from Kashmir, I would still say in the $5,000 to $7,000 ballpark," he noted. Thus, if the reports came negative, the item would lose half its value.
