An Antiques Roadshow guest was stunned to discover the true value of a rare family heirloom that once belonged to the Royal Family.
The lucky owner appeared on an episode of the popular British daytime programme in March and saw how the search for valuable personal items led to Dorset.
Expert Geoffrey Munn spoke to the guest, who showed him a “magnificent” and rare brooch dating from the 1820s to the 1840s that he had received after being given to his family as a gift by Empress Eugenie.
The antiques professional began with a joke: ‘The first thing you have to do to determine whether it is a great piece of jewelry is whether you want to steal it. And I do. I’m going to steal it now and show it to you in the sunlight. Look at how it sparkles.’
When asked where the beautiful piece of jewelry came from, the owner admitted, “I don’t know much about it other than it was passed down through my paternal grandfather’s side.
An Antiques Roadshow guest was stunned to discover the true value of a rare family heirloom that once belonged to the Royal Family
Expert Geoffrey Munn met the guest, who unveiled a ‘mesmerising’ and rare brooch dating back to sometime between the 1820s and 1840s
When it came to crunching the numbers, the guest (RIGHT) was left speechless by the antiques expert’s offer
“I can’t even remember if she was my great-grandmother or my great-great-grandmother. It was given to her by Empress Eugenie.”
For those at home who don’t know, Geoffrey added: ‘Empress Eugenie, she was the beautiful Spanish wife of Emperor Napoleon III of France and in a way she’s kind of a parallel to our own Queen Victoria.
‘This is a stunning diamond brooch, set in silver, with a gold back. The stones were probably cut before the 1840s, which is the date I would give for this one, 1820-1840.’
He continued, “And they probably came from somewhere else — and that’s a pattern in jewelry, where pieces get broken off and re-fashioned. What kind of bird is this?”
The owner looked shocked and suspected that the rare specimen was supposed to represent an eagle. The expert, however, was not so sure.
“It could be an eagle, but there’s a small, tentative detail that makes me suspect it’s something much more exciting than just an eagle,” he revealed.
Addition: ‘It could be a Ho Ho bird which comes from an Eastern tradition where these birds represented change and were popular as wedding gifts. Each gemstone has a very specific meaning’
“The diamond is the hardest material known to man, and is therefore an object of constant love. The ruby is sacred to Venus, and here we have a small one for an eye.”
The owner looked shocked and guessed that the rare object was supposed to represent an eagle, but the expert wasn’t so sure.
Geoffrey said: To take it from you with honour, I’ll probably have to give you about £20,000 for it today.
‘However, it is associated with Venus, which supports my contention that this is a wedding pin.
‘Despite the fact that the fashion for diamond jewelry is not as great as it used to be, I still think it is a very valuable object and I want to take it from you once again.’
When it came to calculating the amounts, the guest was left speechless by the antiques expert’s offer.
Geoffrey said, ‘To take it from you honourably, I’ll probably have to give you about £20,000 for it today.’
The owner replied in surprise, “Twenty? Wow, I knew it was worth a lot, I didn’t think it was worth that much.”
This happened shortly after a guest on the American version of the show was stunned to discover that his $4.99 vase from Goodwill was actually worth $100,000.
The yellow 1920 Overbeck vase was featured on an episode of Antiques Roadshow earlier this week, when an unidentified guest brought it along to an event in Indiana.
The owner of the piece told appraiser David Rago that he and his wife were shopping at Goodwill when he saw the “beautiful” item on a shelf.
When told it could fetch between $50,000 and $100,000 at auction, the man replied, “My heart is pounding!”
The buyer added: ‘I knew the quality was good, but I didn’t know anything else about it, so I picked it up and looked at it,’ the vase’s owner said.
Antiques Roadshow airs on Sunday evenings at 7pm on BBC One.
