The guest had no idea how much her grandma’s jewels were worth
BBC’s Antiques Roadshow returned on Sunday evening with an unexpected valuation. Arriving in “somewhat modest packaging”, one guest had no idea how much two of her grandmother’s antiques were really worth.
The guest shared that during lockdown she took an interest in her family tree, which prompted her grandma to take the jewels out of the cupboard to show to her. The two diamond brooches had a note attached describing their relation to Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia who had gifted them to his descendent Lady Zia Countess de Torby.
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The guest’s Russian Dynasty ancestor had ended up with the jewels which despite being “nowhere near the same league”, had been passed down to her leading to her appearance on the show. One of the brooches consisted of a large amethyst crystal surrounded by diamonds, made in 1880.
The second platinum brooch set with “the finest possible diamonds” and “real pearls” was decided by Munn to be Parisian, dating back to around 1900. Geoffrey Munn called the pieces “very desirable”. He said: “It’s dicey really because I think the [royal connection] would add quite considerably to the value if sold at auction.”
This led Geoffrey to value the amethyst brooch at £5,000 while the second piece that was predicted to be made by iconic jeweller Tiffany’s was stamped with a staggering £7,000 to £8,000 price tag.
The two looked equally as shocked and pleased with the jewels combined value of up to £13,000 with Munn exclaiming “goodness”. The guest said: “Wow. amazing. My grandma would be ecstatic.”
The two agreed that really “none of that matters” as the sentimental value meant the items were unlikely to be sold and will remain within the family for many more years to come.
