Antiques Roadshow guest gasps ‘I’m dumbfounded!’ as she learns eye-watering value of jewellery collection which cost her just £60
An Antiques Roadshow guest gasped ‘I’m dumbfounded!’ as she told the eye-watering value of her jewellery collection which cost her just £60.
The latest instalment of the BBC show, which originally aired in 2024, saw the experts help a number of people at Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery in Ealing, west London.
One woman appeared in front of the camera to ask fine jewellery specialist Joanna Hardy about her own collection, which included a necklace, bracelet, chain with a Pieces pendant and a ring.
The lady explained how she got her hands on each item, having bought herself one, her pal made her one, and her ex bought one for her.
Joanna told her: ‘My goodness me, you’ve had some very generous people in your life.
‘But you’ve also been given, or bought, very well in terms of the quality of the pieces because they’ve got such a lovely weight to them. They’re all 18 carat gold.
An Antiques Roadshowguest gasped ‘I’m dumbfounded!’ as she told the eye-watering value of her jewellery collection which cost her just £60 (pictured)
One woman appeared in front of the camera to ask fine jewellery specialist Joanna Hardy (pictured) about her own collection, which included a necklace, bracelet, chain with a Pieces pendant and a ring
The lady explained how she got her hands on each of the items, having bought herself one, her friend making her one and her former partner buying her one
‘Today gold has just gone through the roof and the diamond in the centre here [the ring], it’s all beautifully set and that’s just about, nearly, a two carat stone.’
The woman asked: ‘Does any one of them stand out?’
Joanna told her: ‘They all stand out to me because they are very different, they are all beautifully made.
‘I would wear any one of those.’
She continued: ‘I am going to do a global valuation here. At auction they would go for around £14,000!’
The lady was left speechless and simply said: ‘Wow’, meanwhile the audience all gasped.
She continued: ‘I’m known as chatty Anne, maybe this time I’m a little bit dumbfounded, I didn’t think they would be quite as valuable!’
‘Discussing the memories, which I hadn’t done for a long time, the provenance of where I got them from was lovely.
‘I am going to do a global valuation here. At auction they would go for around £14,000!’
‘It made me realise how special they are, those pieces of jewellery, they are part of me,’ she said to the camera.
It comes after another Antiques Roadshow guest was left gasping after an unwanted tea set that she and her husband thought was worth just £100 was given an ‘outrageous’ valuation.
Antiques expert Serhat Ahmet met with the woman during the episode that aired over the weekend, as the BBC show took to the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea.
He was met by a large green box, with ornate gold patterns on the outside, and revealed a well-kept Chinese tea set in white and red china.
The tea set, which originally belonged to one of the woman’s family members, named Margaret, was thought to be worth no more than £100 by the family.
But Serhat soon had news for the woman, as he revealed its price tag was more than ten times their original expectation at auction.
‘There’s nothing more intriguing than an unopened box, so shall we take a look inside?’ Serhat began, before letting out a ‘wow’ looking at its contents.
An Antiques Roadshow guest was left gasping after an unwanted tea set that she and her husband thought was worth just £100 was given an ‘outrageous’ valuation
Antiques expert Serhat Ahmet met with the woman during the episode that aired over the weekend, as the BBC show took to the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea
The woman explained: ‘This is Margaret’s tea set, a family member, she died last year at 94 and I believe the tea set has been in the attic for about 80 years, I don’t think that she liked it very much.
‘She didn’t use it, and it was on its way to the charity shop when I said, “Hang on, can I have a look?”.
‘Margaret’s father was a captain in the merchant navy, and they were docking in Shanghai, and all of the crew would have got off the ship to buy their family gifts.
‘He bought her the tea set with her initials engraved on this box.’
Taking a look inside, Serhat added: ‘The first thing to note is this wonderful, wrapping paper in a way, of the factory that made this set. It says “Lee Wa, Porcelain Company Ltd, Nanking Road, Shanghai”.
‘That’s a wonderful survivor, and quite helpfully, she also didn’t throw away the newspaper of the time – and if we have a look at the date, it says in Chinese, 1947.’
‘That would have been just after the war and Margaret would have been about 14,’ the woman responded, to which Serhat continued: ‘Let’s take a good look at the set.
‘This ruby coloured glaze against this green silk, six saucers and six cups, teapot and sugar pot and lid, and a milk or cream jug, it’s a complete set.
The tea set, which originally belonged to one of the woman’s family members, named Margaret, was thought to be worth no more than £100 by the family
Serhat soon had news for the woman, as he revealed the custom tea set’s price tag was more than ten times their original expectation at auction
‘Each piece is beautifully decorated, so whilst the ruby enamel was still slightly wet, the artist has taken a tool to inscribe into that lovely glaze, a dragon – these are Ching dragons, a little more complex, more realistic looking faces.
‘We are looking at the very high end of tea ware production in this period.’
Giving his valuation, Serhat continued: ‘I think if this were to come up at auction today, I think it would fetch somewhere in the region of £1,500 to £2,500.’
Letting out a laugh, the woman replied: ‘Really? You’re not serious! I said to my husband earlier, £100! That’s outrageous! I don’t know what to say.’
It comes after a guest on the Antiques Roadshow was left in a state of shock after being told the eye-watering value of her very unusual kitchen utensil.
She explained that her parents had commissioned the cucumber cutter as they wanted a unique addition to their collection in honour of their silver wedding anniversary.
Admitting that he had ‘never seen’ anything like it before, expert Gordon Foster praised the ‘novel contraption’ on Sunday’s episode of the show, which was dedicated to antique kitchen tools.
He said: ‘It is indeed a solid silver cucumber cutter.’
Serhat left the guest shocked when he revealed his valuation of the item
Letting out a laugh, the woman was left in shock at the valuation
The expert went on to show the unusual device in action, inserting and slicing a fresh cucumber.
An impressed Gordon said: ‘The ones I have seen before tend to be early 19th century and usually made in Sheffield plate. I have never seen one before in solid silver. So when it comes to its estimation, I would expect it to fetch about £1,000 to £1,500.’
Laughing in shock, the guest, who brought in the cucumber cutter, admitted: ‘Woah. That is nice. Very nice.’
However, this was far from the only interesting utensil to appear on the show and an intricate ‘biscuit barrel’ was also featured.
Expert Duncan Campbell joked: ‘I’m guessing by the immaculate shine on this that this is an object that in your house gets used virtually every day.’
The guest went on to explain that she had no idea what the item was actually for until now and had been using it as a fruit bowl because she had grown ‘tired of cleaning it’.
But despite receiving an estimated value of between £200 and £300, she admitted that the silverware, which she had inherited from her grandparents, would be staying in the family.
Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays on BBC One and is available to stream on iPlayer.
