An Antiques Roadshow expert was left stunned after inspecting a “never seen before” item
An Antiques Roadshow expert went “raving mad” for a never seen before item that was worth thousands.
The popular BBC show, filmed at Beaumaris Castle in Anglesey, North Wales, saw locals bring their antiques and fine arts for appraisal.
During the episode, jewellery expert Geoffrey Munn was shown a pendant and an aquamarine brooch crafted by Fabergé, the renowned jeweller from 1900.
The guest revealed that her friend owned the items and had asked her to bring them along for valuation.
“Well, I’m jolly glad she did because they’re very, very exciting things for me,” Geoffrey enthused, reports the Express.
The pendant featured someone’s initials encrusted with diamonds, set over a geocache ground – a machine-created sun ray effect.
Inside the pendant was an inscription in Cyrillic, loosely translated as, “Maybe it’s better not to wait.”
“Then it’s flooded with pink enamel and you can see through the enamel onto the geocache, which looks like a sunburst behind,” Geoffrey elaborated.
“I think we can possibly assume that this is somebody who could afford to go to Fabergé. Absolutely the highest level of elite.”
Meanwhile, the Siberian aquamarine brooch was encircled by diamonds, topped with a true lover’s knot.
“It’s a remarkably deep stone, and when you turn it up, you can see there’s a gallery beneath which is really quite extravagant, quite wide,” Geoffrey noted.
“The reason that it’s there is because the stone itself is actually very deep.”
The expert continued: “This is court jewellery at the highest possible level by Fabergé.”
Geoffrey then revealed that the pendant could fetch up to £10,000, while the brooch was worth a staggering £35,000 to £40,000.
“This one is an unusual prototype, never seen the like before, I’m going to say £10,000 for this one,” he said.
“And I’m going to go absolutely raving mad for this one, which is sort of predictable, and tell you that I think it ought to be worth £35,000 to £40,000.”
The assembled crowd let out a collective gasp, with the guest excitedly exclaiming: “Isn’t [my friend] going to be happy!”
She added: “My friend is out of the country, so she asked me to bring them. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to bits to hear about all that I shall tell her.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to stream on BBC iPlayer