A couple were left in complete and utter shock on tonight, as a Cartier family heirloom set of earrings and a brooch was valuated at a total of £40,000.
The stunning set was an heirloom gifted from the guest’s mother, and while she had noticed the ‘very well-known’ designer red boxes, the pricing left her speechless.
Joanna Hardy, the expert examining the jewels introduced them introduced them as ‘absolutely gorgeous’.
The owner explained her mother died last year, and left the set to her, as she admitted: ‘I didn’t really know what they were.’
She recalled her mother wearing the brooch on her suit lapel when attending horse races.
She added: ‘My father used to buy her jewelry a lot, and in fact bought all the girls in the family jewelry quite a lot so that was lovely.’
Not all the jewels gifted to her were of this caliber, she jokingly added.
While the family had obtained the jewellery set in the 70s, in reality, the jewels were from the 40s.
During that period, stones like these dominated because diamonds and emeralds were not as available in the post-war years, Joanna explained.
These stones, citrines, in their 18-carat gold setting were worth an impressive sum.
Revealing the price of the valuation, the Antiques Roadshow jewellery specialist stated: ‘The earrings, because they’ve been altered, you’d be looking in a region of about £10,000.’
This pricing alone left the couple completely speechless, and even more gobsmacked when they discovered the price of the brooch.
‘This brooch, which I would run away with,’ Joanna said. ‘I just think it’s spectacular, I love it.
‘At auction I could see there would be a little bit of a fight over these, and I would say you’re probably looking in the region of around about £30,000.’
If they were speechless before, their reactions now were entirely priceless.
Her husband gasped in the background while the guest stated: ‘That is a lot more than I thought!’
The impressive price was despite the fact that the earrings had been ‘altered’ from their original clip-on design to a pierced fitting.
Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays at 7pm on BBC One.
