Antiques Roadshow expert baffled as guest labels five-figure brooch ‘hideous’

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.

An Antiques Roadshow guest admitted her “fabulous” brooches used to be her “running away fund”, after an expert unveiled their true value. BBC jewellery specialist Joanna Hardy was on hand when a visitor brought in not one but two brooches that left the expert beaming.

She began: “When I opened the box and saw this opal. Oh my gosh. It is superb. And then I opened another box and see this fabulous diamond. Tell me first, how did you get the opal?”

The guest explained: “The opal actually came from my husband’s family, because his father went to Australia and I think he brought it back because he loved opals. So, I just have to say at the beginning as well, that I have given all of these already to my daughters."

“That’s the caveat, now," Hardy laughed. The expert then elaborated that opals are more than 100 million years old and black opals were common in Lightning Ridge, Australia. She continued: “But they are incredibly rare. And when we say black opal, it is because it’s got the dark background as opposed to other opals where you will have a whitish background.

“This is just a fabulous example. I mean, it is the complete colour of a rainbow and they’ve always been a sign of good luck. I know people think that opals are bad luck but they’re not.”

“Now this is actually set in about late Victorian period. It’s museum quality and you’ve got these wonderful graduating cushion-shaped diamonds around and it’s set in silver and gold.”

Hardy then turned her attention to the second diamond brooch and when she questioned its backstory, the guest bluntly stated: “I think it’s hideous.”

The expert laughed: “Now that’s not what I was expecting you to say.”

“Well it’s completely unwearable and it’s known in the family as the soup plate," the guest shared. “Don’t ask me why it got called the soup plate, I have no idea but it came to our family through an uncle who used to do a grand tour in the summers.”

The brooch was passed down to the guest’s mum and then to her elder brother, although it didn’t last very long in his possession.

“But after a few years, he sort of went tapping on her door and said, ‘Actually mum, what I really need is a septic tank.’ And she said, ‘Well, if I can give you money for the septic tank, I’ll have my brooch back.'”

After Hardy shared that it was a Victorian silver and gold brooch with an eight carat diamond that could also be worn as a pendant, she said that the centre stone was “quite large”.

The guest replied: “Yeah it is quite big. But it’s not a very pretty one though. It’s a sort of slightly dull yellow.”

Hardy remarked: “It does have a bit of yellow in it and then the more yellow it is, the cheaper the price.

“But things have really changed in the last decade. There’s been more appreciation of stones that are not your D flawless, they all look the same, they’ve all got the same proportions.

“This, I can feel the hand of the cutter because it’s not totally done by machine, it’s done by hand.”

Hardy then had the job of appraising both of the pieces of jewellery, kicking off with the diamond brooch, saying: “That is going to be in the region of around about £35,000.”

The guest pulled a face, unsure of how to react at this whopping figure and could only reply: “Right.”

Hardy continued: “So with the opal at auction, you’d be looking at £40,000 comfortably.”

The visitor still didn’t know how to react but unexpectedly joked: “Well my daughter will be very pleased. It’ll be her running away fund too.”

The expert queried if the brooch had been used for her own “running away fund” to which she enthusiastically confirmed.

Ending the appraisal on a positive note, Hardy said: “Thank you very much for bringing them in. It really has made my day.”

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.