Antiques Roadshow guest scrunches up face at top price for mum's 'fake' brooches

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Antiques Roadshow.

An Antiques Roadshow guest was left utterly gobsmacked upon discovering the true value of her mother's jewellery, which she had assumed were not genuine.

Reflecting on an episode from 2006 when the BBC show visited Norwich, expert Geoffrey Munn encountered a woman with two stunning brooches that she had inherited.

"Well we're sitting in a garden and in a way, this is a little celestial garden that you brought me here today, isn't it?", he remarked.

"Tell me about these wonderful jewels, where do they come from?"

Pointing to a brooch shaped like an insect, the guest explained: "Well that was left to me by my mother and through her mother from my mother, so I know where that came from."

She then turned her attention to the second piece, saying: "But when our mother died, we went through various little boxes of things, of nothing in particular, and we each had a choice and this was my choice.

"I don't even know if it's real. We never saw it, my mother never wore it and my father didn't know where it came from. Never seen it before."

Munn responded with enthusiasm: "My goodness. Well, it certainly is real. Actually, it's the most fascinating jewel.

"There's a huge revival for everything 18th Century and 19th Century and for all intents and purposes, the use of the enamel, the use of the gem setting, the whole composition, is inspired by 18th Century France.

"But we can say with absolute confidence this isn't an 18th Century jewel, it's an 18th Century revival one and blue enamel, diamonds, a little ruby in the front.

"And turn it over and there's a locket at the back. Very tightly fitting locket but one would be able to remove that and put a photograph or a lock of hair in there."

When asked if she wore the brooch, the owner expressed her affection: "I do wear it and I love it", prompting Munn to respond with enthusiasm: "Good, that's marvellous! So you love your jewellery. What do you feel when you wear the jewellery?"

"I feel sort of regal, I think?" was her reply, to which the expert replied that it was "fantastic."

He then inquired about another piece: "Now tell me about this one. This is the most extraordinary bug, isn't it?"

"It's wonderful, I always thought it was actually bought for my grandmother," the lady revealed, thinking it originated from the 1890s.

Munn agreed perfectly, stating: "No, that's absolutely perfect, I think, because one can look at jewellery and it is dated by design and that's what we really look for actually.

"This is a superb gem set bumblebee brooch or at least a bee brooch and a Victorian one."

She stated: "It's terribly difficult to decipher," and the expert concurred: "Isn't it? But it's absolutely there. They're a very distinguished firm running in competition with Cartier.

"So there's a maker for a superb gem set bumblebee."

He then described its "silky looking salon sapphire", complemented by its "very pleasing colour" and "little, rather menacing ruby eyes".

When Munn asked if she could take a stab at their value, she responded: "Well I know that Pa had that one valued at about £4,000 and that, well, we didn't even know it was real."

He concluded with: "Well £4,000, that's a little while ago because I think that's a very desirable thing.

"It's very concentrated, it's very animated, it's by a superb maker and everybody wants this thing, honestly they do.

"And value is to do with measured want, that's all that value is. And I'm going to tell you in measured want that that's £10,000."

The guest was visibly shocked at the valuation, her face contorting as she exclaimed: "Good God."

But he wasn't finished as he turned his attention to the second of the two brooches: "And measured want again here, not off the hook quite yet. Not quite the same gasp-inducing figure but still substantial at £4,500."

She remarked: "That's very gasp if you think that it was loose and Ma never wore it."

Munn concluded: "Well superb. Thank you very much."

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