Antiques Roadshow expert shocks guest after revealing ‘marvellous’ value of father’s gift

A line of enthusiasts laden with treasures arrive at Layer Marney Tower hoping to hear good news from the experts on Antiques Roadshow. Photo / Jim Eagles

An Antiques Roadshow expert has left guests - and watchers - stunned after revealing the value of a collection of jewels from the 18th century.

Geoffrey Munn, a jewellery historian and aficionado, looked over various pieces of jewellery during the Wales leg of the antiques show, with many featuring diamonds and rubies from the 1700s.

The guest detailed how she obtained the antique jewels: “Well, the two diamond brooches were given to me by my father.

“[The smaller bow] on my wedding day. [The floral brooch] came a little bit later, and [the ruby-encrusted bow] was inherited from my grandmother.

“My father was in the antiques world, so it’s something that I’ve grown up with.”

Munn proceeded to inspect the pieces, revealing they were “18th century jewels of the finest pitch, in perfect condition”, before providing a brief history of each piece.

Expert Geoffrey Munn examined the collection of 18th Century jewels. Photo / BBC

Of the smaller bow, he said: “The bow is not simply a bow. It’s a true lovers knot, because the harder it is pulled, the tighter it becomes. And the diamonds are forever, so this little subliminal message for your wedding was perfectly well chosen”.

The bow, which was covered in rubies, carried the same message, however the floral brooch was “more complicated.

“It’s almost certainly a dress ornament... There may have been 20 or 30 of them, and they might have gone down the back of a woman of very high rank and huge wealth,” Munn shared at the show.

“[In the 18th Century], people didn’t simply recognise the sovereign because there was no photography and precious few portraits. So, when [royalty] entered the room, there had to be an enormous display of sumptuary.”

Munn went on to say that the brooch could even have belonged to Russian royalty.

The ruby brooch could have belonged to Russian royalty. Photo / BBC

“I would like to think that it was Russian, and that would be very, very exciting,” he said.

“The Russian crown jewels were sold in London after the revolution to raise funds for the new regime. It’s just possible that this is a Russian crown jewel. Wouldn’t be marvellous?”

The jewellery expert estimated the price of the smaller bow brooch to be £8000 ($16,332)and believed the ruby brooch would amount to £10,000 ($20,415). The diamond floral brooch he valued at a jaw-dropping £15,000 ($30,622)

Munn valued the whole collection to be worth up to $A62,000 ($67,000).

The guest was stunned to learn the collection was worth up to NZ$67,000. Photo / BBC

“They’re marvellous things. They’re not showy. They’re utterly beautiful expressions of an era gone by and that’s what we’re looking for,” Munn said.

The show’s guest confessed that while she liked wearing the brooches, the bigger pieces were “difficult to wear nowadays... perhaps a bit more dated”.

She went on to reveal that her daughters would inherit the collection.

Also making an appearance on the episode was a beautiful porcelain egg made by the Royal Porcelain Factory in Berlin and a 17th century tobacco box which was said to be “vanishingly rare” and valued at $9,200.