Antiques Roadshow was in Halifax earlier in the week and viewers saw a woman bring a brooch in for valuation.
Susan Rumfitt was the expert looking over the item and after a brief chat about the history and creation of the piece of jewellery, she got down to the nitty-gritty and named a price.
And the owner was left incredibly impressed by the £2000 valuation of the item she bought on a whim.
Kicking off the valuation, viewers saw Susan ask the owner how the piece of jewellery had come into her collection and she said: “I visited an antiques centre and I was having a look around, and I looked in a cabinet and she basically called out to me. I just thought, ‘Wow she is just gorgeous.’ The craftsmanship, how she’s been worked.”
Susan replied: “It’s lovely you’re interested in how the piece has been made because quite often with jewellery we’re swept up in the look, but you’ve actually honed in on something really significant for the period that the brooch was made.”
Those watching at home were then told: “It comes from the Victorian period, 1860s and cameos were seen as a form of expressing wealth and skill. The more intricacy and delicacy you get with a cameo, the more important it is.
“Add onto that the fact we have got precious stones and other shells such as abalone shell actually on top of the cameo, is extraordinary and a real sign of of top end craftsmanship as far as this jewel is concerned.”
The expert then asked the owner: “Have you any idea who it is actually depicting?”
After replying “no” Susan explained how the “lady was Psyche, goddess of all things fabulous including love”.
“You’ve got a very sort of sensuous piece of jewellery as well as it being an important jewel that’s being constructed,” Susan continued.
The expert then explained that how the item was made affected its price.
“It’s made of shell, so we’ve got shell at the back here and the actual carving – it takes away lawyers of that shell to get the outline of the head. Over the top we’ve had the abalone shell which of course are the kings which also represent Psyche because her symbol is the butterfly.
“On top of that her earring – it’s extraordinary. There’s just a teeny-weeny little bit of coral there. So it is utterly stunning. It’s mounted in gold, probably 15 carats which would have been typical of the period. But the quality of it is really quite extraordinary,” she continued.
As for how much it would fetch: “In today’s market, in an auction environment we’d be looking at between £1500 and £2000.”
The owner was shocked to hear such a price and replied: “Wow, fantastic. Thank you very much.”
It comes after another woman struggled to speak after her item of jewellery was valued.
Expert John Benjamin looked over an exquisite diamond necklace someone else had brought to the show.
The item, which contained platinum and gold ,was made around 1905 and presumed to be Middle European.
John went on to add the green petals were made out of very expensive enamel, and he also noted it was in perfect condition.
He then revealed the value of the item to be £4000.
Antiques Roadshow is available to catch up on BBC iPlayer.
