Antiques Roadshow: Diamond brooch shaped like peacock feather
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
An Antiques Roadshow guest called an expert’s appraisal into question after unveiling its hefty price tag.
Filming at Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich, the BBC daytime series saw expert Joanna Hardy meet with a pensioner and her unusual diamond peacock feather brooch.
“You’ve brought along today a beautiful iconic motif, the peacock feather. How did you acquire this?”, Hardy asked.
The guest replied: “We were visiting Vienna and we were staying in a hotel with the most beautiful vetrine showcase in the foyer and this brooch was there.
“Every time I passed I stopped to sort of gasp and say how wonderful it was and on the third day, my husband said he was going to buy it for me. So I was rather taken aback.”
Hardy elaborated: “First of all, this is just such a wonderful copy of a feather.
“I’m going to turn it over and you can see the beautiful craftsmanship of everything being pierced out. This has been lovingly made.
“It is white gold on top and yellow gold underneath.
“It is set throughout with diamonds, you’ve got these beautiful calibrate-cut sapphires and a cabachon emerald to the centre.
“When I first saw the photograph of this, I immediately thought ‘oh my goodness’ it looks very similar to a Boucheron feather. Have you heard of Boucheron?”
As the guest confirmed she was aware of Boucheron, Hardy continued: “They’re a wonderful Brazilian jewellers that started in 1858 by Frederick Boucheron.
“They had it so it was actually part of a necklace and it was called a question mark necklace.
The expert went on to conclude: “If you were to sell it at auction, I would say you’d be looking in the region of about £25,000.”
While others may have been happily surprised by the appraisal, the guest was puzzled and asked: “Really? It’s got such tiny diamonds. I didn’t think it could be that valuable.”
Hardy explained: “It’s the craftsmanship. This is what good quality jewellery is all about, it’s the craftsmanship. It’s not about big stones.”
To this, a big smile appeared on the guest’s face as she replied: “It’s so lovely you love it as much as I do.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
