One Antiques Roadshow guest broke down this week after discovering what a crystal box she paid £32 for was really worth.
The eye-watering valuation had her in tears after receiving her valuation from expert Joanna Hardy on the BBC show.
While the programme set up camp in Scotland, at the Edinburgh-based Scottish Gallery of Modern Art.
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One female guest brought in a tiny crystal box she had found at an online auction for £32.
Joanna immediately commented on the item: “The skill of a goldsmith and the skill of an enameler is the same whether they are making jewellery or [the box].
(Image: BBC)
“This beautiful box, it is just wonderful, now tell me why did it catch your attention and how did it catch your attention?”
The guest then replied: “I just thought there was something really unusual about it being rock crystal because I don’t really see so many of these sorts of items like this.”
She didn’t originally see the silver in the design, explaining to Joanna: “I think they described it as being glass, a glass box and I knew it had something unusual about it, with the designs on it and things like that.
(Image: BBC)
“I couldn’t really see much of the silver, I had a sneaky feeling it might be that so we actually polished it all to reveal the beautiful enamel on the surface and the lovely colours.”
Joanna shared that the lack of bubbles in the ‘glass’ showed that the box is rock crystal, explaining that the box likely dated from around 1860 to 1870.
She said: “Now, in about 1850 in Vienna in Austria, there were a group of goldsmiths who also did a lot of enamelling work sort of in the renaissance style and this is in the neo-renaissance style.
(Image: BBC)
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“So this is dating this from about 1860 to 1870, but there was one person that was really the head of this, he was the leading enamelist in Vienna at the time and he did the neo-renaissance work.”
Eventually, the box was given the incredible value of between £4,000 and £6,000.
The overwhelmed guest broke down in tears at the valuation, exclaiming: “No! Really?” as Joanna told her: “Enjoy it and well done.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
