WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
An Antiques Roadshow guest was left emotional upon discovering the extortionate value of her grandmother’s pendant.
BBC jewellery expert Susan Rumfitt was on hand at the Botanic Gardens in Belfast as a guest presented the star with two beautiful items, as well as a black and white photograph.
Kicking off the appraisal, Susan remarked: “Little bit of magic here today. Pearls in the pendant, diamonds in the brooch, and a rather glamorous lady. Tell me about her.”
It was then the guests' turn to give some backstory as to their provenance: “She’s my grandmother, her name was Irene Picks, and she married my grandfather before the First World War, and he was killed in France at the very, very beginning, of the war.
“And after he died, she went to England and married somebody called Robin Buxton and I think he probably gave her these jewels, and then my father gave them to me after my grandmother died.”
Susan commented that her grandmother looked “very glamourous,” and the woman added that she was a “theatre girl.”
First, turning her attention to the brooch, Susan described it as a “delicate flower” brooch with “gorgeous cut diamonds” throughout that make the piece look like it has movement.
While the item wasn’t signed and had no hallmark, she insisted that it would have come from a “good jeweller” before pointing out the delicate engraving around the edge.
“Which helps to date it actually to the latter part of the 19th, early 20th Century, it was a very lovely thing to have so absolutely gorgeous," she added.
Susan then spoke of the pendant, which came from a similar period and was known as a lavalier pendant, with two drops that are slightly different in length.
The expert queried: “Have you noticed there are some fittings at the back of the drops?
“Well those fittings enable you to take the drops off and actually wear these drops as earrings as well.
“So it’s very much a multi-functional pendant, isn’t it? It’s really great.”
She also hinted that thanks to the little diamond coronet at the top of the piece, it could have been made for a special royal occasion.
Susan added: “The period we’re looking at, there were cultured pearls starting to creep into the market, however, these are more than likely going to be natural pearls.
“They have a beautiful luster to them, they’re slightly different in shape and size which, again, I think is just gorgeous, absolutely wonderful.
“With natural pearls, of course, it really is an X-ray that’s going to tell us for sure, but I’m very, very confident that these are natural pearls.”
Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for, as Susan began: “We have to talk values. I love the diamond brooch. If that came up at auction, I would expect it to be between £5,000 and £7,000.”
The guest didn’t know how to react, stating: “Wow. Right. I wasn’t expecting that. Not at all.”
But it was Susan’s appraisal of the pendant which really caught the guest and the audience off guard.
She shared: “But then we have the beautiful pendant, it’s absolutely stunning. So, auction estimate, £20,000 to £30,000.”
The audience gasped as the pensioner automatically shielded her face with her hand, stunned by the staggering figure.
Onlookers began to clap in amazement with the guest tearing up, struggling to comment: “Oh my God. Wow. Never entered my head.”
“Two beautiful pieces of jewellery. Thank you very much indeed”, Susan said as she empathetically touched the guest’s arm as she welled up.
In a separate interview, the guest commented: “It’s just one almighty shock. I just always thought it was a nice pendant, and it’s worth, maybe, not a lot, not a lot, no.
“It really took my breath away, that’s all I can say. Unbelievable.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.