The Antiques Roadshow crowd was left speechless when an expert revealed the astonishing value of a woman’s ring on this week’s episode.
This week, the much-loved BBC show came to Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, where a segment featured a woman who brought back two of her late mother’s rings.
One of the rings had been rescued from a gas station sink back then, making the story even more incredible.
Expert John Benjamin began by asking him: ‘At least on this slightly cloudy day, they shine nicely. You brought two rings, one with blue stones and one with a white stone. Family rings?’
The guest replied: “Yes, from my mother. Unfortunately, my mother passed away a couple of months ago. I knew she had the rings, but she hadn’t worn them for quite some time.”
The Antiques Roadshow crowd was left speechless when an expert revealed the staggering value of a woman’s ring on this week’s episode.
This week, the much-loved BBC show headed to Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, where a segment featured a woman who brought back two of her late mother’s rings.
‘My father bought the white one a few years ago, many years ago.
“The other one, I’m not quite sure where the other one came from.”
The guest went on to share the gas station story, explaining: ‘She once mentioned the big one, she went to her friend’s house, she was on her way to Brighton and she stopped at a gas station and she went into the ladies’ room and it fell off her finger and down the drain.
‘Luckily it was very early in the morning, she went out and someone passed by and opened the trap and luckily she fell in.’
Speaking about the larger ring, Benjamin said: ‘I’ve looked at it through my lens and it actually has one or two small internal flaws.
“It has a slight color cast. The best diamonds you can buy are colorless, known as D color.
‘The color of this diamond is probably around J color, so you’ll see that it’s a few degrees down on the scale.
“But the overall impression it leaves, for a ring that got lost in the sink, is pretty good.”
One of the rings had been rescued from a gas station sink back in the day, making the story even more incredible.
Expert John Benjamin confirmed that it was in fact a large 4.3-carat brilliant-cut diamond (left) from the 1950s and said it was worth a whopping £20,000.
Benjamin later confirmed that it was actually a large 4.3-carat brilliant-cut diamond from the 1950s and said it was worth a whopping £20,000.
Upon hearing the amount, the entire audience gasped and the guest looked completely bewildered.
Then he laughed and said, “Wow! Okay. That’s really nice. I’m glad I got it out of the sink!”
This comes after another Antiques Roadshow guest was left so stunned earlier this week she struggled to catch her breath after learning the staggering value of her “silly” grandmother’s Olympic gold medal.
Expert appraiser Adam Schoon gave the good news to Julia, who had brought with her a collection of swimming medals.
His haul of impressive prizes included a gold medal from the 1924 Paris Olympics that belonged to his grandmother Lucy Morton.
Julia explained that Lucy had started swimming when she was 10 and had participated in the Paris Olympics, but no one expected her to do very well.
Carrying a photo, he said: ‘That’s my grandmother Lucy Morton, swimming, she started swimming when she was about 10.
‘What happened was that her father told her ‘you’re very stupid at school, it seems like you’re not doing very well’ and she decided ‘let’s try swimming’.
The BBC’s resident pundit was intrigued by the haul and noticed there were several smaller racing medals.
He said: ‘Let’s go back to your remarkable rise, because you are covered in gold medals.
“I noticed there are a number of medals around here that she would have won, I suppose, in county races, national races. She’s breaking world records.
‘These are all 15-carat gold, but of course all these smaller medals add up to this one here.’
Adam then pointed to the largest medal, an Olympic gold one, and Julia was more than happy to explain her story.
She said: ‘In 1923, they really took a keen interest in her and asked her to take up swimming in preparation for the 1924 Paris Olympics.
‘He trained and went to Paris in 1924. He wasn’t expected to win or anything.
‘Unfortunately, from what I heard, some of the Americans had caught some kind of virus.
‘She did the final race in the 200-meter breaststroke and everyone was apparently cheering her on, she got to the end and had a partner and the partner said to her ‘You won!’
‘I took her out of the pool and put her robe on. She was actually the first swimmer to win a gold medal in swimming for Great Britain.
“I’m very proud of her. At that age, in that era, women didn’t do anything like that and having swum at 27 I think was quite old at that time.”
The appraiser was very impressed and told the guest that she was right to be proud and revealed that Julia might be in for a surprise when she found out what just one of her grandmother’s medals could be worth.
He explained that the medal was quite rare, and although it was made of silver, it was one of only 304.
He said: ‘It was designed in Paris by a man called André Rivaud, it was made at the Paris Mint and only 304 were made as far as I know.’
Julia shared that her grandmother Lucy continued in the swimming world even after her own career had ended.
The impressive athlete coached the Olympic team and acted as a mentor to other swimmers from around the country.
She said: “He loved it. It was his life.”
This comes after another Antiques Roadshow guest was left so stunned earlier this week she struggled to catch her breath after learning the mind-boggling value of her “silly” grandmother’s Olympic gold medal.
The haul of impressive prizes included a gold medal from the 1924 Paris Olympics that belonged to his grandmother Lucy Morton.
Finally, Adam revealed what he thought the medal was worth.
He said to Julia: ‘So, in terms of valuation, Olympic medal, £15,000?’
The guest was so shocked by the news that she had trouble catching her breath, but she smiled at the huge sum.
—What? The only medal? —he gasped.
The expert went on to suggest that all the other medals could be worth another £15,000, making Julia’s total hoard worth at least £30,000, but the valuer added that the most valuable thing was Julia’s grandmother’s record.
