BBC Antiques Roadshow expert Joanna Hardy left one of her guests in a state of shock and almost swearing after revealing the staggering five-figure valuation of her jewellery collection.
On Sunday night, thousands once again flocked to the roadshow and left Marc Allum impressed by a set of signatures with a true rock’n’roll pedigree, alongside Lisa Lloyd who met an original It Girl in the form of a shop mannequin from the company responsible for the Liberty bodice.
Will Farmer was impressed by a plate with a design by Picasso from the south of France, with Duncan Campbell elsewhere unboxing a collection of silverware not seen for half a century.
Chris Yeo met a garden gnome who’s a long way from home, whilst Lawrence Hendra was impressed by a Congolese painting bought in a job lot from a charity shop.
Whilst Fiona Bruce traced the roots of the Industrial Revolution to the banks of the Cromford Canal, it was Hardy who felt she had the best find of the day.
Welcoming the guest, she expressed: “On a rainy day, you could not have brought me a better collection of jewellery, my goodness, my heart jumped when I saw these pieces. Please tell me how did you get these?”
The guest explained: “I started off with this one which I bought about 35 years ago, and I just thought it was diamantes and posh costume jewellery. I paid about £200 for that one and I noticed there was a name inside, but I couldn’t find anything else out about the name because in those days there was no internet.”
Indulging in history, Hardy said: “The person we are talking about today is George Wiel, who was born in Vienna in 1938, and he was mainly a sculptor rather than a jeweller, he has always said he is a sculptor first and a jeweller later, but you can see this fantastic sort of impactful pieces.
“So these were the 60s, 70s pieces, so these were all about impact, they had uncut stones with cut stones, and it was about the shape, the asymmetric modernist style and it wasn’t about the intrinsic worth.”
The guest explained she felt the pieces were “quite wearable”, which was something Hardy agreed with and added: “I think it’s fantastic that they speak to you and they are so against the grain of what people would normally feel comfortable wearing.
“George Weil has got his plaque with his sort of signature on the back of each of them actually. This ring goes together with the bracelet and the brooch here. How much did you pay for them?”
The guest explained she paid around £1,500 for the three pieces and left Hardy to reveal: “£1,500? Quite a lot. Well, I think today they would be about £15,000.”
Stunned, the guest’s hand flew to her mouth as she admitted: “Oh, never! Sorry, I nearly swore! Really? My goodness me!”
Valuating the rest of the pieces, Hardy went on: “You have got this brooch here, that’s going to be about £5,000 to £7,000 and this one with the rock crystal, 18-carat gold and diamonds, £3,000 to £5,000.”
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“I just can’t believe this,” the guest expressed before Hardy evaluated the final piece: “And your lovely ring here is £2,500. I mean collectively you’ve got £25,000. You have done so well and it really has brightened up my day. Thank you so so much.”
Speaking about the revelation after, the guest noted: “I had no idea that they’d gone up in value so much, and it all could stem from one tiny little ring I bought, 30, 40 years ago! Quite an adventure!”
