Antiques Roadshow returned with a brand new series on Sunday night as the nation brought forward their weird and wonderful items for valuation.
Taking place at Morden Hall Park in South London, those watching at home saw an expert cast his eye over two usual pieces of jewellery.
Discussing their origin, the guest revealed who the “glamorous” owner of the item was: “This is Pat Marlow who was a socialite during the late 1940s and 1950s, working on the stage and the West End.”
“One of the people she met was Prince Ali Khan and he had a liaison with Pat and had these jewels made for her.”
Expert John Benjamin opened the jewellery boxes and explained: “Inside the grey suede box, we have a charming multicoloured gold dress ring. And inside the pink box, a cocktail bracelet. And these surely dovetail in with the social life this woman had, cocktail parties, Cafe Royale.”
The guest then explained how she came into possession of such exquisite pieces: “Well, Pat was a very dear friend of my mother’s and when Pat died, they were passed onto her, and they’ve been in our family ever since.”
Keen to explore the items with a closer look, Benjamin remarked: “The interesting thing about this is inside the lid of each of these boxes is the name Boucheron, french manufacturer, who really did make a lot of jewellery for society people.
“The ring itself, I would date it back to around about 1958, 1960 and the bracelet the same age.”
The crowd then learnt how the ring was made up; a gold rope pattern, with “lovely emeralds, sapphires, rubies, diamonds, what you might call a fruit salad of gemstones!”
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As for the bracelet, Benjamin used the term loosely because when he removed it from its case, he revealed it was in fact a watch.
“A champagne-coloured circular dial hidden by a cocktail cluster, with a kind of clip-on, clip-off mechanism. Dead snazzy,” the expert stated.
Similarly to the ring, the bracelet-watch was made from emeralds, rubies, diamonds and sapphires.
After revealing the authenticity and credibility of both items, Benjamin moved on to “the question of what they’re worth”.
“Now, I have to tell you, at the moment, signed post-war jewellery made in France in the 1950s and 1960s, are super in demand. Everybody wants them. The market has gone stratospheric,” the expert commented excitedly.
“So I’m going to quote you my opinion of auction estimates. It doesn’t mean that they’ll finis up making those prices.
“The ring, £5,000. The bracelet watching, £15,000. Absolutely stonking French Boucheron jewellery owned by a women who… I will never forget that photograph,” Benjamin concluded.
“Thank you!” the owner replied. “They’re not going anywhere! Thank you very much.”
It comes after viewers also saw a guest left speechless when she was told the valuation of a Wallis Simpson brooch replica.
Antiques Roadshow returns on Sunday night at 8pm on BBC One.
