Antiques Roadshow: Feather-shaped brooch valued by expert
As the Antiques Roadshow headed to Christchurch Mansion for its latest instalment, expert Joanna was presented with an ornate jewelled feather brooch. She was thrilled to set eyes on it and excited to reveal the original design for the brooch, which was valued at £500,000.
“You have brought along today a beautiful, iconic motif, the peacock feather,” Joanna began. “How did you acquire this?”
The guest replied: “We were visiting Vienna and we were staying in a hotel which had the most beautiful vitrine, a showcase in foyer and this brooch was there.
“Every time we passed, I’d sort of gasp and say how wonderful it was. On the third day, my husband said he was going to buy it for me. So I was rather taken aback as you can imagine.”
After clarifying she bought the brooch in the eighties, Joanna remarked: “Okay so this is probably around about that time.
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“First of all, this is just such a wonderful copy of a feather.”
“And do you know it woggles,” the guest cut in. “It’s tremblant, I think is the word.”
“Exactly,” Joanna exclaimed. “We call it en tremblant. I’m going to turn it over and you can see the beautiful craftsmanship of everything being pierced out.
“I mean, this has been lovingly made. It is white gold on top and yellow gold underneath.
“It is set throughout with diamonds, you’ve got these beautiful calibre cut sapphires and a cabochon emerald to the centre.”
They continued: “When I first saw the photograph of this, I immediately thought, ‘Oh my goodness, it looks very similar to a Boucheron feather.’ Have you heard of Boucheron?”
“Oh yes!” the guest answered with Joanna continued: “They’re a wonderful Parisian jewellers that started in 1858 by Frederic Boucheron.
“They had it so that it actually was part of a necklace and it was called a question mark necklace.
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“If you were to sell it at auction, I would say you’d be looking in the region of about £25,000.”
“Really?” the guest exclaimed. “It’s got such tiny diamonds, I didn’t think it could be valuable.”
However, Joanna assured her: “It’s the craftsmanship. This is what good-quality jewellery is all about. It’s the craftsmanship. It is not about big stones.”
“It’s so lovely you love it as much as I do!” the guest noted.
However, she was in for a surprise as Joanna had invited her friend and colleague Sandra, who had the original Boucheron feather.
Standing behind Joanna was Sandra, who removed her scarf to unveil the original Boucheron feather necklace from 1883.
Surprising the gust even further, expert Joanna revealed: “t’s retailing for around £500,000.”
“My gosh! Oh, my gosh!” the guest could only reply. “But I understand that.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.
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