An Antiques Roadshow guest was stunned to discover how much some family jewellery was really worth on tonight’s show.
The owner explained that the pendant necklace had belonged to her great grandmother, who was very involved in the arts and craft movement.
The guest said she believed the pendant had been specifically designed for her relative.
Expert John Benjamin said there was a very important craftsman John Paul Cooper who he believed was behind the pendant.
John said the craftsman specialised in small bits of workmanship and the piece was typical of him, despite there being no signature on it.
He said he often used bunches of grapes and these were clearly visible on the pendant, and there was also a sapphire in the pendant and three natural pearls.
Expert John then moved on to the second gold necklace. The guest said she had been given the item by her grandmother when she turned 18, and that it had been originally made for her grandmother when she was herslef 21.
John was very excited by the piece and said: “This is a very important piece of jewellery, this one really gets me very excited and the reason it does is the name Murphy.”
John said Henry George Murphy was a craftsman who had been active in the 1920s and had a shop in London.
He pointed out Murphy’s signature on the piece and said that made it “incredibly important” as last year a piece of his jewellery had sold for £90,000.
The owner looked stunned and said: “I hope mine aren’t worth that much”
John turned to valuing the items and said that the Cooper pendant was worth around £8,000, to which the owner said: “Wow, that’s very interesting because I took it to a jeweller when I inherited it in case it needed insurance and they said it wasn’t worth anything.”
To which John simply replied: “Wrong.”
He then moved on to value the Murphy necklace and said: “The Murphy necklace in its original box, £10-15,000.”
The owner was visibly shocked and said: “Ok….yeah, thank you, that’s very nice to know.”
Viewers watching at home were quick to comment on the necklaces.
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