Antiques Roadshow expert congratulates guest for £1 car boot sale purchase actually worth thousands

Edinburgh Live

10-05-2025

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WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
An Antiques Roadshow guest was lost for words as her car boot sale jewellery collection turned out to have a staggering price tag.
Filming at Alexandra Gardens, Cardiff, BBC expert Joanna Hardy met with a guest who had an array of 'beautiful' jewellery she was excited to show off.
Hardy began: 'Most people I meet, when they're buying jewellery, they usually go to a jewellery shop, an antique shop, auctions.
'But the majority of this collection has come from -', with the guest finishing off the sentence: 'A car boot.'
First of all questioning where she got a gold necklace from, the owner replied: 'Someone had just put it down [at a car boot sale], the sun was shining and it just came at me.'
'What do you think the stones are?' Hardy queried as the guest admitted: 'I'd like to think they're emeralds.'
After sharing that she just paid £3.50 for the item, the expert stated: 'Well £3.50 is a 22 carat gold chain with emeralds, so you was right.'
(Image: BBC)
Moving on to some of her other car boot sale finds, the guest shared she had purchased a circular 18 carat gold brooch with a single diamond in the middle for £2.
She then spent another £2 or £3 on a flower shaped brooch, once again 18 carat gold with three diamonds.
But it was the revelation of the blue flower brooch which caught Hardy off guard as the guest shared: 'I actually bought that last year. I paid a pound.'
'A pound!' Hardy exclaimed as the guest further explained that the price was so low because it was broken.
Hardy laughed as the owner added: 'I got to the car boots just as they were packing up.'
'Well it is broken, you're quite right, because I can take that little bit off there, you can see that it's come away,' the expert said.
The guest then pointed to two rings, both of which were purchased from a shop around 20 years ago for a similarly low price.
With a big smile on her face, Hardy remarked: 'Well all I can say is well done. Well done you!'
It was then time to give her appraisal on all of the stunning jewellery presented to her.
'The emerald necklace here with the 22 carat gold, you're looking at about £800 for this one,' she said as the guest uttered 'wow'.
Speaking of the flower brooch, Hardy continued: 'And then we'll move onto this brooch. You're looking in the region of £800 to £1,200.'
The circular brooch with the diamond in the centre was given an estimated value of £1,000 which caused the guest's shoulders to slump as she exclaimed 'Woah'.
(Image: BBC)
Referring to the £1 brooch, Hardy commented: 'This one that was a pound, in fact, if you turn it over, you can see that there's this plate on the back of the brooch.
'Well, each of these petals, they're beautifully calibre set sapphires with diamonds around each of the flower heads.
'They were made in about 1900, 1915, and they were once shirt studs so someone has later backed them onto here to make it into a brooch.'
Much to the guest's amazement, she concluded: 'Having said that, they are absolutely exquisite. You'd probably be looking at about £3,000 to £4,000.'
The guest's face crumped as she cried out: 'What! Good grief. Oh my days.'
Laughing, Hardy joked: 'Love it. Never happens to me, never happens to me I tell you.
'They're beautifully made, the undulation of the petals, stunning.'
The owner let out another 'good grief' before moving onto one of the shop-bought rings: 'This one's interesting. Because as you say, this one's very 1970s. It looks like an Alan Guard 1970s jewel. He is one of our best post-Modernist jewellers.
'It's very highly collected, 18 carat gold with diamonds, it's got a lot of weight to it and you'd be looking at, again, about £3,000 to £4,000.'
The guest exclaimed 'Wow. My word', before Hardy ended the appraisal, praising: 'Frankly, you've done extremely well.'
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.