Antiques Roadshow: Expert values two Turner drawings
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
Jewellery expert John Benjamin valued a precious brooch on a classic episode of Antiques Roadshow which a guest’s grandmother managed to keep hidden even while she was living in a forced labour camp in Siberia. The stunning item had been passed down to the BBC guest who informed John she wouldn’t part with it even if it was worth £1million.
The striking star-shaped brooch was mounted in gold and set in silver, with the piece including a small 56 on it which meant the item was most likely Russian.
John added: “The star itself, which is a typical design of the 19th Century, is set with a cluster of white stones.”
He confirmed the stones were diamonds and he was curious to know the story behind the piece.
His guest explained: “In 1939, 10 days after the Germans invaded Poland from the west, the Russians invaded from the east.
“They arrived at my grandmother’s house where she lived with her mother, her father and her brother, and they gave them six hours to pack up as many of their possessions as they could take and leave.
“Amongst these various things they took, my grandmother, who was 18 at the time, her mother took a heavy cardigan and in the lining of the cardigan, she saved this brooch.”
They were trying to reach an aunt’s house in Warsaw, Poland, but they were arrested en route by the army.
They were accused of being spies and without trial, or any evidence, they were sentenced to five years of hard labour in Siberia.
A stunned John remarked: “They were sentenced to five years of hard labour for doing nothing?”
The guest nodded and revealed once her family arrived in the prisoner camp, the men and women were separated and her grandmother never saw her father again.
“For the next couple of years, my grandmother and her mother were moved from camp to camp and all of their possessions were stolen from them,” she revealed.
“But even with all the searches and the delousing which went on, the brooch survived in the cardigan.
“My great-grandmother would throw it around like it was a rag so no one paid any attention to it.”
She added: “It’s the only thing left of their life in Poland before the war.”
The guest revealed how much the brooch meant to her as it has been in her family for generations and she wanted to pass it down to her daughter.
“If I were to value this, it really wouldn’t be of any consequence would it?” John asked the guest.
“You could tell me it was worth £1million and I still wouldn’t sell it,” she exclaimed.
John revealed the brooch was worth about £1,000 but felt the item’s value went far beyond his valuation.
“It is a piece which connects us with the past and it’s an extraordinary piece to have,” he explained.
Antiques Roadshow episodes are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Source: Read Full Article
