This is the most expensive Antiques Roadshow item ever
For months this item was a closely guarded secret, only known to the top producers of Antiques Roadshow.
But now, the most valuable item to ever been on the show has been revealed as a delicate Fabergé flower owned by a British army regiment that is said to be £1 million (NZ$1.9million).
The piece features a pear blossom sprig in a crystal vase with “QOWH South Africa 1900” engraved across it.
A spokesman for Fabergé said, “We can reveal more about the piece taken to the Antiques Roadshow. Its engraved gold stem is placed in a rock crystal vase, carved so it appears to be half full of water. The six flowers of blossom are gold with white enamel and shades of pale pink. Their stamens are oxidised silver with a diamond at the centre, while the leaves are carved nephrite.”
The delicate piece was taken to a BBC filming event near Birmingham by two British soldiers.
Only six inches high, it is one of 80 surviving Fabergé botanical pieces in the world.
Antiques Roadshow executive producer Simon Shaw described the piece as “one of the most significant jewellery finds in 40 years”.
Tatiana Fabergé, the great-granddaughter of Fabergé founder Peter, revealed that the piece was a gift from an aristocrat to a British army regiment.
Society aristocrat Georgina Ward, Countess of Dudley, gifted the flower to the Queen’s Own Worcestershire Hussars (QOWH) in the early 1900s.
Georgina’s late husband had been the regiment’s commanding officer and she was known for giving sprigs of pear blossom to the soldiers for good luck.
The Fabergé piece was intended to be a regimental trophy for their service in the Boer War.
Scroll through the gallery above to see other notable finds from the show.