Antiques Roadshow guest believed five-figure multi-diamond ring was £30 cubic zirconia
An Antiques Roadshow guest was in disbelief when she was informed her £30 cubic zirconia ring was actually a diamond worth thousands.
Antiques Roadshow: Diamond ring valued up to $30,000
An Antiques Roadshow guest was “shocked” at the real value of her ring that she purchased for just £30.
The PBS series travelled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to give residents the opportunity to have their items appraised, including a woman who was sold a “cubic zirconia” she had suspicions about.
She explained: “I bought it at auction, got it home and I noticed it had a lot of sparkle.
“It was sold to me as a cubic zirconia in silver so it really had a lot of fire, so I got it under a microscope and noticed little symbols on the outside of the shank.
“I did a little research into one of the marks, the dog head, platinum, a French mark.”
Read more: Antiques Roadshow guest’s eyes roll at ‘wild’ value of Walt Whitman letter
When asked how she conducted her research, the guest replied: “Internet. I just typed in dog’s head, hallmark, and that’s what came up, that France started using the dog head hallmark in about 1912.”
She then added that she paid just $30 for the ring when it was sold to her, two or three years ago.
“I was wondering why would someone put cubic zirconia in possibly a platinum setting.”
It was then expert Mark Schafter’s turn to give a more thorough explanation of what the ring was actually made of.
Don't miss...
Antiques Roadshow youngster giggles as ‘doorstop’ present is given top price tag [REVEALED]
BBC Antiques Roadshow sparks backlash as fans fume 'where are the antiques' [REACTION]
Antiques Roadshow guest has ‘chills’ at real worth of photo found on a furnace [EXPLAINER]
“Perhaps it’s a very good question and you make a very good point that the setting can actually reveal something about the piece.
“We tested this and tested it again and the reason that it’s confusing is that it’s not one stone.
“Interestingly, it looks like one stone with multiple facets but once you start looking quite closely, there’s a central stone. It’s an unusual setting.
“There are small trapezoidal stones in a step fashion set all around the central stone.
“And it builds up like one big large stone but the play of light is a little odd, because it’s multiple stones, not a single stone.
“We tested it, we looked at it, we put it under the loupe, we used the diamond tester just to be sure.”
BBC Antiques Roadshow: Top 7 biggest valuations will leave you staggered
Antiques Roadshow has made some lucky Brits a pretty penny over the years.
Often viewers are left stunned when something left sitting in an attic is worth millions of pounds.
From a Faberge flower, to art by Banksy - here are the seven most expensive antiques discovered on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow.
He continued: “But in fact, it does test as a diamond, not as CZ.
“What you have is a ring that looks like it’s sort of eight to 10 carats from the top as a diamond.
“In fact, in the centre is a stone that’s about 1.5, let’s say a carat-and-a-half, and a few more carats in the surrounding stones in a platinum mount.
“It’s a style of ring that could be as early as 1920s, 1930s.
“Altogether, given the carat weight, in a retail setting, I would say a conservative selling price would be in the $25,000 to $30,000 price range.”
The guest’s eyes widened as she stated: “Amazing. Amazing. I am shocked and happy. This is great.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on PBS.
