More than 30 years ago at an antique fair in the English Midlands, Rome-based art historian Flora Steel bought a silver brooch with coral, lapis lazuli, and malachite stones worth £20. “The brooch originally caught my eye for its strong design, strange lettering, and unusual stones,” said Steel. After wearing the brooch on the green velvet lapel of her favorite coat for five years, she put it away in a closet, where it remained for decades.
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It wasn't until last year that Ms Steel came across a 2011 BBC story about a brooch featured in Antiques Roadshow while scrolling YouTube. In the clip, jewelry expert Geoffrey Munn presented a sheet of sketches belonging to the archives of the Victoria and Albert Museum featuring three brooch designs by William Burges, an important Victorian architect most famous for his buildings in Wales like Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch. Munn said on the show that he was on a quest to find the three brooches, which he considered prime examples of Victorian 19th-century design.
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As she watched on YouTube, Flora Steel was shocked to realize that the brooch she bought 30 years ago was identical to one of the three featured in the sketches. And after contacting Gildings Auctioneers, they were able to confirm that her brooch, which combines Celtic influences with Burges' Gothic Revival aesthetic, was indeed designed by the Victorian architect, intended as a bridesmaids’ gift for the wedding of a great-niece of Admiral Lord Nelson.
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In late March, the so-called 'Gibson' bridesmaid brooch was auctioned at Gildings, with bidding opening at £6,000, until it was hammered for £9,500, and totaled £11,500 including buyer's fees (about $14,400), selling to a private UK collector and admirer of Burges.
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This wasn't the first time that Gildings auctioned a Burges brooch. In fact, the other two brooches featured in the V&A sketches were also sold at Gildings after their owners realized their value while watching Antiques Roadshow. One of them, named the 'Seddon' bridesmaid brooch, sold at Gildings in 2011 for £31,000.
Stories like these aren't uncommon in the auction market. Just last year, Barnebys reported on a Ming Dynasty box bought for £19 that sold for £288,000 (about $355,000). The many examples of rare items bought at markets for bargain prices are a good reminder that even the most inconspicuous finds could be worth a fortune.
