#Brooch #Burges #Auction #WorthPoint
Image credit: Smithsonian Magazine
Any fan of antique or vintage items knows the feeling of watching Antiques Roadshow and waiting to see if someone’s garage sale find will be the next significant discovery. It’s rare, but when the show reveals a true treasure, everyone runs to their attic to see if they, too, have something unique.
That was the case recently when Flora Steel watched a clip on her phone of a 2011 episode of the popular BBC series. On that episode, presenter Geoffrey Munn displayed some sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum. In the 19th century, it was common for bridesmaids to receive a small brooch as a gift from the happy couple, and William Burges, an architect and designer in the mid-1800s, designed several of these types of pins.
Steel thought one of the designs in the sketches was quite similar to a brooch she had purchased at an antique market. When she pulled hers out, it was an exact match. Gildings, a British auction house, will feature the brooch in a spring auction.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, two other viewers of the 2011 episode also had Burges pins. Jill Cousins, a retiree from Leicestershire, England, realized she had a brooch that matched the drawings, and Gildings sold that piece in 2011 for £36,000. In a private sale, another viewer with a Burges-designed pin engaged Gildings to sell the piece privately to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
While Burges was well-known for his architectural and design work, building churches, schools, and homes throughout the United Kingdom, his jewelry work was not as widely known until the show featured his sketches.
In a press release about the discovery, director Will Gilding stated, “It was clear this was another one of the designs on the page of sketches. So, now a Burges brooch has again been discovered via a chance sighting via the Antiques Roadshow. For it to happen once, amazing. Twice, remarkable! A third time? Pinch me!”
The press release also included Munn’s initial valuation of £8,000–£10,000 for the brooch, which Gildings will auction in March of this year with “a guide price of £10,000–£15,000.”
Brenda Kelley Kim lives in the Boston area. She is the author of Sink or Swim: Tales From the Deep End of Everywhere and writes a weekly syndicated column for The Marblehead Weekly News/Essex Media Group. When not writing or walking her snorty pug, Penny, she enjoys yard sales, flea markets, and badminton.
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