Antiques Roadshow Faberge flower: Viewers left stunned after rare ornament is valued at one million pounds

Martin Coulter16 April 2018

Viewers were left gobsmacked during the first episode of the new series of Antiques Roadshow - when a flower ornament was valued at a million pounds.

The Fabergé ornament, brought in by an Army reserve cavalry squadron, is reportedly the most expensive item ever to appear on the BBC programme.

It joins an Angel of the North model and an FA Cup trophy as one of only three items to be valued at the incredibly high figure in the show's 40-year history.

The show's jewellery expert Geoffrey Munn said his "pulse was racing" as he caught sight of the precious piece.

It is the third ever item to hit a seven-figure sum on the show (PA)
© PA

He said: "To make a judgment of that enormity is a tricky thing to do so I'm not going to pretend it wasn't pressurised.

"This was a sensation beyond our wildest dreams really - this is a towering masterpiece from Faberge.

"It's what we call an 'object of fantasy' because it has absolutely no function whatsoever except to be a source of pleasure - and it is...

"It is the rarest, most poetic manifestation of Faberge's work that one could ever hope to see."

The ornament was gifted to the squadron, then known as the Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars, in 1904 by Georgina, Countess of Dudley, the wife of Lord Dudley, the second in command of the regiment.

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