boxed in
Antiques Roadshow guest stunned as he’s offered £8k for old cigarette box he was sure was worthless
A MAN and his mum couldn't believe their luck when they found out a small cigarette box they owned was worth £8,000.
The beloved BBC show returned to our screens this week, with the season premiere coming from a gorgeous manor house in Enfield, London.
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A man and his mum turned up to Forty Hall with a tiny, but stunning cigarette box.
Antiques Roadshow expert John Benjamin marvelled at the exquisite box, revealing it was a Fabergé design.
“Well we’re looking at a rather plain rather severe-looking rectangle cigarette box but it has a lot of hidden features. Now give me a little bit more information about where it came from,” he said.
The man explained: “It was owned by my nan Alga - she passed away in 1993, passed on to my mum and dad.
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“Soon after that, they wanted some information about it and visited a dealer in Worthing.
“They said it was a cigarette case, possibly Russian, but had no significant value at all.”
The guest and his mum revealed someone had tried to buy the cigarette box off them for £1,000.
“Which is a little surprising after being told it was of no value,” John quipped.
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The mum replied: “We weren’t going to sell it anyway."
It was then things started to get interesting John noted Alga's Russian-sounding name.
“OK let’s hopefully give you some more information and tell you what it’s made of because did you think that these panels were glass?” John asked the mum, who replied she had presumed they were.
“That’s the first thing. It’s not glass it’s made of solid natural rock crystal. That tells me this is certainly not a modest piece.
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“The next exciting thing about it is it’s got a monogram G in a wreath surround. They’ve used a tool to etch it and that in itself is a difficult little job because rock crystal is a very hard material."
“Let’s turn to the edge because look at the enamel. Can you see it’s got this stylised leaf motive which continues all the around the box? Now that is very smart I do like that.
“And to finish it off you’ve got this large red blob which as you might have guessed is a natural ruby.”
John continued: “Now if we open up the lid we have some marks here. There’s a stamp there with 56 on it, that is the Russian gold mark for 14-carat gold.
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“Now the key to this is here where you have a little mark for Carl Fabergé. It’s a Fabergé cigarette box."
The guests reacted with shock at the name of Fabergé, but John did have some bad news.
“One problem with this exquisite box and it really breaks my heart, and that is in that corner it has sustained a fracture to the rock crystal,” he explained.
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“If it was in perfect condition I think it’s worth £8,000 to £10,000.
“Let me be a little careful and say £5,000 to £8,000 with the damage it’s sustained.”
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The guest said: “To find out it's Fabergé is amazing,” as his mum added, “I feel the same, actually I can’t believe it.”
Fabergé was a 19th century Russian jeweller, best known for his highly sought after Fabergé eggs, made of precious gemstones and exquisite metals.
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It's not the first time a Fabergé piece fetched a huge price tag on Antiques Roadshow.
In 2018 a Fabergé flower was also given a £1million price tag by valuer Geoffrey Munn.
‘Rare’ guitar owned by The Beatles’ George Harrison valued at £400,000 on Antiques Roadshow
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