We all dream of finding bargains – which may extend beyond the realm of Black Friday. News24 has previously written about New York residents Nancy Cavaliere who found four cool plates at a flea market for SEK 65. The plates later turned out to be made of the same ash Pablo Picassoand at one of Sotheby’s special auctions they were sold for over a quarter of a million kroner.
READ MORE: She found Picasso plates worth half a million – at flea markets
Nancy’s Picasso plates that she bought at a flea market in New York. Image source: TikTok/casacavaliere
Other rewritten findings are when an 11-year-old boy found a beautiful drawing in the garbage dump which he later – as an adult – sold for half a million kroner. It was a genuine etching of itself Dürer.
READ MORE: Boy found painting worth half a million in the dump
That etching that Mat Winter rescued from the dump turned out to be extremely valuable. It was a genuine Dürer. Image source: Rare Book AuctionsMost expensive objects in the English Antiquary
In the BBC program Antiques Roadshow, i.e. English Antikrundan, it has for understandable reasons also passed many super finds over the years.
In 2013, a priest came by name Jamie MacLeod past the Engelska Antikrundan with a painting he bought for around SEK 5,000 at an antique shop. Now, 5,000 is of course a lot of money, but it still turned out to be a wise investment. The painting was a genuine one Van Dyck, and was valued at a ridiculous 5.5 million kroner, something that was then reported by the British Express.
A painting by Van Dyck in a museum in New York. Image source: AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey/TT Image
The most expensive item in the English version of the hugely popular BBC show is a flower made by the Russian goldsmith and jeweler Fabergéwhich is best known for the so-called Fabergé eggs. The flower that two soldiers brought to the British Antiques in 2018 was made of gold, diamonds and jade – and the beautiful flower was valued at a breathtaking sum, as The Standard reported at the time.
Three different Fabergé eggs are exhibited in Berlin in 2005. Image source: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber
The program’s jewel expert Geoffrey Munn said then that his heart rate soared when he saw the Fabergé flower.
– This is a sensation beyond our wildest dreams. This is a Fabergé masterpiece. It is one of the most unusual and poetic works of Fabergé, he said – and valued the beautiful flower at almost 14 million kroner.
“Most beautiful object ever” in the English Antiquarian
Expensive items in all their glory – but sometimes the presenters and experts drop their chins instead because some things are just so damn beautiful. That’s what happened in an episode of Antiques Roadshow earlier in November. Then one of the experts was floored by one of the most unique and valuable items in the show’s history.
At the filming location at Thirlestane Castle in Scotland, a curious man came in with a music box that surprised the expert.
Cristian Beadman was impressed by the beautiful object. Image source: BBC
– This is undoubtedly one of the most exquisite things I have seen in Antikrundan during my 10 years in the program. It shimmers in the sun, like a jewel, the expert said Christian Beadman.
The pretty little music box was made by the brothers Rochat in Switzerland over 150 years ago. The music box was in perfect condition and the bird that is the crown of creation did not have a curled feather.
– It has not lost a single feather. There is not a single scratch on the box. I can see that this one is made from the shell of a loggerhead turtle, he continued.
The Rochat brothers had clients who Napoleon Bonaparte and the Russian Tsar Alexander I. Their works are occasionally sold at auction, and American jeweler Joseph Saidan & Sons has one for sale in 2024 for SEK 1.6 million.
The Rochat brothers made fantastic music boxes, often in gold and adorned with precious stones. Image source: AntiquorumCC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The person who came in with the music box had not directly found it on the tip, but had bought it himself at an auction over 20 years ago. Then he paid around SEK 100,000 for the music box. And it has only increased in value since then.
– Although it may seem like a lot of money to spend on it almost 20 years ago, it was fun enough a good investment. You can absolutely get between SEK 280,000 up to SEK 560,000 for it, said expert Cristian Beadman.
The man still had the case that the music box came in. Image source: BBC
When the man opened the box, there was a hiss from the crowd. Image source: BBCOut came the most crystal clear and exquisite, chirping birdsong. Image source: BBC The music box is extremely valuable. Image source: BBC
But the man who came in with the music box had no plans to sell the beautiful thing, but intends to leave it as a family heirloom.
– It will be inherited in the family because they love it. It’s not just the money, it’s pretty special to me, he said.
The expert was so taken by the beauty of the music box that he could not refrain from saying that he “probably will never see anything like it again”.
And we agree – it really is stunningly beautiful!