A guest on Antiques Roadshow was left staggered after an item they’ve worn every day for decades was given an eye-watering value.
Expert Peter Planes was presented with a Rolex X Tiffany watch to evaluate on the American PBS show.
The accessory was gifted to the guest by his late uncle back in 1975, who had bought it from Tiffany’s in New York.
It had been worn by the man nearly every day, who admitted he has ‘never taken it off’ and he even had a watch-shaped tan line on his arm.
The guest explained how he had taken it to Rolex to be serviced, but ultimately decided to go with a different repair shop as the luxury brand wanted to replace the watch’s face.
Peter revealed that because the guest had kept the original features, the value was actually higher and determined the eye-watering sum to be $50,000 (£39,500).
Expert Peter Planes (left) was presented with a Rolex X Tiffany watch by a guest (right) to evaluate on the American PBS show
The accessory was gifted to the guest by his late uncle back in 1975 who had bought it from Tiffany’s in New York
Peter revealed that because the guest had kept the original features, the value was actually higher and determined the eye-watering value to be $50,000 (£39,500)
He said: ‘Collectors like things totally original. They want the original dial, even with the oxidation on it, even the faded bezel is very collectable.’
Before adding: ‘Today, in the retail market, your watch is worth $50,000 (£39,500).’
The guest was taken aback by the valuation and gasped, ‘Oh, good grief. That’s, uh… that is absolutely stunning to me.
‘I think the highest I ever heard was $30,000 (£23,700), which I thought was crazy and outrageous, but the fact that it’s worth $50,000 is startling to me.’
Explaining the watch’s history earlier in the conversation, the guest said: ‘He purchased it at Tiffany’s New York … right before I was going to go to college, he noticed I wasn’t wearing a watch on my wrist so he took it off his wrist and gave it to me.’
Another shocking valuation was given to a guest on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow earlier this month.
Two historic plates that stunned Antiques Roadshow experts after being carried to the BBC show in their owner’s handbag have sold for more than £20,000.
The blue and yellow Delftware plates – one of which has a crack running across the middle – depict King James II and a Chinese figure.
The rare seventeenth century artefacts sold for £12,600 and £7,560, including buyers’ premiums, at Woolley and Wallis auctioneers in Salisbury, Wiltshire on February 5.
The guest was taken aback by the valuation given by Peter Planes (pictured) on the American Antiques Roadshow
Unaware of their spectacular worth, the owner brought the decorative plates to Antiques Roadshow in 2014 in her handbag – and said they had been hanging in the hallway of her husband’s family home for years.
She broke down in tears once their jaw-dropping value was revealed by ceramic expert John Sandon, who called them ‘as rare as you can get’.
Speaking on the show, the owner said: ‘I remember them on the wall of my husband’s parent’s house and traditionally in the family they were said to be very valuable.
‘But no one else seemed to know anything else about them and in due course they came to my husband.
‘When I asked about them, he said all he knew was that they came from his mother’s family.’
