Antiques Roadshow guest refuses to sell item after record-breaking £1million valuation

ok.co.uk:

In a memorable edition of Antiques Roadshow, expert Geoffrey Munn examined a Faberge sculpture of a pear blossom owned by the Worcestershire army regiment.

In an episode that aired in August 2022, the guest was left speechless when he learnt its potential auction value.The owner explained: "It was formed in 1794 to protect the shores against a Napoleonic invasion. "It was agreed that the regiment should serve only within the United Kingdom.

However, in 1899 when the Boer War was going badly, it was decided that some of [the regiment] as volunteers would be mobilised. "When they left the shores, the Countess of Dudley, whose husband, the Earl of Dudley was a member of the regiment, he was second in command, she presented each and every soldier that went out with a sprig of pear blossom, worked in silk that they were to wear in their hat. "As a reminder of the county that they had left, ie, the pear blossom emblem of Worcestershire. "When they returned in 1903, she presented this sprig of pear blossom manufactured by Faberge, it's a lovely piece." Admiring the item, the expert added: "This looks for all the world like a glass vase and there's a stratagem here that it's filled with water, and this is the meniscus at the top of the water. "It's a solid block of what is apparently glass, but it's certainly not, it's stone. "It's rock crystal, it's icy cold even on this hot day, and it's immensely difficult to carve." Geoffrey went on to point out that the flower's stalk was made of gold, while the flowers were made of enamel and silver.