- Flora Steel bought a brooch at an antique market decades ago for around $25.
- An old clip of "Antiques Roadshow" she watched revealed that it was made by a famous designer.
Over 35 years ago, a woman purchased a brooch at an English antique market for less than £20, or around $25. It's now projected to sell for up to $19,000 — an astonishing 75,900% return.
Flora Steel didn't know much about the brooch when she bought it in 1988, but after watching an old clip of the BBC's "Antiques Roadshow" recently she realized that it might have been designed by the 19th-century Gothic Revival designer William Burges.
The "Antiques Roadshow" clip from 2011 that Steel watched showed Geoffrey Munn, a jewelry expert, exhibiting a series of brooch designs by Burges, who Munn called "the greatest genius of 19th-century design," according to a statement by Gildings Auctioneers.
Burges is perhaps best known for remodeling Cardiff Castle in Wales, though he also designed metalwork, jewelry, and sculptures.
In the clip, a woman displayed one of Burges's designs, her own silver, turquoise, and garnet brooch, before having it valued.
According to Gildings Auctioneers, it was valued at $10,000 and sold at auction in 2011 for £31,000, or nearly $40,000.
As Steel watched the compilation of the show's best finds, she noticed her brooch closely resembled the one featured in the clip, according to the auction house.
"The brooch originally caught my eye for its strong design, strange lettering, and unusual stones," Steel said, according to Gildings Auctioneers.
"I always loved it and thought that it was so particular in its design that sooner or later, I would discover who had designed it," she added.
Steel reached out to Gildings Auctioneers, which confirmed that Burges designed it.
"It was clear this was another one of the designs on the page of sketches," said Will Gilding, the director of the auction house, according to a statement.
Steel's brooch was featured in an episode of "Antiques Roadshow" late last month, a full-circle moment, during which the jewelry expert Munn described it as a "breathtaking discovery."
In the episode, Munn valued the brooch at between £8,000 and £10,000 as a "starting point," though he noted that it could far exceed that, given that the brooch in 2011 eventually sold for triple its valuation.
Scheduled for sale at auction in Spring 2024, the Smithsonian Magazine projected that it could sell for up to $19,000.