Antiques Roadshow guest floored at necklace’s ‘astonishing’ value

An Antiques Roadshow guest was stunned to discover how much some family jewellery was really worth on tonight’s show.

The owner explained that the pendant necklace had belonged to her great grandmother, who was very involved in the arts and craft movement.

The guest said she believed the pendant had been specifically designed for her relative.

Expert John Benjamin said there was a very important craftsman John Paul Cooper who he believed was behind the pendant.

John said the craftsman specialised in small bits of workmanship and the piece was typical of him, despite there being no signature on it.

He said he often used bunches of grapes and these were clearly visible on the pendant, and there was also a sapphire in the pendant and three natural pearls.

Expert John then moved on to the second gold necklace. The guest said she had been given the item by her grandmother when she turned 18, and that it had been originally made for her grandmother when she was herslef 21.

John was very excited by the piece and said: “This is a very important piece of jewellery, this one really gets me very excited and the reason it does is the name Murphy.”

John said Henry George Murphy was a craftsman who had been active in the 1920s and had a shop in London.

He pointed out Murphy’s signature on the piece and said that made it “incredibly important” as last year a piece of his jewellery had sold for £90,000.

The owner looked stunned and said: “I hope mine aren’t worth that much”

John turned to valuing the items and said that the Cooper pendant was worth around £8,000, to which the owner said: “Wow, that’s very interesting because I took it to a jeweller when I inherited it in case it needed insurance and they said it wasn’t worth anything.”

To which John simply replied: “Wrong.”

He then moved on to value the Murphy necklace and said: “The Murphy necklace in its original box, £10-15,000.”

The owner was visibly shocked and said: “Ok….yeah, thank you, that’s very nice to know.”

Viewers watching at home were quick to comment on the necklaces.

The History and Significance of Bishop Rings

The bishop rings are the sign of emblem of the highest clergy in the Catholic Church. When hallowing a bishop, the archbishop or pope hands him a gold ring along with other elements of insignia. It is the symbol that he belongs to church. In fact, bishop has the authority or receive or purchase other rings as a gift. Episcopal ting is a prominent sign of importance.

The clergy does not have the right to part with it. Bishops use to pass these rings from one to another by inheritance. Therefore, no one can be the owner of these rings. The ring belongs to the church, so that there are taken back after the demise of bishops or his abdication. Learn more about the history and significance of Bishop Ringsin the below lines.

History of the Bishop Ring

It is an ancient custom to wear the bishop’s ring long time ago. Around 600 AD, this tradition had introduced. Since, it represents the bishop’s marriage with the church. He uses to wear this ring in his right hand in the ring finger. Moreover, the Episcopal ring, clerics and popes wore different sorts of Christian religious rings. This custom stopped toward the finish of the nineteenth century when the congregation prohibited the synchronous wearing of a few stately rings.

The traditional religious ring was huge and large and it was formed with pure Gold with a mandatory huge gem in the middle, and often ornamented with minor stones as a supplementary accent. Now by the passage of time, most of the bishops have moved away from this tradition using this ring or ornament. The use to wear wide golden signets or bands with common place Christian symbols.

Significance of Bishops ring

Episcopal ring symbolizes that a Bishop has married to his eparchy. This ring has no gem inlay but it contains a signet design. It is used to make an impression in the hot wax to seal the confidential documents as a stamp.

It does not mean that this ring is limited to identification work. Some rings have holy relics. These are given to successor from the predecessor. The modern rings are holy but these are not relicts. These rings are the signs of respect for the bishop’s congregations, clerics, authority. It is another tradition to kiss the Episcopal ring in the bishop’s hand. Even, today, it happens since it is taken as the element of piety.

Is it a Fashion Item?

People use to put on the crucifixes and crosses without giving them any religious important, these rings cannot catch the attention of fashion influencers and designers. It is not difficult to understand its reason. May be, due to its huge size or an extra-ordinary massive appearance.

Most of the informal groups use to wear these rings. Some of the subcultural followers use these rings too. For instance, the bikers like to wear these rings instead of using an attractive trinket. These are available on the jewelry shops.

How Smart Jewellery Can Be Both Practical And Stylish

The wearable tech market around the world is expected to have an annual growth rate of 15.9% from 2020 to 2027, according to Grand View Research.

Consumers are usually familiar with seeing wearable tech like new smart watches on the market. The complaint is that while wearable tech is practical, it often looks bulky and lacks the aesthetic appeal that comes with fashion accessories.

A good way to combine tech and fashion, however, is through smart jewellery.

Available In High Fashion Brands

Wearable technology is often synonymous with big tech brands like Samsung and Apple, so they were often thought to look futuristic and unmistakably gadget-like. However, well-known fashion brands like Tory Burch, Michael Kors, and even Kate Spade have incorporated smart technology into their pieces.

For example, Tory Burch has created fashionable fitness trackers in partnership with Fitbit. They even come in a metal hinged bracelet for those wanting to keep track of their steps even when they have to dress up.

Comes In Various Styles

For tech-loving consumers who are aiming to curate their own jewellery collection, now is the time to combine tech and jewellery. Smart jewellery comes in various options like pendants, rings, and even bangles, so there are a lot of options to cover a base collection and standout pieces that you can supplement with classic items.

There is news of smart earrings being developed by Joule and other brands, so given enough time, there will be a wide array of smart jewellery options to fill up most collections.

Designed For Discretion

One of the biggest appeals of wearable technology is that it is able to do multiple things like track one’s health and send messages. Smart jewellery brings the same features but makes the design more discreet — so discreet that it doesn’t even look like wearable technology.

A good example of this is InvisaWear, which has pieces that look like regular bracelets, fashion keychains, and even bejewelled hair ties. InvisaWear’s smart jewellery is designed to work like any regular smart device with the added feature of being able to call emergency services without needing a phone.

With wearable technology here to stay, it isn’t surprising that the fashion industry has started to embrace it. Indeed, anyone looking to have delicate, fashionable and practical accessories can be assured that smart jewellery can fill their needs.

Jewellery fans should be on the lookout for any innovations in the smart jewellery sector so they can be ahead of the newest trends.