Rare brooch featured on Antiques Roadshow sells for £9,500

The brooch is one of a set of six produced in the 1860s

A rare Victorian brooch, bought for less than £20, has been sold at auction for £9,500 after being featured on Antiques Roadshow.

Art historian Flora Steel purchased the item cheaply in 1988 but said she only became aware of its value in 2023 when she watched a video by the series' jewellery expert Geoffrey Munn.

Mr Munn then featured it on the TV show's 2023 Christmas special.

It was auctioned in Market Harborough, in Leicestershire, on Tuesday.

Ms Steel said she bought the ornate silver brooch at a market but it had then remained out of sight in a wardrobe for 20 years.

She said she recognised it to be the creation of Gothic Revival architect and designer William Burges by chance when she saw a similar piece in an online video by Mr Munn.

Flora Steel owned the brooch for more than 30 years before discovering its significance

Ms Steel said she then contacted Market Harborough-based auctioneer Gildings, which confirmed its origins using Burges's design sketches kept at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The auctioneers said the brooch, one of a set of six, was made as a bridesmaid gift for the wedding, in 1864, of Burges's friend John Gibson to Caroline Bendyshe, the great-niece of Admiral Lord Nelson.

"I wore the brooch for about five years on the green velvet lapel of a favourite coat," Ms Steel said.

"When both the coat and brooches went out of fashion, it remained in my London wardrobe for another 20 years until my daughter-in-law found it and started wearing it.

"So, when the TV clip popped up out of the blue last March, I couldn't believe it.

"I was absolutely stunned."