Antiques Roadshow guest tears up over heartbreaking memory as ring given staggering price

An Antiques Roadshow impermanent got affectional arsenic she shared the traumatic backstory down a "beautiful" ring

WARNING: This nonfiction contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.

An Antiques Roadshow impermanent was successful disbelief arsenic she discovered the existent worth of a ringing that was tied to a bittersweet household memory.

On the American mentation of Antiques Roadshow, a impermanent presented adept Sarah Churgin with a stunning diamond ringing astatine the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art successful Arkansas.

However, it took nary clip earlier the proprietor went into item regarding a near-death acquisition successful the 1980s that near her household “panicking”.

“My daddy bought this ringing for my mum aft she fell into the Arkansas River disconnected of our houseboat”, she began.

“The Delta Queen was docking astatine the Island Harbour Marina successful Pine Bluff, Arkansas. And we were docking our houseboat and mama fell successful and she couldn't aquatics and the undercurrent pulled her nether and she didn’t travel backmost up. And truthful we were each panicking and we thought she was drowning.”

Thankfully, the incidental didn’t extremity successful calamity arsenic she continued: “And finally, daddy and my brothers jumped successful and I jumped successful and we recovered her and we pulled her backmost up.

“And daddy was truthful upset, helium sold the houseboat the adjacent time and bought this ringing for my mother. We ever utilized to kid her saying ‘Mama, you’re wearing our houseboat.’ We were conscionable gladsome to person our parent harmless and sound, you know?”

She went connected to explicate that her dada had purchased the ringing from a person for $5,000 (£4,004).

“My mum, she enjoyed this ringing truthful much. She would instrumentality it to her small luncheons and deterioration it and just, you know, ‘la dee da'”, the impermanent recalled.

“She wanted maine to person it and she wanted to walk it down to my daughter. Mama had passed distant astir 20 years agone and I’ve been wearing it ever since.”

It was astatine this infinitesimal that the ring’s proprietor began to good up astatine the thought of her mother.

Wiping her tears, she shared: “I cognize my parent is smiling down from Heaven. Just means truthful overmuch to maine that this ringing is connected this amusement today. It conscionable breaks my bosom that this ringing is connected the amusement today.”

Giving immoderate much details astir the ringing itself, Churgin elaborated: “It’s truly a spectacular and comfy portion of jewellery.

“It’s platinum, from the 1950s, it’s astir apt made close present successful America. It’s a beautifully made mounting with round, superb chopped stones that graduate.

“The chromatic successful the centre is simply a precise clean, superb chopped diamond, astir 3.5 carats”, with the impermanent stating: “Wow.”

Churgin past stated that the ringing had a full carat value of supra 5 carats.

She concluded: “A retail worth contiguous for this ringing is successful the scope of $60,000 to $70,000.”

Clearly amazed by the figure, the impermanent exclaimed: “Geeze-o-Pete-o! Oh wow! Man”, earlier joking: “I amended get immoderate security connected it.”

Antiques Roadshow is disposable to ticker connected BBC One and BBC iPlayer.