Could you have a hidden treasure?

I only "collect" something because I love it and I want to give it a longer life. My china, for example, is put to use unless it is very fragile. I hope my grandchildren will enjoy it and not just see it as a quick way to make a pound or two. They already show signs of liking and appreciating it. Most of it is art deco and older. The majority being Shelley or Wileman pre Shelley. Some items the same as mine on eBay sell at a stupidly high price in the USA or Australia, (excluding postage) but that only upsets me, not makes me happy.

Sister found a hidden treasure when clearing an aunt's house after she had to go into a care home.

Nearly all the stuff was nice enough but virtually worthless, so she got some house clearance people in to take the bulk of it.

However there was a large painting, wrapped in brown paper and stashed behind a chest of drawers, which the house-clearance people seemed rather interested in, so sister took it to be valued.

We recognised it as something that had hung in our granny's rarely used sitting room - and I remembered our granny saying how she really liked it.

It turned out to be by quite a well known Victorian artist, and valuable enough that it had to go to auction, since sister and BiL with power of attorney were obliged to realise its value for the aunt's funds.

My granny loved sales, and I doubt that she can have paid much, since she was never well off, but she must have had a very good eye.

So given that I liked it anyway, plus was a bit sentimental about it, and was feeling fairly flush at the time, I put in a very last-minute telephone bid - and got it.
I think my granny would be pleased that it's stayed in the family.

I once picked up a bangle from an 'everything a £1' box, got it home and found it was silver and valued at £30, wish I could do that a few more times. Re the Roadshow ring a friend is trying to sell some rings and has had wildly different valuations given to her.

I saw that, too, Eloethan. I couldn’t understand why none of the jewellers she had approached for valuation had been able to identify the diamonds, at least, as being genuine. I suppose a sapphire of that size and weight would be outside most jeweller’s experience, and so would immediately think “it has to be glass!” Amazing for the lady on the ARS, though!

I've only ever had two things which I felt were of value (to me at least) and both were stolen.

One was an oil painting of an old cobbler, surrounded in his workshop by tools and looking at an old boot. It was called "Past Redemption".

That was taken from my house in Bradford and despite enquiries, I never saw it again.

The second was a Nazi ceremonial dagger (of dubious worth to me) brought back by my father from the war.

My husband took it to show some friends, one of whom asked if he could borrow it to show his father - and that too vanished into thin air.

I don't regret the loss of the dagger, whatever its worth, but I loved that oil painting and have mourned it on and off for the past 40 years.

I have just remembered. It wasn't exactly treasure but I had in my possession a number of wedding rings that had belonged to family members who had died. Mr absent and I used my grandmother's wedding ring when we got married but the others just sat unused in one of my jewellery boxes. A few years ago when absentdaughter was studying full time while she and her husband – who was in full-time work – were also raising a sizeable family, money was very tight for them and some was urgently needed although I can't now remember exactly what for. I gave her the wedding rings, mostly 18 carat but some 22 carat (they were quite old). She sold them, which was my intention, and could pay for whatever emergency had arisen. So, in a way, that was treasure.

Before emigrating I sold off quite a lot of bits and pieces, some of which fetched surprisingly high prices at auction – certainly far more than I originally paid for them. Nevertheless, I brought quantities of stuff with me and quite a bit of it is still sitting in boxes in the garage as I am still living in a rather small rental. I keep promising myself that I shall start sorting them out, particularly because I don't want absentdaughter to have to deal with my chaotic mess when I finally pop my bucket. As it has now been there for nearly six years, I have rather lost track of what is what, never mind which box it is in.

The only things ever passed on to me are my maternal grandmother's engagement and wedding rings. Their oldest daughter (my aunt) gave them to me and I was incredibly moved as I had never had anything like that before. The wedding ring is a plain gold band and the engagement ring an old fashioned gold ring with jewels (l don't know what) and her name engraved inside. Both grandparents died when my mother was a child so of course I never knew them.

I don't suppose they are of any particular value except to me as they fit my wedding finger and I have large fingers which makes me feel close to my grandmother. My dilemma now is who do I pass them on to? I have 4 young DGDs and 2 DGSs and at this time I don't think any of them would appreciate them as I do.

I too find it sad that some family members 'grab' everything in sight when someone dies. My uncle and aunt did that when my grandparents went into a care home, never asking if anyone else wanted anything. We weren't wanting anything in particular but it was just that we were never asked. When my mum died we asked family members if they wanted anything of hers and uncle immediately asked for a piece of furniture that my mother had given to me when she moved from her home of 50+ years into sheltered accommodation. It is a small antique chair, something she knew I'd always liked. I suspect he thinks it has some value as he tried to suggest it should have come to him because of its origins. Interestingly his version didn't match what my mother had always told me about it's history and as I'd already taken it to my home 200 miles away a year earlier I simply told him that my mum had wanted me to have it. He wasn't happy! Maybe I should have it valued. That's not the reason I kept it though - it has sentimental value as I know my mum loved it as much as I do.

Did you see the lady on the latest Antiques Roadshow held in Halifax who brought in a ring with a large blue stone at its centre? She'd asked for a valuation in several places and had been told it was virtually worthless.

The expert on the ARS said the blue "glass" was in fact a sapphire (Turkish I think he said) and it was surrounded by diamonds. He valued it at, I think, £40,000.

I haven't got any nice jewellery or antiques but this item made me think. If I needed to get something valued, I wouldn't know where to go to get a reliable valuation.

By contrast, the previous week someone brought in a lovely painting of a south sea island by a fairly well known artist. The expert agreed that it was a beautiful painting and I was expecting quite a big valuation. Just £2,000. I've seen rubbish modern paintings in shops that are more than that.

Sorry - SheilaSue

That £20 spent in the 60’s Sue was a lot of money anyway. A lot of people then couldn’t put their hand to that amount of money - it represented a month’s rent to my parents in Old Trafford! And for a watch.

Just did a Google search and £20 in 1965 would be worth £340 today.

Oh, seeing BoadiceaJones mention the £40k violin (nice inheritance) reminds me ... I have a clarinet in a cupboard - not sure about selling it though as it came to me after a dear friend died. Might research it just out of curiosity!

Timely thread as I have just started the process of sorting out stuff to sell. Not sure I have much of value but a couple of items worth researching just in case...few bits from my nan but doubtful they will prove valuable; couple of artworks I got from charity shops with gallery stickers on. I have a few more modern bits that might fetch a few quid on ebay that I won in competitions: a one-off Nail Art Mood Board for the 2013 BAFTA's with designs by Jenny Longworth, created & signed by Jason Brooks + all 5 nail polishes represented on the board. An England shirt signed by 2 of the players; an F1 shirt & cap signed by Jenson Button and his then team-mate Sergio Perez; a Smart Energy Silver Cuff (one of only 5 made- when I won it they said it was worth £750) + some signed books (and loads of boxes full of other books), signed kids books with signed original artworks, Willy Wonka costume (for World Book Day) & Roald Dahl books, set of saucepans, lamp, wine glasses etc. Now all I need is a sports-mad, jewellery-loving, bookworm fashionista that appreciates art with loads of spare cash, lol. I could do with some extra cash, plus I like to donate to a local animal rescue whenever I sell anything (10%- 100% depending on the item), and with recent health issues I figure now is as good a time as any to start saving for my funeral! Interested to read of other people's bargains/ profitable items - good thread.

My granny left me her much-loved violin, which her father bought for her in 1908.. I've just seen one by the same maker on a reputable auction site with a starting price of 40,000!! She did tell me that it was valuable, but I value it because it was precious to her.

Nothing of huge value, I have my Granddad's WWI medals & his papers plus a couple of photos also a 14 carat gold gate bracelet, these hold huge sentimental value to me but probably not hugely valuable.

I already have a silver tray (plated) of my DM's which I bought my Parents for their Silver Wedding & have put my "dibs" on a couple more things. DD knows what she will inherit but has little interest in DM's possessions. most will go to local Auction/recycling/Charity/tip.

I bought a box containing a Clarice Cliff coffee set from a jumble sale in the 1970s it cost the princely sum of 50p . A few years later I sold it for £45 to a collector advertising in a local paper !!

We found some unknown treasures when clearing out my parents' house, some of which we carefully shared between my 2 sisters and myself for sentimental reasons rather than with any eye to value. What remained was sold, some at auction and surprised us - nothing earth-shatteringly valuable but there was a 17th century Turkish Yatagan (a ceremonial sword apparently), in poor condition but still raised a surprising amount of money, and the same for 2 Georgian snuff boxes. We didn't know of the existence of these items, so they were surprise treasures to us.

I used to like to go to auctions and buy things that caught my fancy, particularly if they were going cheap ... I'm pretty sure that some of my bargain sale room buys are worth a lot more now than I paid for them back then! Haven't been to an auction for a while now, though, as I think it's time to think about decluttering rather than accumulating more 'stuff'.

My husband has several nice family things: an eighteenth century oak long case clock, a barometer and some smaller clocks. He has an Arts and Crafts-ish plate with a literary theme and his mother left me her Art Deco teaset and some jewellery.

The children have got 'dibs' on all of it and I am delighted they want to have family things for their sentimental as well as financial value.

My family had nothing!

My husband brought a pocket watch in an antique shop back in the 60s he paid £20 for it, I took it to antiques road show at Greenwich back in the nineties and was told it was just a run of the mill gold pocket watch not worth more then £60 which my husband thought was quite good.
Last year he dug it out and said he was going to sell it as it’s never worn and our darling s had died so he couldn’t leave it to him.
We took it to a Jewellers which bought and sold jewellery
And he got £200 for it. We were really surprised.

I sold my 1950s dolls house on Ebay for £600 and a grubby hand written recipe book for £120.
I have a lovely jug from my grandmother, full of her jewellery and now promised to my daughter.

A dear friend spent the war in the gatehouse of the Rothschild villa in Paris in dire poverty. After the war they came home to England with a few treasures hidden from the nazis ... she gave some lovey pretty plates to my girls to play tea parties with ... and they did .
After a while when washing them up I noticed marks on the back and thought them interesting .. got a book from the library and identified them as Minton.
No more tea parties with them . Took the down the road to Sotheby’s who got quite excited...they identified them as a tea service hand painted to match the wallpaper in the Chinese room in rothschilds villa and worth about £1000 a plate.. we have 6 plates and 3 cake stands ..
friend has since died so I can’t offer them back ... the girls get them in my will..
Rothschild’s Treasure ... in a little back garden in Sussex...

Harrigran Seaton Delaval Hall is just across the field from my daughter's home. It's much improved now.
My daughter was bridesmaid at the Delaval family church in the grounds.

It's nice that the ring has circled back to you. My sister may have have lots of possessions, but she has always been very self-centred, and has estranged herself from just about everyone because of her unpleasant ways. I value my relationships much more than anything I own. It would have been nice to have the medals, though. My son plays in a brass band, and on Anzac Day he proudly plays the 'Last Post', wearing the medals he inherited from his Grandad on his father's side.