Presenter Fiona Bruce was in Northern Ireland with the Antiques Roadshow guests brought their goods. One guest was thrilled to uncover a surprising fact about her war medals when she learned about its huge valuation. 

Antiques expert Mark Smith joined a young guest in Castle Ward to give his expert opinion on the valuation of her collection of war medals.

The expert asked the guest how she had come in possession of the ‘spectacular’ goods. 

Looking at the items, the guest said: “These belong to my great grandfather and the medals were brought out at a dinner party by my grandmother many years ago to show a guest who was interested in them.”

Pointing at one of them, she revealed: “It was never seen after that so it mysteriously disappeared”.

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Mark asked the guest whether she knew what any of the medals meant. 

She was only able to identify the “military cross” as it is definitely one of the most recognisable. 

The antiques expert enlightened the guest as he pointed at the two piece medal and told her that: “You don’t only have the military cross but what you have is a military cross and a bar.”

He then moved on to the “191415 star”,  “the British war medal”, and “the Victory medal” and referred to them as “the trio.”

“That is the classic set of First World War medals for someone who was out in France right out the start of the war and probably all the way up to the end,” he opined.

Mark them pointed at a red and gold metal which was in the form of a cross and revealed that it was “the Russian order of St. Anne”. 

“The one that you don’t have in the miniatures is the Order Of St Stanislas,” he told the focused guest and crowd. 

Mark informed the guest that he had been looking into what her grandfather had been doing and told her: “He was fighting in the western front and when he had finished he went off to Russia” and that’s where he received the “19141920 British war medal” for fighting in World War One. 

Mark explained: “He won the two military medals in the western front, one in 1916, I think the other one in the 1970’s.”

Looking at the Russian medals, Mark revealed that they were given to the guest’s grandfather “for fighting against the Bolshevik army”.

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Before moving on to the valuation, Mark told the guest that she may have to buy a replacement for one of the medals but it would cost her. 

“For the military cross and bar, that’s £3,500, for the Order of St Anne, £5,000,” Mark explained.

“Oh my,” the guest said in complete shock. 

“The one that you lost is also £5,000. If you had the whole lot, its £15,000,” Mark told an excited guest. 

The guest hastily said: “Oh my goodness, I’ll be careful with these.”

The Antiques Roadshow returns Sunday at 8pm on BBC One. 

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