Antiques Roadshow guest plans to give back jewellery to king after eye-watering valuation
16.06.2023 - 05:28
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
An extraordinary piece of jewellery was featured on Antiques Roadshow and was given a valuation fit for the royalty it once belonged to.
BBC expert Marc Allum was delighted by the task he was given when he was handed some items by one guest who told him they belonged to his great-grandfather's.
There was one particular piece of jewellery which caught Marc's eye due to its significant back story, writes the Mirror, as a necklace of blue beads was amongst the haul, which were given to the guest's great grandad during the Zulu War in 1979.
Great Britain fought against the Zulu people in 1879 and several thousands Zulus were killed, while their King Cetshwayo was captured.
Marc said: "We've got an amazing group of objects on the table here, and they're going to need a little bit of explanation.
"But first of all, I'm going to refer to this incredible string of Zulu beads. Tell me who this man in the photograph is."
The guest then replied: "Okay, well, this man is my great-grandfather, and he was a naval surgeon during the Zulu War.
"His name was Henry Frederick Norbury, and he went through various actions during the Zulu war, but after the Zulu war, which was against the Zulu king, King Cetshwayo, he actually cured King Cetshwayo of some disease, and as a reward the king took these beads off and gave him these beads."
Addressing the elephant in the room, Marc then went on and said: "It's a very difficult piece of history to kind of take apart.
"It's about colonialism, it's about imperialism. It's about the Zulus basically defending themselves and their homelands.
"But that aside, I think your story really centres around your great-grandfather. As a doctor, he would have sworn the Hippocratic Oath, obviously.
"And that would have