We call it the regimental jewel.
The regiment, the Worcestershire Yeomanry, later to become the Queen's own Worcestershire
Hussars, was formed in 1794 to protect these shores against a Napoleonic invasion.
It was agreed that the regiment should serve only within the United Kingdom. However, in 1899,
when the Boer War was going badly, it was decided that some of the Yeomanry, as volunteers,
would be mobilised. And when they left the shores, the countess of Dudley, whose husband,
the Earl of Dudley, was a member of the regiment - he was second in command - she presented
each and every soldier that went out with a sprig of pear blossom, worked in silk, that they
were to wear in their hat as a reminder of the county that they had left, i.e. the pear blossom
emblem of Worcestershire. When they returned in 1903, she presented this sprig of pear
blossom, manufactured by Faberge. It's a lovely piece. It certainly is a lovely piece. This
looks for all the world like a glass vase. And there's a stratagem here that it's filled
with water, and this is the meniscus, the top of the water, but in fact, it isn't. It's a
solid block, which is apparently glass but it's certainly not - it's stone. It's rock
crystal. It's icy cold even on this hot day and it's immensely difficult to carve - it's
much, much harder than glass. And then the magic is to make it look as if the sprig is
supported in this, so it's drilled down into the rock crystal to receive the stalk, and
the stalk is made of gold. And it's almost as if we can see from time to time that new
buds are going to blossom on here. That would be quite surreal, wouldn't it? And then the
flowers are made of enamelled silver and tiny silver stamens but in the centre there's a
dewdrop of diamond, glinting in the sunshine here. And the leaves are made of Siberian
Jade, from the Ural mountains. And then we have the original fitted box, which is made
of holly wood - literally the wood of the holly tree, from Siberia. And then, just to get
the message across she probably asked Faberge to put a triumphant laurel here in green gold
tied with the red-gold bow. That was the battle honour that was awarded to them in South Africa.
That's very good. It is recorded there. That's why we think it's 1904 because that was when
they received the battle honour, South Africa. Well, it's absolutely bang on for date for
the object because some of the best things from Faberge are made in the 20th century
in the age of the motor car, the telephone and electricity. And here we have something
that is redolent of the distance past because it's a such shrieking pitch of perfection
and luxury. And it's an utterly breathtaking object. So give me some impression of what
the pear blossom means in this regiment, to you. I think when it was presented by Lady
Dudley, she did it to recognise the sacrifice of those soldiers that didn't come back from
the Boer War and those that were injured. I think it's a focal point for the younger
soldiers, soldiers such as me that are way past their sell by date. I just think it's this focal
point from what has happened years ago that we still on occasions look back to but it's
important that we also look forward. I think it provides that link for all the different
ages of soldiers that have soldiered with the regiment and are intending in the future
to soldier with the regiment. It still comes out on dinner nights when the officers of
the squadron and the regiment are assembled. It's perhaps suffered over the years being
stuffed under the bed on occasions at the end of the evening or missed the odd bread
roll. It's making me utterly breathless because I find Faberge things on the Antiques Roadshow
but nothing of this scale. I can tell you that the size of the object, the sophistication
of the object, the provenance of the object brings it very, very close to only two other
flower studies in the United Kingdom, which are in the Royal Collection. Given the qualifications
I already put on this object, it is a towering masterpiece of the goldsmith's art by the
most famous goldsmith of the 20th century. So I'm going to tell you, in my opinion, that
this is worth a million pounds. Goodness gracious. Well, I'm supposed to say now, it's not for
sale. It certainly isn't for sale. I'm just the custodian. Well, that is the rub, isn't
it. It's not for sale. A million pounds for that tiny flower. Wow. Good job it's well
protected.