A woman whose great-grandfather was chef to King Edward VII and Queen Victoria rattled the nerves of an expert on Antiques Roadshow after presenting some Russian jewellery on the set of the popular television programme. The guest said her ancestor was a renowned chef who was poached by the king after previously working for the Rothschilds and he had been awarded by jewellery from several heads of state during his career.

The woman brought in just some of the collection which featured a set of gold cufflinks adorned with diamonds and rubies. The distinguisable cufflinks looked like rough nuggets but still exhibited great beauty. The expert weighed in on the technique saying the descriptor in Russian was "samorodok" which literally means a nugget. The technique is a popular one used by the prestigious Russian firm, Fabergé and was described by the experrt as "very Russian."

But, it was soon revealed that the cufflinks are not by the famed Russian jewelry firm and instead was made by another maker, Ivanoff out of St Petersburg. The Russian Imperial family's cipher appeared above the makers mark on the case which holds the cufflinks.

When asked who gave the jewellery to her great-grandfather, the woman was sure it was Tsar Nicholas. The expert agreed that it was a possibility due to the fact the ruler travelled to London and had visited Sandringham.

The woman spoke about her relative, who was a Frenchman and showed a photo of him with his family. The woman presented several other objects including some items she thought had previously been cufflinks. But, because her great-grandfather only had daughters, she believed the cufflinks had been made into broaches or pendants.

Despite the lack of markings, due to the work to transform the pieces, the expert believed they were characteristic of Fabergé's work but he could not be "absolutely certain."

Pointing to the objects, the man said: "We call this guilloché enamel and it's an engine-turned gold mount that is flooded with translucent pink enamel."

But, there was no doubt in the expert's mind over the next item which had a maker's mark and excited the professional appraiser.

"There's absolutely no doubt at all that this is a full-blown Fabergé broach," said the man.

"It's signed. It's a most distinguished thing. Again, the use of the guilloché enamel, yellow enamel in this case, and two colours of gold. Little laurel wreaths, and tied with a diamond bow, emblematic of peace. And the Romanov crown set with diamonds and circled with pearls."

The expert identified the name of the worker on the back of the item which he said was August Hollming.

The pair shared excitement when it came to valuing the pieces with the expert admitting he was nervous.

For the nugget cufflinks, the expert valued them at around £7-8k, before saying the broaches would bring £8-10k if the woman were to sell them. The woman said she wanted to keep the objects in the family, before she guessed the Fabergé broach at around £10k. However, she was in for a pleasant surprise when the expert revealed the true value at £15k.