In an article in The Sun, a man is gobsmacked to find that a gift that he received from his late uncle in 1975 is now worth $50,000.
The man appeared as a guest on the US version of the Antiques Roadshow.
He was wearing a 40-year-old Rolex watch that he received as a gift from his uncle.
In 1975, he was heading off to college and his uncle noticed that he did not have a wristwatch, so he literally took off the watch he was wearing on his own wrist and gave it to his nephew.
Forty years later, the nephew brought in the Rolex to be appraised at the Antiques Roadshow.
He explained that his uncle had purchased the watch at Tiffany's in New York and that his uncle was a physician who had relocated to the U.S. from the Netherlands in the 1960s.
The man knew that the Rolex his uncle gave him could be special as it was a GMT Master model but he did not know just how special it was. The watch had a unique watch face and dial.
When the appraiser took a look at the watch, he explained that because the watch was in original condition with original parts intact including the dial and faded bezel, it was worth $50,000.
He also mentioned that the only reason the watch was $50,000 was because the dial had oxidation on it. If the dial were in pristine condition, the watch would potentially fetch $100,000.
Also, it was a good thing that the nephew had not replaced any parts or serviced the watch as that would have lowered the value to $10,000.
Needless to say, the man was shocked that his late uncle's gift could be worth so much about 40 years later.
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