From medals of honour to a painting of a grandmother that turned out to be worth hundreds of thousands – you never know how much an inherited keepsake could be worth. Click or scroll through to take a look at some of the most valuable heirlooms that people have been left.

A woman from Derbyshire, England had inherited a George II-style writing bureau from a distant cousin and decided to get it valued by Hansons Auctioneers. On inspecting the desk, the valuer discovered a secret drawer, which was revealed to be the hiding place of some real treasure. A charming Raymond IV Prince of Orange Franc 22-carat gold coin from 1365 had been tucked away inside, and it went on to sell for £850 ($1,045).

Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall is considered a landmark book within modern LGBTQ literature, however due to its content it was declared ‘obscene’ after a trial in the UK in 1928. The controversy excited publishers in the US, and although it was also put on trial there it wasn’t deemed obscene, leading to the release of a 'victory edition' of the novel. A man was left number 43 of the 225 special copies that were printed, and given its unique nature and good condition it was valued at up to $1,500 (£1.2k) on the US version of TV show Antiques Roadshow.

This doll was made in Germany by Kammer & Reinhardt, and intriguingly it was originally marketed as a boy doll called Phillip, meaning that the wig, clothes and shoes were new additions. The changes to the original did affect the value of the doll, but the owner still would’ve been pleased to have inherited it from his grandmother, as it was valued at $2,000-$2,500 (£1.6k-£2k).

One woman traced this ring back to her godmother’s daughter’s second husband’s first wife’s mother – the inheritance line is a brain teaser in itself. But luckily it was worth finding the owner to get a better understanding of this precious piece of jewellery. It is by prominent mid-20th-century designer David Webb and features Burmese rubies – the most sought-after rubies there are – surrounded by white diamonds, platinum, and 18-carat gold. Just the different components as they are would bring the ring’s value to around $5,000 (£4.1k), but paired with the designer's name this heirloom has a value of between $8,000 and $12,000 (£6.5k-9.7k).

Doll collectors, or plangonologists, often spend years acquiring and restoring their porcelain figures, and if well looked after they can be worth fairly hefty sums of money. The son of an avid doll collector brought one of the older figures in for a valuation on Antiques Roadshow in the US, and it dated back to around 1880. Thanks to its date officially making it an antique, plus its good condition, this French-made doll was valued at between $12,000 and $14,000 (£9.7k-£11.3k).

A plate that had made its way through generations of a family found itself hanging above the kitchen stove for a number of years as the children loved the smiley face carved into it. It was only after visiting an art gallery and noticing another plate very similar in design that the owner realised that that funny face could actually be a Picasso original. After cleaning off years’ worth of grease, the owner took the Face in an Oval to be valued, and the dish that the family had originally bought for about $100 turned out to be worth around $15,000 (£12k).

Staying with Cubist art, the granddaughter of artist Erik Magnusson had acquired this sketch, which was his rendering of a Cubist silver coffee set. A curator at the Rhode Island School of Design couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw the drawing appear on Antiques Roadshow, as she was in the process of putting together an exhibition that featured that very same coffee set. The sketch was bought by the design school so that the original and its drawing could sit side by side, and experts have valued the sketch at around $20,000 to $30,000 (£16k-£24k).

Orientalism was a movement that gained huge momentum in the art world in the 19th century and, as such, there are swathes of artwork depicting everyday lives from across the Eastern world. This particular piece by Charles H. Wilda was brought back to the US by a man in 1929, and it had been passed down his family ever since. Wilda wasn’t best-known for his dabblings in Orientalism, but the attention to detail in the figures, architecture, and surface textures led the Antiques Roadshow experts to believe that the painting had a market value of up to $50,000 (£40.5k).

A painting had been hanging on one lady’s wall for 40 years before she realised that it could be worth something after seeing something similar on an episode of Antiques Roadshow. Recognising the name of artist Édouard Cortès, she retrieved the Paris street scene and took it to be valued. A telltale sign of a painting by the artist is a pinprick in the picture, as he always pierced his canvases to establish a vanishing point. The tiny hole was quickly found by experts, helping to validate the painting as a Cortès. As a result the painting's value was estimated to be up to $50,000 (£40.5k).

When your family has been referring to a pocket watch as ‘the King of Spain watch’ for a number of years, it’s definitely worth getting it valued. This Smith & Son watch was made in London and gifted to a man who helped out in a radio repair shop. It features a rare type of escapement – an intricate device that prevented gravity from affecting the clock's timekeeping – and its casing is 18-carat solid gold. The value of the gold alone is $3,000 (£2.4k), but as a complete piece this pocket watch was given an estimated value of up to $50,000 (£40.5k).

If you saw this jewel lying around, you'd probably guess that it could be worth some money. Purchased in Paris in 1923, this diamond-studded piece was designed to be a wedding jewel, and as such is covered in Catholic matrimonial symbols including doves, hands clenching a heart, and a cross. The gem was originally made for Gabriel Bethlen, who was a Transylvanian prince in the late 16th century. The history and sheer beauty of the jewel combined meant it was valued on the US version of Antiques Roadshow as being worth up to $60,000 (£48.6k).

There are some autographs that are incredibly sought-after, and the signature of Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei falls into that category. A post-wartime auction saw a well-respected collector sell off a lot of his pieces, including a letter written by Galileo, which was purchased and passed down a family. The content of the letter isn’t at all scientific, but thanks to it being well-written and in excellent condition, its estimated value is up to $100,000 (£81,225) – roughly 100 times more than it originally sold for it in 1947 if you factor in inflation.

A Tiffany necklace had made its way through generations to a lady called Joan, who came onto the US Antiques Roadshow with an accompanying portrait of her great-grandmother wearing that very piece of jewellery. During its appraisal the valuer pointed out the necklace’s black opal and rare Russian demantoid garnets. She also revealed that it wasn’t just any Tiffany necklace, but that it had been made by Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of the founder of the prestigious jewellery company. It went to auction with a reserve price of $25,000 (£20.2k) but, much to Joan’s joy, the auction hammer later went down after a bidder offered $100,000 (£81k) for it.

After having defused around 50 bombs during two tours of Afghanistan, British soldier Gary O’Donnell was sadly killed by an explosion in 2008. The brave serviceman became the first soldier to be awarded two George Medals in 30 years, and his widow took the difficult decision to auction off the collection in order to provide for their children. The original estimate was £40,000-£60,000 ($50k-$75k) but the collection actually sold for £110,000 ($137k) in the end. 

When it comes to collectables, there’s often a Holy Grail-type piece that every hobbyist is after. For Hot Wheels fans, this is it. One man’s father worked at Mattel during the 1960s, and after this red Beach Bomb prototype was a flop during testing, he gave it to his son and told him to keep it safe as it could be worth some money one day. Over 50 years later he was proven right, and this rare, near-mint miniature car has an estimated value of up to $150,000 (£122k).

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that not everybody is the biggest fan of their in-laws, but after inheriting a diamond-studded bracelet from her mother-in-law, this is unlikely the case for a lady who featured on Antiques Roadshow in 2017. This pristine piece of Art Deco jewellery almost brought the antiques expert to tears, and it prompted gasps from the audience when he suggested that it was worth £150,000 ($186k).

Some families have beloved toys that are passed down a generation or two, but few have anything from the 18th century – let alone a fantastically-preserved doll's house with all the original features. The house has been described as one of the most important toy finds in British history, and as such it was valued at £150,000 ($186k) when it appeared on the UK Antiques Roadshow.

American artist Charles Rohlfs liked to blur the boundaries between furniture and sculpture, and this can be seen in the design of this mahogany chair. The material in itself makes it a rare find, as most of Rohlfs’ pieces were made out of oak. This lady brought the chair to Antiques Roadshow after it had been found in her grandmother’s attic, and its initial evaluation suggested that it was worth up to $120,000 (£97k). When the chair finally went to auction the family were excited to see the value creep up and up, and the hammer came down at an astonishing $225,000 (£182k).

One lady’s aunt had bought up a number of Tiffany vases during the Great Depression, and they were kept in immaculate condition – even the straw-filled crate that they’d arrived in was perfectly intact, which in itself is worth up to $10,000 (£8.1k). One of the vases (pictured right) was heavily influenced by Louis Tiffany’s own painting style, while the most impressive of the trio is the lava vase (centre). This style of vase was difficult to make and incredibly rare to find in such good condition, and so experts valued the vase at up to $150,000 (£122k). And the total value of this impressive collection was estimated as up to $238,000 (£193k).

An elderly gentleman in Felixstowe, England had been gifted an old vase by his aunt, who had taken a liking to it on her travels in Asia. Auction house Diamond Mills identified the vase as being an 18th-century piece, and estimated that it would fetch between £10,000 and £20,000 ($12.1k-$24.3k) at auction. It ended up selling for around 10 times that amount, and the hammer fell after a final bid of £200,000 ($247k).

Ready to head off to university, a young woman started to pack away an old print she'd recently inherited. She noticed a mosquito trapped in the glass and, after trying to prise it out, she realised that the 'print' was in fact a watercolour painting. Two different art experts valued the painting at a couple of hundred dollars but luckily she presented it to a third expert, who saw its true value. The piece of artwork was painted by American Henry Francois Farny in 1892, bringing its value to between $200,000 and $300,000 (£161k-£241k).

A man inherited this portrait from his uncle, and when it first appeared on Antiques Roadshow experts assumed that it was a replica of a piece by World War I artist William Orpen. That in itself was enough to give it a value of up to £30,000 ($37k). The news got even better though after Orpen experts were able to examine the portrait in detail, and after letters referencing the painting were unearthed its value soared to £250,000 ($309k). The painting was deceptively named The Spy, but it was actually a cover-up of the fact that this young French girl was his mistress. The official military artist somehow found time to paint her while he was supposed to be depicting the war efforts.

Artist John Lavery was known for his sunny landscape paintings, and one found its way onto Antiques Roadshow after having been passed down through the generations of a family since as early as the 1920s. Despite only being 30 centimetres square in size, the bright little artwork received a valuation of £250,000 ($311k).

A lady bought this glass lamp after she saw an advert for it in a newspaper. She knew that it was a Tiffany Studios lamp, but didn’t quite know what a bargain she was getting back in 1967 when she bought it for $125 (the equivalent of $970/£785 today). With this particular design the base is almost as valuable as the shade, as it has a gold coating and perfectly matches the Art Nouveau style that was popular but pricey at the time. One of the buyer's descendents brought the lamp onto Antiques Roadshow for a valuation in 1999, and it was estimated that it was worth up to $125,000 (£101k). Over 20 years later and the estimated value has more than doubled, with it now being worth up to $350,000 (£284k).

Finding genuine Rodin sculptures can be challenging as fakes and phonies of his work have flooded the market. This meant that when an authentic piece turned up on Antiques Roadshow, experts were pleasantly surprised. Eternal Spring was cast in Rodin’s lifetime – most likely around 1900 – which makes it incredibly valuable, and even if it hadn’t been a genuine sculpture by the artist it still would’ve fetched between $5,000 and $10,000 (£4k-£8k) at auction. Luckily for the owner and his father, the inherited piece was authentic, and it sold at Sotheby’s in London for £300,000 ($370k).

In this painting where an artist has captured another artist mid-creation, revered Victorian artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema has caught his friend Leopold Löwenstam in the middle of one of his engravings. Löwenstam's great-great-grandson took the artwork to be evaluated by experts and it was estimated to be worth up to £300,000 ($373k), as Alma-Tadema was described as the "most valuable Victorian artist today."

Another highlight from the UK version of Antiques Roadshow: back in 1994, the son of a hobby silver collector brought his late father’s collection in for inspection, and it is still considered one of the show’s best finds over 25 years later. The collection was an array of exquisite pieces of silverware, including early wine taster and stirrup cups, and the job lot fetched £350,000 ($435k) at auction.

They say it's not what you know but who you know, and if you have family friends who also happen to be world-renowned artists then that friendship can work out to be quite profitable. One woman's parents were friends with early Impressionist painter Joseph Kleitsch, and following his death they bought this painting by him for a measly $100. In 2015, the painting was valued at $500,000 (£402k) by Antiques Roadshow resident expert Dana Force.

Inheriting a car is not something that happens every day, particularly when it’s a vintage 1967 Corvette Stingray. Bought by a Vietnam War veteran on his safe return to the US, this car was beautifully preserved and barely driven thanks to his busy lifestyle and large family, and so it was passed down his family in near-perfect condition. As a result, this well-preserved set of wheels made its former owner an impressive $675,000 (£543k) at auction.

This painting had belonged to the same family since the 1800s, but it wasn’t really to the current owners’ liking so they kept it stashed away out of sight. It was only when an auctioneer was visiting the home that they realised that it could be valuable. He initially valued the artwork at £600 ($738) but once it was revealed to be an Old Master painting of St John the Evangelist, its value skyrocketed to £540,000 ($664k).

This is another work of art that was inherited thanks to family connections – this time to American realist artist Robert Henri. The painter was summoned to Yorkshire, England to paint the current owner’s grandmother in 1907. Although people knew of his journey to England, who he'd actually painted remained a mystery. This particular piece by Henri is a blend of the style of William Merritt Chase and work produced by the Ashcan School, and that unique mixture helped to push the portrait’s value up to around $700,000 (£569k).

This Frederic Remington painting featured as part of a military project in 1896, and one of the subject’s descendents brought it to Antiques Roadshow to be valued over 100 years later. The additional touch of personal letters from Remington to the man in the painting bumped up its value, and as such it was estimated to be worth up to $800,000 (£648k). Remington is considered to be one of the most important turn-of-the-century artists in the US, and the portrait now hangs on loan in the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama.

A million-dollar bag of collectables almost ended up in landfill when a family were sifting through the belongings of their late great-grandparents. Somebody only thought to look inside the old paper bag at the last minute and it’s a good thing they did, as inside they discovered seven Ty Cobb baseball cards, as well as old postcards and papers. The bundle from the early 1900s turned out to be extremely valuable, and together had a value of more than $1 million (£810k).

Artist Alexander Calder made an appearance at a cocktail party in the 1950s, and the hostess was such a fan of his work that she had made a needlepoint pillow paying tribute to his work. She decided to gift it to her guest, and a couple of days later one of the artist’s iconic mobiles appeared on her doorstep as a thank you. Now deemed to be a modern art classic, the mobile made its way onto Antiques Roadshow after being passed down through the family. Despite slight restorations denting the value, experts deduced that, given Calder’s current popularity, the mobile could sell for up to $1 million (£810k) at auction.

In 2015, a lady brought her great-grandmother’s collection of photographic baseball cards to be valued on Antiques Roadshow. The first-ever professional baseball players had lived in her boarding house in Boston in 1871, and they’d left notes and letters with the cards. The uniqueness of the cards and the personal touches of the notes meant the archive has a staggering total value of $1 million (£810k).

After losing his leg in a car accident, Loren Krytzer was left with no money and in squalid living conditions. The former carpenter was still keeping up with Antiques Roadshow however, and during one episode he noticed that a valuable Navajo textile looked remarkably similar to a blanket that he had inherited from his grandma. Krytzer got the quilt valued, and to his astonishment experts revealed that it was in fact from 1840 – it later sold for $1.5 million (£1.2m).

That old, cracked vase could be worth more than you think. A retired speech therapist from Liverpool, UK was amazed to find out that the 'worthless' and damaged vase that had been sitting atop her cabinet for decades was over 200 years old and extremely valuable. She had inherited it from her parents after her brother decided he didn't want it.

In 2021, the vase was spotted by an antiques expert and the anonymous octogenarian was stunned to find out that the ornament, which she'd been told was worth very little because of the cracks, was actually a rare Qing dynasty Jiaqing era relic made between 1796-1820. It was bought at auction for just under £56k by a Chinese collector.

Long-lost paintings make for an exciting find for art experts, and this Diego Rivera oil painting from 1904 was no exception. El Albañil had spent over 80 years being passed through a family and most of its life hanging on the back of a door. After experts were able to authenticate the piece, they estimated its worth at somewhere between $800,000 and $1 million (£644k-£805k). In 2018 the painting was re-evaluated based on its possible status as a national treasure, and as such now has an estimated value of between $1.2 million and $2.2 million (£965k-£1.8m).

A man brought a watch to Antiques Roadshow after it had been handed down through generations of his family since 1914. It was a Patek Philippe piece in its original box, and both the 18-carat gold case and decorative crystals were in immaculate condition. At the time of the watch’s initial appraisal on the show back in 2004, the company was looking to buy back its watches to display them in a museum, and a valuer suggested it would be worth $250,000 (£202k). Since then it has been re-evaluated, and experts estimate that it would actually fetch between $2 million and $3 million (£1.6m-£2.4m) at auction.

There are usually all sorts of gems to be found in the basement if you look hard enough, but it’s rarely the case that they’re worth millions. Michael Rorrer was clearing out his late great-aunt’s home in Virginia, when he came across a stash of 345 comics that had belonged to his late uncle Billy Wright. Wright’s love of comics had been a secret during his life, but he'd hoarded some incredibly rare collectables, including Detective Comics No. 27, the first comic to star Batman (pictured). The stash not only stunned the comic book world, but also fetched an astonishing $3.5 million (£2.7m) at auction.

Secret collections seem to be all the rage when it comes to valuable heirlooms, and when Dr Harold Carr passed away in 2009 his relatives were shocked to see what he’d kept hidden away. A Bugatti Type 57S from 1937 had been part of the doctor’s vintage collection, and although rumour had it that he’d had one of the cars, it was exciting for the family to see the myth come to life. The car had been purchased for £895 back in 1955, the equivalent of £8,000 ($11k) today, but it sold at auction for an incredible £2.9 million ($3.8m).

Moving into a new house often comes with its surprises, but for a Frenchman in 2016 the house that he’d recently inherited from a relative turned out to be quite the treasure trove. Forget the odd spot of mould or crack in the ceiling that you usually come across in an old house – this man kept finding gold that had been stashed away. There were coins, ingots and bars tucked away in the most curious of places, from furniture to bottles of alcohol. Weighing in at around 100kg in total, the collection sold for a tidy €3.5 million ($4m/£3.1m).

Redecorating the walls of their late father’s property, the sons of cartoonist Don Trachte came across artwork concealed behind the woodwork. A number of paintings were hidden away, but one by Trachte’s friend Norman Rockwell was a particularly valuable find. It emerged that the version of Breaking Home Ties that had been displayed in the Norman Rockwell Museum since 2003 was actually a copy, and the original had been sitting behind Trachte’s plaster waiting to be found, allegedly to avoid it being claimed by his ex-wife during a divorce settlement. Both copies are now displayed side by side at the museum, after the original sold for $15 million (£12m) at auction house Sotheby’s.

Van Gogh’s style makes his paintings some of the most recognisable in the world, but after one man purchased a piece in 1908 he was told he’d been conned, and he banished the supposed fake to a life in the attic. Over a century later, and following the original owner’s death, his descendents discovered the painting and decided to have it valued. Not only was the painting a Van Gogh, but it was Sunset at Montmajour – a landscape which had been painted at a similar time to the artist’s most distinctive works, including Sunflowers and The Yellow House. The painting has yet to be sold, but based on the auction figures of pieces similar in size and quality, Sunset at Montmajour is likely worth around $90.6 million (£73.4m).

A vase that was bought in England for a few hundred pounds in the 1980s and sat unloved in a kitchen for years has proved to be quite the lucky investment. The vase, which was passed down to the buyer's son, was spotted in 2022 by an antiques expert who thought it might be an extremely rare 18th century Chinese vase.

It turned out that he knew his stuff; the fabulous 60cm blue-glazed, silver and gilt vase was over 400 years old and had been made for the court of the Qianlong Emperor. Auctioneers initially valued it between $118,200 (£100k) and $177,300 (£150k) but worldwide buyers were keen and the final price paid was almost $1.77 million (£1.5m).

Dust off those well-loved old books from the attic, they might be worth a fortune. Especially if they are first edition Beatrix Potters. One UK Antiques Roadshow guest from 2017 was stunned to find out that the true value of his 'well-thumbed' family heirlooms was $29,500 (£25k) even though the books were a bit battered and some even had missing spines.

It turned out that the collection of Beatrix Potter stories, which had been handed down through the generations, included three signed presentation copies: The Tale of Mr Todd, Appley Dapply’s Nursery Rhymes and The Pie in the Patty Pan. Expert Clive Farahar valued the find, then wasted no time in snapping them up for his collection