Antiques Roadshow: Joanna Hardy admires an Asian jewel
Antiques Roadshow expert Joanna Hardy has been on the BBC show for more than 15 years. With her expertise in jewellery, the 62-year-old values precious and sentimental items that often prove to be worth a lot of money.
The independent fine jewellery specialist has more than 35 years of experience working in the jewellery industry. She managed to get her TV break after she contacted the BBC series to see if they wanted "a jewellery specialist who rides motorbikes".
Joanna Hardy tends to keep her personal life private and rarely discusses her family, but the TV expert once shared how she met her husband while travelling from Sydney to Cape York in Australia.
But what else do we know about the life of the Antiques Roadshow expert? We looked into the early life and career of Joanna Hardy, her big TV break and the quirky way she met her husband.
Joanna Hardy's early life and career
Born in London on November 9, 1961, she attended public school Bedales School and Sir John Cass College.
According to the BBC, Joanna began her career training as a goldsmith at Sir John Cass College and she worked full-time in Hatton Garden as a sales assistant and also worked in a hamburger restaurant at weekends.
Joanna went on to work as a rough diamond grader for De Beers and became a polished diamond dealer in Antwerp. She later joined Philips the Auctioneers in London.
She moved on to Sotheby’s and was their senior jewellery specialist and auctioneer for fourteen years and since 2009 has worked independently.
Joanna lectures and writes articles for publications worldwide and is a published author with her books, 'Collect Contemporary Jewellery', ‘Emerald’, ‘Ruby’, 'Sapphire' and a contributing author to ‘Graff’ and ‘Cartier Panthère.
She curates contemporary jewellery exhibitions and has recently launched her Online Fine Jewellery School. Joanna is a Fellow of the Gemmological Association, Fellow of Royal Society of Arts, a Liveryman and Court Assistant of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.
How did Joanna Hardy get her Antiques Roadshow break?
While working at auctioneers Sotheby's, Joanna Hardy approached the BBC series to see if they wanted "a jewellery specialist who rides motorbikes". It's a quirky pitch that worked.
She told the New York Times: "I started on Roadshow in 2007. I ride Harley-Davidsons and other big motorbikes and sent a picture of me wearing leathers and pearls to the editor and asked if he was interested in a jewellery specialist who rides motorbikes.
Joanna Hardy joined Antiques Roadshow in 2007 and is now a regular expert on the BBC show. As one of the team members on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, Joanna travels the country with her colleagues in search of fascinating jewels with a story that she can expand upon.
She shared earlier this year on social media: "The start of a new series! Number 47 would you believe and my 18th year filming the BBC Antiques Roadshow. The calm before the storm!!
"Today we are at Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery in Ealing, the once country home of Sir John Soane… can’t wait to see what I uncover today".
What is Joanna Hardy's favourite find?
While working on the BBC series in 2016, Joanna was presented a Lawrence Wheaton tourmaline ring. A special episode saw the show's expert host embark on a hunt to find out more about the unusual ring from the 1970s which had no mark from the designer.
The maker was a man named Lawrence Wheaton (born in 1944), trained with the Swedish Royal Court Jewellers. "Which is pretty amazing," confirmed Joanna.
Lawrence has since passed away, but his wife was able to confirm he was the maker and the ring was marked with official stamps to show off its new status.
The value of the ring was said to be worth £6,000 to £8,000.
She told the New York Times: "One of my favourite finds was a Lawrence Wheaton tourmaline ring in 2016. I was able to find out who made it and eventually had the piece hallmarked with his initials.
"Mr. Wheaton was remembered, and the pleasure and pride his family got from seeing the follow-up episode of the ring being hallmarked was very special. A goldsmith’s being remembered and not forgotten is so important.
"Also very moving was an emerald and diamond ring that had been worn by a survivor of the Titanic as she was rescued from the sinking ship."
Who is Antiques Roadshow expert Joanna Hardy married to?
Joanna Hardy is currently married to her Australian husband Craig who is thought to be in his late 50s. They live together with their fox red labrador named Merlot in London.
They have two children Scott, 26, and Chloe, 24.
Joanna previously mentioned they met while she was travelling from Sydney to Cape York in Australia. At the time, Craig was working as a park ranger, and Joanna was part of the Girl Guides, as reported by Action Pack Travel.
She revealed that during the 1990s, she travelled around Australia in a two-wheel drive Chevy truck with three men, one of whom would later become her husband.
The TV expert recalled: "We would tie - ended up being my husband but at the time it was just a mate - and he would be tying red string on the trees because when you would come back on the waterways you'd get completely lost because it would look very different on your return.
"So we would follow our red ribbons on the way back so that we could find our truck." She later opened up about another hair-raising incident involving a storm where she had to raise an alarm for Craig and his friends who were stranded.
"I just thought, oh my goodness, I was stuck on Punsand Bay on my own in this truck. So I drove off to the nearest Aboriginal outpost and raised an alarm that there were three young men in a rubber ducky bobbing about somewhere in the Torres Strait in a storm. So in the morning, they did send out search parties and they did actually find them.
"They managed to just get to the corner of Thursday Island in the mangrove swamps, which was full of crocodiles... They had to keep a fire going to to ward off all the crocodiles.
"On their return to the beach, that's when Craig and I ran towards each other and embraced. Anyway, he's now my husband, so there's that."
