i'm jamie colby. thanks for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. >> a gold ring... >> it might have been an engagement ring. >> from the great jane austen? >> i expected it to be a fairly flimsy story. >> a story of romance, mystery, and money. >> money was critical. i mean, it was about survival. >> but from a british icon to an american idol... >> i probably could have snuck it out of the country. but i would've been, like, banned. >> inheriting a national treasure can get rather complicated. >> did england know that the ring existed? >> no. >> wow. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

>> i'm jamie colby in oxfordshire, england. and i feel like i'm driving right into a scene from a 19th-century romantic novel, which, in a way, i am. i'm on my way to meet a descendant of the great writer, jane austen. austen left a strange inheritance worthy of a quintessentially british uproar two centuries later. >> my name is nicky gottelier. i inherited a ring that once belonged to jane austen, my great- great-great-great-great aunt. >> hello. i'm jamie. >> hello. i'm nicky. >> my first question for nicky -- how did she get the ring? >> i shall tell you. come with me. >> she invites me in and explains her family lineage. >> jane was one of eight children. and her eldest brother, james, was my forebear.

so it came down through my grandmother, my father, and then me. >> did everybody know about your family's connection to jane? >> in those days, you didn't really brag about the fact that i was a five-times great niece of jane's. >> nor would it be proper to brag or even mention that the family is the keeper of this ring made of turquoise and gold. they believe it was worn by aunt jane. if so, it's one of the few possessions still around that once belonged to one of history's most beloved novelists. >> she wrote there? >> she did. >> mary guyatt is the curator of the jane austen's house museum. this must be the holy grail when people come to visit. >> it is. many a visitor have a little cry here. >> i really can't believe the size. it's not much bigger than a dinner plate. jane's born in 1775. she starts penning poems

and stories when she's 14. >> mary, what's here? >> it's a red riding jacket. and it's said that the austen children used to dress up in this. they used to act together and write stories. >> by the time she's 23, she's written the first drafts of three novels, "northanger abbey," "sense and sensibility," and "pride and prejudice." but it's not until she's 35 when, with the help of her brother, henry, she finally sees one in print. even then, "sense and sensibility" is published anonymously. why did jane publish without using her name? >> at the time, novels had a bit of a dubious reputation. and for a women to be writing a novel was not necessarily the thing to be seen to be doing. >> nevertheless, jane's career is off and running. she goes on to publish, again anonymously, "pride and prejudice," "mansfield park" and "emma,"

all of which use biting wit to show how polite society worked at the turn of the 19th century. >> she was writing from a woman's perspective about subjects that still affect us -- love, marriage, money. >> she's pretty blunt about what she thinks women should do, like finding wealthy husbands. >> money was critical. i mean, then it was about survival. finding a husband with a significant income was part of the job of the family. >> but jane herself never marries and never gets wealthy from the books that tens of millions of people will read over the next 200 years. when she dies of a mysterious illness in july 1817, at the age of 41, she doesn't leave behind many worldly possessions, which is why nicky gottelier's strange inheritance is so intriguing.

>> it's just a very plain ring set in gold. we don't know where jane got it from. >> what do you think the story is behind it? >> it's thought that it might have been an engagement ring. >> say what? coming up... did she have a lover? >> but, first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question... the answer when we return. copd makes it hard to breathe. so to breathe better, i go with anoro. ♪go your own way copd tries to say, "go this way." i say, "i'll go my own way" with anoro. ♪go your own way once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators, that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night.

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go to lendingtree right now and start saving. >> so, which teen actor rose to stardom after appearing in a 1995 jane austen adaptation? it's "a." alicia silverstone hit it big in the movie "clueless," a revamp of austen's novel, "emma." >> when jane austen dies in 1817, the world does not yet know she's the anonymous author of "sense and sensibility," "pride and prejudice," and "emma." unmarried and of modest means, she leaves her sister, cassandra, a very small number of cherished belongings, including, apparently, this curious ring of gold and turquoise. >> it happened to be her birthstone. it's also mine. that was it. >> the ring is passed through

the female descendants of jane austen's family and winds up in the hands of nicky gottelier's grandmother, winifred. what was your grandmother like? >> a terrifying woman. i have to say that i didn't like her terribly. she would never have talked about the ring. i didn't actually see it until i was 15. >> grandmother winifred keeps her treasure hidden away until she dies in 1973. nicky and her sister, sarah, rarely see it until their father, robert, passes away in 1981. did dad leave specific instructions in a will of who gets what and how it should be divided? >> no. i think he knew that we would do it in a fairly honorable way. >> the sisters decide that nicky should get the ring while sarah gets this portrait of aunt jane painted 50 years after her death. >> were each of you satisfied with your decision?

>> i think so, yes. >> nicky, now 36 and married with two young sons, socks her ring away in a drawer, much as her grandmother and the generations before her did. >> to all intents and purposes, for a long time, it was pretty well forgotten about. >> but it's jane austen's. >> i know. but you can't have it out. we had two small boys. lots of people come into the house. anything could have happened to it. >> did england know that the ring existed? >> no. >> wow. >> nobody. >> with the passage of time, the story behind the ring is lost to history. nicky speculates it could be an engagement ring, which would be really something, since the great writer of english romance novels, whose characters extol marriage as indispensable to a woman's happiness, never herself walked down the aisle. but how close did she come? i ask mary guyatt at the jane austen's house museum.

did she have a lover? >> well, who knows? there's, of course, tom lefroy, who was a young irishman, who she met at the age of 20. >> after jane meets tom, a middle-class law student, she write her sister, cassandra, to say, "i rather expect to receive an offer from my friend in the course of the evening." weeks pass. the proposal never comes. >> he wasn't well-off. and nor was she. and that combination was doomed. >> by her parents, do you believe? >> by the older generation. a young couple could not marry unless one of them had some wealth. >> jane never sees tom again. six years later, at the age of 26, she receives a marriage proposal from a wealthy family friend named harris bigg-wither. does harris give her this ring? impossible to say. all we know is that jane accepts.

but, overnight, the match fizzles. why do you think she called off that engagement? >> i think she just got cold feet. perhaps she wanted to keep writing and knew that marriage would mean children and a different kind of life. >> when she dies 14 years later, four people attend her funeral. only after her brother, henry, reveals her true identity does all of england come to love jane austen. >> there weren't that many women who wrote books at that time. and she wrote so well about the times. it was just a very accurate description of what happened and how things were done. >> such is the stuff of timeless classics, the books that become required reading in high school and college. but jane's not just homework. generations upon generations of students love to read her and, eventually, watch her. by the 1990s, there are movies,

more movies and even some career-changing roles. >> you must allow me to tell you how ardently i admire and love you. in declaring myself thus, i am fully aware that i will be going expressly against the wishes of my family, my friends and, i hardly need add, my own better judgment. >> actors like colin firth as darcy and gwyneth paltrow as emma inspire a third century of austen fans, including these so-called janeites, decked out in regency dress for an annual 10-day jane austen festival in bath, england. >> ladies, tea? twenty-year-old sophie andrews and 24-year-old laurie valet-deleyre... >> so, hey, thank you for having us. >> yeah. thank you for having us. >> ...are really enthusiastic about their heroine and her relevance in the 21st century. what is it about jane austen that has you being jane austen? >> her novels still endure

200 years later. the characters, they're all still totally relatable. >> we all are looking for our mr. darcy, aren't we? >> oh, yes. >> but hanging out with janeites is not the way to find a man these days. >> no. if there are any men at the festival, they're either gay, or they have been dragged there by their girlfriend or wife. so, we have no chance. >> we should go to bars more. >> yeah. >> we do too old-fashioned... >> like this? >> no. >> maybe not. >> no, maybe not like this. >> these ladies, and goodness knows how many others, would covet anything jane austen touched. but a ring, maybe even an engagement ring, can you imagine? which brings us back around to our heir, nicky gottelier's, strange inheritance and her sudden and momentous decision to sell it. >> my first instinct when it's jane austen -- i'll let this person down gently. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you...

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>> so, which writer said jane austen was her favorite author? it's j.k. rowling, who said she finds austen's books unput-down-able. >> for 30 years, nicky gottelier has barely thought about her strange inheritance, a gold-and-turquoise ring that, according to family tradition, belonged to her ancestor, the world-renowned novelist, jane austen. but when nicky hits her 60s, she needs to figure out what to do with the heirloom that's been in her family for some 200 years.

>> i have two sons, neither of whom were interested. and it was mine. i could do with it what i wanted. >> including sell it. was there ever a plan to sell it before? >> no, never. i thought, "there's no point in hanging onto it forever." now, she is really big all over the world. i thought, "let's see what happens." >> nicky and her husband, david, first connect the jane austen's house museum. but it has little to spend. so they try the literature expert at sotheby's auction house in london, gabriel heaton. >> my first reaction was to kind of prepare myself to disappoint someone. and so you kind of, like, put your hand over the phone, so to speak and went, "pfft." >> well, i expected it to be a fairly flimsy story. >> he thought he had a couple of nutters on the phone. >> until nicky's husband explains the family lineage.

>> it was when he said, "oh, no, no, we're descended from the austens" that i really got very interested. >> heaton promptly sets up a meeting. >> we got there and produced this tiny, little ring in its tiny, little box. >> and that's not all. nicky also produces this handwritten note dated 1863 from the widow of jane's brother, henry. "my dear carolyn, the enclosed ring once belonged to your aunt jane." >> yeah. >> how exciting. "it was given to me by your aunt cassandra as soon as she knew that i was engaged to your uncle. i bequeath it to you. god bless you. november 1863." >> yeah. >> was that it? >> yeah, that was -- for me, that was it. that was tremendously exciting. most of her belongings went, of course, to her favorite sister, cassandra. then, here, you see cassandra giving this ring to eleanor when she marries jane's

favorite brother, henry. >> did the letter, on its face, read authentic? >> it did look authentic. but the main thing that we did was to compare the handwriting. it was undoubtedly the same. >> he was amazed that it was something that was real. >> the idea that you're handling something that's one of the greatest writers of the english language kept on her finger, it's a special feeling. >> heaton gives the ring an estimated price of £30,000, or roughly $45,000, and sets the auction for july 2012 in london. >> we knew that there was interest. quite where that would go, we didn't know. >> with nicky sitting quietly in the audience, bidding starts at £15,000. and then what every auctioneer hopes for most happens, a bidding war, £30,000, 40, 45. >> i felt that it would probably go for about £50,000. >> but there's an anonymous

bidder on the phone who is determined to get that ring. >> very, very quickly, it climbs up. >> £85,000, 90, 95. >> it just went up and up. at nearly £100,000, i began to feel a bit sick. >> £115,000, 120,000. that's over $200,000. who is this mystery bidder? >> and the hammer comes down at £126,000. >> okay. >> and you're thinking... >> i'm thinking, "goodness." >> with buyer's fees, that amounts to about $236,000. >> we got up and left. and we walked down bond street and had a bottle of champagne, which i paid for. >> miss bennet. >> i did not expect to see you. >> but like any good austen story, this one can't end without a twist.

>> the powers that be refused to let it out of the country. >> for it turns out the winning bidder is from america, a huge jane austen fan and an idol in her own right. that's next. what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. [vo] the grille is distinctive. but it's usually seen from the rear. the 2018 audi q5 is here.

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>> now, back to "strange inheritance." >> nicky gottelier has just auctioned off a ring that belonged to her ancestor, novelist jane austen, for $236,000. >> it went for an absolutely phenomenal amount of money. >> it's revealed the buyer is american pop singer kelly clarkson. turns out she's a janeite. >> i just loved how her characters were so strong and so confident and almost had the mentality sometimes that a man would portray

in that time. >> there's just one little hitch. before clarkson's allowed to get her purchase home to nashville, the british government steps in and declares the austen ring a national treasure. >> she's so important to the idea of britishness. >> philippa glanville sits on a committee that makes the call. >> it's extraordinary how little trace she's left except in our imaginations. >> i totally agree. it is a national treasure for y'all. but i kind of felt like they'd maybe should have claimed that before i bought it. but... >> did you think it was a national treasure? >> it never crossed my mind. >> what now? the u.k. minister of culture gives a deadline of five months for a british buyer to come forward and save the ring for england. and the british savior must match the price kelly clarkson paid for it. >> that gave the museum, suddenly, an opportunity to have a second chance. >> mary guyatt and the jane austen museum launch

a campaign to raise the money to buy the ring from the american pop star. within six weeks, they succeed. >> i was surprised at how fast things moved. >> once it becomes clear that kelly clarkson will never get to have the ring, her own mr. darcy reproduces it for her. >> my husband actually surprised me at christmas that same year. he embellished it with diamonds because he doesn't do anything without diamonds. and i bawled when he gave it to me. >> nicky's strange inheritance is finally unveiled on valentine's day 2014 at the jane austen's house museum. today, you can buy your own replica of the ring for $550. the janeites i met say that's a bargain. >> i wear it every day. i like having it as a reminder of jane, really. i feel like she's always with me then. >> as for nicky gottelier,

whose family safeguarded the ring for 200 years... are you happy with where the ring is now? >> oh, i think so. yes. in the end, poor kelly had to part with it. i would much rather she'd kept it because she was such a fan. but it did finish up at the jane austen museum in chawton, which is actually where i would have liked it to have gone in the first place. >> so esteemed is jane austen in great britain that, in 2013, it was announced that her face would appear on the country's 10-pound note. the image printed on the bill, the original one depicted on nicky and her sister's other family heirloom, that portrait of austen commissioned in 1869, half a century after her death. that little painting may not be deemed a national treasure as nicky's ring was. but it's good enough for the bank of england. i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching

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