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| | BBC One’s popular Sunday evening programme Antique's Roadshow is now in its 26th year and there have been some surprises along the way.
Identifying previously unrecognised or undervalued treasures is the programme’s stock in trade and we've dug up a few of the fairytale stories from previous Roadshows...
One of the surprises of the 23rd series was a small pottery turks head which turned up in Birmingham. Expert John Sandon was over the moon to see such rare 17th century English delftware and it eventually sold for over £50,000. The owner was flabbergasted that her ‘aunt dot’s pot’ which had sat on the mantelpiece for years should be such a valuable treasure.
At Houghton Hall Geoffrey Munn came across a rare Anglo-Saxon ring which was found among some hedge clippings and described it as "the most exciting thing" he’s ever found on the Roadshow. It was worth £10,000.
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The owner of a blue and white bowl (pictured holding the bowl) thought it was a "rather fancy soap dish" when she bought it in a junk shop for 25p. But at Caernarfon she discovered it was an 18th century English delft ware ‘bleeding bowl’. She was speechless when told it was worth £5000 - £6000.
In Walsall a gentleman brought along a large, but incomplete, book of aquatint engravings illustrating different amaryllis. They had been found on a skip many years before and although the owner had considered dividing and mounting them for display, their size - 27" by 21" had meant that they had actually been left hidden in a drawer.
Paintings expert Clive Stewart-Lockhart identified them as the work of Mrs E Bury of Liverpool, a known botanical artist from the 1830s, and valued them at £8,000 - £10,000. "I thought together they’d be worth about £200," said the surprised owner. "Perhaps I’d better take another look at the stuff that came from that skip!"
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At Lyme Regis a lady brought along a little red beaker, bought at a car boot sale for just 20p in an appallingly grubby condition. Bunny Campione (pictured right), ‘miscellaneous’ expert, was able to tell her that it was a Fabergé vodka cup and worth £2,000. "Have the cameras stopped rolling? I want to swear!" she exclaimed.
At the Chatsworth House Roadshow a Derbyshire lady produced a ‘job-lot’ bag of brooches she had bought for £30, amongst which expert Geoffrey Munn spied a little pink heart with a diamond. It was a genuine Fabergé piece and worth at least £10,000. "It’s wonderful to see a genuine collector rewarded in this way," he said. The owner was quite speechless.
A painting of cats, bought at a car boot sale for 50p, was brought along by a lady in Inverness. Her sister had asked her to take it for her, just as an ‘afterthought’, not suspecting that it was at all valuable. Peter Nahum identified it was the work of 18th century Belgian artist Henrietta Ronner, the ‘queen of cat painters’, and valued it at a minimum of £15,000. It was later auctioned for £22,000.
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A little brown bottle decorated with a silver, enamel, pearl and moonstone spider and web was brought to the Roadshow in Skegness. "It was the last thing we expected to see in Skegness!" said expert David Battie.
Designed and created by William Burges in 1868, it had been considered lost for most of this century, although photographs of it exist in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The owner had not recognised the importance of the piece at all, and had no idea of its value - between £20,000 and £30,000.
In 1975 a Scottish lady bought a mirror in a gilt frame for £25, but soon discovered that the mirror was bevelled. She put it away in the attic until finally, deciding to save the frame, she removed the mirror. Underneath was a painting of flowers that, at the Perth Roadshow, Clive Stewart-Lockhart identified as the work of Patrick William Adam, worth £6,000 - £8,000.
At a London Roadshow a lady brought in a painting that she had inherited from her mother. She had first fallen in love with it at the age of nine when it hung in the servants’ quarters of a house where her mother was the cook-housekeeper. When the elderly owner died, her mother was asked to choose a momento and she took this large painting of a rural scene, believing it to be valueless because of where it had been hanging. On the Roadshow it was identified as a genuine Alice Havers, and conservatively valued at £20,000. It was later auctioned for £45,000.
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In Crawley a young man brought along a selection of silver drinking vessels, left to the family by his recently deceased father. The collection caused a sensation, each piece that emerged seemingly more valuable than the last, and acquiring a final valuation of £100,000. Later, just a part of the collection was sold at auction for £78,000. The family had no idea of its value.
In Sussex 3 very large painted glass panels depicting a sea view were brought to the Roadshow. They had been bought for the price of a drink from the owner of a fish and chip shop, who was in the process of decorating and had decided the only thing to do with such large panels was to smash them up. Miscellaneous expert Barbara Morris, identified them as 1930s, of local manufacture, and valued them at £5,000.
Another gentleman in Sussex was doing some work for an elderly neighbour and discovered in her garage a cabinet, all in pieces, and suffering in the damp. The lady gave it to him and he reconstructed it into an astonishing hand-carved safe with 20 secret drawers. John Bly helped date it from 1869 and put a value on it of £6,000 - £7,000.
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An episode from Morpeth in Northumberland showed the value of old toys! Jon Baddeley brought in his small and battered Mickey Mouse with a barrel organ with Minnie Mouse dancing on the top. The owner was given the tin-plate toy as a child, about 65 years ago, and was amazed when the toy was valued between 6,000-10,000.
At Waddesdon Manor a lady arrived with an old vase that her mother had retrieved from a friend’s garage 30 years previously. In that time she had kept it either in her fireplace with a potted plant, or on her patio in all weathers. Lars Tharp was able to tell the daughter that it was a genuine Ming, a wine holder from 1540 - 50 and worth between £7,000 and £10,000.
What the experts say...
Expert Paul Atterbury has a particular interest in 20th century furniture and decorative arts. He describes the role of the Roadshow expert as:
"Part doctor, part priest. It’s our job to send people away feeling glad they’ve come to the Roadshow, even if their object is quite worthless in commercial terms. The item usually has some personal, sentimental value, and it really is a privilege to be allowed to view it."
Porcelain expert Henry Sandon points out, the show is not really about money:
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"The nicest thing about appearing on the Roadshow is meeting such lovely people and being allowed to handle their precious pots.
"They’re not all works of art and antiques, but it is pure fun and joy."
The show's producer Christopher Lewis has the last word:
"Stories like these go to show that there are still undiscovered treasures out there. We like to think that the Roadshow alerts people to just what they might have lying around the house.
"But it would be a mistake to think that the show is all about money. Some of the most memorable moments come from the stories associated with the items and the owners."
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