Best finds from the Antiques Roadshow

The reassuring, familiar nature of the Antiques Roadshow has been compared to the feeling of a hot bath. From the beginning in 1977, the show dived through the property of others, with guests telling us stories about the current owners, former owners and much more. Usually the item may be worth a few hundred or a few thousand pounds, but rarely – and the most exciting – a real gem discovered.

The Halt in the Desert – a painting by Richard Dadd

In 1987 a couple from Barnstaple, North Devon, came to a show with a painting. Without knowing it, the painting was in fact The Holt in the Desert by Richard Dadd – a national treasure that had been missing for more than 100 years. After authentication, the painting was valued at £ 100,000.

In the watercolor a camping party is seen on the coast of the Dead Sea with Dadd herself on the far right. The scene was revealed by papa of a psychiatric institution when, after returning home from the expedition to Greece, Turkey, Palestine and Egypt, he had killed his own father by order of the Egyptian god Osiris [*].

Cobwebs – by William Burges

A guest brought a small brown bottle that his father had collected in 1950 for the Antiques Roadshow in Skegness. The expert was pleased to reveal that the bottle was in fact an original copy of William Burges – the famous Victorian designer – who had lost most of the 20th century. The bottle was engraved with a cobweb design of silver, enamel, moonstone and pearl and was valued at £ 20,000 – £ 30,000.

Silver drinking vessels Collection

After a young man from Crawley brought a collection of silver drinking vessels and brought them to the Antiques Roadshow for research. In an amazing discovery, every piece that emerged seemed more valuable than the previous one. The trek was estimated at a remarkable £ 100,000, and later sold at an auction for £ 78,000, for which serious antique insurance coverage was required.

Faberge Brooch

A lady with a love for jewelry brought a bombshell brooch with him for expert Geoffrey Munn in Chatsworth House. The guest had bought the bag at the auction for only £ 30, and was shocked when the expert pulled each of the brooches and valued them successively for £ 125 – £ 150. That was until he saw the real jewel – a real pink Faberge. brooch – worth £ 10,000.

Lalique vase

Possibly one of the most canniest purchases that appeared on the Antiques Roadshow was this work from 1929 by the famous designer Rene Lalique who later visited an auction sold for £ 32,450. The owner had bought it for a suitcase sale in the south of Scotland for only £ 1.