01 March 2024 , 13:22
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Fans of Bargain Hunt have called out antique expert Rajkumar 'Raj' Bisram, who they branded "hopeless".
Raj, 68, suffered a recent hiccup when he convinced two contestants on the popular BBC show that they were buying a genuine Mouseman chopping board for £90. Raj said at the time of purchase that he thought the wooden item might fetch "somewhere between £50 to £70" at auction. He went on to mention that he's got a "thing for breadboards."
But when the seller quoted a "special price" of £130, Raj responded: "There would be no profit on that. It's a nice thing but I would go to £100, but I can't go any lower than that, so we'll come back to it." In the end, they did buy what they hoped was a Mouseman chopping board. But later on, fellow expert Christina Trevanion asked an auctioneer about the object.
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Raj convinced two contestants on the popular BBC show that they were buying a genuine Mouseman chopping board ((Image: BBC ))Christina, 42, described it as being "controversial" to which Raj replied: "This has been on my mind about what I can say about this. The mouse has definitely been stuck on." He continued that if the mouse had been "carved" there wouldn't be any doubts about it being a Mouseman piece. "But if you look at it you can see it doesn't have the quality," he pointed out.
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At the auction hall, there was an initial joy as the contestants made a £10 profit on a wooden spoon. But then disaster struck - they discovered they'd brought a fake Robert Thompson product to the sale. Christina broke the news to the red team: "Now, your little chopping board, the auctioneers have catalogued it as Mouseman style. They have, unfortunately, seen another couple of examples that's just been stuck on, so probably not by Mouseman himself."
Raj admitted: "I have to take some of the blame because I didn't check that it was stuck on I've bought so many Mouseman pieces over the years and I've never needed to check" ((Image: BBC))Raj admitted: "I have to take some of the blame because I didn't check that it was stuck on I've bought so many Mouseman pieces over the years and I've never needed to check." After Raj held his hands up to his mistake, the chopping board went into auction and was bought for £25.
The pair remarked that it was a "spectacular loss" while Raj claimed it "could've been worse". After Raj admitted his blunder, fans of Bargain Hunt took to social media to have their say. One posted on X, formerly Twitter: "Hopeless Raj should have noticed. #BargainHunt." A second commented: "Raj should be sacked #bargainhunt." Another wrote that valuing antiques was Raj's "only job" while a fourth said: "That Raj is a liability #BargainHunt."