Antiques Roadshow guest begs 'don't tell my wife' after receiving huge valuation
An Antiques Roadshow guest was so stunned by the valuation of their print that they begged "don't tell my wife".
The BBC show returned on Sunday night as members of the public headed to Pollok Park in Glasgow to find out the true value of their prized possessions. One man took along a selection of book pages from the 15th century as expert Matthew Haley was on hand to offer his verdict.
He called the item "absolute gold dust" and informed the guest it was some of the "oldest ever print" to be featured on the show. The guest shared how his wife purchased the items thanks to his history of working in the printing industry. Matthew said: "There's a piece of paper here that was printed in 1470, 550 years ago."
The expert revealed one page had been printed by William Caxton, the first person to print in the United Kingdom in 1482. Giving the all important valuation, Matthew revealed: "Just one leaf from this book printed by William Caxton - just one leaf on its own at auction would make something like £600-1000.
Expert Matthew stunned the guest with his huge valuation (BBC)"I think if you added it all together, the individual values of these leaves, you'd be looking at something between £5K and £10K." The stunned guest quipped: "Don't tell the wife." Another Antiques Roadshow guest was left stunned by their valuation of a collection of drawings that she had thought was "just like an old book".
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The book had the title Drawings by the De Alwis family and also referenced the location Ceylon. Sharing his thoughts, expert Matthew stated: "This is one of the biggest and most spectacular books I've seen on the Antiques Roadshow. Ceylon is what we called Sri Lanka in the past. It was a British territory from about 1850 into the middle of the 20th century. [This book from there is] filled with these absolutely beautiful watercolours."
The guest shared: "She [her aunt] was given this as a book just to draw in, as a toy sort of, and there are some drawings and writing from her as a child. [...] When she passed it away, it was inherited by us." Matthew gushed: "It covers plant life from Sri Lanka, trees, nuts and fruits. Absolutely stunning flowers. Some of the illustrations actually fold out. [...] and then it goes on to cover insects. And there are some incredibly charming ones [...] So it's a whole natural history of the island. Really just a very, very beautiful thing, the like of which we very rarely see."
Asked her thoughts about its value, the guest shared: "It was valued once before at £5,000 but that was quite a long time ago." Matthew said he wasn't surprised and then offered his own updated valuation for the book of art. He said: "That doesn't surprise me for a moment. These sorts of watercolours of this quality and this condition are really, really sought after. Nowadays, I would expect it to make something closer towards £10,000."
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