Antiques Roadshow crackdown as two items have value slashed after ‘clumsy’ blunders
THE latest episode of Antiques Roadshow saw two items have their valuations slashed due to ‘clumsy’ blunders.
The episode in question was filmed at Wollaton Hall and saw members of the public bring in a whole range of items for the show’s experts to inspect.
Lars Tharp was presented with a large Oriental bowl covered in hundreds of faces on the outside and large dragons on the inside.
The pair admitted they didn’t know a lot about it apart from the fact it originally belonged to the man’s great grandmother’s, and there used to be two but one was smashed.
Lars was impressed by how all the faces had “completely different expressions” but when he turned it over to look at the bottom he was sad to see a star-shaped crack in it.
He admitted: “It does have an affect on the value, that’s the thing to bear in mind. Otherwise it is spectacularly good.”
When it came to the valuation, he said: “It would probably appeal at the rate of £3-5,000.”
The guests could only wonder how much it would have been worth if it hadn’t been cracked and if indeed, they’d had the original pair still intact.
They weren’t the only ones to see the item lose some value, as another duo brought in a pair drop earrings and a ring.
The male guest revealed they had been given to his mother by a friend and he wondered if they were French in origin.
Antiques Roadshow expert John Benjamin looked closer at the art deco items, and said: “Someone who owned these at some time in their history, has taken them into a jeweller and said ‘I’m not sure I like the fittings’.
“So what they’ve done is they’ve removed the original fittings from the back and they’ve soldered on the long gold posts with nine carat gold screw fittings at the end.”
He then added: “Here’s the bad news, those drops today, if they were having the original fittings on them, I think would be worth between £4-5,000.
“But because the fittings have been changed, I think I’ll drop that price to £2,500-3,000 simply because of a clumsy conversion.”
He then valued the ring at around £1,500.
Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays at 8pm on BBC One.