We bought an old trunk for £25 from a junk shop – we used it as a toolbox but had no idea it was worth a fortune
AN Antiques Roadshow guest was left stunned after learning the actual valuation of their old £25 junk shop item.
Antiques expert Hilary Kay revealed that the trunk given to the man by his mother-in-law could be worth a fair amount.
On Sunday evening’s episode of Antiques Roadshow, a guest handed in an old designer suitcase he found at his wife’s mother’s house, which she had purchased for £25 at a junk shop in the 80s.
Seeking to find out how much it was worth, the man came on the BBC show and was enlightened by Hilary about the hidden treasure.
He was shocked to discover that the £25 trunk was actually a vintage piece of Louis Vuitton luggage estimated at five to seven thousand pounds.
The man explained: “I came by this by chance! I went down to see my mother-in-law to help her do some DIY, and I asked her where her tools were, and she said they were in a shed in a box.
“I walked into her shed, saw this, opened it, found all the tools, went back, did the DIY and said: ‘By the way, I think you’ve got something quite special in the shed!’
“And so she said: ‘Well, if you want it, you can have it but never sell it!'”
Hilary studied the Louis Vuitton luggage and gave the guest all the essential details he needed to know about it, including that it was from just before 1896.
After the host revealed that with the right buyer, it could go for anything between £5,000 to £7,500, the guest exclaimed: “Wow!”
When asked what he planned to do with the item, the guest expressed: “I have two daughters here with me who made me bring it today…
“I think they’ve got their eyes on it! How they’ll split it? I don’t know!”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC iPlayer and continues on Sunday at 8pm on BBC1.