Antiques Roadshow is a popular show on the BBC, but back in the 1970s it had a different name
A vase dismissed by a BBC antiques expert ended up selling for an astonishing £53million after being stored in an attic for 40 years.
In the 1970s, the BBC introduced its antiques game show Going for a Song, which is considered to be a predecessor to Antiques Roadshow. A group of customers and experts scrutinised a collection of antiques to verify their authenticity and estimate their worth.
When a working-class British couple presented their vase on the show for evaluation, the curator concluded that the 16-inch tall porcelain ornament was a “very clever reproduction” but not the genuine article. The intricate Chinese vase was a family heirloom, so they stowed it away in their dusty attic for 40 years.
After the couple’s death, their relatives stumbled upon the vase while clearing out their house.
The vase was “sitting on the bookcase doing absolutely nothing” and Bainbridges Auction House manager David Reay instantly recognised it as something extraordinary, reports the Express.
The vase was stored in a dusty attic for 40 years (
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(Image: Bainbridges Auction House))
He recounted in 2010: “They told me it had been valued at just £800 two months earlier. They also told me the owner had taken it on Going for a Song on the BBC about 40 years ago. He was told it was a very clever reproduction.”
The vase was transported to the Arts Club of London, where additional experts inspected it. The vase was crafted around 1740 for the fifth emperor of the Qing dynasty in China.
It had been handed down through the family by a relative who travelled abroad.
The item had likely been plundered from a Peking imperial palace by British and French soldiers during the Second Opium War when British troops were allowed to loot Emperor Xianfeng’s Summer Palace of Gold before setting it ablaze.
Estimated at around £1million, the bidding soon kicked off, and the price eventually soared to £43million. With commission and VAT, the final price was a staggering £53,105,000.
Fiona Bruce Antiques Roadshow (
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(Image: BBC))Auctioneer Peter Bainbridge remarked: “There was a silence that wrapped itself around the sale as the figure grew slowly but surely up to the sky. I’m an auctioneer, so at that point, I’m just doing the professional job I’m paid to do.
“But once the hammer’s down, you do take stock slightly and think, ‘Oh, wow, that’s really rather a lot of money’.
The owners were so shocked they had to run out of the room to collect their thoughts, while Peter pocketed around £10million as commission for the sale.
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
