Roadshows

One item taken onto the BBC show was valued at ‘well over a million pounds’

Antiques Roadshow regularly wows viewers as hopeful guests discover whether they are sitting on fortunes.

Over the years the BBC favourite has served up plenty of big surprises, from disappointments as people are told that heirlooms they thought might be valuable are higher in sentimental value than pounds, to delight as people discover that knick-knacks from their attics could be worth thousands.

For a lucky few, their visit to the long-running programme proves to be potentially life-changing, with some items reaching the one million pound mark.

In 2008 a maquette of the Angel of the North by Antony Gormley was taken on the show, which is hosted by Fiona Bruce. It ended up being valued at £1 million, becoming the first ever item in Antiques Roadshow’s history to be valued that high.

Then in 2018 another treasure reached the same lofty seven-figure height, when a Faberge flower taken on to the programme was also priced at £1 million.

However, the highest-valued item ever on the show was actually worth even more than a million pounds.

What is the highest-valued item ever on the Antiques Roadshow?

In an episode in 2016, silver expert Alastair Dickenson was asked to appraise an actual FA Cup.

The huge silver trophy was taken onto the television show by presenter Gabby Logan and Leeds United’s former manager and 1972 FA Cup winner Eddie Gray.

It turned out that cup had been made in 1911, although Dickenson felt the fact that it was engraved with a pattern of grapes and vines suggested it might “have been used as a wine cooler or a champagne cooler”.

“I’m sure it’s had plenty of champagne inside over the years,” Gabby agreed, as the TV star laughed: “More than you and I could possibly think of, I think!”

After Dickenson outlined the cup’s history and how it was likely to have been made in Yorkshire, Gabby asked him: “Is it possible to put a value on something like that, with all that history that you’ve just described?”

The expert replied: “This is probably, along with maybe the Wimbledon Trophy, the most famous cup in the country.

“So, I think, quite comfortably, this has got to be worth well over a million pounds.”

“The highest value piece of silver I have ever valued on the Antiques Roadshow,” he added, as Gabby exclaimed: “Wow!”

Antiques Roadshow airs on BBC One at 8pm on Sunday October 12.

Antiques Roadshow expert Will Farmer was left stunned by one guest’s knowledge of his two chairs

Antiques Roadshow expert Will Farmer was left gobsmacked by a guest’s knowledge about his two chairs, leading him to jokingly walk away in awe.

During a repeat episode of the BBC series, the expert started off by saying: “Well, here we are before a bold and striking architectural building, and we’ve got two bold and striking architectural chairs.

“I’ve got to ask the question, are we cut from the same cloth? Are you a bit of a design nut?”

“I think I am, yeah,” the guest responded, adding, “I love the fact that chairs have a fairly simple function. They just have to hold up someone’s weight, but the different materials and different designs they can be made of are just fantastic.”

Will then shared the backstory of who made the chairs, saying, “And what we’ve got here are two amazing examples, but by one designer, that designer is the great Verner Panton, and Verner Panton, for people who’ve not heard of him, is a Danish architect and designer,” reports the Express.

“When we look at his catalog of designs, the one nearest to you is considered an icon of 20th-century design. This chair is featured in collections and museums all over the world. This is strictly called the Panton chair, known as the S-Chair.

“And it’s so clever because it was a single moulded piece. It took him 10 years to actually get to a production-ready design. It didn’t get shown until 1967 in Geneva.”

However, Will went on to highlight a “problem” with the earlier designs of the chair as the guest revealed: “They snapped.”

The BBC expert added, “I’m a fairly sturdy chap, I’m not going to plonk myself on that, and actually, they enhanced the design by inserting strengthening supports under the back. This chair woke the world up.”

Shifting his focus to the second chair, Will explained they were created for IKEA. He revealed: “This is where they became really clever. They actually employed a number of key designers.”

Will soon turned his attention to the chairs’ value, but before revealing their value, he asked, “So come on, you know your stuff. You tell me which is the rarest.”

Gesturing to one chair, the guest responded: “I think that one is because I think IKEA didn’t sell very many of them.”

Will concurred: “I think it didn’t sell well, so they didn’t make many more. It’s believed around 4,000 were made. So, throwing the ball back at you again, what are they worth?”

The guest didn’t hesitate as he estimated one chair was worth £500 and the other between £800 and £1,000. However, Will was stunned as he joked, “I’m done” before pretending to walk away from the guest.

“You take the table. It has been really nice meeting you,” he said before promptly returning to the guest. He grinned: “You are spot on!”

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.