Antiques Roadshow viewers were left gobsmacked when a common household item was sold for an astonishing £50,000 at a Newcastle auction.
In a 2017 episode of the BBC show, a mother and daughter presented their bronze water dropper for expert evaluation, and were overjoyed by what Asian art specialist Lee Young had to say, the Express reports.
Lee estimated the item’s worth at around £10,000, but was off by a staggering £40,000 when it eventually went under the hammer. The woman responded: “I can’t believe it. Absolutely fabulous.”
The expert commented: “It’s a rare thing and an exciting item and there would be a lot of interest if it came up for auction. A lot of people would be fighting to own it.”
The trinket, dating back to the Ming dynasty in the first half of the 17th century, was sold after the programme aired, and when Lee caught up with the pair later, he disclosed its fate.
The daughter admitted: “It was very unusual. It took seven-and-a-half minutes to go from £3,800 to £50,000. It turned out to be the most expensive thing ever sold.”
Miller partner said: “It is a really rare object from the golden age of the Ming Dynasty. We were very, very pleased at the price – and they were delighted.”
She then revealed she’d discovered it 30 years ago at an antiques fair, and it had been purchased for a mere £10, as her mum announced they planned to use their money on a winter holiday before sharing it with the rest of the family.
The staggering sale of a water dropper on Antiques Roadshow sparked a flurry of reactions from viewers, astonished by the item’s leap in value from a mere £10 to a whopping £50,000.
One viewer exclaimed: “Blimey, she paid a tenner for that and sold it for 50k,” while another was equally impressed: “Another £50,000 item. Stunning”. A third echoed the sentiment: “Wow, £50,000 for the water dropper.”
Fiona Bruce summed up the excitement: “Well, she was happy, wasn’t she? What a result – from £10 to a price like that. It just goes to show that the greatest things can come in small packages.”
In the same episode, Fiona Bruce also revealed the contents of a 200 year old bottle of wine previously sampled by Andy McConnell in 2016, and the programme delved into the origins of a WWI-era chocolate shaped like a nurse.
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