The host of the BBC show, Richard Osman has recently uncovered some intriguing behind-the-scenes facts about Antiques Roadshow, hinting that some headline-grabbing items featured on the programme aren’t quite stumbled upon by chance.
Osman disclosed that while producers may not know the precise value upfront, they do conduct prior research into certain expensive objects that appear on the show, reports the Express.
Speaking on his podcast The Rest is Entertainment, he shared: “Do people get invited along? Occasionally that does happen. Some of the biggest ever finds on Antiques Roadshow have been ones that they sort of knew were going to happen.
“Gateshead Council had the six foot version of the Angel of the North, and when they were up there a guy obviously didn’t just turn up with this six foot Angel of the North and bring it along.”
He added: “There would have been chats with the production, saying ‘We’ve got this Angel of the North, it’s never been valued’. That was worth over £1million, which was more than they paid for the actual whole Angel of the North in the first place.
“There was an Army regiment who had a Faberge flower which they knew was very valuable. So they said to Antiques Roadshow, ‘Should we take it along, we don’t know how valuable it is’, and that was over £1million as well. You’re not just gonna turn up with it in a bag.”
“If you’re in a particular area, the researchers will go up and have a look if there’s one big interesting story they can look at. The massive bulk of Antiques Roadshow is people seeing in the paper it’s in their area and bringing things along.”
But what was the most valuable find off the cuff?
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Richard had the answer, revealing: “The most expensive item I could find that was actually somebody who had just bought something in a shop and a researcher had looked at it and gone, ‘I think this is quite interesting’ and it had gone up to the producer and the expert, was someone who for £400 had bought a painting in a thrift shop, and it was a £400,000 Van Dyck.
“That was somebody literally turning up with a painting under their arm and suddenly they’re £400,000 richer.”