For more than four decades, Antiques Roadshow has been a national institution, drawing some six million viewers each Sunday evening. Now, for the first time in its history, the programme is inviting viewers to submit items in advance for valuation, bypassing the legendary queues. Whether it is an attic discovery or a car boot bargain, you could be the next owner of a hidden fortune.
Among the most significant items ever valued was a Fabergé sculpture of a pear blossom, brought to the Black Country Living Museum in 2017. Crafted from gold, jade, diamonds and silver and set in a carved rock crystal base, jewellery expert Geoffrey Munn described it as a 'towering masterpiece' and gave it a record-breaking valuation.
A prototype fretless guitar once owned by John Lennon and George Harrison was brought to a Roadshow at Battle Abbey in 2019. Former session musician and owner of the guitar provided a demonstration after being given the instrument for playing it better than Harrison himself. Expert Jon Baddeley confirmed its provenance with a photograph showing the guitar among Harrison's collection, exclaiming: 'Wow, you can't do better than that.'
An original stormtrooper helmet from the first Star Wars movie amazed presenter Fiona Bruce at a Roadshow in Chenies Manor in 2014. The owner had travelled the globe tracking down Star Wars memorabilia, and despite being a 'bit of plastic', the helmet received an out-of-this-world valuation. Another remarkable find was a ring containing a lock of Charlotte Brontë’s hair, hidden in a box in an attic and brought to Erdigg in Wales in 2018. Expert Geoffrey Munn admired the ring, which unlocked to reveal an inscription 'C Bronte 1855', possibly a relic of the great novelist.
Other treasures include a set of early 18th-century dolls with their original dolls house, valued as being of 'national importance' by Fergus Gambon at a Tewkesbury Roadshow in 2016. A 17th-century miniature volume reviewing Shakespeare's work was described by books expert Matthew Haley as having 'enormous scholarly value' and being one of the most remarkable items ever to feature on the programme.
