Guest gobsmacked at true value of charity shop find he thought was £200,000
The guest on the latest episode of Antiques Roadshow was left staggered when he was told the true value of a charity shop find he purchased for just £1.50.
Gathered outside Wollaton Hall, expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan investigated a tribal African figure one man found in a charity shop by chance.
“When you unwrapped this, my heart really skipped a beat,” the expert said to the guest.
“It’s one of my favourite tribal African figures. Where did you get it?”
The guest revealed he found the figure at a charity shop in Cambridge more than a decade ago.
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He explained: “It was right among the junk, and it cost me the grand total of £1.50.
“I was intrigued by the fact that it looked as if somebody had put a lot of work into making it.”
Ronnie informed the guest the figure was from a tribe in Gabon, adding: “They are just south of Nigeria and this is a Kota guardian figure and they put these on the bones of their ancestors to protect them.
“They polish this metal and in the 19th century, the brass and copper – this is just copper – but the brass and copper were like gold to them.”
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“They are so highly revered in the art world, that they have one of these in the Metropolitan Museum in New York,” Ronnie shared.
“They are such iconic examples of African tribal art. They hammer the metal over the wood sculpture and then they chase the metal with these designs and it’s the geometric design of them that makes them so desirable. They also influence the greatest modern artists of all time. They are very, very sought after.”
Following the expert’s speech about the sought-after item, the owner said the same item fetched more than £200,000 a couple of years ago.
He was hoping he would be able to make the same amount of money on the figure.
However, his hopes were soon dashed when Ronnie shared: “Unfortunately, this one is a very fine copy. It’s slightly the wrong size and this was probably made in 1980. One like this is probably worth about £150.
“Unfortunately not the quarter of a million that one of them actually made.”
The guest gasped and said: “Well, it’s a lot more than I paid for it. It’s 100 times more than what I paid for it.”
Antiques Roadshow continues at 8pm on Sunday on BBC One.
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