BARGAIN Hunt’s Charles Hanson spotted an ‘amazing’ £2k antique from Titanic on a counter – but would you have walked past it?
The auctioneer – who appears on Antiques Roadshow as well as Bargain Hunt – regularly visits people's homes to try and uncover rare antiques and interesting items.
A recent trip prompted him to post one of his "track the treasure" challenges on his Twitter account.
Charles shared a snap of a kitchen counter covered with glasswear, vases and kitchen items.
He wrote: "Okay fine people, can you spot the £2,000 treasure on this kitchen sideboard/windowsill in a local house call we recently advised a client on yesterday?”
Charles received a number of replies from his followers, with some guessing it was a matching yellow tea set or a butter server.
Others guessed one of the many ornate jugs on the counter but it turned out to be something much smaller.
Revealing the answer, Charles wrote: "The cup! In cobalt blue and gilt, was made by ‘liner china’ firm Spode for Stonier & Co in Liverpool.
"Its pattern number R4332 was made for first-class passengers who set sail on the ill-fated liner Titanic .
"Pieces of the distinctive R4332 have been recovered from the wreck.”
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Speaking to Derbyshire Live he said: “It was a routine home visit. Obviously we see lots of pots and pans in a kitchen, but you don’t often expect to find something like this cup – it was amazing, really amazing.”
Charles explained that the piece of crockery was almost certainly not used on the ship itself, despite being made for the vessel.
He said: “Similar wreck cargo has been found onboard the Titanic, but the rest is in the Atlantic.
"If we could prove it was onboard, it would be worth nearer £100,000. But we can’t prove that, and the client has been through his family tree to make doubly sure they weren’t onboard – he can’t find any evidence.
"Some of these were given away at the time to souvenir hunters in Southampton who went to see the ship before it set sail, but it’s still a remarkable object."
He continued: "Whenever I’m asked ‘what’s your favourite film, Charles?’ I always say Titanic. Because of its romance, the intrigue, the tragedy and the lifestyle of the era such as the class divisions.
"To find something which was so fabulously the reserve of the elite in a humble home in north Burton, and to just imagine what similar cups had experienced, for example the coffee just beginning to shake at half past half ten before it hit the iceberg, was just amazing.
“And how on earth had it got so lost in time so far away from Southampton or Liverpool, from where teaware was created to cater for first-class passengers aboard the Olympia ship? I’ve seen some in museums but I’ve never handled one – it was a titanic find.”
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