A guest on the Antiques Roadshow was gobsmacked when their collection of old drawings was worth thousands of pounds.
The episode on Sunday (February 25) saw host Fiona Bruce and her team of experts visit Brodie Castle in Scotland, where they met with the lucky guest. Expert Matthew Haley evaluated the book, which was filled with century-old artwork. The ‘old book’ included beautiful paintings of flowers and insects, from an aunt.
The book, titled Drawings by the De Alwis family, mentioned the location Ceylon. Matthew was impressed, saying: “This is one of the biggest and most spectacular books I’ve seen on the Antiques Roadshow.”
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He explained: “Ceylon is what we called Sri Lanka in the past. It was a British territory from about 1850 into the middle of the 20th century. [This book from there is] filled with these absolutely beautiful watercolours.”
The guest on the episode, which first aired in 2022, explained the book was once owned by his aunt, who was born in the early 1930s. “She was given this as a book just to draw in, as a toy sort of, and there are some drawings and writing from her as a child. […] When she passed it away, it was inherited by us,” he said.
Expert Matthew said: “[It’s] filled with spectacular watercolours and they’re all relating to this family, De Alwis.” He told viewers that this family was of great importance in Sri Lanka.
(Image: BBC)
Matthew pointed out: “The watercolours are incredibly finely done. A lot of them are dated and initialed from the 1880s. And the quality and workmanship and scholarship of them is just absolutely wonderful.”
He gushed over the book’s content, saying: “It covers plant life from Sri Lanka, trees, nuts and fruits. Absolutely stunning flowers. Some of the illustrations actually fold out. […] and then it goes on to cover insects. And there are some incredibly charming ones […] So it’s a whole natural history of the island. Really just a very, very beautiful thing, the like of which we very rarely see.”
(Image: BBC)
The guest revealed that when his relative had the book, she added her own touch with a drawing of a boat and a plane. Matthew made a cheeky comment during their chat: “Fortunately, she hasn’t had too much of a go at the watercolours.”
When asked about the book’s estimated value, the guest replied: “It was valued once before at £5,000 but that was quite a long time ago.” The antiques specialist, Matthew, wasn’t taken aback and gave an updated valuation.
(Image: BBC)
Matthew noted: “That doesn’t surprise me for a moment. These sorts of watercolours of this quality and this condition are really, really sought after. Nowadays, I would expect it to make something closer towards £10,000.”
The shocked guest replied: “Wow! Wow, gosh!”. Matthew jokingly warned her to keep it away from any younger members of the family so that it doesn’t get spoiled.
“Not exactly the sort of thing you should let younger family members draw on,” he said. The guest agreed: “No, I know. It’s just like an old book and a collection of stuff, that’s what we thought it was.”
Clearly still amazed by the item’s valuation, she exclaimed: “Wow! That’s amazing.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
