An Antiques Roadshow guest was dealt a devastating blow when told their prized possession was worth hundreds of thousands less than they’d been told.
Antiques expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan broke the bad news in an episode filmed at Nottingham’s Wollaton Hall. The guest had brought along a figure from the Kota tribe in Gabon, hoping it would fetch around £250,000.
To their dismay, the item was valued at just £150 as it was a “fine copy” and the wrong size. However, since the owner paid only £1.50 for it a decade ago, it still gave the guest a hefty profit.
READ MORE: Click for more brilliant Daily Star showbiz stories
READ MORE: Click for more brilliant Daily Star TV stories
Ronnie joked: “You really took a risk, didn’t you?”. The guest explained: “Well, I was intrigued by the fact that it looked as if somebody had put a lot of work into making it.”
(Image: BBC)
Ronnie was thrilled by the special African statue. He said: “When you unwrapped this, my heart really skipped a beat because it’s one of my favourite tribal African figures.
“This is a Kota reliquary guardian figure and they put these on the bones of their ancestors to protect them and they polished this metal. And in the 19th century, they were brass and copper, this is just copper, the brass and copper were like gold to them.
(Image: BBC)
“They’re so highly revered in the art world that they have one of these in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.” He went on: “They’re 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 form of them that makes them so desirable, and they influenced the greatest modern artists of all time because at the beginning of modernism, they are very, very sought-after.” Then Ronnie got the crowd’s hopes up when he revealed that one sold for £250,000 not long ago.
(Image: BBC)
But then he had to tell the owner some bad news. He said: “But unfortunately, this one is a very fine copy. It’s slightly the wrong size. This was likely made around 1980 and one of this kind is probably worth about £150. It is 100 times more than you paid for it.”
The statue was still worth more than what the owner paid, but it certainly wasn’t going to make them super rich. Despite this, the owner took it well, admitting they were still “happy” given that they’d only paid £1.50 for it.
Want all the biggest Showbiz and TV news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our free Daily Star Showbiz newsletter
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
