Antiques Roadshow expert John Foster was blown away when he was presented with a painting by Claude Moore.
Two sisters revealed that the piece of art had originally been owned by their Dutch father, who came to Britain during the war before becoming the manager of a restaurant in the 1950s.
The pair revealed that their dad decided to create his own coffee store with a heavy focus on nautical items such as ships lanterns, barrels and artwork of ships.
One piece of work in particular by Claude Moore caught their fathers attention and it was proudly displayed in his coffee store.
The painting shared its name, The Flying Dutchman with the coffee store that their father ran, which they described as “fantastic”.
(Image: BBC)
Going onto discuss the painting, antique expert John Foster said: “What I love, the ghost ship there, The Flying Dutchman and the story if you saw the ghost ship you were pretty much doomed.
“One of the bits I really love, you see all these figures, standing on deck there staring helplessly at the ghost ship.”
John went on to add that Claude Moore was known for his pieces of art focusing on maritime scenes, with the painting being created in 1891.
(Image: BBC)
The two sisters explained that their father paid 30 shillings for the piece of art which in current money is equal to £1.15 before explaining that several years ago, an art expert had told them it was “out of fashion”.
Discussing their previous valuation, they said: “Somebody looked at it a couple of years ago, he said it was out of fashion now and that the prices have plummeted and he wasn’t interested at all.”
(Image: BBC)
After revealing they hope its current worth is worth more than 30 shillings, John said: “30 shillings, I don’t even know what that equates to.
“The thing is, all that he’s saying ‘out of fashion and condition issues’, I just don’t agree with all of that, I think it’s very in fashion – just because it’s so cool.”
He added: “I think at auction… £4 to £6,000.”
“Wow, OK, that’s pretty good” said the sisters in unison before grinning towards John.
The pair went on to say: “It’s of huge sentimental value, it was there for me when I was a child, growing up, for both of us.
” He was very proud of it, he found it for 30 bob.”
For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
