Antiques Roadshow fans were not convinced when an expert gave a “low” valuation to a rare 368-year-old Shakespeare book.
The guest brought an edition of William Shakespeare’s King Lear printed in 1655 and explained it was passed dowm from his family.
Appearing on American TV channel PBS, expert Devon Eastland confirmed it’s an authentic, complete copy, printed by Jane Bell.
READ MORE: Antiques Roadshow guest bursts into tears at family ornament’s huge valuation
However, she had reservations about the printer, Jane Bell, who was a widow of printer Moses Bell and questioned if she had the right to print.
When she flipped through the pages, she said: “This book doesn’t look that great, right?”
“Looks a bit brown. We had some trouble setting it up because the front board is detached and this has a piece of tape on it.
“So you think ‘that looks like a junky book’.”
The expert also noted the numbers marked on the book, suggesting previous owners had been trying to figure out how old the book is.
Upon researching, Devon told the guest that the last copy of the exact same book was sold at auction in 1946.
“Nothing since and there are only 10 copies in the US and seven in England, which is really rare,” she explained.
“If you have a book that hasn’t been sold since 1946, we often rely on auction records to look for comparable copies.”
Given the condition of the book and that it’s complete, the expert said: “At auction, I would conservatively say $10,000 (£7,912) to $15,000 (£11,870).”
The guest rasied his eyebrows, asking: “Really?”
“Yeah, for this dirty little book,” she answered.
Fans were disappointed as they expected the price to be much highter.
“I thought it would be higher, being one of 17 known copies to exist,” one mentioned.
Another said: “I thought she was going to say millions.”
“I feel like it should be worth so much more,” a third added.
In an update, the appraiser said she was contacted by the guest to restore the book and put it at auction.
The book was sold in October, 2022 for $46,000 (£36,400).
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
