Featured Image Credit: BBC
Topics: Antiques Roadshow, BBC, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin
We’ve all kinda dreamed of it happening, right? You pull out an old knick-knack or small trinket from your shed and find out that, in actual fact, you’ve had an uber-valuable antique this entire time.
While in reality this rarely happens, there are rare occasions where people can be in luck.
One such occasion occurred on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, the show in which specialists and experts value belongings people are trying to sell.
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For anyone who hasn’t seen it, trust me it’s a bit better than that description gives it credit for.
In a clip recently posted to YouTube by the BBC, however, one punter was given a shock when they found out that not only was the table they brought in worth more than they expected, it was worth more than the house it was found in.
Now, a very important bit of context here - the episode was filmed in 1998, this was not a table worth £300,000. The BBC also notes that ‘all valuations were correct at the time of broadcast’.
The expert evaluating it looks over the table, noticing the ‘purpley quartz’, and something called ‘Blue John’, a mineral that can only be mined in Derbyshire.
In addition to this, the man getting the table evaluated believes the house, which he bought years prior in 1968, used to belong to the grandson of Abraham Darby I, the man who some believe kickstarted the Industrial Revolution.
The expert says: “Well, I mean just valuing the table on its own because of its very, very good specimen marbles and the quality of the mahogany base. I should think you would have to insure that for around £4,000.”
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The owner of the table laughs, stating it was ‘more than he paid for the house’.
The episode led many in the comments to be shocked, not only by the beautiful table, but by how much it puts into stark contrast the cost of houses in the UK nowadays.
One viewer commented: “The rise in house prices is astronomical! My parents bought a house in London in the late 70's for about £18,000. The same house is now worth around £600.000.”
Another said: “Y'know, the price of doughnuts and other cheap foods has doubled in the past 5 years, but it's seeing very fancy antiques go for less than £5,000 that brings home how aggressive inflation has been over the last 20 years.
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“I hope they kept their fancy table, it's a lovely thing.”
A third added: “I bet that house is now worth £400k.”