Antiques Roadshow item has eye-watering value despite chilling past

While it's often funny to see someone go on Antiques Roadshow and get told their pristine family heirloom teapot is actually worth £1.50, the real attraction of the show is the people who bring on genuinely fascinating and valuable treasures.

There are some of us with weird and wonderful objects squirreled away that might be worth a lot of money, and it's on such stuff that Antiques Roadshow is really made.

Think about the lady who was told her fancy brooch was actually worth over £25,000, or the man who was told his old watch could be worth more than £300,000.

It helps counterbalance moments such as a man who tore what he thought was a genuine Banksy off a wall being told that, without any way to prove the artwork's authenticity, he'd be getting 'nowhere' and should have just left the art where it was for people to enjoy.

Meanwhile, on another episode we got to delve into the history of the English Civil War as someone had brought on relics from the final major battle of the conflict.

This portrait ended up being worth a lot of money. (BBC)

If you know your history then you'll know that the Battle of Worcester in 1651 was the final major engagement of the ongoing clusterf**k that was Britain at the time, which includes the English Civil War, even though that was actually more like two civil wars but it's already complicated enough as it is.

Anyhow, the battle ended up going the way of Oliver Cromwell and his Parliamentarians, who destroyed what remained of the Royalist army.

One of the folks who ended up on the losing side was James Stanley, the seventh Earl of Derby, who had his head hacked off a little over a month after being on the losing side in Worcester.

Back in those times people being executed could bring a friend along, so Stanley brought his buddy William Prescott onto the execution scaffold.

An impressive Antiques Roadshow haul, but ultimately not for sale. (BBC)

William wasn't there to be killed himself, as he was instead there to put his foot on his friend during the execution to 'make sure he didn't wriggle'.

Centuries later, Prescott's descendant showed up on Antiques Roadshow with a collection of Stanley's belongings.

Brought on was a skullcap, a pair of gloves and a portrait of someone who Antiques Roadshow supposed was James Stanley, with all overseen by a big portrait of William, which was still in its original frame.

Antiques Roadshow expert Adam Schoon said it was an 'amazing archive', and started handing out valuations.

The large painting of William Prescott was valued at between £10,000 and £15,000, while the smaller one of James Stanley was 'probably worth two to three thousand', according to the expert.

Put all together, the expert reckoned that you'd get up to £22,000 if everything was auctioned off.

However, the guest decided it'd be 'a travesty to sell them', choosing to keep hold of his valuable historical haul.

Topics: Antiques Roadshow, BBC, Money, TV and Film, History

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker