Antiques Roadshow guest stunned after hearing valuation of ‘amazing’ family book found in rubbish dump

One lad’s trash being another lad’s treasure is just another cliché you’re probably tired of hearing. But for this bloke, his rubbish dump find truly ended up being a real gem worth a decent bag of cash.

Trying his luck, he went onto Antiques Roadshow with an ‘amazing’ family book that he’d found in a tip. And in last night’s (31 March) episode, he was left absolutely stunned after hearing how much it’s worth.

While the BBC show was in Cardiff, the guest presented an impressive leather-bound genealogical book which featured his wife’s hand-painted family tree.

Dating all the way back to the late 1800s, the expert, Clive Farahar, branded it as ‘amazing and extraordinary’.

The guest explained the background of his treasure: “I first saw this on the internet less than a year ago, and it's all about the Hughes family and their ancestry, which my wife belongs to.”

Over 35 years ago, he ended up finding it on a tip in North Wales.

And Clive couldn’t believe it as he asked: “So this valuable manuscript with your family in, was found on a tip? They had just thrown it out?”

The antiques expert continued: “I think [the book is] extraordinary, I mean you've got sort of 200 pages here, crammed full of every relation you could possibly have.

BBC

“And here it is, beautifully bound, there is hardly a mark on it, found in a tip.”

While Clive did say the book really is ‘priceless’, he estimated that the guest could make a whopping £1,500 for it at auction.

See, one lad’s trash really is another person’s treasure.

And the guest was absolutely stunned, as he asked in disbelief: “Really?”

Also during last night’s episode, expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan refused to value an item because of its horrifying past.

Host Fiona Bruce explained in the voiceover that a guest had brought along a disc which 'acted as an endorsement of the professional reputation of an African slave trader in the West African port of Bonny in the 18th century'.

BBC

Ronnie was very taken aback by the antique and made it very clear that he and the whole of the show’s crew 'wholly and unequivocally disapprove of the trade in ivory'.

After discussing the object, the expert opened up about his family history, with his great-grandmother being a ‘returned slave’.

He continued: "I think it's my cultural duty, our cultural duty, to talk about things like this. I just don't want to value it. I do not want to put a price on something which signifies such an awful business.

“But the value is in the lessons that this can tell people. The value is in researching this and what we can find out. And I just love you for bringing it in and thank you so much for making me so sad."