A Bargain Hunt expert has just dropped a bombshell about everyday items that could be hiding a fortune in your home.
Irita Marriott, famed for her appearances on Bargain Hunt and Antiques Roadshow, is now making waves with her latest venture, The Derbyshire Auction House, which premiered on July 22 on Really.
The programme features Irita, an auction house proprietor, delving into the residences of locals to scout for hidden treasures that might fetch a pretty penny. She then assists the families in securing top dollar for these newfound valuables at auction.
Irita has divulged some astonishing finds from the first series, including ordinary household objects that turned out to be worth a small fortune. One such discovery was a kitchen implement that fetched a jaw-dropping price, leaving its owners utterly flabbergasted.
"My favourite thing when it comes to the items themselves is finding something that people didn't know what they were - or didn't know what those items could be worth - and telling them the stories of the items," she revealed to The Sun, reports the Mirror.
She went on to say: "There was a spoon that I found in someone's house that has been under the stairs cupboard for years and years after being inherited by the family. They never thought it was worth anything. It just happened to be on the side because they had moved a few things around."
Irita excitedly revealed that the spoon was purchased by a private collector based in California for a whopping £3,300 after receiving interests from museums in Australia. Elsewhere, she discovered a painting from the late 1700s which turned out to have been created by a world-famous artist.
All of the items Irita unearths go up for sale at her auction house, which she purchased back in 2023. She is one of few women in Britain to run a salesroom, having only began pursuing a career as an auctioneer over recent years.
Irita, who moved to the UK from Latvia at the age of 20, was introduced to antiques by a family member who had purchased numerous items from an auction and asked her to sell them on. Having successfully done so, she then began watching Antiques Roadshow, which further piqued her interest in the field.
