Antiques Roadshow: Marc Allum pricks himself on a pen knife
Antiques Roadshow expert Marc Allum got more than he expected when he accidentally cut his finger while examining a guest's penknife.
During the episode of the popular BBC show which aired on Sunday night (August 18), Marc was left stunned when he picked up a 48-piece penknife which he admitted put his to shame. Admiring the item, he told the guest who brought it in: "So I am a bit of a boy scout really."
He continued: "And I wouldn't dream of going out on any given day without my own multi-tool which I literally use on a daily basis, this one knocks mine into an absolute cocked hat, doesn't it.
"It is the most exceptional multi-tool I have seen for a long time. Please tell me where it comes from," leaving the guest to simply explain: "All I know is my father acquired it, but I know nothing at all about the history of it."
Sharing more insight on the knife, the guest added: "I have a theory. I think it may have been some salesman tool when he went round the local, asking if they wanted pen knives made and these were the options they could have made into a pen knife."
Keen to give an explanation on what the use of the penknife was, Marc revealed: "You're not a million miles off the mark to be honest with you because this is not something that is really made to be used in the sense that my multi-tool is made to be used.
"This is really a force of the cutler's art, and it is an exhibition piece. It was primarily made just to show how good a particular company was when this is a 48-blade multi-tool.
"Now I say blades because of course there is a massive kind of variety of tools on this, everything from scissors, to gun cartridge removers, to bone saws, the sky is the limit really.
"But 48 blades, do you know they made these with up to 100 blades? Sometimes even 200 blades. I studied it very carefully and I did manage to find a makers mark on it and it says Godson, Sheffield."
Moving on to the numbers, Marc said that then knives could fetch an astonishing £2,000 to £3,000 at auction - leaving the guest gobsmacked.
As he came to a close Marc thanked the guest for bringing the item along. But while doing so his finger brushed the top of one of the blades which caused him to shout out in pain. He said: "Thank you so much, for bringing it along. Sugar! I just stabbed myself!"
Heading over to X formerly known as Twitter, fans shared their thoughts on the knives.
One viewer wrote at the time: "That's an inspector gadget Swiss army knife!!!!" While another viewer added:"I haven't watched an #antiquesroadshow in ages that's a hell of a swiss army knife think a museum would like that."
Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays at 8pm on BBC One.
