Antiques Roadshow: Unloved pair of Chinese pictures surprises everyone
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
An Antiques Roadshow guest gave a six-word plea to an expert after discovering the true value of his bronze cockerel.
The BBC hit series travelled to Audley End to meet even more guests and their unique items for them to be appraised.
Expert John Foster was presented with a particularly intriguing statue though, in the shape of a giant bird.
He said: “So I’ve seen a couple of bronzes today and then you turn up with the monster of all bronzes. Where did you get it from?”
The pensioner explained: “It comes from Belgium. It was at my aunt’s house in Belgium where I spent my junior years and during the First World War, he spent the whole war underground.”
“And when the second war broke out, we were in Belgium, so we dug him in the ground again underneath the magnolia bush.
“So after five years of war, we had a bit of trouble finding him, because we couldn’t quite remember where the hell we put it.
“Otherwise it would have been used to make cannon shots and all that kind of thing.
“Just like in this country, railings were taken away during the war, weren’t they, to be used up.”
When questioned on why he liked the piece, the guest stated: “Well I was born in Tottenham, although my accent is not English as you can gather, but I’m a Spurs supporter, the cockerel is the emblem of Spurs, and that’s why we love him even more.”
Foster admitted that he didn’t recognise the maker’s mark on the bronze but believed it was made by a Parisian artist sometime in the late 19th Century.
“[But] none of that matters, because to me, it is all about the quality and the size of it.
“Although at some point it’s been buried twice in it’s life, the colour is beautiful, it’s exactly how you want to see it, this lovely nutty brown, it’s such a good looking piece.
“So, whether or not a Spurs supporter would be interested in buying it, I don’t know.”
Summarising, Foster stated: “I think the market for this would be in France and at auction, easily £3,000 to £5,000.”
The guest looked blankly before replying: “Well that causes a problem, because I have two daughters so what the hell do I do? To divide it up?”
Foster laughed: “It’s not a bad problem to have”, with the pensioner agreeing: “It’s not a bad problem.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
