Antiques Roadshow: Expert values vintage train ticket
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
An Antiques Roadshow guest couldn’t quite believe the value of her train ticket, accusing the expert of “winding” her up.
The BBC daytime series travelled to Walthamstow Town Hall to meet with more guests and their intriguing items, many of which had been inherited, one of which was a vintage railway ticket with expert Mark Hill appointed to appraise the rare piece of memorabilia.
“When was the last time you caught a train?” he first asked the guest, with her replying "sometime last year".
He queried how much she paid, to which she laughed: “Got it cheap but not as cheap as this one.”
“Why do you call this cheap?” he said as she explained: “Because that was bought a long, long time ago when they had pound shillings and pence.”
Delving into the lead-up to her visit, she continued: “My husband inherited it and told me to bring it along and I’ve been trying to persuade him to come today and he said: ‘Have you been seen yet? Have they told you how much it’s worth?’ And I said: ‘Come along, come along’, now he’s turned off his phone.”
Jokingly taken aback, Hill exclaimed: “Charming! So he sends you on an errand and basically only calls you when he wants to!”
Hill then went on to talk more specifically about the item in front of him.
“What we’ve got here is a ticket for the Midlands County Railway and this is a ticket for the opening of the railway. Dated on the bottom as you can see, 30th May, 1839. The Midlands County Railway which was opened then, came about effectively for the drive and the keenness to supply coal to Leicester.
“In 1844, it was quite a short-lived railway, it merged into the Midland Railway. So you effectively paid nothing for this. You inherited it. So if I was to say to you £1,000, what would you say?”
The guest paused before questioning: “What for that? OK then - well yeah.”
Hill continued: “Rare, rare, rare. Railway memorabilia is really hotly collected. On a ticket like this for the opening of such a railway is hotly sought after.
“This is a rare and desirable object and £800 to £1,200, £1,000 seems very fair. I had a chat with a colleague and they agree.”
The guest’s jaw dropped and she remained silent for a few seconds, clearly unsure of what to say next.
She then asked: “You are - you’re having a mumble aren’t you? You’re winding me up aren’t you?” to the audience’s amusement. But he assured her: “Not a shadow of a doubt my friend.”
The guest went on to joke how she had broken the frame’s glass earlier that day but Hill said it was better she broke the glass rather than the ticket itself.
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
