Antiques Roadshow guest gasps as he learns hefty value of 'scary' bowl passed down from grandfather that he 'kept under the stairs'

Daily Mail​

4 days ago

An Antiques Roadshow guest gasped when he learned the hefty value of a 'scary' bowl passed down to him.
A rediscovered video from 2015 sees expert Duncan Campbell assess a Kashmiri begging bowl on the BBC show.
The owner of the interesting piece revealed he kept it 'under the stairs' and described the bowl as 'attractive in a scary sort of way'.
'It was my grandfather's,' the guest explained. 'It's been handed down to me from my grandfather who was in army in the North West frontier in the 1890s. So we think that's where he got it, in the area which is now sort of North West Pakistan.'
Duncan eagerly gushed: 'I can tell you exactly where it comes from. It's covered in local symbols. It comes from Kashmir.'
He went on to reveal the different details, including 'local flora', that helped identify where the bowl originated from.
The expert shared how the antique was based on a 'begging bowl' which 'dervish monks used to carry to collect arms from the locals'.
'It's a popular shape that was used by the local craftsmen to turn into all sorts of things, for example your lovely centrepiece, which is not ever intended to be sold to a Kashmiri, it was always expected to be sold to a foreigner,' Duncan explained.
He described the piece as 'wonderful' and noted the size was 'on a very grand scale'.
Duncan went on to share his valuation of the antique bowl.
He said: '... As far as date of manufacture goes, this is going to be about 1890 and the market for what's essentially Islamic metal work has grown and grown over recent years.
'This is not only skillful work but a really nice looking object, it has some considerable value too. It would cost you somewhere around the £4,000 mark.'
'Oh, right. That's more than I was thinking, thank you very much,' the surprised guest replied.
It comes after another episode of Antiques Roadshow from 2016 saw presenter Fiona Bruce, 61, and the experts head to Scarborough Grand Spa Hall on the North Yorkshire coast.
The specialist appraisers met with guests to value their family heirlooms and heritage items - with expert Ronnie Archer Morgan, 75, taken aback by one in particular.
He spoke to a woman who had brought in a Polynesian, club-like tribal weapon for evaluation - which was unlike anything he had seen on the programme before.
Ronnie, an expert in tribal art and weaponry, opened by asking: 'What's a feminine person like you doing with a big, heavy, aggressive thing like this?'
She explained: 'Well, it belongs to my dad actually, it's not mine, and it was passed down to him by his dad who acquired it through some elderly spinster ladies who gave it to him.
He was a solicitor in Scarborough town so that's how but I don't know anything more.'
The slightly unclear origins of the item did not matter to Ronnie - who was just floored by its quality.
He exclaimed: 'Amazing. I can't actually believe what I'm looking at. This is absolutely superb.
'It's a Fijian Bulibuli and this is a thing of rare beauty. It is really what us collectors look for. This is the best I've ever seen.'
This type of weapon from the South Pacific island nation typically has a straight, long handle with a rounded head and protruding decorative circles on it.
The guest's item was completely textbook, with raised carved studs. She responded, incredulous, to Ronnie's praise for it: 'Really? Wow!'
By the end of the discussion, Ronnie had massively built up the anticipation ahead of the all-important valuation - and it did not disappoint.
And with an unbelievable object comes an unbelievable price', he said.
'I'm thinking about this. The market for this sort of thing is more in Paris or in Brussels and in New York.
'But they get very excited and they've got galleries that deal in this sort of stuff and a nice one of these would probably be £8,000 to £10,000.'
The guest, eyes wide, was astonished by this - but Ronnie was not done yet.
'This, I would stick my neck out and say if you had to buy this from the Sablon [antiques market] in Brussels, I think it would cost you between £30,000 and maybe £35,000.
'I really think it could make that.'
The woman was blown away by the prospect of such a life-changing sum: 'Wow! That's amazing!'