The Antiques Roadshow crowd erupted into applause as a record-breaking valuation was revealed
An Antiques Roadshow record was broken as a speechless expert said, “I’m so made up”.
Glass specialist Andy McConnell was examining heirlooms at Woodhorn Museum in Ashington to provide members of the public with valuations for their belongings.
He was soon astounded by some “wonderful little gems” that one visitor had brought along.
As he examined two 18th century Masonic glasses, Andy was visibly delighted, telling the guest: “These glasses are absolutely the cream and of course, they’re firing glasses, ‘Yes, here! Cheers!’ for toasting.
“So how on Earth do you end up owning these wonderful little gems?” reports the Express.
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The guest replied: “Well I got a bit lucky really. I’d seen them come up at an auction but they were just with a general lot, I think they were valued at £50 to £70. I pretty much knew what I thought they were. Sadly, they’d been spotted by somebody else so they did go up in value but I managed to win the lot.”
The pair of glasses set him back an eye-watering £6,000, prompting Andy to ask: “So, what makes an apparently sensible person spend £6,000 on two glasses the size of a thimble?”
The guest revealed that collecting rare glass was a “passion” of theirs.
Whilst examining the glasses, Andy verified they were crafted by the Beilby family, particularly Newcastle-based artist William Beilby, who passed away in 1819.
Indicating the date on the glass, he revealed: “1768, it’s exactly what it says on the tin. And they were Britain’s leading enamellers, the greatest enamellers, working exclusively on glass.”
Andy continued: “The first one that came up that we know about was bought by the British Museum in about 2009 for £12,000. Then one sold for £8,000 and another sold for £6,000.
“But yours, I know, today, would fetch at auction – you’d get somewhere like £16,000 for the pair.”
The guest was left speechless, managing only to say: “Wow.”
Andy responded: “So look, I mean what a pleasure! These are by far the most expensive glasses that I’ve ever had in 16 years on the Roadshow. I’m so made up with these. So cheers to you and William Beilby!”
The crowd around them then erupted into applause at the record-breaking valuation.
Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays at 8pm on BBC One
