ANTIQUES Road Trip expert Tim Medhurst was left stunned and walked out during a tense auction over an umbrella.
He and Irita Marriott were shocked at the impressive price the Edwardian treasure wracked up in the episode, which aired earlier this year.
Digging through an antiques shop, Irita got her hands on a duck-headed parasol after it caught her attention, and was being sold for a small price.
Picking it up, she told the cameras: “Well, that ticks my boxes. That is just stunning quality. It’s so sweet. It is all solid silver with original glass eyes.
“The detail is fantastic and, yes, it has got nicks and patina and wear to it.”
Irita asked the viewers at home “Wouldn’t you if you were 100?” before answering her own question: “I’m sure I would.”
“I’m just going to have a little peak, just want to see whether there are any holes,” she inspected it closely to check its quality.
She then opened the parasol to find “not a single” scratch, and dated the object “from the 1900s” before finding a hallmark for 1903.
Irita bargained with shop owner, Claire, in order to purchase it before the pair settled at a cheap price of £80.
“Well at £80 that’s a definite yes,” she added, before buying the parasol and a pipe she had found within the store.
Irita’s parasol was last up at the auction in the episode, and fellow expert Tim admitted he did not have high hopes for the item.
He admitted he wouldn’t have bought it had he spotted it in the shop, and joked that she was “quakers” for having bought the umbrella.
“Duck jokes again,” Iritia teased back. “Quackers buying it.”
The auctioneer started the bidding war at a low price at £55, and slowly rising by £5 increments with the interest of buyers.
“Fivers that’s a good sign,” Irita commented as the price slowly rose between two enthusiastic bidders at the back of the room.
Reaching £130, Tim couldn’t watch any longer and stood up, pretending to make his way out of the auction room, saying: “Right, I’m going.”
“That’s an amazing price,” Irita said as he sat back down beside her with the bids continuing to come in thick and fast.
“I can’t believe it, wowzers,” she exclaimed as the bidding finished at a whopping £210 for the Edwardian umbrella.
“You’ve done it, you’ve done it, you’ve made it big,” Tim congratulated an ecstatic Irita as the show came to a close.
Antiques Road Trip is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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