AN Antiques Roadshow guest was lost for words after their portrait collection received a HUGE six-figure valuation.
In the classic episode which aired again recently, the BBC show travelled to the British Museum in London, where expert Rupert Maas met a lady who had brought in a number of miniature portraits.
The lady revealed she had been collecting them for around 20 years, and Rupert said: “Fantastic, they’re all 18th-century miniatures I don’t even know where to start.”
Asked which was her favourite, the lady chose a portrait of a young girl with pretty ringlets.
Another had been painted in a prison, while Rupert said: “It’s an amazing looking thing,”
“Because I don’t know why it’s almost the most human of all of these, in terms of just a straight portrait of a man who may have been concerned for his life, but also an intelligent man.”
Other pictures included an actress called Sarah Siddons and another of actor John Philip Campbell.
Rupert asked how much the lady thought she had spent on the miniatures over the years and her husband replied: “I would think the combined total here is £45,000 to 50,000.”
Rupert told them: “The miniature market these days has been far from miniature, to say the least.
“They’ve really gone up I don’t think you could buy these easily again, these days it’s very difficult to find them in the first place and then it’s going to cost you an absolute shedload to buy these now.
“Well, we’re into six figures, that’s for sure – John Smart alone if they were in a sale room, I think that’d be worth £20,000 to £30,000.
“Well, if I was asked to put a figure on them, I think we’d be closer to £200,000 – I know I’m pushing it a bit.”
Antiques Roadshow airs on BBC and is available on BBC iPlayer.
