Antiques Roadshow: Guest has a Bram Stoker book valued

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Antiques Roadshow returned to BBC One on Sunday afternoon and the instalment was filmed in Clissold Park, in London. During the episode, antiques expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan experienced a “Déjà vu moment” when his guests asked him to value two hot combs used to straighten hair. Ronnie admitted “it would be sacrilegious to value them” due to their cultural significance. He then revealed a personal link to the items which left his guests stunned. 

Ronnie began: “The Antiques Roadshow doesn’t often provide me with real Déjà vu moments but this one is seriously a Déjà vu moment.”

The expert was eager to know where his guest got his hands on the hot combs he brought onto the programme. 

The guest explained: “This is part of the Windrush Generation make of hot combs.”

He said his late cousin made the two historical combs, adding: “He made these because when West Indian ladies came over to this country they were having difficulty getting their hair done. 

“When they went to a white hairdresser they didn’t know how to do their hair.” 

The guest said his cousin was a jack of all trades and “master of every one of them” and he decided to make the combs to help women. 

He had a basement in his house and after work, he would come home and start making hot combs. 

The two combs that the guest presented to Ronnie were made by his late cousin for his wife to use. 

He explained how the combs were used as guests rallied around to get a closer look at the clever inventions. 

“They were heated up on the stove with a paraffin heater,” the guest told BBC viewers. 

The guest’s son, who was on the programme, said he remembered his mother straightened his hair with the combs when he was younger. 

Ronnie then revealed: “Well that is really fascinating to me because I used to use one of these in the 1950s. 

“My mother used one of these, and holding one of these is so strange to me.”

A nostalgic Ronnie revealed he used to help his mother straighten his sister’s hair with a hot comb. 

The expert said: “We used to put the Vaseline on the hair so the hair didn’t burn too much and we would straighten it, and then [my mother] would cane roll my sister’s hair. 

“And then 15 years later, guess what, I became a hairdresser, that is why this is a real Déjà vu moment for me.” 

Ronnie described the combs as a “real cultural object” and said “it would be sacrilegious to value them”.

“The value is too great to our culture,” he exclaimed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you and it’s a pleasure to see those combs – thanks so much for bringing them.” 

The father and son understood why Ronnie refused to value the combs and thanked him for his time.

Antiques Roadshow episodes are available to watch on BBC iPlayer. 

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