ONE lucky hopeful was left crushed on Antiques Roadshow after finding out a statue he believed could be worth £250,000 was instead worth a measly £150.
The BBC One show was at Wollaton Hall in Nottingham for the latest edition of the Fiona Bruce fronted programme.
Amongst the variety of hidden treasures brought to the table on the BBC show was an ancient-looking statue from the Kota tribe from Gabon, south of Nigeria.
The proud owner of the item informed expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan that he purchased the item at an Antiques Roadshow event ten years earlier.
An excited Ronnie beamed as he said: "When you unwrapped this, my heart really skipped a beat because it's one of my favourite tribal African figures."
The guest told Ronnie: "It was right among the junk and it cost me the grand total of £1.50.”
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Ronnie laughed back: "You really took a risk, didn't you?"
The guest said: "Well, I was intrigued by the fact that it looked as if somebody had put a lot of work into making it.”
Ronnie began to take a closer look at the classic item as other Roadshow goers gathered around.
Ronnie informed him of its heritage saying: "This is a Kota reliquary guardian figure and they put these on the bones of their ancestors to protect them and they polished this metal.
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"And in the 19th century, they were brass and copper, this is just copper, the brass and copper were like gold to them. They're so highly revered in the art world that they have one of these in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.”
He continued further "They're such iconic examples of African tribal art. They hammer the metal over the wood sculpture and then they chase the metal with these designs.
"And it's the geometric form of them that makes them so desirable, and they influenced the greatest modern artists of all time because at the beginning of modernism, they are very, very sought-after."
But there was a harsh reality lurking just around the corner as Ronnie delivered a devastating blow about the prized possession.
Ronnie confirmed that although one had sole in recent years for £250,000 – this was not one of them.
Ronnie said: "But unfortunately, this one is a very fine copy. It's slightly the wrong size.”
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The news was not what the antique’s owner was expecting as Ronnie continued to add: "This was probably made in about 1980 and one like this is probably worth about £150. It is 100 times more than you paid for it."
This let down comes as an Antiques Roadshow guest was left stunned when they found out the true value of their model of a stag that they picked up at a car boot sale for £1.
A recent episode of the BBC show saw expert William Farmer tell two guests how much their ornament was really worth.
William said: "Your £1 purchase today, you're looking five to six hundred pounds."
Antiques Roadshow airs Sunday at 7pm on BBC One.
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