Lucky dealer makes 7,500% profit after selling Buddha statue for £3,800 on new Antiques Road Trip series

AN expert on Antiques Road Trip has smashed the show’s record after selling an item for a whopping 7,500 per cent profit.

Anita Manning picked up an old bronze Buddha at a vintage shop in Kent with the aim of selling it on – but maybe couldn’t have imagined just how successful she would be.

The antiques expert came across the item – priced at £85 – at Vintage Curiosities shop in Sandwich.

Anita said: “I was drawn to the bronze Buddha in my first shop of the day knowing that the Asian market is strong at the moment.”

Antique Buddhas can sell for very high prices – with the right ones fetching sums as high as six-figures.

After managing to barter the shopkeeper down to £50, the Buddha was put up for auction.

Spotting foreign buyers in the room, which is seen as a good sign, Anita hoped her instinct was right.

But even seasoned auction-goers seemed shocked when the bidding began at £1,000 – rising to almost four times that much.

The item finally sold for £3,800 – representing an incredible profit of £3,750, or 7,500 per cent.

Anita said: “The bidding started at £1,000. There was a gasp in the saleroom and then silence, as the auctioneer's voice recorded the bids went fiercely up and up.

“My heart was thumping. The final bid of £3,800 was a terrific result!”

The Buddha smashed the previous record on the BBC show, set by Charlie Ross in 2012, with a Staffordshire elephant he picked up for £8 and sold for £2,700 at auction.

The popular programme returns to TV screens today for a brand new series, which will see Anita and rival expert Raj Bisram travel the country seeking out bargains for under £200.

The pair then try and sell their items at auction, competing over who can make the largest profit.

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