Antiques Roadshow guest stunned as he learns mind-boggling value of his empty glass bottles
ANTIQUES Roadshow expert Marc Allum revealed the high value price of two glass bottles to one stunned guest who had inherited them from his family.
The guest was left stunned as he learned a mind-boggling value of his empty glass bottles.
A classic episode of the long-running BBC One programme saw host Marc Allum travel to the Royal Botanic Garden where a series of items brought in by guests were valued by the experts.
Marc met one visitor who had brought with him two seal bottles with an interesting history behind them.
Introducing the items onto the show, the Antiques Roadshow expert revealed that he was a big fan of 18th-century seal bottles because they hold a lot of information.
As he inspected the bottles Marc explained to the guest that people can often find out interesting details or a backstory from the unique seal.
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A curious Marc wanted to find out more information about how the visitor found the antique items.
The gentleman shared that one of the items originally belonged to his grandfather and the other one he came into possession with 11 years ago.
He explained: " I got a phone call from a cousin of my father to say she was doing the family tree, 'Do you want to come over and have a look?'"
He told Marc that he went over to see the tree and he noticed the first name there was CHH Sillaton 1789.
He explained that these initials were for Christopher Hill Herring, and he told his cousin he had a bottle already that was identical to the name.
His father’s cousin told him that he’d have to wait until she died for him to have the second seal bottle.
As Marc took a closer look at the item he shared that they were mallet bottles that had hemp stoppers with string to hold them in place.
He said: “With all their imperfections, they are just absolutely beautiful and in really nice condition.
“The other information, Sillaton, that’s a place down in Cornwall, but 1789 tells a great story as well.
“If we put these bottles into context historically and look at what was happening in 1789, the storming of the Bastille.
“I mean, it really is quite interesting when you contextualise objects like this in a historical way," he said.
The visitor wanted to know more about the history of the bottles and what was kept inside them.
Expert, Marc revealed it more than likely would have been claret wine.
He then shared more information about what was kept inside, saying they were "typical wine bottle shapes for that specific period."
The visitor replied: “Very nice, would it be a French Claret, do you think? Fresh from the revolution.
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Taking one last look at the item before laughing and revealing it's value, Marc said: "These are worth £500 to £700 each at auction, so basically you've got £1,000 worth of bottle here anyway."
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The guest looked shocked with the valuation as he replied: “Interesting to know, thank you!”
Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays on BBC One at 7pm.