Antiques Roadshow guest floored after learning truth about film score picked up for a fiver by ‘pure luck’

AN ANTIQUES Roadshow guest was left floored after learning the truth about a film score picked up for a fiver by 'pure luck'.

A recent episode of Antiques Roadshow was filmed at Wollaton Hall and saw expert Justin Croft meet a male guest who had brought in a musical score he had found at a car boot sale.

Justin said: "So we are looking at a musical score here, it is quite an extensive musical score, but there are a few clues which can help us tell what is here.

"So I am immediately seeing in the top left-hand corner the words reel nine part one."

He pointed out that the name Bernard Herrmann was written on every sheet of music and he asked the guest if he had heard of the famous composer.

The man replied: "I had heard of him obviously from the Psycho score which is probably his most famous." 

The music had been found in a "rather scruffy folder" among other items, and the guest admitted: "I found it at a car boot sale and it was on top of a large box of theatre programmes. 

"There was a man in front of me and it was offered off for £5 but he didn't want it so I gladly took it.

"I had a quick look through but for what was in the box, and it certainly looked like it was worthwhile for £5."

As the guest added that it was "pure luck" that the score was on the top of the pile, Justin revealed: "This is Bernard Herrmann's own copy of one film score. This is for The Snows of Kilimanjaro which came out in the early 1950s. 

"What I like about it is there is a lot of annotation and that takes us closer to matching the score with the film."

Moving on to its value, Justin said: "I think it does have some value. It may not be his most important film score, it's not the one which everyone knows him for. 

"But it is one of his most respected scores which will perhaps stand the test of time. 

"For you to have an original version of it with his corrections and with his annotation done at the time of fitting it with the film together, I think that is important."

He then revealed it could be worth between £800 and £1,000, and the guest was delighted saying it was "not bad for £5";.

Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays on BBC One and is available on BBC iPlayer.