Aimee Walker
An Antiques Roadshow guest was left gobsmacked when his Chinese ornate table was valued at a staggering £120,000 on the show.
The man explained how he’d had the item shipped in from Boston, USA, a couple of years ago for a total of £7,000.
However, expert Marc Allum made it clear the table was worth much more when he came to value it.
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The expert suggested the table could be a lost treasure from the Imperial Court in 1860 and predicted that it came about when French and British armies raided the Old Summer Palace during the second Opium war.
He said: “I do know there are some chairs in the Summer Palace that have a foot that looks literally identical to that.
“That’s documented, we know that. So we can see the similarity there as well.”
He continued: “It’s really, really difficult.
“What I do know is that a smaller version of this, a console table came up for auction a few years ago.
“It had no platform base on it, it was missing its top and it wasn’t in brilliant condition and it made £55,000.
“What we have here is something we can’t totally pin down, but it’s an awful lot better than the £55,000 one.
“I might suggest to you that if we put it in a really good auction in somewhere like Hong Kong for instance… in a very specialised Oriental sale, that a table like this could make £80,000 to £120,000.”
The shock value caused a stir on Twitter, with one user writing: “What the f***? £80 – £120k?”
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