Antiques Roadshow guest told statue thought to be worth £250k was actually only worth £150

06.09.2022 - 19:59 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

An Antiques Roadshow guest was handed the devastating blow that a statue, previously thought to be worth around £250,000 was actually only worth £150. During the episode on Sunday, Fiona Bruce presented the show from Wollaton Hall in Nottingham.

But one figure, thought to have been from the Kota tribe from Gabon, south of Nigeria, was brought in by an excited member of the public. Hailed initially as 'iconic examples of African tribal art', the guest was then told that their figure was a copy and was slightly the wrong size.

The treasures brought to the BBC show’s group of antiques experts included a fire extinguisher cocktail shaker, a toy monkey popping out of a musical pineapple, as well as a pair of drawers belonging to Queen Victoria, the Mirror reports.

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Antique expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan appeared on the BBC One show to give his verdict on the figure, of which authentic versions have sold for as much as £250. The expert was initially very excited at seeing the antique. 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 he previously bought the figure ten years ago at an Antiques Roadshow event in Cambridge. He said: "It was right among the junk and it cost me the grand total of £1.50.”

Ronnie joked: "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.

The antiquarian told how the figure appeared to be from the Kota tribe from Gabon. He said: "This is a Kota reliquary guardian figure and they put