BBC Antiques Roadshow guest close to tears as £50 find slapped with five-figure value: ‘I could cry’

An Antiques Roadshow guest was almost reduced to tears as a £50 car-boot sale find was given a huge five-figure valuation on Sunday’s show.

During the latest edition, experts were treated to a gorgeous Ballerina brooch and a trove of medals with a powerful backstory.

However, Roadshow expert John Foster was particularly eager to examine a peculiar carved stone sculpture a guest had brought in.

The guest nonchalantly revealed he had paid £50 for the unusual object at a car boot sale at Anglesey three years ago.

“I’ve always been perplexed by it, wondering what it is” the guest explained before revealing “It’s been a doorstop for the last 12 months.”

“Somebody mentioned it could be African,” he added.

Foster grinned and confirmed the piece had been sculpted by Ben Enwonwu – who he called “one of Nigeria’s most celebrated sculptors.”

Enwonwu, 1917-94, worked mainly in bronze and stone and was “the first pioneer in mixing Nigerian art with Western art.”

The expert explained Enwonwu had been “picked up” by the Zwemmer gallery in the 1940s which “skyrocketed” to global fame in the art world.

Zwemmer rang a bell for the guest who remembered his sculpture had a mark from the gallery on its base.

Foster nodded and said the mark was “the key to this being absolutely genuine.”

Regarding the age of the guest’s piece, he added: “Everything about it to me says the ’70s.”

The expert then revealed that the statue could “conservatively” fetch £10,000 to £15,000 at auction.

“He’s one of the most sought-after and some of his sculptures can make it into the hundreds of thousands,” Foster added.

Upon hearing the valuation, the guest gasped and was left speechless.

Finally, the guest declared with a giddy laugh: “I’ll have to speak Welsh.”

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“As long as it’s not a swear word,” Foster quipped.

“Bendigedig!” the guest declared, which in Welsh means wonderful or fantastic.

“I could cry. I had no inclination at all that this was going to be worth so much money. It’s shocked me,” he continued as he choked back tears.

“In an ideal world, I’d love to keep it, but probably not. I have to be pragmatic and think seriously about what I should do with it.”