BBC Antiques Roadshow expert makes bizarre prediction over item’s future after slapping £500 price tag: ‘It won’t’
Antiques Roadshow expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan made a bold assessment about an item he’d valued in a classic episode of the BBC favourite.
The episode, which came from Wollaton Hall in Nottingham, originally aired in 2022 and is scheduled to be repeated on Sunday.
The prediction came after a guest brought along a chess set which Archer-Morgan described as “ingenious” before predicting the item wouldn’t make it to auction.
“I love this mechanical-looking chess set. What made you bring this in?” he asked.
The owner of the unique chess set replied: “My father was a flight engineer flying Sunderland flight boats from Pembrokeshire dock, and in his downtime he modelled this chess set out of nuts and bolts and spare parts from – dare I say – the engineer’s store.
“And he played with it in the war time and we’ve played with it as children and my son now plays with it, so it’s survived the test of time and we’ve still got all the pieces.”
“So, tell me about the nuts and bolts of the story behind this,” Archer-Morgan requested.
“My grandfather was very much the make do and mend,” the guest responded, adding: “He’d never buy something if he could make it.
“I think this kept them entertained. Chess can take a long time but also making it would have taken up some of his downtime as well.”
The impressed expert commented: “I just love the ingenuity of it. It’s made from wing nuts here.”
Taking a closer examination of the chess pieces, he added: “This looks like a spark plug or something and he’s just sawn the turrets of the castle in there.
“I don’t know where he got these balls to put on the end there but he’s obviously sawed these balls and he’s cut this ball to make the Bishop like that. I mean, it really is clever.”
The antiques guru went on to ask the guest about the medals she had also brought along, to which she explained: “This is the Atlantic star medal, which he was given for flying the missions against the U-boats.”
The guest quickly admitted: “He didn’t like to talk about it too much so I can’t really tell you too much about that.”
“They made our shores safe from U-boats and the U-boats used to hunt in packs,” Archer-Morgan stated.
He continued: “So these flying boats, they could long distance, they could land on the sea and wait.
“These guys were so brave. I just think it’s so clever.” Turning the crowd that had gathered, the expert wondered: “To some people it might look scruffy, I don’t know what you guys think?”
The group unanimously agreed the “loved” the item, prompting Archer-Morgan to smile: “Oh, good!”
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As he turned his attention to the valuation, he explained: “With the story, with that connection with the flying boats, I think someone would give £500 for that if it ever came up for auction.”
However, he quickly shared his bold predication, adding: “Which it won’t.”
His instincts had proved correct however, with the guest replying: “No, we’ll keep it for sure,” before thanking Archer-Morgan.