Tonight’s edition of the show was filmed on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria at Osbourne House, which presenter Fiona Bruce explained was the “cherished” summer home of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Introducing the collection of items, antiques expect Clive Farahar said: “We are surrounded by 120 drawings for children’s books of the mid-20th century.”
After being asked to explain why he had brought the items in, the guest remarked: “The artist was my mum, Mary Gernat, and she started working for Armada paperbacks I think around 1961/62 and she carried on for about a decade.”
Praising the covers, Clive added: “And if we say a cover doesn’t say a book, it’s a lie, isn’t it? Because these covers are absolutely fantastic.”
The guest revealed his mother had illustrated 38 Enid Blyton books, and pointing to one cover by the infamous author, Clive remarked: “This one particularly intrigued me The Mystery of the Vanished Prince, now tell me about that one.”
The guest replied: “It’s one of the various mystery books she illustrated for Enid and that’s myself and two or three of my brothers that she used as models.”
He then showed Clive a picture of his mother with himself and his three brothers who she often used as models for her illustrations.
Clive then pointed out that the collection included some Billy Bunter illustrations and covers for Richard Crompton books.
Evaluating the collection, Clive revealed they were worth around £10,000 for the 120 drawings, leaving the guest speechless.
Regaining his composure, he confessed: “Wow, I wasn’t expecting that much, thank you.”
Earlier in the show, a guest was shocked by the valuation of a stamp box enamelled with three victorian stamps.
Alastair Dickenson asked: “Are you a stamp collector or have some kind of connection to stamps?”
“I’m not a stamp collector but there is in my family background a relative who was involved in developing the postal service in the whole of Devon and Cornwall,” she revealed.
“So my interest is whether this had any connection with that,” she continued.
Alastair then asked her if she knew when her relative would have been involved in setting the service up and she informed him it was the “mid-1800s”.
“Well, what you’ve got here is a sort of Rolls Royce of stamp boxes, it’s not for putting old stamps in it’s what you put the current stamps of the day in,” he explained.
He then pointed to some marks on the box which signified the date “1891” which he told the guest may mean the box doesn’t have a connection with her relative, although she did confess she wasn’t completely sure about her dates.
Praising the box, he added: “Enamel is superb, the condition is superb,” before revealing she could expect at least £2,000 for it.
Shocked, the guest exclaimed: “Oh my goodness, well that’s exciting, wow a little stamp box.”
Visibly stunned, she joked: “I might become a stamp collector.”
Antiques Roadshow continues Sunday on BBC One at 8pm.