During a classic episode of Antiques Roadshow, Fiona Bruce took BBC viewers to the beautiful grounds of Belmont House in Kent where the experts put their knowledge to the test. Ronnie Archer Morgan was wowed by a Polynesian club from the time of Captain Cook, while Mark Smith was thrilled to see an original telegram announcing the end of World War II.
However, it was a rather colourful vase that grabbed the attention of expert Andy McConnell.
Before speaking with the guest, Andy turned to the crowd to ask their thoughts on the vase.
“Excuse me, but I’m going to come to you in a minute but first, I’m going to come to you lot,” he said.
“Hands up for those who like it. Well, I don’t think I’m gonna have to ask who doesn’t like it. That’s pretty unanimous.”
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When asked how the vase came into the guest’s possession, she explained: “I inherited this vase from my granny, who I really, really adored.
“And I remember going into her formal lounge, and she had a wall of glass and the sun used to rise and shine through this wall of glass and all her glassware were displayed on this wall.
“It was absolutely stunning, and I always thought it looked like a bird, like a toucan.
“It’s currently in my possession. I have a toddler at home. so it lives in a wooden box, and we thought we’d come to see what everybody has to say about it.”
Sharing his thoughts on where the vase came from, the expert said it was designed by Dino Martens in 1951.
He continued: “This is a superb, classic piece of early 50s Murano and it was made sort of like in the way that you’d pick up hundreds and thousands on a fairy cake.
“You get a piece of colourless glass, which you can see if you look at this right…you can see its colourless core.
“And then you pick up all the bits and lots of chunky bits of stuff and you pick them up and then you would roll them backwards and forwards and they would meld themselves into the glass.”
Andy went on to explain that the first-ever vase of that kind was sold for a staggering $350,000 (£287,415).
However, disappointingly, he told the guest hers wouldn’t fetch anywhere near that much.
“Seriously mega money, but that was the number one,” he said.
“That was the first one, so I’m afraid this one rather pales into insignificance because its current auction value is only a pitiful £6,000 to £8,000.”
As the crowds let out a cheer of disappointment, the guest looked nervous as Andy showcased the vase around.
Despite the valuation, she quickly issued a warning to the expert.
“Please don’t drop it,” she said as Andy jokingly went to drop the vase.
“You have got very good taste,” he went on to tell her.
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.