Antiques Roadshow guest’s jaw drops at extortionate price for treasured family heirloom

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Antiques Roadshow. An Antiques Roadshow guest’s jaw dropped when she discovered just how much her mother-in-law’s wedding present was really worth. Filming at Pollok Park, Glasgow, an elderly woman was accompanied by her daughter as she presented a Marion Wilson brass mirror that was originally made in the city. Kicking off the appraisal, expert Will Farmer commented: “Well, when coming up to Glasgow, I had a little tick list of things I’d hoped to see.

“And one, of course, is that wonderful essence, that vibrancy, that joy that is work from the Glasgow School and boy, have you delivered. So, thank you. But tell me, what do you know of this glorious mirror?”. “The mirror was originally my mother-in-law’s. From there, it’s come along with me, because I feel I’m a custodian of the mirror,” the owner explained. “More recently, I’ve come to live near my daughter and she was going to hang it up in the hall. And she looked at the back and she said ‘Mum, have you ever read the notice?’ And I said ‘No, no.’”.

Farmer excitedly said: “Well I feel we ought to read out what it says. We’re all waiting with baited breath!”. Reading out the note on the back of the mirror, he continued: “‘Designed and worked by Marion Wilson. For Charlotte Stewart who gifted it to Margaret Lawson on her wedding day.’. “And actually, it’s dated 1929, which really is quite late for this movement and this style.”. The woman confirmed that the bride in question was her mother-in-law and it was her aunt Charlotte who had the mirror commissioned from Marion Wilson.

“Wow. So we have a direct link. Now, if you look at it, I mean apart from just the sheer joy of it, the style of it, the essence - just everything that it evokes,” Farmer remarked. “Now, we’ve got to look at Glasgow at this time and it was a city that was absolutely in full force. People all over the world looked to Glasgow as arbiters of style and taste. “And, of course, we’ve got those key names, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Margaret Macdonald, Jessie M King. But you look at this and there’s so much in it, isn’t there?.

“And this is a hammered-brass mirror, repousse work, with these wonderful almost Tree of Lifes leading up to these Scottish or Mackintosh or Glasgow roses. “But there’s something more to yours which is this, this circle that runs through to unite them. “And my reading of it and it is merely conjecture, is, I think this is an addition, and I think this is uniting the two Trees of Life to symbolise the marriage.”.

Farmer teased that the pensioner simply described herself as a “custodian” before asking if her daughter was to be the next “custodian” to take on the mirror. The daughter laughed: “Well interesting you say that. I would love to think I might get the mirror passed down to me. “But I know my brother in America, I think he’s secretly got a red dot on it so…”. Farmer replied: “Do you know what? I could argue, should it ever leave Scottish turf?” which the daughter agreed with as she beamed.

Summarising, he went on to say: “This has, obviously, huge family significance to you, but there still comes a value. “So I think it’s worthwhile that you should know and this is a market that is ever growing. “And I think this wonderful mirror with its history, with its connection with you and the family and the whole story therein, in the current market, we’re looking in the region of £3,000 to £5,000.”.

The guest’s jaw dropped as her daughter pulled a face at the whopping price tag. The owner queried: “Really? I would never have guessed that.”. Farmer then stated: “It ticks every single box that you would want to see. “You only have to look at this and know where it was from and the time it was made. So thank you so much for sharing it with us.”. Later on in a separate interview, the daughter commented: “I think it’s been absolutely amazing to be here, because it’s so important to mum.

“And in terms of the value, it’s just a lot more than we actually thought. I’m not sure it’s something that we’ll be rushing to sell.”. It was then Farmer who had the last word on the item: “You always hope when you come to a city that’s so driven by such amazing style, that something will come out. And boy, it did. I’m really, really thrilled.”. Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.