Antiques Roadshow item that ‘terrified' kids could be worth five figures on one condition

Edinburgh Live

6 days ago

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WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
An Antiques Roadshow expert explained how his guests could get their hands on thousands of pounds with their quirky family heirloom.
BBC expert Steven Moore filmed another episode of the BBC classic daytime series, this time travelling to the Woodhorn Museum in Northumberland.
This was where he met a mother-and-daughter duo who presented him with a ornament that appeared to have a bird's head and perhaps a frog's body.
He began: 'Looking at this, I can't help thinking of a phrase of my grandmother's. 'It's a face only a mother could love.' Do you love them?'
The mum replied: 'Well I do. For a while it lived in my parents' house in a cupboard in the spare bedroom.'
Her daughter then shared that the younger members of the family weren't exactly fans of the item growing up.
'The bedroom that my brother and I would stay in if we stayed over and we were terrified of it.
'Definitely couldn't sleep with it in there. We would cry until it was removed and hidden far away from us.'
(Image: BBC)
'That's the thing about Martin Brothers. They were idiosyncratic, one way to describe them.
'Crazies may be another way to describe them," Moore said.
'Robert Wallace Martin who made this, got so much character into this face which is clearly a bird. But what's going on here [with the body]?
'Did you have a name for him or was it just sort of terrified?'
When the mum shared that he was nicknamed Ernie, the expert laughed: 'That seems a very unscary name.'
She elaborated: 'Well the story is that my grandparents saw it in an antique shop and walked past it and admired it a few times, or at least my grandmother did.
'And then one day she walked past and it was gone but what had happened, my grandfather had a winnings on the premium bonds and he went and bought it for her -'
Moore then interjected: 'Hence, the name of the computer that drew the premium bonds, of course," referring to Ernie which stands for Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment.
He then turned his attention to the fact that the head, which could be taken off, did not match with the body.
He commented: 'In theory, there's no reason why there could have been a kiln disaster and the body of this one and the head of this one were destroyed and thought 'Well actually, you know what?'
(Image: BBC)
'So yes, maybe they could have put them together but what I think is more likely to happen is a dealer has probably found this [referencing the item's body].
'And thought 'one day, I might find the head'. And they found this head and they put them together and sold them.'
It was then time to give his appraisal for the 'collectectible' and disparate things', concluding that the base would be worth £2,000 and the head £4,000.
'That's a lot for just a head," the daughter laughed but Moore wasn't quite done just yet.
He remarked: 'But there's an intriguing possibility. If you could find the head for this body and you could find the body for this head, you would have a profit of £60,000 to £70,000, because that's how much the two separate items would be if they were complete.'
Upon hearing the whopping value, the mum's jaw dropped before pulling a face, clearly taken aback by the value while her daughter seemed calmer.
She replied: 'That is amazing. I don't think he's grown on me and I don't think I'd be impressed if I got him as a birthday present as my great-grandma did.'
'So Ernie hasn't gone up in your estimation," Moore stated as she added: 'He brings back quite funny memories so I feel like he has to stay in the family.'
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.