Antiques Roadshow's grieving guest's jaw drops at whopping value of late partner's 'beautiful' book

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.

An Antiques Roadshow guest was left wobbling on her feet after learning the shocking worth of her "missing" book.

The beloved BBC programme visited Stephen's House, Finchley, where specialist Fuchsia Voremberg encountered a mum and son duo clutching their leather-bound tome.

Voremberg remarked: "So it's a warm day here in London but as you pulled this beautiful 18th Century log book out of your bag, I felt the shiver of a sea breeze run over me."

When pressed about its origins, the elderly woman explained: "It was found in the attic of my partner's house near London. So we brought it down to North Devon when he retired and the book got mislaid and couldn't find it in the house."

"Sadly, he passed away last year, and a further search, we found this book."

Her son continued: "He was really interested in the book and it was sad he didn't have the opportunity to do it.

"So we just wanted to make sure that we found out more about it."

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Voremberg revealed it was an 18th Century maritime journal belonging to a vessel named the Triton, which operated under the "massive" private enterprise known as the East India Company.

She went on: "A log book records, essentially, the weather, any particular instances that happen on the ship, and gives you a kind of general sense of the daily happenings of a ship of this nature.

"At this point in time, towards the end of the 18th Century, we're in what we now know as the Age of Revolution.

"There is so much activity and movement that as these ships move through the waters of the South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, the China Sea, they're constantly coming into contact with other vessels with whom they are at war.

"But one of the things that I think it's important to remember is the experience of a sailor on board a ship like this.

"I think it was a really, really hard life."

The expert proceeded to read aloud an excerpt from the logbook dating back to 1793, which detailed how a man named Samuel Adams was confined for "drunkenness and making a disturbance on the orlop deck".

She then recounted a "darker chapter" in the book's tale where a man "committed his body to the deep and performed divine service".

"So it was a really risky business," Voremberg remarked.

She added: "So there's one final surprise that this log book has for us, which, if you skip to the very end, what you see are a series of rather beautifully delicate coastal views.

"This is Prince of Wales Island, which is currently known as Penang in Malaysia.

"Down here, we have a view of Fort Cornwallis and you can see these ships just so delicately depicted all the way along the coastline with the little trees behind them."

The gentleman then enquired whether everything in the book would have been penned aboard the vessel, to which Voremberg explained: "That's a very good question. It probably would have been written on the ship, which is quite an amazing thing to consider if you're using a quill pen and being buffeted around by the oceans."

Concluding her assessment, the specialist revealed: "It's such a beautiful thing, I'm really grateful for you bringing it along.

"I think if this was to come up at auction, I would expect it to fetch a price in the region of £2,000."

With their eyes widening in disbelief, both visitors gasped: "Wow. That's amazing", as the lady appeared unsteady and swayed slightly.

"Do you know what you're going to do with it now?" Voremberg enquired.

The elderly woman replied: "My late partner would have liked it to go somewhere where people would see it", with the specialist responding that she thought it was a "really nice idea".

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.