Antiques Roadshow guest gasps as item bought for £5 given huge valuation

Two people were left in utter disbelief during the latest episode ofAntiques Roadshow on Sunday night. This comes after one guest was recently speechless over their valued item.

As BBC host Fiona Bruce presented the show from Lister Park and Cartwright Hall in Bradford, viewers saw a wide range of items brought in to be valued.

This included two Indian albums, which were believed to date back to around the start of the 1800s. Expert Runjeet Singh spoke to the two women who had them, asking how they first came into their possession.

One of them replied: "My mother got them in a second-hand market in Dublin." Asking how much she paid for them, the woman explained it was possibly around £5 for both of them.

Giving more of an explanation on the albums, the BBC expert said: "So we have two albums and the school of painting is called Company School, meaning East India Company. Started in 1600 and went on well into the late 1800s.

"Let's face it, they were there to extract money and resources from India. There are some small mercies and human stories that come out of it.

"So you have this beautiful new school of painting, which is a mix of Indian and European, and you see some beautiful examples in these albums."

Highlighting one painting in particular, Runjeet told the woman that it shows Indian life, with tradesmen working in the background. Wanting clarification, the woman asked if the books were made for Europeans, to which the BBC expert confirmed.

He added: "This painting here, it's great that we've got such an early date 1780 and this album is just stuffed with wonderful examples of this mix of Indian and European work."

Revealing that the paintings are very collectable, the expert clarified that each piece is carried slightly in quality. Stating that one image is worth £1,000 alone, the younger guest asked if each page was worth that value, to which he agreed.

One of the women replied: "That's extraordinary!" The expert told the duo that that was just the starting point.

He told them that another individual's image was worth between £6,000 and £8,000. The expert said: "So, to try and put an overall figure on both albums, minimum £22,000."

The pair were in shock by the staggering value, although one of them told the expert they were too beautiful to get rid of.

Speaking to the cameras after their valuation, they confessed: "A lot more than we thought! Really nice to know more information about it."

While the other person added: "Startling, really extraordinary."

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.