BBC Antiques Roadshow fans fume over guests reaction to £80,000 valuation

dailyrecord.co.uk:

An elderly guest on the Antiques Roadshow was left speechless after discovering his Lowry painting could fetch up to £80,000 at auction.The hopeful guest brought the artwork to Stonor Park in Oxfordshire and explained how he came into possession of it.

The BBC show's expert was visibly left stunned by the piece, the Mirror reports.Upon examining the painting, the expert commented: "He painted the mood of the nation, I think.

Provenance of Lowry is crucial. Now thankfully, on the reverse of your picture you have a label from the {undisclosed] gallery that represented Lowry as you know and sold many of his works and you also have this letter."He went on to say: "And this letter was sent to you from the director of the gallery in 1998 and he says 'further to your letter of the 29th July the painting by Lowry was sold by us in 1965 for £175 and its got all of the labels and stock codes..'."The expert then revealed: "In terms of value, I think if your painting were to come up for auction, I would expect to see it sell for a figure in the region of £60-£80,000." The guest chuckled in disbelief and simply responded with "Ok thank you".It's not the first time a guest on the BBC2 show has been stunned by a valuation, as another recently discovered a baseball kept in a drawer at home was worth a small fortune.The baseball, signed by a host of legendary players, became an instant collector's piece.

The Express quoted the owner explaining: "Well my dad loved baseball, how he got these balls, I don't have any idea but when he passed away, we the siblings were kind of divvying up his things, the balls were there and I said I'd take them." Curious about the storage of such valuable items, the owner added: "Oh they were in a sock