BBC Antiques Roadshow guest left baffled after discovering old box that's worth five-figure sum

dailyrecord.co.uk:

An Antiques Roadshow guest was left speechless after discovering that a box, which had been wrapped in "brown paper and a tablecloth", was worth a five-figure sum.The popular BBC daytime show visited Caversham to appraise the unique items of guests, including a "stunning" stumpwork box presented to expert John Foster.The antiques guru left the guest baffled when he examined the box and concluded it was easily worth £50,000 to £70,000, the Express reports.Foster began by saying: "So over the years, we've seen on the Roadshow, quite a lot of stumpwork and needlework, stumpwork being the raised panel sections of this box.

You can date it quite easily to the reign of Charles II, so 1675-ish because his image is on top."He then asked: "Now how has something like this - because when we usually see it, it's faded, torn - how has something survived for so long in this condition?"The young guest explained: "Well it came from Milton Manor in Oxfordshire which is where I'm the tour guide and the house was unoccupied for 40 years.

And then when the family decided to move back in, a maid discovered this in one of the old servants' bedrooms, wrapped up in brown paper and a tablecloth.

So she brought it down and said 'ta-dah! '".Foster, who wore white gloves to handle the item, warned that salt from their fingers could "rot" the box.When queried about the item's background, the guest explained: "We can be fairly confident that it was made by a gentry family called Calton, because it's exactly contemporary with the building of Milton Manor."So the house was in the hands of the Calton family for about 100 years and then my employers' family got it 250 years ago so we think it's stayed with the house its whole life." Join the Daily