Antiques Roadshow showed that family treasures with an extraordinary relationship to the Royal Family are worth up to £150,000.
This week’s installment of the long-running series saw the experts return to Pollock Park in Glasgow, where they had already recorded an episode last year.
This time, the things on display included a Dorothy Steel painting, a Victorian-era water purifier, and a selection of Alexander McQueen clothing.
However, the most amazing story and valuation came from a silver urn and basin, as well as a two-century-old bottle of rosewater.
The guy who owns the goods said that they came from his ancestor, Jock, who helped save King James V’s life.
‘In the 14th century on the outskirts on Edinburgh in a place called Cramond, one day he heard a commotion on a bridge and saw a man on horseback being attack so he ran to the bridge and helped fend off the attackers and then took the man into his house and bathed his wounds,’ he began when re-telling the incredible story.
‘Long story short, it turned out he had saved the life of King James V, and as a simple farmer he was then gifted land by the King.
‘But a condition of that was that he and his ancestors must be available to the King and his ancestors if ever called on again at Cramond.’
Fast forward to 1822, when George IV visited Scotland on his royal tour, descendants of the family presented the King with a basin of water, as James V had asked three hundred years before.
A ritual hand washing followed, representing the cleaning of the wounds.
The actual water used in the ritual, as well as the two pots, were shown in a glass jar on the show.
According to expert Gordon Foster, the ure originated from a manufacturer in the early nineteenth century who was known as ‘the Rolls Royce of cutlery’.
‘Anything by Paul Storr that turns up on the market are hugely sought after,’ he said.
While the creator was the same company, it was Phillip Rundell.
After recounting how the initial ceremony went, the owner described how the objects had been utilised by future kings, including the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Gordon went on to say that even without the tale, the cutlery was worth ‘a large amount of money’.
‘We’re looking at £30-50,000,’ he said.
He continued: ‘I would regard these as one of Scotland’s treasures. These are extremely important pieces of silver. You have the royal connection and the continuing royal tradition that is going to keep going down the generations, which takes this into a whole different level of value.’
Coming to his conclusion, he shared: ‘I don’t want to frighten you too much, but I would put a valuation of this on £100-£150,000.’
The family and the audience suddenly gasped, apparently shocked by what they’d just heard.
He added: ‘It could even be slightly more.’
However, as the owner shared: ‘For us the value is priceless because it is the only way we can do the service, is to continue using the silverware that has always been used for it.
‘Thank you for telling us, but it is not going anywhere.’
As the segment wrapped up Gordon added: ‘Thank you for sharing this with us…I am still gobsmacked, but I have loved seeing it.’
Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays at 7pm on BBC One.
Source My Celebrity Life.