Antiques Roadshow

The Antiques Roadshow (AR) is a series on the British television broadcaster BBC . In the program, antique experts travel through the United Kingdom (and occasionally abroad for the last few years) in order to identify and monetize objects belonging to private individuals who bring them to certain, often culturally and historically significant locations .

The first episode aired on February 18, 1979 and was an instant hit. Since then, the program has been running uninterrupted and now with " offshoots " in other countries.

history

Originally, the BBC only wanted to make a documentary about employees of a London auction house in 1977 . Before that, there was already a series on British television with a similar format and the title Going for a Song (for example: Weg für'n Appel und 'n Ei or Sold für'n Appel und' n Ei ). The BBC documentary was so well received by the audience that the BBC program makers immediately developed it into the Antiques Roadshow , which has been broadcast almost unchanged since then.

The objects brought to the expert evaluation are only identified (if the owners do not know what it is) and their probable (sales or auction) price is determined. Nothing is bought or sold in the Antiques Roadshow . The majority of the items usually turn out to be worthless or of relatively low value. Nevertheless, some of these are occasionally presented in the broadcasts, provided the provenance or the “story behind it” is interesting or the objects have a special relationship to the location of the current broadcast. Fakes are also occasionally presented in order to give the experts the opportunity to explain to laypeople (owners) what characteristics they can use to recognize them.

Special pieces

The most valuable pieces presented so far were:

2008: a Bozzetto of the Angel of the North by Antony Gormley was 1,000,000 £ estimated

2012: a Japanese jardinière from 1874 by the French luxury goods manufacturer Christofle was auctioned at the London auction house Christie's for the equivalent of around 755,000 euros (including buyer's premium)

2013: a rare Leica Luxus II from 1932 was auctioned at the Bonhams auction house in Hong Kong for the equivalent of around 520,000 euros (including buyer's premium)