Antiques Roadshow guest gobsmacked after rare artwork found in a SKIP receives huge valuation

AN Antiques Roadshow guest was left gobsmacked after rare artwork found in a SKIP received a huge valuation.

Sunday’s edition of the BBC show saw a lady bring in a drawing of a man and a woman in swimwear.

Expert Frances Christie was delighted to see it, saying: “It’s quite rare to see something so small that puts such a big smile on everyone’s faces.

“This is unmistakably the work of Quentin Blake, with that pen and ink line, the spontaneity of it, those huge smiling faces. How did it come to be yours?”

The lady replied: “Well, about thirty years ago when I was an art student in London, I had a summer holiday job to clear out an office of a charity.

“And amongst all the papers that were going in the skip was this drawing.”

Frances was shocked and exclaimed “No way!” before the lady added: “I recognised it as a Quentin Blake illustration because he’s one of my favourite artists.”

She continued: “It wasn’t signed at the time. A friend was going to interview Quentin Blake and so I gave him the illustration and said if you get the opportunity, could you ask him to sign it? Which he did.

“Quentin Blake told my friend the story behind the drawing, and it was an illustration for a leaflet about contraception.

“And originally, the couple were naked, but the powers that be thought it was a little bit risqué, so he was asked to put the swimming costumes on them.”

Frances was enthralled by the story and said it was an “amazing find”, before finally delivering her valuation.

She said: “Given that you didn’t pay a bean for it, and it’s something that you found amongst a bunch of boring papers, if this was to come up at auction today we would probably expect a valuation of somewhere between £1,000 to £1,500.”

The guest looked shocked, replying: “Oh my goodness, That’s amazing!”

Antiques Roadshow airs on Sundays on BBC One.