Antiques Roadshow’s most explosive moments – from shocking links to concentration camps to fake family jewels
ANTIQUES Roadshow has been a firm Sunday night TV favourite for decades.
The BBC programme, now fronted by Fiona Bruce, began in 1979 and has spanned 43 seasons - but what are the most explosive moments?
SAD TRUTH
Antiques Roadshow fans were left sobbing when the truth behind one woman's grandfather's war medals and brooches was revealed.
They came from her family's time at a World War II concentration camp.
The woman appeared on the show to discuss three small metal broaches that her family made while they were trapped in the camp during the Holocaust.
In an even more horrifying tale, she then revealed they were part of a ‘show camp’, which was used by Nazis as photo opportunities to show how well they looked after their prisoners.
The three medallions - a watering can, a dog and a shield - all were made and belonged to her mother and grandmother from their days in the Theresienstadt Camp.
BROOCH BLUES
A couple were recently left disappointed when a BBC show expert revealed the reality behind a brooch passed down from her nan.
Telling the story behind their pieces, the guests offered up their belief that a stunning pin was set with a huge emerald stone - and if so, would be worth up to £100,000.
Picking up the pin believed to be set with an emerald, John told the pair: "This pin is set with a very large green stone, and white stones - that was made in about 1910."
He asked: "Now, what do you think the green stone is?"
Replying honestly, the owner said: "I thought it was an emerald."
But revealing the unfortunate truth, John revealed: "I wish it was. It would be worth an absolute fortune.
"It would be worth £100,000 if it were, but it's glass."
VALUE VOW
An Antiques Roadshow expert refused to value a World War II medal for a harrowing reason.
The owner of the war memorabilia appeared on the BBC programme with her daughter, but the pair did not get the usual monetary evaluation.
The expert mark, who specialises in military medals, said: “Now we always give you a valuation of the Antiques Roadshow - but we don’t give valuations to Holocaust things because there is no price you can put on what someone went through to be awarded that medal.
“So I can’t tell you what it’s worth but now you know what it is, I hope you think it was worthwhile coming to the Antiques Roadshow.”
THE WRITING'S ON THE BOX
One Antique's Roadshow guest was stunned to learn the story behind an inscription on a box was fake.
The box had "The gift of Stella to Dean Swift" inscribed on it - a reference to the writer Jonathan Swift.
Marc told viewers about the writer, saying: "Dean Swift we know full well is Jonathan Swift, the great satirist and Irish writer who wrote Gulliver's Travels."
Swift's friend Esther Johnson had the nickname Stella, and so it appeared as if it had been a gift from her in the 1700s.
However, Marc quickly exposed the inscription as a fake, revealing how Stella' death predated the type of metal the box was made from.
He said: "Stella died in 1728. Sheffield Plate, the material that this little caddy is made out of, wasn't invented until about 1743.
"How could Stella have given this box to Dean Swift. She couldn't have done. It's as simple as that.
"All in all, what we've got is a very old object."
PAINFUL PAINTING
A woman was left stunned after a family heirloom - an exquisite painting - was deemed a fake.
The beloved BBC One was back in Ayrshire at Culzean Castle where expert Dendy Easton evaluated three oil paintings.
The guest had brought them in after inheriting them from her "granny" which feature portraits of people at the beach, on a rowboat and standing in front of a cathedral.
Talking of one of the pieces, purported to be by David Roberts, he said: "Well [Roberts] is a very famous artist but this is a fake.
“It’s a fake signature because he was so important he was a Royal Academian and people copy his work.
“It’s dated 1862, well he died in 1864 so I think they’re trying to mislead you that he’s having the last stroke of his brush."
BEATEN BY THE BEATLES
Beatles memorabilia is much coveted, but this photo of the Fab Four was a fake.
Among the group of items was a number of notes from The Beatles during their heyday, with signatures from John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison appearing in an autograph book, a scrap of paper, and a signed photograph.
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However, after holding onto them for so long, valuer John Foster broke the news to the sisters who owned them that one of the items was most likely a fake, written by one of the Beatles' team due to the high demand.
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Pointing at a signed photograph of the Liverpool foursome, John explained: "The Beatles thing is one that just endures, and it seems to go on and on and on...
"There is a problem, and that's why I asked you about provenance with these, because if you compare these three [groups of signatures], the three ways you've got, they're all different."