Antiques Roadshow guest speechless as £1.15 painting now worth £4-6K (Image: BBC)
expert John Foster was left astounded when he was shown a painting by Claude Moore, brought in by two sisters. The artwork had originally belonged to their Dutch father, who migrated to Britain during the war and later managed a restaurant in the 1950s.
Their father, with a keen interest in nautical items, decided to open his own coffee shop filled with maritime artefacts like ship lanterns, barrels, and ship paintings. One particular piece by Claude Moore caught his eye and was prominently displayed in his coffee shop.
The painting, named ‘The Flying Dutchman’, shared its title with their father’s coffee shop, which they fondly described as “fantastic”. Discussing the painting, ‘s John Foster said: “What I love, the ghost ship there, The Flying Dutchman and the story if you saw the ghost ship you were pretty much doomed.”
He added: “One of the bits I really love, you see all these figures, standing on deck there staring helplessly at the ghost ship.”
John further noted that Claude Moore was renowned for his maritime-themed artworks, with this particular painting dating back to 1891, reports .
The two guests were speechless after hearing how much the painting is now worth (Image: BBC)
The sisters revealed that their father had purchased the artwork for 30 shillings, equivalent to £1.15 today, and mentioned that an art expert had previously deemed it “out of fashion”.
Discussing a previous valuation, they explained their disappointment, mentioning: “Somebody looked at it a couple of years ago, he said it was out of fashion now and that the prices have plummeted and he wasn’t interested at all.”
Antiques expert John was caught off guard by the item’s potential value; upon hearing their hopes that the current worth exceeded 30 shillings, he remarked: “30 shillings, I don’t even know what that equates to.”
John countered the gloomy market prediction with a more optimistic view: “The thing is, all that he’s saying ‘out of fashion and condition issues’, I just don’t agree with all of that, I think it’s very in fashion – just because it’s so cool.”
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He then projected a rather promising auction estimate: “I think at auction… £4 to £6,000.”
To which the sisters, clearly pleased, replied in harmony: “Wow, OK, that’s pretty good” as they beamed at John.
Reflecting on the item’s emotional significance, they shared: “It’s of huge sentimental value, it was there for me when I was a child, growing up, for both of us.”
They fondly recalled the original price paid by their father: ” He was very proud of it, he found it for 30 bob.”