expert Mark Hill was forced to run for help on the programme when he was faced with an extremely “scarce” object.
Hill had been presented with a war cartoon dating back to the 1930s, and needed the help of military expert Mark Smith to identify exactly when it originated from.
The discovery was a cartoon from Bruce Bairnsfather, depicting a soldier from the trenches standing next to a Royal guardsman.
Narrator explained: “The great thing about the Roadshow is that we have an expert for pretty much everything. So if one of our team is stumped, they can always get a second opinion,” as Hill dashed over to Smith for his opinion.
He gushed: “I’m so sorry to interrupt, Mark. It’s a big one as well – this is larger than I normally see them, and it’s in colour. I mean, what do you think? Can you tell me anything about what you think is going on with this?”
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Mark Hill was forced to run for help on Antiques Roadshow (Image: BBC)
Smith explained: “You’ve got the classic Old Bill wearing the First World War uniform, with a walrus moustache. He’s got his medals on, so we’re probably talking after the First World War, because the medals didn’t come out during the war. I think what he’s trying to do is to show between what we would call the ‘smartness’ of the guardsman outside the palace and what a real soldier looks like from the trenches.”
The owner of the item explained to Hill: “It was found in my father’s cupboard in the 1980s when he died. It was just in an envelope but it must have belonged to my great-aunt, and she was a bookfolder at Odhams Press.”
Clearly excited, Mark responded: “It could be from the Silver Jubilee from George V or it could be slightly later, 1937, 1938 when a lot of older soldiers were drafted back in and there was an order that they were to take the position of guarding in London, so it’s possibly related to that.”
The coloured cartoon was ‘scarce’ (Image: BBC)
The owner explained she “loved” the drawing and wanted to hand it down to her son to ensure it stays in the family.
But when it was time for the piece to be valued, she seemed slightly underwhelmed as Hill said: “It’s large. It’s coloured, and coloured Bairnsfather illustrations are really quite scarce. But it is a little bit damaged. £500-£700.”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” the owner replied – explaining she doesn’t intend to sell it.