WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
An expert was left astounded by a guest’s “absolute gold dust” collection of early prints, worth a small fortune.
The episode, filmed at Pollok Park in Glasgow, saw expert Matthew Haley introduced to an owner of an extensive collection of early prints, which he immediately described as “absolutely amazing”.
The guest explained how he came into possession of the items, saying: “This one here, the wife bought me that. That’s a Koberger Bible from 1485.
“She knew I was interested in old print and I got that. I wasn’t really interested in the figures, I was more interested in typefaces.
“So I started collecting different typefaces. That led me to buying early prints when it left Germany, Rome, Paris, then eventually England there.”
Antiques Roadshow guest jokes ‘don’t tell the wife’ when ‘oldest ever prints’ on BBC show get massive price tag (Image: BBC)
An Antiques Roaddshow guest was given his first historical print by his wife as a “special treat”. (Image: BBC)
His interest in print stemmed from his work for a “print and ink company”, with his wife gifting him the leaf as a “special treat”.
Haley responded with a smile: “It really is special. Well done her.”
He then declared: “I mean, talk about old prints. These are pretty much the oldest printed thing that we’ll ever see on the Antiques Roadshow.
“There’s a sheet of paper here that was printed in 1470, 550 years ago. Gutenberg printing the Gutenberg Bible in 1455 and that was an absolutely seminal change in, basically, the history of the human race.
“Without printing, we wouldn’t have had the Reformation. It’s like the kind of explosion that happened when the internet came onto the scene. This was happening in the 1450s, 1460s and 1470s.”
The guest explained that one of the prints was from the first printing press in Rome, while another was a 1473 print by Pete Schoffer, Gutenberg’s apprentice.
Haley remarked: “It’s amazing. I mean, when we’re touching this, we’re touching something that could have been touched by the man who worked with the man who invented printing with movable type.
“For someone like me, who is interested in books, this is absolute gold dust. It’s really phenomenal.”
The third page, printed by Anton Koberger, had been hand-coloured.
However, it was the smallest leaf, from William Caxton’s Polychronicon in 1482, that truly captivated Haley.
Antiques Roadshow Matthew Haley labelled a collection of old prints as “absolute gold dust”. (Image: BBC)
The expert revealed: “William Caxton, the first person to print in England and in the British Isles and it’s printed in English as well.
“It’s a type of English but you can read it reasonably well. And this is just a small part of an amazing collection that you’ve formed.”
Wrapping up his appraisal, Haley stated: “Coming on to the idea of value, well, a leaf from this book printed by William Caxton, just one leaf on its own at auction would make something like £600 to £1,000, for just one sheet of a book.
“Then you imagine you’ve got a leaf from 1470, 1473, later on, and this huge and spectacular collection.”
Expert Haley estimated the collection’s worth, stating: “I think if you added it all together, the individual values of these leaves, I think you’d be looking at something like £5,000 to £10,000.”
The crowd’s astonished reaction was met with a humorous response from the guest, who quipped: “Don’t tell the wife. That started it.”
Haley expressed her delight, saying: “It’s amazing, it’s wonderful, and it’s amazing to have such early historic printing material on the Antiques Roadshow. Thank you so much”, to which the guest nonchalantly replied: “No problem.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on One and iPlayer.