Antiques Roadshow Glasgow guest refuses to tell his wife after 'gold dust' finds are given huge price tags
Antiques Roadshow expert Matthew Haley was left in awe at the "oldest ever prints" to appear on the BBC show as he gave the items a huge price tag, leading the guest to make a joke.
An expert from the beloved BBC series Antiques Roadshow was utterly astonished by a collection of treasures, described as "absolute gold dust", that could be worth a fortune.
During an episode filmed at Pollok Park in Glasgow, expert Matthew Haley's enthusiasm was palpable upon encountering an impressive assembly of early prints possessed by one fortunate guest. Haley didn't hesitate to dub the items "absolutely amazing".
Delving into the backstory, the owner revealed: "This one here, the wife bought me that. That's a Koberger Bible from 1485."
He articulated his fascination was not with the figures but with the typefaces, saying, "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.", reports the Mirror.
His journey through the history of print led him to acquire early prints originating from Germany, Rome, Paris, and ultimately England.
The guest's passion for print sparked from his experience working at a "print and ink company", and it was clear the leaf his wife presented was a thoughtful “special treat”.
Haley couldn’t hide his admiration, responding: "It really is special. Well done her."
He then expressed his amazement at the age and significance of the prints, explaining: "I mean, talk about old prints. These are pretty much the oldest printed thing that we'll ever see on the Antiques Roadshow."
He highlighted a paper printed in 1470 – over half a millennium ago – and placed the Gutenberg Bible printed in 1455 as a monumental milestone in human history.
"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 conversation turned to the historical significance of print, with mention that one of the showcased prints was the first press in Rome, whilst another dated back to 1473 by Pete Schoffer, an apprentice of Gutenberg.
Haley was astounded, remarking: "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 somebody interested in books, like me, this is absolute gold dust. It's really phenomenal."
Another page mentioned was produced by Anton Koberger and featured hand colouring, but it was a small leaf from William Caxton's Polychronicon of 1482 that particularly captured Haley's intrigue.
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.
"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."
On the subject of value, Haley suggested: "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.
"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."
As the crowd expressed their surprise at the figure, the guest couldn't resist pulling a face before joking: "Don't tell the wife. That started it."
Haley then told him: "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", with the guest casually replying: "No problem."