In a standout episode filmed at Stephens House Gardens in north London, ‘Antiques Roadshow’ delivered the full spectrum—whimsy to wet eyes—in two unforgettable segments.
First came a battered late-18th/19th-century stone lohan statue, bought for £5 in a Surbiton junk shop decades ago.
Specialist Lee Young admired the “soapy softness” and rich patina from countless hands, noting the piece once held a now-missing implement, perhaps a backscratcher.
Despite condition issues—a missing arm and a head once knocked off and glued back by the owner—the valuation still landed between £1,000 and £1,500, with the tantalizing kicker: reattached arm and original condition might have fetched £3,000–£4,000.
Then the tone shifted.
Militaria expert Mark Smith introduced a bomb fuse, George Medal and citation belonging to Lt Ronald James Smith, the bomb-disposal officer credited with saving St Paul’s Cathedral on 17 April 1941.
Reading the citation, Smith recounted how the parachute-shrouded mine’s clockwork mechanism started ticking after a fire engine roared past.
With as little as 17 seconds to escape, Smith persisted, fitting the gag and rendering the device safe, possibly with just two seconds to spare.
The collection’s auction estimate—£15,000 to £20,000—seemed almost secondary to the palpable emotion in the retelling of a courage-soaked day that preserved a national icon.
It was classic ‘Roadshow’: the small object that expands into a vast human story, and the human story that leaves a crowd standing a little straighter.
First came a battered late-18th/19th-century stone lohan statue, bought for £5 in a Surbiton junk shop decades ago.
Specialist Lee Young admired the “soapy softness” and rich patina from countless hands, noting the piece once held a now-missing implement, perhaps a backscratcher.
Despite condition issues—a missing arm and a head once knocked off and glued back by the owner—the valuation still landed between £1,000 and £1,500, with the tantalizing kicker: reattached arm and original condition might have fetched £3,000–£4,000.
Then the tone shifted.
Militaria expert Mark Smith introduced a bomb fuse, George Medal and citation belonging to Lt Ronald James Smith, the bomb-disposal officer credited with saving St Paul’s Cathedral on 17 April 1941.
Reading the citation, Smith recounted how the parachute-shrouded mine’s clockwork mechanism started ticking after a fire engine roared past.
With as little as 17 seconds to escape, Smith persisted, fitting the gag and rendering the device safe, possibly with just two seconds to spare.
The collection’s auction estimate—£15,000 to £20,000—seemed almost secondary to the palpable emotion in the retelling of a courage-soaked day that preserved a national icon.
It was classic ‘Roadshow’: the small object that expands into a vast human story, and the human story that leaves a crowd standing a little straighter.
