Antiques Roadshow guest teary-eyed as husband to ‘die’ upon pottery value's unveiling

An Antiques Roadshow guest exclaimed her husband was going to “die” when he discovered the staggering price tag of her inherited pottery.

Travelling to Houston, the PBS series met with a guest who had a collection which left expert Nick Dawes and his colleagues very impressed.

“When you came to our table and said: ‘I have a collection of Wedgwood Fairyland Lustres’, we thought maybe we’d see three, four or five pieces but as I understand it, you’ve brought 15 pieces”, he said.

She clarified it was actually 17 pieces that she brought in, with Nick replying: “And we couldn’t get them all on the table but what we’ve done is put together a selection of what we think are some of the more interesting pieces that represent the whole variety of Wedgwood Fairyland Lustres.

“And how did you come across this collection?”

She responded: “The Wedgwood was given to us by my husband’s grandmother.

“Before she passed away, she told her two grandsons that they could have a collection of hers.

“She collected glass, pottery, all sorts of different items and my husband picked this and so it’s been with us ever since.”

It was then time for Dawes to elaborate on the guest’s pieces, explaining: “This is a fabulous collection and when she put it together, she clearly had a good eye, as we say.

“If she bought it in the 1960s or the 1970s, she was able to buy it at a fraction of the value that it has today.

“Wedgwood was a famous name in the history of English ceramics and there are 200 years of Wedgwood production.

“But Fairyland Lustres ware is among the most valuable of all Wedgwood from any period.”

Dawes went on to talk about how the pieces were designed by a woman called Daisy Makeig-Jones who began working for Wedgwood in 1909.

And it was just six years later that she was allowed to create her own line, Fairyland Lustres, which “very few people did”.

He explained: “It was hugely successful for Wedgwood, especially after the First World War when the British and many Europeans were looking for something to escape from the horrors of the war.

“And this is real escapist stuff. These pieces are covered in images of goblins and fairies and set in fantastic landscapes.

“We can see these wonderful poplar trees which are a feature in the background of many of the Fairyland Lustres pieces.

“And then if we turn it up, you can see beautifully painted fairies and imps and goblins all decorate the inside.”

He began to conclude: “The surviving pieces today, and they are kind of fragile, they do get broken and sometimes they’re repaired very carefully.

“But the surviving pieces today are really very valuable. I discussed with my colleagues and we went back and forth on what we felt this table worth would be.

“For all of these pieces with this one being the most valuable, if they came to auction, the low estimate would be about $25,000 and the high estimate would probably be $35,000.”

Clearly taken aback, the guest exclaimed: “Oh my goodness. We thought they were worth maybe $500, $1,000 a piece. I’m going to cry.”

“Some of the little pieces are worth $500 to $1,000 a piece”, Dawes said.

“The more complicated pieces, like the bowl, my colleagues said up to $10,000, I think $7,000 to $9,000.”

She added: “I guess I’ll display it now, take it out of the box.

“My husband is going to die when I call him on the way home, he’s going to freak out!”

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on PBS.