Antiques Roadshow guest refuses to sell 'rare' war medals after staggering valuation

During a classic episode of Antiques Roadshow, one guest refused to part with his beloved war medals despite their eye-watering valuation. Expert Mark Smith instantly commented on the guest's "incredible collection" and asked where he got them from.

The guest explained the medals were passed down to him after his dad had died. "He had a very good eye," Mark praised before going on to explain the history of the items.

He shared: "If we look at this one here, for example, it has the Battle of Waterloo on the back, and it has the word Wellington. Now this is really the first ever medal that the British forces ever gave to anybody.

"Before that, we gave out things like coins, they didn't have your name on, you couldn't wear them, you put them in your pocket. But at the end of the Battle of Waterloo, this medal was instituted to be given to every soldier, and instead of it being made in different metals for different ranks, so a gold one for the Generals, on this particular occasion, Lord Wellington said they should all be exactly the same because they all did exactly the same job.

"So Lord Wellington got one of these, and so did the 10-year-old drummer boys who were on the battlefield."

The expert picked up another medal from the collection called a Military General Service Medal.

He went on: "So one medal with different classes telling you which battles the man was in was invented by Queen Victoria as a concept in 1847. You personally still had to be alive to claim your medal."

As Mark shared where the medal was from, he excitedly told the guest: "This is quite a rare medal. So you have this one as well and this one is from a famous regiment from the Battle of Waterloo.

"This is the King's German Legion, and they are German troops but fighting with the British as they had done in the peninsula, we have this German medal as well for the same period and they're both named, they really are quite spectacular."

"You don't see Waterloo medals like that unless you go to a regimental Museum," Mark added before turning his attention to the value.

"Do you have any idea what these are worth?" he asked as the guest replied: "I haven't got a clue."

Mark joked the medals were only worth £25, to which the guest laughed and branded them "scrap".

"It is getting better by the minute, how about £12,000?" Mark stated which led to gasps from the Antiques Roadshow crowd.

"Never," the guest said in shock as he added: "I wouldn't part with them, Mark as my grandson will have them."

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.