Antiques Roadshow guest shuts down expert over rare book's staggering valuation
Justin Croft was delighted to be presented with an extremely rare gardening book to value on Antiques Roadshow.
AR: Gardening Handbook valued between £1000 and £2000
Antiques Roadshow expert Justin Croft was shut down by a guest as she insisted the huge valuation he placed on a rare book "doesn't matter". The popular BBC show was on location in the gardens of Kenilworth Castle when a guest presented Justin with the huge tome.
As he began to inspect the book, the owner explained its sentimental worth. "It originally came from my great aunty and came from her huge collection passed from her estate," she revealed.
The book entitled The Herball or Generall Historie of Plants turned out to have a very interesting history. "The whole title page is really an emblem of gardening in the Elizabethan period," Justin explained.
"It's almost like a miniature garden in its own right and it contains this wonderful and fascinating miniature portrait of an Elizabethan gentleman - this is John Gerard and he's the author of this book.
"He's a terribly important person in gardening history. It's wonderful to see it." Justin took his time carefully flipping through the pages as he gave further information on its genesis.
"This edition was printed in 1636 but the first edition of this book was actually 159, right back in the Elizabethan period, so it's a third edition.
"John Gerrard is important because he was one of the first to cultivate these sorts of things in England, he was growing them in his gardens in London.
"So these are some of the very earliest pictures of potatoes in English books.
"Each of these illustrations are printed from a wood block that is an image cut into a block of wood - and there are thousands and thousands of them.
"That is an astonishing piece of craft, of printer's art - imagine how long it would take to print just one copy," he exclaimed clearly impressed with the antiquity.
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After his in depth explanation he offered a "cautious" valuation. "I'm going to be slightly cautious because it's been rebound and the title page has been quite significantly repaired and laid down - so I'm going to say £1,000 to £2,000," he said.
While most people would be delighted to hear they had such a valuable possession the guest insisted the worth didn't matter.
"Oh, well, the value doesn't matter because it's such a special book that's been handed down by my great aunty - and it's a fantastic reminder of her," she said.
Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays on BBC One and is available on BBC iPlayer.
