Antiques Roadshow audience gasps over value of Blade Runner memorabilia worth 6-figure sum

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow. 

An Antiques Roadshow audience couldn’t help but gasp upon hearing the six-figure sum given to an impressive collection of Blade Runner memorabilia.

Filming at Clissold Park, BBC expert Jon Baddeley met with the owner of an array of items from the 1982 Ridley Scott sci-fi movie Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford.

Explaining where it came from, the guest said: “This collection belonged to my dad, he saw the film when it came out in the cinema and again, he wasn’t too sure of it himself but he waited until it came out on VHS and he saw it and thought ‘Yes, this is great’ and started collecting pieces of memorabilia, posters and everything that was coming out at the time.

“And then as his passion grew for it, he decided to go a bit more hardcore and acquire actual pieces from the film himself.

“He started collecting pieces in the late 1990s through to the noughties when things were quite a reasonable price and obtainable at the time. He managed to obtain the stuff directly from crew members themselves.”

Baddeley continued: “With all memorabilia, the provenance is really important.

“Also there are some quite academic items here like the costume designs, an incredible album, photographs, notes, all the costumes used throughout the film, and that in itself is an amazing museum artifact.

“And behind that, you’ve got the storyboards which, again, gives you the sequence, the pre-production. They produce all these storyboards and you told me something about the red dots above them.”

The owner said: “Yeah so the red dots here are the approvals from Ridley Scott himself. So the effects team, which was led by Doug Trumbull, would have them all up on the wall.

“Ridley Scott would then come in, have a look at them all, and decide which ones he liked and he’d put little red stickers on there and that would be his approval of ‘yep, we’re going with that one’.”

“Now there’s only one of that one. They’re not mass produced so those two albums, totally unique”, Badeley emphasised.

Other items in the collection included the neon umbrella, Harrison Ford’s director’s chair, his gun that was used throughout the movie, as well as a disheveled-looking Zora costume that was worn when actress Joanna Cassidy was “smashing through glass”.

Baddeley pointed out a daring red crew member jacket with the guest explaining: “So it was Harrison Ford that apparently got black crew jackets for everyone and he presented a black crew jacket to Vangelis, the composer.

“Vangelis looked at it and was like ‘No. No, I want something a bit more flamboyant and that’s his own crew jacket.”

It was then time to appraise the array of items: “I should emphasise that this is just a small part of your collection, maybe 20-25 percent but I’ve been totting it all up and I’ve seen the other items you’ve brought along today.

“It is a hugely important collection, it’s a massively important film and I think if it went to exhibition, there would be many many thousands who’d want to come and look at all these items. It’s such a cult. What’s it worth? Probably in the region of £200,000 to £300,000.”

The audience behind the guest collectively gasped at the impressive figure as he said: “Wow. Wow. Wow. OK. Fantastic. Wow. I mean, for me, for my family, for us, we would like to see it all in a museum, that’s what we would like.

“The thought of people coming to see it and enjoying it, that’s exactly what we want.”

Baddeley commented: “And it’s an accolade to your dad. He had the foresight. He had the vision. He had the passion. We all want to share in that.”

Furthering this sentiment, the guest later added: “It’s been great sharing this with everyone and my dad would have been really, really proud.

“He loved this stuff but unfortunately it’s just been kept in boxes because he didn’t think anyone would be interested in it.

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.