Antiques Road Trip expert left gutted after huge loss on royal item
Host gutted after medals flop at auction
Antiques Road Trip presenter Raj Bisram was left gutted and co-host Irita Marriott screamed “no” after an item with a seemingly royal connection flopped at auction. In a repeat episode, the pair were in Stamford, Lincolnshire, looking for bargain buys to make them huge profits at auction.
Raj was drawn to a royal collection he found at Stratton Oakford Antiques. The 67-year-old co-founder of Bentley’s Fine Art and Antiques Auction House in Cranbrook, Kent, found a “set of medals that all belonged to the same person” and paperwork to back it up.
“There seems to be a lot of paperwork, and with everything that’s militaria, or anything, if you have the paperwork that goes with it, it gives it provenance, that will all help.” When he learned the backstory of the find it proved even more exciting.
The owner of the antique shop, Chris, revealed they were a set of naval medals which belonged to a radar operator named John Philip Middleton during the Second World War. Given that the surname was the same as the maiden name of the Princess Of Wales the name immediately stood out to Raj.
He then learned that the man who was presented with the medals was born in the same area as the wife of Prince William making the connection even more likely. “I find facts like that intriguing,” Raj said, before purchasing the medals for £80.
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Raj had high hopes for the item when he took it to auction at Guildings Auctioneers in Market Harborough.
But it made a huge loss that visilbly stunned both Raj and Irita.
The item sold less than half of what he paid for it originally making a mere £32.
“No!” the pair screamed from their seats as the hammer went down on the deal.
“I don’t think I dared say anything! £32?!” exclaimed Irita who also clearly expected it to go for more.
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“OK, don’t remind me. I do not need reminding!” A clearly disappointed Raj said.
His luck was clearly not in as his other lots also failed to attract substantial bids.
A silver brush set, which cost him £110, also struggled to attract bidders and the outraged presenter stood up from his seat and said to the room of bidders: “Come on! Are you still alive all of you? Come on! These are rare items!”
At the end of the episode, Raj had made a loss of £123.92 meaning Irita won, having only made a loss of £34.84.
However, it was bad news for Children in Need as any profits from the show are donated to the charity which will get nothing from this instalment.
Antiques Road Trip episodes are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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