Antiques Roadshow guest disappointed after expert reveals beloved item is 'fake'
Antiques Roadshow expert Alexandra Gill had some disappointing news for one of the show's guests in Sunday's episode when she revealed that a painting that had hung in her family home since the 1980s was merely a copy of an original portrait by artist Gerald W Tooby.
The repeat episode saw host Fiona Bruce and the show's experts travel to Dyffryn Gardens near Cardiff, where treasures included a giant Victorian pen knife and a painting of a prize-winning racing pigeon.
Meanwhile, painting specialist Alexandra examined a painting of 'Sulky' by Gerald W Tooby, which was originally bought for 70p.
After being asked how she came across the painting, the guest recalled: "My parents bought him from a Cirencester car boot sale in the late 80s because my dad thought that Sulky looked like his dad, it's been in our house ever since."
"And do you remember your grandfather? " asked Alexandra.
"Yeah I do," the guest confirmed, prompting the expert to ask if the portrait reminded her of her grandfather.
"Yes," confirmed the guest, joking: "He could definitely get a sulk on!"
Sadly, Alexandra went on to reveal that the painting was not an original. "Well the original is a drawing by Gerald W Tooby but sadly this is a copy of the drawing," she explained.
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Clearly deflated and a little surprised by the news, the guest said: "Oh right!"
Alexandra continued: "One of the reasons you can tell that it is a copy is because it's got very sharp edges and if you look very, very closely, you can see it's pixelated, so you can see very, very small dots as the image is made up, which is another indication that it's a copy.
"But it does have Gerard Tooby's signature on it, in ballpoint, so that's always quite fun to have. It means that he knew about it," she added, before inquiring how much the painting was bought for.
The guest revealed: "Approximately 70p."
Finding the silver lining, Alexandra responded: "Well, I'm delighted to say you probably doubled your money!"
"Right, okay," the guest responded, adding: "Better than nothing!"
Elsewhere in the episode, Jon Baddeley examined a humble compass once owned by local man Edgar Evans, who was part of Captain Scott's ill-fated Antarctic expedition and one of the first of the party to lose his life on the ice. Meanwhile, Frances Christie admired a floral painting by Bryan Organ and Marc Allum was intrigued by a giant Victorian pen knife packed with hundreds of utensils.
Antiques Roadshow is available on BBC iPlayer.
