BBC Antiques Roadshow guest gobsmacked as late father's 'rare' item given huge valuation

ok.co.uk:

An Antiques Roadshow guest was utterly astonished when his late father's remarkable historical piece was valued at a jaw-dropping tens of thousands of pounds.

During a rerun this week, the BBC show visited Lytham Hall in Lancashire, uncovering some truly intriguing family heirlooms and artefacts.

Jon Baddeley, a specialist on the programme, was enthralled by a 130-year-old automaton of a female snake charmer who danced and played music, enchanting dinner party attendees. "It was made in Paris at the end of the 19th Century by a company named Roullet-Decamps," he explained. "She was obviously called the Snake Charmer.

How has it come into your possession?", reports the Mirror. The item's owner explained that the mechanical entertainer was a part of his father's collection of antiques, which he began to amass after retiring. "He's sadly passed away," the owner confided. "When he retired he decided to collect things like this. "It's one of his prized possessions, yeah," he confirmed, answering Jon's question. "He had two, this one and the Cambodian Dancer." Jon went on to say that these automatons were never meant for children's play. "They were made to entertain adults," he pointed out. "You can imagine yourself at a dinner party in Paris in the 1890s.