0:00:24 > 0:00:27There are some legendary stories in the Roadshow Hall of Fame.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31the most popular are those that begin with a bargain buy at a boot sale
0:00:31 > 0:00:33and end up with the bids flying thick and fast
0:00:33 > 0:00:36at a prestigious auction house.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39But have you ever wondered which object brought to a Roadshow
0:00:39 > 0:00:41made the biggest profit?
0:00:43 > 0:00:46Could it be this clock? Let's take a look at some
0:00:46 > 0:00:49of the top contenders from 32 years of Roadshow history.
0:00:49 > 0:00:50Have I to tell you?
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Yes, go on! You don't have to...
0:00:53 > 0:00:55- Four pounds, ten shillings. - I don't believe it!
0:00:55 > 0:01:01People like the idea of something for nothing.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04- I bought it at a car-boot sale. - A car-boot sale?!- Yes.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06- What, locally, here? - Yes, only down the road.
0:01:06 > 0:01:11And if you have bought it at a car-boot sale for very little,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14then I think a lot of people who watch the programme might
0:01:14 > 0:01:16find that appealing.
0:01:16 > 0:01:22- How much did you pay for it?- 25p. - 25p!
0:01:22 > 0:01:25The bargain finds are popular on the Roadshow.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27Because it could have happened to anybody.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29It really could have been you.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31It was about ten shillings when I got it.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37The hunter-gatherers among us, male and female,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41who love looking out for bargains.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46I remember in Witney, this chap came in with a fabulous album.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51These are the most wonderful aquatints of Switzerland.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54And we got into the history of it...
0:01:54 > 0:01:55this is always fascinating,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58finding out where these things have come from.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00Well, it came originally from a jumble sale
0:02:00 > 0:02:04that my mother organised in North London.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07- She paid 50 shillings for this because she thought it was charming. - 50 shillings?
0:02:07 > 0:02:12Yes. This was about 25 years ago, 30 years ago.
0:02:12 > 0:02:1650 shillings is £2.50 in today's money.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18And that was a real bargain.
0:02:18 > 0:02:25And over 37 different views, including, and I saw the binding,
0:02:25 > 0:02:30I thought, we've got something absolutely tremendous here.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33These wonderful oak leaves on the border here. It's beautifully done.
0:02:33 > 0:02:41Lovely tooling. And over 37 different views, including a few watercolours.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Do you have an idea of how much your mother's 50 shillings has gone up?
0:02:45 > 0:02:46Absolutely none.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49Right, well, I think a conservative estimate would say
0:02:49 > 0:02:53somewhere in the region of £10,000.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56That's incredible!
0:02:56 > 0:03:00What a bargain! That's 4,000 times the purchase price.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05If the person is surprised, clearly they thought it was not worth a lot of money,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07and now it is worth a lot, suddenly,
0:03:07 > 0:03:09they've been given a present!
0:03:09 > 0:03:11How did you come by it?
0:03:11 > 0:03:13Well, I bought it 39 years ago.
0:03:13 > 0:03:14How much?
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Have I to tell you?
0:03:16 > 0:03:19You don't have to, but it would be interesting.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22- Four pounds, ten shillings. - I don't believe it!
0:03:22 > 0:03:24It's going to be worth in the region of
0:03:24 > 0:03:28£3,000 - £5,000.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33- You didn't expect that? - No, I've got a shock!
0:03:37 > 0:03:40I think the bargain finds make such great viewing.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44Because there is this lottery element about them.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48It could so easily be any of the people who are watching
0:03:48 > 0:03:51that programme who could have found it in a charity shop,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53could have got it off the internet,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55could have stumbled across it at a fair.
0:03:55 > 0:03:56It's wonderful.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00And it looks to me as if what we have here
0:04:00 > 0:04:03is an extremely handsome microscope.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08I'd like to take everything out of the box and put it together.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Whilst I'm doing that, tell me how it came to you?
0:04:11 > 0:04:14Well, it was an old gentleman friend of my father,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17who, you know, had it about 30 years.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19And they wanted to sell me a few things
0:04:19 > 0:04:21and it was about ten shillings when I'd got it.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23Have you ever had it set up and used?
0:04:23 > 0:04:27I used to do it regularly, trying to look at spiders' legs and things!
0:04:27 > 0:04:30And how did you find the magnification?
0:04:30 > 0:04:33- Difficult!- Yes. It's not easy, is it?
0:04:33 > 0:04:40Well, ten years ago I saw one of these sold for £11,000.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44Really?
0:04:44 > 0:04:46That was ten years ago.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48I nearly fainted!
0:04:48 > 0:04:54That's 22,000 times what he paid for it. But there's better to come!
0:04:54 > 0:04:56It would be hard to beat the discovery made by a man who
0:04:56 > 0:04:59came along to the Antiques Roadshow at Witney court.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03He brought along a slipware cup that he'd bought in a local auction.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05It had an estimate on it
0:05:05 > 0:05:09which seemed reasonable by Staffordshire slipware estimates.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12On the day of the auction there was two people bidding.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15They bid up to one below the bottom estimate.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17I put in one bid and I got it.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21It sat on my ironing board for two weeks because I thought I'd been done.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23I thought somebody'd caught me out.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26In the auction, he'd paid just under £500 for this cup.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29Taking a gamble that this was the real thing.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32He brought it to the Roadshow to find out.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36I've got absolutely no doubt that this is what you discovered
0:05:36 > 0:05:40in that auction and that nobody else believed.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44I mean, I didn't know. And I guess so few people have seen them
0:05:44 > 0:05:47that they didn't believe it would be there either.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50I'm just so glad you said that!
0:05:50 > 0:05:52There's no doubt about it at all.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54So, thinking about what it's worth.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58It's worth a lot more than you paid! There's no doubt about that.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00£50,000.
0:06:00 > 0:06:01No!
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Really?
0:06:07 > 0:06:11That's 100 times what he paid for that 17th-century Staffordshire cup.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13But this next bargain, filmed recently,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16broke all Roadshow records.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18I cannot begin to tell you
0:06:18 > 0:06:21how fortunate I was
0:06:21 > 0:06:24to be at Dumfries House at four o'clock in the afternoon
0:06:24 > 0:06:28on a very wet day, when most of the crowd had disappeared
0:06:28 > 0:06:32and two people approached me and they were carrying a carrier bag.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35A lady and her husband.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38And she said, "We're probably wasting his time."
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Where has this rather unpretentious vase been lurking
0:06:42 > 0:06:43before you brought it along?
0:06:43 > 0:06:48We've been clearing out our loft. And we came across this. We thought it was just a heap of junk.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51So we were going to bin it and then we thought, no, we'll hold on to it
0:06:51 > 0:06:54cos we heard the Antiques Roadshow was coming here.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58And that's why we held on to it. We bought it at a car-boot.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02And it had a plant inside it, a kind of purple plant.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04That was the reason we bought it - for the plant.
0:07:04 > 0:07:05It was quite nice in the bowl.
0:07:05 > 0:07:13It was a moment that I find words are just inadequate to explain.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17Because, you know, you hope for certain things to come in,
0:07:17 > 0:07:19over years and years and it never happens.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22Then all of a sudden, it does, it takes your breath away.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25If you'd have looked carefully, there's a name on it.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29And the name is lurking behind here. We'll turn it round.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32And that name is Lalique.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35And so, have you heard of Lalique?
0:07:35 > 0:07:36Lalique? No.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41No? OK, well, you're on a rapid learning curve today, aren't you?!
0:07:41 > 0:07:43And this vase, it was unassuming.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47But it was a vase by Rene Lalique.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52So, car-boot, for a plant, how much were they asking for the plant?
0:07:52 > 0:07:55We only paid a pound!
0:07:55 > 0:07:57- You paid a pound? - For the vase and the plant.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Well, it's worth a mere £25,000.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03Oh, my God!
0:08:03 > 0:08:07Now, tell me about your loft...
0:08:07 > 0:08:09- LAUGHTER - I don't think I will!
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Congratulations, Anne.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16The Lalique made an amazing 26, 000 times
0:08:16 > 0:08:19what she paid for it, making her the current record holder
0:08:19 > 0:08:22for buying low and selling high.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25I was there when Anne brought that unassuming vase in.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27Who'd have believed it?
0:08:27 > 0:08:30E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk