WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.
Two Antiques Roadshow guests seemed underwhelmed when they were told the extortionate value of a piece of artwork they purchased two decades ago.
Expert Frances Christie was on hand to analyse paintings brought in by guests when they visited the BBC show at the Pollok Country Park in Glasgow.
While shooting an episode of the daytime series, Christie was delighted to meet a couple who had in their possession a piece of art that she was particularly delighted to see.
She said: “Now, this is a really exciting picture to find on Antiques Roadshow because it’s by an artist who grew up around here, Dorothy Steel, who really should be so much more well known than she is.”
Answering the expert’s question on how it came to be theirs, the man said: “Found it in a charity shop not far from here about 20 years ago, and I could see straight away it was a quality painting and certainly worth the £5 they charged me for it.”
Christie queried what drew him to the painting, to which he replied: “Well it’s a typical west of Scotland scene there, you can see the docks with shipyard cranes in the background. I’m guessing it’s either in Port Glasgow or Greenock where Dorothy Steel was from.
“It just appealed to me, the colours, it’s got that impressionist softness, the light [and] the subject matter most of all.”
His partner added: “It has that mid-century look which is really nice and nice kind of flatness when I think about the painting as well, that’s really attractive.”
Christie went on to elaborate that Steel had studied at the Glasgow School of Art and had lived in and around Glasgow all her life.
She continued: “This totally shows off what Steel was really good at, and that was painting a scene she would have seen day in day out while she lived here.
“And actually, it’s a scene that’s kind of disappeared now, I don’t know whether these tenements are still there, but in terms of social history, going back to the middle of the last century when Steel was painting, it still probably would have been teaming with activity.
“Whereas today, it’s a very different part of the Clyde.”
When asked again how much they paid for the painting, the man said £5 with his other half commenting: “I think we probably paid more for the taxi to take it home because it was raining that day.”
Christie then summarised: “In my opinion, this is probably one of the best deals I’ve ever seen.
“Her work doesn’t come up at auction very often at all and I think if this was to come at auction today, I would put an auction estimate in the region of £3,000 to £5,000.”
Despite the top value for the artwork, the couple barely reacted with the woman calmly stating “Oh my goodness” while the man said, “Nice. Wow”, as he nodded and smiled.
In a separate interview, he said: “I can’t think of any better fivers I’ve spent. I can’t imagine getting more value for money, that’s for sure.”
The woman then continued: “I’m very pleased, obviously, to hear that it’s worth money, but it’s worth a lot more than that to me.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.