Antiques Roadshow guest chuckles despite Russian bronze value halved thanks to mistake

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.

An Antiques Roadshow guest couldn’t stop beaming when he received some good news after being told that his actions had made a bronze cast less valuable.

The BBC daytime series travelled to the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh to film another episode and this time, expert Cristian Beadman was on hand to meet with guests.

One of which was a man who presented two “dramatic” Russian bronzes which Beadman felt screamed “Mother Russia”.

Explaining why the Cossack bronze was his favourite, the owner shared: “There’s a lot of family history behind it. My great-grandfather ran a cotton mill in St Petersburg.

“In the early 20th Century, there were a lot of industrial strikes and he was forced in 1905 to intervene in a dispute between the workers and management over the working hours.

“The normal method of resolving disputes in those days was to send the Cossacks in.

“And they used to beat the workers into submission. But in this case, he decided that was not the way to go.

“And he set up a workers’ council to mediate and to reinstate the workers’ rights.”

Pointing to the bronze, Beadman chipped in: “And here we have the plaque along the front that says ‘You did without them!’

“So this is from the very grateful workforce.”

“It was. So when he retired in 1907, he was given that,” the guest confirmed.

The expert then read out the plaque on the back which read “Presented to Joseph Hadfield, your great-grandfather. Esquire by the Office and Hospital of the Nevsky Cotton Mills, St Petersburg, June 1907.’”

He continued: “What a wonderful bit of family history.

“As you know, it’s a mounted Cossack and the original was cast by a man called Eugene Lanceray. He was Franco-Russian. Hugely popular.

“This, I would probably describe as a late 19th Century cast and it’s a very wonderful thing.”

Turning his attention to the second of the two casts, the guest admitted he knew very little about it, apart from that his father had inherited it from his mother.

Beadman elaborated: “So you know it’s Russian. It is by a very, very good sculptor called Nikolai Lieberich, hugely respected.

“The thing that he was most appreciated for, believe it or not, was the texture and the finish that he could achieve with depictions of wild animals.

“And here we have this wonderful example of exactly that, the bear’s fur.”

Beadman then had to be the bearer of bad news as he pointed out: “They’re both quite shiny, I can’t help noticing. Are you a keen polisher?”

“I was last weekend,” the guest laughed.

The expert explained: “It’s not necessarily a good thing to do with antique bronzes.

“It takes away the original patina which does sadly affect the value.”

It was then time for the valuation itself, starting off with the Cossack bronze: “This one is probably in the region of, at auction, of £2,000 to £4,000.”

But disappointedly he added: “If it weren’t so highly polished, you could have doubled those figures.”

It was a different story for the second of the two bronzes though: “The Lieberich is again quite highly polished, so I think that one at auction is only £20,000 to £40,000.”

The guest pulled a face as he heard the whopping value and then chuckled.

“Thank you very much indeed,” he grinned as Beadman stated: “Beautiful things.”

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.