Antiques Roadshow guest takes expert’s ‘breath away’ with ‘rare beauty’ worth a fortune

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.

An Antiques Roadshow guest’s eyes widened upon finding out just how much her dad’s tribal weapon was actually worth.

BBC expert Ronnie Archer Morgan was on hand at the Scarborough Grand Spa Hall to meet with guests and their unique items. But little did Morgan know that he was going to be presented with an item that he was personally thrilled to see.

“What’s a feminine person like you doing with a big, heavy, aggressive thing like this?” he questioned.

The guest explained: “Well it belongs to my dad actually, it’s not mine, and it was passed down to him by his dad who acquired it through some elderly spinster ladies who gave it to him.

“He was a solicitor in Scarborough town so that’s how but I don’t know anything more.”

Morgan exclaimed: “Amazing. I can’t actually believe what I’m looking at. This is absolutely superb.

“It’s a Fijian Bulibuli and this is a thing of rare beauty. It is really what us collectors look for. This is the best I’ve ever seen”, with the guest querying: “Really? Wow.”

The expert continued: “It is for caving in skulls, of course, and it would do that with some ferocity.

“And actually, they’ve often found people’s skulls on these islands in Fiji and Tonga and places like that, and the skulls are caved in and it’s not surprising, is it?”

The "absolutely superb” tribal item had a domed head covered in raised carved studs with a chip-carved shaft made out of iron wood, which Morgan believed was from the 18th or early 19th Century.

“The chip carving goes all the way down the shaft. I’ve only ever seen them with plain shafts so this one is as good as it gets”, Morgan said.

“The colour is superb and the colour would have been as important to the owner as say, the colour of someone’s tie today. It said who the tribesman was. It’s a prestige object as well as a weapon.

“The man who owned this would have carried it with a swagger. It said who he was and I’ve never seen one this long either.

“Normally they are a good six, seven, eight inches shorter than this.”

Morgan excitedly shared: “It just takes my breath away. I’m really beside myself with excitement.

“I just want to throw my collection away, that’s the truth of the matter.

“I know some dealers that had one and they thought it was the best thing they ever had and it was half as good as this and I’m not joking.

“Did you have any idea what a rare thing this - how did it find its way from the middle of the Pacific to Scarborough? It’s just unbelievable.”

It was then time for the all-important appraisal: “And with an unbelievable object comes an unbelievable price.

“I’m thinking about this. The market for this sort of thing is more in Paris or in Brussels and in New York.

“But they get very excited and they’ve got galleries that deal in this sort of stuff and a nice one of these would probably be £8,000 to £10,000.”

Upon hearing these figures, the guest’s eyes widened, clearly taken aback by just how valuable the weapon is.

But Morgan wasn’t done quite yet: “This, I would stick my neck out and say if you had to buy this from the Sablon in Brussels, I think it would cost you between £30,000 and maybe £35,000. I really think it could make that.”

Laughing, the guest exclaimed: “Wow! That’s amazing!”

“It is the best I’ve ever seen and I really mean that. I can only dream”, Morgan shared.

The owner replied: “Oh I’m so happy. My dad’s going to be absolutely thrilled. That’s fantastic. Thank you so much.”

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