It's not often that an expert on Antiques Roadshow is completely stumped as to what it is they're looking at, but that's what happened on last night's (21 July) episode.
The BBC show visited Forty Hall in Enfield and a couple of people brought Ronnie Archer-Morgan an intricately carved wooden staff that he didn't know much about.
The expert said it was 'exactly the kind of thing that I love to find' for just that reason, before asking the person who brought their antique to the roadshow what they knew about it.
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The man who'd brought it said: "It's been in my family for as long as I know. My mother was born in India and she got married in India.
"It's been with the family ever since, my mother did at one point try to explain to me what it was for, there's some little holes near the top which you can put sticks in and she implied that you hold it with the sun and the stick would cause a shadow."
Archer-Morgan compared it to a sundial, while the man who brought in the wooden staff admitted he never entirely worked out what the item was actually for.
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Fortunately, despite the confusion he had over what the item was for, Archer-Morgan declared 'I love it' specifically because he had no idea what it was.
He said the staff was 'beautifully made' and traced Indian script carved into it and guessed it might be a 'surveying implement'.
Further guessing from the expert put the wooden staff at somewhere between 100 and 120 years old, but since he didn't know what it was he couldn't put a price on it and told the guests who'd brought it on they 'won't be pleased' that they went on Antiques Roadshow and didn't get a valuation.
What he did offer to them was to pay £200 just to take the staff off their hands so he could have the fun of figuring out what it was.
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Whether that would have been a good valuation or not we'll probably never find out since it might just be a nice stick which isn't worth much or perhaps it could be one of those times someone brings in something incredibly valuable.
Isn't that rather the point of Antiques Roadshow?
When the programme's theme comes on you know it's time to start winding down your weekend and preparing for the horror of another Monday morning, but it's always a bit of fun to see someone bring on a truly valuable treasure.
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It's also quite funny to see someone bring their out the family heirloom and be told they'd get maybe £5 for it.
Ronnie appealed to the viewers watching along at home to see if they might have some knowledge as to what the wooden staff was.
Have you got any idea?
Topics: Antiques Roadshow, BBC
Joe Harker