AN ANTIQUES Roadshow expert 'erased guest's memories' with bombshell news about a family teapot.
A recent episode of Antiques Roadshow saw expert Will Farmer meet two sisters who had brought in the hand-painted item
The item was decorated to look like a woman in an apron but they admitted they had no idea about its origins.
One of the ladies told him: “It belonged to our mum and it was always there as an ornament in our house, it wasn’t used, but it was kept on the shelf.”
Will asked what they had called the teapot and with a laugh they said: "We just called it The Fat Lady.”
But will shocked them as he said: "Let me erase all of your life memories with this teapot because I would like to introduce you to ‘Bones The Butcher’.”
He continued: "Bones The Butcher was created in 1928 in the potteries by a lady whose name you might have heard of.”
He went on to reveal it was by Clarice Cliff, a famous ceramic artist, saying: "In 1928, Clarice started to work on a range of new wares that were called Kiddies ware, and it was actually created with a young lady called Joan Shorter.”
He added that the teapot was part of a set and a collaboration between Clarice and Joan, who was the daughter of Clarice's boss Collie Short.
He said: "Collie Short wanted [Joan] to work with Clarice to create some plates, pots, crockery, all things that children could use."
Will then moved on to the value and said: "So we’ve got to look at the value and there is a little hairline crack just there at the top of the handle.
"Taking that into consideration, ‘Bones The Butcher’ is worth £800 to £1000”.
The sisters were stunned and said it was "unbelievable".
Antiques Roadshow is available on BBC iPlayer.
