Antiques Road Trip expert Charlie Ross revealed the record-breaking item he found on the BBC show which landed him a huge sale. Charlie, along with fellow expert and competitor James Braxton, made the biggest sale of the series as he found a Staffordshire elephant – an earthenware figure made around 1815 – of which there is said to be only five left in the world.
Charlie, told Daily Mail: “The antiques were stored in a converted chapel and an outhouse. James and I tossed a coin to see who should go where, and he got the chapel while I headed for the outhouse,” where he then found the elephant. He continued: “I knew as soon as I saw him he was something special. I picked him up and looked at the wonderful detail. The price tag was just £12, although I knew this elephant was worth hundreds of pounds. But I wasn’t thinking about the profit I would make; all I could look at was the tiny figure sitting on top of the elephant. He was so charming – he seemed to be calling out to me.’
“The owner of the shop told me he’d found the elephant in a house clearance, sitting at the back of a cupboard. I don’t know who had owned him, but he’d obviously been loved and cared for. At £12, it was a bargain, but I still had to haggle – and I bought him for just £8.
“I was hoping to raise as much as £500,’ says Charlie. ‘But the auctioneer had put an image of the elephant on the website and suddenly there was an extraordinary explosion of worldwide interest.”
The elephant was spotted by antiques expert Myrna Schkolne, who was desperate for her the Staffordshire elephant. She said: “I saw this elephant on the website, and it was love at first sight.
“One had come up for sale but he was albino [the elephants are normally grey], which didn’t do it for me. Another came up at auction a few years ago but had been heavily restored. Then I saw this one and knew we were meant for each other.
“One had come up for sale but he was albino [the elephants are normally grey], which didn’t do it for me. Another came up at auction a few years ago but had been heavily restored. Then I saw this one and knew we were meant for each other.
Myrna placed an email bid, but didn’t want to risk losing it, so, because of the time difference, she got up at 5am to bid over the phone. She said: “The bidding took ages, but when it ended he was mine – and the room, to my surprise, broke into applause.”
She continued: “My elephant had cost Charlie £8 and me an awful lot more [£2,700]. But it’s possible to have two winners, and both he and I were happy.
“There was a huge buzz in the auction room, and when the hammer went down, there was whooping and hollering – not least from me. The £2,700 paid is an Antiques Road Trip record. Of course, what I didn’t realise until later was the buyer had spent 25 years searching for this item.
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