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There seems to be no end to the weird and wonderful items that appear on Antiques Roadshow.
And in a resurfaced episode, one guest was left speechless after discovering the astonishing value of a set of false teeth found at the bottom of a “junk box.”
BBC expert John Foster was equally amazed by the rare object and admitted that in the 10 years he has been making the programme, this was something he had always wanted to see.
When his teeth were shown, John said: ‘I’ve been doing the Roadshow for over 10 years and this is what I always wanted to see.
‘I know you’ll think I’m weird, but why do you have them?’
An Antiques Roadshow visitor was left speechless after learning the value of a pair of “disgusting and hideous” dentures found at the bottom of a box of scrap metal.
Gold and porcelain dentures from around 1845 to 1855 were estimated to be worth between £2,000 and £2,500.
The guest replied: “Well, my father bought a box of junk at an antiques fair. He paid a few pounds and they were at the bottom of the box.”
He went on to explain that the plate, springs and pins holding the teeth are made of gold, which adds to the richness of the piece.
John went on to explain: ‘Now, you were pretty rich if you had a set of teeth like this. It’s like you say, they’re gold and the weird thing about them is that they’re porcelain teeth.
‘And the history of something like that is fascinating, because in the 18th century, rich people were consuming large amounts of sugar and generally their teeth were rotting, they had bad breath and they were losing their teeth. And they needed to fix that.
‘Surgeons tried everything from implanting teeth in chicken heads to see if they would work, to pulling out your tooth if you were poor and instantly selling it to try to implant it.
‘None of that really worked, so when they came up with a set of teeth like this, it was the obvious solution.
‘Now these are made of porcelain on a gold background, but the earlier ones, from the Napoleonic Wars, were actually, let’s say after the Battle of Waterloo, they collected the teeth from all the bodies and corpses, pulled them out and then sold them to make sets of dentures like this one.
‘So the English were walking around with French teeth in their mouths.’
BBC expert John Foster was equally amazed by the rare object and admitted that in the 10 years he had been making the programme, this was something he had always wanted to see.
Speechless, the guest struggled to process the information as he said, “Wow, I’m in awe!”
Undeterred by the slightly unpleasant nature of the object in front of him, John exclaimed, “This is why I love it.”
“I know it’s disgusting and horrible, but it’s a fascinating story, because here, I would say it dates back to 1845 or 1855.”
Revealing the item’s shocking cost, John concluded: ‘ The fact that they are gold, the fact that they are porcelain, £2,000, £2,500.’
Lost for words, the guest struggled to process the information as he uttered: ‘Wow, I’m surprised’
