Antiques Roadshow: Andy McConnell excited over rare glass
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On Sunday’s Antiques Roadshow, glass expert Andy McConnell was astonished by a pair of unusual glasses from Finland. Explaining that he’s “never touched one before,” but that he knew all about them, the specialist was excited by the find. However, it turned out the guest also owned another glass made by the same designer, which he’d left at home. As Andy expressed his surprise, the owner admitted on the BBC show that he was “gutted” not to have brought along the other item of his collection.
“So I must say, I really like these glasses,” Andy commented as he inspected the two items.
“Yeah, I just got a little kind of rush when I saw these,” he added. “So, tell me about them both.”
The guest replied: “Okay, they were given to the family a couple of years back due to a death of a friend.
“And the friend was a lady that escaped the war in World War Two, to Liverpool.
“She was a Swedish lady and she made uniforms for the Russian army. I took a liking to them [the glasses] from the age of about 12.
“And then as I got older and left, my mum just said, ‘take them with you.'”
“I think she was making Russian uniforms in Finland,” Andy corrected him.
He went on: “Because these are both Finnish, and Finland in the post-war era flexed its muscles and said, ‘We are free nations.’
“So what you have is a birth of this amazing glass that was really individualistic.
“It was quite unlike anything else that was being made at the time.
“And many of the designers were women. Because most glass designers had always been blokes.”
“That is one of the reasons I like the glass,” the owner added.
“This is Saara Hopea,” Andy continued. “This is a panther vase, that’s the name, designed by Saara Hopea – but in Finland.
“What you’ve got is, you’ve got one that’s cream, and the other one is kind of second division.”
Gesturing towards the more valuable one, he added: “This is just gorgeous. I mean, you can’t mistake it for anything else.
“You saw my eyes go ‘boing’, little springs come out, because I have never touched one before.”
“Oh wow, that’s great you telling me that,” the impressed guest responded.
“So yeah, I mean, I’ve seen them in the books because Saara Hopea – this is her most famous piece. So you’ve got several of these, have you?”
“I have got another one, yeah,” the guest explained, much to the shock of Andy.
“You haven’t!” The expert exclaimed, to which the guest clarified: “I have got another one, it’s a green one.”
“You got the green one as well!” Andy remarked. “It only came in two colours, and you got one of each! I’m glad you didn’t give them away.”
“I’m gutted I didn’t bring it,” the owner of the glasses admitted, clearly disappointed.
Andy stated animatedly: “So am I!” as the gathered crowd laughed.
Getting to the values, he added: “So this one’s kind of £60, £70, £80, and this one’s £500.”
“Oh, okay, cool – that’s great,” the guest replied, quickly adding: “I’d never sell it.”
“Yeah, I know that, but anyway, thank you very much indeed,” Andy concluded.
Antiques Roadshow continues on Sunday at 7pm on BBC One.
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