An Antiques Roadshow guest managed to luck out on the bargain of the century – after landing a windfall worth thousands on chairs she bought out of boredom.
The grandmother brought along the six leather chairs to Windermere Jetty to be valued by expert Chris Yeo, who looked immediately impressed by the quality of the design.
Explaining that she was killing time in a charity shop before picking up her grandkids from school, the woman said the chairs ‘spoke to her’ as her friend was looking for something similar, and at £5 a piece, decided to snap them up.
However, she then explained: "When I got them home I gave them a quick dust down and I noticed underneath a stamp, had a look on the internet and found out they were by John Makepeace."
Chris then told her: "John Makepeace [is] quite simply one of the outstanding names in British furniture design of the last 50 years, and he's still a force to be reckoned with in the design world."
Adding the chairs had ‘all the hallmarks of Makepeace’s style’, Chris praised the craftsmanship and quality of them after all these years.
“They were made for the London headquarters of Kodak Europe in 1985 – and they form part of a large commission for the executive dining suite,’ he explained.
"What you've got here are really significant examples of late 20th century British design, so I’m very impressed. You've clearly got a good eye for it."
As a result, he valued each chair at a pre-sale auction as worth £200-£250 each – meaning that she had scooped up a deal worth up to £1,500, and possibly more.
The woman sat stunned at the value, before laughing as Chris insisted that she ‘had the eye’ for such antiques, before asking to go with her next time.
She agreed, as long as he was driving.
Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays at 7pm on BBC One.
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