Water plonker! Bottle of Del Boy’s Peckham Spring from Only Fools and Horses Christmas special sells for £2,600 at auction after being rescued from a recycling bin

• Empty 12.5-inch bottle tipped to sell for up to £5,000 at Auctioneum of Bristol
• Twenty million people watched the festive special episode 31 years ago 

An empty glass bottle of Del Boy’s original ‘Peckham Spring’ water from a famous Christmas special has sold at auction for £2,600 after being rescued from a recycling bin. 

The prop – of which there are less than 20 in existence – was used in the memorable 1992 Christmas special of the cult BBC sitcom ‘Mother Nature’s Son’.

The bottle was originally kept after filming by a camera operator working in the studio and was almost thrown away as the owner thought it had little value. 

It went under the hammer at a special auction at Auctioneum of Bristol and was tipped to sell for between £3,000 and £5,000. 

The empty 12.5-inch tall bottle was given as a gift to the cameraman with the label on the bottle reading: ‘The purest Peckham spring water, drawn from an ancient natural source discovered by returning Crusaders 800 years ago.

Andrew Stowe from Auctioneum of Bristol holding up a bottle of ‘Peckham Spring Water’ from the 1992 Christmas special of Only Fools and Horses

The bottle of Peckham Spring Water sold for £2,600 after being tipped to sell for up to £5,000

This bottle of Peckham Spring Water was rescued from the recycling bin when the owner thought it wasn’t worth very much

The label at the back of the bottle reads, ‘The purest Peckham spring water, drawn from an ancient natural source discovered by returning Crusaders 800 years ago’

‘The spring is ideally located where prevailing winds and a protected environment together ensure a purity unique among spring waters.

READ MORE: Bottle of Peckham Spring from Only Fools and Horses 1992 Christmas special is tipped to sell for thousands after being rescued from recycling bin

‘Peckham still is a crystal clear spring water, delicious on its own or mixed. The diet conscious will find this pure low sodium spring water irresistible.’

The bottle was bought by a private collector online. 

The iconic Christmas episode shows Del setting up a production line and filling up bottles with water from a tap in his flat which he sold as mineral water ‘from an ancient and natural source’. 

And this spring water brand turns out to be quite a success – being trialed out by a major supermarket in the show and supplying for local need during a drought.

Eventually, the Trotters earn enough money for a Christmas holiday at the Grand Hotel, Brighton.

Twenty million people tuned in to watch the festive special episode that featured the bottle 31 years ago. 

In the final scene, as the Trotter family goes to sleep in a hotel, the BBC reports that Peckham is without water.

The shot from the iconic episode which shows Del, who is clad is laboratory attire, distilling some of the iconic water

A couple of hundred of the bottles were made for the filming of the iconic episode – the majority of which have been lost

A local reservoir had been contaminated by barrels of yellow liquid dumped by Del, Denzil, and Trigger from his grandad’s allotment.

As a blissfully unaware Del switches off the light, a bottle of Peckham Spring on his bedside table glows yellow, indicating that he has been giving the barrels’ contents to his customers.

Last year an Only Fools and Horses fan has splashed out £6,000 on a bottle of Del Boy’s Peckham Spring Water which was signed by Sir David Jason. 

The bottle was given to a lucky audience member once filming had finished.

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