AN ANTIQUES Roadshow expert was incensed after discovering the shoddy condition of a pillar red post box worth £10,000.
BBC One show star John Foster berated a contestant who arrived at London's Foley Hall armed with the miniature mail carrier as he bluntly quizzed: "What's going on with it?"
As the pair stood in the lush grounds of the vast period property, the female explained she had inherited the eye-catching trinket.
John, who works with the miscellaneous team on the long-running BBC series probed: "It’s almost like you’ve gone into the house, picked up your favourite object and plunked it in the lawn. What’s going on with it?
The contestant, perhaps a little taken aback, replied: "It’s from my parents they were collectors and they’d go to auctions and they found it and loved it and brought it home so I’ve lived with it since I was very small.
"It’s just a quirky thing that you don’t see in people’s houses."
Delving deep into the historical importance of the item furniture expert John said: "When you say you don’t see it in people’s houses it would be in houses like this.
"You had the big country house and this would have stood near the door at its height.
"Not only would they be writing 10, 20 letters a day it was the only way really of communicating.
"A penny to send a letter you would write to your family, you’d write to thank people for dinner, you’d write to thank people for the invite to dinner."
He then dated the item, in a 19th Century Penfold design, as originating from the 1850s.
Talking of it's less than perfect condition, the contestant added: "Generations of grandchildren who’ve played around it.
"It was never treated with respect; it was just a part of our general day to day lives."
As they opened up the box to reveal the black shelving inside, she told how it had recently been used as a drinks cabinet by her parents.
Yet in a telling comment, John told how using it as a place to store booze under lock and key would "hurt" its value.
He added: "It needs a lot of restoration work. At auction something like this £10,000.”
Clearly stunned the owner, wearing a snazzy pair of sunglasses surmised; "Wow, really. Aw, it is like a family member. Would you sell a family member? I don’t know.
"It was amazing to see it in front of the house because it looks so at home."
Antiques Roadshow airs on BBC One every Sunday at 8pm.
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