'Antiques Roadshow' guest surprises viewers by turning her 200-year-old table into a staircase

One would usually expect a historic painting, vintage watch, or an intricate piece of art to show up on “Antiques Roadshow,” but sometimes it's everyday items including a crate that could carry immense value. One such item was a portable staircase that a guest brought to the show for an appraisal. It was a metamorphic library table that could double as a staircase, and it was more than 200 years old.

“My parents thought that it was cool, and it’s something that I would like, so they gave it to me as a graduation present,” the guest said. At first, it seemed like a regular table, and antique expert Andrew Holter spoke about its features and deduced who might have been the maker of this fins furniture. He praised the object’s veneers and leather inset top. He also claimed it to be an English Regency writing desk.

“We don’t know exactly who the maker is,” Holter said. “Oftentimes with period furniture, you don’t find a maker’s mark or stamp. But what we can tell, in the English furniture directory, this is a known design. There’s a cabinet maker in London named Thomas Gillow. He created Gillows and Company a little later on, and this is sort of emblematic of his work,” he added.

Being a couple of centuries old and presumably English is not what makes this table unique. The guest had mentioned earlier that this was a metamorphic table. What that means is that it can transform into a completely different object. The guest lifted the top off the table and revealed that there were steps built into it. After the whole table was opened up, it had turned into a staircase for a library.

That is quite unique and innovative, considering that this item was built in the 1800s. Some may raise questions about how sturdy it might be, but there was no reason to worry. While the exterior of the table was built of mahogany, the interior, which included these steps, was made of oak, one of the sturdiest types of wood in the world. The fact that it still stood strong was a testament to its toughness. “A way to reach all of your books on the high shelves,” the guest said. “Well, for me, that’s very important as I am vertically challenged,” Holter replied, making it a light moment between the pair. He then explained that metamorphic furniture like this one holds a lot of value to collectors. You don’t see these things very often these days, and this one was in an unbelievably good condition.

When asked how much it cost her parents, the guest revealed that they had purchased it for $1600. It was then time to appraise the item. “If it were to come to auction today and be sold in a New York auction house in the context of a library sale, I could easily see placing an estimate of $3000 to $5000 on it,” the expert said.