'Antiques Roadshow' guest says 'I'm amazed' after hearing the value of his 'disgusting' car boot find

"Antiques Roadshow" serves as a reminder that even the most unusual, and sometimes disgusting items, can be worth thousands of dollars. One of the best examples was when a guest brought a set of old, used false teeth on the show. While the expert John Foster admitted that it was "disgusting," he went on to appraise the item at £2,500 or about $3,000, all due to its fascinating history. 

In the episode from Ightham Mote in Kent, U.K., the guest brought a disgusting old item that his father found at a car boot sale. The guest shared that his father bought a box full of items from the sale for a couple of pounds, and he found the dentures at the very bottom of the box. He told Foster that he didn't know much about the dentures, apart from the fact that one plate was made of gold. 

Foster then took over to explain the construction and the materials used to make the dentures. He noted that one plate of the jaw was indeed made of gold, and the pins and the springs were also made of gold. “I’ve been doing the Roadshow for over 10 years now, and this is the one thing I’ve always wanted to see," the expert said, adding, "You’d be pretty wealthy if you had a set of teeth like this."

He then went on to share that the dentures were from the 18th century and had a fascinating history. "During the 18th century, the wealthy consumed huge amounts of sugar. Their teeth were generally in awful condition, and there was a real need for effective dental solutions," he explained. He further added that doctors and surgeons went great lengths to create perfect implants, but very few of the solutions actually worked.

“Some of the earliest dentures were made with teeth taken from the battlefield. After battles like Waterloo, people would collect the teeth from dead soldiers and sell them to be made into dentures," he said. "So all these English people were walking around with French teeth," he joked. As the audience gasped in the background, Foster said, “I know it is disgusting and horrible, but it’s a fascinating history," to calm them down. 

Foster went on to date the teeth to around 1850–1860, and praised the condition and the construction of the dentures. “The fact that they’re porcelain, I love. They are incredibly rare. The fact that they’re gold, the fact that they’re porcelain—I’d say [they’d sell for] £2,000 to £2,500 (~$3,000)," the expert stated, delivering the appraisal. The number visibly stunned the guest, and he said, “Woah! I’m amazed!”

In the end, Foster told the guest that the dentures represented a "rare survivor," almost frozen in time, and thanked him for bringing them to the show.

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