'Antiques Roadshow' guest left in disbelief after expert reveals the staggering value of his item
Guests underestimating the value of heirlooms and collections aren't a rare sight on "Antiques Roadshow," where experts leave them floored. But there was an exceptional moment when one journalist brought an actual Olympic torch to an episode of the show that was shot in Pollok Park, Glasgow, Scotland. Even the antique expert wasn’t expecting that.
"Before I came here today to the Roadshow, I had a long list of items in my head that I thought I might see that would appear out of boxes and bags in front of me. But one of them was definitely not an Olympic torch,” he said to the owner of the historically significant object, veteran journalist Gavin Bell. The guest then revealed the story of how he got his hands on the torch and got to keep it.
Bell was an 800-meter runner in his younger days and wanted to compete in the Olympics. He could not do that as an athlete but was successfully sent to the 1988 edition of The Games in South Korea by The Times as per Express. “I met a couple of young English lads who'd been appointed to do the public relations for the torch relay,” he revealed. "And they found out about my athletic background and invited me to carry the torch on the first day it arrived in Korea." The expert then took over and spoke about the intricate details of the torch such as the scrolled and gilt leather handle, the iconic five rings, and the crossing dragons and mythical figures. When it came to putting a price tag on the object, the expert said that Bell could comfortably get somewhere around $1,800 to $2800, which left him shocked. "Well I can't accept money for it, I'm an amateur," the journalist exclaimed as the expert said that the torch was one to hold on to.
But the show's Olympics collection doesn't stop at a torch, one guest brought a gold medal to Fort Worth during a PBS taping of “Antiques Roadshow.” The guest’s father was the winner of the medal as he was the captain of the first-ever United States men’s basketball team assembled for the games. It was held in 1936 in Berlin which was the capital of Nazi Germany at the time.
The final was played between the US and Canada and the former came out on top. It was played outdoors on a clay surface since Adolf Hitler considered basketball to be an outdoor sport at the time. However, the day of the final saw a massive downpour and players had to play in the rain on a surface that had turned to mud. As per his son, team captain Joe Fortenberry called the match a joke.
The antique expert said that the historic gold medal would sell for somewhere between $100,000 and $150,000 at an auction. It’s important to note that this was an older episode of the show and the medal could far exceed that monetary value today.
