'Antiques Roadshow' guest brings an 18th-century item that breaks show record — but there's one problem

Guests on "Antiques Roadshow" turn up with the most mundane-looking items and walk away with a lot more than what they thought they were worth. At the same time even spectacular-looking artifacts often turn out to be fake or have flaws that pull down their value.

A couple on Antiques Roadshow was left speechless after their item received a record-breaking appraisal on the show. The "18th Century Imperial Chinese robe" stunned the expert Lee Young, who considered himself fortunate to come across one. The expert shared that only a handful of such robes existed in the world before appraising its value to a whopping six-figure sum. While the robe had the potential to fetch more, there was a tiny flaw that restricted its value.

While the robe was in spectacular condition, Lee noted that there was a tiny flaw that would affect the valuation. "It does have a little problem and that is if you look at the dragon here, it wasn't intended to be two-toned," Lee said. He then explained that the makers had mixed the gilt on the copper wire which had oxidized over time, turning into a greenish color.

In the special Chinese-themed episode, the elderly couple presented the remarkable find which captivated Young from the get-go. "There are those moments in your life that you will always remember, and I will always remember standing here, but I certainly will also remember the first time that I saw this spectacular robe," Young said. 

The ancient robe is made from golden yellow silk fabric adorned with traditional symbols, "wonderful flaming pearls," "crashing waves at the bottom," and a "five-clawed dragon" at the front and the back. 

The owner explained that the robe was brought to Britain in the early 1930s by the woman's grandfather, who worked as the general manager of the Standard Bank in India. "It was in the dressing-up box!" she told the expert. "No! So did you wear it as a child?" the expert queried, to which she replied, "Oh yes." 

Lee then went on to explain that the robe was made in the 1750s, which would certainly made it imperial. He shared that it was a ladies' robe and there were very few such items that had survived the test of time. "The only other ones I know of this type, you have to go to Beijing and go to the Palace Museum to see one of these. It really is a museum item," Lee noted. 

He clarified that it wasn't a robe of an Empress as such robes are typically bright yellow and the one in this case had a "slight green tinge" to it. Nevertheless, the expert was left in awe by the "spectacular" condition of the robe. Lee even pulled out a glove to handle the delicate silk as he did not want to stain the precious item. "It's just a fabulous thing," he said.

"Another thing I've noticed, I think somebody at some time, someone's actually turned up the bottom. I think it's a little shorter than it should be because I can see part of the fringe here and maybe it's been turned up as well," Lee further noted while speaking of flaws.

He mentioned that since the perfect dragon on the back highlighted the oxidation, the value of the robe would slightly be impacted because of it. Despite this, Lee estimated that the robe would still be worth a lot. "If that comes up at auction, with the way the market is at the moment, I think that would make £200,000 ($2,54,900)," he said. This instantly shattered the episode's record and made the item one of the most valuable to appear on the show.