Antiques Roadshow expert refuses to put a price on items due to its massive historical importance

Thrift stores and garage sales have become treasure troves where people bump into objects that turn out to be precious artifacts. Hence, guests on shows such as the Antiques Roadshow eagerly look forward to experts revealing the true value of their discoveries. While most people go back from the show with a fortune, one guest failed to get a valuation for their item. That's because the expert Marc Allum refused to put a price on the collection of items citing their mammoth significance in history.

Too Significant for a Pricetag

A peek at the collection was all it took for the BBC show's valuation expert to decide that it was simply priceless. In the episode, Allum met the guests, who were a group behind a charity concert for "Live Aid," a campaign set up in 1984 to encourage a global response to the Ethiopian famine through music. 

The guest, Leon Leiffer, was a part of the campaign and brought a rare copy of the popular track "Let's Make Africa Green Again," which was recorded after the lead singer of "The Blackstones" band set up the British Reggae Artists Famine Appeal (BRAFA). He released the track with fellow musicians to induce a greater impact, as he was frustrated due to the lack of African and Caribbean representation in "Live Aid."

Observing the items, Allum said, "So we've got a copy of Let's Make Africa Green Again here, we've got various bits and photographs and I can see there's a photograph behind you there with Princess Anne - and are you in that photograph, Leon?" The guest proudly confirmed that it was him, pointing himself out in the image.

"So let's go back in time and talk about why Braffa originated and we're talking about basically the famine in Ethiopia in 1984," Allum said after acknowledging Leon and his group's efforts. Leon went on to explain, "Band-Aid raised millions, and Bob Geldof had the contacts to these major artists, but at the time we had major artists in the charts like Trevor Walters and many others, and we weren't called upon."

He went on to add that they didn't object to the event but they wanted to help the people and do something for the cause as African descendants. He then recalled that when they assembled a group to create the track, about "200" people took part in the recording.

Allum then explained that the price of Leon and the group's collection wasn't important here at all. He says that the items are extremely important to the group and it's more about the values that these items signify along with the story they tell.

"It's about social history and it's about what you did out there, the money you raised and it's massively important to see that reinvented in a way that brings it back to people and younger generations too," Allum said. 

While the expert simply refused to put a price on the historically important items, he did have a request to make. Since almost everyone from the iconic group was there, the expert requested them to sing a reprise from "Let's Make Africa Green Again," for which they received appreciation from Allum and the audience.