One item, bought for just£60 in an antique shop in Margate, Kent, sold for a huge amount and became a record breaking profit for the hit BBC show
Antiques Road Trip experienced a show first back in 2021 after an item host Paul Laidlaw spotted sold for £20,000.
Antiques expert Paul picked up the rare camera for just £60 in an antique store in Margate, Kent, whilst shopping for collectables. Talking of his old-item store, the shop owner said: “Three floors, the upstairs is mainly furniture but there’s stuff everywhere. And on this floor, there are four rooms through and in the middle, there’s a staircase which goes down to a room full of chairs and another room full below!”
Undeterred by the huge task ahead of him, Paul joked: “Don’t send the calvary okay?” After some time, Paul finally returned to the desk, keen to settle on a good price for the old camera he’d come across. He said: “In your cabinet over there, optical instrument… £75 on that I bid you £50.”
The owner replied: “Give me £60 and I’ll shake your hand but I’m not doing any better than that, I’m afraid.” The men shook hands, and the deal was made. “I think this is a very early camera. If I’m right, that could be quite exciting. The photographic market is very much in the ascent, it’s a hot market, I think that’s a good thing,” Paul explained.
It wasn’t long after Paul arrived at the Bury St Edmonds auction in Suffolk that the rare item caught Edward Crichton’s eye as he revealed he’d “never seen one” before. Edward said: “The sub-miniature camera – I have never seen one, in fact, we have carried out some research and cannot find any other example which has sold at auction, we were very excited to see this and it has certain potential to make a significant profit.”
The bidding started at a staggering £1,000 and quickly increased in steps of thousands of pounds, “They’re not messing around,” said rival Kate as Edward continued: “£3,000, £4,000.” Paul, who noticed the shift in bidding, said: “He’s now taking £1,000 increments,” and Kate added: “Which is a very rare thing.”
Kate and Edward explained to those in the room: “It’s not a record price, a record price for a general sale is £15,000, for a home and interior sale £16,000. £17,000, £18,000, £19,000. £20,000.”
The price continued to fly until the auctioneer closed the hammer saying: “At £20,000 online, at £20,000 if we’re all done, £20,000.” “I’m over the moon. I am genuinely flabbergasted,” Paul said reacting to the incredible sale. “Most items in this sale make between £50 and £500, so £20,000 is staggering, wonderful,” Edward replied.
Kate was “chuffed” for Paul as the camera was purchased for £20,000 by a private collector in Switzerland. Paul’s massive profit of £19,940 beat the previous record, which was a Tibetan bronze deity bought for £50 by Anita Manning, selling for £3,800 in 2016. And all profits from the series went to Children in Need. You can watch Antiques Road Trip daily at 4.30pm on BBC Two.