Antiques Roadshow guest ‘needs to sit down’ as expert reveals value of ‘holy grail’ item never seen before – leaving audience gasping

An Antiques Roadshow guest was left speechless after discovering the true value of her ‘holy grail’ item that had never been seen before on the BBC programme.

In this episode, expert Jon Bradley traveled to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art to meet visitors hoping to flog their prized possessions for cash.

Among them was a woman who brought a vintage American coastal sofa for children – an item the expert admitted he had never seen in real life before.

Inspecting the item, Jon said: ‘One of the most remarkable things about the Antiques Roadshow is that, after working on it for many, many years, I see time and time again things I’ve never seen before – and this is one of them.

‘It is, as it says, the Coastal Bank. They are an American made money bank and they were created as a novelty because you clearly wanted your child to save money.

An Antiques Roadshow guest was left speechless after discovering the real value of her ‘holy grail’ item never before seen on the BBC program

The episode saw expert Jon Bradley travel to the Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art to meet visitors hoping to flog their prized possessions for cash.

‘It is made of cast iron and the base often had the patent date on it, but unfortunately it is not on it, nor is the copper slide.’

He demonstrated how the device worked: a coin was placed in the child figure’s arms, which was then pushed down the copper slide to deposit the money at the bottom.

The guest revealed that she found the unique item in an old toiletry bag during spring cleaning.

She explained, “So it must have been my husband’s when he was younger, but that’s all I know.”

When asked if there was any way to know how many banks there were, the expert replied: ‘It’s impossible to say.

“I know it was in the catalog, but they often do them as a catalog illustration, and when they get an order, they produce them too.

“What makes it so rare is that although it appears in this 1884 catalog and cost less than a dollar, in my experience and in all records it has never appeared anywhere, in a museum or at auction.

‘From the perspective of collectors, this is the holy grail in the field of bank collections. My problem is coming up with a valuation.’

He demonstrated how the thing worked: a coin was placed in the child figure’s arms, which was then pushed down the copper slide to deposit the money at the bottom.

The guest revealed that she found the unique item in an old toiletry bag during spring cleaning

Revealing the huge sum, he explained: ‘The condition isn’t brilliant, it’s obviously been sliding around for years, but basically this is all the original paintwork on the base here, this can all be cleaned.

‘So from a fitness point of view it’s an eight out of ten. Now the world record price for a sofa ever sold is in America and the price was $426,000, which equates to approximately £285,000.

“If you ever decide to part with it, you will find the market in America.”

‘I don’t think it will achieve that, but if you decide to go to auction I would strongly advise you to go for a price between £20,000 and £25,000.’

Once the breathtaking figure was revealed, the guest covered her mouth with her hands in shock, causing the crowd to gasp.