ANTIQUES Road Trip dealer Charles Hanson was left blushing and gasping ‘oh dear!’ after accidentally breaking an 188-year-old relic.
Throughout the years, the BBC show has featured many awkward gaffes while experts and dealers travel around the nation searching for precious art pieces and hidden treasures to sell at auction.
During a jaw-dropping 2017 Antiques Road Trip episode, Charles admitted: “I might have to buy it now” after a delicate 188-year-old item fell apart in his hands.
The instalment saw Charles and Christina Trevanion heading off to the city of Manchester and travelling up to Birkenhead.
While browsing through the items displayed at an antiques shop, a pistol caught Charles’ attention.
Picking it up, he said: “This is George IV. It’s a duelling-type pistol, and it’s 188 years old.
“You can see that because its handle here is just about to fall off”.
As he tried to put the pistol back in place, a piece of it suddenly snapped, and the dealer exclaimed: “Oops, it has fallen off, actually.”
The narrator of the BBC show, Tim Wonnacott, could be heard giggling as he jokingly said, “Silly boy!”.
A mortified, Charles then continued: “Oh dear me. Well, that’s just great, isn’t it? I might have to buy it now, just regardless. It is pretty tired, but the reason I like it is because it’s in its original condition.
“It would never, it could never be fired now, and it’s purely a relic. It could be cheap. That’s it, really. It could be cheap.”
Charles then revealed that the reason he gravitated towards the pistol in the first place was that it looked tired in its original condition.
He added: “It would never, it could never be fired now, and it’s purely a relic. It could be cheap. That’s it, really. It could be cheap.”
Eventually, Charles found three items that he bought for £166.20 in hopes of getting a good payout at auction.
The pistol ended up costing the dealer a total of £10, which is the price the bidding started from immediately.
Ultimately, the pistol managed to sell for £44, which gave him a profit of £34.
In a separate episode of the hit show, expert Natasha Raskin was left stunned after discovering the value of a tea set.
The tea set she had bought for £80 kept going up in price during the auction.
Natasha couldn’t believe her luck, as she said: “Are you kidding! Is this happening?”
The auctioneer settled on £750 and Natasha was bursting with joy.
Antiques Road Trip is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
