An Antiques Roadshow guest was left stunned to learn the true valuation of a drawing she brought to the attention of the BBC show’s experts.
Antiques expert Lisa Lloyd was joined by a guest on the programme as the episode filmed in Hackney.
The guest brought a unique portrait of a young woman to the Roadshow, in an attempt to find out its valuation after she picked it up a few years ago.
It turned out that the framed drawing was in fact a young Dame Helen Mirren and showed the Academy Award-winning actress in the nude.
In the artwork, Helen can be seen smiling as she tilts her head back and holds a sheet over her chest.
Roadshow expert Lisa told the guest: "Now, it may not be immediately obvious but this is Helen Mirren aged 19 or 20. Of course, she went on to become one of our most prominent actors."
The guest explained she had found the sketch of Helen at Portobello Road Market, near to her home in London.
She said: "I go there every Friday morning and look through the boxes and this was down there.
"There's a guy I see most weeks, sometimes he has some rubbish, sometimes not."
The guest had picked up the vintage artwork as it was a ‘bit saucy’ and ‘kitsch’, to which Lisa replied: "Well it is both of those things, as it is saucy and kitsch."
The expert explained that the famous sketch had been penned by an artist named Nicholas Egon, who was self-taught in the artform.
She said: “She is a little bit saucy, she's got a bit of spark to her. It's only semi-erotic, you can't quite [see anything].”
The guest had paid £100 for the artwork but told her husband it cost £50, in order to keep the peace.
The expert told her that usually these kinds of portraits – if they were of an unknown model – would fetch around £150-£200 at auction, which is already a profit.
However, she added that: "I think the fact that it's Helen Mirren, we could probably double that to £300 or £400."
The guest was overjoyed, replying: "Oh that's great, well I love it!"
