An Antiques Roadshow guest was left declaring 'you're joking' as he was given a jaw-dropping valuation for his valued treasures. Fiona Bruce and the team were at Powis Castle in Wales for the new episode of the BBC One programme which aired on Sunday night (April 2).
Among those heading to take their items to be valued was an Antarctic explorer who was left gobsmacked when expert Mark Smith told him how much his own medal was worth after originally hoping to receive a valuation for his father's medal collection.
He had brought along a medal collection belonging to his father, Kevin Walton, that included an Albert Medal for Lifesaving, which has since been replaced by the George Cross, the Mirror reports.
"You don't see medals like this, who was this man?" Mark asked. "He was my dad, I'm choking up now. He passed away 13 years ago, remarkable man," the guest replied.
The collection also included a Distinguished Service Medal, an Antarctic exploration medal, with the Queen's commendation for brave conduct, and the medal for the island of Malta, given to those who were involved in the liberation of Malta, amongst others.
And while amazed by the collection as a whole, Mark ended up turning his attention to a medal that belonged to the guest himself, who explained he had followed in his father's footsteps.
"When I got presented with that in May 1986 we were the only father and son, as far as I know, to hold the polar medal and I worked for the Antarctic studying ice, studying climate change for a number of years and someone along the line somebody must have thought I'd done a good job," the guest revealed.
Mark said: "I know they are his wearing set - and what that means is I know they're not the originals that he was given because they would be too expensive to wear, he wouldn't want to lose them but sometimes the wearing sets are much more personal to the man because they are the ones he actually, genuinely wore on his coat and was proud to wear."
The expert asked where the original medals were being kept to which the explorer explained they were on display at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge. It was then that Mark revealed the original collection of medals were worth £40,000 before adding that the explorer's own medal was worth £10,000.
The stunned guest replied: "You're joking," before the expert reassured him he wasn't. The guest then added: "Okay, that's shaken me." Later, as the news sunk in, he added: "He [his father] didn't talk about himself a lot, he was very modest but my golly he was a man of action."
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