An Antiques Roadshow guest was stunned when they were told that a stone head they found in a drain was worth thousands.
During Sunday's show, a woman brought in the stone face of a man with a moustache. Expert Adam Schoon was delighted as he described it as "one of the most enigmatic stone carvings" he had ever come across on the Antiques Roadshow.
Giving his expert opinion on the find, Adam described the object as having a “very primitive nose”. He explained how similar stone heads with faces on have been found near Hadrian’s Wall on the North of England border with Scotland.
READ MORE: BBC Antiques Roadshow guest offered record breaking £1m valuation
The expert asked the woman where she found such an unusual piece. She replied: “I dug him up in my back garden. I was digging drains and just happened to dig down and hit stone, pulled him out and there he was.”
She went on to explain that she thought it was just an old garden ornament at first. She added: "But then the more I cleaned him, I thought no, I’m not sure."
Adam said that the sculpture had "spectacular" eyes. He added: "Very reminiscent of a Celtic style. And I think to myself, that here we are in Northern Ireland where the Celts existed. Stone heads like this go back literally over two thousand years and the style of this one I think is second, third century AD.”
The expert explained how similar stone heads with faces on have been found near Hadrian’s Wall on the North of England border with Scotland. He said: “But the difficulty of dating this one is that we haven’t found it in an archaeological context. It was in your drain.
“We have no written evidence as to what they were for or how they were used, but they are often found near water, beneath the surface. Some people think they were used to communicate with the spirits.”
Finally he revealed how much he thought the piece would be valued at. He said it would probably we worth between £3,000 and £5,000.
The guest was stunned at the amount. She said: "That's brilliant!"
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