Antiques Roadshow viewers were left stunned at the value of one of TV-AM's iconic eggcups.
The iconic breakfast TV show was filmed at Breakfast Television Centre, known locally as Eggcup House. Based in Camden, London, the building was given the name because of the plastic eggcups put on the roof by its designer Sir Terry Farrell.
As the BBC marked its 100th birthday, Antiques Roadshow aired a special episode which paid tribute to the long history of TV with its items on show. It included Del Boy's Ford Capri from sitcom Only Fools and Horses and a huge collection of Doctor Who autographs.
However, it was one of the iconic TV-AM eggcups that garnered a lot of interest from fans.
"This huge egg was on top of the studios where TV-AM was filmed, which became known unsurprisingly – there are a number of these on the top – as Eggcup house. And even inside, the doors had egg cups as the handles," the expert said.
"This was an iconic symbol. So from the top of the building to you, how?"
The owner then explained how he rescued it from a skip and has kept it in his garden in the meantime.
He added: "Well there was a long bitter industrial dispute with the camera unions and at some point, one of the striking union members went up on the roof and bolted one of the egg cups and threw it off.
"I later went up to facilities management and said, 'Can I have it please?' And they said sure, they're just putting it in the skip. It's sat in my gardens ever since," as the expert revealed it had a few holes in it.
The expert shared: "So it took a little bit of a tumble in the 80s. It doesn't look too bad; there's a couple of dents and a hole up there. But I can definitely tell its being kept in your garden. It's not in the best of conditions.
"It was designed as part of the entire building. It was a fantastic, almost pop arty type of building and here we take a British breakfast favourite and supersize it and stick it on the top. I think if it came up for auction, in this condition, it would probably fetch somewhere in the region of something between £750 and £1000."
The guest was stunned and couldn't resist an egg-related pun, adding: "I think this one will stay in the garden. Cracking!"
