Mystery 'Buddhist' Figure Stuns Owner With Five-Figure Valuation | Antiques Roadshow UK

0:00 Tell me, you keep this in a cardboard box in the attic.

0:03 No, not at all.

0:04 No, no, no.

0:05 It has an honoured place in an alcove in our sitting room.

0:08 It must look wonderful.

0:10 Well, it's clearly a Buddhistic figure.

0:13 And Buddhistic figures are extremely difficult

0:17 to attribute as to where they came from.

0:20 Because, like Russian icons,

0:22 the idea is to keep the things the same as possible throughout generations.

0:29 But once we start looking at it, maybe there are some clues.

0:33 We've got on here, some characters which are cut out of metal.

0:38 Yeah.

0:39 Which is very unusual.

0:40 I haven't seen that before.

0:41 I didn't know that.

0:43 But the characters are either North Indian or Tibetan.

0:47 Yeah.

0:48 So that, we think, maybe is where it comes from.

0:51 Ah, right.

0:52 The mandala here is carved with scrolling clouds.

0:58 We come down here.

1:01 The Buddha is standing on a lotus throne, which is his symbol.

1:05 The lotus is a symbol of purity.

1:09 We come down to these very strange and unusual flower leaf scrolls,

1:14 which I've not seen before.

1:17 Oh, right.

1:18 To a group of six immortals who've got various attributes.

1:25 And these are Buddhist immortals, or Luohan.

1:31 And then down to the bottom, we've got a dragon.

1:40 A sort of qilin, I think it's supposed to be.

1:44 A turtle.

1:45 And the turtle supports the world...

1:48 Yeah.

1:49 ..in part of the mythology.

1:52 Now, the quality of the carving- because this is

1:58 all carved wood which has then been gilded,

2:01 this is gold leaf on here, is a very, very high quality.

2:08 Much better quality than one would have expected,

2:12 had it come from Tibet or India.

2:17 Nor does it say to me China, oddly enough.

2:22 But when we get back up here again,

2:25 the quality says to me, nowhere else but Japan.

2:31 Ah, now that is interesting.

2:33 That, I hadn't thought.

2:35 This date, and I think we're talking about 1890, 1900s…- Yeah.

2:40 ..this was made in Japan possibly for export to Tibet.

2:47 Right.

2:48 I think it's absolutely splendid.

2:50 Because it's Japanese,

2:51 it's going to be worth more than if it were anything else.

2:54 More than Chinese, more than Indian, more than Tibetan.

2:58 I think we're looking at about £10,000 to £15,000.

3:03 Right.

3:04 Oh.

3:05 Because it was the end of the war,

3:08 they couldn't get the fabric they wanted to make a coat.

3:11 So all the ladies gave some material and designed it and sewed it up themselves.

3:19 So the way they've done it is they've done it as if it were a patchwork quilt.

3:24 That's right.

3:25 So they would have done it round a template, joined it up in the patterns,

3:29 just using up bits of material that they would have had in their bottom drawer.

3:33 As you can see, some of the red is crepe de Chine.

3:36 You just wouldn't get that these days.

3:37 So do you reckon they were using old dresses as well?

3:39 Yes, some of it was old dresses.

3:41 And the white, some of the white, was a lady's wedding dress.

3:46 Really?

3:47 Well, that was a great sacrifice.

3:49 That's right.

3:49 But why do you think it was made?

3:51 Let's have a look at the back.

3:53 Why do you think?

3:53 Was it made for a special occasion do you know?

3:55 It was their best coat to wear for great festivals like Christmas or Easter.

4:00 I wear it when I'm doing baptisms or doing a wedding.

4:05 I have to be a bit careful when I'm doing a wedding because it is so beautiful.

4:09 I find if I'm not careful,

4:10 I tend to upstage the bride when I sweep in with this.

4:14 Well, it's not the sort of thing that we very often get on the Roadshow.

4:17 Needless to say, as far as a value is concerned, it's irrelevant.

4:22 I'm not saying it doesn't have a value, but it has a wonderful social story.

4:27 And that's the value to you and I.

4:29 Absolutely.