Antiques Roadshow guest laughs at how much sculpture would have been if it wasn't 'fake'

An Antiques Roadshow expert had to delicately inform guests that their treasured sculpture, thought to be by Auguste Rodin, was in fact a "fake". The beloved BBC programme took its latest episode to the historic venue of Scarborough Grand Spa Hall, where expert Christopher Payne encountered a couple with an imposing statue. His initial impression was positive: "Here we have a good, powerful, gutsy piece of sculpture by a very good, gutsy, powerful sculptor, Auguste Rodin.

What do you know about this?" The owner's knowledge was limited: "Not a great deal really, apart from what my mother's told me. "My father bought it in Exeter, she thinks in 1966, he paid £250 for it. And that's basically all we know about it.



" Payne admired the impressive work: "It's a great piece of sculpture. It's a very well known piece by Rodin." "It was modelled in 1908 and it's called Cathedral Hands, so basically, I can't really do it with these hands, because you know it's actually two right hands, so it's difficult for me to emulate.

"But it's copying the idea of power and force. The force of the hand and Rodin almost made it into a gothic architectural form, so it's very, very powerful and of course he was, the most amazing sculptor that he was." He then cut to the chase by pointing out a crucial detail that drastically affected the statue's valuation.

"But this is a great, great piece of sculpture. It's interesting because it has the signature there, A. Rodin, and on the back, there's this stamp, 1953, and Rodin died in 1919, so it's post-mortem.

"Which is quite common for Rodin. And it's got the 'Alva Museum Incorporated', in New York. "Ah, is that where it is? Right," the guest interjected.

Payne then awkwardly admitted: "So that makes it very interesting, but it also makes it very difficult to know what to say to you. "Because it is not an authorised museum cast by the Rodin Museum. It is just a copy made in New York so I'm afraid it's not an authentic [piece].

" Upon hearing this, the guest responded: "No, that's fine. We didn't think it would be anything spectacular but we just wanted to find out exactly its origins really. "It is spectacular in itself, isn't it? It's highly decorative, very powerful," Payne observed.

"I mean, it's just as powerful as a non-authorised copy as it is an authorised copy, it's just the value is rather different I'm afraid. "It's worth, I'm sure, an auction value of at least £2,000 to £3,000, just for what it is as a decorative item." He then inquired: "Do you want to know what it might have been worth if it had been a museum authorised cast? Or would you rather not know?" Hesitant, the owner replied with a smile: "Mm, oh go on then.

Yes, go on then." Payne revealed that the item could have been valued at "half a million pounds", a figure that elicited laughter from her and a surprised expression from her husband seated next to her. "In one way I'm glad it's not worth that really," she admitted.

Adding further, Payne said: "As I said, it still does a wonderful job, fantastic. Power of the hand." Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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