1 week Ago By Hayley Anderson
Antiques Roadshow guests said very little when the staggering valuation of an artwork they had snagged for a mere £5 some twenty years ago was shared. The BBC show's expert Frances Christie couldn't hide her excitement upon encountering a painting by local artist Dorothy Steel, who she believes deserves far greater recognition. During the episode filmed at Pollok Country Park in Glasgow, Christie was thrilled to examine a painting that held special significance due to its connection to the area.
She exclaimed: "Now, this is a really exciting picture to find on Antiques Roadshow because it's by an artist who grew up around here, Dorothy Steel, who really should be so much more well known than she is." The owners revealed their lucky find to Christie, with the man explaining: "Found it in a charity shop not far from here about 20 years ago, and I could see straight away it was a quality painting and certainly worth the £5 they charged me for it." When asked what attracted him to the piece, he described: "Well it's a typical west of Scotland scene there, you can see the docks with shipyard cranes in the background.
I'm guessing it's either in Port Glasgow or Greenock where Dorothy Steel was from. "It just appealed to me, the colours, it's got that impressionist softness, the light [and] the subject matter most of all." His partner enthused: "It has that mid-century look which is really nice and nice kind of flatness when I think about the painting as well, that's really attractive.
" Christie then revealed that Steel had been a student at the Glasgow School of Art and had spent her entire life in the Glasgow area. She added: "This totally shows off what Steel was really good at, and that was painting a scene she would have seen day in day out while she lived here. "And actually, it's a scene that's kind of disappeared now, I don't know whether these tenements are still there, but in terms of social history, going back to the middle of the last century when Steel was painting, it still probably would have been teaming with activity.
"Whereas today, it's a very different part of the [River] Clyde." When pressed once more on how much they forked out for the painting, the man disclosed it was £5, with his partner chiming in: "I think we probably paid more for the taxi to take it home because it was raining that day." Christie concluded: "In my opinion, this is probably one of the best deals I've ever seen.
"Her work doesn't come up at auction very often at all and I think if this was to come at auction today, I would put an auction estimate in the region of £3,000 to £5,000." Despite the artwork's potential high value, the couple's reaction was subdued, with the woman simply uttering "Oh my goodness" and the man expressing "Nice. Wow", accompanied by a nod and a smile.
In a candid interview, he expressed his satisfaction with the modest sum spent, stating: "I can't think of any better fivers I've spent. I can't imagine getting more value for money, that's for sure." The woman also shared her sentiments: "I'm very pleased, obviously, to hear that it's worth money, but it's worth a lot more than that to me.
" Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer..
