Antiques Roadshow guest leaves viewers baffled with response to £80k valuation

He was pretty laid back

The man brought a Lowry painting to Stonor Park, Oxfordshire where the show, which aired on June 16^th, was filmed.  

After giving a brief description to the BBC expert, art historian Lawrence Hendra, as to how he came to have the painting in his possession, he was met with a look of astonishment.

Hendra explained that provenance of a Lowry is crucial to its valuation before explaining how he knew that this painting was genuine.

“Thankfully, on the reverse of your picture you have a label from the gallery that represented Lowry as you know and sold many of his works and you also have this letter.

“This letter was sent to you from the director of the gallery in 1998 and he says 'further to your letter of the 29th July the painting by Lowry was sold by us in 1965 for £175 and its got all of the labels and stock codes.”

L.S. Lowry is one of Britain’s most faked artists and Hendra admitted that whenever he sees a ‘Lowry’ on the show, he gets nervous.

“Whenever I see a painting purported to be by Laurence Stephen Lowry on the Antiques Roadshow, I should get very excited but to tell you the truth, I get a bit nervous because not only was Lowry one of the most distinctive and popular and valuable artists of the British 21st century, he was also the most faked.”

Hendra went on to give his verdict on what it could fetch under the hammer.

“In terms of value, I think if your painting were to come up for auction, I would expect to see it sell for a figure in the region of £60-£80,000.”

However, the elderly man’s reaction shocked viewers as he simply laughed and said: “Ok, thank you.”

Viewers were staggered not only by the valuation but the man’s laid back response to Hendra.