WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow. An Antiques Roadshow guest gave a six-word plea to an expert after discovering the true value of his bronze cockerel. The BBC hit series travelled to Audley End to meet even more guests and their unique items for them to be appraised.
Expert John Foster was presented with a particularly intriguing statue though, in the shape of a giant bird. He said: “So I’ve seen a couple of bronzes today and then you turn up with the monster of all bronzes. Where did you get it from?” The pensioner explained: “It comes from Belgium.
It was at my aunt’s house in Belgium where I spent my junior years and during the First World War, he spent the whole war underground.” “And when the second war broke out, we were in Belgium, so we dug him in the ground again underneath the magnolia bush. “So after five years of war, we had a bit of trouble finding him, because we couldn’t quite remember where the hell we put it.
“Otherwise it would have been used to make cannon shots and all that kind of thing. “Just like in this country, railings were taken away during the war, weren’t they, to be used up.” When questioned on why he liked the piece, the guest stated: “Well I was born in Tottenham, although my accent is not English as you can gather, but I’m a Spurs supporter, the cockerel is the emblem of Spurs, and that’s why we love him even more.
” Foster admitted that he didn’t recognise the maker’s mark on.