Antiques Roadshow: Guest brings automaton made of bone An Antiques Roadshow guest was completely stunned when his father’s remarkable piece of history was estimated to be worth 10s of thousands of pounds. In this week’s repeated episode, the BBC show visited Lytham Hall in Lancashire to scope out some family heirlooms and historical artifacts. Expert Jon Baddeley was completely enamoured by a 130-year-old automaton of a female snake charmer that danced and played music to entertain dinner guests.
“It was made in Paris at the end of the 19th Century by a company named Roullet-Decamps,” he explained. “She was obviously called the Snake Charmer. How has it come into your possession?” Antiques Roadshow guest’s jaw drops as expert issues warning (Image: BBC) Related articles Antiques Roadshow expert makes U-turn on vase price as reaction 'wakes the baby' Antiques Roadshow star Geoffrey Munn's marriage and life away from BBC show The guest explained that the clockwork dancer was part of his father’s collection of antiques, a hobby he got into after he retired.
“He’s sadly passed away,” the guest said. “When he retired he decided to collect things like this. “It’s one of his prized possessions, yeah,” he confirmed when Jon asked further.
“He had two, this one and the Cambodian Dancer.” Jon went on to explain that automatons like this weren’t made as children’s toys. “They were made to entertain adults,” he said.
“You can imagine yourself a.