BBC Antiques Roadshow guest dug up object in garden that turned out to be 2,500 years old and worth a fortune

An Antiques Roadshow expert was thrilled when a guest appeared on the BBC show with an item that had been dug up in their garden, with an incredible value revealed

An Antiques Roadshow expert was left astonished when an item found buried in a St Albans garden turned out to date back 2,500 years.

The diminutive bronze figure was discovered by the guest's father whilst tending to his garden back in the 1960s.

Unaware of its significance, he sought expertise from institutions, eventually reaching out to both the British Museum and St Albans Museum for insight.

The piece's owner was taken aback as the bronze statuette, harking from between 300-600BC, was identified to have a rather remarkable value.

Christian Beadman, an aficionado of British and Continental furniture and art pieces, was intrigued by the item's backstory, reports Birmingham Live.

Upon examination, he determined it represented the Egyptian deity Osiris, the god of the underworld and agriculture, and posited a theory about how such an artefact ended up buried in St Albans.

Christian theorised: "St Albans was a roman town of course. As an Egyptian god one wonders what it's doing in the ground in St Albans."

He provided context on Roman military strategies, adding: "The Romans had this policy whereby they would use soldiers from one part of the empire to police and garrison parts of the empire that were about as far away from their homelands as you could get, so they couldn't get involved in uprisings and rebellions."

Christian suggested the possibility that the relic arrived with someone who worshipped Osiris, noting: "It's kind of an acceptable proposition to suggest this was brought here by a character who was devotee of Osiris."

He concluded, stressing the provenance of the item tied to the correspondence with museums, assessing: "It's so important that it has these letters.

"Which give it providence those take it back straight away to 1964 and its first reintroduction into the world.

"Without those letters it's value would not only be halved, it would be a difficult thing even to sell. These letters are as important as the object."

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Christian then disclosed the stunning valuation, informing the guest: "I think that placed into a correct sale, an antiquities auction, I think this would probably be in the region of £2-3000. So dad had a good day digging."

Responding to the revelation, the guest expressed their astonishment, saying: "I'm surprised - he certainly did."

Yesterday we reported BBC Antiques Roadshow has been embroiled in a scandal after a couple featured on the US version of the show were later charged with fraud.

Military artifacts dealers, Russ Pritchard III and George Juno, faced federal mail and wire fraud charges in 2021.

ABC News reported that the duo was accused of conducting fake appraisals on the American version of the Antiques Roadshow to boost their status as Civil War-era weapons and military artifacts specialists. Despite the allegations, the pair claimed they were not guilty.

At the time the charges were made public, the experts could have been looking at up to 60 years behind bars and fines totalling $2.75 million (£2.1 million).

Pritchard's lawyer, Kirk Karaszkiewicz, spoke to The Associated Press, asserting: "Mr. Pritchard maintains his innocence of these charges and we will vigorously defend them."