A well-known Brean resident got a welcome surprise this week when she appeared on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow and discovered a family heirloom was worth £10,000.
Brean Parish Councillor Joan Jackman was featured in last Sunday’s episode of the long-running BBC1 series, as pictured here, with her 19th century family album.
The book initially belonged to her great grandmother, one of the Quaker family, and was the focus of a five-minute segment within the programme.
Joan said: “The book is the story of the house of the Quaker family. The house, called Goldrood near Ipswich, was built by the uncle of my great grandmother in about 1810.”
The unique one-off publication includes a number of watercolours dating from 1840-1850 that illustrate the history of the house and also give a glimpse into life during the 19th century. The watercolours include images of the exterior of the house, the dining room, gardens and kitchen.
The BBC show’s valuer told Joan: “There aren’t hundreds of albums like this around and I just cannot imagine if this were ever to be sold on the open market that it would fetch anything less than £10,000.”
Visibly shocked at the news, Joan looked away from the TV camera and gulped before composing herself and saying: “We shan’t sell it. This is family and I think it will eventually go to the Quaker Society in London where everyone will be able to go and see it.”
She told Burnham-On-Sea.com this week: “We knew the book was valuable, but did not know its full value. It is a very special item and the BBC were very keen to feature it on their programme since it provides such a fascinating insight into social history of that time.”
The episode of Antiques Roadshow was filmed by the BBC at Stanway House in Gloucestershire.
