Featured Secret silver @ the antiques roadshow

What a spectacular collection and interesting story here! https://youtu.be/INCBlYbdn0U?si=DEtuchO-s9tVeNE2

The triple snuff and the wine taster for me please!

 

That is incredible! How selfish can an avid collector be... at least, the family and charity could benefit at the end.

 

Chap was buying the stuff and hiding it from his Wife. The fellow actually had a mistress named 'Sterling',obsessive/compulsive like Goldfinger !
Sounds like they may have been posh despite his rather serious addiction ?

 

Ditto Dagger-great share. I recall a post @verybrad did of an estate sale full of marvelous toys,where the guy (teacher ?) ignored his family in his quest for toys.
Did I get that basically right Brad ? Sorry it was a few yrs ago, I can't retrieve the orig post.There were some amazing pics of the collection.

 

One of the more interesting things I've watched in a while. Not just a silver appraisal. Much more to the story!!

 

Born with a silver spoon ... but not quite

 

Glad y’all enjoyed it as much as I did! I was hoping they’d go into how he acquired the objects a bit. I guess that could have been traumatic for the family potentially. Even if he grabbed a few of these out of dusty cupboards at country home sales for schillings on the pound, more than a few of them had to have come from serious auctions I’d think. They would have brought pretty legit money even when he was buying over the decades. Unless they were misidentified or something. That could have happened with some of the earliest stuff I suppose. The stirrup cup and the stuff with legible “modern” hallmarks probably not. I wonder if the host/presenter tracked down auction records for anything to satisfy his personal curiosity. It sounds like the family was not starving but had some lean times. Even if the wife wouldn’t have approved of his investments at the time it seems like they paid off. They likely sold for a decent bit more than he paid and afforded his wife a comfortable golden years period. Even without the amazing silver and story just the sons fashion choices circa 1993 were worth the ticket price imo. I got a kick out watching him!

 

You did. John's collecting drove a wedge between him and his family. His two daughters really had no idea of the breadth and value of the collection. They saw it as a sad hoard. It was a sad hoard that netted them over a million dollars.

 

This one: https://www.antiquers.com/threads/ultimate-hoarders-estate.42469/ ?

 

Yes,that one Marote,thanks ! I imagine you might consider RIP John's mania as a kind of 'mental illness' ?
Glad the Families were compensated somewhat-financially but perhaps not emotionally.