A guest on Antiques Roadshow was left shocked by the eye-watering value of a vase she bought for £2 in a charity shop. 

An episode of the BBC show visited Ebrington Square in Northern Ireland where expert John Sandon was presented with a pair of distinct vases to evaluate.

The two pieces of pottery were made by Belleek and featured pink painted tulips, which John explained made them different to others.

‘What is so nice is to see so much colour on a piece of Belleek,’ the antiques expert said. 

‘Most of the Belleek productions were pretty white or with a little bit of the mother of pearl iridescence for which they’re famous, but here you’ve got a nice bit of colour,’ 

The guest revealed she had bought them from a charity shop after they caught her husband’s eye.

A guest (left, with expert John Sandon) on Antiques Roadshow was left shocked by the eye-watering value of a vase she bought for £2 in a charity shop

The two pieces of pottery were made by Belleek and featured pink painted tulips, which John explained made them different to others 

‘I actually picked them up in a charity shop… about five years ago. They were just on a shelf and because they were damaged I wasn’t going to take them,’ the guest explained

‘I actually picked them up in a charity shop… about five years ago. They were just on a shelf and because they were damaged I wasn’t going to take them,’ she explained. 

The guest elaborated how the vases were priced at £1 each and she bought both for £2.

John responded: ‘£2 well you’ve got not only two pieces of early Belleek, they’re rare models too. 

‘The tulip vases, they didn’t make very many of them and they certainly didn’t make so many with the added colours and a gold trim, that always makes it a little bit more special.’

One of the vases was damaged with a large piece of a tulip appearing to be missing, but the other only had small blemishes in comparison.

John decided to focus his attention on the less damaged vase and valued it at £700 to £1,000 alone.

He said: ‘It’s the early period, we’re looking at probably about 1870 so they’ve been around a long time getting their damage, but this one luckily has only got a tip of a leaf off there and otherwise, it’s good. 

‘So that’s where the £2 was well spent. So you’ve got one vase alone worth probably £700, pushing even £1,000.’

One of the vases was damaged with a large piece of a tulip appearing to be missing, but the other only had small blemishes in comparison 

John decided to focus his attention on the less damaged vase and valued it at £700 to £1,000. The guest was shocked at the valuation and revealed she had planned to bin them 

The guest was visibly shocked at the valuation and revealed she was originally going to throw them away.

‘Wow, wow I actually was going to dump them when I first brought them home I didn’t like them,’ she exclaimed.

‘Well that one you can, it’s a bit too far gone, dump that one and enjoy a beautiful Belleek tulip vase,’ John replied. 

It comes after an Antiques Roadshow guest was left lost for words when they found out that their items weren’t really what they thought they were. 

A collector asked John Sandon for his expert advice about some pots that he thought were created by William Moorcroft.

The guest told John: ‘I’m a collector and I’m a ceramicist myself. I teach and I make, but I also collect mostly Irish ceramics.  And these are the kind of my first delve into collecting English ceramics.

‘When I seen the name William Moorcroft, I thought “Yeah I’d like to get something that was quite old of his.”‘

‘Wow, wow I actually was going to dump them when I first brought them home I didn’t like them,’ she exclaimed

He confessed that he had some pieces from 2004, but the pots in front of the expert were from around the early 1900s. 

However, after inspecting the pottery the expert told the guest the words that nobody wants to hear.  

John told him: ‘They’re modern fakes, and therefore they’re just pretty.’ 

Antiques Roadshow airs on BBC Two.