Antiques Roadshow guest gobsmacked at price tag for grandparents' 'terrifying' ornament

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow.

An expert revealed how a unique family heirloom could potentially fetch thousands of pounds for its owners.

specialist Steven Moore was filming another instalment of the popular daytime series, this time at the Woodhorn Museum in Northumberland.

Here, he encountered a mother and daughter who brought along an unusual ornament resembling a bird's head atop what seemed to be a frog's body.

He started by saying: "Looking at this, I can't help thinking of a phrase my grandmother used. 'It's a face only a mother could love.' Do you love them?"

The mother responded: "Well I do. For a while it lived in my parents' house in a cupboard in the spare bedroom."

Her daughter then admitted that the younger generation had not been particularly fond of the object.

"The bedroom that my brother and I would stay in if we stayed over and we were terrified of it.

"Definitely couldn't sleep with it in there. We would cry until it was removed and hidden far away from us.

"That's the thing about Martin Brothers. They were idiosyncratic, one way to describe them.

"Crazies may be another way to describe them," Moore added.

"Robert Wallace Martin who made this, got so much character into this face which is clearly a bird. But what's going on here [with the body]? Did you have a name for him or was it just sort of terrified?"

Upon hearing that the item was affectionately known as Ernie, the expert chuckled: "That seems a very unscary name."

The woman then explained: "Well the story is that my grandparents saw it in an antique shop and walked past it and admired it a few times, or at least my grandmother did.

"And then one day she walked past and it was gone but what had happened, my grandfather had a winnings on the premium bonds and he went and bought it for her -"

At this point, Moore interjected: "Hence, the name of the computer that drew the premium bonds, of course," referring to Ernie which stands for Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment.

He then shifted his focus to the fact that the head, which could be removed, did not match with the body.

He remarked: "In theory, there's no reason why there could have been a kiln disaster and the body of this one and the head of this one were destroyed and thought 'Well actually, you know what?'

"So yes, maybe they could have put them together but what I think is more likely to happen is a dealer has probably found this [referencing the item's body].

"And thought 'one day, I might find the head'. And they found this head and they put them together and sold them."

It was then time to give his valuation for the "collectable" and disparate items", concluding that the base would be worth £2,000 and the head £4,000.

"That's a lot for just a head," the daughter laughed but Moore wasn't quite done just yet.

He continued: "But there's an intriguing possibility. If you could find the head for this body and you could find the body for this head, you would have a profit of £60,000 to £70,000, because that's how much the two separate items would be if they were complete."

The revelation of such a staggering potential value left the mum completely gobsmacked, as she involuntarily made a face, while her daughter remained more composed.

She responded: "That is amazing. I don't think he's grown on me and I don't think I'd be impressed if I got him as a birthday present as my great-grandma did.

"So Ernie hasn't gone up in your estimation," Moore observed, to which she followed up: "He brings back quite funny memories so I feel like he has to stay in the family."

Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.