Antiques Roadshow expert Paul Atterbury had to deliver the rather bittersweet news to one guest in north Wales that their items were “financially worthless”.
Speaking to a guest at Beaumaris Castle, Atterbury was presented with, what he described as “a pile of frankly scrappy bits of paper” with “densely written with notes”.
However, as the owner went on to explain, the notes held quite the backstory.
“So what’s all this about?” Atterbury asked to which the guest explained: “Well, 1955, a local guy called Sid Wignall started the Welsh Himalayan Expedition. They went climbing up in the Himalayas.
“They were going to go to a place called Gurla Mandhata in Tibet. It had never been conquered before.
“And the reason they were going for this mountain was because, unbeknown to everyone else, Sid had been approached by Indian Secret Intelligence.
BBC Antiques Roadshow: Paul Atterbury branded the papers as “worthless”
BBC
“He’d done them a few favours but the Indian Secret Intelligence were convinced that the Chinese were building secret military bases inside Tibet, and highways so that they could invade India as quickly as possible.”
Atterbury attempted to keep up as he replied: “I mean, we won’t ask how he knew all these people… Clearly, let’s use the basic word, he was a spy.”
“He was an absolute spy for Indian Intelligence, yeah,” the guest confirmed. “I used to drink in the local pub in Conwy, and it came out that I’d worked in China in the past, and I spoke Chinese, etc. And they said, ‘Oh, you wanna meet Sid the spy’. So the next time I was down in Conwy, I called in and there was this silver-haired guy…”
The guest began showing photos of Sid with his fellow climbers during their time in Tibet before Atterbury encouraged him to go on further.
BBC Antiques Roadshow: Paul Atterbury struggled to put a monetary value on the items
BBC
“So they go into Tibet and they start their climbing activities. What happens?” the Antiques Roadshow expert asked.
Things then took a turn for the explorer-turned-spy as the guest said: “Unbeknownst to them, one of the porters is a double agent. A spy for the Chinese. He grasses them up, they get captured by the Chinese, interrogated, questioned, etc.
“While he’s being interrogated, he’s asking lots of questions and making notes. and while he’s making notes he’s scribbling them down on any little bit of scrap of paper he can find and he’s stuffing them in his air mattress.
“He managed to get a note to an Indian trader that was there saying they’d been captured. Now the Chinese had a problem. If they disappeared, everyone would presume the Chinese had captured them. If they’re found dead, everyone will know the Chinese have killed them.
“So they sent them back over what is called the Seti Pass. And that was a certain death sentence. They get through and they get all the notes through with all the photographs and all the evidence,” he explained to which Atterbury asked: “Which you’ve ended up with, why?”
“Sid gave it to me asking me to look after it for him,” the owner replied. “It was about 10 years ago Sid sadly passed away.”
BBC Antiques Roadshow: Paul Atterbury was on hand to evaluate the papers
BBC
As the discussion drew to a close, it was left to Atterbury to slap a monetary value on the artefacts – but sadly he was unable to do so.
“To me, it’s this wonderful insight, not only into Himalayan history, which always intrigues me, but also into the way the world was in the 1950s,” he critiqued.
“And we can see now what it was going to become. What’s it worth? Blimey, this is tricky because it’s a pile of paper. It’s an old photograph.
“It’s actually worthless in financial terms, but the story is worth a fortune. Thank you very much.”
