BBC’s Antiques Roadshow was back on Sunday night, but the episode had a particular theme, focusing only on household items relating to food.
The instalment saw all kinds of weird and wonderful kitchen gadgets from centuries gone by, and one guest was stunned to find out she had been using her own possession incorrectly.
The guest had brought along a shiny silver contraption she had been using as a fruit bowl.
Antiques expert Duncan Campbell observed the item and concluded: “I’m guessing by the immaculate shine on this that this is an object that in your house gets used virtually every day.”
The guest explained the item had been passed down from her grandparents to her mother because they were “tired of cleaning it”.
However, she went on to confess she “didn’t know what it was for,” at which point Campbell revealed the item was around 130 years old.
He detailed it had been from “a time where having a posh tea party was quite the thing”.
Campbell went on to inform the owner that the bowl would in fact have been “full of biscuits”.
Antiques Roadshow expert Duncan Campbell revealed the item’s true purpose
BBC
Surprised, the guest commented: “Well… I would not have imagined it was for biscuits.”
“It would have caused woops and shrieks of delight when the biscuits went on display,” the expert elaborated.
The guest repeated, still shocked: “A biscuit barrel…” before Campbell got to the all-important valuation.
He estimated the item would be worth around £250 to £300 at auction.
The owner responded: “That’s great,” but insisted she would keep the bowl for the purpose she’d been using it for years.
“I’ll keep using it as a fruit bowl,” she decided, to which Campbell responded: “Good for you.”
Duncan Campbell explained the Antiques Roadshow item was used for biscuits
BBC
The special episode looked into all antiques relating to food, with the synopsis reading: “From ancient recipe books and an early guide to royal cookery to quirky kitchen gadgets and Georgian cookware, this episode looks at the way Britain’s food culture has changed over the centuries.
“Special guest Dame Mary Berry joins Fiona Bruce to reminisce about her life in cooking, with the aid of three cherished old kitchen items – a potato ricer, a pestle and mortar and a fearsome mandoline slicer.”
Elsewhere in the episode, expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan looked into the dark history of one kitchen utensil.
It came as narrator Fiona Bruce explained: “In the late 18th century, a growing awareness of the horrors of slavery led many to question the source of their sugar.
“At The Museum of London, Ronnie Archer Morgan met up with senior curator Jean-Francois Manicom to see a rare sugar bowl with a potent political message.”
“It’s a very powerful piece of our connection,” Manicom commented.
“We’re thinking that it’s come from the year 1825, made by the anti-slavery movement.”
The Antiques Roadshow special focused on food-related items
BBC
“It looks like it comes from Staffordshire,” Archer-Morgan observed.
“And it’s got this very powerful imagery on the front here, she’s got her hands clasped, and she’s kneeling and looks like she’s got chains hanging from her wrists.”
“Absolutely and she’s begging, probably, for freedom, asking that people give her freedom.
“This image can be problematic now, because it can participate to the misunderstanding about who our ancestors were.
“We know that the enslaved didn’t wait for freedom, they fought for freedom.”
“It’s unacceptable today,” Archer-Morgan agreed, explaining: “Because it’s like the subjugation of a person begging for their freedom, when actually we’re born free. Why should you have to ask for something that you were born with?”
