BBC Antiques Roadshow guest clears throat at unexpected value of late dad's guitar

An Antiques Roadshow guest was amazed when his late father's guitar received an astonishing valuation.

The beloved BBC programme set its scene at Chepstow Racecourse in Wales, where a plethora of guests eagerly awaited the experts' verdicts on their cherished possessions.

Music aficionado Marc Allum was particularly excited to discuss one visitor's "beautiful" guitar that held deep sentimental value.

He recounted: "Do you know, I was sitting at my table, watching this guitar case wending its way along the queue, willing it to arrive at my table and I opened this case, what did I see?

"I saw this beautiful Slingerland Maybell guitar. Now, tell me a little bit about it from your point of view."

The owner reminisced: "I always remember it in the house, my father playing it, but not as a normal guitar, as a slide guitar, Hawaiian music."

Allum then highlighted a distinctive feature of the guitar.

"Now it's funny you should say that, because I've immediately picked it up and I can see it has a very, very high action on it.

"Now I'm a guitarist and I can't play this guitar. It's had a brass bridge put on it which puts the action right up to play slide guitar."

"So he didn't play it like this, he played it like that." Allum illustrated, with the guest confirming: "On his lap."

Allum remarked: "Now that's very interesting. The model is a Nighthawk, it's an arch top guitar.

"This slates from the late 1930s, I think this model's introduced in about 1936 so it's a very, very old guitar."

The guest happily shared that his father acquired the instrument in 1944, displaying a receipt from an Arcade Music Shop in Pontypridd which recorded the purchase price at £15 and 10 shillings for the vintage guitar.

"That was a lot of money," Allum noted, to which the guest chimed in: "He said it was about four weeks' wages at the time."

The owner humorously confessed he hadn't a clue what inspired his dad to splash out on such an extravagant buy.

"Gosh I would have liked to have seen your father playing it," Allum expressed as the guest produced a black and white photograph showcasing his dad strumming the guitar before any modifications were made.

"Fantastic, what a brilliant photo. So nice to see the man in context with his guitar."

Allum responded with genuine appreciation.

Delving into history, Allum summarised: "Well what's interesting about it as well is that it's an American guitar. It comes from Chicago and they are beautiful. This, to me, is a piece of furniture, it's not just a musical instrument."

"I think you can probably tell how passionate I am about old guitars and I've certainly owned a few in my time, I do love to be able to play them. I think it's an absolute beauty and would love to own it but to own it, I would have to pay £,1000."

When the guest discovered the staggering value of his father's guitar, he was visibly stunned and exclaimed: "Gosh. Wow, wow", prompting expert Allum to remark: "It's a real beauty and they're very, very collectible in America."

Composing himself, the guest then said with evident emotion: "Wow. I'm overwhelmed."

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