An Antiques Roadshow expert was left stunned after discovering what he had believed was an 150-year-old bottle of port was actually full of urine, rusty nails and a human hair.

Glass expert Andy McConnell tasted the contents back in 2016 after visitor John brought in a mysterious bottle he had found buried in the threshold of his house.

During the roadshow in Trelissick, Cornwall, John said that he was keen to know how old the bottle was and what was in it.

Saying that it was very rare to have a bottle with its contents still, Andy said it dated it from the 1800s and proceeded to inject a syringe into the cork to extract some of the liquid.

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"It's very brown," Andy remarked, unimpressed. Despite this, he decided to give it a taste in front of the stunned crowd.

After making a face, he suggested: "I think it's port – port or red wine… or it's full of rusty old nails and that's rust!"

Unluckily for him, Andy discovered that that was partly what the "rusty" taste was – plus something vile.

Speaking to host Fiona Bruce, he finally found out years later what he had been tasting.

Fiona revealed: "Inside were these brass pins, all of these dating from the late 1840s and the liquid – urine, a tiny pit of alcohol and one human hair."

As the expert shook his head, Fiona continued: "And a mysterious little creature called an ostracod, which is like a little cockle. So what this was was not a bottle of port or wine but a witches bottle.

"So buried in the threshold of the house as a talisman against witchcraft, against curses, against misfortune coming into the home. So you glad you tried it?"

But Andy insisted: "It was too much of a good opportunity to miss!"

*Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays at 8pm on BBC One

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