A COUPLE on Antiques Roadshow were left absolutely gobsmacked at one of the highest ever valuations on the show.

The pair were appearing on the popular BBC programme fronted by Fiona Bruce.

The episode took place at the classic Ham House in Richmond-upon-Thames, a property which has since been used for a number of film locations.

Now owned by the National Trust, it became the perfect location for Fiona and her team to take a look at some of the incredible finds and treasures of the public.

One elderly couple took to the Roadshow to show off a stunning Chinese imperial robe.

The robe intermediately caught the eye of expert Lee Young as he said: "There are those moments in life you always remember – and I will certainly always remember standing here the first time I saw this spectacular robe."

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Attempting to explain the backstory, the male guest told Lee and the crowd that they believed the robe arrived in the UK in the 1930s by his wife's grandfather.

He was the general manager of the Standard Bank in India at the time.

Sarah then reflected on what the robe had been used for as she grew up.

She revealed that after her grandfather had given her the rope, she kept it in a dress-up box where she used to play with it and put on different clothes with it.

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Lee got the crowd going when he insisted it was 'museum worthy' after placing its origins in 1750s China.

He said: "So, 1750s – it definitely would be imperial. It's a ladies' robe and a robe of 1750 is very rare robe indeed.

"There are few survivors and the only other ones I know of this type you'd have to go to Beijing and the Palace Museum to see one of these. It really is a museum item."

In order to be delicate, Lee opted to use a glove to touch the silk as to not damage it or create any 'stains' of any sort.

Although things were looking on the up, Lee confessed that there was a slight problem with the product that he had to tell them about before he gave his valuation.

Lee revealed: "However – and there is a however – there is a little problem and that is if you look at the dragon, it wasn't intended to be two-tone.

"I expect when they have mixed the gild on the copper wire the copper has actually oxidised and that is ultimately going to affect the value."

But despite its flaw, the moment of truth of how much the item was really worth still delivered the biggest shock of all.

Lee said: "If that came up at auction with the way the market is at the moment, I think that would make £200,000."

The crowd let out an audible gasp as the couple were left utterly speechless by the news.

Attempting to find the words, the owner said: "Oh! That's surprising. My goodness me, thank you very much."

The couple were later taken for a sit down and a cup of tea by host Fiona after being left overwhelmed by the news as she chatted to them about their find.

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Sarah said that she was considering passing the item down to her children so they could argue over what to do with it next.

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