Antiques Roadshow viewers were left horrified by a 'creepy doll' which was said to be worth a staggering amount of money.
The value of the historic figure, which was thought be have been created in 1715, left the programme guests reeling - while viewers were not all that impressed. The BBC show experts heard how the item had been in the owner's family for over 50 years, having been purchased at an auction house in the 70s.
The current owner said it was a "beautiful thing" and she liked to think that it was "smiling". Explaining that the figure was not in fact a doll, but instead appeared to be a wax funeral effigy - linked to a tragic death in 1715 - the expert said: "I must admit this is the most interesting and unusual doll I've seen in 36 years of doing Antiques Roadshow, but it's not a doll.
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"I think his body shows he's not a doll and I'm going to show you why, because this is a very different form of body. It's not a doll at all, it's an effigy body. I believe it's a funeral effigy." The show's regular expert then spilled: "I believe it's a funeral effigy for the three-year-old son that died of the Duke of Buckingham, and he was the first Marquez of Normandy.
"He died in 1715 so in those days, the monarchy and aristocracy would make wooden and wax effigies to put on the funeral cask going to the funeral. It was sort of the belief that they could be in touch with their ancestors through these effigies."
Of the item, she added: "I do believe it's 1715," as she asked how much it had been purchased for. As the guests revealed their mother paid "somewhere in the hundreds" for the item, they were left gasping as the expert told them: "If we can prove this is correct and it is 1715, I think should we should put something like £10-20,000 on it. It's historical."
As the guests reeled, some viewers were as equally as stunned by the valuation, reports the Mirror, with one writing on Twitter : "£10-20k for the doll," as another agreed: "The effigy doll is in brilliant condition…whaaat…£10-20k…" But some fans couldn't get past the appearance of the "doll", and despite its history they confessed to finding it all a bit "creepy".
One viewer wrote: "The stuff is nightmares!" as another said: "Creepy doll alert!!!!" A third added: "Creepy doll / funeral effigy. Bin it." as a fourth said: "That doll looks evil."
Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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