Look out on BBC1’s Antiques Roadshow this Sunday at 8pm and you’ll see a well known local collector on the small screen, writes Stephen Houston.
Fiona Bruce’s team were at the V&A Museum in Dundee when Forbes Robertson popped in with a riveting tale.
Forbes found this special rivet, detailed below, dating back to the official opening of the Forth Rail Bridge on March 4, 1890, by the Prince of Wales.
He found it by accident at his Pet Crematorium business in Ayr rather than at auction.
Forbes said: “I dropped a hammer into a void under the stairs and found the rivet along with two joiners planes and some pencils.
“As far as I know nobody has ever seen one before and I am keen on the Ayr connection. Sir William Arrol, builder of the Forth Bridge, lived in Seafield House.”
The rivet still has the original red oxide paint.
