BBC Antiques Roadshow record broken as expert left 'speechless'

An elderly couple on Antiques Roadshow presented a remarkable find - an Imperial Chinese robe, which captivated BBC antiques expert Lee Young. "There are those moments in your life that you will always remember, and I will always remember standing here, but I certainly will also remember the first time that I saw this spectacular robe," he said.

The garment, made from golden yellow fabric adorned with traditional symbols and a dragon, was revealed to be the most valuable item ever featured on the show, surpassing the record of a flawed Imperial China vase, as reported by the Express.

The robe's owners explained it had been brought to Britain in the early 1930s by the woman's grandfather, who worked as the general manager of the Standard Bank in India. When asked about their use of the robe, the woman said: "It was in the dressing up box!"

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Lee, examining the piece, said: "1750, it certainly would be Imperial, it's a lady's robe," acknowledging its rarity and museum-worthy status. "A robe of 1750 is a very rare robe indeed. There are few survivors, the only other ones I know of this type, you'd have to go to Beijing and go to the Palace museum to see one of these," he added.

He added: "Now the colour is important, a bright yellow would be for the Empress or the Dowager Empress, or the first ranking concubine. This isn't a bright yellow, it's got a slightly kind of lime-y, just a slight green tinge to it. But it is certainly Imperial," reports Yorkshire Live.

While appreciating the robe's impressive history, Lee pointed out a significant problem with its condition that could impact its auction value. "If you look at the dragon here, it wasn't intended to be two-tone," he observed.

"What's happened there, I would suspect, is when they've mixed the gilt on the copper wire, that actually the copper has oxidised. Ultimately it will affect its value."

He also noticed another issue: "Another thing I've found, I think that at some time, someone has actually turned up the bottom and it's probably a little shorter than it should be. You can see part of the fringe here maybe has been turned up as well."

Still, Lee praised the robe, describing it as "just spectacular", and anticipated that it would draw a considerable amount from collectors. His confident estimate: "If that comes up at auction, with the way the market is at the moment, I think that would make £200,000," elicited shock from the audience.

The couple responded with a laugh and an astounded "Oh."

They were visibly taken aback by the valuation, as the man remarked: "That's surprising."

Lee said: "I wouldn't be surprised if it made a bit more as well," which led the owner to respond with a jest: "Well we won't be putting it in the dressing up box again."