Yahoo News Antiques Roadshow: Beatrix Potter signed books get surprise value despite 'appalling condition'
The "battered" books were particularly valuable because the Peter Rabbit author had signed them with her maiden name.
Watch: Rare Beatrix Potter items get values on Antiques Roadshow
What did you miss?
The Antiques Roadshow has revealed the surprising value of an original Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit sketch and two battered books, thanks to a rare signature they contained.
Two sisters appeared on the BBC show with a handwritten note and picture of Peter Rabbit from the author, along with signed copies of two of her children's picture books including The Tailor Of Gloucester.
The Antiques Roadshow's book expert Clive Farahar revealed the sketch was worth £25,000 while two "battered" books were particularly valuable, despite their "appalling condition" — because Potter had signed them with maiden name, and not her married name Beatrix Heelis.
What, how, and why?
The sisters revealed their mother met Beatrix Potter when she stayed at a guest house in Near Sawrey in the Lake District, near the writer's home, in 1941 during the Second World War.
Potter was then in the later stages of her life and married to solicitor William Heelis, so she went by the name Mrs Heelis.
The young fan, aged about eight-years-old went to visit Potter's home to meet her pet rabbits which inspired her stories and took her books — The Tailor of Gloucester and The Tale of Ginger and Pickles — to be signed by the writer.
Potter obliged, and also wrote her a personal note and poem along with a pen-and-ink drawing of her most famous character Peter Rabbit.
Farahar told them: "These two battered copies both signed by Beatrix Potter at the same time. I can't get over this, it's lovely. She was Mrs Heelis as you know because she married in her 40s and very often you see signed Beatrix Heelis. And so this a goldmine."
He went on: "I'm afraid I'm going to put a couple of thousand pounds on these two books. Well, they're signed Beatrix Potter. They are in appalling condition. You give children's books to children and they love them and they draw in them and this has all those bits as well. They're all drawn in and that's fine. Your mother loved them."
Of the note the books expert said: "I've never seen her do this before. It's rather a sort of motto for wartime. It is amazing that Beatrix Potter had the time to do this."
Valuing the picture and note — framed in cardboard — he said: "I'm going to be cautious because Peter Rabbit is not coloured. It is more or less as it would have been in one of her original letters. I'm going to put £25,000 pounds on it."
One sister said "I'm speechless!"
Farahar told them: "It's the 21st century — Peter Rabbit would love a new frame. And he wants museum glass to cut out the ultra violet rays."
The other sister said: "He's worth £25,000. He needs looking after. Please don't rain!"
What else has been happening on Antiques Roadshow?
The Antiques Roadshow is currently airing its 46th series, hosted by Fiona Bruce. The latest episode was filmed outdoors at Alexandra Gardens in Cardiff.
A recent episode of the show saw a guest – son of Sikh soldier Naik Gian Singh – moved to tears when he learned the astonishing value of his father's war medals, including a rare Victoria Cross.
And another guest brought a rare design for King Charles III's coronet made for his coronation as Prince of Wales in 1969 valued at £10,000.
In the previous series of the BBC antiques show, which has run since 1979, antiques experts surprised guests with their valuations of items including an original Live Aid poster, the first ever Beatles logo designed by a sign-making friend of the band and a signed helmet and overalls belonging to Formula One star Sir Lewis Hamilton to be worth £10,000.
The show also featured collections of locks of hair belonging to romantic poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth were given an estimated value of £30,000-40,000.
Antiques Roadshow airs on BBC at 8pm on Sundays.
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