Will your treasures bowl over expert?
A familiar face from BBC’s Antiques Roadshow is to host a valuation day for the public in Stirling.
Lars Tharp will bring his expertise to Stirling Highland Hotel on September 21 .
Mr Tharp has had a career as a museum director, author, consultant, broker, public speaker and even as a judge on the jury for the Art Fund Prize for Museums and Galleries. He also devises and hosts cultural tours for travel companies.
But it is his work as a leading expert on ceramics and Oriental art that has led to him being one of the longest-serving and most respected of the Roadshow specialists.
His most memorable discovery occurred some years ago while working at Sotheby’s.
He said: “We were conducting a valuation day in Hartley Wintney. It was very busy and as I worked my way through the visitors, I saw a lady in the queue clutching a little blue and white bowl under her arm. When it was her turn, I ummed and aahhed, before letting her know that it was late Ming and marked for the Emperor Wanli, whose palace it would have originally come from.
“When I told her it was worth around £6000-9000 – this was in the mid -1980s – she felt faint and had to be revived with a cup of tea. It turned out her dog had been using it as its food bowl for years.”
Mr Tharp added: “If the lady had come in today she really would have to sit down and have two cups of tea, because the price would have been at least £60,000.”
When he visits Stirling, Mr Tharp is hoping to see similar treasures as he assesses Chinese and Japanese works of art, as well as British and European ceramics and is offering free valuations on items readers are considering selling at auction.
The valuation day at Stirling, on behalf of Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers, takes place between 10am and 2pm.