Antiques Roadshow guest collapses on expert as he tells her 'priceless' item is fake

was left in chaos as one guest collapsed on her resident expert after he told her an item she hoped was an ancient artefact was indeed fake. The guest was an archaeology student, who picked up her item at a flea market for just £30 after bartering the owner down from £50 - thinking it was an ancient death offering used in funerary rituals.

Expert David Battie gave his own appraisal of the so-called 'offering', explaining that on the surface it would date back to the Han Dynasty. He said: "It's a very unusual thing, where did you find it?" The owner then explained: "Unfortunately it wasn't in my family. I found it in a flea market in south east London, a few years ago on a Sunday afternoon.

"It was among loads of house clearance things and the guy didn't really seem very interested in it. I'd just finished a part-time archaeology course and I was just really intrigued by it. Because it had sandy earth I presumed it was some sort of funeral offering."

David replied: "Indeed, these were grave goods. Almost invariably they were buried and having been dug up you get all this wonderful colour building up here. This is cast bronze and the copper is coming through - that's because of acid attack by the soil. The thing that worries me is that this would normally be what we call a B disc, the eye, which actually has a hole in the middle."

David said the item would likely belong to a "highly important official" when it was buried with them, but the real shock came when the guest asked: "How old is it?" and David answered honestly: "A couple of years."

The guest collapsed onto his shoulder, burying her face there as she said: "Oh no! You're joking? Are you joking? Oh no, I'm so upset! I'm really upset. My life is over. It's like a stab to the heart."

The expert was keen to reassure her: "I haven't finished yet. Listen, we are looking to the future. This class of wear is coming from China, they are casting it, they are carving it, because they still can afford the skilled craftsmen to do it. It's a fantastic bit of work.

"This is my prediction for the future. You will not normally hear an expert predicting that a forgery is something to buy, but if you can buy that for £30, go out and buy them! Your children are going to thank you."