An Antiques Roadshow guest was left stunned on Sunday evening (November 26) after learning the value of his somewhat unusual item – a fleece made from the wool of Dolly the cloned sheep.
Dolly's birth in 1996 proved an historical scientific breakthrough as she became the first mammal in the world to be created from the DNA of an adult somatic cell. Her creation, which took a staggering 277 attempts to successfully complete, ultimately proved pioneering in the world of stem cell research and developing cures to debilitating diseases.
Now, 27 years on – a former employee of The Roslin Institute near Edinburgh where Dolly was born – left onlookers speechless after his artefact was anaylsed by expert Cristian Beadman.
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With the BBC show filmed on location at Brodie Castle in Scotland, the guest began by opening a cardboard box to reveal the fleece in excellent condition along with several associated laboratory items from the time.
Cristian appeared instantly gobsmacked before admitting: "Dolly is the star of the show. It's utterly fascinating. My training at big London auction houses did not prepare me for this sort of stuff!
"Especially her fleece – is important now but in the future will be seminally important to science. These are museum pieces and hopefully one day will end up in some kind of museum." The guest went on to explain that the wool came from Dolly's "second or third shearing" with the first on display at the Science Museum in London.
Cristian then revealed he would expect the fleece to easily sell for a five-figure sum at auction, before giving an approximate valuation of £30,000. Dolly died in 2003 and she has been on display at the National Museum of Scotland ever since.
She spent her entire life at the Roslin Institute and in that time gave birth to six lambs – Bonnie, twins Sally and Rosie, and triplets Lucy, Darcy and Cotton. She attracts millions of visitors to the museum every year.
Elsewhere on the show, a female guest shocked to learn the true value of an old broken watch her father bought for just £20. She explained that she believed it to be a World War II pilot's watch and was relieved to discover she had been right. Expert Richard Price explained the item had fact been used by Luftwaffe, the German Air Force.
Branding it the "rarest of items" by Richard Price, the expert explained that the watch would have originally had a large leather strap — which was now missing. He even claimed it would have been worth even more if it were made by A Lange & Söhne.
The guest said it was bought in Weymouth for £20 in the early 1970s and that her dad loved "poking about" in old shops, before asking: "Was it a good buy?" Richard replied: "Pretty good buy. I think i would be very happy if I had paid £20." He then informed her that the item was worth between £8,000 and £10,000, leaving the woman in total shock. "I might not take it home to [my father]," she joked
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