Top 10 Creepiest Items on Antiques Roadshow

#10: Hair Brooch

If there’s one thing the nineteenth century succeeded at, it was making weird jewellery. An elderly woman brought on a little box and revealed that it contained a very unusual brooch made of human hair. Hair jewellery is certainly less common now, but as the expert explains, for centuries, trinkets made from the hair of loved ones were very common. Interestingly, though, the expert says that the note in the box is likely wrong; it says it’s the Duke of Wellington’s hair, but he believes it would have been a gift from the Duchess and the history has got muddled. But what’s creepier than keeping the hair of a loved one in the box is keeping a dead stranger’s hair.

#9: Toy Family

Marc Allum was handed a trio of toys over a hundred years old: a lamb, a doll, and a monkey. They were old family heirlooms from the early twentieth century, but in their condition, they were certainly eerie – particularly when seeing the photograph of the lamb in its original, pristine condition, versus how it looks now. Not that that matters too much, these are toys and were meant to be played with, after all, valuable as they are to modern collectors. The monkey is, of course, the creepiest, resembling the eternally frightening Jolly Chimp toy. Luckily, this monkey didn’t have any cymbals or moving pieces to scare us with – and he was worth nine hundred quid!

#8: Musical Automaton

What could be creepier than an allegedly haunted doll? Nothing, which is why we’re going to show you a few of them. This automaton is a fascinating curiosity, made around the turn of the twentieth century. They just don’t make objects like this any more, and it’s a wonderful piece of workmanship. But equally, you can’t say it’s not frightening. It’s the kind of thing that, if you had it displayed in your house, you’d walk past always slightly afraid that it was going to start moving of its own accord. Interestingly, the doll originally came from France, but was sold in a Spanish market, somehow making its way to the UK where it could appear in the Roadshow.

#7: The Cottingley Fairies

Are these famous photographs true proof of the supernatural? While experts and scientists have long since explained the Cottingley Fairies as a hoax, there are still many believers, including the women who brought the photos on, one of whom was the daughter of one of the two girls responsible for the pictures. She was Frances Griffiths’ daughter, Christine, and she said she thought the pictures were genuine. Many more people still believe in the story of the Cottingley Fairies, and they had a very famous supporter in eminent writer Arthur Conan Doyle. They’re a real part of history, and truth aside, the pictures of these fairies are now worth a fortune.

#6: Donald Duck

Often creepier than dolls, there have occasionally been puppets on the Roadshow. This one is a 1950s Pelham puppet made to look like Donald Duck. The difference in price between a puppet made in the fifties and the sixties is stark, with the more recent ones only being worth about twenty pounds at the time of the valuation, while the older ones are worth five times that. Pelham marionettes were made widely in the middle of the century, which is why they aren’t even more valuable. But beloved as Disney’s characters are now, licensed products based on them in their early iterations are often unrecognisable, and arguably sinister.

#5: Bisque Dolls

What’s worse than a scary, old doll in a box? A scary, old doll with three detachable heads lined up alongside. Like all frightening dolls, these ones are also dated to the late nineteenth century, and originate on the continent; these particular ones are German. The different heads have different eye colours and hair styles, offering you surprising customisability. But still, it’s an assortment of tiny, porcelain children’s heads in a box, all in that dead-eyed Victorian style. They were, however, in remarkable condition, with the makers’ marks intact, including with their original, cardboard box. And despite being played with by the owner, they’re still almost immaculate.

#4: Blythe Dolls

Debuting in 1972, the scary, big-eyed Blythe dolls weren’t exactly a hit. They were in production for just a year, though since the early 2000s, the brand has been revived by a Japanese company that makes new ones. The new ones are certainly less frightening, though they do still have the large eyes. This one, however, is a 70s original, bought by the current owner’s mother from the US. Even scarier, their eyes can spin all the way around and change colour. Because these ones were so scary, though, they were untouched, kept pristine in the back of a cabinet with their original packaging and clothes.

#3: The Artist’s Halt in the Desert by Richard Dadd

This watercolour itself isn’t creepy, but the circumstances in which it was painted certainly are. Painted in 1845, “The Artist’s Halt in the Desert” was done by Victorian painter Richard Dadd while confined in Bethlem Hospital. Dadd was in the infamous psychiatric hospital from 1843 to the 1860s, at which point he was moved to Broadmoor, where he lived for the rest of his life, now believed to have been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. As therapy while confined, Dadd was encouraged to paint, and this is one of the many works he produced. It was more notable, however, for the fact that it mysteriously disappeared, only to miraculously turn up on “Antiques Roadshow” in 1987.

#2: A Doll with a Doll

Another porcelain doll, she fell into the hands of a toy shop owner in the 1970s after her previous owner sold her. The woman has kept the doll ever since, not knowing how much it was worth. But it ends up being a Kammer & Reinhardt, which if you know anything about dolls, you’ll know made some of the most valuable and coveted antique dolls in history. She ends up being worth three thousand pounds, but what’s creepy about her – other than the dead stare of those painted eyes – is that she’s carrying a second, far smaller doll in her hand, which is apparently her child.

#1: Witches’ Bottle

This legendary clip remains embarrassing to this day, but it’s got a very sinister origin – not to mention, few things are as stomach-turning as accidentally drinking centuries-old urine because you wrongly thought it was port. It wasn’t just full of wee, though; it also had some pins, human hair, and a sea shrimp. As Fiona Bruce explains after an analysis was done on the bottle, it was originally intended to be buried underneath the threshold of a house where it would guard the residents against witchcraft. We’re not sure if its magical properties will remain intact after it was broken into, but it’s certainly a creepy window into a more superstitious time.

Let us know in the comments what “Antiques Roadshow” video you want us to do next!