A VASE left collecting cobwebs in a garage for 17 years has been valued at £1,000 by an expert from the Antiques Roadshow.

The Hutchinson family, of Thanet Lee Close, Cliviger, found the artfully decorated pot while clearing out their mother Margaret’s home after she died in December.

Thinking the object, a 1902 piece from the Austrian House of Amphora, was nothing special, dad-of-three Richard Hutchinson, 55, was ready to put it in a skip before his wife Sue stopped him.

Mrs Hutchinson said: “It’s just so different. I’d never seen anything like it. And I like to have a lot of flowers around the house, so I thought the more vases I have, the more flowers I can have.

“We cleaned the cobwebs off it and sat it on the hearth.”

Then, when the couple found out the Antiques Roadshow team would be filming at Towneley Hall, Burnley, last Thursday, they decided to get the intriguing piece of pottery examined by an expert.

Mr Hutchinson, an industrial chemist, presented the vase to Steven Moore, one of the BBC One show’s ceramics aficionados.

Mrs Hutchinson said: “He looked at it and said it was fantastic. He said there is just so much incredible detail on it.”

The production team told the pair they would like to film them with an expert, which was when they discovered how much the vase was worth.

Mr Hutchinson said: “It was a real surprise when we had it valued.

“I don’t think we’ll ever sell it. It will probably go to my son, James.

“It’s more like art than just a vase really. And it’s become something of a family heirloom.”

Margaret Hutchinson came into possession of the vase when her uncle Jim, a collector of fine pottery, died in 1996. Mrs Hutchinson never displayed it in her home.

Mr Hutchinson said: “We have quite a few pieces left by him which are more than 100 years old. They are too special to the family to sell.”

The new series of Antiques Roadshow, including the visit to Towneley Hall, will be broadcast from September.

THE HOUSE OF AMPHORA

  • The House of Amphora was established in Bohemia, Austria, in 1876.
  • In 1892, the company’s founder, Alfred Stellmacher, encouraged his sons and son-in-law to take up his trade of ceramics production.
  • The family traded under the names Riessner, Stellmacher and Kessel, but consistently labelled their pieces ‘Amphora’, a neolithic word for a vessel used to carry liquid. By the late 1890s, they had become known by that name.
  • They made several vases between 1894 and 1904 which feature realistically sculptured plants and animals, prehistoric and mythical creatures, Klimt and Mucha-style portraits and simulated jewels.