I found my grandad’s old sketches in the attic – I was floored when I discovered their four-figure value
AN Antiques Roadshow guest was left stunned at they discovered the true worth of some of their grandfather's documents and sketches on the show.
During a recently aired episode of the BBC show fronted by Fiona Bruce, there were surprises all around with one guest left particularly floored.
Expert Paul Atterbury was left thoroughly impressed when he was presented with some old wartime documents that included a rather intriguing design for a jet engine.
The guest who brought them along explained how his grandfather was Leonard Stanley Snell, a chief designer at Rolls Royce between the 1960s and 1980s.
Examining what he was presented with, Paul instantly made a connection to the Second World War.
He said to the guest: "I think this is rather important because what I'm looking at, and I think you can correct me, is a design for a jet engine clearly labelled Junkers and so we're in Germany at the end of the Second World War, how does he fit in there?"
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Trying to offer up some sort of explanation, the guest told Paul: "Well, that's what we're trying to sort of uncover.
"At the end of the Second World War, he'd been taken to Germany to interview various scientists including Wernher von Braun.
"And I'd always just assumed it was a story rather than, you know...I'd never found any proof. And my sister's here, we were digging around in the attic and we came across this."
He went onto describe how they had discovered letters written in the 90s describing what his grandfather had worked on in the 40s which placed him at Concorde where he likely developed the prototypes for his jet engines.
Paul was left thrilled at the uncovering of a piece of history as he explained how it would be rare to find a document and original sketch of a jet that could be linked to World War 2.
Telling the guest more and indicating its possible worth, Paul said: "I think it's a great story, and this is a very, very rare document locked into its time by the Junkers heading.
"And that is going to be, I think, to a collector about £1,000."
The guest was left stunned at the valuation and impressed that he was the owner of something so incredibly rare.
