Additional Coverage:
- ‘Antiques Roadshow’ guest ‘had no idea’ his golden Buddha statue was worth a massive fortune (marketrealist.com)
Golden Buddha Statue on ‘Antiques Roadshow’ Appraised for $40,000!
A guest on “Antiques Roadshow” received a stunning appraisal for a golden bronze Buddha statue, a piece he’d inherited from his grandmother. The statue, passed down through the family, turned out to be a 17th-century treasure, crafted around 1650.
Expert Robert Waterhouse identified the statue as gilt bronze, a material often mistaken for polished regular bronze. The statue’s pristine gilding, largely untouched by wear, contributed significantly to its value.
Waterhouse noted that the figure, a deity, would have originally been mounted on a lotus base, a feature often missing from similar pieces. Unfortunately, this statue’s base was also missing.
Further detracting from its value were some corrosion, likely from cleaning chemicals, and a few missing fingers.
Despite these imperfections, the statue’s rarity and craftsmanship led Waterhouse to appraise it at $40,000, much to the guest’s astonishment. Had the lotus base been intact, Waterhouse estimated the value would have soared to $150,000. Even without the base, the guest was delighted with the unexpected windfall.