Antique items always have value, be it emotional or financial. The BBC programme ‘Antiques Roadshow’ was created to highlight the value of such antiques. In the programme, vintage items are analysed by experts to work out their historical and cultural value and determine their true worth. In one of these episodes, expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan was appraising several items when he was surprised by an item brought by a particular guest. The person came in with an ivory disc with seemingly intricate details that he had bought for £3 around 36 years ago, according to the Daily Mail.
Once the expert inspected the antique, he made a strong statement: “I want to make it absolutely clear that I and we at Antiques Roadshow completely and unequivocally disapprove of the ivory trade.” Morgan further mentioned that the strong friction with the item was not due to the ivory trade, but rather the dark past it represented. “But this ivory bangle here is not about the ivory trade, it is about the trade in human life, and that is probably one of the most difficult things I have ever had to talk about. But we need to talk about it,” he noted.
When asked further, the guest revealed that she bought it when a family she worked for put it up for sale. She added that she bought the ivory bracelet because it “looked interesting” and “she had no idea what it was.” The woman added that after owning it for over 30 years, she decided to do some research on it. “It said trader on it and I thought it meant trade in coffee or spices, but then I realized it was trade in people,” she said. Morgan examined the bracelet further, looking at the detailed engravings. “This is an amazing object and a testament to the callous trade that was carried out in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries,” he explained.
The engravings showed the name of a person, a ship and the inscription “honest fellow”. Morgan noticed that the name was that of a slave trader and could not hide his disgust, calling him “a despicable human being”. “I would love to meet him and tell him how honest I find him,” the expert scoffed, before revealing how he knew about the evil slave trade. “My great-grandmother was a returned slave from Nova Scotia in Canada and came back to Sierra Leone and Freetown. And I actually think it’s my cultural duty, our cultural duty, to talk about such things,” he added.
The antique bangle also had the name of the ship, “Anna,” engraved on it. Guests recalled that according to her research, there were over 535 slaves on the ship. Upon hearing this, the expert said, “Probably all stacked on top of each other, transported across the Atlantic for months.” He added a comment, “Look how beautiful the calligraphy is. The beauty of the calligraphy just doesn’t give away the awfulness of the message.” Morgan concluded on a bold note, simply refusing to put a value on the item, emphasizing, “I don’t want to put a price on something that represents such a terrible deal. But the value is in the lessons that people can learn from it. And I just love that you brought it, and thank you very much for making me so sad.”
