On Sunday (June 25), attendees at the Antiques Roadshow—a program dedicated to appraising antiques produced by BBC One—were astonished by an item brought in by a woman.
At first glance, it was merely an unremarkable statue, perhaps even a bit unsettling. However, this was no ordinary object, and its value left everyone, including the woman’s daughter, in disbelief. The young girl confessed that she had been so frightened by the statue as a child that she struggled to sleep.
The woman brought in the ugly bird statue for appraisal, and was stunned by the expert’s assessment
During this episode, a mother and her daughter presented a statue of a bird to appraiser Steven Moore of the Antiques Roadshow.
The woman explained that the statue had been passed down from her parents and had previously been stored in an unused bedroom. She and her daughter had named the statue Ernie. Curious about its history and value, they sought the expert’s opinion on this family heirloom.
The statue is dark brown, depicting a bird in a sitting position, with a detachable head that can be removed from the body. Its color and expression give viewers an eerie feeling.
The woman’s daughter also admitted that as a child, she was so scared of Ernie that she lost sleep over it. “My brother and I were terrified of this bird, to the point that we couldn’t sleep at night or had nightmares because of it. We cried and eventually made our parents put it away before we could dare to go to sleep,” she shared on the program.
Expert Steven Moore agreed, noting that the statue has collectible value and humorously remarked that the bird has a face that “only its mother could love.”
As a result, many believed that this unappealing item likely had little worth.
However, Steven Moore’s assessment left many, including the mother and daughter, astounded.
He suggested that the head and body of the bird don’t quite match. If the missing parts were found, the statue could be worth £70,000 (equivalent to over 2 billion VND), with the head alone valued at around £4,000 (approximately 120 million VND).
The head of the bird alone is worth over 120 million VND.
Why is this statue valued so highly?
This news left many people incredulous. Numerous comments flooded social media, with remarks such as “Who would spend such a large amount on a piece of pottery like that?” or “Four thousand pounds for a bird’s head?” or “Honestly, if someone offered me this ugly bird statue, I wouldn’t even take it, and yet it’s worth 2 billion VND?”
Some even compared the bird statue to characters in the animated film Angry Birds.
So why is this statue valued so highly? Surely it must have something special about it?
It is known that this bird statue is a creation of the Martin brothers—famous ceramic artists from London, England, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
One of the other designs by the Martin brothers.
The Martin brothers were best known for their designs called Wally Birds, which are decorative items (such as jars and tobacco containers) shaped like quirky birds with long beaks, large feet, and human-like heads with a satirical expression. They all share the distinctive feature of having detachable heads that serve as lids for containers.
The designs by the Martin brothers are known as Martinware and have been popular among collectors since the 1970s. Therefore, anyone owning items from the Martin brothers can sell them for significant amounts.
