A 900-year-old Chinese porcelain bowl. A jug made in a unique collaboration between the two founding fathers of the British studio pottery movement. A mediaeval statue believed to have been destroyed during the French Revolution. And many more. It’s a profitable pastime too, with a ten-year tally of £250,000 in auction proceeds from items bought for just £1,500. 

 

Random Treasure shows how to identify and authenticate antiques, how they rise and fall in value, whether provenance matters, and how much real-life auctions differ from what you see in daytime TV shows. 

 

There’s also an investigation of what special qualities are needed by enthusiasts to make their own spectacular finds. Does it require the connoisseur’s expertise or the alchemist’s magic, or can anyone do it with a little luck and a lot of hard work? And once bitten by the bug, how can collectors tell if their innocent hobby is in danger of slipping into all-consuming obsession and compulsion?