Antiques Roadshow guest left gobsmacked and asking for bodyguard after learning true worth of small silver box

Casting his expert eye over a rather special item on UK show Antiques Roadshow , BBC's Alastair Dickensen was confronted with an intriguing silver gambling box from the 17th century.

The piece was brought in by a senior man, who seemed to know very little about it initially. It caught Dickenson's attention immediately, with him stating: "My favourite period of English silver is the 17th Century and you've brought along a charming little box with a portrait of Charles I on the top -".

At this point, the owner interrupted with surprise, "Is that what that is? " To which Dickenson confirmed, "Yep. And before we have a look at it, what can you tell me about its past?"

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The pensioner shared his tale: "Well I know very little about it Alastair apart from the fact that I was in business and one of the people in my office came to me and said he was a bit short of cash and was I interested in this."

Showing an interest in antiques due to his background in insurance, he decided to buy the box, recalling: "And I was in the insurance business, specialising in antiques, I said: 'yes, I don't know anything about it but it looks interesting. What do you want for it?"

"After some negotiation, where I mentioned that the asking price was a little high, we settled on £2,000 ($2,581.40). He was happy with that, so I bought it and have had it since 1988."

With the story told, Dickenson proceeded to examine the ornate object more keenly.

"As I said, on the top, we've got the portrait of Charles I and underneath we have his wife Henrietta Maria. What I particularly like about this box is these fantastic, fanciful, almost demonic figures around the side here."

"Absolutely beautifully pierced and engraved but we should actually say what it is. Well I understand, when I bought it, I was told it was gaming discs, produced by this awful gentry many, many years ago who did nothing but eat, drink and womanise", the pensioner joked.

Dickenson laughed: "Well there we are! Nothing more to be said! It is a counter box, you're absolutely right and I think if we take the lid off, we'll see inside these fantastic counters, each one beautifully engraved with different kings and queens of England."

"Now there's a maker associated with these and that's a chap called Simon Van de Pass and he died in 1647. So we know that this box, with the portrait of King Charles I has to be before 1647 so I would date it to about 1640."

The guest exclaimed "good gracious! " before clarifying that there 32 counters in the box.

"That's pretty much near the capacity number of counters you can get into one of these boxes", Dickenson stated.

"Over the years, a few of these have come up at auction and not that many of them have as many as 32 counters, because each one of these is a little piece of art in its own right. It's absolutely fantastic detail. 32 little gems all add up to a reasonable sum."

The guest humorously questioned: "Do they? I'm waiting for you to tell me what that sum is!"

Dickensen then delivered his appraisal: "Well, I can tell you it's more than £2,000 ($2,581.40). It's now £6,000 ($7,744.20) to £8,000 ($10,325.60)."

Taken aback, the pensioner exclaimed: "No! Golly." After a brief pause, he quipped: "I need a bodyguard!"