The value of a food-stained napkin “blew away” Antiques Roadshow presenter Fiona Bruce. On tonight’s episode (February 23) of the BBC show, viewers were took to Ebrington Square in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
Highlights included a Celtic stone head thousands of years old, rare Belleek vases bought for just a few pounds from a charity shop, and most notably a drawing by Muhammad Ali on a napkin. Viewers watched as a man named Mike shared the story behind how he got his hands on the seascape sketch by the famous boxer. Mike recalled Muhammad Ali visited his restaurant back in 2003.
The chef said: “One night I got a phone call to my restaurant where I work for a table of eight people for Muhammad Ali.” Towards the end of the meal Ali asked if he could draw on a napkin and Mike gave him a pen to do so.
He added: “I put the bill on the table and I said to his wife ‘Can I take the napkin?’. So she said ‘Of course you can have it. You’ve done such a wonderful job and we are very impressed.'”
Mike said his wife then ask Muhammad Ali to sign the cloth for the chef, to which the athlete did. The napkin was stained as it was used beforehand by Muhammad while he was eating dinner.
Expert Raj Bisram valued the napkin in the thousands, claiming it could go for anything between six to eight thousand pounds. The expert said the sketch was a part of series the boxer had created.
After hearing about the value, Fiona said: “Of all the things we might see today. That’s why I love this job. You never know what someone’s going to bring along. And this has blown me away. Wow. What a brilliant, brilliant thing. You lucky man.”