It is always interesting to watch the Antique Roadshow TV Show. It gives us an opportunity to take a look into the past at some objects that have some sort of significance.
Every once in a while, something shows up on the show that really takes people by surprise. That happened when the BBC One TV show visited Cardiff, and one of the antique experts, Ronnie Archer-Morgan saw an unusual item.
Many people were wondering what the item could be but when he realized the history, he said that he would not put a value on it. He explained: “I want to make it absolutely clear that myself and we in The Antiques Roadshow wholly and unequivocally disapprove of the trade in ivory.”
When they began looking closely at the ivory bracelet, they paid attention to the engravings. A guest brought it in and said they bought it at a house sale for only £3, although they didn’t know the history behind it. When they did some research, they found out it had a dark past.
Ronnie continued: “But this ivory bangle here is not about trading in ivory, it’s about trading in human life.
“It’s probably one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever had to talk about, but talk about it we must.”
He said that the bracelet was amazing but the history and how it was linked to the slave trades in the 17th and 18th centuries had the impact.
Inscribed on the bangle was: “Prince Jemmy of Grandy.” More than likely, he was an African man who traded others in the slave trade. The bracelet had been made to let others know that the African slave trader had a good reputation and it even had ‘honest fellow’ engraved on it.
Ronnie said that he would like to meet the original owner and let him know how honest he thinks he is. He went on to say that he didn’t want to value it because he didn’t want to put a price on something that signified such an ‘awful business.’
He did say that there is value in what it can teach us about people and in researching and finding out as much information as we can. He told her that he appreciated her bringing it in and thanked her for making him so sad.