Owner Can't Believe Value Of Rare Japanese Bronze Tiger Bought For 75p! | Antiques Roadshow UK

The first thing to ask you is, does it have a name? Yes, it does. Clarence, the cross-eyed lion. Clarence the cross-eyed lion? Yes. He doesn't look terribly cross-eyed to me. No, I don't think he is really, but he just came to me that day, do you know? So, it's a boy? I don't know. I want you to tell me. And it's a lion? I don't know. Stripes. Lots of lovely stripes all over him. Now, I've never seen a lion with stripes, so I think we're going to call him a tiger. I hope you don't mind me changing his name slightly. No, I don't at all. But as for the sex, well, we'll come to that later, shall we? What we're looking at is a very, very nice oriental bronze. It's from Japan. Yes. How did it come to you? I inherited it, actually, from an aunt of mine who purchased it during the war. She heard that this lady had got this lion and she went to see it. This lady said to my aunt, well, if you have him, you can have this and a sewing table and I will throw you two oil paintings in for 30 baht, which was 1.50 in today's money. Yes, £1.50. That's quite a nice little bundle, isn't it, really? And then these have passed to you? These have passed to me. I've inherited them, yes. Well, the majority of Japanese lions and tigers stand reaching forward and their tails pointing straight back. They form a very powerful diagonal movement, which on a sideboard is actually a rather rhetorical sort of gesture. The lion goes from one end to the other and the eye doesn't rest. But with this object, we've got something quite different. We've got a movement that curls in on itself, this wonderful prowling beast. Yes, it's very Japanese. And we've got these wonderful shoulder blades rising up through its hide. It's a massive piece of modelling and it's very, very successful. Not only because of the animal itself, but also because of the superb stand it's actually standing on. I want to pick him up because he really does beg to be picked up. I hope he's not going to bite me. Well, you asked whether you were giving him the right gender. You are. I think we can see that from the tail end. Yes. What we also have here, the foundry seal mark. Now, it is done in seal character, so I can't actually tell you what it says. But there were a number of really good foundries in Japan around the 1900, 1910 period, and this is when this particular piece was made. I hope it's not too great a disappointment that Clarence has turned from a lion into a tiger. No, not really. No, I'll still think of him, yes. You'll still enjoy him? Oh, I will, truly, yes, yes, yes. Are you interested in the value? Well, yes, I'm very interested, but I've no idea at all. You know, I don't have a clue. Well, I would put the value somewhere in the region of between £3,000 and £5,000. Goodness me! For 75 pence? It's not a bad... Quite a good bundle. Isn't it? Yes, goodness me.