“Antiques Roadshow” Expert Refuses To Value Relic From “Awful Business” Of Slave Trade
BBC’s Antiques Roadshow confronted a historical artifact with a past so dark that it left expert Ronnie Archer-Morgan at a loss for words – or rather, a price.
On the popular show, people often bring in old relics or heirlooms from their attics, hoping they might be worth something. However, the recent episode, filmed against the picturesque backdrop of Alexandra Gardens in Cardiff, took an unexpected turn when a guest presented an item deeply entangled with the grim history of the slave trade.
“The item was a disc that acted as an endorsement of the professional reputation of an African slave trader in the West African port of Bonny in the 18th century,” host Fiona Bruce said in a voiceover.
Ronnie inspected the item and said it was an “amazing” find despite being associated with the “callous trade” of humans from the 17th to 19th centuries.
Ronnie Archer-Morgan said the item, brought on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, was “about trading in human life”
Image credits: Antiques Roadshow
“I want to make it absolutely clear that myself and we and the Antiques Roadshow wholly and unequivocally disapprove of the trade in ivory,” Ronnie told the woman who brought the item on the show. “But this ivory bangle here is not about trading in ivory, it’s about trading in human life, and it’s probably one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever had to talk about. But talk about it we must.”
The woman who brought the item revealed on the show that she got hold of the object from a family she used to look after.
“One of the members passed away and she was having a house sale,” she recalled. “And I bought that 36 years ago in the house sale for £3.”
The disc, which featured some beautiful calligraphy, had the trader’s name, Prince Jemmy of Grandy, inscribed. Ronnie believed the trader was an African himself and described him as a “despicable human being.”
The woman who appeared on the show with the item said she bought it for £3
Image credits: Antiques Roadshow
He also explained to viewers that the words “honest fellow” were also engraved on the item.
“I’d like to meet him and tell him how honest I think he is,” Ronnie said on the show.
The Antiques Roadshow star went on to say that he feels it’s his “cultural duty” to talk about the subject because his own “great-grandmother was a returned slave from Nova Scotia in Canada and came back to Sierra Leone and Freetown.”
Ronnie refused to put a value on the item that was associated with enslaved people
Antique roadshow expert refuses to value an ivory form of payment for enslaved people.. #education #antiqueRoadshow #ivory #slavery pic.twitter.com/9wBlPKzKN0
— UVP (@UVPshow) April 1, 2024
“I just don’t want to value it,” he finally said. “I do not want to put a price on something that signifies such an awful business.”
“But the value is in the lessons that this can tell people. The value is in researching this and what we can find out,” he added. “And I just love you for bringing it to the roadshow.”
I appreciate he used this horrid piece of history to educate while preserving the dignity of those who suffered by not placing a fiscal value on it.
I'm working on research of slavery/ racism in my NJ town for our Historical Commission..and I know there are more people housekeeping because someone has taken their passport in my area , and there's sex slaves, than were slaves back then. Of course there's more people now. !!!!HOLY C**P!!! the episode of Antiques Roadshow I'm watching right now just had a map of my area from revolutionary war and I looked at it and pointed " that's where the slave Rebecca escaped from"!!!!
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I'm pretty sure the script reads, "One ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them." (The evil of Sauron from our own world.)
This is , for me, one of the best things i read lately: "it’s probably one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever had to talk about. But talk about it we must.”
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Very obviously he was saying that both the ivory trade and the slave trade are horrible. Which they are. I don't think he decided not to value it only because of the ivory. That is a part of it but not all of the reason.
Good article. Thank you for bringing it to my and everyone's attention. "Talk about it we must"
That is fair. I am not sure that should have any monetary value. It should be in museum so people can see how dumb/cruel we were.
That must have been incredibly difficult to look at and talk about. I'm so thankful they did though, otherwise, I never would have known these items existed.
i just happen to be watching an episode right now. The News today is wearying .
So the ARS have people going aroung and seeing what people have, and then select those with interesting items to have them appraised. If they knew that ivory was a no-no, why would they want to highlight it? If they want to highlight slave trade (which would have only been discussed at valuation), he certainly did so. However, everything has a price, regardless of our emotions towards it. Morally he may not have wanted to contribute to that, but someone else will. Sell it to a museum and use the funds to support the eradicating of human trafficking or the banning ivory trade.
Donate to a museum, I don't think they'd pay for slave/ivory artifacts, Hell, I think you can't legally sell ivory in most cases ...... Just curious, What's your price? :)
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it's a relic from a long time ago. The elephant died 200 or so years ago. Do they not appraise antique pianos with ivory keys? Or antique jewelry with gold and jewels inlaid in an ivory pendant? How about walrus ivory harvested by indigenous peoples? Or mammoth ivory (which is not under any international ivory proscriptions?)
'Whosh' mate, you managed to miss the entire video and description.
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Lifted from the Daily Mail. He played Victim rather than set a value on it. The video is pathetic.
Refusing to set monetary value on an object that was used as license to capture and sell human beings? It should not have monetary value. Its only appropriate use is for education, which means it belongs in a museum. He wasn't playing victim. He was standing up for a principle.
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Did you watch the video? Or even read this article? It's clear it's not the ivory that made this item so difficult to talk about. “But this ivory bangle here is not about trading in ivory, it’s about trading in human life, and it’s probably one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever had to talk about. But talk about it we must.”
Load More Replies...
I appreciate he used this horrid piece of history to educate while preserving the dignity of those who suffered by not placing a fiscal value on it.
I'm working on research of slavery/ racism in my NJ town for our Historical Commission..and I know there are more people housekeeping because someone has taken their passport in my area , and there's sex slaves, than were slaves back then. Of course there's more people now. !!!!HOLY C**P!!! the episode of Antiques Roadshow I'm watching right now just had a map of my area from revolutionary war and I looked at it and pointed " that's where the slave Rebecca escaped from"!!!!
Load More Replies... I'm pretty sure the script reads, "One ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them." (The evil of Sauron from our own world.)
This is , for me, one of the best things i read lately: "it’s probably one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever had to talk about. But talk about it we must.”
Load More Replies... Very obviously he was saying that both the ivory trade and the slave trade are horrible. Which they are. I don't think he decided not to value it only because of the ivory. That is a part of it but not all of the reason.
Good article. Thank you for bringing it to my and everyone's attention. "Talk about it we must"
That is fair. I am not sure that should have any monetary value. It should be in museum so people can see how dumb/cruel we were.
That must have been incredibly difficult to look at and talk about. I'm so thankful they did though, otherwise, I never would have known these items existed.
i just happen to be watching an episode right now. The News today is wearying .
So the ARS have people going aroung and seeing what people have, and then select those with interesting items to have them appraised. If they knew that ivory was a no-no, why would they want to highlight it? If they want to highlight slave trade (which would have only been discussed at valuation), he certainly did so. However, everything has a price, regardless of our emotions towards it. Morally he may not have wanted to contribute to that, but someone else will. Sell it to a museum and use the funds to support the eradicating of human trafficking or the banning ivory trade.
Donate to a museum, I don't think they'd pay for slave/ivory artifacts, Hell, I think you can't legally sell ivory in most cases ...... Just curious, What's your price? :)
Load More Replies... it's a relic from a long time ago. The elephant died 200 or so years ago. Do they not appraise antique pianos with ivory keys? Or antique jewelry with gold and jewels inlaid in an ivory pendant? How about walrus ivory harvested by indigenous peoples? Or mammoth ivory (which is not under any international ivory proscriptions?)
'Whosh' mate, you managed to miss the entire video and description.
Load More Replies... Lifted from the Daily Mail. He played Victim rather than set a value on it. The video is pathetic.
Refusing to set monetary value on an object that was used as license to capture and sell human beings? It should not have monetary value. Its only appropriate use is for education, which means it belongs in a museum. He wasn't playing victim. He was standing up for a principle.
Load More Replies... Did you watch the video? Or even read this article? It's clear it's not the ivory that made this item so difficult to talk about. “But this ivory bangle here is not about trading in ivory, it’s about trading in human life, and it’s probably one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever had to talk about. But talk about it we must.”
Load More Replies... 
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