Treasures revealed from Kelso filming

Presenter Fiona Bruce raved about the location as hopeful members of the public brought their heirlooms to be valued by experts.

The first antique evaluated was a fairly innocuous-looking glass-blown decorative bird from Venice, brought in by a woman from Edinburgh, which expert Judith Miller– who also hails from the Borders – said matched one in her own collection.

Despite that, she told the owner to her great surprise that it was a very rare piece.

She said: “Today, if you wanted to sell your little chick, he would make between £6,000 and 7,000.”

Another high-priced item was a seventh impression of the third edition of The Hobbit, printed in 1972. This would not have been such a collectable item were it not signed by author JRR Tolkien.

Expert Justin Croft said: “In this condition, with the secure knowledge of its provenance, I would put £6,000 to 7,000 on this.”

It wasn’t all good news, however.

While a rare Rolex watch was valued atup to £30,000, an 18th century jug found in a skip only limped to £200 because of its poor condition.

Perhaps one of the most interesting items was a letter from Borders poet James Hogg, apologising to an Edinburgh host for his uncouth behaviour on a drunken night out.

Fiona said: “A normal letter from Hogg would probably reach £500, but with this fantastic content, maybe up to £2,000.”

The show can be seen on the BBC iPlayer.