The "Antiques Roadshow" appraisers are used to tell ing people that the junk in their attic is actually treasure, but they've never seen anything like what happened on Saturday.
On that fateful day, a man walked into the Tulsa Convention Center in Oklahoma with five Chinese teacups carved out of rhinoceros horn and learned that he had inadvertently collected a fortune -- the cups were appraised at a value over $1 million, making them the most valuable treasure ever brought to the 16-year-old show. "As each one came out of the box, my jaw started to drop a little more," Lark Mason, an appraiser for the show, told local news station KTUL, "[They] are worth between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000."
Mason, who is the show's Asian art expert, said that the five cups are probably from late 17th or early 18th century China.
During that time, the cups would have been given as gifts to the wealthy for special occasions and were especially prized because they were made of rhinoceros horn, said to have magical powers.
The news of the cups' astronomical value stunned the mysterious collector who brought the cups to the show.
"I was hoping he wasn't going to collapse, but he said that he was glad that he didn't need his inhaler," Mason said.
"You clearly could even see, in the tape that I was watching, the color rush over his face," senior producer Marsha Bemko said.
The identity of the record-setting collector remains a mystery.
"He has asked not to be identified, because he lives in a small town in Oklahoma and is worried about security for the collection," Judy Matthews, an executive with "Antiques," told The Post.
The unnamed collector, whose face will appear on the episode but not his name, told "Antiques" that he purchased the cups inexpensively in the 1970s and had no idea what they were worth.
Whatever the mystery man paid for the cups back in the '70s, it pales in comparison to what they are worth now because of today's strong market for Chinese antiques, which has been bolstered by China's rising power and status in the world.
Although the cups are the most valuable items to ever be featured on the show, they are not the first $1 million appraisal.
That distinction belongs to four pieces of carved Chinese jade and celadon that a woman brought to a show in Raleigh, NC, in 2009. Those pieces were appraised at an auction value of $1.07 million.
During that time, the cups would have been given as gifts to the wealthy for special occasions and were especially prized because they were made of rhinoceros horn, said to have magical powers.
The news of the cups' astronomical value stunned the mysterious collector who brought the cups to the show.
"I was hoping he wasn't going to collapse, but he said that he was glad that he didn't need his inhaler," Mason said.
"You clearly could even see, in the tape that I was watching, the color rush over his face," senior producer Marsha Bemko said.
The identity of the record-setting collector remains a mystery.
"He has asked not to be identified, because he lives in a small town in Oklahoma and is worried about security for the collection," Judy Matthews, an executive with "Antiques," told The Post.
The unnamed collector, whose face will appear on the episode but not his name, told "Antiques" that he purchased the cups inexpensively in the 1970s and had no idea what they were worth.
Whatever the mystery man paid for the cups back in the '70s, it pales in comparison to what they are worth now because of today's strong market for Chinese antiques, which has been bolstered by China's rising power and status in the world.
Although the cups are the most valuable items to ever be featured on the show, they are not the first $1 million appraisal.
That distinction belongs to four pieces of carved Chinese jade and celadon that a woman brought to a show in Raleigh, NC, in 2009. Those pieces were appraised at an auction value of $1.07 million.