Antiques Roadshow comes across most valuable item ever

Antiques Roadshow. Photo / File

The Antiques Roadshow has found the most valuable item in the show's four-decade history, worth over £1 million (NZD$2.27 million).

The item, described by producers as "a world famous piece owned by a sporting institution", was discovered in North Yorkshire.

According to the BBC, this breaks the previous record-holder - a model of Antony Gormley's Angel Of The North - which was valued at £1 million in 2008.

The exact valuation of the record-breaking item has not yet been revealed.

A spokesman for the show, presented by Fiona Bruce, said: "An item seen at the Antiques Roadshow in Harrogate is the highest valued object ever to appear on the show in its 38-year history.

"It is a world-famous piece owned by a sporting institution. The final valuation given will be revealed when the programme airs in spring 2016."

The valuation for the Angel Of The North model was more than three times the show's previous record.

That was held by a collection of silver dating back to the reign of Charles II, which the show's experts said was worth £300,000.

More than 2500 people queued up to have their antiques valued at Harrogate's Royal Hall.

Another valuable find for the BBC show was a painting that hung on the wall of Canon Jamie MacLeod after he bought it for £400. It was later identified as an Anthony van Dyck and valued at £400,000 in 2013.

In 2012, a 10th-century apothecary table was valued for £200,000 and became the most valuable piece of furniture to be seen on the program in over a decade.

-AAP