Antiques Roadshow's most grotesque item in show's 50-year history - and it's 'priceless'

Antiques Roadshow viewers were left in disgust after one guest brought in one of the show’s most grotesque item in its 51-year stint. Back in 2006, the BBC show travelled to the heart of Edinburgh where host Michael Aspel welcomed one morbid guest onto the program with his spine-chilling item.

The proud guest – who was dressed in a vampire costume complete with a cape and white face paint – brought along a seemingly unsuspecting wallet to the veteran presenter. He teased the 92-year-old presenter by introducing it as a “rather macabre object” much to the presenter’s surprise. The guest then showed off a seemingly normal brown leather wallet which is emblazoned with a gold floral pattern around the boarder.

The one-of-a-kind item initially failed to impress the crowd surrounding them. It was at this point that the proud owner opened up about the object’s dark history which has become prominent to Edinburgh’s medical history.

He revealed: “It is a business card holder actually made from the skin of an executed criminal.” The crowd instinctively gasped in surprise as he went on to reveal its relevance to the beloved Scottish city.

The owner went on: “A man named William Burke who, along with his partner William Hare, used to engage in body snatching. And so, in a twist of irony, when Burke was caught, they took his own body to the medical school, had him dissected and decided to use some of his body to make a few souvenirs.”

Burke and Hare committed at least 15 murders in Edinburgh back in 1820s and then sold the corpses to Dr. Robert Knox at the Edinburgh Medical School for use in his dissection class.

After his execution in January 1829, Burke was dissected, and grisly souvenirs were made from the skin taken from various body parts.

The wallet was made from the skin taken from the back of his left hand and treated, tanned, and finely decorated with gold tooling. The wallet was owned for many years by Dr Hobbs, and was handed down to the family of Piercy Hughes, a descendent of one of the surgeons involved with Burke’s dissection.

In 1988, the William Burke Museum bought the grisly relic for £1,050 and has since featured in the William Burke Museum shop in Edinburgh’s Old Town for years to come. After learning about the history of the piece, Aspel described the gory piece as “priceless” as the crowd tittered behind him.

Antiques Roadshow airs on Sundays from 7pm on BBC One or catch up on BBC iPlayer.