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Celebrity Antiques Road Trip: the most expensive item ever sold on the show 

The presenter found an extremely rare camera

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Emmy Griffiths
TV & Film Editor
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We love watching famous faces try their hand at selling on gorgeous antiques for tidy profits on Celebrity Antiques Road Trip - but what is the most expensive item ever sold on the show? 

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By a long shot, the most expensive item was found by the show's presenter, Paul Laidlaw, during the non-celebrity version. After delving into an antique store in Margate, Kent, he purchased a £60 camera which sold at auction for an incredible £20,000 back in 2018, a price that no one expected it to fetch. 

WATCH: Paul made an incredible £19,940 profit

In the show, Paul is gobsmacked by the auction's progression and receives a round of applause at the high price of the sale. At the time, he said: "I have no words, I'm over the moon. I genuinely am flabbergasted. You go treasure hunting - but does it get any better than that? I don't think it does!" 

The item, one of Auguste Bertsch’s extremely rare Chambre Automatique cameras, which is a camera combined with a microscope, was purchased via an online bid to a private collector in Switzerland. 

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The camera was an extremely rare find 

Antiques Road Trip has previously come under fire following accusations that contestants are able to buy items for much lower than they would usually sell for. 

Speaking to the Antiques Trade Gazette back in 2011, executive producer Wendy Rattray denied that deals were organised by the production, saying "I acknowledge that our experts push very hard to get the best deal possible, which sometimes results in them getting deals which have been perceived by some as being unrealistic. 

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"The deal is mutually agreed between our expert and the dealer, the production team never become involved in this and there is absolutely no suggestion or pressure on any dealer to accept a price that they are unhappy with – in fact many dealers often do turn down offers." 

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