Speyside residents are rummaging around their attics and dusting off ancient heirlooms in the hopes of netting a fortune during an upcoming antiques valuation event.
Aberlour’s St Margaret’s Church will welcome a panel of experts from Edinburgh, who will advise on the worth of a range of items during the session later this month.
Hopes are high that some hidden gems will be uncovered, and people have been encouraged to bring along anything they reckon could be of value.
Church secretary Kath Davies said the idea that they could be sitting on an undiscovered goldmine was a notion that captured people’s imagination.
She added: “We love to think that we might have something that is worth some money, and we all own things that we’d like to find out more about.
“I doubt anybody expects that what they have might be worth a million pounds, but they like the idea that something they have at the back of a cupboard might have had an interesting past.”
Mrs Davies said she would bring along an old brass fishing reel of her husband’s, in the hope it could be of some worth.
She added: “But I’ll keep looking and I’m sure find some other things before it takes place.”
The event will take place on Saturday, September 17, and is being held to raise money for the church.
Antiques aficionado Colin Fraser, who works with the Lyon and Turnbull auction firm and specialises in silver, will cast an eye over the objects brought to the kirk.
Mr Fraser said: “The excitement for us is not only in the great results these events can bring for good causes like this, but in the opportunity to find undiscovered gems that have been hidden for generations.
“Whether it be silver, jewellery, ceramics or books it is often the overlooked items which prove the most exciting.”
The other specialists lending their expertise will be Lyon and Turnbull director Trevor Kyle and auctioneer Theodora Burrell.
The session will run from 11am to 3pm and admission – which includes tea, sandwiches and cakes – is £5. It will cost £4 to have an item valued, or £10 for three.
