Delighted antiques dealer discovers 1,300-year-old Knights Templar relic at car boot sale
4th August 2009[/align]
An antiques dealer has picked up what could be a priceless church relic dating back 1,300 years at a car boot sale. The small piece of painted wood is believed to have come from a box which the Knights Templar used to protect religious items as they moved across Europe during the Crusades of the Middle Ages.
Quite how this ornate piece of wood found its way to a car boot sale in Yorkshire is anyone's guess. But it could bring Leeds antiques dealer Martin Roberts a big windfall at the next stop on its unlikely journey - an auction house in London. If the piece commands a large sum, it would be a second major triumph in two years for Mr Roberts, who bought an ancient Egyptian artefact for £50 and sold it for £30,000 in 2007.
He acquired the tabernacle door from a friend at a car boot sale in Otley, in exchange for a pine chest of drawers and six Victorian glass handles which he had bought for only £13. 'It was found among a load of junk which my friend had been given after a house clearance somewhere in North Yorkshire,' Mr Roberts said. 'I didn't know what it was, but I immediately thought it looked old, so I said I would give him 10 per cent of whatever it sold for, and he agreed. He has already sold the chest of drawers I gave him, for £38, so under those rules I guess he owes me £3.80 now - but we think this item might be worth a fair bit more than that.'
Mr Roberts took the tabernacle door to a friend in Doncaster who, after studying the item's intricate design, thought Jesus and St George were illustrated. He then showed it to other colleagues in the trade, who suggested that the pictures may in fact depict an angel and a Roman horseman killing a Turk. He said most of his friends agreed that the piece was probably of Eastern European or Russian origin, but no one could say precisely what it was with any certainty.
'The first thing they all told me was, "It's old",' he said, 'but they found it difficult to tell exactly how old it was. Most experts are of the view that this piece was more than likely from a tabernacle which the Knights Templar would have used to carry the sacrament and other religious items.'
Mr Roberts said the item would be analysed by experts at auctioneers Christie's before becoming one of the lots at the firm's Old Master sale in London in December. 'It's a door or a lid, and there may well be a museum out there exhibiting the other half of the box it came from. Christie's have never sold a tabernacle door because they've never seen one, so we really have no idea what it might fetch,' he added. 'It will be very interesting to see what happens after the people at Christie's have done their research because I think the Roman soldier depicted on it may well have a name. People have told me that it's likely to date back to between 700 and 1200AD, but I would rather let Christie's do some carbon testing on the wood before I estimate how old it might be.'
Mr Roberts, a former professional golf player and keen guitarist, began selling antiques online in 2003, taking it up while he cared for his wife Maria, who died from cancer the following year. 'If the tabernacle door sells for £600, it sells for £600,' he said. 'If it sells for £6m, then of course that would be absolutely fine by me. It's not the money that matters to me; it's the absolute buzz of doing the research and meeting wonderful people who are so knowledgeable about their subject.'
