As the cameras began rolling that day in 2013, one of the show’s star appraisers, David Weiss was about to conduct one of the most unique interviews he’d ever had on the show. Weiss is the resident expert in drawings and paintings for the American edition of Antiques Roadshow, and has worked for a number of well regarded auction houses. The boy sitting across from him seemed relatively at ease, so with minor adjustments, Weiss was ready to proceed with business as usual.

Even at such a young age, this Antiques Roadshow guest had already become an avid trader in antiques, but he didn’t realize just how significant of a find he’d made. The boy thought his painting might be special, but had low hopes for a high valuation…

All of the appraisers working on Antiques Roadshow, as well as those driving the newer shows in a similar vein that have been popping up in the last few years, know that one of the most important parts of doing their job for the camera is that the story of how objects came to be discovered is equally as important as the story of the objects themselves. Coaxing the story out as well as discovering the history helps make a show that people want to watch.

A large part of the show’s appeal lies in the promise that the item could be worth an extraordinary amount of money. There have been a large number of guests in the past who have brought antiques for appraisal, only to discover that an item they thought was likely worthless, like many of the pieces were, could possibly be sold for hundreds of thousands, if not over a million dollars. The boy thought his painting might be special, but had low hopes for a high valuation.

The mystery inherent in the objects brought to the tables of Antiques Roadshow is one of the things that keeps people tuned in and has them standing in line for hours in order to be seen for even a minute. For some, they want to confirm that their sentimental family heirlooms have value, but for others, they just want to see if their random junk purchases ever pay off financially, even when they barely shelled out for them to begin with.

The boy had traveled all the way to Richmond, Virginia in order to discover the worth of his $2 painting. For amateur antiques enthusiasts, it’s often necessary to seek an outside appraisal before deciding whether it might be worth selling your item. When expensive items end up in thrift stores or unscrupulous antique shops, you may find many low priced items that have no indication of their true worth, just like the youngest guest ever did when he made his TV appearance on Antiques Roadshow.

Antiques Roadshow first began airing in the United Kingdom in 1979, after it was inspired by a documentary series following traveling appraisers and the antiques collectors who came to them. The show proved to be so popular that it inspired offshoots in a number of different countries, including in the United States. When their youngest collector appeared on the show, he was lucky to have had the opportunity to be raised on their concept, possibly even inspiring his early love of antiques.

David Weiss has been an esteemed professional in the field of European art for more than three decades. His specialty is 19th and 20th-century European drawings, paintings, and sculptures, though he also has a deep interest in Oriental rugs. Based on a preliminary examination of the painting the young boy brought along with him, Weiss was certainly the man who would know best as to whether or not it was a piece with any sort of value.

Like the other appraisers who work with Antiques Roadshow, David Weiss did so on a volunteer basis, which supplemented his main work with the Freeman Auction house. Weiss is the Senior Vice President of the auction house, a position he came to hold after extensive experience in a similar position for an auction house that was local to Washington D.C. Weiss doesn’t just spend his time appraising art, he also teaches about the business side of things at Drexel University.

Weiss explains in his bio on the Freeman’s Auction House website that he particularly loved the thrill of making those unexpected finds when it came to working auctions. He wrote, “For me, the most rewarding experiences as an auction house appraiser are the happy, unexpected ‘discoveries’ that originate from private collectors and estates. The best, most memorable of these ‘finds’ have resulted in massively successful prices realized.” To that end, he was going to have a particularly exciting day in store.

As with every guest who brings an item to be appraised on the show, Weiss began asking the boy what he knew about the painting he wanted appraised. Weiss opened the interview by telling the boy, “You must be the youngest collector that I’ve seen.” With a smile plastered on his face, the boy responded, “I think so.” Weiss was impressed with the young boy’s poise and articulation, on top of his very mature interest in collecting antiques,

When the young antiques fan heard about the show filming in Richmond, Virginia, he begged his parents to take him there, thinking maybe he could get $100 or so for the painting he’d recently bought. After much cajoling, his parents finally gave in, agreeing to the several hours long drive from their home in South Jersey. When the day of the show came, the boy’s parents helped him carefully choose a bright red t-shirt that he would wear on camera.

The boy was excited that his unusual hobby allowed him what was very likely to be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Weiss was impressed to learn that this was not a one off purchase of the boy’s. In fact, he had been collecting for longer than Weiss could have imagined. Pressing on with the interview, he asked what the boy’s favorite items to collect were. His reply to Weiss was, “I like glass, sterling silver and art,”

Weiss wanted to know what other pieces the boy found that had really inspired him. It quickly became clear from his enthusiastic answers that this was more than a passing interest. Moreover, as the boy continued to answer Weiss’s line of questioning, he showed a surprising knowledge of his subject matter. Upon prompting, he informed Weiss that his favorite antique discovery to date was a large silver serving platter. That surprising answer certainly piqued Weiss’s interest in the child.

Weiss had to find out more about how this boy became interested in antique goods. “Where do you find this stuff?” Weiss asked the boy. As it turned out, there is what he deems “a junky auction” that is located in his hometown in South Jersey. The interview continued to be full of surprises for Weiss. He figured a young boy with an antique hobby surely must love holding on to his many finds, but the answer he got was something different entirely.

As Weiss continued to learn more about just how mature this boy’s hobby was, he asked him if he likes to keep the stuff he finds. The question is a natural one for older antique lovers, as dealing is often the flip side of building a collection. Most kids might have said that they preferred to keep their finds. After all, kids have been known to hold onto much more mundane items that they assigned sentimental value.

The boy’s revelation was not what Weiss nor the producers expected to hear. “I like to sell them online,” he said matter of factly. Weiss was incredulous, “You like to sell them?” he repeated. Weiss could hardly believe that such a youngster had an instinct for the purchase and sale of antiques. Though he had an inkling this guest might be one of their most memorable ones, he knew it was important to take his time to get to know him before studying the painting.

Weiss became ever more curious about the boy sitting in front of him. He decided to find out if the boy was choosy about which items he sold and which he decided to hold onto. He chose carefully from the items the boy said he liked to find. “Have you made a lot of money selling silver, you’d say?” Not one for being predictable, the remarkable child shared that he was waiting until September to sell. But why?

The reason that the kid had been holding until September to check the value of the painting was because of the market’s tendency to fluctuate during this time of the year. “So you kind of keep up with when silver is up and when silver’s down,” Weiss said to him, to which the boy confirmed this was the case. The appraiser was becoming increasingly impressed with how this boy went about things.

How the boy came to be in possession of the painting was even more fascinating. Weiss continued to probe him for information, expecting like many people that perhaps the boy scoured garage sales for items he considered might have some worth. Instead, the boy had dragged his father on a hot summer’s day to the junky auction house in town, begging him to wait until he had a chance to bid on the piece of art.

During that hot summer’s day, all the boy’s dad wanted to do was get home and drink some ice-cold water. But the boy had other plans and made sure that his pops stuck around for what was about to happen. The boy explained, “This piece was found at an auction down the South Jersey. It was so hot there, my dad didn’t want to stay to get it, but I wanted to.”

The next piece of information certainly took Weiss by surprise. For only $2, the boy had become the owner of a painting he suspected might have some history behind it. It was hard for him to tell just where it could have come from, which is what prompted him to go to Antiques Roadshow in the first place. Weiss was lost for words as to how easy this kid was able to purchase the painting in question.

The painting itself didn’t seem so out of the ordinary, even to Weiss. However, he knew better than the young boy which signs were important to assess in order to determine its worth. On first look at the painting, the canvas was filled with mundane earth tones. This in itself was enough to indicate to Weiss that this painting had come from an important point in history. But that was only scratching the surface of its importance.

It wasn’t just the way that the painting had been constructed. It was also about what was actually in the painting – what it represented, that was special. The subjects of the piece itself was a mother sitting in a chair, reaching towards a child. The child was also sitting in a chair, intent on her mother. This beautiful dynamic was one that made both Weiss and the kid very emotional. However, there was one glaring clue the boy missed.

Weiss continued to test the boy, wondering how much he really knew about art. He was already impressed with the boy’s composure, believing that he brought something that was unlike what most children would have picked out. The boy informed him that he inspected the painting after its purchase, and determined that it was likely a watercolor. However, he continued to explain that it was hard for him to tell because it was encased in glass. It was time for Weiss to step in.

The boy’s suspicions had been correct. The painting was indeed a watercolor. Someone who is sharp enough to pay attention to the prices of silver at such an age clearly had a good instinct when it came to building a collection. His inexperience, however, was about to trip him up. Weiss wanted to give him a chance to assess the worth of the painting on his own, just to see just how developed the child’s art appraisal skills were.

When the boy had first met Weiss on the initial quick appraisal, he had pointed out a signature towards the bottom of the piece. However, he could only make out part of the name. More often than not, an appraiser can tell a lot about painting if they are able to decipher the signature. Thankfully, Weiss had the answer to what had been up until this point, a mystery. As he wanted to help coax the boy’s appraisal skills, rather than simply spelling it out from the start, he asked the boy to repeat what he’d said before.

The boy could tell that the first part of the signature was the name Albert. Truth be told though, he didn’t really know any artists by the name of Albert. For Weiss, he knew immediately what the second half of the signature said, having recognized it nearly instantly. After a few moments had passed though, he finally decided to break down the second part of that signature and explain to the boy who exactly had painted this absolute masterpiece.

Before getting to the actual appraisal, Weiss wanted to walk the boy through the painting, in part to explain what he was seeing, but also to share some of the painting’s historical value to him. The youngster’s love of art was clear, and in Weiss’s mind, he even had the potential to grow into a similar occupation. The boy had impressively identified part of the painting’s signature, but could only make out the first name. Weiss, provided the surname, confirming it was an Albert Neuhuys painting.

You might be thinking to yourself, what difference does it make who made the painting? Surely the painting should speak for itself, right? However, the simple answer is that works by the likes of Picasso and Dali are going to sell for a lot more money than a random artist. Make no mistake about it though, Albert Neuhuys was no random artist. His influence is unmistakable and the undeniably iconic style he possessed can be seen in the boy’s painting.

Neuhuys had been a painter from the Netherlands during the latter half of the 19th century. Weiss explained that Neuhuys and other painters from his era often depicted scenes of life at home, with a particular interest in mothers and children in their paintings. The artist belonged to the Laren School, which was a Dutch artist colony, along with painters like Jozef Israels. Neuhuys was moved by the country lifestyle in an increasingly industrial country, which he began to paint with enthusiasm.

Typical of other Dutch painters who came to The Hague during his time period, his style went from precise to loose as the years went on. It was Jozef Israëls, in fact, who introduced him to the Laren area, which the pair preferred to The Hague. While other Laren artists painted landscapes, Neuhuys stood out by painting farm life. He was a contemporary of Vincent Van Gogh who, although better-known today, didn’t enjoy nearly as much success as Neuhuys did.

Even in Neuhuys’s lifetime, his tranquil paintings garnered a popular following, which he was frequently able to sell for profit. His subjects varied between the interior scene the boy brought to Antiques Roadshow, in which a mother sewing while her child looks on, and other domestic tasks necessary to country life, such as spinning or depictions of local farmers working the land. Many of Neuhuys’s pieces are included in the collections of well renowned art museums, but one happened to be in the boy’s possession.

Weiss had more information for the boy, which would prove important to his ultimate appraisal. He explained the history of Neuhuys and his work before continuing, “Neuhuys was one of the Dutch painters. He was born in 1844, and he died in 1914. I think your watercolor was probably done in the last quarter of the 19th century.” Prior to Weiss’s revelation, the boy handed wondered exactly how old the painting was, but it seemed clear to the expert that the boy was absorbing his every word.

The antique experts on Antiques Roadshow like to give their guests a chance to see if they have any ballpark as to how much their items can be worth. It shouldn’t come as a shock that often guests will overestimate an item’s worth, which is why they’ve traveled to Roadshow in the first place. That doesn’t mean there are never surprises in store, however. After Weiss provided the boy with the painting’s background, he gave him a chance to make a more educated guess.

“How much do you think is worth?” Weiss asked the young boy. It was the moment he’d been waiting for since discovering the painting. Everything that had led up to this moment, from the hour-long wait in the hot sun to win the painting, to the extended car ride from New Jersey to Virginia, was worth it for this. With the new information presented to him in mind, the boy stated his best guess, “Hundred and fifty bucks.”

Before getting forward, what do you think it’s worth? The boy showed a lot of skill in identifying the fact that the painting was a watercolor, but it wasn’t likely that he knew who Neuhuys was or why he would be a sought-after painter. A hundred and fifty bucks is a decent amount for an old painting from the 19th century, and he was right in that it was worth many times more than he bought it for, but he would be shocked when he found out how much it would fetch at auction…

While Weiss respected the thought that the boy put into guessing the value of the painting, he had a funny response for him. “Hundred and fifty bucks?” repeated Weiss. “I think it’s worth a hundred and fifty. I think it’s worth more than one hundred and fifty.” The eagerness in the boy’s expression hadn’t waned. He let Weiss continue his estimate, hanging onto every word with bated breath.

Weiss was so excited to reveal the actual value of the painting to the boy. While he had given an educated guess, he was way off the mark and was about to hear something way beyond his wildest dreams. “Today, if your Albert Neuhuys watercolor came to an auction, it would probably sell for about $1000 to $1500.” As the word, “thousand” slipped out of Weiss’s mouth, the boy’s eyes widened in shock.

The only word the boy could muster in response was, “Woah”. He gestured that Weiss had absolutely blown his mind. It was clear the boy had a natural instinct for the art trade, even if he had a lot to learn in order to better appraise work himself. Weiss articulated the boy’s thoughts by stating outright, “That’s a lot of money!” For anyone, paying $2 for a painting worth that much is practically a steal. But Weiss had a bit more wisdom for the boy.

The boy was already pleased with himself when Weiss told him, “So I think you’ve got a great career going as an art dealer. You should keep at it.” It was the cherry on top for the delighted dealer in training. “I know,” the boy informed Weiss. “I think I’m going to be rich!” he effused. Weiss agreed, letting him know that if his instinct was so fine tuned at such a young age, he had a good chance at making his dreams come true.

A group of friends deliberately left a restaurant without paying. At least, that’s what the owner of the restaurant thought they did. However, the group finally sent him a letter to explain why they left so abruptly…

Apollo always took a lot of pride in his restaurant Kilimandjaro, and he couldn’t have been angrier when a group left the restaurant without paying. However, he had a change of heart when he received a letter from them a few days later…

At the time of this story, Apollo was the owner of Kilimandjaro, a restaurant that specializes in traditional African cuisine and attracts a wide variety of customers. For soccer fans who went to watch Middlesbrough F.C. play during the weekend, Kilimandjaro was a popular place to go for some food after the game. One of its trademark dishes was the Waka Waka Chicken. Despite the busy weekends, Apollo and the team were especially taken aback when three guys from out of town showed up…

For the first few hours of that busy weekend shift, everything seemed normal for Apollo and his Kilimandjaro team. Customers were coming in their droves and service was like clockwork that day. Truth be told, Apollo wasn’t even in. He was enjoying himself with his family, and completely oblivious to the ongoings of his restaurant. Little did he know that something completely unexpected was about to go down and he’d be receiving a pretty awkward phone call from the manager…

Midway through that busy weekend shift, three guys walked through the restaurant’s doors and were clearly interested in sitting down and eating some food. There’s a good chance that they were supporters of the away team and were from out of town. At least, the staff could tell that their accents were a little different. It didn’t take long before a waiter attended to their needs and took their orders. Everything seemed to be going according to plan…

It’s always a risk just walking into a restaurant you’re unfamiliar with and placing an order. However, the three friends were glad they had chosen Kilimandjaro. Two of the friends enjoyed the Waka Waka Chicken with cheese while the other had Waka Waka Chicken without cheese. Based on the lack of conversation, the staff could tell that these three guys were loving every bite. Fast-forward half an hour later, and the three friends were ready to get the check…

One of the things that the friends couldn’t get over was the sauce that they saw on the table they were eating at. Upon first glance, they noticed that the logo and colors of the bottle resembled sauce from another famous chicken restaurant – Nando’s. However, as soon as they tasted it, they noticed that it very much had a unique flavor and just like that, they carried on enjoying their delicious meal. Now it was time to pay…

The three friends were ready to pay for their food. In total, the food came to £35, which is the equivalent of about $43. As the waiter proceeded to their table, Tom, Alex, and Harry reached out for their credit cards and handed them over. But they weren’t prepared at all when the waiter told them that they only take cash. The waiter then went to take orders from another table. However, the three friends had other plans…

As the waiter returned to their table to receive their cash payment, they were shocked to see that the table was empty. It turns out that Tom, Alex, and Harry had simply got up from their table and fled the restaurant. They had failed to pay for their food and just like that, they never returned. Naturally, the waiter had no choice but to call up Apollo and needless to say, he was not happy…

As soon as the waiter explained to Apollo what had happened, he was completely confused. He didn’t understand how in this day and age, a group of friends could just go into a restaurant, place their orders, eat the food and then walk away without paying. The truth is that Apollo has been on a long journey over the course of his life and his seen a lot of twists and turns. But this was one of the craziest ones yet…

In an interview with Gazette Live, Apollo explained that his country of birth, Burkina Faso, literally translates into “The Land of Honest People.” Having spent his formative years in the West African country, Apollo has always placed huge importance on the virtue of honesty and took that value with him when he moved to the United Kingdom years ago. As far as Apollo was concerned, he had no other choice but to take some desperate measures…

Due to his reputation as an honest man, Apollo had strong feelings about what had happened at his restaurant. In fact, he admitted to having lost some of his faith in humanity after the incident. Therefore, in order to ensure that this didn’t happen again, he advised his staff members that if this sort of thing ever happened again, that they should make sure that the customers stay until they pay. Despite feeling bitter, Apollo held onto hope that the customers would return…

A couple of days passed, and there was still no sign that the three guys would ever return to pay for their food. Apollo made sure to be at the restaurant at all times in case Tom, Alex, and Harry ever returned. The owner’s hopes of them returning got smaller with each passing day. However, while conducting some business in his office, Apollo was surprised to see one of his staff run in and present him something…

As the waiter ran in, he explained to Apollo that he had a letter for him that he needed to read immediately. It was clear that the staff member had already looked at the contents of the letter and was desperate for Apollo to see what was inside. Intrigued by what it could be, the owner wasted no time and snatched the envelope from his waiter’s hands. However, as soon as he opened up the envelope, he was blown away by what fell out of it…

As he opened the envelope, Apollo was shocked to find £40 (approximately $50) in notes fall out onto his desk. “We open the envelope, there’s some money,” the owner told Gazette Live. It soon became clear that the money had been sent by Tom, Alex, and Harry – the three guys who had fled the restaurant just a few days beforehand. Shocked by what he had received, Apollo was in for another surprise when he discovered a letter inside the envelope…

From the moment he started reading the letter, it was clear to Apollo that all three of the friends were sincerely sorry for having left the restaurant without paying for their food. “It is my companions’ and [my] sincerest apologies…we forgot to pay our bill,” one of them wrote. “It was very unlike us, which is why we are very remorseful.” Despite this, Apollo wasn’t convinced that they were being genuine. Then they went on to explain what had happened that day…

Despite giving no indication that they were planning on paying for their food that day, the three friends reassured Apollo that they genuinely wanted to. They just didn’t have any cash on them. They explained that they wanted to pay by card, but were eventually told that the restaurant only accepts cash payment. This explained why they went out of the restaurant without notice. They wanted to get some cash. However, things didn’t go exactly according to plan…

After being told by the waiter that the restaurant doesn’t take cards, the three friends decided to rush out of the restaurant and look for the closest ATM machine. They even claimed to have agreed with a member of staff to go out and get cash from a machine and come back as quickly as possible. “We then exited Kilimanjaros to embark on a search,” they wrote. Although they looked all over for one, they were forced to focus their attentions elsewhere…

Despite spending the next half an hour looking for an ATM, the three friends realized that the last train back home was about to depart. “This diverted our attention away from finding an A.T.M. machine and led to us running down to the train station and just making our train,” they wrote. It was only then that the group realized they had forgotten to pay the check. By that time they were miles away from Middlesbrough, and it was too late…

The fact that they lived in another part of the country also explained why they were writing a letter to Apollo and not coming all the way back to the restaurant to pay him in person. Apparently, because they weren’t from Middlesbrough, they wouldn’t be able to come back to the restaurant and apologize the way they’d hope to. They weren’t sure when they’d be returning to Kilamandjaro and wanted to pay them as soon as possible…

While it was humbling for Apollo to read the group’s explanation, that wasn’t all they shared with him. Tom, Alex, and Harry also explained to him that they enjoyed their time at Kilimandjaro so much, they wanted to give the restaurant a five-star review. They claimed that they would get on TripAdvisor as soon as possible and write something extremely favorable. As soon as he finished reading the letter and placed it on his desk, he wasn’t sure how to react…

In Apollo’s words, he was “absolutely gobsmacked” after reading the letter. “It was really, really surprising [and] shocking when we first received the letter,” he said. As far as he was concerned, the owner couldn’t believe that people still do incredible things like this. “I thought those kinds of people had disappeared from the planet,” he said. And although Apollo hails from the “Land of Honest People,” he is now convinced that there are honest people everywhere.

Although the letter restored Apollo’s faith in humanity, there is no indication that the three friends ever returned to Kilimandjaro to meet him in person. However, it appears that they were true to their word and did indeed write a five-star review on TripAdvisor. “I would highly recommend to anyone in the area and would definitely return if I ever found myself in Middlesbrough again,” they wrote. However, they would’ve been wasting their time had they traveled back for some Waka Waka chicken…

It appears that Tom, Alex and Harry’s long trip back to Middlesbrough would have been futile. This is because since what happened, Apollo’s restaurant has permanently closed down. It’s unclear why the restaurant is no longer open, but it appears that other branches across the country are still going strong. At any rate, Apollo seems to have taken a lot of inspiration from that heartwarming letter and his life has only been getting better and better…

There is no denying that Apollo must have felt dejected when he had no choice but to close down his restaurant. However, it seems like it didn’t take too long before the businessman got back out there. Just days after he got the bad news, Apollo was busy posting photos online of him and his family. In one of the photos, he could be seen driving his car and as a caption, he wrote two simple words: “Feeling blessed.”

Although Tom, Alex, and Harry won’t be able to go back to Apollo’s restaurant to thank him in person, they will be glad to hear that he is happy and doing very well for himself. Not only has he made his own sauce, but the businessman is also the chairman of soccer team Thornaby FC. Through his recent business endeavors, Apollo is now in touch with famous soccer players. One thing’s for sure, the future certainly looks bright for this ambitious man.

At the end of the day, the main reason that Apollo is such an ambitious businessman is that he wants to make sure that his family has everything they need. Not only that, but he wants his partner and kids to be extremely happy and to inspire his children to grow up to be as ambitious as him. After hearing stories like this one, we have no doubt they will grow up to follow in their father’s footsteps.