b

What do the words/phrases in bold in the

5 Trash or treasure? article mean? Choose the best answer.
1 a  has value b  has no purpose
1 What objects are popular with collectors? Why 2 a cheap b  not new
do you think people collect these objects?
3 a noticed b  looked for
2 Read the article. Then match headings a–f to 4 a old b  not common
paragraphs 1–6. 5 a  someone who delivers things
a Three valuable d A popular TV show b someone who buys and sells a particular
discoveries product
e Don’t throw it away
b A waste of money 1 6 a  people who do something as a hobby
f Fakes!
b  people who are training to do a job
c Ruined!
4 What have you (or people you know) collected
3 a Read the article again. Put these objects in as a hobby or for profit? What would you choose
order from the most valuable (1) to the least to collect if you started collecting now?
valuable (6).

the comics 6 the glass bottle

the pair of vases the

 bronze sculpture
the
 postcard of the the
 porcelain bowl
Queen Mary

Valuable discovery or

embarrassing mistake?
1 A collector who spent more than
£1,000 on an old glass bottle was
understandably upset when a glass
expert examined the item and said,
‘I’m afraid it’s an empty olive oil bottle,
Tesco, circa 2008. It’s 1worth nothing
at all.’
2 The man had turned up for popular
TV programme, Antiques Roadshow, in
which experts examine objects people
bring to the show and estimate their
value. People are hopeful that the old
china bowl they bought in a 2second-
hand street market might be worth a
lot of money. Inevitably, the show has
made some valuable discoveries – and
revealed some embarrassing mistakes.
3 Rail caterer Ben Caldicott had been
collecting for ten years when he
3
spotted a postcard of the transatlantic
passenger ship, the Queen Mary,
which sailed in the North Atlantic
Ocean between 1936 and 1967. He
bought the 4rare postcard for 50 pence
and was amazed when his find was
valued at £25,000. Meanwhile, Dawn
Hutchinson took her grandfather’s
collection of comics to the show. An
expert valued the first-ever copies of
the popular children’s comics, Beano
and Dandy, at £7,000. And a British
family were amazed when the everyday
porcelain bowl in their kitchen turned
out to be fourteenth-century Chinese
Ming Dynasty and was worth almost
£200,000. It was brought to Britain
100 years ago by an ancestor in the
tea trade and sat on a shelf until an
antiques 5dealer visited the house and
told the family it could be valuable.
4 It is easy for 6amateurs with little
experience to be fooled by good-
quality copies of original pieces, and
even experienced dealers can make
mistakes. One dealer with 14 years’
experience was embarrassed to find
extra reading:
Photocopiable
out that a pair of vases he’d believed
were eighteenth century were worth
less than £30. When washed, it became
clear they were copies.
5 Most experienced collectors are aware
of the dangers of cleaning possible
antiques. One couple brought along
a bronze sculpture – which they had
polished to perfection with modern
cleaning materials – to show experts.
But the cleaning products had removed
the statue’s natural protective coating.
Uncleaned, it would have been worth a
lot of money. As it was, the couple had
reduced its value to about £10.
6 So, before you get rid of the china vase
you inherited from your grandparents,
or put that dusty old bronze bowl in
the bin, it might be worth taking them
along to be valued. Just don’t clean
them up first!

b  1a  2b  3a  4b  5b  6a

  a  1 the porcelain bowl 2 the postcard 3 the comics 4 the pair of vases 5 the bronze sculpture  3   a3  b1  c5  d2  e6  f4   2

Instructions p214 © Cambridge University Press 2013 face2face Second edition Intermediate Photocopiable 221