Everything from old bears to law books dating from the union of Scotland and England in 1707 were up for inspection by specialists including Eric Knowles and Tim Wonnacott.

Filming for the 31st series of Antiques Road show began in April with the production team visiting 17 different venues around the country to make the 26 programmes, which will be broadcast in autumn.

Fiona Bruce, who is presenting the series for the first time, spent yesterday filming on board the RRS Discovery and in Verdant Works for the show.

She said, “The series has been going fine — this is the 15th show we’ve done.

“We had a fantastic day filming at Verdant Works and on the Discovery — it’s so full of such extraordinary history it really does raise the hairs on the back of your neck.”

She said each venue the programme visits is unique because often the items brought along relate specifically to the area where the show is being filmed. “If we get some Scott memorabilia that would be great,” she added.

Among the many thousands who travelled from across Tayside and Fife for the event was Dundonian Stuart Nicoll, who brought along a pocket watch examined by Ben Wright. “We found it last night because my gran has gone into a home due to ill health and we were emptying the house,” he said.

Jillian Mitchell from Monifieth brought along something old and something new. She was accompanied by her 21-month-old son Rhory to have her mother’s old panda bear — thought to be more than 50 years old — valued.

Broughty Ferry woman Heather Gazeley had a trio of brass candlesticks from India, which were valued by Tim Wonnacott.

“They’re nearly 100 years old and I’d rather not say how much they’re worth — but I’m quite pleased,” she said.

Graeme Douglas from Gauldry in Fife brought along a cornucopia of rarities he has collected over several years.

These included an unusual set of fireplace tools and a miniature Japanese box worth several hundred pounds.

“Nobody knows what the fire tools are but I also brought in the Japanese box which is worth quite a lot of money.

“It was given to me by a friend who bought it for a couple of pounds in a charity shop and gave it to me — she just thought it was a small pillbox.”

One of the other items Graeme brought along was a book of laws written for the procurator fiscal in Edinburgh in the immediate aftermath of the union between Scotland and England.

“It is full of things like ‘There should be no Egyptians out after 10 o’clock,’” said Graeme.

“The book was written in October 1707 by an advocate but at the end when he gets bored, he just says he is stopping writing.”

Barbara Nichols from Arbroath came to the Caird Hall carrying four swords.

“They were my father’s — one is Spanish and there are a couple of dress swords but I want to find out what the fourth one is,” she said.

Lighting crews took two days to prepare the Caird Hall for filming but expect to have removed all their equipment just three hours after filming concludes at 6 pm tonight.