BBC Antiques Roadshow star makes urgent demand after questioning authenticity of guest's 'hair-raising' item

Hilary Kay was the expert tasked with evaluating the object as the guest claimed it was a piece of metal cut out of one of the ship's bulkheads in order to extinguish a fire on board as it made its way to Southampton.

After the guest explained briefly the backstory, Kay replied: "Now, you only have to say that word, that word 'Titanic', and I could see everybody here having a sharp intake of breath...

"And actually as you said that word and as I'm looking at this and as I'm going to pick it up, I can feel the hair on the back of my neck rising and the hair on my arms."

Holding the piece of metal in her hands, Kay provided a brief history lesson: "She was launched in April 1912, and on her maiden voyage, she hit an iceberg and she sank on the 15th of April, 1912 with the loss of about 1,500 lives... but of course, she set off from Southampton, so tell me what you know about this story?"

The guest explained his great-grandfather was the foreman of the "Black Gang", a team employed by Harland and Wolff at the docks in Southampton consisting of trimmers, coal passers, water tenders and firemen.

"There was a fire on-board the ship that needed to be tackled," the owner detailed. "I think the fire broke out on its way to Southampton from Belfast where it was manufactured.

"So his team had to tackle the fire and to do so they had to cut a hole in the bulkhead to pass the hoses through. Once they'd successfully tackled the fire, they patched the hole up and she was ready to sail. And that was the hole that was cut out."

While the item and its origins were undoubtedly unique, Kay did point out that "bunker fires weren't that uncommon in steam-powered ships".

Kay once again picked up the item and praised its significance, however, as she explained: "This is this thing that really brings it all to life. It's a very small hole, they got the hose in and that's it!

"They don't want any oxygen in there so it's made just to the right dimension of the fire hose and they'd hope that they'd put it out."

The Antiques Roadshow star's attention then turned to the legitimacy of the item as she pondered: "Who is going to be able to tell you for certain that that is from the Titanic? Harland and Wolff will know the thickness of the steel that was used to construct the bulkheads, that would be an easy win, wouldn't it?

"(But) what have you got in terms of evidence here, say paperwork, photographs...?"

"So, here's the thing," the owner sheepishly replied as laughter rippled through the crowd. "My great-grandfather lived in Southampton. All I can say is this story was said to his granddaughter who was my grandmother and she informed my father who passed it on to me."

Hearing the story, Kay demanded the owner take swift action: "Okay. What you need to do from your father is get that affidavit properly written up.

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"A word of mouth, a scribble, or a handwritten note is one thing, to have a sworn statement in front of a solicitor is something else."

She then decided to deliver her verdict on the metal's monetary value, explaining: "What's a piece of the Titanic worth if it can be proved?

"I have to say, I don't think it's going to be a life-changing sum, not the way some of those letters or some of those artefacts have been.

"But it's got to be worth a thousand or two (pounds). But I think from the point of the history of the Titanic, it is a fabulous object."