An Antiques Roadshow guest had an inkling his signed David Hockney was the real deal, but had a shock when being told it was worth far more than he first believed.

On the latest episode of the long-running programme, experts were on hand at Belmont House in Kent to value an array of items brought to them.

One included a painting that had been passed down from a grandfather to his grandson, and was signed with a David Hockney signature.

However, it took some convincing for painting specialist and gallery owner Rupert Maas to declare it to be so.

‘This is not at all what I am used to seeing by David Hockney,’ he told the man who came with the work.

‘David Hockney is one of Britain’s leading modern painters, so you will have to tell me what your case is.’

Rupert Maas needed some convincing about the legitimacy of the painting’s origin (Picture: BBC)

The story went that the man’s grandfather was working as a signal man at a tiny station between Felixstowe and Ipswich when he struck up a conversation with two young artists in the late 1950s.

‘He noticed their equipment and invited them into the signal box and gave them a cup of tea,’ he explained.

Wanting to assist the artists, he invited them over to Sunday lunch, and asked them to each bring a painting for him to buy.

‘A year later he brandished a piece of paper showing one of these guys had one a gold medal from the Royal College of Art. So that is my case that it is a Hockney,’ he explained.

The painting’s owner had been given the piece by his grandfather (Picture: BBC)

While Maas questioned its origins, saying it wasn’t ‘what everyone would think is a Hockney’, he also explained he’d done some research.

‘I did a bit of homework having initially been incredulous, but it turns out he was in that village in 1957 which was his last year at Bradford Art College,’ he said.

‘He was there with another artist called John Loker.

David Hockney sold the painting when he was in art school (Picture: Dave Benett/Getty Images)

‘It turns out they were there because they admired John Constable so much and they thought they were in Constable country , but of course Felixstowe is not quite there.’

He added: ‘They sort of made a pilgrimage and it turned out to be a wonderful place to paint and they stayed, hence this meeting with your grandfather. It is quite extraordinary, so I do think it is a Hockney.’

Maas then admitted he had ‘come round to your way of thinking’ when speaking to the guest.

Hockney’s more recent works, including Woldgate Woods II (2006), are known for their use of colour (Picture: Michael Bowles/Getty Images for Sotheby’s)

While the owner believed the painting may be worth about £10,000, he was shocked by what he was instead told.

‘I think it might be closer to £20-£30,000,’ Maas said.

Clearly shocked, the man repeated the figured and bowed over, before a woman in the crowd jokingly told him to thank Maas for the information.

While he did, Maas did make sure to remind him that he was just handing over a quote, not any money.

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‘One of the things about Hockney is that his work is so instantly recognisable to people, so when you see one that isn’t, you question it really hard,’ Mass later explained.

‘That was the problem with that picture, but it has now widen my horizons greatly and I now know what a early Hockney looks like.’

Antiques Roadshow is streaming on BBC iPlayer.

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It took some convincing to confirm the piece was by the famous artist.