Only Fools and Horses: Bottle of Peckham Spring Water from Mother Nature’s Son episode sells for staggering amount
The Only Fools and Horses prop was from the hilarious Christmas special which aired in 1992
As Only Fools and Horses fans will know The Mother Nature’s Son episode followed the Trotters and their quest to make millions by flogging bottled water. It was an illegal business venture but one that Del Boy (David Jason) managed to pull off for a very short time.
After fabricating a mysterious water source, the Peckham Spring on their late grandad’s allotment, Del, Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst), and Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield) bottle it up and sell it to the general public. The only problem is, that the ‘pure’ water is actually from a tap.
Their supply was cut short when Trigger (Roger Lloyd Pack) and Denzil (Paul Barber) managed to contaminate the whole of Peckham’s water supply with an unknown chemical after clearing out Del’s new allotment.
Cassandra Trotter (Gwyneth Strong) was also left annoyed after discovering her bank had given a business loan to the Trotters and was actually funding a huge scam. As Rodney put it: “We are selling public water to the public!”.
Now 30 years since the episode aired on the BBC, one Only Fools super fan has splashed out nearly £6k on a stage prop from the Christmas special. The 31cm glass bottle went for £5,720 at auction — almost five times its £1,200 estimate.
The label on the bottles states: “The purest Peckham Spring Water, drawn from an ancient natural source discovered 800 years ago.” In the words of Del Boy – what a nice little earner!
