0:00:34 > 0:00:38This is Cliveden, near Maidenhead, about 20 miles from London,
0:00:38 > 0:00:41close enough - even 300 years ago - to have lunch in Westminster
0:00:41 > 0:00:45and then get back home in time for dinner without even a hint of indigestion.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50Cliveden has a complicated history,
0:00:50 > 0:00:55but it was the second Duke of Buckingham who bought the site in 1666
0:00:55 > 0:00:58and created this huge plateau above the Thames.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02He is said to have built it for his mistress, the lovely Countess of Shrewsbury.
0:01:02 > 0:01:08The Earl of Shrewsbury wasn't too happy with this arrangement and this sword, inlaid into the grass,
0:01:08 > 0:01:13commemorates the result - a duel between the two men in 1668.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18Rumour has it that the countess held her lover's horse while he killed her husband.
0:01:18 > 0:01:23At any rate, she became the mistress of Cliveden as well as the Duke of Buckingham's.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28Cliveden is owned by the National Trust, but the house itself is run as a very posh hotel,
0:01:28 > 0:01:32and guests are welcomed in high style into the hall,
0:01:32 > 0:01:34which displays a great deal of its history.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39These tapestries date from the early 18th century when Lord Orkney was in residence.
0:01:39 > 0:01:46They depict his valiant military career. About 100 years after they were made, the tapestries vanished.
0:01:46 > 0:01:52A century later, Lord Astor - who was by then the owner of Cliveden - bought them at an auction in Paris
0:01:52 > 0:01:56without realising he was about to bring them back to their original home.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00How they got to France in the first place is a mystery.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03The gardens of Cliveden are, as you might expect, magnificent,
0:02:03 > 0:02:10and were put to good use by the Prince of Wales, who lived here in the 1730s and '40s.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14He and his wife created an alternative court, a centre for politics and the arts.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16In the summer of 1740,
0:02:16 > 0:02:21they attended a theatrical entertainment here in Cliveden's amphitheatre.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24The show ended with a new song called Rule Britannia,
0:02:24 > 0:02:29and Their Highnesses enjoyed it so much they demanded a repeat performance the following night.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32MUSIC: "Rule Britannia"
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Despite its royal connections,
0:02:40 > 0:02:46Cliveden's most glorious years were in the 20th century, under the American Astor family -
0:02:46 > 0:02:52glorious that is, until scandal struck in 1963 - but more of that next week.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56As for today, well, we're hoping the weather will be kind
0:02:56 > 0:03:01as the people of Buckinghamshire and Berkshire bring their treasures to show our experts.
0:03:01 > 0:03:07My mother had an uncle who was not married and, apparently, had lots of money,
0:03:07 > 0:03:12and, er, we just called him "the collector",
0:03:12 > 0:03:17- and I think he bought a lot of things at that time.- Did he travel?
0:03:17 > 0:03:22- No, no, no, he bought them all in Glasgow.- In Glasgow?
0:03:22 > 0:03:25That - that's interesting because Glasgow is a great seaport,
0:03:25 > 0:03:30- certainly was around the turn of that century, 1900, wasn't it?- Yeah.
0:03:30 > 0:03:36It's very often to seaports that we look when finding out how pieces like this came into the country.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39- You know that it's Japanese?- Yes.
0:03:39 > 0:03:45And I'm turning it round to see if I can find a signature and, sure enough, there is the signature.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50And it says "Miyao".
0:03:50 > 0:03:57Miyao is one of the great bronze founders in Japan at the end of the 19th century.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02They produced really high-quality pieces. This is jolly nice.
0:04:02 > 0:04:10- It's actually an incense burner. - Oh, I've always thought of it as being a flower pot.- Right.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14That's what I was thinking you might say you were using it for.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19The actual surface, the patina, that this was given, is stunningly good.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22This is a polished nut-brown face that he has,
0:04:22 > 0:04:27wonderfully sculpted hair and then all of the brocade,
0:04:27 > 0:04:32medallions on his costume, round the sides... We've got these wonderful polonia leaf mons -
0:04:32 > 0:04:36heraldic devices that would possibly refer to a family.
0:04:36 > 0:04:43We have flying phoenixes, all the things you'd expect on a rich piece of Japanese fabric,
0:04:43 > 0:04:48rendered in this lovely gilt bronze. The colour is gorgeous.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51The mistake that people often make
0:04:51 > 0:04:58- is they get the bronze polisher and turn it a nice gold colour. That's certainly not what we want here.- No.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03It's quite valuable. I suppose that won't come as a surprise to you?
0:05:05 > 0:05:07Er, well, no...
0:05:07 > 0:05:14- um, because I have had a valuation in the past. - When was that?- About 1982.- Right.
0:05:14 > 0:05:21- And I think they valued it at £1,500. - Right, that's in '82. So we are 18 years on.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26I can see this in a shop window...
0:05:26 > 0:05:31with a price tag somewhere in the region of £6,000 to £9,000.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33What?
0:05:33 > 0:05:35Cor blimey!
0:05:35 > 0:05:44- Is that to do with the fact that it's signed?- Well, certainly a signature always helps a bronze, absolutely.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47It was my mother's and she died two years ago.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50She was an avid collector and this was her pride and joy.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54I hear a hint of an American accent in your voice?
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Well I've lived there for a number of years, but I came back when my mother was ill.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02- This didn't come from America? - Oh, no, she had it here in England all those years.
0:06:02 > 0:06:09It's a piece of furniture - it's quite typical of things made either in the Borders or in Scotland,
0:06:09 > 0:06:15and the reason I just asked if it had come from America is that it's also not unlike Federal furniture
0:06:15 > 0:06:18dating from the early part of the 19th century,
0:06:18 > 0:06:23and there were cabinet-makers in New York, like Duncan Fife,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27- who came from Scotland and then set up in New York.- What a coincidence!
0:06:27 > 0:06:30So that is why I was intrigued.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35This certainly has all the evidence of being a Scottish piece.
0:06:35 > 0:06:41The rather - if I may put it this way - excessive use of marquetry on quite a simple form,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45so you've got a very plain but well-figured piece of mahogany
0:06:45 > 0:06:47with an elegant oval there,
0:06:47 > 0:06:51then they've added quite substantial spandrels in the corner...
0:06:51 > 0:06:56and then you've got very pretty marquetry going along the front,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59all this in satinwood.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03Looking at the drawer fronts, which show up very clearly in the sun,
0:07:03 > 0:07:09you can see that it's had other handles, so these are replacement handles,
0:07:09 > 0:07:15which is something that often happens with furniture of this period,
0:07:15 > 0:07:18probably about the 1790s.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22The front is supported at either end on lopers like that, so I'll pull this one out -
0:07:22 > 0:07:26do pull that one out as well and then it's safer.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29One of the nicest features of this is the interior.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33You've got a lovely red mahogany in here where it's been protected from the sun.
0:07:33 > 0:07:39You've got the original lock there which is very nice,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42and then this beautiful nest of compartments at the back,
0:07:42 > 0:07:47a drawer here with an oval which picks up the motif on the front,
0:07:47 > 0:07:52and this opens and probably has a drawer? Yes, a little drawer inside.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56Does this have any secret compartments or anything like that?
0:07:56 > 0:07:59They all seem to be not so secret.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04- Everything opens up.- There's a little drawer here which pulls out.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09- I didn't know about that. - Which is lovely. There's one to keep stamps in.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12That is secret.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16- A lovely thing and a very nice shape.- These too, I think, open up.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20This pulls up so you've got drawers in the top as well.
0:08:20 > 0:08:26- If it's something you inherited from your mother, do you have idea of value?- No, no.
0:08:26 > 0:08:32It needs a little bit of work but it's certainly something that should be insured for £3,000.
0:08:32 > 0:08:38- You can take it home and put all your papers back in it. - Put back all the unpaid bills.
0:08:38 > 0:08:45"Presented to CR Cleveland by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, February 1906."
0:08:45 > 0:08:50- Who was Mr Cleveland? - He was my grandfather.
0:08:50 > 0:08:56The then Prince of Wales used to stay with my grandfather
0:08:56 > 0:08:59who was the head of the Indian Secret Service,
0:08:59 > 0:09:04and he had a house in Simla...
0:09:04 > 0:09:07and my grandfather was a great tiger shot,
0:09:07 > 0:09:13and the then Prince of Wales used to stay at my grandfather's house and go shooting with my grandfather.
0:09:13 > 0:09:18And after one particularly good season,
0:09:18 > 0:09:24the Prince of Wales then presented that to my grandfather as a thank-you.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29That then Prince of Wales was to become King George...
0:09:29 > 0:09:31George V.
0:09:31 > 0:09:36We've got this tiny little monogram with the G. It's been so well kept,
0:09:36 > 0:09:40that it's in the fitted box and that makes all the difference.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44Inside there, you've got this crown and this "TM Martin & Company"
0:09:44 > 0:09:51and then this "Henry Capt" at the bottom there, so these are quality court jewellers.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55Let's have a look at the brooch. Painted rock crystal from behind.
0:09:55 > 0:10:02You get a piece of rock crystal, engrave out the back and you paint in, in this case with red paint,
0:10:02 > 0:10:06the letter G - monogram for George.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11Blue - you've got a blue enamel ring around there,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13tiny little, tiny garter motif,
0:10:13 > 0:10:18and then tiny diamonds that form the scroll pieces,
0:10:18 > 0:10:25and then the crown - small motif at the top - and all mounted on a gold bar.
0:10:25 > 0:10:32So very much the sort of piece that would have been worn really fairly high up at the neck,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35and it's not of huge value,
0:10:35 > 0:10:39because it hasn't got a great big whopping diamond in it,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43but it's got all the ingredients, for a very bijou pedigree piece.
0:10:43 > 0:10:49If was sold in a sale - I'm sure you won't sell it - but if it ever were to appear in an auction house,
0:10:49 > 0:10:57I would think with the background probably £800 for it, maybe, and so a good little piece,
0:10:57 > 0:11:03- small piece, perfectly proportioned. - Lovely, thank you very much, thank you.
0:11:04 > 0:11:10This is a very romantic Victorian watercolour,
0:11:10 > 0:11:12the artist is E Wake Cook -
0:11:12 > 0:11:15a late Victorian watercolourist.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17The subject, I think, is Elaine.
0:11:17 > 0:11:25Her story is that she was a lady at the court of King Arthur and she fell in love with Sir Lancelot,
0:11:25 > 0:11:30the bravest of all the knights, and she died for love of Lancelot,
0:11:30 > 0:11:38so here she's shown in her sort of funeral bier floating down the river past Camelot.
0:11:38 > 0:11:44A sad story, but romantic story, a great favourite of the Pre-Raphaelites
0:11:44 > 0:11:50and a watercolour like this, even though Wake Cook is not very well known today,
0:11:50 > 0:11:55would certainly...that would make £2,000 or £3,000 in a sale.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59- Mmm.- You ought to insure it for more.- Such detail.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Particularly around the head there.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10- Alexandra Palace, we worked together.- Under the tower.
0:12:10 > 0:12:18And there you can see a few people that we worked with, Bob Dougall who ran the whole of the newsreaders.
0:12:18 > 0:12:24- Richard Baker, Dickie.- Yup. - And an Australian guy Barry McQueen and the lovely me on the end.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26With a glass in your hand.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28Strange - that can't be me!
0:12:28 > 0:12:31I understand it's a brandy warmer.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37There's always an interest in it being a brandy warmer.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Often this is the name given to them, but I'm not convinced.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45There are so many of these saucepans from the 18th century
0:12:45 > 0:12:49that I think one needs to think of it more in terms of a sauce,
0:12:49 > 0:12:51which sometimes, I'm sure, was a brandy sauce.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55We've got the London date letter there,
0:12:55 > 0:13:00the F for 1721 and the NA there - that's a chap called Bowles Nash.
0:13:00 > 0:13:07- There is something that worries me a bit about this and that's the way that lip has been done.- Right.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10I'm not convinced that is original.
0:13:10 > 0:13:16- I think it originally just went straight round at the top. - Oh, I see.
0:13:16 > 0:13:22And somebody to make it perhaps pour a bit easier has pushed that out.
0:13:22 > 0:13:28But even I think with that problem, we'd be looking at about £600 to £700.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30Really? Oh!
0:13:34 > 0:13:37So clearly the top and bottom don't belong.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40I think I agree with that.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43That's a George II sort of edge.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46But when you look under here...
0:13:46 > 0:13:52- It's easy, there's no similarity of colour or age there. - I didn't know that, I didn't know.
0:13:52 > 0:14:01But this blocking's interesting. It suggests it might have had a marble top.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05Let's have a look at it. What do you know about these?
0:14:05 > 0:14:11- Only that my father bought it and it had five leaves originally.- Uh-huh.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16It enlarged to a large long table, probably soon after World War One.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21Four of them were missing ages ago, I think lost in various removals
0:14:21 > 0:14:27and one is, I regret to say, missing now. I lent it to an art gallery
0:14:27 > 0:14:32and they just displayed it like this, with a semicircular end.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36- Right, right. - And they've mislaid the centre leaf.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38- Which would annoy you.- Very much!
0:14:38 > 0:14:44I've written a lot of rude letters. And I searched the basement with them and we couldn't find it, so...
0:14:44 > 0:14:48I'm not sure it matters too much. It may be not the worst news in the world.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50Shall we have a look at the frieze?
0:14:50 > 0:14:56These are straight out of the Robert and James Adam book of the 1770s, The Works In Architecture.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01- This certainly is.- That's where it got the name Adam table.
0:15:01 > 0:15:08But is it right, Martin? I love the fact that it's applied carving, fine carving.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10There's a lot of decoration
0:15:10 > 0:15:15The protrusion here almost suggests it may have had a marble top, it comes a long way forward.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19Although you said it's fine carving, to me there's a bit of naivety
0:15:19 > 0:15:24about these and often these Italian itinerant carvers - some are good and some weren't so good - but...
0:15:24 > 0:15:28But what is interesting, it's so thick this,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32especially this mask on the top of the leg, that is not an applied later Victorian thing.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37The fact it stands out so proud means that it probably had quite a thick chunky top.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41They're very grand tables.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45- And, as they are, with later wooden tops...- Mmm...
0:15:45 > 0:15:48- ..One would expect an estimate at auction of £10,000-£15,000. - I'm surprised.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53- They're very interesting tables and very beautiful tables.- Yes.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55We both enjoyed looking at them.
0:15:55 > 0:16:01I have a feeling the estimate would be exceeded when somebody's found exactly where they were made for.
0:16:04 > 0:16:10We found it in a cloakroom cupboard when we cleared my aunt's house out. I know absolutely nothing about it.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14I'd seen a picture of one rather similar in a magazine some years ago.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19I just wanted to know a bit more about it.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24- Well, it's a piece of Italian maiolica.- Yes.- It's quite rare.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28We don't see these on the programme much at all and it's quite early.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32- This is dateable to the first half of the 18th century.- Gosh.
0:16:32 > 0:16:38- It's a classical subject, painted in what is really a Baroque Classical style.- Mmm.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43And made in central Italy in a place called Castelli.
0:16:43 > 0:16:49- It's probably from the workshops of a family called the Grue family. G-R-U-E...- Yes.
0:16:49 > 0:16:57And they produced a lot of this, especially with these putti - these are called putti - up the side here.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01- Yes.- All these little chaps here among foliage.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05And value - probably around about, maybe £200-£300 in this condition.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10- Oh, right. Well, that's good. - All right?- Yes, I'll keep it, then.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12- Have you been to Osborne House?- No.
0:17:12 > 0:17:18Well, if you went to Osborne House which was where Queen Victoria lived her early life with Albert,
0:17:18 > 0:17:24on the Isle of Wight, they have little marble carvings of the limbs, the hands, the arms,
0:17:24 > 0:17:26of most of her children,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30and there they are sitting on little velvet cushions,
0:17:30 > 0:17:34and you can see the sentimental reaction to children at the time.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37This is similar. Whose foot is it?
0:17:37 > 0:17:42- Horatio Westmacott. - Gosh, there's a name! - My grandfather's grandfather,
0:17:42 > 0:17:48and his father was Sir Richard Westmacott who I believe was a sculptor.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51He's a very well-known British sculptor of the early 19th century,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54a key figure in the development of this sort of naturalism,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58and, here he is, doing exactly that with his own son.
0:17:58 > 0:18:06Generations of your family have stroked it and polished it. It's a lovely thing.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10Westmacott is a top-flight sculptor, things by him don't come on the market very often,
0:18:10 > 0:18:14I haven't seen a piece of Westmacott before that I could actually handle,
0:18:14 > 0:18:19so I would say £1,500 to £2,000 for insurance.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23- Oh, good.- Paul, I know you're also very good at this sort of thing.
0:18:23 > 0:18:29It's The Eagle Slayer and it was a sculpture modelled by John Bell
0:18:29 > 0:18:35which was shown in the Great Exhibition of 1851 which was made in cast iron and also in bronze.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37What date would you think it is?
0:18:37 > 0:18:41I'd have thought it was about 1860, that's what I'd have...
0:18:41 > 0:18:46That's fine, because in that case it follows the John Bell figure. I'm sure he didn't model this,
0:18:46 > 0:18:51but it must be taken from the same source or the same idea.
0:18:51 > 0:18:57Sadly, it's been stitched up. In good condition that would be a real Parian collector's delight.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01£800 at least, because it's such a rare subject.
0:19:01 > 0:19:08Now I've got an 1804 inscription on here which seems to be in a Scandinavian language.
0:19:08 > 0:19:13My Scandinavian languages are nonexistent - can you tell me about it?
0:19:13 > 0:19:18I think it comes from Denmark, because my family lives on an island near the Danish border.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21And my late mother gave it to me
0:19:21 > 0:19:26and told me this vase comes from my great-great-great-great-grandfather
0:19:26 > 0:19:30- who was a whaling captain.- Ah. - And he...- Of course.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32"Captain" in the inscription.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37Yes, and the family story is that he got this as a bonus
0:19:37 > 0:19:44as he came home from a trip, filled with gold coins as part of his payment,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47I don't know if it's true or not.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51- That would have been quite a bonus. - Yeah, I think so.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56- He must have had a very successful trip.- I guess so.- In fact, it's not a vase, it's a beaker.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59- It's a drinking vessel.- Oh, yeah.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02And the form is typically Scandinavian,
0:20:02 > 0:20:07and the origin of it is getting the end of an ox horn,
0:20:07 > 0:20:15- and if you imagine the ox horn... - Ah.- Chopping the end off, that's how you end up with that shape.
0:20:15 > 0:20:21And you find them in Denmark, in Sweden, and so on, all of that sort of area.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23Now, in this case,
0:20:23 > 0:20:30- the mark there is actually from a place called Kristianstad in Sweden. - Yes.
0:20:30 > 0:20:37- And it's significantly earlier than the date of the presentation.- I see.
0:20:37 > 0:20:42So you've got 1804 presentation, but that's actually from 1751.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45- 1751?- Right.
0:20:45 > 0:20:54The maker I can't tell you, without the right Swedish book, but I'm sure he'll be identifiable,
0:20:54 > 0:20:59so it's absolutely delightful and just... Imagine that, gosh, full of gold coins.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04- No coins left!- We've still got the gilding inside, which is delightful,
0:21:04 > 0:21:12and that's a very old gilding in there, that's a fire gilding, but delightful form, 1750s.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16Valuewise, I think you've got to think
0:21:16 > 0:21:21- in terms of somewhere between £800 and £1,200.- I see.
0:21:25 > 0:21:31This is a late Victorian picture but it's not set in the Victorian period -
0:21:31 > 0:21:35it's set in Regency costume, something that the Victorians very much liked.
0:21:35 > 0:21:42It's three men, they're in a pub or an inn, having a drink, looking at a map.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45There's a view of a port beyond.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48The artist is Stephen Lewin, it's signed here,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51"Stephen Lewin 1890".
0:21:51 > 0:21:54Now Lewin was a quite well-known late Victorian painter
0:21:54 > 0:22:00of this type of historical and narrative picture, but what is the scene going on here?
0:22:00 > 0:22:03What is the story?
0:22:03 > 0:22:10Well, as I understand it, the picture was called They Found An Island and the man in the middle -
0:22:10 > 0:22:16the rough type - is presumably saying he's found something worth trading in the West Indies.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21- Yes.- The financier on the left is thinking of the money.- Yes.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25The captain on the right is thinking how he's going to get there.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28- This is a map of the Caribbean. - Yes.- Cuba you can see...
0:22:28 > 0:22:33- I don't know what he's pointing at. - Sounds a bit like Treasure Island.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37- It could very well be Treasure Island, I think.- Yes, why not?
0:22:37 > 0:22:42This is one of the pubs overlooking the old port of Bristol.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46It's beautifully painted. I like the details very much here of their lunch,
0:22:46 > 0:22:52or whatever it is they've just had and beef and bottles of wine here.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55- The picture's quite dirty.- Yes.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58A bit damaged here, but easily restored and repaired.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01So how did it come to you?
0:23:01 > 0:23:04Well, I'm not sure whether my great-grandfather
0:23:04 > 0:23:09had it painted or whether he saw it and thought it was appropriate to buy,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13because he was in the West Indies trade himself.
0:23:13 > 0:23:21- So this subject appealed to him? - Maybe a sort of bogus family history of West Indies respectability.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24- I see.- I don't quite know.
0:23:24 > 0:23:31Yes, well, it's a very interesting subject indeed from several points of view,
0:23:31 > 0:23:36and this kind of Victorian narrative picture's very popular now. Is it insured?
0:23:36 > 0:23:43- No, not specifically, no.- Yes, well, I think it might surprise you that a picture like this,
0:23:43 > 0:23:49- I would think, in a sale, would make at least £20,000.- Good grief! - £20,000 to £25,000.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53And I would suggest you insure it for £30,000.
0:23:53 > 0:24:00I thought this was the sort of picture that was priced by the square foot rather than anything wonderful.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04- Well, all pictures are in a way. - Yeah.- This is quite a nice big one.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11This is a belt of a boxing champion, but the champion is a woman -
0:24:11 > 0:24:14- your mother.- Yes, that's right.
0:24:14 > 0:24:20- So what was the act, what did she do?- Firstly, she was doing mainly ball punching.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24she had a ball punch - like boxers use today for hand and eye co-ordination -
0:24:24 > 0:24:30and she was not just doing the single one, she used to have triple ones, suspended triple ones,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33and double and triple ones from the floor,
0:24:33 > 0:24:37and then she did exhibition boxing with my grandfather,
0:24:37 > 0:24:44and it got on to the point where they used to invite people from the audience, especially ladies -
0:24:44 > 0:24:51- but men too - and she would give them the experience of boxing a lady. - What a story!
0:24:51 > 0:24:56- It's my mother's.- And did she buy it, or what?- No, it was her parents'.
0:24:56 > 0:25:02- So it's been in your family for a long time?- Yes. - Do you know anything about it?
0:25:02 > 0:25:04Absolutely nothing about it, nothing.
0:25:04 > 0:25:12Let me tell you it's called - it's a tin-glazed plate or as it's often called Delftware,
0:25:12 > 0:25:18- not Delft as in Holland, but made in England.- Right.- In fact, this is almost certainly made in Liverpool.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20- OK.- The lovely colours we see on it,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24- are often referred to as "Fazakerley colours".- Oh.
0:25:24 > 0:25:31And there's a special Fazakerley plate in Liverpool Museum with that combination of colours.
0:25:31 > 0:25:39- It's a really great plate, lovely decoration, quite sparse.- Yes. - But beautifully executed.- I like it.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43And painted in the glaze, it's not a transfer.
0:25:43 > 0:25:49It's hand-painted and every stroke that you made remained in the glaze. Date?
0:25:49 > 0:25:53- Well, it's getting on for 250 years old.- Gosh!
0:25:54 > 0:25:57- Yes. Probably 1750-1760.- Good Lord!
0:25:57 > 0:26:03Tin glaze has one serious defect, and if you look round the outside of the plate,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06- every little bit of the glaze has come off.- Yes.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11And this is why subsequently things like creamware and pearlware became more popular.
0:26:11 > 0:26:17- You're very lucky that your piece has got hardly any damage on it. - Really?
0:26:17 > 0:26:22- I hope you don't put the turkey on it at Christmas or anything? - No, nothing.
0:26:22 > 0:26:27It really is a great display piece. You might be surprised to know,
0:26:27 > 0:26:34in auction, it would go for in the region of £800-£1,000 possibly, possibly even a little more.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36Good heavens!
0:26:36 > 0:26:39This is before women had the vote.
0:26:39 > 0:26:47Women boxers are a little controversial today, let alone in 1915, I mean, my goodness me!
0:26:47 > 0:26:53But this lovely medallion in the middle here with the lady boxer, it's great.
0:26:53 > 0:27:00To put a price on something like this is not easy, because how many lady boxing belts does one see?
0:27:00 > 0:27:06- It's one of those things, isn't it? - As far as I know, it's unique. - With the story and the information,
0:27:06 > 0:27:11and these little shields for the fights that she won,
0:27:11 > 0:27:18I can see this going as boxing memorabilia and somebody paying in excess of £1,000 for it.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22- Thank you for bringing it in. - A pleasure.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27I hope to hand it on to my eldest son and not sell it, whatever its value.
0:27:27 > 0:27:34- The artist is Stanley Spencer. - Yes.- And Cookham's just down the road?- Yes, bottom of the hill.
0:27:34 > 0:27:39- And this gentleman?- My father, yes. - Yes.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42Frank Francis, he was the baker and confectioner in the village.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47- So Stanley was a regular... - Customer, yes.- Customer, yes.
0:27:47 > 0:27:52Very much so, yes. And I remember him coming over one day,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56because my father would nip in from the bakehouse to have a nap.
0:27:56 > 0:28:02My mother would make him sit in a leather armchair because of all the flour.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07He used this as a cartoon in many of his religious paintings.
0:28:07 > 0:28:12So your father appears in some of the big pictures?
0:28:12 > 0:28:17- So you just thought of Stanley as a family village friend?- That's right.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19And did you ever go to his studio?
0:28:19 > 0:28:26- Were you allowed in?- No, I... His father gave me my first music lessons so I used to go to the house,
0:28:26 > 0:28:34but we never went to any studio. I don't know where... He was in a shed at the back, I think, of the house.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37He said to my brother,
0:28:37 > 0:28:44"When I find that sketch of your father, you shall have it" - he was very generous with his sketches.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49- Right. - But, of course, he never found it,
0:28:49 > 0:28:56and Lady Spencer had got it, and the next thing was, a friend of mine said to me,
0:28:56 > 0:29:02- "Do you know that your father's picture is being sold up at Sotheby's?"- Yes.
0:29:02 > 0:29:07And I said "No, I didn't." So I told my brother, who had married Sheila,
0:29:07 > 0:29:14and he and Sheila went up to Sotheby's and bought it back.
0:29:14 > 0:29:19That's wonderful because Stanley Spencer is a special person.
0:29:19 > 0:29:25- We look at him differently. Cookham was his place.- Absolutely.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28And the people of Cookham, your father being one of them,
0:29:28 > 0:29:33- were the people of these great paintings.- Yes, that's right...
0:29:33 > 0:29:38You always feel that his heart and his spirit was there, he was part of that place.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42He is an important artist in British art history of the 20th century.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46- Yes.- He is a great draughtsman.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49He's captured - you say tiredness -
0:29:49 > 0:29:55I would think of it as... Well, I don't know what his dreams were, but he's sort of very wistful,
0:29:55 > 0:30:01- but his mind is somewhere else. - That's right, yes, definitely.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04It didn't take him all that long to do it.
0:30:04 > 0:30:11- How long? That would be very interesting.- Well, I should imagine about 20 minutes to half an hour.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13- That's extraordinary, isn't it?- Yes.
0:30:13 > 0:30:19It's that ability to put it down, to get the composition right, to build up all these shades and shadows...
0:30:19 > 0:30:23Yes, all the hatching and the double hatching...
0:30:23 > 0:30:26Is this your father as you remember him?
0:30:26 > 0:30:31Yes, definitely, I can see him now coming in with his vest -
0:30:31 > 0:30:38- he only wore a vest in the bakehouse. - From an art history point of view, it's not just a wonderful drawing,
0:30:38 > 0:30:43a real person, but he is in the paintings,
0:30:43 > 0:30:48- he is part of the history of the paintings.- Yes, he is.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51And I think...
0:30:51 > 0:30:56- £20,000 to £30,000.- Really?- I think it's just a marvellous drawing,
0:30:56 > 0:31:04and I think, today, if it were a standard Stanley Spencer drawing, I would say £10,000 to £15,000,
0:31:04 > 0:31:08but I just feel that this has got that X factor.
0:31:08 > 0:31:14Extra personal factor... We didn't do too badly, then, by paying £160 for it in '71.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19- No, you didn't, but it was probably quite a stretch then. - It seemed a lot of money.
0:31:19 > 0:31:25"There was an old lady who lived in a shoe who had so many children
0:31:25 > 0:31:29"that she didn't know what to do," and there she is.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33She's wonderful, and how many children has she got here?
0:31:33 > 0:31:37One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve,
0:31:37 > 0:31:40- thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen - she's been busy! - She has, yes.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44And I have to say that she looks a little world-weary.
0:31:44 > 0:31:49She's also got a switch in her hand, no doubt for keeping order
0:31:49 > 0:31:51amongst her unruly brood.
0:31:51 > 0:31:57- What's the story here?- She has always been mine, I used to play with her when I was little.
0:31:57 > 0:32:04During the 19th century, I had relatives that lived in Singapore so she may come from there.
0:32:04 > 0:32:09I'd love to say that she was from Singapore - unfortunately, she's not.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12So that is slightly spurious,
0:32:12 > 0:32:19but what we do have here is a whole range of little wooden dolls
0:32:19 > 0:32:23with articulated arms and legs, perhaps...
0:32:23 > 0:32:26- Yes.- Yes, some with one leg.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29And some with more!
0:32:29 > 0:32:37- The dolls originated in Germany almost certainly.- Oh.- And would've been produced as a sort of novelty.
0:32:37 > 0:32:46The shoe itself is modelled on a shoe perhaps from the 1820 period,
0:32:46 > 0:32:52but it is much later in date. I think she's probably dating from the 1860s.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55She's in very nice condition,
0:32:55 > 0:33:00all the little children have got their bonnets and so on, and she's very collectable.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04We could be talking about between perhaps...
0:33:04 > 0:33:11£700 and £900. So not only is she a nursery rhyme but she's also a fairy tale.
0:33:11 > 0:33:17- Rather nice, yes.- She's lovely. - Not quite what I thought.- Oh, good!
0:33:17 > 0:33:21We found them in a box that we bought at an auction about 10 years ago,
0:33:21 > 0:33:27- a box of bric-a-brac.- What else was in the box?- Just general hardware.
0:33:27 > 0:33:33Things like jugs and metal pieces for the kitchen, kitchenware, really.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36- What did you pay for the whole lot? - £20.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40I've been told they're 18th century, but I'm not sure.
0:33:40 > 0:33:46- That's right, in fact we're looking at, with all this beading, about 1780.- Right.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48And, in fact, the maker there,
0:33:48 > 0:33:53that's Mary Beadle and William Yately,
0:33:53 > 0:33:57who are specialist buckle makers - they're shoe buckles.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01What are the beads? What metal is that? It's obviously not silver.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04It looks as though it's copper,
0:34:04 > 0:34:12- which is why they haven't put them through the assay office. You're looking at about £150.- Excellent.
0:34:12 > 0:34:13Well pleased.
0:34:13 > 0:34:19- Where did you get all these from? - Well, I've been running the tip for about 17 years just over,
0:34:19 > 0:34:27and I've got it through the years, chucked away in the tip. I've got salvage rights for whatever comes in.
0:34:27 > 0:34:34It belongs to me. This is different pieces, different weeks or months or years, I've found and just collected.
0:34:34 > 0:34:42- When you say "running a tip", what does that actually involve? - We keep it clean and tidy.
0:34:42 > 0:34:47We open and shut the gates, we let people know where to put their rubbish,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51when to come in, and we make sure everything's run as it should be,
0:34:51 > 0:34:53and anything I find belongs to me -
0:34:53 > 0:35:00- I pay the council for it.- So - just to get this right - these are the accumulation of jewellery...- Mmm.
0:35:00 > 0:35:05- And bits and pieces that people have thrown out? - Yes, I've found them in rubbish.
0:35:05 > 0:35:13You have to look in rubbish people wouldn't think about touching - that's where you find the bits.
0:35:13 > 0:35:19Well, it's a reflection really that people don't know what they've got.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23You've got some things which are not very valuable, costume pieces.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25You've got things like little gem rings here
0:35:25 > 0:35:30or pieces of silver jewellery which are not very commercially valuable,
0:35:30 > 0:35:34- a double clip over here, not very commercially valuable.- No.
0:35:34 > 0:35:41If we start looking at things like this, it becomes more significant, because these are pieces of jade.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43Yes, I know...
0:35:43 > 0:35:47And these here are what I call pipkin drop earrings.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50They're mounted in gold.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53They were probably made in around about 1925,
0:35:53 > 0:35:58and it's a beautifully matched pair of imperial jade.
0:35:58 > 0:36:00There's a chain with it as well.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05You've got a marquise shaped ring...
0:36:05 > 0:36:09A Chinese jade ring pendant and a Chinese jade bangle,
0:36:09 > 0:36:14where the gold in this is practically pure,
0:36:14 > 0:36:20- so people have said it's rubbish.- I did, till my son told me different.
0:36:20 > 0:36:25Let's move on. This caught my eye, this little bar brooch here,
0:36:25 > 0:36:31which is mounted with a native-cut Sri Lankan sapphire.
0:36:31 > 0:36:37A genuine sapphire in a gold bar brooch with diamonds at the end. It's lovely!
0:36:37 > 0:36:42I've had that thrown in the cupboard and not bothered about it. I just dug it out to come here.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45Do you know what those are?
0:36:45 > 0:36:46Fire opals.
0:36:46 > 0:36:53No, black opals. And it's the black opals which are far more valuable than the fire opals.
0:36:53 > 0:37:00Those are a Mexican sort of bright glowing colour stone, but these are 1910 or 1915. These were on the tip?
0:37:00 > 0:37:03Yes, they were in the box.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07Well, you see the colour... I mean, look at the sparkle in them.
0:37:07 > 0:37:12The opals shimmer - particularly in this light that we've got here.
0:37:12 > 0:37:20The opals are with tiny diamonds above, with knife-edge bar settings on a platinum chain.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22Look at the colour of the opal ring.
0:37:22 > 0:37:27They're a very good intense blue-green colour, but look at the intensity,
0:37:27 > 0:37:32the depth of colour, which was made about 1915,
0:37:32 > 0:37:37so again someone's taken a look at these and thought they're nothing at all.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41Right OK, so...values...
0:37:41 > 0:37:46The sapphire bar brooch... I love the warm colour of the sapphire. It's not a modern stone.
0:37:46 > 0:37:53It's an old stone, that one, so that sapphire bar brooch is worth around about £300 or £400.
0:37:53 > 0:37:58The collection of jade here - these jadeite pipkin drops,
0:37:58 > 0:38:03they must be worth in the region of £400.
0:38:03 > 0:38:11The jadeite ring of marquise shape here, that's going to be worth at least in the region of £300.
0:38:11 > 0:38:19Those are green hard stones, not jade. That's a jade shield-shaped brooch and a rather pale jade drop,
0:38:19 > 0:38:25but it means that the complete contents of that box must be worth at least £800 to £1,200.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28- Thank you.- And then the opals...
0:38:28 > 0:38:32One of the stones has got a little faint crack in it.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36Nevertheless, the main pendant is going to be worth,
0:38:36 > 0:38:42- I would think, something in the region of £1,000-£1,500.- Oh, dear!
0:38:42 > 0:38:47It's going up a bit. And then, mindful of the fact that one opal...
0:38:47 > 0:38:53Excuse me, can I say something? Find yourself a woman, you can have them. Get off my back!
0:38:56 > 0:38:58Well, I'll just carry on...
0:38:58 > 0:39:03The opal earrings here must be worth around about £800 to £1,000.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07The opal cluster ring with the intense depth of colour,
0:39:07 > 0:39:13really fine Australian stone, a really smashing stone that one,
0:39:13 > 0:39:15£800 for that one, I should think.
0:39:15 > 0:39:21So this set's going to be worth at least in the region of around about £3,000,
0:39:21 > 0:39:28so the accumulation of jewellery that's been discarded by people and just been thrown out,
0:39:28 > 0:39:33- amounts to something in the realms of...- That's not all of it!
0:39:33 > 0:39:38- Well, what I've got here amounts to something in the region of £4,000-£6000.- Thank you very much.
0:39:38 > 0:39:44- No idea what that RS stands for? - No. The obvious thing is the maker's name,
0:39:44 > 0:39:48but we don't know who the maker is and it could be an inventory name,
0:39:48 > 0:39:53so we can't make a decision about that until we've done more research on the chair.
0:39:53 > 0:39:58While we've got it upside down, it's rather nice to look at it.
0:39:58 > 0:40:04It's unusual to see yew legs so badly wormed, and what happened there? Is that...?
0:40:04 > 0:40:09- They've eaten through, have they? - I think they've eaten it through...
0:40:09 > 0:40:13- I think they have. - I haven't got the foot.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17- This is sapwood of yew, so it's very vulnerable to worm.- Right.
0:40:17 > 0:40:19The heartwood is much less so.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22That needs looking at and treating.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25Let's turn it over and have a look here and see what we've got.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30Well, it's a very nice chair.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34- Tell me where you got it. - I got it from my aunt,
0:40:34 > 0:40:40who got it from her aunt, who just inherited it from various members of the family.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43It started in Pinkneys Green,
0:40:43 > 0:40:48which is Maidenhead, so it's of fairly local origin originally, I think.
0:40:48 > 0:40:53- It's always been in this area?- Yes, via Lewisham and Blackheath and...
0:40:53 > 0:40:58- So it's been around? - Well, it's come back. - I think it's come back home.- Yes.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02- Because we have a chair here from Slough.- Really?
0:41:02 > 0:41:07Yeah. I've got what might be rather an interesting surprise for you.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11- Just have a look at that. - Oh, my goodness! That's not it!
0:41:14 > 0:41:18- Is that it?- Is it? - It's got to be, hasn't it?
0:41:18 > 0:41:24- It's not exactly the same chair but it's clearly of the same school of making.- Yes.
0:41:24 > 0:41:29- There are only two of these recorded with maker's names.- Really?- Which is why the RS is confusing me.
0:41:29 > 0:41:36There's one by Richard Pitt who died in 1769, another one by John Hewitt who died in 1777.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41Both chairs are labelled and they have the information on them,
0:41:41 > 0:41:46so that's very rare to have that documented information.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51This is a very typical Thames Valley comb-back chair here, again in yew.
0:41:51 > 0:41:58This solid bar, double bar splat is in yew as well and are the spindles here and this lovely arm,
0:41:58 > 0:42:02beautifully worn and patinated with this very particular support here,
0:42:02 > 0:42:06is very typical of the two other chairs that I've just mentioned.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11The Pitt chair has four of these spindles underneath the arm here.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16- Oh, yes.- And the Hewitt chair has five of them,
0:42:16 > 0:42:21so does that mean that this one is by Pitt because it's four?
0:42:21 > 0:42:26We don't know. Is the signature underneath, is that stamp anything to do with the maker?
0:42:26 > 0:42:33Or is it some house or village? We don't know yet, but that would be further research.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36This is a chair that's sought after everywhere.
0:42:36 > 0:42:41You've had it for a long time. I'm going to value it conservatively,
0:42:41 > 0:42:47because it's not in good condition, but it is an original 18th century chair of this rare Slough group,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51so I'm going to put a value of £10,000.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56Really? Good God! I might have to sit down on it now.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59Gracious me.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05The weather has kept us on our toes today, but it has been worth it.
0:43:05 > 0:43:11My favourite item was all that fine jewellery that had been thrown away and might have been lost for ever.
0:43:11 > 0:43:16There's been so much at Cliveden we haven't time to show you all today,
0:43:16 > 0:43:22so we're coming back next week to show you some more. Until then, from Cliveden, goodbye.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24Subtitles by BBC Scotland