Eastnor Castle Antiques Roadshow

On the eastern edge of the county of Herefordshire is one of its most attractive market towns - Ledbury.

Its look is due partly to a 13C scheme by the Bishop of Hereford

to allow freemen of the town to rent strips of land.

They were called burgages. They were 20 feet wide and 200 feet long

and sprouted narrow, half-timbered houses beloved by visitors.

The market house stands on 16 stout oak pillars, originally intended to protect corn from 17th century rats.

Today's civic leaders still climb up here, and trade goes on underneath.

Today, the market hall is Britain's most distinguished bus stop.

Ledbury's miles from the coast, but you may get the impression of water.

It's an illusion caused by the plastic tunnelling used in the production of soft fruits.

There are huge orchards around here too.

Cider makers - and drinkers - rely on them. This is big apple country.

And half of the hops that go into England's cask ales are grown in Herefordshire.

The result - some very tasty beer.

< Cheers, Michael.

In the nearby hamlet of Eastnor, just below the Malvern Hills, is a fairytale castle

erected not as a fortification but as a home for a local family.

Eastnor Castle -

built in the early 19 C at a cost of £85,923 13s 11½d -

is the setting for today's Antiques Roadshow.

I first saw it at a cycle show in 1952 and fell in love with it -

-it wasn't for sale.

-Right.

-Then I saw it about two years later outside an Italian cafe with a sign on it, £25.

-I had to have it.

-Did it seem expensive?

-All I had.

-I was saving to get married. My future in-laws didn't think much of that!

-1952, you first saw it.

-Have you tracked its history any more?

-Only that they were made in wartime in Italy by two brothers -

mainly because of the shortage of steel. It was almost non-existent for bicycle making.

One was a ski manufacturer, and the two got together and used their expertise to make wooden bicycles.

Interesting you should say "skis",

-because I see four or five different technologies that went into making this bicycle.

-Yes.

You can see skis, as you say, and boat-building and aircraft building.

-All aircraft then were built of wood - up until the Second War.

-Yes, of course.

-Especially the propeller.

-Yes.

-Propellers were all laminated wood.

The frame, starting here, coming all the way round -

right through this extraordinary bend at the front, down the main tube, through the bottom bracket,

-to the chain stay - is ONE piece of wood.

-Seven foot long, if laid out.

-Blows my mind, the way this is all bent round - and everything arrives in the right place.

-That's right.

-Probably they didn't make the handlebars.

-I'd think those, the chain-wheel and brakes were stock.

Stock items. Everything else, they made up. Quite amazing, in the war.

As I say, they wanted to build a bicycle out of wood

because they couldn't build one out of anything else,

but also they were in tune with developments in cycling then. Build a lighter, faster, better bicycle.

-Yes.

-I wonder if they achieved it. Have you ever seen another?

Only a frame on its own with no forks.

I have a feeling not many survived, because of the weak forks.

-The forks are the weak point?

-Yeah.

-Right.

I don't know how we'll compare a value. I don't know of another of these around, in this condition.

-I think a bare minimum of £2,000 to £3,000.

-Really? Yes.

So rare, and in such wonderful condition!

-Could I indulge myself, please, and go for a spin?

-Please do.

-Thank you!

This is Dutch or, more precisely, Frisian.

That's what I was going to say!

-How d'you know? I'm supposed to tell you!

-My mother, to whom it belonged,

-comes from an old Frisian family.

-Right.

-This was passed to me after she died.

-It's about the 17th C.

-Yes.

A time when Holland was a wealthy country.

The tulips - until the early 17C - were very, very expensive items.

Tulip bulbs made the Amsterdam traders very rich. Holland was a great seafaring nation at the time.

The farming was always rich, but VERY provincial. Hard to imagine quite how provincial that would be.

-The family were seafarers and merchants for many generations.

-It would've taken a lot of money

-to buy a piece like this in the 17C.

-There's an awful lot of work gone into it.

-Yes. I love these mouldings.

This one here is almost like a...

thumbnail, an overnail... scale pattern really.

Then a variation, a sort of ripple moulding, done by hand, not machine.

This is one man laboriously carving each piece out - which I love.

I'm rather stuck. This is sweet, the hearts, very nice indeed.

-It may have been perhaps a marriage coffer.

-I was TOLD it was...

-Right.

They had them at the foot of the bed for putting the linen in.

Then we assume these are billing doves.

-D'you know, I've never noticed them? No, they ARE birds.

-Two amorous birds, two lovebirds let's say.

The date...

Would that be the date it was made

or the date of a wedding or something? Is that 1701?

I think it's 1701.

-There's something about the cutting. I don't think it's the same hand.

-Right.

-Look closely.

-Crude.

Very. And very deep, compared with the subtlety in the rest of the carving. It probably is later.

Provincial pieces, in any country, are tricky to date within 50 years. I could say 1650 - could be 1700.

-Anything inside that's interesting?

-I don't think so, no.

-Well, it's fairly original, that's nice.

-Is that a candle box?

Yes, traditionally and a lovely lock...

Oh, it's a snap lock. Wonderful.

-That lock is 300 years old or so and still works.

-It should snap shut

-when you close that?

-Let's try. I think so...

Yes. So heaven help you if you've taken the key out and you can't open it. It snap locks and that's it.

What a nice piece of furniture. I suspect you probably know more about the value of this than I do.

-I don't.

-It's not been valued recently?

-Not at all.

-I think, at auction in London, a pre-sale estimate of £2,000 to £2,500.

-Oh, that's nice.

-It'd probably be bought by a Dutch person or dealer.

-Right.

-Over to the Netherlands...

-I can see it an Amsterdam shop for £5,000.

-That IS nice to know.

-A very early piece.

-Yes, lovely.

-And part of your history.

-Thank you!

This one was given to me in 1945 when, as a young teacher,

I left Herefordshire to work in Surrey.

Um... Someone admired that -

a visitor to my house in 1980 - tried to find me the salt pot,

-and this is what he found and gave me as a present.

-Right. Not a salt pot, but a mustard pot.

One of the things I find so delightful about

the way these were designed...

the little mouse in the beak there.

You're lucky you've got it complete. So often that is missing. And, of course, it isn't part of the lid,

-but the end of the spoon, as you know only too well.

-Yes.

It's SUCH a clever design!

But let's have a look at the pepper pot.

Now, we've got the marks there... of Sheffield, in fact, for 1851.

'51?

Coming up to the time of the Great Exhibition.

It's reasonably early for this type of novelty. And the maker there...

is Henry Wilkinson.

That one...as a pepper pot, it is in really super condition.

-Have you had it valued at all?

-Never.

That one...

I would say, on its own, you're going to be looking at about £800.

-Good gracious me. I'm staggered.

-Now - the mustard pot...

I'm afraid the marks on here are rather indistinct.

-It's the same date as this one.

-Is it?

Also 1851. But this is a London one.

It has to be said this one's had a little bit of a hard life.

-Mm, it's been used.

-Remarkably, the liner does appear to be the original one, but...

-I don't know if you can see. Look through there.

-Oh, yes.

-Around the eyes...

-Yes.

-..all those holes.

That is, I'm afraid, going to have quite an effect on the value. You're probably looking...

It MAY hit the £1,000.

You may be lucky and it may go a little more, but the condition will pull it right down, I'm afraid.

-..You're going to be busy!

-I've trawled the house.

-..What have you brought here? A nice towel?

-Yes!

-It's upside down.

-Oh, what's this? The cavalry?

Maybe. We're not sure.

-I see 1882 there. Have you spotted that?

-Yes. Not as old as you(!)

I dunno - about three years out. I'm sure you'll do very well in there.

-Play your cards right and we'll take YOU in.

-Thank you(!)

-It belonged to my uncle.

-Right.

-He was in World War II.

When he came back from driving tanks in Germany,

he had this knife.

Wonderful. How many blades?

There are 96 items on there. I think 4 are missing -

-Little bits that come out of the end.

-So - let us have a look at a few.

You're more conversant with it than me. But what have we got here?

-Here we have a hacksaw...

-A hacksaw.

-And...the large blade.

-Right.

And a quite large pair of scissors.

And then we get down to the small items, which are here.

A little pair of pliers.

And here - a similar pair, but of pinchers.

-Right. Wonderful, isn't it?

-Yes.

There are so many things on here, I don't think I've ever had them all out together. It's impossible, but...

A corkscrew, a most useful item!

Of course. And a minute screwdriver here.

Then one can go over to the back side and find...the inevitable hook.

-That's for getting Boy Scouts out of horses' hooves, I think.

-Or out of Girl Guides' tents.

-Oh, that's a new one!

-And on the back of that there's a nail file.

-There are a myriad of very fine blades.

-Yes.

And because there are 100 items, or roughly 100, in there,

the blades are so thin some of them are lethally sharp.

-I can imagine. Really and truly, for its size, it's sort of impractical, do you know what I mean?

-Absolutely!

Some, you could use to advantage, but...

But it's hardly a pocket knife.

The whole point is, it's the cutler's art.

-Yes. About what date? Have you any idea?

-Round about 1900.

-I see.

In America, these go down in a very big way.

One like this is quite valuable in itself. It's certainly a nice collector's piece, that -

because of the number of the blades.

-Admittedly a little damage, but in the American market you're looking at £1,000.

-Goodness gracious me.

-Goodness. Well!

-Goodness gracious.

-Yes, they're very, very desirable.

A friend of mine who had a Victorian mansion flat in West London moved to a new mews house in Hampstead.

And...he just didn't have the wall space.

I was renovating a house in Bedford Park and I did have the wall space

and that's exactly why I bought it.

-So was it wall space, or was it more than that to attract you?

-No, it was wall space.

-And the period.

-It's by James Jebusa Shannon. He was born in New York State,

and came to London aged 16 in 1878. He has been "rediscovered" as American,

because in my whole career he's always been thought of as a British, a London artist.

There is a wonderful bravura to the brush strokes.

I think, in a way, you can see that in the ring, here,

You get that feeling of sparkle and lustre, and it's all to do with the weight of paint.

Actually, it's a very handsome portrait

but commercially we need handsome young men or beautiful young women to really lift the price.

I would say...£4,000 or £5,000.

-How many have you got?

-Well, 24 or 25.

-You've got a whole kennel in here!

-Yes.

-How long have you...?

-I haven't bought any for...

-..at least 15 years.

-Do you remember how expensive the last one you bought...?

-How much I paid?

-Yeah.

Well, I think, probably 25 years ago,

-I probably paid about, for the best couple of pairs, about 30.

-Ooh.

-20 to 30.

-£20 to £30?

-Yes.

Do you know which factories...?

-Do you know which porcelain factories you have here?

-Oh. No.

-Most of these dogs were made...

-Yes?

-..in Staffordshire.

-Yes.

-Dating to 1830, 1850.

-Oh, right.

-I never see any nowadays.

-They are quite... They are quite rare.

-Yes.

I've got some...you know, spaniels, large ones, with the basket of flowers.

Yes? Oh, we've got some inkwells down here! I was hoping we might see these. Oh, aren't they pretty?

Oh, look at that!

-Beautiful!

-Yes, that's one of my favourites.

-Yes. And of course...

One's damaged, isn't it? A crack on that one,

-Yes. They were for a pen, weren't they?

-These are little inkwells,

and fortunately they have never been used for ink because... Oh, no -

I'm wrong. This one HAS been used for ink. I was going to say, usually they take an awful stain.

-Yes.

-If you put ink into the bottom, it soaks into the porcelain and leaves you with this awful stain.

-Yes.

-But I think at some stage, fortunately, they've stopped using it, and it is simply an ornament.

-Yes.

-Well, I will just see what we've got there.

Another inkwell! This is like Christmas - at Crufts!

-..Nobody's been under the water in it?

-No, not as I know of.

-I'm deeply relieved.

I have to tell you these diving helmets are often reproduced.

An original, dating from about 1900 would be worth £1,000 to £1,500 in a marine sale.

But if you look carefully... For example, open the front door,

there's a socking great crack, by no means waterproof, in the inner bezel.

It's been put together entirely for effect.

The front plate which says the "US Navy Diving Helmet", looks incredibly worn,

but it's MADE to look incredibly worn.

-I see.

-And if you spin it over like this, you can see all these new nuts and bolts securing it inside.

Underwater, you wouldn't last 30 seconds. I wouldn't recommend it.

You like the inkwell. I think it is gorgeous.

I think this inkwell... If you buy one of those at auction today, you will have to spend about £400

-for ONE inkwell.

-Well. Yes.

Well, I think that each pair as we go through here...

Let's give you an average.

Each pair is probably worth between £400 and £700.

-For this lot?

-Each PAIR.

One, two, three,

four, five, six...

-£2,500 to £4,000.

-Yes.

-For that lot.

-Yes.

And I've given you values on those.

Maybe...£100 to £200 each.

Yes.

And maybe £300 to £500 for him alone.

-I think you've done very well!

-Thank you.

It's been a great pleasure to have you look at them.

This sort of glazed cabinet was very popular in the second half of the 19C. It looks rather French,

particularly with the inlay work and the metal mounts - but it's probably English, I think. Walnut.

Made in England, but with this very French style which was so popular.

I like it cos it looks as if it's got the original material inside.

-How did it come to you in the first place?

-We used to live in Southport.

We used to meet an old gentleman who'd often ask us for money for a cup of tea. We'd give him 3d or 6d.

One Saturday he asked us if we'd buy a cupboard off him for ten shillings. It was absolutely disgusting -

it was covered in hardboard, really horrible - so we took it to our house and left it in the garden.

One day, the children wanted a piece of hardboard, so we took it off the front and this was underneath.

-You had no idea this was underneath?

-None.

-It was a casing of hardboard?

It was a piece of hardboard on it,

-nailed on the sides and tied on with a piece of rope.

-How extraordinary!

-It's really very decorative.

-Had we known, we'd have taken care of it!

One of these... They were often made in pairs, but for one you're looking at about, oh, £500 to £700.

-Gosh, that's nice.

-Good for ten shillings.

-Isn't it?!

-And philanthropy.

-Yes.

I've seen very peculiar things on the Roadshow but NEVER come across a 17th century embroidered egg.

-Have you ever seen one before?

-No, and nobody we've talked to has.

That's definitely what it is. We've a hen's egg, carefully blown. There is the hole they blew it through.

-Yes.

-And then somebody has sat down and meticulously embroidered it.

-As an afternoon occupation it seems to be somewhat extreme.

-Yes.

It MUST have a considerable novelty value,

first, because of the materials they used, the style of the embroidery.

Typical 17C. We'd expect to find it on something like stumpwork, not on an egg!

They were perhaps doing the dutiful thing and going to work on an egg.

I imagine that if somebody got hold of one and wanted to sell it, they'd be asking mid to high hundreds -

£500, that sort of area - for it. It's a really beautiful thing, very unusual thing.

The tragedy of it is by the nature of the material,

it's going to gradually become dustier and dustier, and one day crumble.

-Flake away.

-Flake away. You'll be left with a beautiful memory.

-Thanks so much for bringing it.

-Thank YOU.

A familiar scene and some very familiar faces. Not all with us now.

Sammy Davis Jnr, Peter Lawford and Jerry Lewis!

Now, why are they here and why WERE they here?

In 1969 they were making the film One More Time here. Peter Lawford's lady friend fell off a horse -

one of the stunt horses - and she was taken into the hospital in Ledbury.

My mother was the matron in Ledbury. These were two of the nurses. So they came to watch the filming.

So this was the day when Hollywood came to Eastnor?

"With grateful thanks for a gallant Endeavour, America's Cup, 1934."

Then signatures of Tommy Sopwith and...?

-I think that's his wife.

-His wife?

-Could be, yes.

-What's the history?

Well my father was given it by Tommy Sopwith for his services on the Endeavour.

-It was an amateur crew. The professional crew in 1934 went on strike.

-Ah, right!

They had to sail Endeavour across the Atlantic to challenge for the America's Cup. They weren't paid -

they had to foot their bill. This is one of the things he was given.

Well, of course, Sopwith... I think of Sopwith Camels.

-Yes.

-And that's the same firm.

-What is it made of?

-Oh, it's silver.

-Silver?

-With...

-That's gold set onto the front there.

-Oh, is it?

-It's 9 carat gold.

As a straightforward cigarette case we'd be looking at perhaps £30, £40.

How much that is going to add to it... It is certainly going to make a significant difference.

I should think it's easily going to add a nought to the figure. The real treasure is the inscription.

-Thank you.

-Thank you for bringing it.

We've had him about 40 years, but the interesting background...

My great-uncle bought it and another painting in the 1930s in Wensleydale.

He liked the other, but this one rather offended his sense of decency, so apparently he put it in a wardrobe

-with its face to the wall.

-Hid it away.

-Just so. As a 16-year-old, I found it there.

-In the cupboard?

-Face to the wall.

-So what happened?

I was told if I could take it out without him seeing it, it was mine.

-I did.

-So you did - saved his modesty and carried it out?

-Apparently.

It is definitely a 17C painting

and it shows St Jerome in his...penitence.

He went into the wilderness and lived a life of prayer and thought.

And down at the bottom here, we've actually got the lion...

-Yes.

-..that, legend has it, he removed a thorn from the paw of,

and from then on, the lion was his obedient servant. So that's a rather nice extra touch to the narrative.

-Indeed.

-It is actually, I think,

deriving from an original Reubens composition,

or a composition by a follower of Reubens, but it's very much in a Flemish 17C style.

So, brilliantly rescued by you from the back of a cupboard! It's one that you probably should insure

-for around £2,000.

-Oh, good, right.

-I hope you will continue to enjoy it

-and look at it, rather than keeping it at the back of a cupboard.

-Yes, it's guaranteed a place on our wall.

This jersey belonged to a member of the 1905 tour party to England,

the first official New Zealand party to England - the All Blacks.

This jersey belonged to Duncan McGregor.

Now, Duncan McGregor played on the wing for New Zealand and, as it turned out, in that very first game

he scored four tries, which up until 1987 had never been surpassed by any New Zealander in an international.

-So that was quite unique.

-These things relate to the first All Blacks tour here.

And, you know, they became known as All Blacks because on arrival, the press said to them,

"What colours are you playing in?" They said, "All black," which stuck.

If I just have a look at the ball... the condition here is not so good.

The signatures are fading, which is a shame.

Still, its association with that first Crystal Palace match

would make it - I would have thought -

at least £1,000-worth at auction.

You should maybe be insuring that for £2,000.

The cap - McGregor's cap...

with the New Zealand emblem, and actually in pretty good condition, recording the years that he played -

as you say, 1903-4, right the way round to 1907-8 -

is probably worth at auction £1,500 to £2,000.

You should insure that for £3,000.

Here we have "D McGregor", signed and inscribed, along with other players,

round the inside edge of the leather which is stitched on the jersey.

It must make this the earliest piece of Antipodean rugby memorabilia

that anybody could ever wish to find. Incredibly difficult to value at auction.

Soccer... Early soccer shirts make thousands and thousands of pounds.

The top price for an early soccer shirt is over £20,000.

I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't bring at auction £5,000 to £8,000 -

You should insure this shirt for £10,000. An incredibly exciting object.

Marc Louis Solon came from Sevres in France, and he had developed

this wonderful technique called pate-sur-pate,

where you built up layers of white glaze

to get this diaphanous picture - technically absolutely wonderful.

Probably took a long time to build up these layers and layers of glaze. He signed it, down here.

"Louis Solon." It's incised there...

in the glaze. D'you see it?

-How long have you had it?

-That one, about 11 years. 11 years.

-Yeah.

-Did you pay a lot of money for it, 11 years ago?

-Er, £900.

Oh, well, I think you're comfortably in the clear. I would have thought that today it's probably worth...

-£3,000 that sort of thing.

-Really?

-Well, it's a top object.

What I really enjoy is this - I think he's had such FUN with all this.

Technically, this is absolutely magisterial.

But my favourite one is this one...

I'm as certain as I can be that it was painted at Derby by Thomas Steel.

Thomas Steel was a great painter of fruit - he's still alive -

and he's easy to recognise

because his grapes look like... electric light bulbs. I think that's a good analogy.

That's how I've always thought of them being. They GLOW like bulbs. This is a particularly good one.

A GOOD still-life is enhanced by cut fruit, don't you think?

It's much... Then you've got this little bit of the pear that has been nibbled at.

It's a really fine example. I like this.

These are quite speculative things.

-If everybody likes them, this kind of plaque fetches £3,500 or £4,000.

-Really?

Is this an engine you've ever fired up?

Um, no. I don't really want to fire it up

because it's in such good condition.

And I've already got a collection at home of a few Mamods and Wilescos,

which I do fire up because they're modern.

-This is almost too good to use, you think?

-Yeah.

This is actually marked by the firm, Bing.

The instructions also have the mark. The Bing mark is from 1923.

-Yeah.

-So that helps to give a date to the piece.

-Yeah.

I notice the accessories are made by Marklin.

-Yes.

-Do you have other accessories at home?

There's a generator to go with this, and a few other bits and pieces. They did actually come with the engine.

Right. Presumably these accessories would've been driven from a band from this wheel, not a solid drive?

-No, it would be one of these springy types linked to a rod up here...

-Yes.

..with more wheels on, with the same belt drive for the accessories.

-Yes. Presumably you can still get the fuel to power this?

-Yeah.

It runs off meths. You fill the boiler with water, heat it, and after about ten minutes...

It's as long as ten minutes before the pressure gets up?

Yeah. This is a safety valve.

There's a weight you can move about to get a different safety pressure.

-So if you're driving something which takes more power, you'd slide the weight one way or the other?

-Yeah.

-Has it been in the family, or did you buy it?

-It came from auction a couple of years ago.

I think it was a couple of hundred quid.

It's much larger scale than most of the engines that you find.

-That's what attracted me to it. It's so unusual.

-This must be getting on for 20 inches high, this chimney.

-Yes.

-I think that does help the value, if you were to resell it.

-Yeah.

-So I suspect that if it went to auction today,

it would make between £400 and £600.

-Really?

-And it's a wonderful thing to have brought along.

-Yeah.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you.

It says "Carlus Magnus" which is for Charlemagne, Charles I,

-King of France, who was the first Holy Roman Emperor.

-Oh.

And here he is, looking proud in his crown. And the scene in the centre is the coronation.

He was born in 742. I think it was in Bavaria.

-And he was crowned by Pope Stephen II...

-Oh.

-..in the middle part of the 8C.

-Oh, I see.

-And died, I think, in about 817, so he lived a long time, 70-odd years, amazing in those days.

This is very proudly embossed with trophies of war... Justice at the bottom, there.

And it's redolent of all the achievements that Charlemagne had.

-Of course, all this is going on in the 8C, but in reality it's not an 8C piece.

-No!

-Unfortunately.

-Exactly.

What's interesting is, it's copying the style of a Nuremberg alms dish -

or something like that - of the 15C or 16C,

-but it's 19th century.

-Yes.

And late 19th century, at that. It's actually machine pressed,

-a product of the industrial age.

-Yes.

-Although it's a wonderful thing, it's not worth a huge amount.

£250, £300, something like that. So, you know, a reasonable investment.

Lovely. Thank you.

-We found it in my father-in-law's greenhouse.

-In the greenhouse?

-Yes.

-What was it doing there?

-It was just there. I thought it looked a bit old.

Yes. Well, it is VERY old. Over 400 years old.

This is a very unusual example to get on the Roadshow

because it's a piece of Italian maiolica.

It's a tazza.

That means it's taken after a silver-shaped dish

for probably supporting wine glasses or something on it.

And this is a special type developed in the 16C, from around 1550.

We always think that this stuff, maiolica, is white.

But this developed from a very dull background. You can see this colour, how the white has gone over it.

That's because they developed this new white glaze "bianco di faenza".

They then felt more confident doing designs which were loose and open. You can expose the white body.

So this is relatively white.

What they did in the second half of the 16C was to design it very sparingly

in this style, called "compendiario" in Italian -

meaning sort of shorthand - so that this is a very simplified design with a wonderfully mobile putto,

the putto in the middle here. It's a marvellous little object, very sparing, but quite rare.

This piece... I would value at around £1,000 maybe £1,200.

-Under the hammer, perhaps even more.

-Golly.

THEY LAUGH I didn't even like it!

This is a very attractive child's chair. How long have you had this?

-Well, it's been handed down to me in my family, actually.

-Yes.

My father told me when I was little

that his great-grandfather made it for his father.

That's absolutely wonderful. This is really unusual, to see a chair like this, made out of bobbins.

Even more clever, your great grandfather has reflected that

-in turning the piece of wood along the back here, along the arms, to reflect the bobbins as well.

-Yes.

-And they actually move?

-Yes.

-That's really fantastic.

The other thing that I love as well is that you've got this lovely wear

on the elbows and on the stretchers, here, and on the seat.

and at the other points, this lovely sort of dirt ingrained. Fantastic.

If you saw this in an antique shop... It's the sort of thing people fall in love with.

-..it's got to be worth £400 to £600.

-Really?

-It's fantastic.

-That's a surprise.

-Lovely little chair.

This is a story that could've come straight from a film script.

We have a cloth packet with lots of postcards.

On the outside is a hole, a bullet hole.

Inside, right in the middle of the cards is the bullet. Your father's?

-This belonged to my father...

-What did he tell you about it?

-He told me he had that - I think in a backpack

or maybe a breast pocket - in the First World War. It saved his life.

The bullet stuck in the middle of the cards. That's what I understand.

-He wasn't a fanciful man, your father?

-Definitely not.

-But these aren't English cards, are they?

No, they're not. But whether he collected them... This was in France, you see.

"Souvenir de la guerre." Well, it certainly was a souvenir of the war.

-Yes.

-How old was your father when this happened?

-Um, about 17.

He signed up early, as a lot of young men did and was accepted under-age.

-And they went early too, a lot of them.

-Yes.

-If he hadn't been wearing this, he would have been killed?

-Killed or injured - I don't know.

-And you wouldn't be here? And I wouldn't be listening to this amazing story.

It's a terribly classical style, actually, which really dates back to the mid-17C.

And sort of Girondelle style, with all these little drops hanging down.

Very nice quality diamonds, and they're all 19C cuts -

round, a sort of rectangular one, pear-shaped, cushion cut -

and when we turn it round and look at the back...the gold work's all beautifully done.

This is what makes old jewellery so good and so delightful - the back should be just as good as the front.

Beautifully pierced out and filed out.

It also has this detachable fitting, very common in 18C and 19C jewellery, so it's multi-purpose.

It's got a little loop there that you can hang from a chain or ribbon.

The front, of course, is set in silver,

because that's the only white metal they used to have.

If one were to see that in a fine quality shop now,

it'd be retailing at somewhere about the £15,000 mark.

-That's the value it should be insured for.

-£15,000?

Yes, not a bad little sum.

My husband's father and grandfather were in the navy, both in the Far East.

-But the grandfather was in Yokohama in about 1860-something.

-Yeah.

-But my...his FATHER was there, certainly, about 1900...

-Right.

-..In China, NOT in Japan, as far as I know.

-But he would have gone to Japan, as this is a Japanese piece.

-Well, presumably.

-What's so fantastic for ME... I love Japanese metalwork,

-but to see something like this out of solid silver...

-It's heavy!

-..is quite remark... Exactly!

-Do you know how much it weighs?

-No, I've never weighed it.

-I think it's about 60oz.

And that's pretty hefty, isn't it?

I've loved all the dragons, and the chrysanthemums I think are beautiful.

They're marvellous. The Japanese were fantastic, at chasing metal objects.

The skill of the craftsmanship is fantastic.

A central design of chrysanthemums.

All the stamens of the flowers are picked out in gold.

It's contained by a little key-fret border here.

Then this lovely rim, this lovely side of the dish here,

is beautifully chased with one, two, three dragons, I think, amongst swirling waves.

Some waves are picked up with little drops of gold, too.

So it's a very Japanese design.

It's a rare thing, it's a very impressive object, and I think if that was to come up in auction

-it would certainly make £4,000 to £6,000.

-Indeed? Well, very handsome.

Here's a commission document signed by Queen Victoria here, and her Prime Minister Peel here,

"Appointing Edward White, gentleman, to Solicitor to our First or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards".

Who was this Edward White, gentleman?

He was the father of a friend of the family.

Most... All these documents were given to us by Barbara White.

He was obviously quite important. You've a wonderful collection of letters.

There's a Tennyson letter, an Edward VII letter, and so on and so forth.

It goes on - with virtually every member of the Royal Household.

Yes, from all over the place.

Osborne, the royal yacht, Marlborough House.

Henry Ponsonby, obviously.

He was the controller of the household of... Queen Alexandra, I think.

Chap with a big white beard, I seem to remember.

And then you've got this wonderful ceremony,

"To be Observed at the Funeral of His Late Majesty King Edward VII,

"of Blessed Memory."

-Instructions for...

-I find that the most fascinating document of the lot.

-Do you?

-It tells you what colour the horses must be, what sort of carriage you can ride in.

-Who rode in what!

You've also got a little illustrated birthday book of Shakespeare.

Again, this is all filled in with royalty isn't it? Just absolutely crammed full.

Oh - Victoria Melita. Of course - Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Duke of Edinburgh's daughter,

-she was called "Melita" because... Malta.

-Right.

-He was based in Malta.

She later married - secondly, I think -

into the Russian royal family.

You've lots of other lovely things, particularly these cabinet photographs.

There's a wonderful one of Queen Victoria with her grandchildren.

Edward Landseer... Queen Alexandra looking very young and beautiful, when she was Princess of Wales.

There's a pretty one of Queen Victoria almost smiling. Well, that's absolutely lovely.

And Leopold. Leopold, of course, he's very rare - because he died when he was in his 20s,

his early 20s. A haemophiliac, he died in an accident.

The earliest of Queen Victoria's children to die.

-Louise, Duchess of Fife. They really are a wonder... Oh!

-Super, isn't it?

-Prince Alfred. About the best I've ever seen of him.

-Well-posed.

-Very!

For a decent cabinet photograph,

you're talking anything from £50 to £200 or £300.

In the case of Leopold, and certainly in the case of Alfred, I would think, certainly that.

There's an awful lot there. These commission documents,

letters from famous people... I've totted it up.

-It's somewhere in the region of about £3,000.

-Well, I'm staggered.

They say the Antiques Roadshow works on several levels. Well, it certainly has today.

Both terraces of Eastnor Castle have been humming with activity(!)

We haven't seen the last of Eastnor. We shall be back here next week

with the inside story of the castle itself.

Thank you to the people and to the countryside of Herefordshire.

Goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd