Eston Antiques Roadshow

A view to thrill any student of British commerce -

the mouth of the mighty River Tees.

On its banks stand some of Europe's most important industrial complexes.

150 years ago, the fortunes of South Teesside were given a colossal boost

when two entrepreneurs discovered ironstone in the hills of Eston. Their timing was perfect.

The ironworks in Middlesbrough had run out of accessible material.

The Eston hills yielded 63 million tons of ore over the next 100 years,

so industry in the region was able to prosper.

On the other side of Eston developed the Wilton Chemical Plant.

This extraordinary place is no slumbering giant.

Wilton never sleeps. Work goes on day and night -

and it's just one of the massive industrial sites in the area.

Now, Middlesbrough is one of the region's biggest commercial centres,

with an impressive premier football stadium and a startling piece of street sculpture.

In the Civic Centre is this creation by Claes Oldenburg.

Its relevance is that it reproduces the handwriting of a local hero -

the illustrious Captain Cook.

James Cook, sailor and explorer, was born in a farm-labourer's cottage a few miles from Eston.

As a boy, he would've seen the tall ships on the Tees -

inspiring him to join the navy

and see more of the world than any man before him. North America, New Zealand, the Pacific islands.

He discovered exotic plants and creatures, and wonderful artefacts.

In 1779, Cook got on the wrong side of the natives in Hawaii, and died at the age of 51. But what a legacy.

He changed the map of the world.

His interest in science and medicine improved the quality of life aboard the ships of the Royal Navy.

Eston houses the Civic Offices of the Borough of Redcar and Cleveland,

and, on a suitably grand scale, the new Eston Sports Academy is host to this week's Antiques Roadshow.

Join the experts and start our voyage of discovery.

-It belonged to my grandma. She had a shop in Halifax in, probably, the 1920s.

-Right.

Whether she had it on display there, or bought it then, I don't know.

Well, I can tell you it dates from a bit earlier, around 1900-1905.

Stylistically this is Art Nouveau - in every sense.

You've got this very organic look,

you've got this sort of tendril... stalk handle

with a whiplash-type piercing here, and also,

if you look, piercing on the stopper as well.

I want to turn it over...

and look for a tiny, tiny mark.

Where is it, Eric...? Oh, there it is.

-Blink and you'd miss it, wouldn't you?

-Yes, I see. On the foot.

OK, well, in there is a little lozenge, and...

You can hardly see it. There's a little stork in the middle.

The initials have worn in the other stamp marks.

It would've said WMF. WMF being the Wurttembergische Metalwaren Fabrik.

So, yes, - and I failed German O-level - it's incredible, isn't it?

This is one of their better sellers of that period.

Anyway...the actual piece itself is the sort of thing that would have been made in quantity.

This was a very popular shape. It's nice you've got it in green glass.

You can sometimes find them in red. Red IS a bit more desirable.

In terms of desirability, converting that into money, you're looking at a claret jug worth about £800.

-My word!

-Even £900 on a good day.

Well, I obtained it in the mid-'70s from a flooring company sales rep,

-as a means of selling their product literature, in a way. And nobody seemed to like it at the time.

-Right.

-I quite took a fancy to it and hung on to it.

-So you took it home?

-That's right, took it home eventually.

-You gave it a new life.

-Right.

-So...

-did you know what it was, apart from a catalogue?

-Not really. A few years later, my daughter took an interest.

she's on the arty side, and she said, "Did you know it was by Paolozzi?" I hadn't really gone into it.

-I couldn't find out much more about it other than what was within it.

-OK.

Eduardo Paolozzi - now Sir Eduardo Paolozzi - is one of the, I suppose, leading British sculptors today.

-Despite his name, he's Scottish. You know it's an elephant?

-Yes.

This elephant was one of the things that he made as a commission.

Nairn Flooring, manufacturers of floor tiles and things like that, came up with this bizarre idea

of a Paolozzi sculpture to transmit their catalogue information.

If we take the top off - a slight struggle - we find, inside,

there are indeed brochures, so it's a very elaborate brochure holder.

Here's one which is about Paolozzi and about the making of the object.

-and here is a - you know - a typical flooring catalogue.

-That's right.

One imagines they went to architects and building companies all over.

He's very much an architectural sculptor - cubic form, structure, blocking.

One thinks of Cubism but, more important, the styles of the '60s -

Brutalist architecture, the ultimate sort of international modern style, London's South Bank development -

plain concrete in block-like forms -

1960s philosophy in architecture. Paolozzi's sculpture often represents that and reflects it.

He creates forms essentially architectural rather than sculptural.

I think it is a wonderful object. I'm so delighted to see one. I knew it existed. I've never handled one.

-Yes.

-It was an edition of 3,000. It's a multiple, a limited edition, all those phrases. You live with it?

-In my study. The wife doesn't like it.

-No?

-She thinks it collects dust.

-All the corners?

-Yes.

-It's your job to keep it clean?

-Yes.

I should say, it's made of a plastic material, deliberately made of a material relating to Nairn Flooring,

so they had the challenge of casting this complicated shape from a mould, a typical way for Paolozzi to work.

He works in stone and bronze, but he enjoys using industrial materials.

People will say "1973? Certainly not an antique, just a second-hand object." Fair enough,

but we are dealing with the recent past as well as the distant past. We need to look at things like this.

It is, like it or not, a major work of British 20th century art. £2,000 or £3,000.

Good grief! I wouldn't have thought that much.

-I think you will. You'd better start dusting it more carefully. Perhaps your wife will like it now!

-Maybe.

The early Dandy and Beanos are worth quite a lot of money.

-The problem with these is they're a bit on the modern side.

-Yes.

I think you've got them here from 1994, 1997 and these are really just going to be worth 10p.

-Yeah.

-The thing to do is to look out for the Dandy and Beanos from the 19...

-There's just one old one,

-Is there? A very old one?

-It's the, er...

-I did have one.

-Let's have a look. Just flick through here...

There's one from 1989, one from 1990 but they're still much too modern.

-They need to be before the Second World War in order to be interesting to collectors.

-Yes.

Look at that. Wonderful, isn't it?

Have you actually ever used this radio?

I've never... Well, I've plugged it in. You can get a sound from it,

but you can't hear the words properly - it's very crackly.

It must be 1950s, mustn't it? You've got the Third Programme, the Home,

the North, the Light Programme. This was probably in use about the time that I did my first radio broadcast.

-The crackling you heard was probably me.

-Could've been.

-Back in the '50s.

-Are you familiar with the technique?

-No, I don't know anything about it.

It's Boulle work, a technique of - rather like cutting out a jigsaw - inlaying brass into tortoiseshell.

The way they did it was they made a sandwich, a packet,

which has the tortoiseshell and the brass and the pattern - rather like paper, like marquetry -

then you saw through both parts and end up with the male and the female.

Where the hole is cut in one, you can set the other piece in. This is a very late example.

The technique was invented by Andre Charles Boulle in the 17C,

remaining popular ever afterwards. In France they made them right up to the beginning of the century.

A wonderfully decorative clock, but there's probably more interesting information to give about the watch.

That was my great-grandfather's, but we don't know anything else about it.

It has a threaded-on back, which is maybe why you never got inside it.

In fact it's signed with the famous Rolex name.

"Rolex" is signed on the actual train wheels, the winding wheels...

And in the back of the case...

in miniscule writing,

is not only the hallmark date - because it was imported - which is 1919,

but also the W&D mark, which is Wilsdorf and Davis.

Wilsdorf and Davis were the first partners in Rolex before it became Rolex Corporation.

It's a very rare model, believe it or not.

The other interesting feature is the black and white dial - a rarity.

1919 is a perfect date for it

because, in the war, watches were made with black dials to prevent reflection - in the trenches...

Light reflecting. The numbers are white, the seconds dial is white, and the face black.

Originally it was luminous. You can see traces of green, luminous paint,

-which, by the way, caused a lot of people to die.

-Really?

-The ladies who'd paint the luminous paint on

used to lick the end of the very, very fine brush on their tongue,

-pick up what was then radioactive material - it's not now - causing cancer. Nobody understood it.

-Oh!

If you had to choose, which piece would you think is most valuable?

-You mentioned Rolex, so I'd assume it's possibly worth something, I don't know.

-Well, you're right.

This very decorative clock is worth

perhaps in the order of £1,500 to £2,000 because it is a late example.

-But I think this is sufficiently rare and early to probably be worth between £2,000 and £3,000.

-Oh!

-Well, my father was working in Sunderland in the 1950s.

-Right.

One night, as he came home it was raining. He missed the tram.

He went into a second-hand shop just to keep dry, and found this. Mother tells me he purchased it for 5/-.

-Five shillings.

-Yes.

-Goodness me!

Charming picture, well-produced, by Wilson Hepple.

-Probably painted in the Newcastle area, around 1910-1920.

-Ah, right.

He was a founder member of the Bewick Club in Newcastle,

and exhibited many pictures there, during his lifetime.

He lived a long life, from the 1850s to, I think, 1937 or thereabouts.

He's also known for painting not only kitten pictures - for which he's probably most noted -

but also horse pictures, hunting scenes...

But here he is. Shown here, he's at his absolute best, I think,

it's a nice size, compact.

It says everything.

-Value today - around £5,000.

-Oh, my God!

-Maybe on a good day, a bit more.

Sure, right... Good grief.

I worked for an old gentleman for 20 years as housekeeper.

-I've dusted them every week for 20 years.

-And now they've come to you?

-Yes. I think they're foreign.

-Right.

-Heavy.

-A very proud bird, isn't he?

-Beautiful.

-What we call a fancy bird.

-Oh, yes?

-Very distinctive.

-Any marks on it?

-There's a crown.

Right, and some letters underneath - that's what I was hoping to see. You've got little letters - FBB.

-Flight, Barr and Barr. Not foreign but Worcester.

-Oh!

-A great Worcester factory.

-Yes.

-So we're looking at 1825.

-Goodness me!

-They're in jolly good shape.

I thought Worcester stamped a mark on.

-Often you get clear, printed marks.

-Yes.

-Sometimes just that tiny mark.

-Hard to see.

-Yes.

-But enough to tell they're Worcester, from a great fruit service,

painted...possibly by George Davis.

He specialised in "fancy birds", these incredible colours and lovely backgrounds. The Malvern Hills.

That's rural Worcestershire, not foreign. But French-influenced.

The quality - wonderful.

They're in such good condition they're going to be quite expensive.

I would have thought we're looking at a nice pair around £800.

-Very nice!

-Go on dusting and keeping them looking as good as that.

-I will, I won't part with them.

-It started at a fiver.

-Yeah.

-Went to £10...

-went to 12.

-Serious competition!

And 14. I was reminded by the chap in charge I was bidding against myself!

-It's a common mistake. We've all done it.

-Yes. Bidding like mad! But I got it for £12.

-A local sale?

-Yes.

Right. We should reveal that it is actually a chair! It's an amazing object, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-What do you feel about it?

-I don't know - it just has a certain sort of charm, if it's the word.

-Funky's the word, I suppose.

-It's all those things.

-Yes, got everything.

-It shrieks, literally, '60s at you.

Incredible colours, so dynamic and vibrant.

It's part of a whole production idea in the 1960s of making furniture out of other materials.

-None of this old wood stuff.

-No.

-Cardboard, plastics,

fibreglass. Anything that was new and dynamic was the thing to do.

This is fibreglass. It came out of a whole generation of fibreglass furniture at that time,

starting in the mid-'60s. It suddenly emerges.

These rounded shapes were naturally what you could cast in fibreglass.

-1968 is when it was first produced.

-OK.

-It's by a German designer, but of course it was sold very widely.

-You didn't have to go to Germany. I can tell you his name, but can't pronounce it.

-Right.

I've seen it written, but never found anybody who can pronounce it.

-It is Peter G-H-Y-C-Z-Y.

-Ri-ight.

-So I challenge you to say it.

-No!

-I'm afraid I'm bound to be wrong.

He's a German of Polish extraction, well-known designer of this period.

-This is his great work of art, if you like.

-Yeah.

He called it the "garden egg chair". The idea was that because you can shut it - it's waterproof -

it can live outdoors or come in.

It was all to do with bringing the garden into the house, the house in the garden - informal, open living,

very much part of the 1960s. Value is dependent upon the colour. This is good.

-The more vibrant and aggressive, the more popular.

-OK.

-Also, condition.

The original fabric is there but it's a bit snagged.

A nylon, and obviously wear and tear will affect it.

£500 probably is about the starting point. A really good immaculate one has been sold for £1,000

and if ever there was an antique for the future, here it is.

-Oh, great! Thanks very much.

-Thank you!

-Cheers!

Kirkleatham Old Hall Museum near Redcar - the local history museum for the area. We've a large collection

-of ironstone mining material from the Eston area.

-So 63 million tons of ironstone dug from the Eston Hills,

-over 100 years. This is part of it?

-A tourism use of the stone.

These were carved as souvenirs for sale to tourists - and local people.

It spawned a mini-industry. Gentlemen used to get a lump of this ironstone

and carve books, bibles, memorials, monuments, war memorials and even churches.

We've even got a selection of models

of ironstone miners' tools. Pickaxes, shovels, that kind of thing.

Is it all used up now? Any chance of digging out some for my own carving?

It's dangerous to go down into the drift entrances. Some are sealed.

But there's a huge pile of debris at the bottom of one of the inclines.

You can pick up a bit, yes - free.

-I've got two watercolours...

-Yes.

-..found in the bottom of a drawer

which belonged to my mother-in-law.

She died about six years ago. These were underneath the drawer-lining.

-You'd never seen them?

-No. Knew nothing of them.

-I believe they could've been painted in Northumberland.

-Why's that?

Well, my mother-in-law lived in Newcastle.

She worked in service, and the lady she worked for, I think, was...

-lived in Northumberland.

-Right, so she was probably given these as a little present?

Well, I've no idea actually, none at all.

Well, you hit the spot, in a way - that's why I said, "Why Northumberland?"

-Because do they look Northumberland?

-They do, yes.

-This house...feels Northumbrian to you?

-Yes.

-That's interesting.

-They are by a man called James Burrell Smith, born in Alnwick.

-Oh.

-"Annick", right?

-Yes.

And...until 1854 he lived up here.

After that, he went to London

and he started a very successful school of watercolour painting

-in Bond Street in London.

-Oh.

In fact, when he was up here, he studied under an artist called Thomas Miles Richardson.

-And, his whole life, he painted in that style.

-They are watercolour?

-They are original watercolours.

-Yes.

-And this is the GOOD quality watercolour paper.

Look, "Ingram". They were trying to read it. In pretty good condition.

There is some staining, but a light clean should bring that out - by a professional watercolour cleaner.

They are a terrific pair. What a nice pair! Let's pop that up here.

What a lovely pair of local views.

-I think sort of £3,000 to £4,000 the pair. Not bad from the bottom of the drawer, really.

-Not bad at all!

It's a lot more than I thought it'd be.

We've had them about 16 months. We got them from a small antique shop

sort of as a joint Christmas present, really.

For me they suggest a kind of..."Reformed Gothic",

I suppose, it's often called. There was a Gothic revival in the 18 C, but it's very pretty and frilly.

These are much more solid and, interestingly, have a slightly Regency feeling to them

with this broad, yoke back. Even the front legs and the front seat rail

could be of the sort of William IV period, the 1830s, for instance,

but you've got this extra detailing, particularly the quatrefoil here,

-this dark wood set into the splat.

-What type of wood do you think it is?

-The chairs are oak, are they?

-The chairs are oak. This is probably an ebonised wood. It could be ebony,

but it's probably an ebonised wood like pearwood, something like that.

-Have you done anything to the upholstery?

-No. They are as we got them.

-They may have been re-covered.

-We did wonder whether they had been.

-Yes, I think they may have been at some stage, but almost certainly,

-this has been kept from the original upholstery.

-Like little studs.

Like little decorative heads of the nails holding up the upholstery.

I'm sure they would've been leather or horsehair originally. They almost have the feeling of a town hall,

a very grand municipal interior, to them - or a dining room.

Dining rooms were often done in the Gothic style in the 19 C. It was thought to be an appropriate style.

-Great fun. There's a tiny black bobble on the top of this finial.

-It's the only one that has it.

-The only one that's left.

-Yes, and the only one when we bought them that had the bobble on.

-Obviously, they must've been knocked off.

-Well, it's lovely that there's at least one surviving

-as a pattern for all the rest.

-What date would you...?

-I think 1850-1860,

so after the building of the new Houses of Parliament by Pugin and Barry,

in the 1830s and 1840s.

And in the style of an architect LIKE Waterhouse. I couldn't be sure.

If we could just track down their specific design or location...

-Yes.

-..then that would increase the value quite considerably.

-Can I ask what you paid for them?

-Roughly, was about £500 for the six.

-£500 the six.

-I'm not sure of the exact amount, no.

-Right.

-Round about there somewhere.

Um, well, I think you've done extremely well.

-Right.

-And I think as they stand...

in the right place, you might be able to get £1,800 to £2,000...

-Lovely!

-..sale price for the set. If you could attach the designer's name

-then it could be substantially more.

-Fine.

-It sits at the top of the landing on a plant stand with artificial flowers coming out.

-Artificial?

-Yes.

-You're doing the right thing,

because it IS actually a toad flower pot. Any idea where it originated?

-No idea at all.

-It's Chinese.

-Is it?

And Chinese for toad - or frog - is "waa".

It's the noise they make, "waa".

And he really is a very fine waa,

look at that, he's got a beautiful pink chest, sweet little arms,

but the thing I love is the skin. It's really tactile isn't it?

-You could grate a carrot on this.

-Yes!

If you look at it really closely, all of these little bobbles have been put on very carefully indeed.

-They follow lines, don't they? They're not randomly put on.

-No.

Beautiful lines.

There's a lot of care taken - makes a lovely noise - and then round the legs. Beautifully done, up and down.

Then these beautiful bulging eyes.

I'm going to try to date it by these.

Arthur Negus had a thing about porcelain figures - if it had brown eyes it was 18 C,

blue, later than 18 C. Frogs are not quite the same. Gilding's the clue.

This colour of gilding takes us to around the 1800-1820 period.

The Chinese emperor reigning at the time was called Chia Ch'ing,

and I'm sure this is from the Chia Ch'ing period.

Chinese frogs go back much further,

because in China, frogs are lucky. Has he brought you good luck?

-Well, we haven't been UNlucky.

-Not UNlucky?

-No, not particularly lucky either!

-So he's biding his time?

-He must be, yes.

Let's see, is he in good condition?

-No.

-No, he's got a chip.

-More than a chip - a massive chunk out.

-Perky for all that. Do you have him insured?

-Just the house insurance.

-If he vanished, you wouldn't know what to claim.

-No.

-What WOULD you claim?

-I've no idea.

-Anything?

-£1,000?

-Yes. About that.

-£1,000. Very good! That's what he's worth.

-£1,000 to £1,500.

-Right. Good!

-£1,000 to £1,500 - a lucky toad!

-He is, isn't he? Lovely... What is he made of then?

-He's made of porcelain.

-IS it porcelain?

-It is.

-Oh, I thought it was cementy stuff.

-Cementy stuff?!

Now this is a box that tells a story. "This belongs to Walter".

-Are you by any chance Walter?

-I am indeed, yes, yes.

-You are responsible for this little graffiti.

-I was responsible, yes.

-A very nice submarine here.

This was purchased when and where?

Purchased at a toy shop, Nelsons. It was a big toy shop in Middlesbrough.

It's no longer there, now.

It probably... Maybe I would be...

60 years ago probably, when I bought it. But I can't put a precise date on it.

Not wishing to date you too precisely, that'd be the late '30s?

-In the late '30s. The late '30s, yes.

-It's in VERY good condition.

-Yes. It was used extensively as well.

-I can't believe it.

-Oh, it was, yes.

-And it went back in its box - with the instructions?

-Yes, sure did.

-Do you know, you're my kind of child!

Why aren't there more children like you around?

-That's very nice. In this condition, very nearly mint...

-Yes.

..I would have said we're talking about perhaps £100 - £150.

-That is a lovely item.

-Yes.

Now... I like this!

-This aircraft here. We can just see it in the box.

-Yes.

-It's almost hangared here, isn't it?

It's got its wings on. They are very flimsy. They're just made of paper.

-The body's made of aluminium.

-Yeah.

-It's got a holder for the propeller.

-Yes.

-And we take that up, wind it up.

-Wind it to the left.

-To the left...

There, that primes it, and off it goes. Do you know what "FROG" means?

-Er...

-Flies Right Off the Ground.

-Does it?

Well, you've taught me something!

Well, I'm pleased about that.

-That was their abbreviation for this lovely slogan - Flies Right Off the Ground - a FROG aeroplane.

-Yes.

-You'd have been older when you got that?

-Oh, yes, I'd think 12, possibly.

-It's flimsier. It needed a careful hand.

-You have to know a little about the mechanism to operate it.

-Exactly. Was this bought at Nelsons?

-No. This was bought at another quite famous shop in Middlesbrough,

R Scupham & Son, which was really the sort of Aladdin's Cave toy shop.

-Was it?

-They had all the marvellous Hornby trains and Meccano sets and things like this.

-It was a top-notch shop.

-A boy's delight?

-A boy's Aladdin's Cave.

-Oh, yes.

-So that's where the pocket money went.

It did, yes, and that again - I can't tell you how much it was,

but that would be quite expensive, at the time, relatively speaking.

-Of course. A lot of work went into this.

-Yeah.

-They were good flyers but, sadly, they were so fragile.

-Flimsy - indeed!

-They didn't stand many crashes, I'd have thought.

-No. Those wheels are actually replacements.

-Oh, it had a bit of a heavy landing?

-The first set did smash.

-Oh, dear.

-Very fragile.

-Some FROG aircraft are more desirable than others.

-Quite.

-The Hawker Hart and the Hawker Hind

-are particularly desirable.

-Oh, yes.

But there are collectors for all, particularly in this good condition.

-Yes.

-This, we're talking about £300, £400.

-Right, thank you.

-And another reasonable investment!

-Yes, quite.

-How many pairs of shoes have you got?

-Only about 20.

-But all old?

-Good morning.

-No, just...

-Excuse me interrupting.

-Aren't they fabulous?

-These are lovely.

-Look at these... Well, not emeralds, emerald-like.

-A most wonderful thing!

-Are they dancing shoes?

-They COULD be. Do you dance in them?

-No, it might ruin them.

-Yes, the stresses would be on them.

-I wear them at home if we've friends round.

-I think it's evening shoes.

Because the combination of greens and golds and sparkly elements you'd need to see in artificial light,

-glittering in the evening.

-Did you buy these yourself?

-I got them in a sale. It says "Saks of 5th Avenue".

And I imagined they'd danced across the Atlantic on a ship. Someone went to New York and got them.

-They're 1950s, we've established.

-Yes.

-You can imagine them on the Normandy or on the Queen Elizabeth -

-the band playing.

-Absolutely.

-I can imagine them on a film set. They look as if they've been in a movie -

the Red Shoes, only the wrong colour. A bit like the Wizard of Oz shoes. They've that look about them.

-Real showbiz.

-Yes. You can't see any stitching on the ribbon.

-They're beautifully made. Value's difficult.

-You paid £12... You wear and enjoy them.

-Yes.

-Classic shoes in this condition would be £50, £80, £100 -

to the right collector. But they're not going to want you to wear them.

-No. I'd rather wear them.

-May as well enjoy them.

-Can you get them in a 9?

-You might.

-Would they suit you?

-You never know. At home, of course.

-In privacy.

-He's fairly crude, isn't he?

-Oh, yes.

-There is no question that he's a mechanical man, a robot.

-We've got on the side, here, a little bit of writing which says "Robot 'Lilliput' ".

-Lilliput, yeah.

The same on the back.

And then on the side here,

where the key is - if we lift that up - we can see that there's a little trademark here. Yes.

-That's right, yes.

-The remarkable thing is that he's a robot at all.

-We associate "robot" with sci-fi, with space travel and so on.

-Yes.

Of course, in the late '30s, early '40s there WAS no space travel.

-The first Sputnik was what, 1957?

-Yes.

-So...

-We had not put anything into space.

-No.

-There were influences though.

-Yes.

-For instance, if you think back to Charlie Chaplin's film...

-Metropolis, the Fritz Lang film, the poster of that was very futuristic.

-Yes.

-It had mechanical people

that could look like robots.

What we're looking at here, in fact, is the first ever commercially-produced robot.

-Does he work?

-Very much so.

-Ooh, give him a go.

-Shall I?

Let's get him to strut his stuff!

LOUD RATCHETING

-Sounds very strong, the motor!

-Yes, he is.

-There's a start-stop control on the back there...

So we'll give that...

Now, how did he fit in with the rest of your toys? Because he must have looked like, you know, an invader!

I suppose, in those days... Boys had soldiers, forts, things like that.

-Yes.

-And to build up a fort out of, say, dominoes

and put soldiers inside, then have this fellow charge the dominoes,

-which would collapse and knock the soldiers over - that was great.

-So he was the secret weapon?

-Yes.

-He was the secret weapon, yes, quite!

-He was made in Japan. The Japanese,

at that time, in the 1920s and '30s, had an infant toy industry,

which produced fairly idiosyncratic toys, but usually with very good quality lithography on the tin,

which this has. I wish I could tell you who the trademark represents.

There is a lot of research, now, going into early Japanese makers, but I can't tell you who that is.

-Oh. No.

-What I can tell you is that he is a great rarity.

-Yes?

-And I have to ask you where the box is.

-I'm afraid I can't tell you. It...

-We're surrounded by beautifully boxed toys. Where is it?

-No, sorry, I don't know.

-Right. It's gone into the ether.

-Into the ether.

This is a valuable piece. In a specialised auction - it'd have to be to attract international buyers -

we'd be talking about between £1,500 and £2,000.

-Oh!

-Which is...

-Right. Very good!

-Now I'm going to make you feel sick as a parrot.

-Yes.

-Because had you got that box...

-The box.

-One in a box, a couple of years back, sold for £4,500.

-That box...

-Ah, yes, quite.

-Could have made the difference of £2,000.

-Mmm, yes.

-Go and have another look in the loft, see if it's there.

-I will, but I don't think it is.

-Thank you for sharing your childhood memories with us, lovely!

-Thank you!

-We were given it as a wedding present 17 years ago by an old lady, a friend of the family.

-This is great fun!

-It is.

-Because what it does is to break up...

You can have a go as well - I'm not going to have all the pleasure of this.

..into...

a complete dinner set.

-And it's such a clever idea that you can go on...!

-That's right.

-Is it a nightmare to get together again?

-It is, yes. All the parts are actually numbered discreetly.

Oh, they are? We've got on here the mark, Villeroy and Boch - very well-known makers,

founded in the 19th C, still going, still making good-quality wares.

The market actually loves the really well-designed pieces from the '50s and '60s.

They're moving up.

I've been collecting '50s things for a long time. I think they've great potential. And moving into the '70s,

I'm sure that is to come. But THIS one is already there.

You'll find this regularly in the major auction houses in their modern design catalogues,

A really nice thing. It was a very good wedding present, probably the best wedding present you had.

-We've never used it, by the way.

-Well, it is an "object". It doesn't need to be used. Hang onto it,

-cos it's going to do THAT in price. Now, we're looking around £300 to £500.

-Really?

Believe it or not, I help at church choir jumble sales, and while we were clearing up at the end, last autumn,

a mucky old envelope was going to get thrown out and one of these bits fell out so I rescued it, took it home,

and was just gobsmacked when I opened all these envelopes and another and another...

-All in little envelopes...

-So these are the individual envelopes?

-Yes.

-And each had what, four or five or six pieces in?

-There's an inventory of what there is in each packet.

-This is a list of the jewellery itself.

-Uh-huh.

-And... Oh, I see.

It's got package numbers, and then in each package you find each of these little bits of pendants.

-Isn't it splendid?

-It's absolutely exquisite.

-Isn't it amazing?

-Yes.

-Because it's all craft jewellery, really.

-Oh.

-And it was moving away to that "Aesthetics" taste

that was very popular in this country, particularly from around about 1900 to 1910.

Looking at all these, it's difficult to say who actually made them,

-but I think it is a workshop group.

-Oh.

-Made by one person,

because they're very, very similar in design, and they are all brightly coloured enamel-work.

You can see here... You know the old saying "Blue and green, never seen".

This shows how beautiful blue and green can be together.

All these translucent colours. The trouble is the condition.

So many of these individual pieces are chipped, and once that happens there's nothing you can do about it.

Once it goes, it goes. You've got two peacocks,

one with a Mississippi pearl drop suspended off the bottom - these very long, blister pearls -

Mississippi pearls. This is a piece of Ruskin style pottery, here.

-All these enamel plaques, the backs of them are quite crude.

-Yes.

-The counter-colour on the back, you see, is not as pretty as the work on the front.

-Mmm.

-I'd like to sit down

and work out which sections go together, so we could make up formal necklaces, bracelets and pendants.

Now we move on to the one I really like,

this is...this necklace.

-What was your immediate reaction? Did you think it was rather different?

-It looked enamelled too.

I assumed it was a bought setting.

-I thought it rather cheap and tawdry, myself!

-Well, the style of setting -

a gold frame like that with scrolls - IS very much of the period 1900, 1910.

But the reason I like this is this very, very...

almost like a GHOSTLY picture

of a girl with long, red tresses. Very Pre-Raphaelite looking.

-Yes.

-Very much like Rossetti. She's mounted up in a gold frame

with a very pretty, small amethyst drop at the bottom.

Then again these little blister/Mississippi pearls.

And then you've got these enamel discs - very much the trademark.

You'll see all these discs have got the same kind of colours, really.

I don't know who this is by, but it's very much the manner of Cromar Watt, who used to make jewellery

in this very fine, wistful look - with these discs.

The next question is how do you put a value on such a wide-ranging group of pieces? It's quite difficult

because, until we start to make it up, it's difficult to see what we've got.

My feeling is this, that I think if you were to mount these peacocks by themselves, on chains,

they're so decorative and so collectable, they themselves would probably be worth £250 per pendant,

maybe even £300. That means that if you think about all the rest of them

made up into mounted-up jewellery,

you could be talking about - I don't know - £1,000, £1,500.

But this one, with the enamel face of this girl,

this nymph in this dreamy setting,

I think that's lovely!

I think that, by itself, would make in the region of £700 to £800.

So from a situation where a jumble sale package... Where a pendant sort of accidentally falls out...

-Yes.

-I think we must be talking in the region of £2,000, here.

I think our choirmaster is going to be quite pleasantly surprised!

We've done a bit of time travel today.

Among the elegant reminders of the past there's been a strong showing from the 20 C - the cherished toys

and wireless sets, antiques of the future. It was good to see ironstone sculptures from the hills of Eston,

where we started. From Eston Sports Academy, until next week, goodbye.

Subtitles by E Kane BBC Scotland - 2001