Barnstaple Antiques Roadshow

Today, we're in North Devon, in the ancient market town of Barnstaple.

Market towns had a habit of springing up around a river. Barnstaple's river is the Taw.

It has been improved once or twice, but there's been a crossing here for the past 800 years.

Barnstaple is the oldest borough in England, and in Saxon times was allowed to mint its own coins.

If only old age brought everyone that privilege!

By a useful quirk of geography, the town was a busy port as well.

Ships sailed from here to help sort out the Spanish Armada,

then trade with the Americas - wool and tobacco - made the town rich.

Some wealthy merchants turned to philanthropy

and, as a testament to their generosity, there are three groups of 17th-century almshouses.

And there's another kind of generosity on display in the Guildhall. This is the Benson bowl.

It was donated in 1745 by Thomas Benson who was campaigning to become an MP.

Now, young Thomas had the contract to transport convicts out of the country, presumably to the Colonies,

but he only took them as far as Lundy, 12 miles off the Devon coast.

He was prosecuted, but he claimed he'd only said he'd take them out of England, so he got away with it.

The people of Barnstaple claimed that Mr Benson was from Bideford,

but the silver stays in Barnstaple.

Barnstaple has held on to unusual features like Butchers' Row -

a parade of open-fronted shops still occupied by bakers, fishmongers and...butchers.

This is the Pannier Market - so called because horses and donkeys used to bring in the goods.

Today's the day for traditional produce, and many stallholders are themselves part of the tradition.

-..Hello.

-Hello.

-Did you make all this?

-Yes. Me and my daughter make them.

-Great. I must take a few scones.

Thank you very much.

Today's Roadshow is in the same leisure centre that we visited 14 years ago, and that was a good day.

Our experts are ready to appraise the treasures in store this time.

It certainly makes life easier when they write it all out on the back.

My interest in enamel is in the way it's been made over the years,

and I think it's interesting to look at the back of this.

So you have a thin sheet of copper,

enamelled on both sides so that it doesn't spring or bow,

and when you turn it round...

It's just wonderful, isn't it? When you think this has been into a fire, 10, 15, 20 times.

-Yes.

-To build up this extraordinary luminescence on the skin,

it goes back into the fire, and if you get it wrong,

-bang - start again, throw it away.

-It's an incredible skill.

-This is quite a big enamel.

It's a big miniature for this particular artist.

You can see small flaws in the surface. They're small dust marks -

not on her face or body, but up here in the drapery,

and they accepted that. You couldn't scrap it because of small flaws.

But just getting on the large size to keep the really good quality.

But all the details are on the back.

"Lady Georgiana Charlotte Quin, third daughter of George John Earl Spencer KG."

-Is that the famous Georgiana?

-No.

-It's not.

-To the best of my knowledge, it's her sister and I'm pretty well certain it is.

The other...Georgiana was married to the Duke of Devonshire.

-This one married into the Quins.

-Yes.

Born 1794, died 1823, which is a tragedy, isn't it?

-It's only 30 years.

-Yes.

-Of course, it is the family of Princess Diana as well.

-Of course.

"London, August 1833,"

which means this is a portrait that was a memento mori - it was done 10 years after she died,

-in memory.

-Yes.

-"Painted by Henry Pierce Bone, enamel painter

"to Her Majesty and their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria,

"from a miniature by George Hayter."

Looking in the records, we see that a number of miniatures were done by Bone for the Spencer family.

Wonderful.

-It's made my day, because I'm fascinated by enamels.

-Thank you.

If it's insured for anything less than £10,000, then you should put it up, in my opinion.

Ah. Jolly good.

That's very nice to hear because I paid eight for it.

-I bought it 40 years ago.

-Mm.

And I was told...

that it was made by the chaps in Shapland and Petter's as a wedding present for one of their colleagues.

-Right, do you know when it was made?

-I would say...

it's between 70 and 80 years old.

-Right, so 1920?

-Yes, yes.

-Well, let's look at this piece. It's typical of the Art Nouveau period, very plain, very restrained.

-Yes.

I really love the wood.

-Yes.

-When you think of these trees - grew for 100-200 years.

-Spanish oak.

-Spanish oak?

-Spanish oak.

-Why Spanish oak?

-Because English oak is darker.

-Dangerous ground there,

but interesting. What is nice about it is the way it's been cut to show the medullary rays.

When you get that, it means that it's somebody who is spending money.

The idea of cutting the wood like that is to make it more decorative

at a time when decoration is all important.

This Art Nouveau decoration you can see on any cabinet for Liberty's.

Liberty's of London. You've got a nicely made drawer, it's very solid,

-no sparing the wood there.

-Oh, no, there was no sparing the wood.

Big dovetails, but still handmade. The planing would have been done by machine.

-Yes.

-But what is nice...

is that when you open it up, you can just see - I can only just make it out -

-"S&P" - Shapland and Petter...

-Yes.

-"B" for Barnstaple.

-Mm.

-The local interest is fascinating.

-Yes.

I wonder how many people will look at the locks on their cabinets, after seeing this,

because I bet they all thought it was a lockmaker's name.

-Yes. I can remember when they were still making furniture.

-When was that until, then?

How far can we go back?!

Until the war, when it became a shirt factory.

-Right. Because I believe they were working from about 1890.

-Oh, yes.

-Up until just before the Second War, something like that.

-Yes, yes.

-I like the fact it hasn't moved far. It's got lots of quality features, expensively made.

-Yes.

Probably cost a few guineas when it was made, 10 guineas, let's say.

-What did it cost you after the war?

-It's written on the back.

-£9-10s.

-That's what it cost you?

-That's all I paid for it!

-Nine pounds, ten shillings. £9.50.

-Yes.

-Right.

I think today we've got to put a figure of about £2,000 on it.

-Not a bad investment for £9-10s!

-It's a good investment, and local value, who knows?

-Yes.

-It's very interesting.

Er, these pieces were all made by my family, my father's family.

This pot was made by my great, great, great, great-grandfather, George Fishley.

The great old George Fishley.

He had such an influence on potters in later periods, because Bernard Leach and all the others,

they greatly admired his work.

It's so exciting, this piece. What is it? A posset pot or...?

I think so, yes.

So you take the lid off and you serve posset out of it

and it's decorated in this wonderful coloured-in slip.

So a pot like that is the beginning of the Craftsmen Potters movement

-which is now so famous in this country.

-Yes.

-What a super piece.

-What are we looking at? About 1800 in date?

-Yes, yes, early 1800s.

Good heavens. If it was mine I'd be cremated and put into it.

-A good idea!

-Absolutely wonderful. And this is a personal family thing as well.

-Yes.

-It's a copy of one of the great harvest pitchers, I suppose?

-Yes.

This one was made by Edwin Beer Fishley for his daughter's marriage.

-The date of the marriage, is it?

-Yes.

-1892.

And this wonderful inscription - of course, they were geniuses at sgraffito work,

carving into the slip to release the red clay underneath.

These marvellous poems...

It's great. "Success to the farmer,

"the plough and the flail, may the landlord ever flourish and the tenant never fail."

Oh, I think it's absolutely great!

-A super pot...

-A surprise for you.

My heavens! Oh, this is wonderful!

This is Lord Kitchener.

The warships of England. "Ever watchful of the deep, guarding our England while we sleep."

-And this was made in the First World War.

-1917.

-Sir John Jellicoe, 1917.

-Made in Braunton by William Fishley Holland.

-Right.

So here we come - virtually up to date from there, to this, with the sgraffito work.

My golly. You're not probably worried about the values, are you?

I'd just be curious to know. I mean, it will never be... It will always be with us in the family.

These are such personal things,

but eminently collectable now.

This wonderful posset pot - I don't know what that would fetch -

it must be a few thousand pounds.

These are very desirable now.

I was very close to the front of the stage and I just had this scrap of paper and decided to hand it in,

-and managed to get the paper back again with the autographs.

-And did you actually see them sign?

-Or did an assistant take them away and get them signed?

-No, I didn't see them sign it, no.

Right. Well, we'd have to get an autograph specialist to verify that these ARE the signatures.

Because it's quite possible that the assistant didn't go to the Beatles at all, but scrawled them himself.

But they look convincing to me. What do you think?

Well, my son has Paul McCartney's signature on a photograph,

and I have to say that it's very similar to this - whether it's Paul or the same friend doing it for him,

-but that IS familiar.

-And what's this here?

Well, I was a bit naughty. As we were coming up the stairs,

-I decided to pull one of the Beatle's hairs.

-Did you, really?

-I did.

-What a terrible thing to admit.

-Which Beatle?

-I think it was John Lennon, actually.

-Really?

-Yes.

-You were so in love with him

-that you stuck the hair into your autograph album?

-I did.

-Brilliant.

Well, if these signatures are right,

they're quite likely to be worth in the region of £1,000 to £1,500.

Really? Would it be possible for Michael to sign the autograph book?

-Well, it might draw down the value. Or you might like one of these?

-Yes!

-These are little signal cannons.

-Yes.

No doubt fired to ascertain the time of day, or duties, or whatever.

Now, because these little fellows are on here,

they are probably Chinese cannons.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

-So what is the little fellow? Are they dolphins?

-No, they're little dragons.

-Little dragons.

-Now, that is about the smallest howitzer I've ever seen.

-Oh?

-I mean, for the serious business that it has to do.

-Yes.

-It's made of bronze, so therefore, like these, they haven't deteriorated much in the water.

-Yes.

A collector for this type of small cannon barrel would pay something like £200 a barrel.

-Really?

-But the little howitzer - I can see that fitting into a nice cannon and arms collection,

and I believe a collector would be prepared to pay something like £750 or even £1,000 for it.

-Gosh, it's been sitting in the loft for years.

-Really?

-Yes.

-Oh, well.

-You bought it because you liked it?

-Yes, because it's funny.

-Yes, it is.

-Where does that go?

-It goes in here.

-Right.

-And then it stands...

-It stands like so. When it's upright, it's two rats dragging a large bag.

-What did it say in the catalogue description?

-Oh, it said it was a comic piece,

-a Japanese bronze.

-And did they put a date on it?

-Turn of the century.

-Right. Can I ask how much you paid?

-About £1,000.

-About £1,000?

-Just slightly over.

-You like round numbers, do you? We'll talk about value in a minute.

I'm looking for a mark... There's his flattened tail...

Ah, there it is. That's the foundry mark and you'll be pleased to know I haven't the faintest who that is.

-Many people in Japan around the turn of the century, produced this sort of thing.

-Right.

You've got two rats. Now, rats in the West are not particularly well-thought-of creatures.

-You like rats?

-Well, we like the whole thing.

-You like the comedy?

Yeah. The whole set-up.

In Japan, the rat is actually a bringer of good luck, good fortune,

-because rats denote plenty - there are lots of rats around after a good harvest.

-Right.

Well, the ideal colour for a bronze of this type would be darker,

a sort of nutty brown colour, but it's not a complete write-off.

I think that you could get...

£1,500 for it, if you put it back into an auction.

-Oh, really?

-So your rats have brought you good luck after all.

-Thank you.

This is the most fantastic array of sticks. How many have you got?

-Nearly 200.

-Have you really? And it's a lovely cross-section you've got.

I hardly know where to start really, but we'll look at the earliest one,

which is probably about 1700 or 1720, something like that. Lovely malacca shaft

and an ivory terminal with these wonderful bits of silver inlay.

It's really super, isn't it?

-It's a lovely stick, yes.

-Very nice. I would have thought that's worth...

£400 to £600.

Did you buy these recently or...?

-I started collecting them around five years ago and I think I bought that three years ago.

-How much?

-I think it was about £400.

-So about that sort of price.

-Yes.

The sporting interest ones are great. If you're a horse-racing man,

how nice to have a thorn shaft like this

and a very, very beautifully carved and moulded horn mask

with a silver racing bridle on it.

How much did you pay for this one?

-Um, that one, I think about £80.

-£80 only?

-Yes.

-Really?

I would have thought in a racing sale, a sort of themed sale,

it might bring £400 to £600, so I think that's a very good buy.

Novelties like this extraordinary fellow

made up out of a backbone with a steel rod running down the middle,

is just crazy, isn't it? Where did you get this one from?

Um, I think I bought that at a fair. Is it shark or ray, the vertebrae?

I think it might be ray, actually. Difficult to identify, and made probably around 1880 to 1900.

-It's a nice thing, though, isn't it?

-Yes.

-And very, very unusual.

These fellows...that have a multitude of uses are amusing.

That's in beech, with a simulated bit of veining on it,

and the cover - which I might just give you -

encloses a reservoir for ink,

which is sensible when one ties it up with the middle section, which has a pencil in it.

Do you want to hold that one? And then, lo and behold,

underneath is the pen itself,

dip it in the ink pot and have your alfresco writing session,

which is very strange, really,

but good fun. How much was this one?

Oh, only about £30 or £40, I think.

Really? Well, I think you bought terribly well with regard to these sticks.

If you took the sort of auction value for a novelty stick like this,

I would have thought around £200,

so, you know, you really haven't... you haven't overpaid at all.

And, I wonder, do I possibly recognise this one from anywhere?

Yes, that belonged to the Duke of Windsor.

-How much did that cost you?

-£1,700.

£1,700. Well, there we are, a handsome fellow.

-Is that the most expensive?

-Yes.

Oh, it is, yeah. 200 sticks...

I should think an average value of maybe £300 to £400 across the whole collection -

-£60,000 to £80,000.

-Very nice!

-Thank you for bringing them in.

-Thank you.

-Well, I assume this is family?

-Yes, my mother.

-Your mother.

Stanley Cursiter is a special painter from a special country.

Scotland is a special country for art.

It has its own roots

and a painting like this comes out of those roots.

The 18th-century Scottish portrait painters like Raeburn were magnificent. In the 20th century,

we see artists like Stanley Cursiter painting portraits, going back to those 18th-century roots,

really USING his paint and his paintbrush,

really moulding the figure as though he sculpted them.

But this is not any portrait, this is your family, which is wonderful.

-He's our cousin.

-So, did you know him? Stanley Cursiter?

Yes, I met him when I was young.

I think that was a wedding present,

she got it when she got married, he gave her it when she got married.

-And where does this hang in your house?

-It's mine. I gave it to my daughter.

-Where did it hang in your house?

-It hung in the hall.

-Do you like it?

-Oh, yes.

I'd love to know more about him.

Well, he became a very important artist, because in 1948, after World War II,

-he was appointed the Queen's Limner for Scotland.

-Right.

-Limner being painter.

-To paint her, or to paint pictures for her?

-Well, as a Scottish painter.

-As a title for him.

-Yes.

And I think what makes the difference is,

the Scots are a nation who love art, have a wonderful history of art

and love their own.

And so when I think commercially, I can think of several collectors who would love this picture.

-Not having it.

-Not having it, quite right, keep it in the family.

So I think I would be inclined to put around...

-£8,000 to £12,000 on it.

-Goodness me!

Better get it insured.

We've been told it's either Flemish or it's German.

-A nice mixture to investigate.

-Told by different people.

Let me investigate. Well, the first thing I want to say is the way it's made - a box on a stand.

-This doesn't go with the box, does it?

-No, you're right. They weren't made on stands like this.

It probably would have stood on a table. Now, can I open it, or...?

There we go... That's it... Whoops. Right.

Oh, wonderful, look at that!

-My parents never knew it opened.

-Oh?

-My husband discovered that it opened.

-So it's a family piece?

Yes. These don't open.

-Right.

-And we wondered why.

-Well, let's have a go... Oh, wonderful.

-Isn't that pretty?

-Yes.

-So what was discovered in here when you...?

-Absolutely nothing, unfortunately.

-No gold coins or...?

-Nothing at all.

It's a very pretty top and that is fairly plain, pedestrian carpentry.

-Right.

-But let's close this, so it doesn't fall on me or anything.

They said it came from Ulm.

Absolutely right. It's not Dutch or Flemish. It is German.

Ulm is exactly where this type of miniature marquetry comes from.

Let's have a look.

-This pine is typical of that part of Europe.

-Quite flimsy, though.

-Very flimsy, but beautifully made.

-Yes.

This is all handmade here. Tiny little dovetails, but the joy of this

is this inlay here.

Endless little bits of wood stained and coloured and engraved

to give this wonderful sort of Nonsuch Palace - the Henry VIII palace - that sort of feeling,

-of a town landscape.

-Should we have this repaired?

-Let's have a look.

-The thickness of the marquetry again suggests an early date.

-Yes.

Um, should you have it repaired? Yes, because it's so beautiful.

The main problem is to get the colour right afterwards.

-Have you any idea what date it is?

-No, no idea.

-Well, it's very old.

-Is it?

-Yes. I would say about 1550-1580.

-Really?

So German, but put in your mind Henry VIII - the German equivalent at the same time.

-It was in my grandmother's house...

-Right, and you don't know where she got it from or anything?

-No.

-No, we don't know.

-So just come down through the family and probably will go on through the family?

-Yes.

For that reason alone, it's worth having it restored. Valuation...

insurance... Often these things lag behind because you tend not to update the insurance.

-Last time we had it insured, it was £4,000.

-I would certainly double that.

-Double it.

-Right.

-Certainly £8,000, and there may be somebody in Germany thinking,

"That's not expensive," so £8,000 to £10,000.

-This is extremely convincing.

-She's all right.

-Except her harp is badly strung.

-Sorry about that.

-But it can't have been done in stages.

-Either it's a fake or it's real.

-Or it could be one that's then been improved at a later date.

-Oh... Yes.

-A lot of the modern ones are, quite frankly, resin plastic,

-but very well made.

-Yes.

-This existing in 1913 has to be...

-Pre-dates all that.

-Yes.

-So it has to be promising in terms of authenticity.

-Yeah.

Usually made around the beginning of the century, this silver made in Birmingham in 1911.

This seems to be the standard set -

six buttons, a pair of little buttons and a belt buckle, very, very attractive.

And enamelled - it's engine-turned underneath the enamelling.

The enamelling's translucent, so this patterning comes through

in a very, very attractive manner.

-It's quite unusual to find a set all together.

-I wouldn't say they've been out of the case.

-They're so decorative, I wonder whether anyone actually wore them.

-I wouldn't have thought so.

-Do you remember how much you paid for these?

-I expect about £30.

-Yes.

-Well, today I think you'd have to spend probably about £300.

-£300?!

-For a set like that.

-Yes.

I've been showing this to a number of my colleagues, because with scrimshaw - carved teeth -

is that, for every real one you see,

you'll see a hundred or more which are fakes or later copies,

and we needed to establish whether this was a really good one, or a really good copy.

Now, if it is real, it is a fantastic one.

The carving is good, it is absolutely immaculate, and so naturally one is suspicious.

You think it's either too good to be true,

or something has happened later. Some of the plain ones are recarved at a later date

to make them more interesting once they become collectable. A wonderful family piece.

The best we've seen for a long time that is apparently real.

Well, how about £3,000?

-Good gracious!

-Or possibly £5,000?

That's incredible! I can't believe it.

-So there we are, a wonderful piece of scrimshaw.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Very stylish object. The whole design is done by transfer printing, a mass-production technique.

But the gilding is done by hand, so there's an element of skill in the painting.

-Would there have been a ceramic spoon in here?

-There would.

And ceramic ladles are incredibly fragile objects, get broken very quickly, it's the first thing to go.

But yes, you do get ceramic ladles. I'm not surprised not to see it.

You could buy something like this in a market for...

-somewhere in the region of £40, or so.

-I see, right.

-What you've got here is a pilot's watch.

-Pilot's?

-A pilot's watch.

It's somewhat large for everyday wear and they were worn outside,

-probably on a big leather or fleece flying jacket.

-Yes.

-You wore them with a long strap on the outside,

-so you could read it when you were in the cockpit.

-Yes.

-And the date...

There's the marks of Omega, the maker,

-the numbers, but there's also the import hallmarks...

-Yes.

-..and the letter R, which is 1912.

-Yes.

-So, basically,

-it's a World War I pilot's watch.

-Yes.

Hence the very clear white dial. Have you had this valued?

-Um...

-Well, tell me where you got it.

-I bought it off a chap that was dealing in bric-a-brac

in Newport market in South Wales some 20 years ago, 22 years ago,

and there was trouble with the watch, so he said, "If you let me have it back, I know a man that will fix it."

-What did you pay him?

-£70 or £80, and I gave him another tenner to get it fixed, which was a lot of money.

-That's a lot of money 20 years ago.

-Yes.

Well, as a watch, it's probably worth, in fact...

-more like a couple of thousand, or so.

-Yes.

-But this is a repair bill.

-Yeah.

-1933.

-Yeah.

-Made out to a TE Shaw of Clouds Hill, Moreton in Dorset.

-Yeah.

-Do you know who he is?

No, I haven't got a clue.

-Lawrence of Arabia.

-Good God!

-If I'm correct...

-Yeah.

-After the First World War...

-Yeah.

-..he was a somewhat complex character and rejoined, I think...

-Didn't he rejoin the RAF under the name of Shaw?

-Yes.

-And I think he was killed on his motorcycle when dressed in RAF kit.

-Good God!

To be honest, I always thought he was a character of fiction.

Well, it's the TE Lawrence of the film, and who wrote the book.

Yeah, I remember seeing the film years ago, but...

-And my recollection is he lived at Clouds Hill.

-Yes... Good God.

And it's his watch, probably returned to him, having been cleaned, under his adopted name.

-Good God.

-So...

-Yeah.

-A couple of grand, couple and a half grand - just as a watch...

-Yes.

-How much you could add for the Lawrence connection, I don't know. A very fascinating character.

-Yes.

I would - it's a guess - I'd double that, maybe £5,000 maybe £10,000.

-Good God! I'd better get it insured, then.

-Yes.

"The Regal, Barnstaple, souvenir programme..." of the opening of it.

-Yes, 1937.

-It seems to have these most wonderful flames on the top.

-Does it still have them?

-I don't know, but the building's still there.

Well, I can't imagine that this grand opening ceremony would be worth much money outside Barnstaple.

-What did you pay for it?

-I paid £15, but I was very happy to do so.

-I think so.

-Because it was the cinema I went to as a kid.

-I think that's reasonable.

Well, going on from films, we go to this, which I think is interesting.

The magazine is Night And Day, which was a short-lived magazine, and the film critic was Graham Greene.

Now, for a Graham Greene collector, any of these magazines with his film criticisms would be very desirable.

"The owners of a child star are like leaseholders - their property diminishes in value every year.

"What is Jackie Coogan now, but a matrimonial squabble?

"With Shirley Temple, infancy is a disguise,

"her appeal is more secret and more adult." I mean, that is extremely provocative,

and this is 1937. And I believe that this was the article

-that actually caused the magazine to close.

-Yes.

-Because the film company actually sued the magazine.

I think a single copy of this would be worth somewhere in the region of £150 to £200.

-Really?

-Without a shadow of doubt.

Let's move on to this very beautiful lady here.

Diana Manners, who later became Diana Cooper,

dressed for The Miracle -

where she played the Madonna as a statue.

A very nice signed photograph. It's not worth an awful lot of money.

She was a great beauty in her time, and I would say that's probably worth no more than about £25, £30.

However, you've also brought in these. Not teatime viewing,

but I think that they're extremely beautiful. Diana Manners again.

-These are original photographs and I've never seen them before.

-That was taken by her brother.

That's on the back there, I see - "Taken by her brother." Who knows?

But they're beautiful photographs, more desirable than this one here.

These I would value, somewhere in the region of...

-£250, £300. What did you pay for them?

-I paid £40 for the whole bundle.

Well, you did extremely well.

Finally, we come up with this, which I find intriguing. Now, this is to - Mabel Normand,

Mabel Normand the silent film star.

-Yes, co-star with Charlie Chaplin.

-Yes.

-And Mack Sennett. The musical Mack And Mabel is based on her story.

Oh, right, I didn't know that.

And this is the card for the "Solemn Requiem Mass

"which will be celebrated at the Church of the Good Shepherd for the repose of Rudolph Valentino."

And I notice that you brought this as well. I can hardly believe that this could be a...handkerchief

-because one blow and that would be blown to smithereens.

-I think it's to dab the tears away at the Mass.

-Yes.

-It's not been laundered since then.

-So it's still full of tears.

Well, I think any Rudolph Valentino collector would be very keen on this. That has to be worth...

in the region of £400 to £500. What are you going to do with this wonderful collection?

-They'll go to a museum in Exeter - the Bill Douglas Centre.

-Good idea.

-When we say "sampler", we think of one of these.

-Yes.

Alphabets, numbers and all that. Now, what does the word really mean?

Let's forget that... and look at this.

Now, I've never seen such a thing as this. I think it's the most fabulous, wonderful thing

because it really is a sampler. It is a sample of every type of stitch, pattern.

Somebody learning to sew had to do all those things. Where is it from?

Well, it belonged to my great-aunt. She lived with us when I was a girl,

and it hung on the wall at home. From her it passed to my parents and after my parents died, to me.

-A clear family descent?

-Yes.

-Who was JA?

-I don't know. I can't find anybody with a surname A in the family.

-I've researched.

-Families change.

There's no doubt about the date - 1858. Do you sew?

I do, but I couldn't do all that.

This is chenille work - a definite type of embossed decoration.

Going up, we have Berlin wool work,

with wonderful beadwork incorporated in it.

Here we have again, metallic beads, sewn onto silk.

Here is traditional Victorian beadwork of the kind one sees on cushions.

And then up to here - I think this is the best bit - you've got all these patterns.

If I were a proper sewing person, I could name all these patterns.

This is Florentine, for example. That's the only one I know.

-I love the dog.

-It's my favourite bit.

-As a child, or always?

-Yes.

That's done by pushing forward wool work, padding from underneath and shaving the wool back to get this.

-I think it's just a staggering vision of the skills of the Victorian seamstress.

-Yes.

Never before have I seen a genuine sampler.

-Look, at this, this wonderful bird...

-Yes.

Fabulous raised silk work.

-Gosh, what would one pay for something like that?

-I don't know, because it's just been there.

-You don't think of it in money terms?

-No.

-How about...

-£1,000 - £1,500?

-Gosh!

This might surprise you.

Oh, dear, yes!

-"From Michael to Michael." Are you Michael?

-Yes.

-And that's me! When was this?

-1959.

'59. That's before I went blonde.

My uncle brought it back from Japan.

He was in the army and it was the time of the Second World War.

Well, when you look at this, this marvellous gilding here,

you ought to like this.

This is really a very, very good Satsuma vase, from Japan.

Wonderful rich enamel, rich gilding,

got a beautiful mark - see this...

-Lovely, and then that's the Satsuma mark there.

-Oh, right, right.

Then you've got this lovely little chap on the top who is in very good condition -

so often they get damaged.

We think that you should probably insure it for £6,000.

-How did it end up in Barnstaple?

-I have no idea. I found it in my mother's things.

-And so there's no family history?

-Not that we know of, no.

-Well, it's in wonderful condition. Have you any idea how old it is?

-No.

-Or where it's come from?

-I don't know.

Well, it's what would now be called Native American, or Canadian.

It would have been in about 1860, probably around the Great Lakes,

or heading west.

My feeling is that it's probably from a tribe called the Cree,

but it could equally be a group called the Metis -

they were the product of intermarrying between the trappers and the Cree Indians,

so they created a new group of people called the Metis.

-Yes.

-And they did this sort of work, it's skin.

-Yes. What...?

-Is it chamois leather?

-Sort of. I think it's probably caribou or something.

These are fine silks, embroidered so fine that their eyesight must have been impaired. Wonderful.

These beads are nice, too.

They're called "rose over white", there's a white core to the bead.

-Oh.

-So the white inside the red glass gives it a brighter colour, you see?

These are known as "octopus bags".

If we turn it over...

-we've got a different version of plants on the other side.

-Yes.

These would probably be taken from wild flowers growing in the plains during the spring.

It's difficult to say which tribe made these

because there was so much cross-fertilisation of ideas amongst different Native American groups,

-but my feeling is that it's probably Metis.

-How did they hold it?

-Tassels. I think this has been on to hang it up.

-Yes.

-Do you display it at all?

-We put it beside the fireplace,

-hang it on the wall.

-With a nail?

-No, we hang it on a wire coat hanger tucked inside.

-Well, it is in marvellous condition.

-Should we have it by the fireplace?

Probably not, because dry heat could dry the stitches out and everything else.

-Yes.

-So I think if you could find some way of framing it...

-Yes.

-A double framing, if possible.

-Mm.

Because its value I would put at about £3,000, £4,000.

-Oh, don't be silly! Really?

-It's extremely sought after

-and if I could take it home, I would.

-You're not going to!

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

The most famous school of painters in the West Country was the Newlyn School,

founded in the 1880s and '90s by Stanhope Forbes.

-And one of them was this artist, Harold Harvey.

-Yes.

-He, like most of the Newlyn painters,

concentrated on scenes of fishing life.

-This picture is signed down here, we can see, "Harold Harvey".

-Yes.

But also it's nicely inscribed on the frame for us there and telling us the title.

-Yes, it is.

-So, obviously, they're there out fishing for whiting.

-So, what can you tell us about how you came by it?

-It was purchased by my grandfather in the twenties.

-Yes.

-And I remember it hanging in my grandparents' house,

in their dining room, when I was a little child.

And I had a particular liking for it. It's a very calm, peaceful picture.

-It's an early picture by Harold Harvey.

-Yes.

-I'd say this was about 1900.

He later went on and changed his style,

but this is a typical Newlyn painting,

both in its subject and in its rather grey tonality...

-Yes.

-..And this very thick, flowing sort of brush strokes.

-Uh-huh.

He trained in France, like most of them did. So in a way, they came back to England,

these painters, settled in Cornwall,

and painted it as if it was Normandy or Brittany. It could be France.

-I love the old man here.

-Yes, he's lovely, isn't he?

-The bearded fellow, is very, very nicely depicted.

-Yes.

I also like this standing figure of the boy - his splendid profile

-and cap at a jaunty angle.

-He's very keen, isn't he?

-I like that. I think it's an extremely nice picture. It's in the the original frame.

-Original, yes.

-That's never been...

-I don't think anything's ever been done to it.

-Well, there is a keen interest in Newlyn pictures today.

-Yes.

They're much collected and I would say that now,

if this was to go in a sale,

-you'd certainly get £20,000 for it.

-Really?

-You'd probably get £20,000 to £30,000.

-Maybe you might get a little more.

-Thank you. Lovely to hear about it.

Well, what a day. We've enjoyed the cream of North Devon hospitality,

and it's 6pm - the hall still has plenty of people in it,

including, I have to say, an old army pal I last met in 1952, and he seems to be in good condition.

We've seen some excellent things here today - local pottery, that Newlyn School painting,

and the wristwatch of TE Lawrence - my boyhood hero - Lawrence of Arabia.

To the people of Barnstaple, thank you. And until next week, goodbye.

Subtitles by Gillian Frazer BBC Scotland 2000

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