Melksham Antiques Roadshow

This week, the Antiques Roadshow is in Melksham

in the wide valley of the Wiltshire Avon, to the west of the county.

Melksham was a hamlet in a forest clearing, a favourite hunting ground of the Plantagenet kings.

The forest dwindled, but the town grew into a business centre.

The town's oldest industry was cloth weaving and the round houses used for drying the wool are still here.

Melksham has been home to an impressive range of industries.

For Charles Maggs, who came here in 1803, it was money for new rope.

The business continued for six generations.

As the attraction for steel cables diminished the demand for rope, they turned to coir fibre matting.

People all over the world wipe their feet on Maggs's coconut mats.

The same family were instrumental in creating the great Wiltshire dairy trade.

They turned surplus milk into butter and cream for selling in London and other major towns.

It was a bright idea which caught on,

and led to United Dairies delivering the daily pinta to your door.

# Ernie

# And he drove the fastest milkcart in the west

# You could hear the hoof beats pound As they raced across the ground... #

There were noble failures too.

These Regency houses

are a reminder of Melksham's ambition to become a spa

to rival Chippenham and Bath.

Springs rich in iron and saline were discovered

and the Melksham Spa Company was formed by local landowners.

The water's healing properties were observed by their effect on cattle.

As with most medicines, the theory was that the nastier the taste, the greater the benefit.

But there was no shortage of testimonials.

A Thomas Joseph Clark certified that after a mere 14 days of taking the Melksham spa waters,

he was "nearly recovered from a bout of erysipelas and scrofula".

In spite of this, Melksham's time as a fashionable spa was brief.

It went into decline when going to the seaside became more popular.

Our show today comes from the Christie Miller Sports Centre.

I bought it for my husband as a birthday present.

He does like boats but he's not over-enamoured with this one.

I'm more into the sort of modern boats.

-What, this is too fanciful, too decorative?

-Probably, yes.

The idea of the glass ship starts at the beginning of the 19th century.

This is nice because you've got the sailors climbing the rigging.

You've got the flowing pennants. You've got the sense of a ship.

What date would you say that ship was, if it was a ship?

-Armada days, I suppose.

-No, it's much later.

-Really?

-I think they were looking at contemporary ships. OK, it could be a ship of the line of Nelson's time.

It's more likely they were looking out of the window - if it was made at Bristol - out of the harbour.

Coming in and out every day were sail trading vessels, before the age of steam.

This is what they looked like.

The other touch that tells us is the pilot boat.

The pilot boat has sailed off to bring the boat into harbour, or to take it out.

I have seen paddle steamers.

So they were still being made into the age of steam.

The classic is this rigged sailing ship coming into harbour.

And reasonably accurate. They were made by people looking out of the window.

-You can see...

-Pieces of damage.

There's damage there where the glue's been stuck on.

But I think, apart from that, it's still in amazing condition.

And this curious sort of stuff was often used for the sea, so that is correct.

-So apart from the base, it's as it should be.

-Right.

Date, 1840 thereabouts, 1850, 1860, that sort of mid-Victorian period.

-Now for an impertinent question.

-How much?

-Yes.

It was actually £80, but I knew the dealer and he gave me 25% discount, so £60.

It's a great example. I'll put a big increase on that.

I think, bearing in mind the repair and the base, £600-£700.

It came into the family via my great-grandfather.

He owned a brewery in Trowbridge, and it's been handed down in the family.

In recent years, it's been up in a bedroom storing papers, and that's as much as I know about it.

Storing papers is also fine -

anything that needed to be kept under lock and key,

because this beautiful box used

to be used to carry a 17th-century lady's jewellery around with her.

So it is a lovely little jewellery casket.

Now if we look at the box itself, it has these lovely oyster-cut veneers on it.

They are slices of a tree that is cut in such a way as to reveal the graining of the wood,

which it's done absolutely beautifully here.

At the front, the veneers have been laid in the shape of a heart.

You know, such a simple thing to do.

A heart for a lady, so all the little signs are there.

-Little touches are there.

-You've got this lovely brass strap work.

Very bold, very stylish.

Almost with a fleur-de-lys in the front - slightly continental.

This dates around 1690. Show me how it opens up.

-Pull this one down here slightly.

-Yes.

-Which releases that.

-Pop the key in.

-Turn to the... That way.

-Yeah.

-And then this one is a half turn.

Marvellous, fantastic device.

Now if we look in here, what's also nice is you've got this slot...

-That's meant to be like that?

-Yes, it was a secret compartment.

-It would have had a little piece of wood over the top.

-Right.

She could have put in something that she didn't want anybody to know about, like a little love letter.

In today's market, something like this is extremely popular.

I think we should be thinking in terms of £3,000 for sale,

and, therefore, for insurance you've got to double it up, £6,000.

For a little box. Excellent. Very good indeed, thank you.

What a wonderful deep-blue sky there is in this watercolour. It really is a sensational picture.

Is it by William Turner of Oxford?

-That's right.

-William Turner of Oxford, not the great William Turner.

-No, no, no.

-Sometimes confused with.

This is another William Turner who painted largely round Oxford, particularly in watercolour.

-Yes.

-Do you know where this is?

-Osney Meadows.

-Near Oxford.

-It's all part of Oxford now.

It's becoming part of Oxford, I'm sorry to say.

It doesn't look like this now.

-No.

-But what I wanted to look more carefully at

is this fantastic detail he manages,

-the line of harvesting women along here.

-Yeah.

-It's so beautifully handled.

-Yeah.

-And the whole feeling of recession, through the different fields into the distance.

The handling of the light is masterful.

You've got lovely narrative details

like this basket and the hoes.

-You wonder what's happened to the people to whom these belonged.

-Yes.

Incredible that it is a watercolour,

or rather a body colour, which is this thicker, more opaque watercolour,

which gives these rather richer effects. Where has it been to retain its colour?

It's been in my parents' house.

But it didn't get any direct sun.

That's an object lesson in how a watercolour can be preserved.

-I mean, William Turner really was one of the great names of British watercolour painting.

-Was he?

And I think, you know, you really see him on his day here. It's a late work, but it's absolutely sublime.

I love the details of the foliage here, this rather feathery touch.

-I think it really is one of the most beautiful watercolours I've ever seen on the Roadshow.

-Really?

Strong language.

-I'm grateful to you for bringing it and I hope it's insured.

-No.

We'd like to know how much for.

Well, I think probably one would estimate it, if it came at auction,

between £7,000 and £10,000, but it's so beautiful, it could make more. Perhaps insure it for £12,000.

-It's a great English watercolour. Thanks for bringing it.

-Thank you. Thank you for telling us about it.

This is a very fine piece of Art Deco, very nice bracelet.

Has it been in your family since the '20s or '30s?

-No, I bought it at a boot sale.

-A boot sale?

-Yes, I did.

How much was it?

-It was for quite a lot of money, I thought.

-And how much is a lot?

-£10.

-£10 - that's the absolute bargain of the century.

It's German in manufacture.

It's made in Pforzheim in Germany, which is a jewellery centre.

The maker is Theodor Fahrner.

And you will see on the back here...

..there's the maker's mark. It says "Sterling, Germany," and it's got "T" and "F" for Theodor Fahrner.

-Oh, yes.

-It's a beautiful piece of work, lovely arrangement of colours.

This would need to be checked out, but it's quite possibly onyx, but it could be glass.

-Yes.

-But this red colour is coral.

These other elements are marcasite.

Pieces like this are always popular at auction, and they don't come up so often.

So a piece like this I would expect now would have no trouble in making at least £600 to £800.

So your £10 was a bargain, wasn't it?

An earlier Roadshow paid tribute to Fox Talbot, the photographic pioneer who owned Lacock Abbey here.

We have a little private memory of the man. What is this?

This is from his camera.

It was a plate.

My husband's grandfather was head gardener.

Each employee was given a plate and they had it made into individual mementoes.

-So this lovely box once had been the plate at the back of Fox Talbot's camera?

-That's right.

-Here is a photograph in a magazine taken by the great man, and that is your husband's grandfather?

-Yes.

But then this photograph tells us - in the caption underneath - that the greenhouses are being rebuilt,

-and that Talbot's photographs will be used to help rebuild them. So history goes round in circles.

-Yes.

-And there's your relation in the middle of it.

-Yes.

It was given to me by an aunt.

Well, it's a very nice gift. It's an absolutely beautiful, jewel-like quality cup and saucer.

Royal Worcester mark on the bottom.

The date code isn't very clear - it's either an "S" or an "N".

It's about 1875, but what fantastic quality the jewelling, all the hand-work on here.

It's a wonderful little object.

Do you know who the designer was?

-No.

-It was George Owen who worked at the Royal Worcester factory.

He was so skilful at what they call reticulated ware.

You cut the design out. You draw the design on the green clay before it's fired,

and then you cut it out with a tiny little knife. It would take hours.

They gave him his own room so he could sit quietly and work.

And he had so many failures that it was uncommercial to produce.

So he'd make something, then they'd find a collector to sell it to.

So if you can imagine Owen working away, drawing this out, then cutting it with a knife.

And if he broke one, it was thrown away.

So these things are rare.

The saucer has been broken in half, but the cup is perfect.

Any collector of Royal Worcester would be desperate to have it.

-So in spite of the damage, the value would be about £500.

-Gosh!

To my knowledge, it's been in the family since the 1920s.

-And I believe it was owned by a further relative of my grandmother's in the late 1800s.

-Yes.

So it's been in the family for over a hundred years.

We've got a London maker - Sibbald.

-Not much known about him, and sort of 1817-1830, which fits absolutely perfectly with the design.

-Right.

It's a classic example of the Regency period.

We're out of the George III and you've a combination of features.

You've got the lancet shape of the door, which is Gothic Revival.

You've got the half-turned triple columns here.

Then you've got Egyptian Revival.

Following the Napoleonic Wars and the Egyptian campaign, there was a lot of Egyptian works of art.

And so you've got Egyptian heads, square tapered columns and these wonderful little bronze feet.

-So that wasn't added later?

-No, it's a strange combination.

Bit of Gothic Revival and a touch of the Egyptian.

You've even got a Greek key pattern which you can just see here.

You've got a quality of wood and mahogany veneer which was dying out.

You get those red, strong, mahogany woods for the Victorian age, but they're a different type.

This is beautiful figured timber.

The door's stunning and so unusual.

It's not a clock for a clock collector. It's a clock for somebody who loves this period of design.

So we can't compare the price with a standard long-case clock of the same period.

I would think it would be a minimum of £5,000, perhaps.

I'm pleased, but we like the clock, so we wouldn't get rid of it.

-Much more important.

-That's right.

Both of these items came from my grandfather, who lived in Liverpool.

And, obviously, down the family and finally ended up with myself.

I know very little about them.

-I thought I'd bring them in here.

-Bring them in to...

-Find out.

-..try to get enlightened.

-Yes.

Here we have a pin-fire revolver.

It's Belgian and it's a six-shot.

And looking at the calibre in the cylinder there, I would think it's about .32.

Now the pin-fire system didn't last too long.

One of the reasons for this is because what is happening in the computer world right now,

was happening in the gun world a hundred-and-odd years ago.

-Yes.

-So you suddenly got a pin-fire - the hammer was blunted,

and the little copper pin drove into the side of the cartridge.

-The next step was a rim-fire, where the hammer hit onto the edge of the cartridge.

-I see.

The final phase is centre-fire, where the cartridge is struck into the centre of the base.

We have that today.

This one would have been made around about 1875, even 1880.

Well, the value would be something in excess of £100.

Quite ornate, so it might even be £150.

I doubt you'd get more than that.

-I find this interesting. Do you know anything about it?

-I know it's Russian.

Right. This is called a kindjal.

Russian, worn by the Cossacks.

This particular one - all this niello silver, which is very much favoured by Russia,

looks very pretty - the black against the silver. I'll pull it out.

So there we are. It's got a fuller on each side.

The fuller is this trough that goes down each side.

And it's a very, very pretty thing.

Now this, in a collector's market, is very desirable,

because you have something here completely undamaged.

All the black is there with the silver. It hasn't been taken off.

-There's no wear and tear and so you're looking at £1,000.

-I see.

It might be a bit more, but it's certainly £1,000.

-Thanks for bringing it in.

-Thanks.

They belonged to my father and I inherited them 25 years ago.

And he had them 25 years prior to that. Where he got them from, I haven't a clue.

Absolutely no idea?

They are extraordinary chairs.

This X-form chair goes right back to Roman times.

And there are X-frame forms in the decorations at Pompeii.

The rest suggests a highly developed interest in mannerism

in the 16th century in the northern Renaissance.

This dragon also reminds me of the kind of gargoyles which you get on Gothic cathedrals.

So there's a mixture of "grotesque", meaning ugly and mis-shapen,

and the "grotesque" that comes from the mannerist decoration of the 16th century.

This design in the middle, taking the place of a splat,

you find very much in the 16th century.

But they're much thinner and more spindly.

They've been exaggerated in the fineness of the shapes here.

They're incredibly delicate.

This impish sort of gargoyly caricature face, complete with wart...

..reminds me much more of German carving of the 16th century,

put together in a way that you would not have found in the 16th century.

What I think we're probably looking at here is a 19th-century version

of other styles being put together.

I suspect that these may have been made on the Flemish-German border.

They're made out of walnut and I think that they are extraordinary.

They are bizarre, fascinating,

extremely high-quality in the carving. Wherever you look there's something to explore.

-How do you use them?

-They were at either end of the dining table,

-and they were the most uncomfortable meals we ever endured.

-If you - ooh!

-Yes, quite.

-I've been sort of prodded by his chin.

-You've had them in your family for quite some time.

-50 years.

Have you ever thought about valuation?

Only once, a long time ago, and they said about £800 for the pair.

Someone will love these chairs.

For one now, you could easily be looking at £1,000 to £1,500.

So for the pair, you could be looking at £3,000 to £4,000.

-But it could go much more than that because they're so unusual.

-Yes.

-And this is for the men, is it?

-No, that's a female one.

-Is it?

-With the flange on the front. That's the men's bottle.

-Right.

-They come in different shapes.

If you look on the bottom - in there, it's impressed and you get...

-It says "medium".

-You get small, medium and large.

-Depending on the bottoms.

-That one's a small.

-And that's...

-And that one's a large.

That would suit me! Do you use them?

-No.

-But you still bring them home, do you?

-Yes.

-And what does your husband say about that?

-He goes a bit potty about it.

-Thanks for bringing them in.

-That's OK.

Now this could be some kind of weapon, or it could be something from an ancient hairdressers,

-but obviously I'm guessing, so what is it?

-It's actually an eel spear.

-An eel spear?

-Yes, for catching eels.

And it's dated around 1800 to 1850.

And how did you get this?

I was given it from my partner for a birthday present.

-Was it something you'd always wanted?

-It was something I had seen but not in such good condition.

-So he bought it for me as a surprise.

-And it just took your fancy?

-Yes, it's very unusual.

But an eel is a very elusive thing. Do you just stab down on it with these five prongs?

Yes. The eel would be swimming along,

and you just go down with the spear and the little barbs on the edges stop the eel from passing through.

-Devilish idea, isn't it?

-Slightly barbaric.

-And works, presumably.

-Mm.

-Let's go find an eel.

My mother passed it on to me and it was passed on to her when she was a teenager.

That's all I know.

It's a dog collar, as I'm sure you're aware, and a small dog too.

It's got a catch here and you clasp it round the neck.

So once it was on, it would stay there for some time.

It's got a charming inscription on it - "I am my master's dog, JD, pray tell me, sir, whose dog you be?"

We know it's local because it says "Upton Lovel".

Upton Lovell is a village about 15 miles from Melksham.

-Yes.

-And then it says "Wiltshire" and "1784".

So it's a fantastic example of a late-18th-century dog collar.

-Have you any idea of its value?

-I haven't, no, not a clue.

-You can buy a dog collar for a couple of pounds now.

-Yes.

-The saddest thing about it is the fact that it has a split.

-Yes.

-And that certainly devalues it. But it's still worth in the region of £150.

-Oh, right.

Wasn't expecting that.

This is an absolute joy.

It's a most wonderful etui. The decoration here is fantastic.

I'm assuming this is tortoiseshell and this is multicoloured gold inlay.

And it's absolutely fascinating how this was done.

They did not carve out the surface and then make the little wires and put them in.

What they did was heat up the wires,

lay them on the surface, and then being hot, it melted the tortoiseshell and they sank in.

I wondered how they did it.

It also means they're terribly difficult to restore.

But this one with these flowers, it is so super.

There's the odd tiny bit missing, but really that's next to nothing.

But what is so amazing is also what is inside.

A number of times you find one of these and there's one piece missing.

And that makes such a difference.

But there... I mean, that's a joy, that little gold spoon.

That's so much fun.

No marks on it, and I wouldn't expect a mark on it.

All the sort of things you need for travel, so a knife...

and that wonderful gold inlay.

And the pistol handle which is so typical of the mid-18th century, are known as a "Dutch slipper blade",

where it just curves there.

Then scissors which - flick this - made of polished steel, of course.

And the gold sections.

They will cut just about anything. Wonderful 18th-century steel.

This is a lovely one.

Little bodkin, so you could use that for threading - a little hole there.

Put the ribbon through it.

Then what have we got here?

There are tweezers at that end...

I don't know what that little hook bit is at the end there.

It obviously has a function,

but I have to say I don't know what you would use that end for.

-Oh, and that's fun, a toothpick.

-Oh, right.

Delightful idea of picking your teeth with that, and again those are all gold inlay,

gold mounts, gold mounts.

I have to say also that I have never seen this particular design.

And it's so rarely that you find one with the entire contents.

So, value - it's a tricky one.

Any collector of etuis is going to be very excited about that and want to have it in their collection.

I would suggest an auction estimate

of £2,000 to £3,000.

And I would certainly be insuring for at least £5,000.

-Oh.

-It is such a joy. I am so thrilled to have seen this. Thank you for bringing it in.

-I know they're maiolica and old.

-Yes.

I know how I inherited them and where they came from.

-So if they're made of maiolica, where did they come from?

-Italy.

-Yes. Now, the problem is,

any pottery covered in a tin glaze made in Italy is called maiolica.

So you've got maiolica made from the 13th century to the 20th century and where do these come in?

-That's the next question.

-Yeah.

And they were made in about 1740

in a place called Castelli near Bruzi, Castelli da Bruzo,

by a family called Grue who specialised in making these plaques.

I think these plaques were painted by Aurelia Grue, who was particularly good at these animals.

-What about the holes?

-That's where the glaze has retracted. That's not a defect. That's in the manufacture.

-No-one fired pellets at them and made little holes.

-That's in the manufacture?

-It's not a problem.

-They're lovely agrestic subjects. I love this chap and his flute.

-Yes.

The other guy leaning on the barrel and the dogs and animals are always very good in this man's painting.

If you have them hanging on the wall, just check the wires are in good nick.

because I wouldn't like one of them to fall off and you to lose...

I should think half of £8,000 - say £4,000.

I think the two of them together are worth probably to the order of £8,000.

Really?

My father loved antique sales and I happened to be with him when he bought this one at Chippenham,

at Lady Mary Coventry's, about 50 years ago or so.

-And it was catalogued as a water clock?

-Yes.

-Dated 1672?

-Yes.

Well, that's what it appears to be.

In fact, it's signed, "A Walters fecit Salisbury anno domini 1672. I am thy guide."

And what we have is an oak plank, some carving,

basically the dial, which is fairly straightforward with a single hand,

the water container in which the float runs up and down.

And the theory is, the water drips out through this tap on the side into the reservoir at the bottom.

There's even a version of the Royal coat of arms on the bottom.

In fact, it's actually made about 1900-1920.

-That doesn't come to you as much of a surprise?

-No.

They were made by a company in Birmingham called Pearson Page and they didn't just make water clocks.

Half of the coal buckets and fire irons that we think of as Georgian, are brilliant copies by that firm,

just to sell commercially. They were not made as any sort of forgeries.

This is a model I've never seen.

Oh, right, yes. We have had it going with the water dripping out.

-And did you get any accuracy?

-Not really.

-No.

The pressure of the water... But they're great fun.

-Yes.

-You mustn't polish it so much. It looks wonderful but all it really needs is a rub with a cloth,

-because eventually it will start to polish off the engraving.

-Oh.

So despite the fact that it's not a genuine water clock of this period,

and I don't think they ever existed,

it's still worth something like £500 or £800.

Very interesting. Thank you very much.

-Have these plates been in your family long?

-About four generations.

Four generations - that takes us back 120 years. Do you have them on display?

Yes, but on a stand because I've got a little mark on that, this one here.

And I think it was caused by perhaps some wire earlier on.

-When you had it on plate hangers?

-Yes, I'm afraid so.

-Well, I can tell you that it's not damaged at all.

-This was done during manufacture.

-Oh.

In the kiln, this plate would have sat underneath with a piece of ceramic stilt.

This one would have been stacked on top so when they pulled them off...

They pulled it off the glaze and it left a mark. Not damaged at all. Made about 1750 - 250 years ago.

They are sometimes called Whieldon ware but that's not the right term.

They imitated tortoiseshell. They're made of a creamware body.

And they introduced plaster of Paris moulds for the first time, so you could get a good moulded pattern.

So they're ancient plates, 1750, and they look as though they could have come out of the kiln yesterday.

-Yes.

-They're so glowing and bright. Look at the brightness!

-They are nice.

-They're wonderful.

-Yes, yes.

If you saw these in a smart shop in London, they'd be valued at about £2,500 the pair.

-£2,500.

-Oh, my goodness!

-Can I ask you how you came by this?

-I've had it 35, nearly 40 years.

And it was given to me by a boyfriend of the time.

And he was in the Army. He'd gone home to Wales on leave.

And while there, he went for a walk. He kicked a clump of earth

-and just caught a glint of something and cleaned it off, took it home and gave it to me.

-And that's it.

-So that was a long time ago.

-Right, that is quite amazing.

-Do you know anything about the box itself?

-I think it's French.

-Yes.

-And the reason I thought that was because I went to Versailles.

In the gilding in Versailles, there was the same design as on the box.

-Now the box - I've just had a chance to look at the marks there - is Paris.

-Oh.

-It's 1765.

-Right.

-You've got green gold, red gold, white gold.

-Right.

-All inlaid on there.

-So all the different colours are gold?

-Yes.

Very high carat of gold. That's white gold, green gold, red gold and yellow gold in the background.

-So, have you ever thought about value?

-Not really, no.

I would say in a sale you'd have to be thinking at least £3,000.

Ooh! Oh.

£3,000?

£3,000 and it could go more.

-Really?

-Really.

-Do you still see that boyfriend?

No!

Mrs Bruce was very famous and well known in the country in the 1920s and early 1930s

-as a lady racing driver...

-Yes.

..motor racing and aviatrix.

-This tray was given to her by Bentley Motors after she did a 24-hour journey.

-That's quite an achievement.

-It's staggering.

-She must have been driving at 110, 120 most of the time, in a Bentley.

-Yes, in a Bentley.

-Do we have any pictures of this?

-We do. Here is a picture of the Bentley.

That is the is the actual Bentley which went on to win Le Mans rally.

-So it's the winning car?

-It is.

She described her 24-hour run as "running the engine in" for Bentley, for the Bentley Boys who...

-Who then...

-..carried out the race.

-So it was a brand-new car then?

-Yes.

Was that the third year in succession that Bentley had won?

-Yes, it was.

-But then that was the end of the Bentley story?

-Yes.

-So there she is. What else have we got?

-Oh, look, what's that?

-That's it being refuelled.

-God, look how crude and primitive it is.

-Yes.

-God, he's even smoking!

He's smoking with the fuel being poured in. A short life expectancy!

-What a primitive life it was, and yet that was the car she was driving at over 100mph.

-Yes.

-What's the telegram?

-They are congratulatory telegrams on the journey. This one is from Bentley.

-"Heartiest congratulations on most wonderful show." This is after the 24-hours?

-Yes.

-That's from one of the great Bentley drivers.

-What are you to do with her?

My interest in her was triggered off when I bought her house in Bradford-on-Avon.

-Did you get things from...?

-There were things I found in the roof space,

tucked in a painted-up cupboard.

I began asking about her, and very few people know anything about her.

I knew her name, but nothing about her life.

I delved deeper into it and started collecting this memorabilia on her and learning about her other feats.

-Where did you get it?

-From auction sales, publicity.

People have offered me things they've had in their own attics or cellars.

-What is your aim?

-It is to bring her back to public attention.

-Bring her back to life.

-Great, great sportswoman, great person in her day.

It's a shame that she seems to have been forgotten.

-Particularly as a lady driver.

-Yes.

-Would it be fair to say it's an obsession?

-Sometimes, yes, I admit.

-She's taken over your life?

-Almost - don't tell my wife.

-So you live with two women?

-Almost.

-She didn't have a compass in her car.

-No. After her various driving feats she got bored with driving.

She was walking down Regent Street and saw a plane for sale in a department store...

-Department stores sold aeroplanes?

-Exactly. The wings folded up.

She bought it without knowing how to fly, had 8 hours of lessons and decided to set off round the world.

-Just like that?

-Yes.

-After 8 hours?

-Yes.

-And she lived to tell the tale?

-She did crash the aeroplane three times, but it was repaired each time.

And she lived out on a good dinner-party story for the rest of her life?

-She went on lecture tours after that.

-And what happened to her?

After that, she retired to Bradford-on-Avon.

Though she had a career running an airline company during the '30s.

-What, her own airline?

-It was a company called Air Dispatch.

She employed the first air stewardess.

-Yes, because Imperial Airways had stewards very firmly.

-Yes, but this was her airline.

-So she was a great fighter for female emancipation?

-And she pioneered air-to-air refuelling.

She had the record for staying in the air for the longest period of time, 55 hours round the Isle of Wight.

Astonishing. And what are all these?

-This is a collection of flying goggles. These are her goggles.

-You know these are hers?

-Yes, because I bought them with the compass.

-So she flew in her aeroplane with these goggles and this compass?

-As I say, it's a slight obsession. I understand why you do it. Is there more material to get?

-I'm sure.

-Will you write a book?

-There's a lady in America writing a book. She's a better author than I am.

-But you have the great collection. You are the Mrs Bruce expert.

-I like to think so.

She deserves you. She deserves wonderful attention.

-May you find many more things. I think we should end with a wonderful picture of her.

-Lovely.

What a wonderful lady! Great, and it brings together that period of excitement, challenge, elegance.

-Wonderful, lovely.

-Thank you very much.

-Pleasure.

-My father, when he died, we found it in his stuff.

-So it's a memento. Do you remember it as a child?

-Never saw it before.

-Never saw it?

Wonderful to see such a beautiful drawing by one of the great illustrators of the 19th century,

Edmund Dulac. And he and Arthur Rackham are without doubt the finest illustrators on the market,

at that time.

What I love about this picture is it seems to encompass to me all the eccentricities of Dulac.

Do you know anything about Dulac?

-I had a book. I just read that he was an illustrator - that's all I know.

-That's all, right.

Well, he was born, as his name suggests, in Toulouse in France.

He came to England I think in about 1906 to London,

and actually became a nationalised citizen in 1912.

He made his fame and fortune from book illustrations.

He illustrated some of the most famous children's books at the time, such as Treasure Island in 1927,

Arabian Nights in 1907, Sinbad The Sailor,

most of Hans Anderson's fairy tales, those sort of books.

He is a cultish figure, very eccentric.

What I like about him is he seems to bring in taste from the Far East.

We have Middle Eastern taste, we have Art Nouveau, we have almost the detail of Pre-Raphaelitism.

We have a melting pot of taste and trends here.

And this wonderful watercolour, you can see how it's been highlighted with silver and gold here as well.

And look at those slippers - probably quite difficult to wear.

It says, "To Mr Clarkson, souvenir of the Italian Ball 1920." So is this Mr Clarkson?

There lies a bit of a mystery, doesn't it?

-Have you ever had it valued?

-No.

Well, Dulac is extremely sought after.

I suppose his most valuable things would be illustrations of well-known fairy tales.

Something like this should be insured for about £10,000.

Thank you to the people of Melksham for joining us at the Roadshow.

We've been engulfed by treasures from exquisite watercolours to sturdy bed pans.

Items to please the eye and soothe the weary soul.

So until next week, from Melksham, goodbye.

Subtitles by BBC