Biddulph Antiques Roadshow


Biddulph

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Today we're in the Biddulph Valley in the Staffordshire Moorlands,

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a few miles north of the Potteries.

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Behind me lies Biddulph Moor and the headwaters of the River Trent.

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The river flows south to Stoke, then east to Nottingham and beyond.

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The name "Biddulph" in Old English means "by diggings".

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The valley's mineral riches were discovered a very long time ago.

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In Biddulph in the Industrial Revolution, coal mines went down,

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iron foundries went up and railway lines ran across the valley.

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James Bateman used the fortune he inherited from coal and engineering

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to develop an extraordinary garden at Biddulph Grange.

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Bateman and his wife, Maria, gardened with great enthusiasm and even greater imagination.

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The result was a mixture of formal layouts and unique areas,

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each with a different national character. It's glorious.

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All this splendour cost large amounts of money and commitment.

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Eventually, it became too much for the Batemans. In 1871, they sold the estate. Years later, in the 1920s,

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the Grange was converted into a hospital.

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Much of the area went into economic decline, but eventually, tourism came to the rescue,

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and North Staffordshire has been rejuvenated. In 1980, the National Trust took over the gardens,

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and what they've done in the past 20 years would make James Bateman look down and smile.

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The much-loved willow pattern was a favourite of Bateman's too,

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and he created a Chinese garden, tracing the features of a typical piece of porcelain.

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It would be just the thing if we came across a few examples today.

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We're at the new Biddulph Valley Leisure Centre,

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where the doors are open to welcome this week's Antiques Roadshow.

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-So what's his name, then?

-Fred.

-Fred?

-We call him Fred.

-Yes.

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And the children would run up the stairs.

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We used to say, "Don't go up the stairs because of Fred."

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-He was the bogeyman?

-He was the bogeyman at the bottom of the stairs. But a recent great-grandson...

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-Yes?

-He was running down the hall, and I said, "Zak, don't go down the hall because of Fred."

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He looked at me and said,

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"Grandad,

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"it's only an orminant!"

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-So he wasn't going to be frightened by no orminant?

-No, he wasn't frightened by orminants!

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-I hate to disappoint you - he's not called Fred.

-No.

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-Do you know what his real name is?

-We haven't a clue.

-This is Homer. You've got your own home Homer.

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-Homer?

-Not the Simpson variety - the original.

-Yes.

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Well, I hate to tell you this - it's a copy.

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-A copy?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Now... I immediately noticed this coming in.

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-Yes.

-I have known this fellow for rather a long time.

-Yes.

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The original is in a museum in Copenhagen.

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-Yes.

-But the original - this is one of the ways you can tell it's not original - hasn't got a nose.

-No.

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I see.

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But our Homer - your Homer - has a nose. This is a Victorian copy.

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-Yes.

-Of a very well-known bust. But the funny thing is, the original in Copenhagen - even that is a copy.

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-Oh.

-It's done in the style of a Greek sculptor.

-Yes.

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As with so many Roman statues, copies of Greek originals, we don't have the Greek original,

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-so this is a copy...

-Yes.

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..of the Classical copy of a hitherto undiscovered Greek original going back to the 2nd century BC.

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I think today, if you sold this magnificent marble bust of Homer,

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a superb Victorian copy, you would probably get

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-£3,000 to £5,000 at the very least.

-Oh! Thank you. Thank you.

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This is... It's not a panorama, but it's a view of...

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..the Great Exhibition, and it comes out of its box like that,

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and each piece is hand-coloured -

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beautifully hand-coloured, jewel-like hand-coloured - showing the inside of the Great Exhibition.

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The wonderful Joseph Paxton building in Hyde Park - the Crystal Palace.

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There's a Christmas tree or an English oak at the bottom.

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-Yes.

-Absolutely wonderful. And so this dates from 1851.

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Now, remarkably... Very often these are quite torn and have been repaired quite often,

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but obviously the odd one is...guarded like that.

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For the most part, it seems to be in remarkably original condition.

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1851, hand-coloured...

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Value today, I suppose somewhere in the region of...

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-£800 something like that.

-Really? Good grief!

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-Is this an old family treasure?

-Well, it was me grandfather's, originally. It was inherited by me -

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by my mother - then me mother died

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-and I inherited it.

-So you don't know where it came from?

-Not a clue.

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-Haven't got the original bill?

-I presume me grandfather bought it, but I don't know.

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Right. What about nationality?

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-Don't know that.

-Right.

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My mother said to us was that it was Queen Anne or something, but...

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-It's not that old.

-No.

-Let's get the date out of the way first. The shape and size of this display cabinet

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-are typical of, in fact, the late 19th century, early 20th century.

-Right.

-1890-1910, that sort of date.

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That's indisputable. It's certainly not English.

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Many things tell me this is French. The most obvious one...

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See this long lock here?

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Imagine French windows. It's hard to get out of French windows - they've a long bar locking the whole door.

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Very secure. And you turn it once, like this.

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You still can't get out or lock it properly, so you turn it again.

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And that double lock is French.

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-Exclusively French.

-It's funny, that.

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Me grandad also had a huge monstrosity, like a Louis cabinet, with a big bow front and everything.

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A horrible thing! I presume that was French as well, but, I mean, nobody wanted that.

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It sounds like he was a collector of good quality French furniture. This is a Louis cabinet,

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influenced by Louis XVI of the 1780s.

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It's influenced by that 100 years later.

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This quarter veneering here is French, going down and then across,

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so that everything points to the middle. What's really interesting is that here...

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-Can you see these little flecks in here?

-Yeah.

-All these little flecks, that's known as Ois de Vermay,

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which is... The tiny little flecks are rather like a silver gilding colour.

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It's a particular type of wood used in France in the late 19th century,

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into the early 20th century. Only the very best makers made it.

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I have a feeling I know who this is made by - Francois Link, who was Czechoslovakian

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and he went to Paris in 1881. Until he became famous, about 1900, he wasn't signing his furniture.

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The way this is made, the type of wood - the very best quality wood -

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this rather nice sort of garland of flowers and husks here and laurel, in fact.

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There's some gilding, but there's a lot of coppery colour in it. He favoured that type of gilding.

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All the mounts are the type he used continually throughout his career,

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which lasted from 1880 until he died in 1946, so he went well on into the 20th century.

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It's quite a rare early piece by Link. Have you got a value in mind?

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A couple of thousand, something like that.

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That's conservative. If you insure it for £2,000, you'd expect it to make £1,000, £1,500 at auction.

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I think you'd get easily £2,000 or £3,000 at auction,

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so, even with my hesitant attribution to Francois Link,

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-I would put £5,000 for insurance.

-Good heavens!

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This is the dish I was holding at Biddulph Grange. David?

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This is a Spode one. It's a pearlware body - a creamware with a blue glaze -

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and it's been transfer printed, in underglaze blue with a willow pattern.

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There are hundreds of willow patterns - every manufacturer did one. The basics are the same.

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We've got two birds - the love birds - the figures on the bridge,

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a pagoda, and the willow tree. It of course comes from the Chinese.

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Thomas Minton was the first to probably engrave it.

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We don't know. This is a Spode one of the late 18th century and it's a very nice dessert dish,

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-part of a set.

-Did they start making them because the originals dried up?

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No, it was purely cost. It was hoped the Staffordshire manufacturers

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could undercut the Chinese original.

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Now, when you think that a Chinese original plate - the Chinese plate -

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landed in London and sold for one shilling... They had to undercut that price. And they did!

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When did they become treasured pieces?

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Well, the idea of collecting old pottery

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doesn't actually go much further back than the second half of the 19th century.

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But this sort of thing would not have been taken seriously as a collectible item

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the 1970s, 1980s.

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Since then, the prices have been moving up very strongly, particularly for pearlware.

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Pearlware is a cult thing at the moment, so prices are very strong.

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Well, I'll keep hold of it. Thanks!

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Stoke City Football Club, as it was in 1892,

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and as it was in 1938

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with perhaps its most famous son - there we go - sitting in there somewhere...

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Stanley Matthews.

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You're a collecting nut!

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Yes. I've collected ever since I went to Stoke in 1960 with me Dad.

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Since then, I've just done solid collecting, but purely only Stoke City.

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You've also got this...

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which is the results book for Stoke City from...

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the 20th August 1949 all the way through. Now, where do you get something like this?

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This particular item came up for auction at the local Stoke City Fair some years ago.

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There wasn't an awful great deal of interest at the time,

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and hence the price I paid for it some years ago was only £40.

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Well, I think that's a gift! But it also... It's amazing to me. We've got here the Stoke City Crockery.

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This was when the Victoria Ground was to be demolished.

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An auction was held.

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There was approximately 36 to 39 sets of these cups, and myself and two friends bought all the lot.

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Having looked at the selection that you've brought here, there's no question that in my mind -

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this is the best part.

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We've got two gold medals - one for the Swifts...

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Stoke Swifts. That was what they were known as

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-before they became Stoke FC...

-Yes.

-..before they became Stoke City.

-And the date of this one is 1888.

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Now football medals,

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particularly gold ones, just don't turn up.

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They turn up very seldom and when they do,

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there is a terrific amount of competition for them.

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It's lovely you've got the photograph too.

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In the right auction, this little frame might fetch perhaps as much as £1,000

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I wish you luck with filling any gaps you might still have. Thanks!

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-Thank you!

-OK.

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It's a good-looking English watch.

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-Do you know what date it is?

-Er...1920.

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-My husband's grandfather's had it as long as that, so...

-As long as that? Right.

-Yes.

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Well, let's look at it a bit closer.

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It's got this strange pendant, which tells me that it's a repeater.

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So, do you ever make it repeat or not?

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-We've tried, but...

-With no luck?

-No.

-There's a little slide here,

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which you move to allow the plunger to go down. Very stiff indeed.

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SERIES OF CHIMES

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Did you hear that?

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-Yes.

-It's very quiet, but it gave you the hours, "ding-dong, ding-dongs" for the quarters,

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then a single ding - so it is what we call a half-quarter repeater.

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That gives you the time to the nearest 7½ minutes, when you were in a dark room or something like that.

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-Yes.

-Now, it's what we call a consular case...

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..so it's got this big chunky outer case and a beautiful gold dial, a lovely machine-turned centre,

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beautiful raised gold numerals,

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and looks to me to be the original hands.

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Have you ever seen inside it?

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-No.

-OK.

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At the six o'clock position, there's a nib where you put your finger...

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Wow!

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Not only is it half-quarter repeating...

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but it is signed "John Roger Arnold".

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It has a spring detant escapement,

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and, looking down here, you can see

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a blued steel helical spring to set it running

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-and his typical "z" balance.

-Right.

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This is a really very, very interesting find.

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And the case...

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a full set of London hallmarks,

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18-carat gold...1811.

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-Oh, right.

-110 years before you remember it in your grandfather's possession.

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And a lovely heavy watch in the hand. At auction now,

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-it would fetch towards £15,000.

-Gosh!

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-And you MUST insure it for a minimum of £20,000.

-Right. That's wonderful!

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Interesting bit of ceramic history. It's the first Dressler tunnel kiln built in England in 1915.

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-Art Nouveau design - looking back, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Majolica glazes,

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Art Nouveau, so...

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but up-to-date in kiln technology.

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-How many do you think were made?

-Very few, I should think.

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So it's been a rare piece, but probably not a huge value, £100 to a tile collector, something like that.

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Well, I think definitely not Thomas Somerscales. It's definitely, as you rightly suspect,

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a later copy in the manner of. I think you'd have to call it a fake,

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-cos it's got the monogram.

-Yeah.

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This is a sweet Bing table-top train set.

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-This was an auction purchase?

-Yes.

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Did you buy it recently?

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Four or five years ago.

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-How much did you pay for it?

-£50.

-You did very well.

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These have become very desirable. This is in very nice condition.

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It's got a very nice little station with it, which is in superb condition, and, believe it or not,

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it's probably going to be worth

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-maybe as much as £200 or so at auction.

-That's nice.

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These have the look of somebody with a good eye. You clearly have got it,

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because all these things have got something about them

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which is appealing. If we go back in time, you've got a Wedgwood transfer-printed tile.

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-Yes.

-These were put round fireplaces.

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Um...this one is "September",

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so it's obviously one of the seasons,

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-and there would originally have been a whole set.

-I have the whole set.

-Oh, very nice. Oh, very nice.

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-I didn't bring them all for fear of damaging them.

-That's sensible.

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-Have we got a mark on? Yes, we have.

-They are all Wedgwood actually.

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The Wedgwood mark across there, dating from the 1870s.

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Um, a set of those are going to be worth around...

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-£250 to £350.

-I see.

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-I love this.

-I've had that for a long time.

-Do you know what it is?

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Er, well, it's creamware, obviously, isn't it? And I don't know what factory,

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-as so many factories did creamware, didn't they?

-Absolutely. It's a later development of creamware.

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It's creamware with a slight blue tinge on it.

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You can see that very clearly here on the foot rim. And this is pearlware.

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This one dates from about 1795.

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What's joyous about it are these completely mad birds -

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I suppose they're doing a sort of love dance.

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-Yes.

-Very charming. That's going to be worth around

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£250 to £350, maybe even a bit more.

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My first question is how did you come by this marvellous collection of beautiful ladies?

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The two bronzes were family pieces.

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We've had them a long time. I'm not sure of their origin.

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The other piece...

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my father bought a company from a 90-year-old gentleman in Bradford who was going into a nursing home,

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so he persuaded my father to buy the reclining lady plus two others.

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-I

-wouldn't have taken much persuading! We'll come to her later.

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-Right.

-Perhaps if we start with this one...

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This is Austrian, almost certainly by a company called Bergmann.

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Annoyingly, I couldn't see any mark, but it's such wonderful quality that it's almost certainly by Bergmann,

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who produced cold-painted bronzes - bronzes with decoration that's painted on

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-rather than fired.

-Right.

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You've got a Moorish girl here, helping the lady out of the bath.

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We see the wonderful naked body beneath.

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-Yes.

-It's very sexy. It's an absolutely marvellous piece.

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It dates from around about 1910.

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At auction today, it's worth £2,000 or £3,000.

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-Yes.

-Maybe even a little bit more.

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-It's very, very nice.

-Yes.

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-This one is double-walled.

-Yes.

-We've got an inner vessel,

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which contains the tea, and an outer vessel which has been pierced

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with this honeycomb pattern.

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This idea has been pinched straight from China of the 17th century.

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This is particularly common coming from Te-hua, Fukien province, in Southern China,

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on their blanc de Chine wares. From the 1650s onwards they did this, what was called Lin-lung work -

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devil's work - and it's been copied 100 years later in Staffordshire.

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A very nice and uncommon object,

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in basically good condition.

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Um, that's going to be worth...

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around...£600 to £1,000.

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-Really?

-Very nice thing.

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-A slight problem with these. If you took that to San Francisco today without the right licences...

-Yes.

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..they'd destroy it in front of you,

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-because the ivory...

-Oh, yes!

-There are problems with import and export.

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If you ever did decide to sell it

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in the American markets, you'd have to get the right licences.

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-Right.

-She's suffered, sadly, in a way that these things do. She's lost the tip of a finger.

-Yes.

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-The ivory has dried out slightly - there's a crack there.

-Yes.

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-It COULD be cleaned. My inclination is to leave it alone.

-Really?

-I have to say.

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It's by a man called Philippe, who's signed it on the base.

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She's probably worth much the same - perhaps £2,000 or £3,000. Maybe a bit more.

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-Right, yes.

-Very popular, these theatrical figures.

-Yes.

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-That is a rare item.

-Yes.

-Do you know what it is?

-Yes, I know what it is.

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-Not many people would know what this is.

-No.

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-Shall I tell you a story about how I came to get that?

-Do.

-It was a church fair.

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They were raising money, and an auctioneer brought that in for people to guess what make it was,

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-what year it was and what its purpose was.

-Right.

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And...you paid to have a guess.

0:22:290:22:33

-Yes.

-And I guessed right.

0:22:330:22:35

You break an egg into there, put the lid on,

0:22:350:22:39

shake it and, suddenly, you've got scrambled eggs!

0:22:390:22:43

It's a very clever idea, and they were made by Wedgwood

0:22:430:22:48

in the 18th century and early 19th century.

0:22:480:22:51

-They're not common at all.

-I haven't tried it!

-You haven't?

0:22:510:22:56

-I think £250, £350, no trouble at all.

-Right!

0:22:560:23:00

It's wonderful! You've a great eye. Thank you very much for bringing it in.

0:23:000:23:05

Sexy ladies reclining on a couch, are very often found in art -

0:23:050:23:10

Velazquez, Manet...

0:23:100:23:12

and obviously, the most famous of all the carvings

0:23:120:23:16

is the Canova of Madame Recamier reclining.

0:23:160:23:21

And you know, one's mind immediately goes to those. You commented that you've noticed

0:23:210:23:27

-people touching her.

-Yes.

-It is wonderfully tactile, and I think

0:23:270:23:32

that's really the clue to the value of this.

0:23:320:23:35

-We don't know who it's by, sadly.

-No.

-It's almost certainly Italian.

-Yes.

0:23:350:23:41

I would suspect she dates almost exactly the same as your chryselephantine figure...

0:23:410:23:48

-Yes.

-From the 1930s.

-Right.

0:23:480:23:50

Cold-painted decoration - this decoration here - which has survived pretty well,

0:23:500:23:56

and you've got a mixture of stones.

0:23:560:23:59

and the textures and the forms are just so beautifully observed. It's absolutely marvellous.

0:23:590:24:05

-I'd imagine she would make somewhere in excess of £10,000.

-Really?

0:24:050:24:10

-Which one are you taking home?

-I like this lady.

-Yeah.

0:24:100:24:15

-I know which one you're taking!

-I'll take her.

-Right!

0:24:150:24:18

This is a complicated thing. Is that typical of what people bring?

0:24:180:24:23

It is. It's what I HOPE they're going to bring. This is a lovely 19th-century microscope and, yes,

0:24:230:24:30

-one of the best things I've seen so far.

-"Miscellaneous" is the most difficult of all disciplines here,

0:24:300:24:37

-because it's everything, isn't it?

-True. It's the most exciting.

0:24:370:24:41

You never know if something like this will come out of a bag,

0:24:410:24:46

or a postcard or a bit of broken tin. It's great!

0:24:460:24:50

-What makes you sort of groan inwardly when it's brought up?

-Bits of things.

0:24:500:24:57

People who have part of an object and want to know what this handle actually wound,

0:24:570:25:03

what this lid came from.

0:25:030:25:05

-It doesn't happen that often.

-You could, in fact, start a new trend.

0:25:050:25:10

You could say, "This is worth collecting" and the word goes round.

0:25:100:25:14

-That's an excellent idea! Why didn't

-I

-think of that?

0:25:140:25:18

Oh, it's "Laying the foundation stone of the armoury at Burslem,

0:25:180:25:23

"in commemoration of the coronation of Edward VIII."

0:25:230:25:28

and it's got the badge of the First Volunteer Battalion of the Prince of Wales North Staffordshire Regiment.

0:25:280:25:35

It's a very handsome trowel with a lovely carved ivory handle,

0:25:350:25:40

and I see it's got a further inscription on the back.

0:25:400:25:44

"Owing to the King's illness, the presentation was postponed

0:25:440:25:49

"to August the 5th

0:25:490:25:51

"and the foundation stone of the armoury was laid on the 16th October 1902."

0:25:510:25:58

That's rather nice. It was actually made by a silversmith, John Round, and that's his maker's mark there.

0:25:580:26:05

Right.

0:26:050:26:07

Made in Sheffield in 1899.

0:26:070:26:10

These are not terribly saleable unless they've particularly interesting inscriptions.

0:26:100:26:15

-This one HAS got one. What normally happens is, the inscriptions are erased and used as cake servers.

-Yes.

0:26:150:26:23

-Normally, these aren't valuable.

-No.

-But this one, because it is interesting, is worth £400 to £500.

0:26:230:26:29

-Oh, that's lovely!

-Thank you.

0:26:290:26:31

So, this mysterious YLVA... It's not a youth club or anything.

0:26:310:26:36

-It's actually SYLVAC - Sylvac.

-Yes, Sylvac.

0:26:370:26:41

-Sylvac, which is collectable. Do you collect other pieces of Sylvac?

-Yes I do.

-What have you got?

0:26:410:26:48

Um, I've got plaques, vases, jugs.

0:26:480:26:51

-Dogs?

-Um, corgi dogs.

-Corgi dogs.

-I've got four corgi dogs.

0:26:510:26:56

I love this chap with the teapot head. He's completely flat!

0:26:560:27:00

-Have you ever seen another one?

-No. I've been Portobello Road in London,

0:27:000:27:05

-all the auctions...

-How much would I have to offer you?

0:27:050:27:08

-Go on, tell me.

-I don't want to sell.

-You don't?

-No.

0:27:080:27:12

-What's the most you've ever paid for a piece of Sylvac?

-Um...

-Ever?

-£56.

0:27:120:27:18

-I think this is worth £500, £600, £700.

-Ah, you're joking!

-No.

-Oh!

-I've never seen another one.

0:27:180:27:25

Oh, lovely. I'm not going to touch it again. I daren't take it home now.

0:27:250:27:29

I've seen many ships' accounts and copy letter books. Mostly, they're terribly boring but here...

0:27:320:27:38

What a gruesome tale unfolds when you read these!

0:27:380:27:42

Gruesome, and at the same time, rather fascinating.

0:27:420:27:46

These are slaves that were sold, and the people who bought them,

0:27:460:27:51

down on this side here. This is incredible.

0:27:510:27:54

"The sale of 234 slaves imported in the ship Dalrymple -

0:27:540:27:59

"Pat Fairweather, master - out of Africa."

0:27:590:28:03

Here they all are and the prices they all made.

0:28:030:28:07

He bought two men there at £40 each - £80.

0:28:070:28:11

So it goes on. The accounts go on,

0:28:110:28:14

and on to the following page. This is 1778, don't forget, and the price here, the sum total, is £6,906.

0:28:140:28:21

-That's a hell of a lot of money, isn't it?

-It is, in those days.

0:28:210:28:25

Quite remarkable.

0:28:250:28:27

Anyway, yes, absolutely - this is a great story and really needs cataloguing up incredibly well.

0:28:270:28:35

We have "to be sold by auction". This is unusual in itself.

0:28:350:28:39

This is an auction catalogue of the bounty, a prize to the Essex. Now, the Essex,

0:28:390:28:46

obviously a private ship of war, and they stole from this ship from Amsterdam all these bits -

0:28:460:28:53

29 hogsheads of clay'd sugar and so on, muscovado sugar, coffee, tobacco.

0:28:530:28:58

The nice thing about this - because normally, these were thrown away afterwards -

0:28:580:29:04

-you've got what everything made.

-At the end of the sale.

0:29:040:29:08

You very rarely ever see sale catalogues like that.

0:29:080:29:12

You've compounded this. I mean, you've got all this material here. This here, the Essex -

0:29:120:29:19

which was mentioned in that particular sale catalogue - you've got the wages book of the Essex.

0:29:190:29:25

-Yes.

-1784. You notice very interesting things.

0:29:250:29:29

Here, these ship's seamen... These are their wages, and it says here,

0:29:290:29:35

"Run away in the West Indies". Remarkable.

0:29:350:29:38

The other thing very evocative of its period...

0:29:380:29:42

A lot of these seamen couldn't write, and you see here,

0:29:420:29:46

James Hodgson, then "his mark".

0:29:460:29:48

-He scratched it in there.

-His mark, yes.

-That's quite...

-For his wages.

0:29:480:29:53

Tell me the history of them.

0:29:530:29:56

They were going to be destroyed, and my father, approximately 50 years ago, rescued them, really.

0:29:560:30:03

-Where were they before...?

-They were in an old farm building.

0:30:030:30:07

-Yes.

-And I think they was clearing it out and someone was told just to burn them all

0:30:070:30:14

and Father rescued a few of them.

0:30:140:30:16

-Just these few? Because you've got receipts.

-There was a lot more - big chests full.

0:30:160:30:23

One dreams of finding this - Liverpool merchants dealing in slaves, sugar, and all the rest.

0:30:230:30:31

-it is absolutely incredible. Now, it needs cataloguing.

-Yes.

-It needs going through very fully,

0:30:310:30:38

but my feeling is it's probably a very valuable collection.

0:30:380:30:42

-You'd have to pay in the region of £5,000.

-You think so?

-For this collection, yes.

0:30:420:30:48

-Your father did a wonderful thing in rescuing these.

-Thank you very much.

0:30:480:30:52

Rupert, the owner of this has been told it's a fake.

0:30:520:30:56

-How do you know?

-Well, there's been a bit of publicity about this man.

0:30:560:31:02

He's a bus driver and fakes them in his kitchen. I was warned I might see a Picabia drawing at a Roadshow.

0:31:020:31:09

Now, why else? Well, because, if you look at this face,

0:31:090:31:14

there's something curiously modern about it. It's like a shopkeeper's dummy.

0:31:140:31:20

That sort of gives it away.

0:31:200:31:23

-Picabia wouldn't have done that.

-Is the discoloration to age it?

0:31:230:31:27

Yes. That's clever. He's made some very strong tea

0:31:270:31:31

and he's painted the paper

0:31:310:31:33

to make it look as though it's been damaged by age and light.

0:31:330:31:39

-Is this intrinsically worthless?

-Good question. I think so. I think fakes are worthless, full stop,

0:31:390:31:46

but some people disagree and like to see fakers fool the "experts".

0:31:460:31:50

At a casual glance this does pass for a Picabia. There's a lesson to be learned here.

0:31:510:31:57

You have to look very, very carefully and question everything.

0:31:570:32:02

I used to go in the drawer, take it out and pretend she was my little sister.

0:32:020:32:08

-Well, you've treated her very well because...

-She's lovely.

-..she's in superb condition.

0:32:080:32:14

This is poured wax, as opposed to having a composition underneath it, and a little thin layer of wax.

0:32:140:32:21

So this was literally poured into a mould,

0:32:210:32:25

then the eyes would be put up through this shoulder plate.

0:32:250:32:29

In the middle of the 19th century, in England, we were really good at making wax dolls.

0:32:290:32:36

And the famous makers of the time were Montanari, Meach and Marsh.

0:32:370:32:42

I think this is probably by Montanari. Now, this actual whole dress is silk taffeta

0:32:440:32:50

and it is SO fragile, yet it's in wonderful condition.

0:32:500:32:54

So this real hair...

0:32:540:32:57

is individually inserted into the wax,

0:32:570:33:00

wonderful, real human hair.

0:33:000:33:02

Glass eyes... Quite a petulant face.

0:33:020:33:05

-Beautiful.

-Lovely little face.

-She's beautiful.

0:33:050:33:09

So, a Montanari doll in the original clothes.

0:33:090:33:12

I'd say an auction value of between £700 and £900.

0:33:120:33:16

Lovely!

0:33:180:33:20

It's most unusual to find, on the bottom of a piece of Shelley,

0:33:200:33:24

a name and a date. Who was GM Hitchen?

0:33:240:33:27

That's my maiden name, and I was allowed to paint this tea set for my own wedding present in 1934.

0:33:270:33:33

-Really? So were you working for Shelley at the time?

-I didn't work for Shelley. I didn't work.

0:33:330:33:40

We purchased the tea set so that we could paint it for a client in red carnations,

0:33:400:33:47

but we couldn't find the right red.

0:33:470:33:50

The client got fed up and said, "Don't bother."

0:33:500:33:53

So the boss of the works at the pottery said,

0:33:530:33:57

"You can paint that to your own design for your wedding present." So that's a one-off -

0:33:570:34:03

So I painted it myself,

0:34:030:34:06

did all the banding, lining, painting, and he let me have it

0:34:060:34:12

for me wedding present.

0:34:120:34:14

-Did you do the gilding too?

-Yes - real burnished gold.

-Right.

0:34:140:34:18

NOT the, er...

0:34:180:34:21

the cheap gold. And if you upset a pot of gold on your overall, your overall's taken off you

0:34:210:34:29

-and burned to recover the gold.

-Really?

-Yes.

-Not many people make their own wedding present.

0:34:290:34:35

-No.

-It's all still there - six cups and saucers.

-All complete.

0:34:350:34:40

-All complete and in lovely condition too.

-Yes, yes.

-I'd have thought, commercially,

0:34:400:34:45

-with such a lovely story, it's worth about £300 to £400 for the set.

-Yes.

0:34:450:34:51

But, of course, you'll never sell it. No.

0:34:510:34:54

This VR cipher denotes this handkerchief as belonging to Queen Victoria.

0:34:540:34:59

-Yes.

-How did you come to have one of Queen Victoria's handkerchiefs?

-Well,

0:34:590:35:05

my great-aunt used to string the pearls for Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra.

0:35:050:35:11

And when she retired, Queen Alexandra gave her this box,

0:35:110:35:16

-which is Victoria's handkerchief box.

-Right.

-And all the things inside it.

0:35:160:35:21

So the box was reputedly Queen Victoria's, and this is one of her handkerchiefs?

0:35:210:35:27

-That's right. Yes.

-Obviously, with that family provenance,

0:35:270:35:31

-I think it's obviously indisputable.

-Yes.

-Um...now, um, I mean, my feeling is

0:35:310:35:37

-that this handkerchief and this boullework box are probably worth £200.

-Oh!

0:35:370:35:43

-Well, who do you think this little drawing's by?

-Well, I'm hoping you're going to say John Constable.

0:35:430:35:49

So many people come into the Antiques Roadshow saying,

0:35:490:35:53

"I've got this Constable" and so many people one has to disappoint.

0:35:530:35:59

-but I do think this stands a good chance of being by Constable.

-Hope so.

-It's fascinating,

0:35:590:36:05

because it's Constable at the very, very beginning of his life, probably in the sort of late 1790s.

0:36:050:36:12

His life was difficult at the beginning as an artist,

0:36:120:36:16

-because his father wanted him to join him in his watermill business in Suffolk.

-Right.

0:36:160:36:22

And he really wanted to be an artist and he studied with the watercolourist John Thomas Smith,

0:36:220:36:30

who was known as "Antiquity Smith".

0:36:300:36:32

You can certainly see influences of his style in this.

0:36:320:36:37

you can see the outline of the pen and the nice wash shadings...

0:36:370:36:43

-and of course, at the same time, what is very typical of Constable - this Dutch influence.

-Yes.

0:36:430:36:49

He was a product of the Norwich School, the East Anglian School.

0:36:490:36:54

-So would he be getting a training?

-He would have been training.

0:36:540:36:59

That's why you see the influence of John Thomas Smith's style.

0:36:590:37:03

But, um, where did you get this, actually?

0:37:030:37:06

-They were bought as a pair in 1971 at an auction in Suffolk.

-In Suffolk?

0:37:080:37:13

-That's fascinating. Obviously, Constable came from Suffolk.

-Indeed.

0:37:130:37:18

-That ties in neatly.

-They were bought as being from his sketchbook.

0:37:180:37:23

Yes, and I think that in order definitely to establish this little drawing, which is so fascinating -

0:37:230:37:29

such a wonderful piece of history and such a wonderful indication of his origins -

0:37:290:37:35

-you would need now for it to be seen by the Tate Gallery.

-Right.

0:37:350:37:39

If they gave it the OK, then you've got a real Constable.

0:37:390:37:43

-Right.

-And I think you probably have.

0:37:430:37:45

-You're probably now expecting me to say it's worth £300,000.

-No.

0:37:450:37:51

-Knowing if it's by him, that would make the value for me.

-I'm glad you take that view,

0:37:510:37:56

because as an early almost curiosity by the artist, it's not worth an enormous amount of money.

0:37:560:38:03

-Yes.

-Perhaps you should insure it for £1,200 or £1,500 - something like that.

-Yes.

0:38:030:38:09

-At last, an almost genuine Constable on the Roadshow!

-It's still "almost"! Thank you.

0:38:090:38:14

My grandfather actually bought it.

0:38:140:38:18

This is the lady who, um... had the collection,

0:38:180:38:23

and you notice she's wearing these pearl earrings and that ring in the picture.

0:38:230:38:29

It's so good to have a photograph of someone actually wearing them. The pearls -

0:38:290:38:35

let's just have a look at those first,

0:38:350:38:38

because these are very classic design. So wearable - just drop pearls at the end of diamond bars.

0:38:380:38:44

It's interesting because, if you have a look at the pearls, they're not actually very well matched.

0:38:440:38:51

-No.

-On the ears, you can't tell the difference,

0:38:510:38:55

but close-up,

0:38:550:38:57

one of them is more pointed than the other.

0:38:570:39:01

-Yes, right.

-I think, looking at the surface nacre of these pearls,

0:39:010:39:06

their sort of quality and style, and particularly their period,

0:39:060:39:10

they would be natural pearls rather than cultured pearls.

0:39:100:39:14

-Being natural pearls, they're pretty big.

-Yes.

0:39:140:39:18

And you've got these lovely, simple collet-set stones in between.

0:39:180:39:24

Those, I would think, by themselves...

0:39:250:39:29

are going to be worth something in the region of maybe £4,000,

0:39:290:39:34

-just by themselves.

-Oh, my God!

-But may we move on a bit?

0:39:340:39:38

-Yes!

-Um, you mentioned that,

0:39:380:39:41

in the photograph, she was wearing this solitaire diamond ring. When you get close up to it with a lens,

0:39:410:39:48

you see that it's got quite a lot of carbon spots in it.

0:39:480:39:52

-Oh.

-The more marks inside a diamond, the more the value goes down.

0:39:520:39:56

If I have a look at that one,

0:39:560:39:59

the centre diamond is relatively clean and it's a pretty setting -

0:39:590:40:04

in platinum with smaller diamonds going around the stone itself.

0:40:040:40:09

-Sapphire and diamond bar brooch.

-I remember her wearing that.

0:40:090:40:13

-Did she wear it high up on the neck?

-On her lapel,

0:40:130:40:17

-if she was wearing a jacket.

-Did she wear it at a rakish slant?

-Yes.

0:40:170:40:22

These are Burmese sapphires and diamonds - the old cushion-shape diamonds.

0:40:220:40:28

That's a classic brooch from around about 1910 or 1915.

0:40:280:40:32

This is a pendant necklace,

0:40:320:40:34

with pale blue aquamarines in pearl frames.

0:40:340:40:38

That was my great-grandmother bought that for my grandmother's 21st,

0:40:390:40:45

or round about her 21st birthday.

0:40:450:40:48

It was given to my mother on her 21st and then to me.

0:40:480:40:52

-Will YOU pass it on?

-I haven't any girls, so...!

0:40:520:40:56

My favourite piece - the diamond heart-shaped locket.

0:40:580:41:02

Super, great big, fat heart with a star, but what I like about it...

0:41:020:41:07

If we turn it over,

0:41:070:41:09

you see that, inside, there is a rock crystal cover

0:41:090:41:12

and then you can put inside there a photograph or a lock of hair

0:41:120:41:18

The Victorians were such practical people. You have a pendant, but you could put something inside it too.

0:41:180:41:25

-How does it open?

-Let's have a look.

0:41:250:41:28

You've got a very, very fine little ridge going round the outside. If we pull that back...

0:41:280:41:34

Oh, right, quite easy.

0:41:340:41:37

There we are. The diamond ear studs...

0:41:380:41:40

They really match in with the period of this.

0:41:400:41:44

These are made in around about 1915, something like that. Very simple set, platinum mounted.

0:41:440:41:51

Each of the diamonds weighs about a carat and a half. Nice, clean stones - well made, brilliant.

0:41:510:41:57

But you've got a PAIR of stones, so those, you see, by themselves are extremely commercial.

0:41:570:42:04

Now, prices. Gem-set pendant -

0:42:040:42:07

maybe around about £600.

0:42:070:42:09

The sapphire and diamond bar brooch, with chunky diamonds and sapphires - that's probably worth £2,500-£3,000.

0:42:100:42:18

-Adding up, isn't it?

-Yes, I'll say!

0:42:190:42:22

Um, diamond heart-shaped locket - hearts are incredibly popular. The break value of the diamonds

0:42:220:42:28

is at least around about £2,500,

0:42:280:42:31

so we're looking, just for that one, at about £3,000 to £4,000.

0:42:310:42:36

Then your diamond earrings.

0:42:360:42:39

They are something of a piece de resistance here.

0:42:390:42:43

The diamond ring - that's going to be worth in the region of £3,000 to £4,000 for that

0:42:440:42:50

and then those in with it mean those are worth about £5,000 to £6,000.

0:42:500:42:56

That with the flawed stone is not as valuable.

0:42:560:43:01

We're looking at a total saleroom value, for the whole collection,

0:43:010:43:05

of maybe something in the region of £20,000 to £25,000.

0:43:050:43:09

Right, don't wear them when we go down the pub!

0:43:130:43:16

This has been one of the busiest days our experts have known,

0:43:160:43:21

with an extraordinary range of items from Queen Victoria's hankie to the ship's accounts from a slave trader,

0:43:210:43:27

and the first Constable that I've ever seen outside a museum.

0:43:270:43:31

AND I think I've met most of the people of Biddulph! Until next week, goodbye.

0:43:310:43:37

Subtitles by Valery Tough BBC Scotland 2000

0:43:500:43:55

E-mail us at [email protected]

0:43:550:43:58

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