Glamis Castle 2 Antiques Roadshow

After a fascinating Roadshow last week, we've returned to Glamis Castle in Angus -

the childhood home of the Queen Mother.

The dining-room walls constitute the Queen Mother's family tree -

they're covered by portraits of her ancestors.

In 1767, John Lyon, the 9th Earl of Strathmore, and the Queen Mother's great, great, great-grandfather,

married Mary Bowes, from an old and respected Durham family.

Eventually. their names and arms came to be combined as Bowes-Lyon.

The Queen Mother, then Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, was born on August 4th 1900, the ninth of ten children.

Her mother embroidered the names of all her children on the canopy of her bed.

Although she wasn't born at Glamis, Elizabeth spent much of a very happy childhood here.

As a little girl, she said her favourite hobby

was "liking people", and during today's programme we'll be finding out how, over the years,

the nation returned the compliment.

As well as telling that story,

we'll show objects from recent Roadshows that you won't yet have seen.

So let's start in Barnstaple.

It was my auntie's for - ever since I can remember - and when she died, it passed on to me and before that

it belonged to her eldest brother-in-law who lived in Plymouth. That's about it.

-When you went to your auntie's, did you like it?

-Yes, I did.

-You did.

When she moved to a nursing home she said, "You'd better take the painting."

-That's nice, isn't it?

-Yes.

-And you don't know who it's by?

-No, I've got no idea at all.

-It is signed. You didn't notice?

-No. Is that halfway up by the cherries?

-I knew there was something.

-Yes. William - or "W Duffield".

-1880...

-52. 1852.

-Yes, something. I knew it was.

-So he's a nearly West Country painter.

-Ah.

-Bath.

-Bath. Ah.

-Right.

-Bath. Self-taught to begin with.

But then he went to Belgium to study under a famous Belgian artist called Baron Wappers,

a famous teacher.

And really what these Victorian paintings are about, right in the heart of the century,

is craftsmanship.

We only have to study this goblet

-to see how the cherries are both inside and out.

-Yes.

One cherry's darker than the other.

You might imagine if you've seen...

-Victorian paintings of this period how - when this is cleaned - this will glow.

-Yeah.

This picture - it's probably never been touched.

-Not to my knowledge, no.

-And - fine...

-there are things we must pay attention to for the future - it is flaking.

-Yes.

There's a hole. Those don't matter.

How is the surface of this picture? Perfect condition.

The only negative aspect of this painting,

-to put it into a slightly different class, is dead birds.

-Dead birds.

Actually, this bird is so beautifully painted and it could be in anybody's larder - who cares?

But you know there are squeamish people in the world,

and most of them live in America.

-That's who pays the money.

-Um, but I... It's certainly worth £5,000 or £6,000.

-Really?

-You do surprise me.

-Mmm.

-Are you waiting for the tea boy?

-I am.

-Let's have a look - ooh!

-Are you a messy family?

-No.

-Why have you got this?

-It was left to me, as a family heirloom. Passed down.

-Were they messy?

-Not that I know of.

I've seen these in books but never in the flesh - incredibly rare.

Let's have a look at the back.

Here we are. It says "Davenport patent drip-preventative saucer"

and they've gone to great trouble putting in a very nice little, mm...

Chinese lotus frieze,

giving you these ridges, so if you're a particularly nervous person

and the tea is slopping everywhere, then it goes into these receptacles

and it doesn't slop around.

It wasn't the most successful patent.

Some of these stumpwork pictures

have a date worked into them, and you can see here - ink...

where they've done

the original design to work up

in silver threads. The snake around Adam and Eve

is done in silver threads, um, and you've got little bits of sequin,

perhaps cornelian bead, for the eyes

of these wonderful animals here, but have you ever found a date?

Only on the back. My grandmother wrote "In the reign of Charles I"

but whether she was right or not, I don't know.

Charles I.

Executed in the mid-17th century.

-It could well be of that date.

-Really? As old as that.

-It's a very early piece.

I would actually date it to slightly later than that.

Some of these are much brighter and this has faded slightly,

so I'm going to be conservative and say somewhere between £3,000 and £5,000.

-Gosh!

-So it's a wonderful object.

-Yes.

I love this blue ground, this deep cobalt underglaze blue

and the painting and the whole shape of it,

and these little Cupids with these wreaths on top

-are absolutely gorgeous.

-Yes.

-And have they come through the family?

They came through my wife's family.

-Her grandmother had them. Possibly her great, great-grandfather.

-Going back a few generations.

-Yes.

-Do you know what they are?

-We've been told they're late 19th century.

One person who looked at them suggested they might be Bloor Derby.

-They are actually Minton.

-Really?

-A very fine factory in Stoke-on-Trent.

Minton of the very finest period. I mean, the 1830s, '40s

of Minton is probably the...one of the greatest factories ever made.

Well, that's a real surprise.

-Is it? And they're beautiful. They're called the New Vases, when they came out in the 1830s.

-Right.

They're based vaguely upon Dresden and what is particularly...

-lovely about them, I think, is that on the front they're painted with figure subjects.

-Yes.

But on the...on the back, they have landscapes, which is really rather marvellous.

There has been a bit of damage on this one. Well, quite a lot.

The cover has been broken, hasn't it... And been riveted together, which is fun to see.

-That one is damaged. This one looks absolutely perfect, doesn't it?

-I think that one's probably OK.

That's super, isn't it? Lovely quality.

I mean, to make a vase like that - the little figure on top is absolutely lovely.

-The amount of work that goes into it.

-Oh, enormous amount of work.

Each flower is separately made. The whole thing is absolutely beautiful.

-Have you had them valued and insured?

-Um...

-They're insured for just under £900. That's our last valuation.

-They're worth a packet more than that.

-Oh! Really?

-I think the last pair that have been sold

fetched something around about £4,000.

-Really?

-So I think you ought to insure them, even with a bit of damage, which is not too worrying,

-something like about £5,000.

-Really?

-So they're Minton, to be insured for £5,000.

-It's nice to know.

-And they're very, very beautiful.

Nobody who knew the Queen Mother in her early days

would have been at all surprised to learn that she became well known for her great sense of fun.

Revelling in the freedom here, she was known by her family as "the imp" and "merry mischief".

One game which they called Repelling Raiders involved climbing the spiral staircase

to the top of the highest tower and lying in wait for castle guests.

As visitors approached the door,

a welcoming cascade of water would descend from 90 feet above.

It's not known how often Miss Elizabeth got away with that. She had other tricks up her sleeve.

Having five older brothers probably presented a challenge to her.

Her younger brother David was her real partner.

They had a den in the grounds, "the flea house", where they hid

to eat apples and sweets and, it is said, to smoke Woodbines.

When she wanted to, Elizabeth could play the proper little hostess.

She entertained neighbours in the drawing room,

having ordered tea all by herself at the age of four.

But as she grew into a teenager, the First World War changed life here at Glamis, as we'll hear later.

What we're looking at here are two objects in their original boxes.

I bang on about keeping objects in their boxes

and this is a very good indication to show why.

Here we've got all the details on the outside. It says that it's a Tri-ang Gyrocycle.

It's in perfect condition. Whose was it?

It was given to my brother when he was very small and probably too young to play with it.

-I suspect it appealed to my father's sense of humour.

-Yes.

It used to come out at Christmas and wobble round the room then fall over,

-and everybody was very amused, then it went back in its box for another year.

-Hence its perfect condition.

-Can I take it out?

-Of course.

I feel I don't deserve to be playing with something this...this perfect.

Here we have a celluloid figure sitting on a bicycle

and the clever thing is that in the front wheel, which is very heavy, is a gyroscope,

so you wind the string round,

give it a yank,

the gyroscope starts spinning and of course the toy keeps upright, and it's a miracle, isn't it?

Especially as it goes so slowly.

Exactly. It doesn't keep upright permanently. It's a little bit...

-Very wobbly.

-A bit unbalanced,

but just the concept of the toy I think was so clever.

The other reason I like it is that it's...

putting contemporary technology - this is technology of the 1930s -

into an object. But you can probably tell me the year that it was purchased, almost.

Er, yes, probably 1934.

It's a wonderful thing and lovely condition, and value today -

because of all the things I said

about condition and box and so on - about £150 or £200. So it's lovely - continue to look after that.

Let's pop him away and look

and see what's in the other original box,

which is much smaller and much older and all very exciting

because I like to look at a box and know what's inside,

and there's no question about what could be in a box this size and this shape,

which is a lovely pocket globe.

It's got one or two little dints on it, but in general terms it's in very good condition.

Here we have the maker's name - "Lane's Improved Globe, London".

"Lane's" is almost certain to be Nicholas Lane,

who worked in Southwark, not a million miles from here, between about 1775 and 1786.

And in fact if you have a look at some of the detailed names

down here - let's go down to Australia, always a good place to start.

The whole of Australia is sketched in,

whereas on some early 18th century globes, part of Australia's missing.

But it's called New Holland and there's Van Diemen's Land and so on,

so this is a globe absolutely of its period when people were still discovering,

investigating and charting unknown territories.

The case itself is covered in fish skin, which has then been painted black,

which gives a very hard resilient surface, and inside we have...

the map of the heavens with the various stars and signs of the zodiac charted.

In this condition, which is very good, even though there's a little crack just running through

the top of the box,

we'd be talking about between £2,000 and £3,000.

-That's an auction price, so insurance would be a little bit higher than that.

-Thank you.

-It's a goddess of some sort.

-A goddess.

-That's all I know.

-Chinese, Japanese, English?

-Chinese?

-Chinese. Very good, yes, absolutely.

It is a goddess. It's the Goddess of Mercy, Kuan Yin, and she...

is the most famous of the Chinese divinities.

-Oh.

-Where did it come from?

-Um...

-from an inheritance from my cousin, whose husband used to travel quite a bit.

-Did he? All over the world?

-Yes.

Right. It's 17th century - pretty ancient, made during the reign of the Emperor Kangxi.

He reigned from 1662 to 1722.

These became very popular.

They were shipped over to Europe and, in fact, became misidentified.

And because it's a woman and a child, they were thought to be the Virgin Mary,

-which is really rather wonderful.

-Oh, doesn't look anything like her.

-Well, no, absolutely not at all.

A nice figure. Little bit of damage. Arm off here and a tiny chip, but not too serious.

-That's going to be worth around £1,500 to £2,500.

-Ooh, well!

-Nice inheritance.

-Very nice, too.

This is such an unusual teapot. Did you buy it yourself,

-or did you inherit it?

-Inherited it, yes.

-Did you? When?

-About 25 years ago, something like that.

-Do you know anything about where they got it from?

-No, I don't.

No. It is exceptionally well made, that's the first thing I can see

just by looking at it from a distance. And I've got to sort of pick it up and it's a lovely weight.

That's another thing I'd expect,

because normally if something looks good, it's going to feel good.

Now we can see inside here, it's got all this hammer marks, so originally

this was a flat sheet of silver and was hammered up into this shape,

but what makes this particularly good is that all this decoration round here is cast and applied.

The normal form of decorating a teapot would be to just emboss it from the inside,

so somebody's gone to a great deal of trouble,

not only in the construction, but the design as well, because it is beautifully made.

It's a lovely size and because it is such a small piece,

they sometimes call these bachelor's teapots or spinster's teapots.

I hope I'll find some hallmarks - the maker's mark first.

"CF" is for Charles Fox. The Fox family lasted throughout the whole of the 19th century.

Charles Fox the first ended his mark in 1801

but this one is made by his son, Charles Fox the second,

and it has a date letter for 1833,

so we're looking at a piece

of William IV period silver. I have to say I don't think I've ever seen one

quite in this form with this naturalistic handle and spout and feet,

and made to look like branches and then all these beautifully made flowers around the sides here.

Have you ever had a professional valuation?

About 20 years ago, I took it to an auctioneer's and they said it was worth about £800.

-Twenty years ago?

-About twenty years ago, yes.

Right. Nowadays, I think, er, you could at least double that.

Maybe more, because it is such an unusual pot and...

most teapots are worth perhaps, you know, £400, £500, £600 of this period - but because of the maker,

because of the quality, I think you've got a real gem here.

Britain joined World War I on the Queen Mother's 14th birthday. Soon Glamis became a hospital.

Beds were set up in the dining room.

Too young to be a nurse, Elizabeth ran errands for the sick soldiers and wrote letters home for them.

She was popular - one soldier wrote in her autograph book,

"May the owner of this book be hung, drawn and quartered.

"Yes, hung in diamonds, drawn in a coach and four and quartered in the best house in the land."

A man of vision!

When the war ended Elizabeth was 18. It was time to join the adult world. She did so with typical enthusiasm.

It was at a ball in Grosvenor Square in May 1920 that Prince Albert said he fell in love with her.

He and his brother came to visit Glamis, to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and, for Bertie,

the company of Elizabeth.

When she accepted his proposal of marriage, he was described as "the luckiest man alive",

so popular was Elizabeth with the eligible bachelors of the day.

As the Duke and Duchess of York, the royal couple spent part of their honeymoon at Glamis

and they signed the visitors' book.

"Elizabeth" and "Albert". And Elizabeth's brother David added a few romantic embellishments.

In 1930, Princess Margaret was born at Glamis.

Six years later, the whole family was thrown into a new life, when King Edward VIII abdicated.

Later, I'll talk to the Dowager Countess of Strathmore

about Elizabeth's life as a Duchess, Queen and Queen Mother.

What we've got here is a collection of things I've often seen,

but never seen as a collection -

essentially handbag mirrors. What an amazing variety. How did you begin?

My father collected them for a long time and, um,

during the time I became interested, and when he died three years ago, I decided I'd like to carry on.

I've added to them ever since.

I think they're just so fascinating and it's an easy thing to collect.

Although one can't display them well, they don't take up a lot of space.

-How many have you got?

-Oh, um, seven or eight hundred.

-Good Lord!

I think they're wonderful things - we've got royal commemoratives,

we've got advertising, holiday commemoratives, film stars, First World War,

-and they're still being made.

-They are.

-Do you collect modern ones?

Well, I started to, but they're not as interesting and I've got a selection of them

-but I wouldn't go out of my way to get them.

-Right. Pick out one that you like particularly.

-This one.

-That's the...

-It's a perpetual calendar one, actually, starting, I think, from the late 1920s.

So you can change the date constantly.

-So this is meant to be durable?

-Yes.

-That's unusual. Most of them are pretty ephemeral, aren't they?

-Yes.

-They come out, they're thrown away, replaced by something else.

-Yes.

-I like the shipping ones.

Now, shipping things - here we've got one for Norwegian cruises.

Advertising ones are particularly interesting because they give us a line

straight into the period that produced them.

-They do.

-"The challenge, never beaten,

"noted for style, durability, quality and reasonable prices."

It's the bravura of early advertising I like.

There's one over here which has got an early aeroplane on it, 1920s, actually probably 1930s,

-pleasure flying developing as a pastime.

-Yes.

-That's a very good record of the time.

That again would be of enormous appeal to somebody who was...

-a collector of aviation material, regardless of the mirror.

-Yes.

You've got 800. Your father obviously paid a little amount for them. What do you pay?

Well, they vary, they are going up in price, but between five - the absolute minimum - and...

-Pounds?

-£5 and £20, £21.

-So they're not 50p items any more.

-They're not, no.

-So quite an investment, but I mean we can't value them.

-It's meaningless.

-No, no.

-You could multiply £10 by 800...

-Exactly.

..for insurance purposes, but I think it's just a wonderful slice of our own history.

This is a very deceptive thing you've brought. It looks like a chest of drawers but it in fact

is a very elaborate way to conceal an essential bit of china.

And look, this comes up

like that, and you lift up here, and inside there is a creamware chamber pot, or pot,

so it is a commode, and what is intriguing

is... Can you...can you hold that for me? Thank you. ..intriguing

is that this is a bit of late 18th century creamware,

English creamware, and of course it is the same date as the whole of this,

which is probably around 1800 Beautifully made.

So often these - because they're not very useful now -

get cannibalised into cocktail cabinets and things of that kind,

and this is absolutely lovely untouched condition,

original handles,

beautiful surface, love the way these pegs fit so beautifully into the...

Let that down...

So there you have a genuine 18th century, or circa 1800, bit of English furniture.

How did you come by this one?

Well, I got it from an antique dealer.

-How long ago?

-Ten years ago.

-And what sort of money did you pay?

-£475.

-Yes, you see, and that's... I would think today it's probably worth twice that.

-Yes.

-But still...

you can buy a wonderful, absolutely authentic untouched bit of furniture

less than £1,000 but it's a lovely object.

Interesting case, being able to find something that's totally authentic, untouched and not terribly valuable,

-because the function, um, is fulfilled by other things nowadays in modern plumbing.

-Yes indeed, yes.

It was given to my mother by an elderly lady,

and she was a Miss Tatton from Wythenshawe Hall.

Was there a history about it passed down, or...?

-No, no, I don't know no more about it.

-Um, did you wonder why

all the stones were sort of engraved with these motifs?

No. I knew each one was different.

-I've looked at them and every one was different.

-Well, they are called intaglios.

They are cut hard stones - what they've done is cut into the stone itself.

When you look at them close up with a lens, you see that they've got many different styles and designs.

Some of them have got things like standing figures, some of them have got birds,

-some of them have got wild creatures like boars.

-Mmm, I noticed there was some animals among them.

They're in these Roman-style seal settings but the word "Roman" is very pertinent to this,

because a lot of these are Roman hard stones.

-Oh. I thought it was cameo.

-Cameo is when they carve above...

-they carve the higher profile.

-Yes.

-When they dig down into the stone itself, that's called intaglio.

-Oh.

-Um, some of these are 2,000 years old.

-Those?

-2,000...

-Yep. Some are as old as that.

In fact, it was quite popular around about 1790 to get these hard stones

and what they did is they put them into these settings.

They used a variety of different hard stones.

-I've shocked you with that Roman thing, haven't I?

-You did!

-Yes.

You've got cornelian sard - this green material here.

It's called a Niccolo hard stone - that greyish-blackish one.

It's very collectable because of the age and also because this particular example

is in such good condition.

-It's probably worth something in the region of £2,000.

-Goodness me!

They came from my grandfather's, who shipped it across from Tientsin.

-They've come down through the family.

-You have an extensive collection?

-I have some more pieces, yes.

-Do you know anything about them?

-Not really.

They've been in the family so long.

-I used to keep plant pots in these.

-You didn't?!

-I did.

-Right, let's start with this piece here.

Let me remove its hat,

-which is actually not the original hat.

-Right.

-This should have a porcelain cover to it.

-Mmm.

This piece, er...dates from about 1650.

Right.

-This is what is called transitional ware.

-Right.

That means it was made when the Ming dynasty was declining

-and the new regime, if you like, the new dynasty - the Ch'ing dynasty - came into power.

-Right.

So this is painted with figure subjects, with flowers and all this landscape

-and it's conventional for the date...

-Right.

-..of the 17th century.

It was intended for middle-class houses in Holland or northern Europe. Some are found in England.

Very heavy, massively potted.

-I suppose it was massively potted to withstand a journey by sea.

-Right.

-A pot like this is going to be around about £2,000.

-Really?!

-Yeah, it's a good pot.

Unfortunately, it drifted in the firing, so it's slightly blurred round the figures.

So this one is meant for export.

Now, these are not.

These are Imperial bowls. They're actually made for the Imperial Court

-in the early part of the 19th century.

-Right.

-They are absolute classics of their type.

You can see the decoration on them. We've got the dragon on this side, right?

And a phoenix here. They stand for the Emperor and the Empress.

And it's painted with other objects like... There are parasols. It's all Buddhist significance at the top.

-It's a type of decoration which comes in the late Ming dynasty.

-Mmm.

And the whole idea was revived at the beginning of the 18th century, of doing the same technique.

-This dragon and phoenix formula was made in every reign from the beginning of the 18thC.

-Right.

-Right the way through.

-Right.

-These are made between 1820 and 1850.

Unfortunately, one of them - as you can see - has got a crack.

And, in this condition,

-I think these are probably around £2,000 - maybe £2,500 - for the pair.

-Gosh! ..Right!

Mary, who is Dowager Countess of Strathmore, is niece by marriage to the Queen Mother

and has known her since she herself was married.

What was your first memory of the Queen Mother?

The very first memory I have was so exciting to me as a 23-year-old.

The night before my wedding, my family and I were staying in London

and the most beautiful ring was delivered to me.

It may have been a family ring. She was giving it to me for my wedding present.

I remember being so touched and so overcome by that, that it's stayed with me all my life, that memory.

She met Prince Albert in London and he pursued her to Glamis, didn't he?

As far as I know they met in London,

but I know that her first involvement with the Girl Guides

was the Princess Royal - the Duke of York's sister - asked her to start the Girl Guides in Glamis

and she came here with Queen Mary from Balmoral, and I think the whole process probably began like that.

-There must have been great joy in the family at the wedding.

-I'm sure there was.

Everybody knew she was an exceptional girl and would make a wonderful job of marrying into the Royal Family.

They were very happy as the Duke and Duchess of York, and then came the abdication of Edward VIII.

A complete change. It must have been very hard for them,

with two young daughters, but, I think, with her usual sense of duty

and "let's get on with what we have to do" sort of attitude to life, I think they managed extremely well.

How lucky we all were, as a country, that it happened.

And then she had the added blow of the death of her husband.

Yes, the King died very young, which was very hard on her,

and one should never underestimate the enormous ability she had to create a new and very useful life

for herself. How important she has been all those years.

Her role as the Queen Mother has been almost as important as her role as Duchess of York and then Queen.

One of the most important things about her is the way that duties and pleasures are one, they don't divide.

Anybody that's worked with her knows that it's always enormous fun as well as being very important and serious,

but always with a sense of fun and happiness.

What an unusual back this has got.

-I've never thought of it that way! It seemed just part of the sideboard.

-Well, it is!

I've come round to see if it's original and it is. The oak is very similar here.

Not as well grained. Here you've got this lovely graining, which I love to point out. These medullary rays,

where it's cut on the quarter to show these hard bits of grain.

-It's got this dappled, reflective look.

-Does it matter that it's in two planks and has got this ridge?

-No, it IS a split. The two planks would have been close together like fingers.

-Yes.

And, over time, they've just warped a little bit and come apart.

-It must be a bit irritating if you have food on it.

-Yes,

-and it's had a bit of wear and tear.

-That's part of its life. I wouldn't worry.

And certainly never try and restore this. You'd never get it flat again.

-There's nothing to say it wouldn't spring up again in a year's time.

-No.

But I love this. It's a nice feature.

It's a very popular sort of mid-18th century, 1750s sort of feature, this serpentine line.

-It's a provincial piece.

-Yes.

-Where's it from?

Somewhere in Lancashire. And I always understood it was a Lancashire sideboard.

It's North-Western certainly, which is a huge area. If we take that line

and you look through here... and you go down these lovely doors,

-this fielded panel and this little ogee here...

-Yes.

..and the same here - it's called an ogee bracket foot -

is all typical of about the middle of the 18th century.

But we're talking about a provincial piece and as it has the quadrant columns and serpentine top,

-it could be 1780 or 1800.

-Right.

-It's never had a plate rack?

-It hasn't.

-No, it's a dresser. Not a dresser base.

-A dresser.

-Yeah.

This I think is charming. I love the shape.

It's so pretty to have this...

Oh, hang on! Even more pretty! You didn't tell me about that! What have we got in here?

-Is that original to it?

-Well, I don't know. ..Yes, it is!

That's really sweet and it's unusual to have in below. They've all disappeared, if they had them.

They've been cleared out to put big pots in.

The oak has a feeling of being probably north European oak, north Germany, something like that.

-I don't think it's Welsh or English oak.

-Right.

-I love the colour here.

-You know what that wood is?

-Is it fruit wood?

-I was going to say mahogany.

I think it IS mahogany, but it's a clever guess, fruit wood. This is mahogany on the top.

-It's actually more obvious to me there.

-It is, yes.

This banding was used in country areas. They could only afford a little bit of mahogany.

Elsewhere, they would use fruit wood and stain it mahogany.

-Yes.

-So ten out of ten for that!

-Thank you.

-So we must value it.

It's a cherished piece of furniture and you've still got room for it. I've made room for it. Right.

But today, people want this size of dresser. It's a great piece of furniture. I'd insure it for...

-£5,500, possibly £6,000.

-Right.

Right!

It belonged to my grandfather. My mother called it the Derby Plaque.

Well, it IS a Derby Plaque and Derby in the first quarter of the 19th century had two wonderful painters

who painted plaques.

One was called Steel and the other was called Lucas.

-Yes.

-When we turn to the back of this plaque, we find a label, which is very interesting. It says...

"The Midland Counties Works of Art Exhibition, Derby 1870.

-"JF Lucas lent this plaque."

-Yes.

Now, JF Lucas in 1870 cannot have been the J Lucas

-who painted it in 1820.

-No.

-So that must be a family connection.

-Yes it is, yes.

-So you're a descendant of Lucas?

-Yes, there's a family connection.

-That is wonderful.

Here we have a prime example of Regency plaque painting...

..wonderful - the basket on a shelf, it's called terrace painting -

by the master...

and there it is, still in the family.

-And that adds a hell of a lot, even to a beautiful object. You don't have any others, do you?!

-No.

-I understand they come in pairs, but I don't have another.

-But a single one is still well worth having,

particularly when it's a family thing. I'm sure you want to keep it in the family,

-but you've still got to insure it.

-Yes.

-I think you should probably insure it for £4,000.

-I see, yes. Thank you very much for your help.

-And this is your grandfather's name?

-Yes.

-Wonderful.

-He died...?

-He died 15 years ago. They've been locked away ever since.

-Before he finished this?

-The last two.

-Really?

-There's two ramrods missing.

-You want to keep those frissons up.

-Yes.

-But as I say, this is an American market today. Americans, they go bananas over this.

-Yes, yes.

I can first remember these pieces in my grandfather's house.

When I was very small, we used to go to their house after school, and that, and play in the lounge

and these pieces, along with several others, were in a glass cabinet.

They're made of the English equivalent of true porcelain,

rather than artificial or soft-paste porcelain, and are probably from the New Hall factory in Staffordshire.

The formula for the porcelain began not far away from here, in Plymouth,

by William Cookworthy, and the formula passed into Staffordshire around about 1780-81.

This is made a little bit later than that.

It's a very good example of the Neo-classical style, if you will, or just Neo-classicism, if you want.

The teapot is a very, very good oval shape, nice faceted spout.

And the cups too - these kind of simple U-shape cups, representative of the period around 1800 to 1810.

What first appealed to me was the saucer here...

painted in this Classical style,

-in this cameo, this single colour, the detailing.

-Yes.

-It's the sort of thing that'd be done by Wedgwood,

but this is slightly more primitive, but that has more appeal for me.

But it's very rare to get this design.

New Hall produced a lot of material. This is so evocative of that period

that it has enormous appeal. These are not printed, these are painted.

You can see the primitive nature of the painting in the handling.

-How many pieces have you got? Is this it?

-No, there's another milk jug, which is damaged.

There's about six, er...coffee cups, I always thought they were,

and there's another three teacups and another three of the saucers.

-Right.

-I don't think there's any plates.

-Right.

Well, you're looking at a round figure

of between £2,000 and £3,000 for this, what you've got here,

even allowing for the damage on the teapot, even for that.

So they're a real collector's piece.

My father collected it many years ago.

He's since passed on and it's been left to me.

-He was quite acquisitive, wasn't he? There's a big range here.

-Yes, he used to collect a lot of things.

-So much so that we used to call him "Steptoe".

-Steptoe?!

Every time he'd come home, he'd have something else and...

-So this is a bone for the rag-and-bone man?

-Yes!

You've a French fan,

you've got a piece of Indian carving over here

but then everything, except one piece,

is Japanese or Chinese.

I suppose that's the most eye-catching one.

-Has it always been in this state?

-Yes.

-If I look closely at it...

what should be mother-of-pearl inlay, is, in fact, little sequins, little glass sequins,

so, in fact, looking over the body there, a lot of the inlay has been replaced.

It's not in its original condition. It's a shame. Also the broken trunk.

So this has been through the wars and, in fact,

looking at the collection, it has a slightly nibbled feel to it!

This one really caught my eye.

If we had to choose any here, this is perhaps the finest representative of detail.

Can you see what's going on here?

This little lad here is painting at the table,

and then next to him is this rather corpulent fellow

called Ho-Tai. He's the god of good luck

and longevity and he's always represented by lots of little children climbing over him.

-He's the sort of god of plenty.

-Yes.

-It's beautifully carved.

There are one or two 18th-century pieces here,

but our elephant is late 19th century, as are most of these little okimono, these miniature carvings.

The one we've just looked at here is probably worth £600 to £900.

Just for the one?!

Just for that one. And you've got one, two...

three, four...

five of that calibre. Are you doing your arithmetic?!

I'll choose my favourite piece.

Quite difficult to do but it's THIS one.

This reminds me of when I was a wee lad

-and my grandfather used to take me to the fish shop.

-Yes.

He's watching as the fishmonger

is about to deliver the coup de grace to this poor old eel.

And I love the expression of regret.

"Oh, you don't really want to look at this." Don't you think that's touching,

the way they've conveyed the eye contact with this little boy? "Oh, don't do it, Daddy!"

And meanwhile the comical touch.

Here.

The brother eel is looking out of his bowl. "Oh, blimey!"

It's a very, very nice little okimono. It's signed,

and again it dates around 1900 and it has terrific presence.

Unfortunate for the eel, but a beautiful piece of carving.

Well, that piece alone I think is £1,000 to £1,500.

-So your whole collection is really rather good.

-It is, isn't it?

And from an insurance point of view,

-I'd want to go through it...

-Yes.

But it's going to be about £10,000.

Wow!

In 1936, the oldest tenant on the Glamis estate sent a letter to Lord Strathmore,

the Queen Mother's father. James White wrote, "No more joyous people

"can there be found than the folks around here. They are elated in the knowledge

"that the young lady who most of them knew not so very long ago as Lady Elizabeth,

"is now their Queen." And he goes on to say...

"The new Queen Elizabeth is the finest asset our Empire possesses".

The Empire might have disappeared, but no-one can argue with Mr White's sentiments.

Our thanks to Lord Strathmore for the very warm welcome we've received at Glamis Castle.

Until next week, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd