Newport Antiques Roadshow

"What is this life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?"

That was written by WH Davies, born in Newport, South Wales,

this week's Antiques Roadshow venue.

Newport's river is the Usk.

The Romans set up a fortress at Caerleon, bringing in supplies from all over their empire for 200 years.

But Newport itself was just a small fishing and market town

until the 19th-century industrial age.

The town grew and flourished.

The canal system brought down coal and iron from the valleys for shipment,

and soon Newport docks did more business than almost any other UK port.

Two miles from town stands Tredegar House, home of the Morgan family,

who played an important part in developing the fortunes of the area.

They lived here for over 500 years,

their estates stretching through Monmouth, Glamorgan and the Brecon Beacons.

Godfrey, a favourite in the town, donated land generously to establish health and education facilities.

Godfrey Morgan himself had been to hell and back -

he took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade.

He was so grateful to have survived, when his horse, Sir Briggs, died,

he had him buried here in the garden, along with his dog Peeps,

who is said to haunt the building.

The last, most colourful, occupant of the house was Evan Morgan.

Extravagant and self-indulgent, he entertained lavishly. His weekend house parties were legendary.

His party piece was to let his pet macaw climb up the inside of his trouser leg,

then peep out unexpectedly.

If that didn't amuse his guests, they could always watch his boxing kangaroo,

or they could try the Cefn Mabli shuffleboard.

Each player takes a brass disc and takes it in turn to slide it down the table.

The person whose disc gets furthest without coming off the table wins.

Here goes...

In 1974, a bright new chapter began for the former home of the Morgans

when Newport Borough Council bought Tredegar House and 90 acres of parkland.

The country's grandest council house was recently voted one of the top tourist attractions in Britain.

And now let's join our team of experts at the Newport Centre

for this week's Antiques Roadshow.

-You collect miniatures, do you(?)

-I do.

-Where do you keep it?

-On the wardrobe.

How wonderful! Has it always stood on a wardrobe?

When my mother was alive, it was on a piano.

-An upright?

-Yes.

-It could topple!

-Yes.

These were never made for use.

-I shouldn't think it's ever seen tea.

-Yes, it has.

-It has?

-Yes.

My grandmother, when she lived in Kidwelly, used it at street parties.

-No!

-Yes.

-How extraordinary!

-Yes.

-What a wonderful idea!

Well, they weren't actually made for use, they were display pieces,

either made by a manufacturer to show how clever he was

and to advertise his wares,

or, more often, they were in the window of a tea shop.

The fact that it's been used is really rather wonderful.

-It holds 144 cups.

-You've measured it?

-Well, my mother always said that.

I can believe it.

-It's made in Staffordshire.

-Yes.

-The design is transfer printed in black,

then all the colours have been added by hand. It dates from 1860 to 1880.

-Good gosh!

-So it's a pretty ancient pot, really.

-Yeah.

One suspects that when it was made,

-it was silver-plated all over.

-Yes.

You see remnants of the plate, but it's been polished off on the lid,

and this is so common to find that. But at least it's retained the lid.

What's nice about it is the design is so chinoiserie, it is Cathay,

it is the English idea of the mythical East, and that ties up with tea,

so it's an appropriate Chinese design.

People love them for display. It would probably make in a sale...

-£600 to £1,000.

-Good gosh! Lovely.

-So I don't know that it deserves to be sitting on a wardrobe.

-No.

-Thank you very much for struggling in with it.

-Thank you very much.

It was an old people's home, and someone came into the home, and all the stuff from the house

-was put into a fair, and I bought it at the fair for 20 pence.

-Right.

Biscuits, early on, were often sold in elaborate tins and packaging

to promote the biscuits,

and by the 1920s, 1930s,

-you could buy trains, planes... You name it, a biscuit tin was made in that form.

-Yes.

-This has meant that people have lost interest in the biscuits, but they collect the tins.

-Yes.

Here we have one called the Meteor,

based on a car driven by Sir Henry Seagrave, but only up to a point,

and it's a stylish streamlined image in wonderful, flowing colours.

And as you go along,

I like the way the wheels have this dynamic pattern to them.

Inside would be the biscuits.

-..No biscuits, but we've got some Woodbines.

-Yes.

So you have a smoke if you can't have a biscuit.

Many tins were thrown away when they were empty, so they're quite rare.

-Collectors are keen to buy them, there was even an exhibition in the V & A years ago.

-Was there?

The remarkable thing about this one is that it is effectively brand-new,

there's very little marking on it.

All that's missing is a headlight there, with a switch here,

-so you could push it along in the dark with the headlight glowing.

-Oh.

Otherwise, it's pretty immaculate.

-Now, great car... great 1930s styling. 20p?

-Yes, 20p.

-I think it's worth quite a bit more than that now.

-Yes.

-I think you did very well.

-How about £200? Does that sound good?

-I have been told it's worth a bit more than that.

-Have you?

-Yes.

-What were you told?

-About 1,000.

-No.

-No?

-I'd say that was too much.

-With the light and switch missing, 200 or 300 would be about right.

-Oh?

It belonged to my uncle, who was an antique dealer in Bristol.

He died in 1980 and it was his wish that I chose one of his paintings.

-I chose this.

-I think you made a good choice.

-The picture is signed, and it's signed with a monogram...

-Yes.

..and a date - 1878. I think I know who that monogram is, but what's your...?

-I believe it's Albert Ludovici.

-Yes. And there is a Junior and a Senior.

-Absolutely right.

-I don't know which one it is.

-I agree it is by one of the Albert Ludovicis.

They were both Italian, but they both came to live in London, and also lived in Paris.

Now, I really find it difficult to know which Ludovici this is.

The date is possible for either of them.

-They have similar styles?

-Yes, they do. I'm inclined towards the opinion that it's by Ludovici Junior.

And it's typical of both the Ludovicis' style. It's slightly sort of sketchy and impressionist.

But he does paint these charming pictures of children with smiling, rosy faces.

That's typical of Ludovici.

-And is he a musician?

-Yes, I believe he's a musician, and this is his organ here.

I see. So he's an organ grinder with his monkey.

Yes, well, this is it.

In villages in the late 19th century, not much happened and the arrival of an entertainer like this

was a big village event - everybody turned out -

-so here they are following him and he's heading for the pub.

-Yes.

The frame is original, isn't it?

Yes, a nice period frame in good condition, and in a sale now, I would reckon this painting

-would make £5,000 or £6,000.

-Right.

-Maybe more as it's a nice subject.

-I certainly suggest insuring it for, say, 7,500.

-OK.

-A very charming picture.

-Thank you very much.

-Delighted to have it.

I can see why you've a problem!

-You've the hunting horn of Chantilly but it's a very grey piece of porcelain.

-Very English-looking.

-Drilled Sevres mark, but it's been drilled through the glaze.

-Yeah.

Someone's trying to have two cakes and eat them.

Yeah, it's amusing, isn't it?

And then this pattern,

the squirrel pattern, is a Kakiyemon pattern

done in a Chinese famille rose style

on a plate that is English with a French Chantilly mark and a drilled hole for Sevres!

Where do you think it was done?

I think it's English. It's incompetent enough to be English.

But this craquelure in the glaze... I honestly don't know.

-But it's fun, isn't it?

-Thank you very much. We're no further forward. I'll break the news to the owners.

I understand that this was made by my wife's grandfather

during the Second World War.

And apparently it's a device for dealing with incendiary bombs

that may fall through your ceiling.

So how does it go together?

Apparently one combines these two halves...

like that.

You then have a rake with which you can reach into the eaves of the house

and pull the incendiary device to you,

and if one is very careful and doesn't hit anybody round about...

we can scoop up the incendiary device and get rid of it.

Was this a one-off or were these standard issue?

What I find interesting...

Apparently, this was a one-off,

but one of your experts this morning told me that he collected, when he was a child,

Wills cigarette cards, and there were pictures of ARP issue,

and that's what prompted him that this might well be the use for this.

So we have a bit of 60-year-old... genuine...war memorabilia.

Fabulous!

-I had it as a small boy. My mother's cousin gave it me.

-Right.

-And that was about 1930.

-But it's older than that, isn't it?

-Well, maybe so. I think it was in a broken box when I had it.

-Right.

That's been lost because we played with it so often.

It's a fairly traditional game, I should say.

-It's Dreadnought And Submarine.

-Yes, that was the name on the box.

-I've never done it. Will you let me drive the submarine?

-Yes.

-You can be the ship's captain.

-OK.

You're sailing along the high seas and I'm coming along in my submarine and I'm coming into position...

Aim, fire!

Hey!

You've made my day. I've always wanted to do that.

I suppose we have to think about value. First made about 1910,

in production probably for a long time as a standard popular toy.

Because it's all here, and it's great fun, I think a collector might pay £20 or £30 for it.

-But that's not the point - the great thing is, it works.

-Yes.

-And I can see why you enjoyed it so much.

I'd like to have another go now.

This bear has an absolutely charming action, and if we move his tail,

we get the most wonderful head movement, which I think is really, really fantastic.

I would say that he was probably just pre-war and probably about 60, 65 years old. Would I be right?

-Yes.

-Good.

-Now, do you know who he's made by?

-Well, I've always had him,

and it's only a month ago I noticed

-the button in his ear.

-So you've only just discovered it was a Steiff?

Yes, literally a month ago.

He's quite a valuable thing - he's in superb condition -

and I have no doubt that if he were popped into a toy auction,

-he'd make in excess of £500.

-Mmm.

-It's been in the family for 70 years.

-How did it come into the family?

Mother bought it when she set up home

and when Victoriana was practically given away.

It's a very good piece in Gothic revival style,

which dominated the 19th century in English furniture design and architecture,

starting with Pugin, the father of the modern Gothic revival in the 1830s and '40s.

But this piece belongs to the second generation of Gothic revival,

and although it's not marked in any way, I am certain that it was designed by a Charles Bevan.

Charles Bevan was a professional furniture designer who trained with an architect, John Pollard Seddon.

Seddon worked for some time in Llandaff,

-so he has a local connection.

-Oh.

A well-known suite of furniture made by Marsh and Jones and designed by Bevan for Titus Salt

-has sufficient characteristics with this that one can be certain that it's from his hand.

-Oh.

These little half-round motifs with a dot in it

are very characteristic of his work.

This cut-out Gothic motif here, and this column here

are all things you find on this Titus Salt furniture.

The panel in the front here, round Gothic panel with dot inlay, very, very characteristic of Bevan's work,

and it's an extremely nice example.

You associate Gothic revival furniture with being in oak,

but by this later generation, made in the 1860s, they used richer woods

which was more the taste of that period, so the oak has faded back.

In terms of value, do you have any idea what this might be worth?

-It was valued at between 400 and 600.

-Would you like some good news in that respect?

-Well, yes.

-You should add a nought to the end of that.

-For insurance, one's looking in terms of £6,000.

-Really?

It's the best sort of commercial furniture.

-I nearly threw it away!

-I

-wouldn't let him. I like it. I'm stuck with it now, aren't I?

Definitely! Thank you for bringing it in. It really is very special.

It was a wedding present to my uncle in the '30s and has been passed down.

-You remember it when you were young?

-It was on the mantelpiece. Firelight reflected in the iridescence.

Iridescence is the key to this piece

because if you look very closely, you've got these beautiful areas of ruby iridescence,

and in the panels with these flower motifs, you've silver iridescence,

and the whole vase is covered in this...

-well, almost green iridescence.

-Yes.

-Do you know where it's from?

-I did look underneath.

-You did?

-I could see it was a Hungarian factory,

but I was puzzled because of the shape and the arabesque style.

You're quite right. This is the mark of a factory known as Fuenfkirchen - Five Churches -

which explains why you've got five churches in the mark, but it now is known as the Pecs factory

or Zsolnay Pecs. Hungarian. And...

Hungarian, yes.

I mean, it's very Eastern in style. It owes more to Persian lacquerwork

than anything mainstream, north-west European.

It's a gorgeous little object, a stunning object, made around the year I think 1900,

middle of the Art Nouveau period, later than the great English lustres made by the likes of de Morgan,

but they're far more swashbuckling designs.

This is very miniaturist, fantastically well done.

I can't keep my eyes off this.

If you go round the vase, although the pattern is quite repetitive,

the tones of the lustre do change and shimmer. It's a beautiful thing.

-Is it an unusual pattern?

-I've never seen this pattern before.

Zsolnay is a factory I associate with Art Nouveau, and this is closer to Persian, Paisley-style motifs.

It comes quite close to Pilkington's Royal Lancastrian, in this country.

Difficult to put a value on. If you wanted to go out and replace that today,

you'd have to think in terms of an insurance value of around £5,000.

Good heavens! Pardon?!

Good Lord! Oh...that's a shock!

I'm amazed!

As a jewellery historian, I'm so pleased you brought in this ring.

It's quite an unusual ring. So where did you get it from?

It was handed down to me by my aunt,

a lady-in-waiting and housekeeper for Lady Shelley-Rolls of Rolls-Royce.

-Indeed?

-Yes.

-So there's a pedigree about it.

-Yes.

-Did you look at it

and wonder about the skull motif?

This gruesome, brutal-looking skull?

-Yes, it's not a nice ring to wear.

-It doesn't suit everybody's taste,

but the very gruesomeness of the skull is a point about its date.

In mourning jewellery -

jewels that were worn when someone died - those in the Victorian period are quite sanitised-looking.

But the early ones, made about 1720,

-those ones are far more brutal.

-Yes.

So the skull on this one is about 1700, 1720.

-It's covered in white, which is of course white enamel.

-Yes.

You've got the crossbones behind, so it looks like a pirate's flag.

The shoulders are set individually with little white stones that are real diamonds.

-So there's the skull, the table-cut diamonds, as we would call it.

-Yes.

Then there's enamel scrollwork above the skull.

Then if you have a look at the side of the shank of the ring,

it's also black-enamelled round the edge there.

So in what is...I suppose you could describe as quite a compact part of the ring

is full of different pieces - white and black enamel, the diamonds.

-But most interesting is the skull. ..Something else as well?

-Yes, a small brooch.

Unusual brooch. I think it's a brooch, anyway.

This is a very fascinating piece.

-Made about the mid-Victorian period, so it's later than that.

-Yes.

They've painted a bubble of rock crystal from behind with the bumblebee motif.

They painted them with all sorts of different subjects, like herons, storks and cranes.

Bumblebees, though - very nice. It's one of those subjects people love,

-the bumblebee.

-Yes.

-And on the back you'll see...

the original locket-back compartment that would have been used for a lock of hair or a photograph.

Unfortunately, the one slight problem with it is that the original hook has been broken off it.

It's not super-critical. If the crystal at the front was cracked, that would make a huge difference.

But the fact that you can put a little hook on it, that can be done.

So, two very different pieces, different periods. Their value...

They're a very specific market, but people really do like them. Now, the skull ring

-I think is probably worth something in the region of £1,500.

-Right.

-I never liked it.

-And it's a real collector's piece, that one.

But the bumblebee brooch in the 1860 style, I think that's worth £2,000 to £3,000.

You've surprised me.

And that's been hanging about in a box.

-You thought it was costume jewellery?

-Carol never liked it.

Can you imagine how excited I was when I saw it?

It's such a beautiful, pedigree, Victorian piece.

You must have a passion for things costume-related. These are lovely pieces.

I would like to introduce Lucy, who has very kindly agreed to wear one of your most beautiful outfits.

She looks very lovely, too.

This is a typical mid-'20s what some people might call a "flapper" dress.

Very glamorous.

-Very nicely decorated with rhinestones.

-Sparkling.

-With a slit.

It has a few little diamantes missing.

They do tend to drop off,

-especially with use, have to be very, very careful.

-They're extremely fragile outfits.

-They are, yes.

Makes you wonder how the flappers did all they were supposed to have done with those dresses on!

-You can see how beautiful it is with the lace.

-Lovely.

-Very lovely.

She looks beautiful.

-I think a dress like that is probably worth up to £200 at auction now.

-Really?

So I think you did very well, obviously.

-This I particularly like, because this is a silver, metallised thread creation, of the same period.

-Yes.

-Maybe a little bit later but still very straight.

-Still attractive and a lot of work in this metal thread.

But the silver, metallised thread hasn't tarnished.

They don't see daylight very often these days.

-Outfits like this, from that period, were well accessorised.

-Yes.

-And you've got a selection.

-Clutch bags...

-Capes.

-..which are very beautiful and very finely made.

This is a particularly beautiful example.

Chain stitch and glass beadwork, with superb little enamelled features

-and mother-of-pearl stringing on the purse itself.

-Really?

-Traditionally a very Indian form of decoration.

-Was it?

-Exquisite.

A good example like this will make between £100 and £200 at auction.

-Frightening, isn't it?

-Yes, it is. You have such a good collection.

There are a couple of other outfits which interest me.

I've looked at the label in this one and it's by a local supplier, Jones.

-Oh, yes.

-And, um...

-Swansea.

-Yes, that's right, of Swansea. This is a similar period, this coat,

but it's not of the same quality.

It was very typical to decorate the collars and things.

-What fur would you say that was?

-It's cony.

-I thought it was sable.

No, cony made to look like sable.

-At auction that would be worth about £60 to £100.

-Mmm.

-I think you have some wonderful things.

I know you have more. This is only a fraction of what I could have looked at.

-Where did he come from?

-I've had him 20 years. I bought him quite cheaply.

A lady was clearing out some bits and pieces and she said, "Yes, you have it."

I paid a few pounds for it.

-The head is bisque. I know you thought that might be real hair.

-Yes.

-It's actually mohair.

-Is it?

There are variations on this. Some of them had sleeping eyes,

so that when it went from upright to horizontal, the eyes would close.

-Some of them also had an open mouth with two teeth.

-I have seen bigger ones with open mouths, but...

-Not this small.

-No.

-They did do them.

-This one is a more standard version.

-Right.

-I think it's wonderful

that he's still got all his original hat...a lovely little thistle on the top,

-even a little sporran.

-I know.

We won't look up his skirt.

Oh, we will, because he's got shorts underneath. Not a true Scotsman!

I think he'd probably fetch in the region of £150 to £180 at auction. Lovely.

In Newport, history comes at you from all sides.

None of it more dramatic than what happened in 1839. ..The Chartists.

5,000 men - iron workers and coal miners from Monmouthshire

arriving in the town in the early hours of November 4th 1839.

They advanced on the Westgate Hotel where a group of 30 soldiers of the 45th Regiment fired on the crowd.

Some had got into the building. They left behind some 22 men dead.

They came demanding the Charter, the right to vote.

-They triumphed in the end.

-Yes, five or six points are now the law of our country, in terms of voting.

-What is the significance of this silver piece?

-This is a testimonial plate to the Mayor of Newport,

Sir Thomas Phillips. He became SIR Thomas Phillips after the event.

He had been there on the night with the 45th Regiment and had suffered wounds. A very brave, heroic stand.

-How did it come into your keeping?

-In 1982,

a gentleman in Essex was looking for a suitable-sized plate to weld into the bottom of his car.

He found this, didn't realise it was silver until he got it home.

He got a jeweller friend to clean it. Realising it had something to do with Newport he contacted the mayor,

-and the museum bought it from him.

-The circle is complete.

-Yes.

-This is a real mystery object. Do you know what it is?

-I don't.

-I'm not sure that

-I

-know.

-No ideas?

-None at all.

-Well, I've asked around a bit.

We came up with a few ideas, but they're not definitive by any means.

As to where it was made, I think the general feeling is it's probably 19th century, a complete one-off.

My feeling is it may be Dutch,

although another person came up with the idea it might be Iberian,

because of these curious animals, like ibex, animals you might find in the Pyrenees.

Now, what is it? There are two spouts here.

They follow down here, so liquid would come out of the two mouths here of the animals.

But then you pour it out onto what?

Another idea - possibly a good contender - is that it was a lamp.

So you put... So the lamp fuel goes in here.

The taper would go through into the oil,

come out there and just come to the end of the mouth here and that would flame up,

and so this would be a reflector, like old students' lamps of the 19th century.

If anybody sees this and knows what it is,

-we'd be delighted to know.

-Indeed.

Three Japanese vases - where did you get them from?

-Worcester sale.

-The Worcester sale?

-As far as I know.

-This is in your family?

-Yes, they're family pieces.

-Japanese vases sold at a Worcester Porcelain Works sale?

-As far as I know.

-OK. Well, let's have a look.

-On the bottom, we've got that little paper label "Worcester Royal Porcelain Works Museum".

-Yes.

-And a number.

-Yes.

The sale that you refer to is almost certainly one that took place about 1905,

-so you've got to stretch your family back to then.

-Yes.

But well before that, in the 1870s,

one of the proprietors of Worcester, Mr Binns, went on a binge.

He went to exhibitions in Europe, bought all sorts of interesting things that he saw on the stands

and he brought it back to the Royal Worcester Works.

Many of these pieces inspired the works that were made at Worcester.

-So they copied these?

-They copied these.

For a ceramic historian, these two particular Japanese vases are very interesting.

If you'd brought those to me without those paper labels, I would have dated them around 1900.

But we know documentary proof that these were bought well back in the '70s,

when the craze for all things Japanese was only ten years old.

Here, he bought a vase with a relief of a large carp diving to the bottom of a pond.

-I know that that is a design that we would see in Worcester porcelain.

-Right.

And here is a piece that's been decorated in oxides of iron and other underglazed colours...

with this beautiful flowering prunus

in which there sits a bird that's been very, very finely detailed.

-The potter's even taken trouble to carve out individual petals.

-Yes.

You can see why Mr Binns was taken with it.

-Our third Japanese vase isn't Japanese.

-That's my favourite.

It's, of course, an example of Royal Worcester aesthetic-ware.

It's imitating a Japanese carving done on a piece of elephant ivory tusk.

It shows these frogs having rather a lively party

underneath a floating cloud of Fuji.

I don't know why they look so happy, because round the back there is a giant snake about to devour them.

You've got the original inspiration and a good example, in Worcester, of what the designers made of them.

-Yes.

-This piece has the classic crown mark and a date code for 1886.

You could buy something like this at auction for around £300 to £500.

It's got a little chip on it.

These two Japanese pieces...

probably are going to be in the region of £500 to £800 each.

-Not a huge amount in terms of value.

-No, no.

But hugely valuable in terms of what they can tell us about Japanese porcelain.

If you have time, one day, I'd love you to go to the Worcester Museum. They would love to see those pieces.

They'd be able to chase up the original records and perhaps tell you how much Mr Binns paid for them,

-way back in the 1870s.

-OK. Lovely.

-You have never used this nut?

-No.

-Have you never wondered what that was for?

-I have wondered.

-Well...

-If we hang the pendulum on...

-I see.

And then this nut unscrews from this back plate.

-Oh, yes.

-OK?

And then it goes through there and it screws into the centre,

so you can lock your pendulum rigid.

Now when you take it home, it's not going to shake around.

-Thank you.

-There we go. You probably know it's a skeleton clock.

-Yes, I had heard that.

And it's very, very typically English.

-Is it?

-About 1860 to 1865.

-Right.

-We made numerous different models of skeleton clocks.

-Yes.

-This one is better viewed from behind.

-You can see the architectural plates working a bit better there.

-Yes.

You've got three feet to each plate. So, six feet altogether.

The two plates are held in position

by these rather nice tapering baluster pillars.

-Is it made of brass?

-It is all brass.

-I see.

-And never be tempted to clean it.

-That was my next question.

If you have a crack at it, you'll do damage.

This has to be taken apart by a clockmaker,

and every individual part cleaned, polished, put together, and then it will look magnificent.

-Never be tempted to use any sort of abrasive on it.

-Right.

-Because it will tarnish again.

Although the front's slightly faded,

the back has a lovely grain of rosewood.

-There's also provision here for a glass dome. Do you have that?

-I do have a dome.

It isn't the correct one and I'm afraid it's cracked, but it does keep the dust off.

-Worth your while having it cleaned.

-Is it?

-Yes, which wouldn't be too expensive.

But have you any idea of a figure?

Well, I had it valued with a house clearance. It belonged to my father.

-When my mother died, I had someone to come and have a look and it was only valued at £150.

-150?

-Yes.

Realistically, today, at auction,

-I have to say "at auction", because it's not in retail condition.

-No.

-It would still make close to £1,000.

-Really?

-Yes. By the time it had been cleaned and overhauled and polished and you had a nice dome for it,

-it would be retailing for in excess of £2,000.

-Would it? I am surprised.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-I know it's called Britannia And Her Allies.

-Yes.

-It didn't look as big in the saleroom.

Oh, yes, I know that one! If you look at the bottom left-hand corner,

it's signed by Charles Butler.

-I think Charles Ernest Butler.

-Right.

-And it's dated 1920 which is interesting in itself,

because according to dictionaries on Victorian and Edwardian artists,

we have no idea about when he died, and they've got him perhaps painting around 1918

and don't know of anything after that date, so it seems to me a very late work.

It seems to me as if it's painted as a sort of memorial in some town hall

-to celebrate the end of WWI and the victory of the Allies and the Commonwealth over the Germans.

-Yes.

-So we have the central figure of Britannia and we have the Australian soldier here.

-Yeah.

-I assume the Canadian here?

-Probably, yes.

-And the Indian here,

an absolutely wonderful portrait.

And we have our other allies - America...

France... There's two more, possibly Italy here and Portugal there.

And here we have the lion of the Commonwealth. It's fantastic!

And there's somebody grieving at the bottom.

I suppose it's not surprising after the millions that were killed in WWI.

-In the distance, we have the Germans fleeing the battlefield...

-Yes.

..after four years of bitter warfare.

Interesting to see, they're wearing this old-fashioned helmet -

propaganda for the English to depict them always with this spiked helmet.

-And you can just make out the Zeppelin here.

-Yes.

And the dreadnoughts on the right.

It's wonderful. It could do with a clean.

-You're right.

-It's quite dirty, isn't it?

-Yes.

-You were surprised under the lights how much more detail appeared.

-Yes.

-Can I ask what you paid for it?

-£500.

It's probably not worth that now because it's so big and so dirty.

No, something like this, today, would be worth...

-I think at least £10,000.

-You...you don't!

I think it invokes a whole age.

-I think there are museums and institutions that would want this picture.

-Right.

-Fantastic. Thank you.

-Thank you.

-My father had a large collection of 60 to 70 pieces like that.

-Did he really?

-Yes.

-And he built it up himself?

-Yes, and when he died, my mother had them.

She left instructions in her will that they were to be divided between all the children and grandchildren.

-No!

-Yes. They're spread all over.

-How extraordinary!

-Yes.

-So how many have you got?

-Those.

-That's your lot.

-Everyone got eight. The numbers refer to the probate.

-Right.

-We've had them valued and they put stickers on them

-so that we knew which was which.

-How long ago was probate?

-'83.

-Was it divided for you or did you pick?

No, they were all wrapped up in tissue paper and we took it in turns to take one.

-Wrapped?

-Wrapped.

-So you didn't know what you were getting?

-No.

-Really?!

-Do you reckon you did well?

-Some of them are unsigned and are not very valuable

and some of them were very valuable, so we did a bit of juggling so that we all had roughly the same value.

Well, the majority of them here are of 19th-century date.

Strictly speaking, they've moved away from being netsuke

to being Okimono, decorative groups for the Western market.

The ivory carvers had to do something when the netsuke went out of fashion,

and so they made these things for the Western market.

-And the majority of the pieces here are in the region of £100 to £300.

-Yes.

-But there's one star.

-I always understood that the water buffalo was the most valuable one.

-This one?

-Yes.

-You're right. This is the most wonderful little carving.

This really shows the skill of the Japanese netsuke carver.

It's fantastically well carved.

It's not got the power perhaps of the earliest ones,

but the way he's carved the backbone so that the vertebrae show...

the way the ribs show,

the sensitive carving of the hair on its back,

the clever way this rope drapes round it,

absolutely brilliant!

And typically, there's as much going on on the underside as on the top.

And it's signed here Tomatada.

Tomatada is one of the great names to reckon with in netsuke carving.

But there are a whole string of Tomatadas - One to Six, I think!

And this is certainly not the great master himself, Tomatada the First.

It's somewhere down the line, but it's a fabulous bit of work.

I really think it's a star.

It's one of the nicest netsukes I've ever seen on the Roadshow.

-You need to insure it... I think you need to put £5,000 on it.

-Gosh.

You were right, it's the star.

-The reason I like it is because it's an ox and I was born in the year of the ox.

-Oh, that's brilliant!

Oh, perfect! You must hang on to that.

It's time to say thank you to the people of Newport for bringing us in their personal treasures.

My eye was particularly caught by those costumes from the 1920s. Did they ever really go out of fashion?

Until next week, nos da, and goodbye.

Subtitles by BBC Scotland