0:00:33 > 0:00:38This week's Antiques Roadshow comes from Kettering in Northamptonshire,
0:00:38 > 0:00:40the "County of Squires and Spires".
0:00:40 > 0:00:46In its 700 years as a market town, Kettering has produced some extraordinary local heroes,
0:00:46 > 0:00:49most of them outside the squiring classes.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53There was the humble but brilliant William Carey,
0:00:53 > 0:00:56who set up the first Baptist Missionary Society in 1792,
0:00:56 > 0:01:02and William Knibb, who went to Jamaica and joined the fight against the slave trade.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06While these men of high ideals were doing their uplifting work,
0:01:06 > 0:01:12the town itself was developing in ways that were sometimes more down to earth.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Kettering was a good place for shoemaking.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24There were the necessary ingredients - water, cattle, trees.
0:01:24 > 0:01:31Although it became big business, much of the work went on literally at the bottom of the garden.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34This is familiar in Kettering -
0:01:34 > 0:01:39a row of terraced houses with a factory at the end of the road, and in the back garden, the workshop.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44This is an original shoemaker's work bench.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47These are his lasts and his tools.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50He'd collect his leather from the factory.
0:01:50 > 0:01:58He'd turn out some nice size-fives and deliver them back to the factory at the end of the day.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00It all began in the late 1770s,
0:02:00 > 0:02:06and by the 1930s, there were more than 30 footwear factories here.
0:02:06 > 0:02:12# In the shoemaker's shop Mr Frame would never stop
0:02:12 > 0:02:15# Working all the day
0:02:15 > 0:02:19# At his bench, there was he Just as busy as a bee... #
0:02:19 > 0:02:22But shoemaking didn't suit everyone.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26Two who trod their own path were Alfred East and Thomas Gotch,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Kettering's most renowned artists.
0:02:29 > 0:02:35This is a self-portrait of Alfred East and this is his palette - a bit fragile now.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39When he was little, he worked from a few basic colours -
0:02:39 > 0:02:43red oxide of iron from the garden wall, and blue from the wash house.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48When he was six, his father took the hint and bought him a box of paints.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Alfred painted this bullfinch when he was 11.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56He became known as Britain's greatest living landscape painter,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59and he worked on a grand scale.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03In 1910, he became known as Sir Alfred East
0:03:03 > 0:03:06and he gave this painting, Midland Meadows,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10to his home town, after a banquet in his honour.
0:03:10 > 0:03:18Now we join the people of Northamptonshire to see what echoes of the past we shall pick up today.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21My husband bought him about four years ago.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Um...I'm not sure about the price.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29- I think it was possibly £650 or thereabouts.- Right.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32And he's just like my cockerel at home.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37- What's he called?- Emperor.- Emperor. What type is he?- I'm not sure.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41- I can't say.- I can tell you what type this is.- OK.
0:03:41 > 0:03:48This fellow is the Paduan Cockerel. Don't ask me why he's called the Paduan Cockerel, but that's his name.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51He doesn't come from Padua, but from Meissen.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56- Just underneath here is the Meissen mark.- Oh, yes, yes.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00Crossed swords. But let's just look at how they made this.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02It's a massive lump of porcelain.
0:04:02 > 0:04:08At first sight it looks more like earthenware or majolica, but it is porcelain, very highly coloured.
0:04:08 > 0:04:14The original model was made at Meissen in the 1730s and it wasn't coloured.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18It was done in the white, and it was one of a whole series
0:04:18 > 0:04:23of porcelain sculptures made for the Elector of Saxony,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27the King of Poland, Augustus the Strong.
0:04:27 > 0:04:33He was the first person who was able to get his factories to produce real porcelain.
0:04:33 > 0:04:39They managed to produce porcelain around 1710, and then by the time you get to 1730, he says to his factory,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42"Now, look, you've made porcelain.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46- "We want some really big pieces of sculpture".- Yes.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49"I want to put them in my new Japanese palace."
0:04:49 > 0:04:57- The Paduan Cockerel is one of several figures. Other figures include a lion, a huge lion.- Wow.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02- I'd like that.- You'd like the lion. - I'm into animal things. - I'll keep my eyes open for you.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06- A wonderful parrot sitting on a branch.- Yes.- And a goat.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09At the Victoria and Albert Museum, there's a wonderful goat.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14- Oh!- Completely white and life-size. Amazing objects.- Fantastic.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18To try to model porcelain on this scale,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22to put it into a kiln and for it not to explode
0:05:22 > 0:05:26- is really a superb technical feat. - Right.- Quite extraordinary.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31- Fantastic.- The coloured ones are much later. They're 19th century.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35Also, the mark that you saw earlier, those very long crossed swords,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38are indicative of the late 19th century.
0:05:38 > 0:05:43Now, my golden rule for looking for restoration is -
0:05:43 > 0:05:46"if it sticks out, it's been broken."
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Sure enough, you look at the little sheaves of corn
0:05:49 > 0:05:54and the talons on the legs, you can see restoration.
0:05:54 > 0:06:00Even right up here on his beak. So that's going to have some effect on the value.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02Right.
0:06:02 > 0:06:09Shall I be cruel to you and tell you what an 18th-century original 1730s figure would have made?
0:06:09 > 0:06:13- OK.- Probably somewhere creeping up towards £200,000.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Don't get too excited.
0:06:16 > 0:06:21A 19th-century one like this is going to be somewhere of the order of maybe
0:06:21 > 0:06:24£2,000 to £4,000.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28- So you're still ahead.- Wow.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32- A wonderful present, isn't he? - He is very, very fine.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37My grandfather had this piece, er...
0:06:37 > 0:06:42which he used as shop furniture round about 1900. He was a grocer.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46- Right.- And I'm told - and my father remembers it -
0:06:46 > 0:06:50that he used to make the pats of butter and lard and so on,
0:06:50 > 0:06:54and stack them on here, so it's had a hard life.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59That explains one thing, because the first thing I noticed about this
0:06:59 > 0:07:02was the wonderful colour.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06I can imagine somebody using it with greasy hands,
0:07:06 > 0:07:12touching it every day, and generally building in a patination, which you can't fake.
0:07:12 > 0:07:18- Sure.- And it takes a long time to develop, and especially - look under here - this is just marvellous.
0:07:18 > 0:07:24The difference in colour here between the central column and this beautifully turned spiral there.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29- Well, that is not... It hasn't been polished that colour.- No.
0:07:29 > 0:07:35- This is somebody doing this.- Yes. - Your grandfather used it for food. Do you know what it was made for?
0:07:35 > 0:07:39- It's called a dumb waiter. - Yes, absolutely.- These move.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42So the idea was that at the end of a dinner
0:07:42 > 0:07:48it would be drawn into the dining table and the gentlemen - I presume just the gentlemen -
0:07:48 > 0:07:54- would drink port, get very drunk and eat lots of Stilton cheese.- Yes. - Especially round here.- Yes.
0:07:54 > 0:08:00They'd pull it around the dining room like this and put wine on it.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05You've got wine stains, food stains, helped by your grandfather to build up a wonderful patination.
0:08:05 > 0:08:12Let's go to the date. The first thing we notice, it's slightly tilted. This castor came off when I moved it.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17- It could easily be repaired.- Yes. - That's nothing serious, but that, to me, is a gem.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20A lovely 18th-century castor. Why is it 18th century?
0:08:20 > 0:08:24- It's quite broad for the cylindrical size.- Yes.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28- The diameter's quite narrow. - Brass, is it?- Brass on the outside.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33- This is three little bands of leather to protect the wooden floor.- Sure.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37- And the date of this is about 1750. - Really?
0:08:37 > 0:08:40As is the date of the whole piece. A genuine 18C piece.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43You see Victorian versions of these.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48- Do you?- Obviously, if your grandfather was using it around 1900, it might be a Victorian one.
0:08:48 > 0:08:54Patination's difficult to fake. They'd never put leather castors on in Victorian times.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58There's a little trick, a dangerous one, which I'll try.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02- This is a mahogany plank with the grain running this way.- Yes.
0:09:02 > 0:09:09You can see the grain quite clearly there. It will, over a period of time, shrink slightly that way.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14It should be effectively oval, off-circular.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18- Let's try it. - Keep your fingers crossed.
0:09:18 > 0:09:2037.5.
0:09:23 > 0:09:2938. So it's shrunk by half a centimetre over that period,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32which is about right, and it's a nice sign.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36It's not a guarantee, because all wood shrinks.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39- You don't see it with the eye.- No.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42So it's a family piece, so it's worth a lot for you.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45I'd insure it for £5,000.
0:09:45 > 0:09:52- But watch this space because this is the best Georgian furniture money can buy.- Really?- It'll always be popular.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57I just wonder who this wistful young lady is - have you any idea?
0:09:57 > 0:10:03- We haven't, but I thought it was a boy.- Ah, right! Well, it might be a wistful young chap.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07That's a whole new debate, I think, isn't it?
0:10:07 > 0:10:15At that age there was a similarity in the way they could be dressed, but what's the history of the picture?
0:10:16 > 0:10:21Well, Father-in-law told me that he'd bought it in Guildford in 1955,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23and he paid £25 for it.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27And there was no indication of who it was by?
0:10:27 > 0:10:31- No.- Well, I think he/she is absolutely enchanting.
0:10:31 > 0:10:39I particularly like the way that the portrayal of her has been framed in this very, very simple way.
0:10:39 > 0:10:45There's no other detail or elements which might well distract oneself from how it's painted.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50The painting was painted at the beginning of the 19th century.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55It follows certain other traditions of Dutch painting -
0:10:55 > 0:10:58Teniers and Rembrandt and so on.
0:10:58 > 0:11:05And the extraordinary drawing and painting of the eyes and ears, incredibly delicately painted.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09My ideas searching for an artist take me to Scotland.
0:11:09 > 0:11:17But as a picture without a name, it's still worth...£3,000 to £5,000.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19- Is it really?- An enchanting picture.
0:11:19 > 0:11:27I'm wondering whether it could be in fact by, some would say Scotland's most gifted artist, Sir David Wilkie.
0:11:27 > 0:11:33He was born in the 18th century, and before he went to Spain in 1817-1818,
0:11:33 > 0:11:39where he took on a much broader way of painting after seeing Velazquez and so on,
0:11:39 > 0:11:47he worked on larger scales - but he did a series of small pictures and he loved these with a delicate ground.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52- Have you ever thought that Wilkie might be...?- I felt it was Scottish.
0:11:52 > 0:11:58- Why was that?- Maybe not when I see it closely, but there might be a little bit of plaid.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01- Well, I thought that too. - Yes, but it's not, is it?
0:12:01 > 0:12:08I'm saying, "I'm being drawn in here. It looks like Wilkie, and because of the plaid it must be Scottish."
0:12:08 > 0:12:14- But I've got to be objective. - And how do you go about finding more about the artist?
0:12:14 > 0:12:19There's the records in the National Gallery of Scotland.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23There's somebody working on a catalogue,
0:12:23 > 0:12:28and there's the Witt Library in London which has lots of photographs.
0:12:28 > 0:12:34- So I think we must look into that. - Yes.- And get a photograph and do the homework.- Yes.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39We'd just enjoy it as an exercise, whatever the outcome.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44And if it is by Sir David Wilkie, then it's worth considerably more,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47£40,000, £50,000, £60,000, possibly £70,000.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50- Did Wilkie normally sign his paintings?- He did do a lot.
0:12:50 > 0:12:57I see there was absolute no reaction to that. Have you always kind of kept that in mind? It's almost...
0:12:57 > 0:13:02- No, no, he's a banker.- Oh, I see! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, yes.
0:13:05 > 0:13:12So here we have a 1914-period Pickelhaube from the German Army. They went to war in these in 1914.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17When the heavy flak started flying, they went into their steel helmets,
0:13:17 > 0:13:22- as we did, of course.- Yes.- So it's a nice thing, but it's lost its leg.
0:13:22 > 0:13:28- There's a little bit of damage. About £75, perhaps £100 in auction. - Thank you.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33Now here we have a very nice Scottish dirk.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36The nice thing about this one is
0:13:36 > 0:13:39it's an original cairngorm stone.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41This is really something because so often these dirks have got
0:13:41 > 0:13:45glass stones with a silver backing.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49But this is a cairngorm, as these small little stones are.
0:13:49 > 0:13:55- It's screaming out for attention as the leather has all dried out.- Yes.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00So you need some leather oil on that. But it is in very nice condition.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Just let me look at...
0:14:06 > 0:14:09It's made in Glasgow in 1868.
0:14:09 > 0:14:15- Oh, lovely.- So you've got a nice hallmark there, worth something in relation to £1,000.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17- Oh, right.- Very nice.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20You've got very unusual
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Russian Imperial Easter eggs
0:14:24 > 0:14:29- made by the Imperial factory in St Petersburg.- Are they?
0:14:29 > 0:14:34- Yes. They're beautiful.- I thought they were bed knobs.- Bed knobs! No!
0:14:34 > 0:14:38I thought Russian eggs were those fancy silver...
0:14:38 > 0:14:41There are all sorts of eggs.
0:14:41 > 0:14:47- I mean, often people would think they're bell pulls or...but you said? - Bed knobs.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Don't use them as bed knobs!
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Easter presents and they're very beautifully painted,
0:14:53 > 0:14:55- lovely quality.- They are nice.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00Oh, they're gorgeous. This one's going to be £600 to £800.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05This one about half of that because of the bad cracking across it.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08But they're jolly nice.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12Mid-19th-century Imperial Easter eggs.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14God. Can't believe it.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17It's a travelling inkwell.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22But what is unusual about this, which I've never seen before,
0:15:22 > 0:15:27is that it has these stabilisers that come out from the bottom,
0:15:28 > 0:15:33just to hold it extra steadily while travelling.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37And this one's got hallmarks on the back here.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42Made by Alexander Crichton in 1909.
0:15:42 > 0:15:48It's got the crest of the original owners on the top here.
0:15:49 > 0:15:57But a very unusual thing. A nice object. Again, a collectible piece and worth about £250 to £300.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Thank you.
0:15:59 > 0:16:05- So this is Frank Ifield's guitar? - Yes, that's him playing it there in the '50s.- And that's it?- Yes.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10I'm really excited to hold it. Tell me, did he give it to you?
0:16:10 > 0:16:15He did. I worked in his band with my wife for about 15 years.
0:16:15 > 0:16:21- He was moving back to Australia and gave it to me as a present. - That's fantastic. I was a real fan.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25And do you know much about the guitar itself?
0:16:25 > 0:16:30Made in Australia by, I believe, a British manufacturer
0:16:30 > 0:16:38- who went to Australia and made a big company over there.- They're more well known in Australia - Maton.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42In this country, they don't come up for sale at all.
0:16:42 > 0:16:49So this is a rare cello-shaped guitar, known as the arch-topped version,
0:16:49 > 0:16:56because it looks more like a fiddle than a guitar. And the arched top was invented by Orville Gibson in 1900.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01But it is the biggest of its kind and as such, also rare,
0:17:01 > 0:17:08so its intrinsic value, with no connection at all with Frank Ifield, would be in the region of £2,000.
0:17:08 > 0:17:14The fact that Frank Ifield made an album with The Beatles, although he didn't appear on stage with them,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18would put its value up to £10,000 to £15,000.
0:17:18 > 0:17:23- I know you can play it. Give us a strum.- I'll give you a little strum.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37We've got a range of pieces. This is an unusual clock - where's it from?
0:17:37 > 0:17:45Well, that was given to my grandparents on the occasion of their marriage in January 1907.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49We can get quite close to it by looking at the year code.
0:17:49 > 0:17:55Worcester put a code on their pieces. We've got the mark underneath, which is smudged. Counting the dots...
0:17:55 > 0:17:57- 1905 it was made.- Oh.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01So in stock a year or two, then given on that occasion.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06Most unusual to get porcelain clocks, and a little painted scene there.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11Not signed by the artist but I think it's the work of William Hawkins, a great flower painter.
0:18:11 > 0:18:17One feels that with porcelain painters and the artists at Worcester
0:18:17 > 0:18:22that you almost know them, because living in Worcester, as I did, their families are all around.
0:18:22 > 0:18:28And that introduced me to so many of the painters who are signed on your pieces of porcelain.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Are some of these by your family?
0:18:30 > 0:18:34Yes, my grandmother was a Fildes. Her maiden name was Fildes.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40And Madge Fildes, who worked at the porcelain works for a while,
0:18:40 > 0:18:48was her niece, and I feel very privileged to have two pieces that were actually painted by her.
0:18:48 > 0:18:54- Probably not of great value but they are sort of members of my family. - They become special.
0:18:54 > 0:19:02- Yes.- A great painter of roses and that atmospheric, shaded background, which Worcester specialised in.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07And then your family have been collecting pieces after that?
0:19:07 > 0:19:10My father had a great love of Worcester china.
0:19:10 > 0:19:17- And this is part of what he had left to me. - Did he know the painters himself?
0:19:17 > 0:19:25I'm not sure if my father did, but certainly my grandfather, who was well known in Worcester,
0:19:25 > 0:19:30- he knew Harry Davis and the Stintons. - And we see their work here.
0:19:30 > 0:19:35Harry Davis means a lot to my family because Dad knew him very well.
0:19:35 > 0:19:42I was nine years old when I met Harry Davis and would spend hours as a boy watching him paint.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47I can see the name Harry Davis on this. You've got unusual pieces.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51He's famous for his French-style landscapes and sheep.
0:19:51 > 0:19:52Here's a cottage scene.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56What gorgeous flowers growing there.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59You can imagine sitting by the cottage, as Harry would have done.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03He did local scenes. Is that a local building?
0:20:03 > 0:20:06It's somewhere around Worcester.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12I just feel that the flowers look as if they're almost growing.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15They come out as if they're alive. Amazing.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20That's the magic of porcelain - somehow the colours are sealed there.
0:20:20 > 0:20:26And a great big vase by another marvellous artist - Charlie Baldwin.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Bird lover through and through, and great sweeping swans there.
0:20:30 > 0:20:36Nowadays, collectors are keen on wares and the value goes very much by who painted them.
0:20:36 > 0:20:43And a little vase by Madge Fildes will be £250. A cup and saucer about £100.
0:20:43 > 0:20:49But moving up in the scale of the artist's work, your clock, which was their wedding present,
0:20:49 > 0:20:56family piece, so it's going to be, for its rarity alone, probably £800 to £1,000.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00Then moving up to the top artists.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04And Harry Davis there on a vase and cover with an unusual scene.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08- I suppose it's going to be £5,000. - Pardon?
0:21:08 > 0:21:12£5,000 now for a Harry Davis vase.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17The painters themselves would have been shocked at these values.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20He never earned that in his life, poor old Harry,
0:21:20 > 0:21:25but here, a vase that size and quality, probably £8,000.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Pardon?
0:21:27 > 0:21:32And a vase by Charlie Baldwin is going to be £7,000.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37- Goodness me. - Now, it makes you think, really.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41These were made as labours of love by the artists -
0:21:41 > 0:21:46as great bits of porcelain - but now they're expensive treasures too.
0:21:46 > 0:21:51They came from my grandfather and I inherited them when my father died.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53- Which was...?- 20-odd years ago.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57And you haven't had them overhauled in the meantime?
0:21:57 > 0:22:01I had that one mended. It keeps perfect time.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06This is a very handsome clock. It's a Cartel clock. It's French.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09It's a term that they use for wall clocks.
0:22:09 > 0:22:15This one is made of white marble with these lovely ormolu swags and mounts.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18I like this dial. Do you like that?
0:22:18 > 0:22:25- It's pretty, yes, but I find this hides it and I wondered if that was original.- The bezel?- Mm.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30It is. The glass has a heavy bevel and might look better without that.
0:22:30 > 0:22:36But I take your point - with that lovely royal-blue border and this superb gilt work here.
0:22:36 > 0:22:43Most of these French clocks, at this stage, had some sort of factory mark on the back.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47Usually you have to remove the bell to have a look. And there you go.
0:22:47 > 0:22:53There's a very small circular stamp there and that says Vincenti.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57They were a big French factory rather like Jappi Freres or Samuel Marti.
0:22:57 > 0:23:03The slight giveaway for date is this, which states the country of origin.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08I'd hesitate to say late-Victorian. I'd almost call it Edwardian.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13- Right.- But let's say 1905-1910. I think it's as late as that.- Right.
0:23:13 > 0:23:18Now the other one - what do you know about this one?
0:23:18 > 0:23:21- I think it's French. - You're absolutely right.
0:23:21 > 0:23:27- I think we'll put it down as being about 1830 in date.- Right.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30And although it looks very grubby,
0:23:30 > 0:23:37it will clean magnificently because this is not gold plating. This is the original mercurial gilding
0:23:37 > 0:23:42which you have here, on this sort of rope tasselled border.
0:23:42 > 0:23:49And you've got a lovely bow and arrows there, and then you come up to this sort of water ripple effect.
0:23:49 > 0:23:55- The little cherub with his lyre, of course, is also gilded.- Yes.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59The expensive thing, comparatively, is going to be to clean the movement.
0:23:59 > 0:24:06And - let's have a look - yes, that movement, again, signed low down.
0:24:06 > 0:24:13- When we remove the bell we should see something because they tended to be signed.- I've never found a mark.- No?
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Down there, I see the mark of Pons.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22P-O-N-S - a very nice French maker and retailer.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26And it's a case style that is very appealing.
0:24:26 > 0:24:31You've got this lovely lion with his sort of mythical tail
0:24:31 > 0:24:35with the cherub on his back. Any thoughts on value?
0:24:35 > 0:24:38I had them valued a long time ago
0:24:38 > 0:24:44to put on the contents insurance of the house, and I was told £300 for this one.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47- £300?- Mm. - Gosh, I'd hardly call that generous.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50This lovely Cartel clock - and it is lovely -
0:24:50 > 0:24:58- I'll talk in terms of what they'd realise at a good antiques fair, not just rough trade price.- Yes.
0:24:58 > 0:25:05When that's had a little money spent on it, realistically between about £2,800 and £3,000.
0:25:07 > 0:25:14And the one that you had been quoted £300 on, I would be asking £4,500 as a bare minimum.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16- You're joking!- It's a great piece.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21This is a wonderful collection of sweetheart badges.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23How long have you been collecting?
0:25:24 > 0:25:28About 20 years. The first one I bought was one of these RAF ones.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30That's what started me off.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35Sweetheart badges started with the chaps taking their collar badges -
0:25:35 > 0:25:37smaller than the cap badge -
0:25:37 > 0:25:39and then getting the Royal Engineers
0:25:39 > 0:25:44to put pins on the back and they sent them home to Mum, their wives...
0:25:44 > 0:25:49- Girlfriends. - Sweethearts, mistresses - whatever.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54Then the commercial aspect set in and we have these professional ones.
0:25:54 > 0:25:59But a nice memento - "My son's in the Royal Army Service Corps."
0:25:59 > 0:26:02"Oh, my son's in the 11th Hussars."
0:26:02 > 0:26:07One of those things - great. I should think the hardest ones
0:26:07 > 0:26:09- to find here are the Canadian CEFs.- Yes.
0:26:09 > 0:26:16- Cos it's all First World War.- Yeah. - And the higher the number, the rarer the badge. Did you know that?- No.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19When they were forming their battalions,
0:26:19 > 0:26:21they were full battalions.
0:26:21 > 0:26:27And as conscription and the volunteer service went on, they formed more battalions, which got smaller.
0:26:27 > 0:26:34- I see.- So therefore, when you get up to 200, and there's one here at 219 and another one at 229...- Right.
0:26:34 > 0:26:40- They're small in number.- Oh, I see. - Small in number - the badge volume, you see, is less.- Yes.
0:26:40 > 0:26:45- They are the scarcer ones.- They were just for the First World War.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49The best one I ever bought was that RAF one there,
0:26:49 > 0:26:56which I paid £22 for. And in actual fact it's 18-carat white gold and rose-cut diamonds.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59- Your lucky day. - I think it's worth more than £22.
0:26:59 > 0:27:05Well, one like that, I would think something like £150, even more.
0:27:05 > 0:27:13- Yes, I agree with that, yes. - But the whole collection here - there's 400-odd?- About 450.
0:27:13 > 0:27:18- You're looking at a value of about £10,000 to £12,000.- Really?
0:27:18 > 0:27:22- And I'm not emphasising the exotic ones.- No, right.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25It's a lovely, valuable collection.
0:27:27 > 0:27:34It looks to me like 15 and 15 - 1515. But I don't know whether that would be the date of the chair.
0:27:34 > 0:27:39- That's a bit hopeful, isn't it, 1515? - It's a bit hopeful.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42But I wonder if it's not the maker's initials - IS.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47- Oh.- Difficult to see, but...- It looked to me like a metallic stamp.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51I think somebody's pretending it's 1515.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54He's all right, I think, CW.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59I suspect it was made for CW, whoever CW was.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04But let's think where. This is beautiful French walnut carving.
0:28:04 > 0:28:11And I think it's a French chair with this lovely - not early-16th-century, but late-16th-century,
0:28:11 > 0:28:161580-style, of really what was known as the Henry II style, Henri Deux.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21And the form of the chair with the generous arms and solid seat -
0:28:21 > 0:28:29that's a later seat, but that's a nice solid seat. It's the style of a late-16th-century French caquetoire.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33That's what they were known as because you'd sit and chat away.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38Remember, in the late 16th century, to have any chair was pretty good.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43You'd be on a bench or a form, so an armchair meant you were quite important.
0:28:43 > 0:28:51It's probably a made-up chair but with elements of a late-Renaissance French chair. Now to value it.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55Let's say certainly £2,000 to £3,000.
0:28:56 > 0:29:03- Are you a doctor?- No. - How did you come by these? - They were in my mother's effects.
0:29:03 > 0:29:05- How alarming.- Yes.
0:29:05 > 0:29:12- These are catheters, as you probably know. They look to be plated ones rather than silver ones.- Right.
0:29:12 > 0:29:18- The early ones were silver, which was nice.- Sorry, - have you got anything to say about this Steiff bear?
0:29:18 > 0:29:23It's not an early one. It's probably 1920-ish.
0:29:23 > 0:29:29The paws are not long enough. The button is actually plastic rather than metal.
0:29:29 > 0:29:36So I think you're looking at the second stream of 1920, still £100 though, possibly even more.
0:29:38 > 0:29:45Um, yes, so these catheters are probably £200. Quite a complete set.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48Different grades, different sizes.
0:29:48 > 0:29:53Oh, this is rather good. No relations who were in medicine?
0:29:53 > 0:29:59- Not at all, no.- No sort of policemen?- Complete mystery.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03This is a post-mortem set, which has some wonderful hammers
0:30:03 > 0:30:08and saws and chisels, by the looks of it,
0:30:08 > 0:30:14for doing gruesome things to bodies after they're dead.
0:30:14 > 0:30:21This set, I should think - as it's slightly rusted - you're looking at £500, £600, £700.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23Really?
0:30:23 > 0:30:30It used to sit in my great-aunt's house with her fruit in it, and as far as I knew, it was a fruit bowl.
0:30:30 > 0:30:35Well, I can tell you that I've been in the silver business for 30 years.
0:30:35 > 0:30:40I've only ever seen two of these like this in my life.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43They are exceptionally rare
0:30:43 > 0:30:48- and it is in fact a cheese stand. - Oh.- For a truckle of cheese.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52A rounded piece of cheddar would slot in there.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56And they are very uncommon things.
0:30:56 > 0:31:03- Now, this one is actually electroplate.- Oh, right.
0:31:03 > 0:31:08It's interesting that it's made by the firm of Elkingtons,
0:31:08 > 0:31:11one of the pioneers of electroplate,
0:31:11 > 0:31:16and they had their own date letter system for their plate.
0:31:16 > 0:31:22The plate was first produced in 1840 by Elkingtons.
0:31:22 > 0:31:27And this one here has a little date letter there - K - for 1849.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32So it's only nine years after the introduction of electroplate.
0:31:32 > 0:31:38Well, most electroplate tends not to be worth a great deal,
0:31:38 > 0:31:42but because this is such an unusual piece,
0:31:42 > 0:31:50because it's such an early piece and made by one of the best makers, if not THE best maker of electroplate,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54- I think it's probably worth about £1,500.- Really?
0:31:54 > 0:31:58- Yes, yes.- That's amazing! Absolutely.
0:31:58 > 0:32:04Christopher, back to caquetoire, the chatting chair, that was a new one on me.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07Are there many of these exotic-sounding bits of furniture?
0:32:07 > 0:32:15There's a long list of names. That's a Renaissance chair. You've also got a chaire, which is a chest with arms.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19A placette - you place it - all these names from the Renaissance.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23There are many other names. One of my favourites is confidante.
0:32:23 > 0:32:29Confidante - now let me guess. Obviously sharing some secrets?
0:32:29 > 0:32:35Discreet information between a young couple. One would sit one way and she would sit the other way.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38So you couldn't touch, you could just chat.
0:32:38 > 0:32:45But my favourite confidante was one not far from here, years ago, which had two seats facing the same way,
0:32:45 > 0:32:47and a little oval padded cupboard.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51And you open the cupboard and put a little love note in.
0:32:51 > 0:32:56And English names - Cumberland action dining table, Sutherland table,
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Pembroke table. It goes on and on like that. Lovely.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02I like the exotic ones best.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07Born in Kettering, studies in Glasgow,
0:33:07 > 0:33:11goes to France, studies the Barbizon artists,
0:33:11 > 0:33:14Corot and those sort of people.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17Travels everywhere, Morocco, Japan,
0:33:17 > 0:33:21becomes very famous and highly sought after.
0:33:21 > 0:33:26And, I mean, tell me what you think about this painting.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30Without seeming sophisticated, I like the freehand style.
0:33:30 > 0:33:35And I like the way that you can look at the picture in a general way,
0:33:35 > 0:33:40in a relaxed way, as opposed to having to study the picture.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44I like to absorb the colours and the sort of free flow of the painting.
0:33:44 > 0:33:50You know, this sort of painting is really out of fashion today,
0:33:50 > 0:33:54because it speaks to you, but it sort of doesn't say a lot, does it?
0:33:54 > 0:33:56Yeah, yeah.
0:33:56 > 0:34:01And it's hard to think why East... East can paint beautiful things -
0:34:01 > 0:34:05these little views of Japan are absolutely exquisite,
0:34:05 > 0:34:11but generally, when he's painting this size,
0:34:11 > 0:34:16I find them - and I don't think I'm different from the public today -
0:34:16 > 0:34:18- a bit boring.- Yeah, a bit too big.
0:34:18 > 0:34:24There's not much going on. I don't think this period is his best work.
0:34:24 > 0:34:30- The way he melts all this in is fine, but he hasn't done terribly well here.- No.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34It's not signed, but you are quite sure it's an East?
0:34:34 > 0:34:40- I'm confident that it's an East. - I'm confident it's an East too. - But not one of his better ones.
0:34:40 > 0:34:47- Now tell me what you think about this.- I think this is far more vibrant and more interesting.
0:34:47 > 0:34:55It's small enough to hang in the living room. It may have been nicer if the lady was facing us.
0:34:55 > 0:35:00- But generally I find it... - You think that's a lady?- Isn't it?
0:35:00 > 0:35:07- I think it's a good old gardener. - Is it?- Of the younger male variety, but I could be wrong.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10Well, if he's in nettles, he's got his work cut out.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13I think it's a much better picture.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17It's more vibrant and it's a different mentality.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21This is based on Barbizon principles,
0:35:21 > 0:35:24which are going to the landscape in a certain way
0:35:24 > 0:35:29and going to the woods and painting quite dense subjects.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32This is based on Impressionist principles.
0:35:32 > 0:35:39Sisley and Pissarro going to common or garden domestic subjects
0:35:39 > 0:35:43and landscapes and making them live.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47And here is a garden and it's the garden of a reasonable house.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49Here is the garden boy.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53It is a bit overgrown here, but marguerites and very French.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57It's not only feeling in France, maybe this is in France.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02But it's rather an English wood, so I think we're back to Kettering.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Oh, good, good.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07Um, right. A painting like this,
0:36:07 > 0:36:12which would have probably fetched a large amount during his lifetime,
0:36:12 > 0:36:16is relatively small on today's market.
0:36:16 > 0:36:23- So I would say £1,500, £2,000, something like that. - Right. That's not too bad, then.
0:36:23 > 0:36:28This is a picture that would be desired. It's got a focal point.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34I can see sort of £6,000 to £8,000.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37- You're kidding me!- Well, why not?
0:36:37 > 0:36:41That's fantastic. Really good.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43- Let me tell you a story.- Right. - 30 years ago,
0:36:43 > 0:36:48I was working for an auction house in London as a porter.
0:36:48 > 0:36:54And they decided to open a specialist saleroom to deal with 19th- and 20th-century things.
0:36:54 > 0:37:00- And they chose me to be the first cataloguer.- Really?
0:37:00 > 0:37:02And the first object that came in
0:37:02 > 0:37:06that I had to catalogue was a piece of Amphora.
0:37:06 > 0:37:12- Really?- Exactly the same factory as this, so it takes me back 30 years.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16- You knew it was Amphora? - Yes, I looked at the bottom.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20We've got a very good clear mark on there.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23We've got a transfer printed mark which is barely readable.
0:37:23 > 0:37:28And a mould number, decorator's number, gilder's number,
0:37:28 > 0:37:32- all on the bottom there. - That's what those are. I wondered.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36This is typically Art Nouveau in style -
0:37:36 > 0:37:41with this sort of movement. There's a lot of Vienna in this.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45- I see, yes.- This is sort of Vienna Werkstatte influence.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50The pretty girl is a distinct bonus. It's nice having her on there.
0:37:50 > 0:37:57And we've got these wonderful cabochons, which have been enamelled. They look as if they're stuck on.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01I wondered if they were agates, but they're not, are they?
0:38:01 > 0:38:07No, they are actually hand painted to look like cabochon cut stones. And it works really well.
0:38:07 > 0:38:12There is a parallel here with an English factory called Ruskin.
0:38:12 > 0:38:18William Howson Taylor also made these cabochons for mounting his jewellery.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20Oh, did he? Yes, yes.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22It's got these tendrils.
0:38:22 > 0:38:28- We're moving slight.... This is beginning to get slightly Deco-ish.- Yes.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32And we're looking at about 1910 for this.
0:38:32 > 0:38:37Made by a factory called Reisner, in fact, who were in Turn Terplitz in Germany.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40Wonderful to have this piercing on the top.
0:38:40 > 0:38:45Is that gold, or gold leaf? It makes a metallic sound if you tap it.
0:38:45 > 0:38:51The whole thing will make a metallic sound because it's a high-fired porcelain body.
0:38:51 > 0:38:57And if you do that, you will get a metallic noise. This is gold.
0:38:57 > 0:39:02- Is it?- Yes, but not solid gold. It's gold over the top of the porcelain.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05And this would have been painted on.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09And it would have then been fired in a kiln. It would come out black.
0:39:09 > 0:39:14And then they had to burnish it to make it come gold again.
0:39:14 > 0:39:19- Quite a lot of work.- This was an expensive object to make.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22Amphora is now very collectible.
0:39:22 > 0:39:29- People go for it because it really encapsulates the Art Nouveau period so well.- Yes.
0:39:29 > 0:39:36I remember the piece that I catalogued all those years ago made a magnificent £15.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41- Oh, did it? - Which was quite a breakthrough. Where did you get this from?
0:39:41 > 0:39:46I got it at an auction in Wellingborough eight years ago.
0:39:46 > 0:39:53I can tell you how much I paid for it. With buyer's premium, it came to almost exactly £400.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57- So it's quite a brave punt. - I'd have gone a lot more.
0:39:57 > 0:40:01- Would you?- Well, I was determined to have it. I like Art Nouveau.
0:40:01 > 0:40:06Well, if you had paid £1,000 for it,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09it would have been somewhere in the region of the right price.
0:40:09 > 0:40:14- It's sort of £1,200 - £1,800.- Yes.
0:40:14 > 0:40:20- So it's done you jolly well for your £400. Thank you very much. - Thank you for your information.
0:40:20 > 0:40:25This is a chameleon of an artist and a most remarkable collection.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30This looks like Charles Dana Gibson, the American artist.
0:40:30 > 0:40:35And this one here too - it's sort of Scottish School.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39But these are incredible - illustrated letters.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42There's nothing as exciting as illustrated letters,
0:40:42 > 0:40:46because these ones illustrate
0:40:46 > 0:40:49the entire artistic sensibility of
0:40:49 > 0:40:51the first half of the 20th century.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Look at this one. This could be almost Toulouse-Lautrec.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58- Yes!- It is quite extraordinary.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03"I'm going to start shortly and do some drawings for The Sketch."
0:41:03 > 0:41:08So presumably he's working for The Sketch. On this page he signs himself "Tooky".
0:41:08 > 0:41:15And here he is, Tooky himself, a self-portrait, looking very Whistleresque.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19And here's another one smoking a cigarette. Who was Tooky?
0:41:19 > 0:41:25- His name was AK Macdonald. I think he was Alistair. I'm not sure. - Yes, I've heard of him.
0:41:25 > 0:41:32I know very little about him except that I found postcards of his for sale on the Internet.
0:41:32 > 0:41:37Yes, but he also worked, like EH Shepard and other illustrators,
0:41:37 > 0:41:42for The Sketch, as he says, and quite a lot of other magazines.
0:41:42 > 0:41:48But he was able to adapt his style so dramatically. This one is, I think, very wonderful.
0:41:48 > 0:41:55Very EH Shepard - the way the rugger player is on there, running after the ball.
0:41:55 > 0:42:02Looking very athletic there. The one I like... I don't know if I like it most or least,
0:42:02 > 0:42:08but it's one that's certainly very different, and this one is dated January 17th 1946.
0:42:08 > 0:42:13So he was quite old by that time, and yet here he is, Anticipations.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15There are two black puddings.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19There he's eaten them both and looking incredibly fat.
0:42:19 > 0:42:24This is just a wonderful collection. So where did they come from?
0:42:24 > 0:42:31As far as I know, my father, who was a doctor in the town, had patients who were two elderly ladies.
0:42:31 > 0:42:37I believe that one of these ladies was the sister of AK Macdonald.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41I presume the letters came to my father as a gift.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45- He said he absolutely loved them and...?- I guess so, yes.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49They are wonderful early-20th-century illustrated letters.
0:42:49 > 0:42:56Put them in chronological order, enjoy yourself, read them a little bit and then think about their value,
0:42:56 > 0:43:03because their value, believe it or not, is somewhere between £3,000 and £5,000.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07- Good gracious. - Surprised you?- Thank you very much.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10This has been one of the busiest Roadshows on record.
0:43:10 > 0:43:15About 3,000 people have passed through the doors.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18And if I could choose one treasure to take home,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22it would be churlish not to choose this painting by Alfred East,
0:43:22 > 0:43:27the man who started in the shoe trade and became one of Kettering's most famous sons.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31And from Kettering, until next week, Goodbye.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd