Sherborne 1 Antiques Roadshow

This is Sherborne, an ancient town, an abbey town,

a town of castles and schools,

a place of gothic shapes and haunted cloisters.

Harry Potter would be happy here - in the Dorset branch of Hogwarts.

Above the town stands the old estate of Sherborne,

gifted by Elizabeth I in 1592

to one of her favourites - the dashing Sir Walter Raleigh.

That was before she realised that Raleigh had secretly married one of her ladies-in-waiting.

When she found out, the Queen was not amused.

The Raleighs were banished from court

and retired to Sherborne, where Sir Walter built the new castle.

This was one of his favourite spots.

From here, he could admire his garden.

And keep an eye on the busy traffic on the road to Dorchester.

One evening, apparently,

Raleigh was sitting here, puffing contentedly at his pipe,

when a servant who didn't know about tobacco, spotted the smoke,

thought his master was on fire and put him out with a flagon of ale.

Aaargh!

It made him a bitter man.

Cut off from high society,

Raleigh surrounded himself with family and friends.

A collection of astronomers, scientists and explorers,

they'd sit till the early hours - sorting out the world's problems.

They were known as the "School of the Night".

Fine education was established in Sherborne

in the 8th century by St Aldheim.

Sherborne School was later linked with the Benedictine Order,

and in the grounds are the remains of the original abbey cloister.

This is the birthplace of the Sherborne Missal -

the finest example of medieval book painting

to have survived the Reformation intact.

Its 694 pages contain lavish images

of kings, bishops, saints and angels in a celestial throng,

accompanied by a choir of the native birds of the British Isles.

Today, we are in the school's sports hall.

As an old Sherburnian,

our pictures expert, Rupert Maas, takes pride of place.

On with the show.

"An accompaniment to Mr G Pocock's Patent Terrestrial Globe,"

which I presume is that object. "Directions for inflating the globe.

"First, holding it with one hand by the hoop, wave it...

"and have the air rushing inside." Oh, heavens!

"Then raise it vertically by the stud." I'm going too fast for you.

There's the stud.

"The orifice must rise a foot or two above the carpet.

-"Raise it, drop it..." You've done this before.

-I've done it before.

"Raise it in a perpendicular direction." ..Oh, my goodness!

-What a wonderful party piece.

-It is, isn't it?

-And there it is.

-There we are, the world as it was in 1830.

-Well done!

Now, what do you do as an encore?

Well, I'm not sure there is one!

So we've got here the patent globe

and a great book giving all sorts of information about it.

And this was something that was read out during the demonstration.

Is this something that you have bought in order to entertain people

-or is it a family piece?

-A family piece. I got it from my mother,

and I suspect it was in the family for two generations before that.

When one looks at the opening page here, it gives a date of 1830...

-Of 1830, yes.

-..which goes well before grandparents.

-Yes, yes.

-Now, the material that it's made out of is a paper.

-It's paper.

It seems extraordinary that this has survived fairly violent action

for well, you know, 170 years. It's quite...quite bizarre, really.

-Yes.

-That something so light and airy

and, in theory, fragile has survived.

Have you done any repairs to it?

Er, yes, my middle daughter repaired it some years ago,

-and removed little bits of brown paper which were stuck over holes.

-Right.

-It's printed and then hand-coloured.

-Hand-coloured.

So the bright colours that you see are applied by hand,

with watercolours or with inks,

but the actual detail is all printed ink from an engraving.

I think it's a wonderful object.

-It's fun, isn't it?

-It's great fun.

I would have thought, price-wise, it's going to be in the...

£500 to £700 bracket. I think it's absolutely wonderful,

so thank you very much for bringing it in and for demonstrating it.

Now, anyone who goes to antique shops

will know there is a lot of 1920s and '30s reproduction furniture,

without knowing where it comes from. It was so popular in Britain in that period.

What these seem to be are designs for exactly that furniture.

Here we've got a late-17th-century bedroom suite -

wardrobe, tallboy, bedstead -

in walnut, looking vaguely like the late 17th, early 18th century,

but, in fact, completely of the 1920s and '30s.

And if you lift this, there's an alternative design,

so you can have A or B.

Here - some elaborate gilded chairs

of the same period - 17th century - to go with the settee.

What have we got here? Oh, look now, that's the classic

oak reproduction, Tudor-bethan, whatever you like.

Wonderful complete set. What's the story?

Well, back in the '70s, I suppose,

there was an auction in Bath, and I went along

-as I'm interested in woodworking machinery.

-Right.

-And in the corner

-was a pile of old timber.

-Seasoned, ancient timber?

-Yes.

-There was mahogany, walnut.

-Gosh.

-Oak. Old jobs that had gone wrong.

-I think I paid about £30 for it.

-For a lot of timber?

-Oh, yeah. There was about three tons of it.

-Fantastic.

-There was a box-van full.

-That's a great bargain.

-Yes, it was.

-Yes, so this tin came by chance with the wood?

-Yeah, that's right.

Let's have another look. Another batch. There's hundreds of them.

-There are, yes.

-They're all designs?

-Yeah.

-Let's see.

Oh, look - again, there's a wonderful piece.

It's a sort of 17th-century chinoiserie lacquer commode

on a stand, or lacquer chest on a stand,

and, look, a cocktail cabinet! What could be more of that period?

-Do we know who this is?

-I've no idea.

-Have you been through the box?

-Yes.

-Any clues?

-None that I can find.

-So, nothing is signed.

-No, nothing, no.

-What it reveals, of course,

is that in the 1920s, 1930s, we were passionate about antique furniture -

there wasn't enough of the real stuff,

so, manufacturers like Norris and famous names like Whiteleys,

you know, big department stores - Maples,

commissioned all this type of stuff so you could buy Tudor, Elizabethan,

Jacobean,

Sheraton, Chippendale, whatever you wanted, it was there.

-There's hundreds of things in here.

-There are, yes.

-Have you ever counted?

-No, no. No idea.

Well, you bought a load of old timber which was already worth more than the £30 you paid.

-Yes.

-Now, its greatest value is as a total archive. One's got to find out

who the artist is, who the designer is.

Piece by piece, a design like that in an antique shop today

would be framed up, cleaned and would sell for between...

£50 and £100. So if there's 100 of those, at an average of £50 -

-Well, that's £5,000 for a start. I haven't counted, I haven't been right through it...

-No.

but if you just take that as an average,

-imagine what you've got. Fantastically lucky day when you got it!

-Wasn't it just?!

My father was in the Royal Navy,

and when he was a midshipman in 1949,

he went to Switzerland for a holiday.

And he met this retired gentleman and his partner,

and they got on very well during the holiday, and after the holiday,

they went their separate ways, but they kept in contact by letter

and when Monsieur Biederman passed away,

in his will he then left to my father

the Patek Philippe pocket watch

-and a Rolex watch as well.

-Oh, right.

And when my father passed away 21 years ago,

this was passed over to me.

A fantastic story and a very generous man, too.

-A Patek Philippe is one of the best watch-making companies in the world...

-Yes.

-..was then,

particularly so for pocket watches. Another little detail of this bill -

Chronometrie Beyer, BahnhofStrasse, in Zurich, is still there -

they're the oldest distributor of Patek Philippe and still do business with a handshake, no papers.

Teddy Beyer is still alive. His father would have sold this watch to Mr Biederman.

The first thing about it is the dial - good colour, unusual hands -

lot of extra little details of workmanship.

If we open the movement - what we're all about -

you've got the Patek Philippe mark in the back, Patek Philippe numbers,

the same thing written in here - Patek Philippe.

Always fully signed.

If you find a watch like this without the case signed, be careful.

And there we are - yeah, that's the best quality.

Jewelled throughout, beautiful finishing on the movement,

you've got ruby jewels, ruby stones set in there, gold chatons,

and somewhere is the word "extra".

-Right.

-And that's the sign of extra quality, extra special.

-So that is about as good a lever chronometer as they made.

-Right.

-And we've got a date of 1922.

-Yeah.

I mean...

I mean, I imagine you may have had something like this valued,

-but I'm going to tell you what

-I

-think.

Ah, just a minute, let's look under here...

I've just spotted that.

-If you open it... I shan't open it.

-I've never noticed that before.

That'll be a spare mains spring in there.

So from the valuation point of view, a normal Patek Philippe like this,

not the extra, but the standard -

perhaps £1,500. Because it's the extra quality,

we're looking at a value,

a real value, not insurance value, of somewhere probably in excess of

-£5,000.

-Right.

I inherited it from a great aunt

and it lived in North Coker House, East Coker, for years and years

until it went to my aunt and mother and then it came to me.

Oh, wonderful.

So many times a piece of furniture made in the late 17th, early 18th century,

would be a heavy chest of drawers on a comparatively flimsy stand,

and over the years these little legs got rickety and the toes rotted -

either woodworm or being on a stone floor -

and they were replaced.

And the other story is

that such pieces of furniture in the middle of the 18th century

were sold off, at auction perhaps,

but they never took a rise upwards in their social surroundings,

not like today when lords and ladies go to farm sales.

In those days, farmers went to the lord and lady's sale.

So the farmer would take this home, and when he got home,

he couldn't fit it all in - he hadn't the room,

so he would put some feet on this bit, put a top on here

-and he'd get TWO bits of furniture.

-Yes.

-And so they were separated.

Let us just have a look here.

We have original handles, which is terribly rare now,

-and that mark is where that handle...

-I thought that was...

-Where a big handle had been?

-Yes.

-A big Victorian knob?

-Yes.

No, that's where that's swung round and round for EVER.

A bit lighter round here where the cleaning has edged away the patina.

When we look inside - look at this lovely lock - a sort of fan shape.

-Yes.

-Wedge shape,

fixed with handmade clout nails -

1710 at the latest.

And then the beautifully veneered top -

quarter veneering here and a broad band of cross banding put on,

just tall enough to see -

any taller, of course, it wouldn't have any veneer on at all -

so totally genuine here.

All the mouldings are put on cross-grained. Notice by 1740,

the grain runs that way.

-Yes.

-Until then, they were across the grain - lovely little sections.

And then a large cock beading here -

a slip of damp wood applied with big handmade nails when wet,

and then it kept that beautiful bow shape.

And, look, just that little curl...

oh, just lifts it up!

And a little tiny pointed pad foot.

Oh, wonderful!

Now, we have to talk about the value, commercial value.

Because of its total genuineness,

I do feel that, um, this could make in the region of...

-probably £40,000.

-Really? Mmm.

-£40,000.

-Thank you, it's been a joy.

-Thank you.

CUCK-OO!

CUCK-OO! CUCK-OO!

CUCK-OO! < Isn't he a lovely sound?

-A cuckoo on the nest.

-Yes.

-And all these little birds all around,

-they're absolutely wonderful. What's its history?

-I remember it

from the middle '20s. I'm fairly ancient now.

It was in my grandfather's breakfast room in a cupboard.

-He's my teddy bear, I suppose.

-Really?

-He's had a bit of knocking about - there's a bit missing.

-Yes, unfortunately, when he died,

his brother next door put it in the tree for a joke

-and children threw stones at it.

-Oh, no! The cuckoo in the nest.

It's, of course, slipware -

different coloured clays put on this red clay body.

-Yes.

-And he's gorgeous.

I love the little tiny birds hiding in the branches. In date,

it could be as early as about 1800, it may even be late 17th century

running into the 18th century. I've got several myself - absolute fun.

-Yes.

-Usually speaking, they come from the north-east of England...

or else in Lancashire.

There were several places in Lancashire that made these,

-so I expect it was up there and it's flown a long way down here!

-Yes.

And I think it's tremendous fun,

-and it's in the region of about £400 or £500.

-Fine.

It was my father's great aunt's.

-Right.

-Then to the aunt, to my father and he left it to me.

Lovely. Did you play it as a child?

-Yes, we did. We played it in Dublin on the table.

-Right, how lovely.

Bussey's were makers of full-sized billiards and snooker tables, and made them in miniature too.

-It's in good condition...

-Yes.

-..considering you played with it.

-These hoops fit on the little pins. Did you put them on the table?

-Underneath the tablecloth.

-Didn't that damage the tablecloth?

-Well, we got away with it!

-Endless hours of enjoyment.

-Yes. We could only play it on a Sunday.

-Oh, only on the Sabbath?

-Yes.

-After you'd been to church?

-Yes.

-The mallets and, indeed, the hoops are made of celluloid.

-Yes.

And, as I say, it's in wonderful condition,

dating from around 1900-1910. So it's lovely,

and you've got all the rules here and everything else. If this was in a specialist shop,

-you'd probably have to pay £200 or £300 for it, and have hours of endless enjoyment.

-Yes, yes.

-Thanks for bringing it.

-Thank you.

Well, we've seen some large items on this show,

but this is the other end of the scale,

something that's fallen from a pigeon. Can you tell us what it is?

This is a pigeon post from the First World War.

My father was born in 1881,

so he was just the right age for the First World War, about 30-ish.

And he wasn't in communications himself,

but his pal gave him this,

and this is the way they used to... communicate in the First World War,

or one of the ways and, um... by pigeon...

And the message about forthcoming battles and things

is on that paper.

-And is that an original message?

-Oh, it's an original message,

but I can't tell you... I have seen it as a tiny child -

I was very small because I was born in 1912, 1913,

and I have seen it, but I can't remember what's on it.

-It's too fragile now to open up?

-You can do it if you can get it back, but I wouldn't dare.

It's very tantalising. That bears instructions of great importance?

Yes, a forthcoming battle, so my father told me.

-May I?

-Yes, you can do what you like. If you can get it back!

-Here it is, unseen for many years.

-Unseen for about... I'm 90,

so unseen for about... I don't know how many years.

-It's all there.

-Yes.

-I can see...

-Oh, look, the message is coming through.

-Oh, it's in English.

I can see the word "this".

Oh... I'm trying not to...harm it.

I don't mind what you do.

-What does it say?

-This is an application for a war bond of £200.

-Oh, nothing to do with a battle!

-HM Merriman, Ashtead, Surrey.

That's my father, that's my father.

But it's pigeon service. He was using this for his OWN messages.

I suppose he was. Well!

My father was an amateur yachtsman at the outbreak of war

and he volunteered to go into submarines because he fancied it,

and he went through the various tests and they found he had some varicose veins,

which meant that it was impossible for him to go in a submarine,

so they said, "Would you like to volunteer for something else?"

And the something else was bomb disposal, and he rather got into it with a whole lot of other guys

who were from the RNVR, and he trained and went to work on parachute mines.

The Germans were dropping some huge parachute mines on London, every night I think,

and he got the George Cross for a parachute mine that came down

on Hungerford Bridge at Charing Cross and it fused itself to the live rail,

and the only way to defuse it was for someone to climb out onto the bridge with a hammer and chisel

and try and get the fuse out, and they had to evacuate the War Office

and most of Charing Cross

because the mine was so big that it would have blown everything apart.

I think he worked for over four hours with a hammer and chisel.

He didn't know what he was going to find in the fuse,

because the Germans were very clever

and they had acoustic devices, they had photo-electric devices,

and so there was always the chance that the next tap would set it off.

That's what he got the Cross for.

Then he did another mine on a gas holder in Twickenham,

which again threatened to blow up a whole neighbourhood,

for which he got the George Medal.

It's a fascinating group, but to see these two together in one group

is most unusual, most unusual.

On its own, as an award...

this George Cross...

is £10,000 to £12,000.

The George Medal is £2,000,

but because it's in a group, I think you can add to it,

so I would assess this group at something around about...

£16,000.

My 96-year-old mother tells me that it was her mother's aunt's,

and she was a Miss Helen Hill, and she died in childbirth,

-and her husband had this made from her hair...

-Yes.

..as a cameo mourning set.

-And these were Helen's hands...

-Right.

I don't know the married name, but it is written there, and the date.

People would now recoil at using dead people's hair in jewellery,

but it was popular and fashionable

in the 19th century, and she must have had jolly long hair.

-Yes.

-This was considered a very suitable hobby for young ladies...

and, er...although there were professional hair weavers,

a lot were done at home as well, and it's really extraordinary work.

-That's her hair as well, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Unless that's the baby's hair.

-No, I think it was hers.

-It's hers.

-It's beautifully done.

-It is.

-And you've got the black enamel for mourning.

-Yes.

-The interesting thing is that both of these...

-Fit on.

-..independently fit on.

-Yes, that's a choker.

You'd probably have to have a small neck, but it is flexible, isn't it?

-It does stretch a bit.

-Yes.

-And then...

-My mother still wears that.

-That one is a lovely shell cameo.

-And again it's got these alternative fittings...

-Yes.

..so you can wear this or this as a brooch,

-or this as a centre of a choker.

-Yes.

-It's really fascinating.

What's interesting about Victorian jewellery is the history with it,

-which often gets lost because these things change hands so often.

-Yes.

And this is a very nice idea as well.

What would that have been used for?

It'd have been either a hand seal -

-you'd have a nice gold finish here with a seal underneath.

-Oh, I see.

-Or it could have been a parasol handle.

-Oh, right.

-We wondered about that.

-Beautifully carved.

The hands are different sizes,

-so you've got, presumably, his hand and her hand.

-His and hers, yes.

-Queen Victoria used to do this with her children.

-That's right, yes.

-Their hands and feet sculpted in marble.

-I've seen this at Osborne.

So you have a nice gold-mounted cameo there

and you have a nice gold mourning brooch there,

so those would really have to be insured -

the two together - for about £1,200,

-and this, I suppose, I'd add another £200 on.

-Thank you.

-So if one put...

-£1,500-£1,800 on it for insurance, although it is irreplaceable.

-It is.

And this beautifully carved little objet, I suppose...

-£500.

-Thank you very much.

It's 1919 - it appears to be dated that -

so it's just after the First War,

and Greenwich Naval College there, and a lot of shipping going through.

It's by Charles Dixon.

-What do you know of the artist?

-He was a sailor, um...

and he sailed with Sir Thomas Lipton

and sailed on his Shamrocks - he had five Shamrocks -

and watched the America's Cup.

-Were those those wonderful J-class yachts?

-Yes, they were beautiful.

Yes, so as you say, truly a good sailor, Dixon, wasn't he?

A friend of mine has a wonderful expression for the way he painted -

"He combines great freedom with great accuracy." How did you get it?

My sister-in-law bought it

about 30 years ago, and she left it to my husband and I when she died,

-so we love it very much.

-So it's inherited.

It's in cracking good condition.

This kind of Dixon really captures a slice of river life

that has largely gone by now.

Today, the Thames is a desert compared to this busy thoroughfare.

I think we're on the Isle of Dogs here, looking across to Greenwich.

It's a wide stretch of river, and it must have teemed with ships then.

There's merchantmen here and... Royal Naval training ships.

-And the barges.

-And the busy barges plying their trade up and down.

What I particularly admire, I've always loved most particularly,

is just his painting of rust on hulls.

-Don't you think that's good?

-Yes.

-I think he's used a crayon over the brown paper...

-Yes, yes.

..and just left some of the paper to give a little texture.

Then he's got brown paint, with body colour to thicken it,

and he's just splodged it on there to represent patches of rust, and it's completely convincing.

-A lovely picture, really nice. Um, any idea of value at all?

-Um...

-I think we've got it insured for £3,000.

-£3,000?

-Mmm.

-As of when?

-Two years ago.

-Two years ago, yes.

Well, I think that's a bit modest. I really think

you ought to double it for insurance.

-Right.

-£6,000 would be much more accurate for a work of this size

-and quality for Dixon. So collectable.

-Thank you.

-A pleasure.

It was given to my parents-in-law for a wedding present

in...1912. I think they were married...

-Right.

-..by Sir Moses Montefiori. That's all I know, really.

-Right.

So they've come from the family of the Jewish philanthropist.

-Yes, yes, yes.

-The plates are individually painted

-with different specimens of orchids. Look at those colours.

-Yes.

-Lovely.

-Each one entirely hand-painted.

-Yes. Where?

-Made at the Minton factory.

-Yes.

The pattern tells us Minton - but they're usually marked clearly,

and there it says the word "Minton".

We've got a year code, a little date code system,

-which is the year for 1875.

-Oh, well, that's interesting.

At that time, few painters at Minton and the factories signed their work,

but I think I know who this is by

because orchids were a speciality of one man at Minton - William Mussill.

How do you spell Mussill?

-M-U-S-S-I-L-L.

-Oh. Good thing I asked you!

He was a spectacular painter -

he really brought flower painting into a new dimension on porcelain,

-and he was very highly regarded.

-Oh, I'm glad you told me

-because we thought that they were Chinese painted.

-Inspired by that.

He may have copied Chinese painting. His influence was from the East.

In the 1870s, Britain went Japanese-mad.

Japanese art was first being seen,

-and the influence of the asymmetry here, each one being different, is very Japanese.

-Yes, yes.

So William Mussill and other Minton painters were influenced by Japan,

but they mixed it in a Victorian way. The border

is a Chinese key-fret pattern cut out -

-very Chinese.

-I love that.

-That bit there.

-How many of these have you got?

-Two.

-Two big ones.

-Yes, two big ones and five little ones.

A very full set.

Individual pieces like this - quality plates by Minton-

you could expect one plate to sell

for at least £300. You've got plenty of those.

-Yes, yes.

-And then the... That's what, £6,000.

And then you've got the comports alone -

-a further...?

-Five of these and two of those.

-They're going to be...

£400 or £500 each, even more for the big one.

-Oh, six...

-It all adds up to a lovely set.

-My goodness me.

-But the nice thing is

it's altogether, and as a suite altogether, what a joy to look at.

Well, thank you very much.

TINNY TUNE PLAYS

What energy, what dynamism!

-Yes!

-What style, what music!

I mean we've got the whole of Hollywood here on the table top!

And what we have is Mickey Mouse,

organ grinder. Here is the lid of the original box.

Now, tell me where Mickey Mouse, organ grinder, came from.

He came from a relative who died 20 years ago and we inherited it.

She's had it in her family since it was made. She had it as a child.

-Wonderful. Were you allowed to play with it when you were a child?

-No.

-Were you allowed to look at it?

-Yes, when we went on holiday.

It is Mickey Mouse, but not Mickey as we know and love him today,

-because he's rat-like, isn't he?

-He is.

-He's sharp-nosed and toothy

and his eyes are what are known as pie-crust eyes,

-so it's like a pie with just one slice taken out of it.

-Yes.

Very good description - a pie-crust eye.

Now, I'm absolutely certain there will not be a trademark on it.

TINKLE Shush!

No, there is no trademark on it,

but there is a giveaway on the box lid,

which says down here in these tiny, tiny letters -

"Made in Germany".

And I happen to know that it was made

by one of the collectable makers of novelty toys -

a company called Johann Distler of Nuremburg.

It will probably be 1929, 1930, that this particular toy was made,

and what's great for me

is that it is in very good condition apart from just...

Mickey has got - not quite feet of clay -

-but feet of steel or tin which have rusted.

-Yes.

But the thing which is always missing on these toys is Minnie.

And here Minnie is, leaping up and down with glee, wiggling her legs,

and being a happy little mouse, so it's great to have her on the top.

It's a lovely toy. It's not a toy of any quality, whatsoever.

It's really

thrown together as far as a toy's concerned,

which is what happened in the '20s. They were put together with tabs,

and if we look down here,

we can see the way the tabs just fold the tin into the shape,

so it's not a quality toy.

But it's interesting to collectors because it's Mickey

and it's Mickey in his early manifestation.

The value is...surprising, perhaps,

for something that is a mass-produced,

rather thrown-together printed piece of tin.

We're going to be talking about...

between £7,000 and £10,000.

'It's my father's.'

My great-grandfather took it to work and used it for his cider.

-So he worked on the fields?

-Mm.

-Yes, it's a 19th-century cider jar,

very classic country design, country pottery.

You'd wear it on a string round you, and working away all day,

-cider was what you drank to refresh yourself.

-Yes.

What you were like at the end of the day, heaven knows!

It could be locally made -

every country pottery made them, so it could be a Dorset piece,

made in huge quantities in the 19th century, but very nice surviving,

-good story, about £80 to £100.

-Oh, thank you.

-Do you collect copper?

-No, it belongs to my grandmother.

-Does it?

-She's got quite a few bits and pieces.

-She collects them?

-Yeah,

-she has got quite a lot...

-What can you tell me about it?

She was given it for her birthday by her sister Molly,

and was told it was made by the same guy who'd something to do with the roof of St Paul's Cathedral,

-On the top of St Paul's Cathedral?

-Whether that's true, I don't know.

Well, no, it's made by a company rather than an individual,

and she's nearly on the right track. You see there's a mark here -

and it is the orb on the top of St Paul's.

A company called Benham and Froud had workshops in that vicinity,

and because they're close to St Paul's Cathedral,

took the orb as their maker's mark,

so she isn't a million miles from it, but it's a very nice object.

-It's architectural in itself, isn't it?

-She has made jelly in it.

What did the jelly taste like?

-I don't know, I wasn't around!

-To a jelly-mould collector,

-I'd have thought perhaps £150 to £200.

-She'll be pleased with that.

-And she'll make a celebratory jelly with it I expect.

-Hopefully!

Thanks very much for bringing it in.

-What we've got here is a Japanese vase.

-Yes.

-The body is ivory.

-Yes.

It's been inlaid in mother-of-pearl, stained ivory, horn,

coconut shell.

-Goodness me!

-All this has been carefully chiselled out

and then the little pieces let in.

-Yes.

-Staggering amount of work has gone on here.

It's been mounted in silver

which has been enamelled.

Now, the enamel is effectively cloisonne,

in that it's in little cloisons, little wire holes,

but they stick up from the body

and they're just a little bit on the fragile side.

One has this slight fear when people are putting the final polish on,

that they're going to catch the hairs on the cloth

and pull a wire off, and then you're in real trouble.

Some of the little pins are loose.

That's probably what's happened there.

This technique is known as shibayama.

Originally a Mr Shibayama, then his family,

and then a generic name for any of this technique.

But in this particular case, it's actually signed "Shibayama".

-Is it?

-It's one of the family.

-Right.

-Which is very nice.

-Right.

Um, it's a wonderful thing.

I would easily see that making at auction...

-£3,000 to £5,000, maybe even more.

-Really?

-Yeah. It's lovely.

-Goodness me!

It's quite a trip down Memory Lane for me being back at my old school.

Every stone of the buildings round here is redolent with memory for me,

but these take me even further back

into my childhood - Winnie the Pooh, EH Shepard, AA Milne...

What's your connection with, er... with EH Shepard?

My father was in World War I,

and EH Shepard was my father's major,

and he always sent me books for Christmas

-and chocolates for my birthday.

-Oh?

-Yes.

-So he kind of looked out for you?

-Yes, he looked after my father

-because he was the youngest in the section, yes.

-In the section?

-Yes.

And I love these. We're looking here

at what seems to be the first annual reunion dinner

for the 24th Brigade of the Heavy Battery and Columns.

-It seems that Shepard did the design for it as well.

-That's right.

-He always did the menu. I think there's only one he didn't do.

-Yes.

And on the back, everyone who was at the supper,

-including Shepard, has signed it.

-Yes, that's right.

-You've got scores of them here, look at them all.

-It was always on...

on Cup Final night because there were cheap fares on the train,

and everybody used to come from everywhere, down for the dinner.

How marvellous.

-OK, so he sent you Christmas cards each year?

-To my parents, yes.

Yes, OK... That's nice.

We've got four books, not first editions, but Winnie the Pooh,

and they seem to have been signed by the artist.

-It's very well worn.

-Because you had children yourself?

-Three children, and they were read to every night.

-Properly used.

-Yes.

But the thing that really gave me a bit of a thrill was this.

-Absolutely marvellous. An original EH Shepard, isn't it?

-Yes.

It's from my autograph book. I cut the page out and had it framed.

I'm not surprised. I absolutely love Winnie The Pooh.

But then if we look in the book,

which is House At Pooh Corner,

we can find the illustration from which that is taken. There it is.

-Yes.

-Wonderful. "Tiggers don't like honey."

Now, the interesting thing is, if you compare that book -

the original illustration - with this,

which is his...idea of that drawing again,

but I think some seven years later,

after having first published the book, which was in 1928,

-Oh, was it?

-Yes. This drawing is dated 1935,

so what he's done is, he's kind of revisited the idea,

-he's redrawn it, hasn't he?

-Yes.

-So it's not an original illustration for the book.

-Oh, no, no, no.

-It's kind of from it instead.

-Yes.

-It's delightful. Have you any idea what they're all worth?

-None at all.

Right, let's do the books first. Not first editions,

but very clearly signed and with a lovely provenance.

-About £100 each.

-Oh!

-£400.

-£400, good, for the set.

-Now these,

these annual dinner things, these invitations and the menus,

-you've probably got about...15 or 20 of those.

-Something like that, yes.

I think they're worth about, um... £300 each.

-Good heavens! No! Good heavens, worth more than the books!

-They probably are.

-Good gracious!

15 of them at £300 - £4,500.

Good heavens!

That IS a surprise!

Now the Christmas cards.

-I think you've probably got about... ten or 12 of those?

-Yes.

-Probably about £200 each - the ones that are signed by Shepard.

-Good gracious! Gosh!

-It adds up, doesn't it?

-It does.

-So we're at nearly £5,000 for the books and those.

-Yes.

And these...12...

Is about, er...about £7,500 so far.

-Good God!

-I know. It's an insurance burden, really.

-Good gracious!

-This drawing - what do you think?

-No idea.

-He must have done a lot of pictures for children.

-I suppose so.

-His original illustrations are very seriously sought after.

-Yes.

-So prepare yourself for a shock.

-I hope you've got the brandy bottle!

-I don't think the BBC runs to brandy.

-Oh, it's brandy I need.

-£20,000 to £30,000.

-Good God, no!

Good heavens! £20,000 to £30,000?!

So something like getting on for £30,000 here?

Oh, and the rest. And I think that I was being rather cautious.

Good heavens! I had no idea. Thank you very much.

-Thank you!

-Pleasure.

How touching that Rupert Maas should be reunited with his favourite bear at his old school.

I wonder if young Maas had a nickname?

You'll find all the items you've seen on the BBC Antiques website.

In fact, we found so many interesting items that we have enough for two programmes -

so a nice excuse to browse around this part of Dorset once again.

So until the next time, from Sherborne, good night.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd