Renishaw Hall Antiques Roadshow

This week, we're back at Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire, family home since the 17th century

of the Sitwell family, currently represented by Sir Reresby and Lady Sitwell.

The family name was made famous by Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell -

the three literary prodigies born to Sir George and Lady Ida at the end of the 19th century.

Theirs wasn't an ideal marriage. Sir George was eccentric and Ida was prone to sudden rages,

which meant unhappy times for the children, especially for Edith.

Her father never forgave her for being a girl, and in his eyes, an ugly one.

Edith was quite cruelly treated.

At night, she was forced to wear a facial brace in an attempt to straighten her beak-like nose.

She took refuge in the company of the servants and in her own vivid imagination.

All this was instrumental in forming the future writer.

When Sir George commissioned John Singer Sargent to do a family portrait,

he pointed out to the artist his daughter's lack of beauty.

Sargent - a kindly man - responded by straightening Edith's nose and giving Sir George a beak instead.

Their difficult childhood created a bond between Edith and her brothers

and she encouraged Osbert and Sacheverell to pursue the artistic life as well.

Osbert's flair and style and his love of the visual arts

are reflected here in his grotto-style bedroom.

When she was 26 years old, Edith's first poem was published by the Daily Mirror.

This gave her the courage to escape to the Bohemian circles of Bayswater.

Edith's appearance was out of this world.

With her extravagant headwear, flamboyant rings and her flowing robes, she looked almost medieval.

"White Ivy, blythe Helen and the rest, to hear the stories of thy finished love..."

The composer William Walton was one of the young talents inspired by the Sitwells.

He'd met Osbert and Sacheverell at Oxford, and they took him under their wing.

Walton collaborated with Edith on Facade - a poem set to music which

she performed in her inimitable way.

"See me dance the polka," said Mr Wag,

"Like a bear with my top hat and whiskers that tra-trapped the fair."

At Renishaw Hall, we have another Roadshow where we continue our search for true originals.

I have a lovely husband who saw it in a shop, and he looked at it for about a year.

He couldn't really afford it.

So it sat in the shop window and he walked by it for a year and...?

One day, he walked by and it had disappeared, and I think he had a little panic.

So he went into the shop, but they'd taken it from display.

I think he went once every month and put a little down payment on it.

-So it was meant to be yours.

-Absolutely.

You know, the Victorians went in for butterflies, bees, dragonflies, flies, spiders,

and they're called scatter bugs because they've got that feature, but they're so lifelike.

In the middle, we've got a ruby that weighs about one-and-three-quarter carats.

It's got a purplish-red colour.

And then in the four various wings we've got smaller rubies

and lovely diamonds.

They're all set in Victorian silver.

Typically, they would be mounted up in silver and then you turn it over and it should be in gold.

Sure enough, the back, the facing here, is gold.

-So it's gold and silver set. Date about 1885-1890.

-Yes.

You could remove the original fitting and wear it by screwing in this cone

and sticking it at the back of your bun. I notice that the cone fitting has got a coiled spring.

-That means it moves when you wear it.

-Oh.

-And sure enough, look at that.

-Oh.

-Look.

-My, yes.

It scintillates when you wear it and that just increases the sense of Victorian naturalism.

And it's the moving creature.

It's a wonderful insect and if I was offering it in an auction,

I'd expect it to make something in the region of £3,000.

Of course, insurance,

we've got to think of a higher sum of money for it, as a retail price.

-I'm looking at what I call an act of vandalism and I want to know who is responsible for it.

-Me.

And how long did it take you to strip the original finish off?

About six months.

Six months of hard graft.

And I knew when I was doing it who was going to tell me I should not be doing it.

But I did it anyway.

Do you like it like this? Well, you're married to him...

I prefer it like this because we're going to use it as an ornament. Now, the other one is different.

So we've got one of each. It came from an uncle, and he's been round the world twice.

-As a surveyor?

-Yes, and he's still with oil refineries.

It's by a good maker - Cooke, Troughton and Simms.

Troughton and Simms were working as scientific instrument makers in the 19th century, up until about 1915

when it became Cooke, Troughton and Simms. This, in its original condition,

to me, is much nicer.

By the same maker again.

And this is how this one looked originally?

No, this was black. The paint was chipped off. I don't think this was used because it was an early model.

I wouldn't be surprised to see these in an antique shop,

priced perhaps £200-£300 a piece.

-Oh, as much as that?

-Yeah, so maybe your hard work wasn't wasted.

-I'm sure a shiny one will appeal to a lot of people out there.

-A lot more people than you, Hilary!

-That's the one for me.

-We're purists, aren't we?

-Yes, I am.

-Thank you for bringing it in.

What's marvellous about this table, apart from the superb quality of the burr walnut, the construction,

is that on almost every single part you have this great Gillow stamp, which is very clear,

all the way into the solid mahogany frame,

both around the underside of the frieze and on the base as well.

Now, they were a fantastically important firm of cabinet makers, established in the 18th century,

who worked right through the 19th century.

And they reached the height of their commercial success during the Regency period and into the 1820s.

This is a sublime example of their work. It's fantastic.

I'd been left it by my late mother

and she purchased it by auction

from Barlborough Hall sale in 1938.

We are given to understand that there were only two that were made.

The best thing of all about the table is this fantastic top.

There couldn't be a better example of specimen marbles if you were to try. Are you a chess player?

-Not at the moment.

-Not at the moment.

You've got really incredibly rare marbles laid onto a black, marble ground.

You've got exotic antique marbles like porphyry, bianco e nero.

You've got Spanish brocatelle, verdi antiquo, and you've even got malachite.

Malachite is interesting from a dating point of view as one can pin things down much more closely,

because it didn't appear in Italian specimen marble table tops

until the very early 19th century,

but was much more around the 1820s, 1830s.

Almost certainly commissioned and bought on the Grand Tour in Italy.

-Brought back to England and Mr Gillow provided the base.

-I see.

Well, a table of this calibre does not appear on the market often.

And having a base that is by one of the greatest cabinet makers of the period,

-I should think at auction this sort of table would fetch between £30,000 and £40,000.

-Thank you.

Here is a striking portrait of a bushman playing on the goura.

He looks more as though he's actually picking his nose and picking his ears.

But we have the music transcribed for us, in common time and 3/4 time.

It's the famous frontispiece to Travels In The Interior Of Southern Africa by William Burchell.

He was out in South Africa for four years, from about 1809 to about 1813, something like that,

and then came back and produced one of the most sublime colour-plate books on South Africa.

He did all these drawings himself, and this panorama of Cape Town -

a view of Cape Town, Table Bay.

And here he is in the middle of the picture.

In time-honoured way, he's put himself in.

That's him doing the drawing there.

They are absolutely beautiful. And these are all aquatints.

Here we have another. "Caravan Wagons Assembled At Lack River".

They were still pioneering and still moving from South Africa, the Boers, into the interior.

Where did you get it from?

It was given to me by an old family friend who used to come into the shop which my parents owned.

And he often used to tell me stories.

And we had an exhibition at school and he offered to bring books.

And these were two of the books which he gave me to take into school,

and after the exhibition, he gave me these books.

In the text they have these wonderful vignettes of tribesmen.

These woodcut illustrations are done by Burchell himself.

-Oh, right.

-These bindings are not in terribly good condition. The leather has actually dried out.

But the bindings aren't original anyway, they're not the 1820s bindings that you would expect.

Had they been complete, I would have valued the set at £3,000.

But a value now, I think probably

-£2,000 instead. Does that surprise you?

-Oh, absolutely amazing.

-So where did you get this from?

-Well, it's been handed down for generations, I think.

The farthest I can go back remembering, it was on my grandma's dresser.

It's probably much older than that. It was made in Stourbridge in about 1880.

And it is what's called a concentric millefiori weight -

because it has these lovely central rings.

-And very nice if you look in there, isn't it?

-Yes.

It's small and then it gets quite big on the outside.

-It's in very nice condition. So often they get chipped.

-I kept it in the cabinet.

-That's well done.

-And I would think that might be worth almost £500.

-Oh, thank you!

-Sir Reresby, this is claimed to be an original bow of Robin Hood. How did you get it?

-My uncle bought it.

He remembered seeing the bow hanging in Barlborough Hall.

He was intrigued to see it and 50 years later, it came up for sale.

The house was being broken up and this bow was sold.

The bow was bought by the principal of a local technical college,

and he put it up for sale in the late '40s, early '50s,

and my uncle attended the auction.

It was knocked down to him for the princely sum of £29.

But what makes you think it is the genuine article?

Because of this document which goes with it.

It was given to a Mr Bartlett, whose relation of the family lived at Barlborough Hall,

by the owners of Kirklees Priory in Yorkshire, which was a convent.

And legend has it that Robin Hood fled to Kirklees to his distant cousin, who was Lady Abbess,

for medication.

But she was a very naughty lady. She had a lover called Sir Roger of Doncaster, or "Red Roger".

And they conspired to murder poor Robin - I don't know why.

And so a hole was cut in the "bottom of ye porringer", so he bled to death.

-A sad end. How far could he fire an arrow?

-I don't know.

But he's supposed to have said,

"Where my arrow lands, that's where I would like to buried be."

Well, nobody in the prime of life, let alone dying from being bled to death,

could fly an arrow 650 yards.

It was left to me by an uncle who was supposedly an antique collector,

but it was one of a number of plates that he had arranged around the top of his main room.

And I was told to pick one as a bequeath.

I picked that one. I liked the pattern on it. I'd love to know where it's from.

The reverse of this plate is the same as every Chinese export plate you see of this date.

First of all, the base is not actually a foot rim.

It's just simply gouged out of the middle. It's reset here.

The exposed part of the unglazed foot is oxidised, a yellowish colour,

which is typical of Far Eastern material. It doesn't happen in European material.

-Is that where it was in the kiln?

-When the kiln is opened, it oxidises.

-I'm pleased it's Chinese.

-Why?

-I looked through some books and thought it was Dutch.

That tells us when it was made as Europe was actually gripped by

Chinese material and copied it.

This is the real thing.

This is obviously mid-18th century, it's got the design, you've got the rocks here,

symbolic of age.

Bamboo is symbolic of steadfastness in friendship.

The two birds suggest marriage. All these are symbolic.

Wouldn't have meant that to Europeans. But the combination here is mid-18th-century Chinese.

And what interests me about this, it's a fairly general type, but you see the colours that they used,

not just the under-glazed blue, but the red on the bird and the gold gilding,

it's unusual for it to survive. It usually gets rubbed away.

-It's very ephemeral material. This one is worth about £200.

-Excellent.

-So it's a nice example.

-That's excellent.

I bought them approximately 20 years ago.

And I just liked the depth of the pictures themselves.

You stand back and look at them and they're just lovely.

Yes, and that's what's interesting about 19th-century pictures,

because there were a huge amount of artists painting wonderful pictures, great quality,

-but they're not known. These are both by an artist called Hermann Kern.

-I didn't know that.

He's a very minor artist, but he appears on the market occasionally,

and he specialises in old men, drinking and eating and having a good time, really.

That's probably why I like them!

He's Hungarian, Hermann Kern,

and he exhibited quite a lot in Vienna and in Munich,

and I think these are probably

-painted in the 1880s when he was exhibiting mainly in Vienna.

-Yes.

But just look at the quality. It's so superb on them, and he hasn't skimped.

He's painted every little detail, and look at the canary.

He's tried to feed it some carrot or turnip or something.

And smoking it out at the same time!

The first time I ever saw them, standing and seeing them there,

you don't see too much, and when you step back there's so much in there.

I think this is the reason that I bought them because I hadn't a clue who they were painted by.

-I just liked them very much.

-That's the best reason to buy anything.

A lot of people ask what to buy for investment. Buy what you like. I'm thrilled that you did.

This one's a lot better than this one, but I think they should be

insured, the pair, for £7,000.

Really?

I'm very pleased to see a range of British studio pottery of the latter part of the 20th century.

The emphasis, to me, is on Bernard Leach and the tradition he established in St Ives in the '20s.

The stuff that was produced from the 1950s is often much more interesting, much more inventive.

-I don't know if you agree.

-I do.

This was the time when my husband was making most of his pots

-and that's why he was influenced by the people who were working at that time.

-Where did he start?

He's a history teacher. At the start of his career, he couldn't get work and started going to night schools.

He went to Dora Billington's in London and got very interested.

We've got here work by him - the pieces nearer you.

And we've got pieces by Hans Coper and Lucie Rie.

They were the great driving partnership that brought about this great change. They're Europeans.

They came to Britain after WWII.

They established a new look which was much more to do with a European tradition of studio ceramics.

It also related ceramics more closely to sculpture.

You've got interesting forms, like that, which is a very 1950s form.

You can place it in that period.

And yet it's much more sculptural. It's a domestic piece.

And yet it's saying something completely different, which was a real revolution.

We've got a couple of pieces, that and those cups and saucers, which are both Rie and Coper.

So we've got here a mark - we've got the HC and the LR monograms.

-So these were bought directly from them?

-From them.

-In the 1950s?

-In the late 1950s.

They did it in the morning, and in the afternoon, they did their individual pieces.

This is a typical example of the individual work. It's Hans Coper.

A wonderful balance of the glaze effect top and bottom.

-It is a piece of sculpture.

-Yes.

-Yet it's a vase.

But it goes beyond that. So I find those very exciting.

-But they were for use and you used them in the house, I imagine.

-Absolutely.

-Does that explain this damage?

-Yes!

-And why not?

These are honest pieces for that purpose.

Now, your husband's work. I find those two very exciting.

I like very much the sort of incised patterning

-that one gets on that, which again is of a similar date, or is it later?

-That would be early '60s.

Early '60s.

-And this is a very sort of after-Lucie-Rie-type piece.

-Yes.

A Rie shape and this very carefully controlled glaze. This isn't an accident.

-No.

-This is something he wanted to happen. Was he pleased with that?

-Delighted.

-It's a very exciting piece.

-Is this a fraction, or have you got tons more?

-A lot more of his own work, yes.

-But not the real...

-Not the real thing, no.

-Was that hair crack always there?

-No.

-Oh. I wondered if it was a second. No. It's a great pity.

But it does mar that. Without that crack, we're looking at £3,000 to £5,000.

-Yes.

-For a piece like that.

-Yes.

It's still a nice piece of Coper, but the cups and saucers are perfect.

-You're looking at at least £500 or £600 each.

-Yes.

So they're very desirable pieces.

I looked after an old lady and she died in 1984,

and her daughter-in-law said I could

take anything that I wanted.

So I asked her if I could have the clock, so she said yes.

Signed Leroy and Company, Palais Royal, Paris.

And it's signed on the back - a full signature on that back door amongst rather nice engraving.

And look at that, on that little lever escapement movement, it's fully signed and numbered there.

I like that very much. These little feet, aren't they sweet?

Little claw feet. Got these little ribbons up here,

and these beautiful little oval vignettes of flowers and leaves. It's top French quality.

This firm of Leroy have been going for 300 years, you know.

That family was clockmaker to the king

before France became a republic.

And they really just turned out the loveliest things, the finest quality.

You've got a little numbered key. That number corresponds with the number on the bottom of the case.

It would have had a nice, fitted travelling case. The two doors would have opened.

-Oh, right.

-Today, even without its travelling case,

that at auction would be fetching about £1,500.

I love Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts furniture, and I've only got these two pieces.

I've never been able to afford it, so I started by buying Art Nouveau tiles, because I loved the shape.

-Floral decoration.

-The curves and everything.

We saw this at an antique fair. When I saw it, I couldn't believe it.

I stood like this and I just couldn't speak. And I just had to touch it.

But I couldn't afford it, but I went to another antique fair and it was there.

We saw it at Sheffield and so I thought this was meant to be.

So you managed to buy it. How long ago was that?

-Three years.

-Right.

And the man we bought it from said he'd got it from Glasgow and it had been in an old lady's house.

The influence is Glasgow School and the whole Art Nouveau from Glasgow.

In the three years you've had it, have you managed to work out what it says here?

I think it means "the written word remains".

Yes. And, of course, this is a writing bureau.

Let's have a look - very simple inside as you'd expect.

-But what is interesting is that it is the shape of a Georgian bureau.

-Right.

From the second half of the 18th century, carved with amateur 1900 Art Nouveau decoration.

-I think it's amateur carving.

-Right.

There's a lot of this all over the country, and Glasgow was no exception -

people would be carving at home.

And I wonder - it's so well done, that this is something that somebody's bought,

I assume like this, I don't know if it would be in kit form or not -

whether the panels were separate or made, and carved this with their own little inscription on it.

Shall we move on?

So you call this Arts and Crafts? It's interesting the difference.

They're both very well-made -

I think this is probably slightly better-made. Let's have a look. Look at the quality of that drawer.

This centre mount here is typical of this period, around 1900.

And again in the corner here, it's beautifully made - really expensive drawer to make.

And looking at this, there's one London shop that comes to mind - Liberty.

-Really?!

-I can't be sure, but it feels like a Liberty piece to me.

And what I like especially is that pylon-shaped side.

So it's from the old Egyptian Temple of Pylon where it goes out like that,

and very much part of the Liberty Tudric-type decoration.

A very solid, English holm oak.

-You bought that at an antique fair three years ago.

-Yes.

-How much did that cost you?

-£900.

It's very difficult for me to value that because it's virtually a unique piece.

-I would certainly insure that for £1,500, £1,800. And may I ask what you paid for that?

-That was £350.

What do I put on that for value?

-It doesn't seem a lot for a Liberty piece of furniture.

-How would you ever find out if it was Liberty?

There are records of Liberty designs. We can see what designs are available.

-I'd certainly say £500. You're certainly doing well.

-Thank you very much.

It's one of the best pieces of trench art I've ever come across.

What's the story? Was your granddad in the trenches or...?

No. It was a prisoner of war,

actually, as far as I know, that made it.

I've wondered whether they were made in the trenches or if they were made when the troops got home.

-So how long's it been in your family?

-I bought it from a car boot last week.

-Really?

I reckon it's got to be worth the best part of £100 of somebody's money, maybe even £150.

-So here comes that question - how much did you pay for it?

-£1.

It was my mother's. My mother used to work in London years ago.

She was a cook for a well-to-do family - worked for the mother first

and then worked for the daughter.

-They are all royals of Europe.

-Yes.

We have Queen Mary, we have Alexandra, we have King George V.

That's lovely. It's not particularly unusual,

but then I was turning over, turning over,

-and suddenly - there we are - this is King George V tiger-shooting in India.

-Yes.

Now, that is a really collectable postcard.

One of the most collectable postcards family that you could find

is the Russian royal family.

-That's the girl they couldn't find.

-Exactly.

All these here - that is Tatiana of Russia, Anastasia.

Anastasia.

The Tsarina of Russia. These are so collectable, and have you any idea what these are worth?

No - just kept them because my mother gave me them.

You should insure this album because you've got probably as much as £3,000-worth here.

That's a surprise.

All this lot's come from the Internet. Mostly from America.

-Really? And how long have you been at it?

-About five years.

Once the Internet started going for works of art, which is only about five or ten years,

my reaction was, "This is madness."

I mean, nothing could be stupider than buying a work of art unseen.

But I have to say that I'm beginning to revise my opinion,

because I have heard a lot of very good reports from people. There are great bargains out there.

But I think you've got to spread, as you have done,

to balance up ones that don't work with ones that do work.

I think if you know what you want. Like a Moorcroft, for example - you know it's a William Moorcroft,

therefore you've got a good idea

what you'll get, if you buy from a dealer who has some reputation.

-This one, of course, is restored.

-Yes.

-Did you know that?

-Yes, we bought that as restored.

-Why did you buy a restored one?

-Basically because of the size.

It's a beautiful piece. It didn't cost a great deal of money.

-Can I ask what a great deal of money is?

-About £250.

-Well, yes...

-That was shipped.

-That's very good.

I mean, to a purist, and me,

it slightly offends me that we've

-got all this restoration round here.

-Yes.

The shape's not quite right. £250, that's OK. And what have you paid for this?

-I find it's a very attractive cornflower pattern.

-Yeah, that was about £100.

-This is a rare one.

-Yes, I've never seen that before.

More than double your money.

-There is a very slight...

-Is there slight restoration?

-It's not restoration, but it's a little bit of paint seeped from here.

-Oh, yeah.

-Which was also explained.

-It's not a major problem, that.

-No.

-Impressed "Moorcroft" there.

-That's right.

And the signature, as we would expect. What about the bronzes?

We bought that for 74, shipped.

-Really?! Shipped?

-Shipped from America.

It must have been 4 for the bronze and 70 for the shipping.

-Because it's not light, is it?

-No.

-That's not the original.

-No. We must get it restored.

-It's probably signed, is it?

-We don't know what the signature is.

-Will it fall apart on me?

This is the worst thing to do is to carry something like this with loose bits over...

That's signed Guoko.

It's a nice-quality bronze. I'm going to put it down for safety.

You've done extremely well. What about the other one?

This one, obviously not such fine bronze, but he cost 200 shipped.

It is remarkable. That one, I think over here, would sell for around £600-£800.

-Really? Yes.

-And that one, probably £1,500.

-So you've done jolly well on the Internet and I congratulate you.

-Thank you.

I think he got it when he was getting a load of buttons, when he goes round car-boot sales.

-Do you know who it might be by?

-I think it's Faberge.

What made you think it was Faberge - anything in particular?

I looked up books at home.

Well, Faberge it is and so it's quite a find.

That's one excellent thing about it. The second is the condition.

This is all enamelled in white. It's a very pretty, subtle colour.

So they've taken a tool and they've engraved on the surface of the field of the piece

this delightful pattern, and then they've covered it up in layer upon layer of coating of colour,

firing each layer as they go.

Let's have a look at the back. What I don't like about it is what all this scraping is on the back.

-Do you know how that got there?

-He gave it to one of his friends and it came back like that.

-So the friend took a file to it?

-I don't know.

Oh, that's a little tragic, because he's obviously testing it to see what the metal is.

Can you see there a little sort of cartouche-shape mark there?

-Yes.

-That's got the Russian silver stamp.

If we're talking about a value, obviously the name is fantastic,

but it's a buckle and they're not necessarily so wearable as a necklace or a pendant.

And then you've the disappointment with the scraping at the back.

So I'll take all that into account. I think it's probably going to be worth in auction around £1,000.

We've been so lucky with the weather - it's been threatening all day but never actually arrived,

but somehow I think it's our time. It is belting down.

Luckily it's late in the day, but we've got time for more treasures.

What a wonderful summer's day(!)

I'm sorry, we've been driven in by the rain,

but I think it's one of the most sensitive portraits by Stanley Spencer that I've ever seen.

It's just so beautifully executed. Tell me, who is the sitter?

Walter Arnfield.

-And was he a relation of yours?

-Yes, he was my mother's brother.

And how did he know Stanley Spencer?

Well, another of his sisters had been housekeeper-companion to Mrs Carline,

who was, of course, mother of Spencer's wife.

-When you say the name Stanley Spencer, of course, you imagine Cookham.

-Oh, Cookham, yes.

And all those wonderful pictures were sort of crammed in of all life and had biblical stories

based in rural Berkshire.

This portrait, though, has a sort of Pre-Raphaelite feel to it.

It's got beautiful draughtsmanship. It shows what an amazing talent Stanley Spencer was.

Well, his draughtsmanship, you usually don't notice it really in the paintings.

-Exactly. And what date do you think this is?

-About 1944.

To have any member of the family painted by Stanley Spencer is wonderful,

and I'm very jealous and I would suggest that for insurance

-you should perhaps think about sort of £2,500.

-Really?

But it's a wonderful drawing.

-It belonged to my husband. He bought them in the late '50s.

-And still in their original boxes.

But he played with them a lot.

We've got two robots. This one, we've got the maker's name.

Down here in this little lozenge,

there are the initials SH,

which is for the company called Horikawa.

So that's one maker and we can see

very clearly that it's made in Japan. Any expert can see that.

It really all started in about 1956 when there was a film that came out called Forbidden Planet.

-And in that film there was a robot called Robbie. Did you see it?

-Yeah, I watched the film.

Well, I don't have to tell you what a superstar Robbie was.

Then in 1957, Sputnik was launched and suddenly science fiction became science fact

with the fact that there was something in space.

So these robots actually date from the early '60s.

This maker didn't start producing until about 1959, so it's going to be some time after that.

So let's give him a go and see what he does.

That's "slow" and there's something here says "quick". I don't know if it'll fly off the table.

Well, it's actually quite a nice action. Sort of slow and smooth and it's in good condition.

I'm amazed that the lights still work here.

When I say "good" condition, I mean it's almost perfect. Do you like it?

No, I think they're ugly!

Well, when I tell you the value of this little one, perhaps you might like it a bit better,

because this one is probably worth about £300.

-Like it a bit more now?

-Not really.

Let's put that one away and have a look at this one.

And this is another Japanese toy and again in lovely condition.

What does this one do?

Oh, Lord! Well, he's completely random.

Does he...? Yes, well, I think we've had enough of that.

He's very different to the other one, in that it's as if he's got a skirt on.

He hasn't got these legs and a much plainer sort of design.

But I love the action there and I think he's worth quite a lot more.

-I would have thought that he's going to be in the £600 to £800 bracket.

-Crikey.

I like that one!

Well, I can tell you it's been in the family at least 200 years.

So, um...

It probably stands a chance that it is from this chap here who's put his name and date on it.

That's one of the great things about these -

they were art that was generally done by the owner.

They would sit with the tip of a knife or a needle and put the designs in.

And then they rubbed soot or carbon from - say off a cooking pot or something - into it to enhance it.

And there we see "Thomas Ring, his hor 1775" - he's forgot the "n" off it.

Perhaps reading and writing wasn't his strong suit.

But he liked it well enough to put his name on it and that's wonderful from our point of view.

We were always led to believe that it was American, no...Canadian. Do you think it was American?

It's certainly between the two countries.

-So you think that the person who did it, did all the carving on it?

-Yes.

He'd have done it for various reasons.

They were "map" horns because they were navigational aids as well.

And they gave you the sort of topography between parts, and at the top here you can see Niagara.

I think that's why I thought, you know, Canadian.

The British in North America were going up and down to establish themselves as owners of the area.

Yet down the bottom here we have New York.

And there's a representation of it there with the towns and churches and the Union flag.

As well as that, there's a glorious, naive version of a big river with all these fish swimming in it.

-Things he saw every day.

-Who would own something like this?

Anybody who needed to carry gunpowder in the back woods.

And horn is light and completely waterproof.

What they've done to make this into a powder horn is just to put a wooden plug in the bottom

with these very characteristic brass-headed nails.

Yes. That doesn't fit too well now,

-but obviously it did.

-No, it didn't.

It's the powder measure.

So there was something else they pushed in there?

A simple piece of wood or cork.

He would have bitten the top off it, poured that in there, and then poured it into his gun.

-And then put the stopper back.

-What about this? Is this original?

Yes, I am certain it is, and that really makes this - it's a good object on its own -

but rarely do you see the little measure.

And even rarer do you see the suspension strapping.

It's some sort of vegetable fibre that's been dyed with these lovely browns and greens and then fringed.

But the best bit of it is, it has these little tiny beads.

Originally made out of shell, these appear to be glazed porcelain,

and a very skilled weaver worked them into this lovely pattern.

I couldn't quite understand, when you look at it, these don't seem

-to be hanging the right way.

-Yes.

Why did they do it like that? Was it just as it was fastened here?

Depending on whether you're right or left handed, it would go in close to the body.

The curve of the powder horn brought it close to the gun.

And you'd fill the measure and if you were desperate, you probably wouldn't bother to measure,

you'd just think you'd got enough in there.

It's interesting for the date - 1775 - time of great turmoil.

The American colonies shaking off British governments and there is the royal arms,

which suggests he was a loyalist. That was not a good thing to be carrying at the time.

It's a beautiful thing in very fine condition and quite valuable.

-It's going to be worth between £3,000 to £4,000.

-Really?

-It's a super thing.

And that's the end of our visit to Renishaw Hall.

Our sincere thanks to Sir Reresby and Lady Sitwell

for allowing us to saunter through their lovely gardens.

From Renishaw Hall, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd