Renishaw Hall Antiques Roadshow


Renishaw Hall

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Edith was quite cruelly treated.

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

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

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All this was instrumental in forming the future writer.

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

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

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

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Their difficult childhood created a bond between Edith and her brothers

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

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

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are reflected here in his grotto-style bedroom.

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

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

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Edith's appearance was out of this world.

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

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

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

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

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

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she performed in her inimitable way.

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

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

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

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

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He couldn't really afford it.

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

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

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

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

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-So it was meant to be yours.

-Absolutely.

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

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

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

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It's got a purplish-red colour.

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

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and lovely diamonds.

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They're all set in Victorian silver.

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

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

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

-Yes.

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

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

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-That means it moves when you wear it.

-Oh.

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-And sure enough, look at that.

-Oh.

-Look.

-My, yes.

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

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And it's the moving creature.

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

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

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Of course, insurance,

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

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

-Me.

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

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About six months.

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Six months of hard graft.

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

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But I did it anyway.

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

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

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

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-As a surveyor?

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

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

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

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

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to me, is much nicer.

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By the same maker again.

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And this is how this one looked originally?

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

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

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priced perhaps £200-£300 a piece.

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-Oh, as much as that?

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

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

-A lot more people than you, Hilary!

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-That's the one for me.

-We're purists, aren't we?

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-Yes, I am.

-Thank you for bringing it in.

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

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

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all the way into the solid mahogany frame,

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

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

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who worked right through the 19th century.

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

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

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I'd been left it by my late mother

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and she purchased it by auction

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from Barlborough Hall sale in 1938.

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

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

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

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-Not at the moment.

-Not at the moment.

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

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

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

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

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

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until the very early 19th century,

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

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

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

-I see.

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

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

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

-Thank you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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a view of Cape Town, Table Bay.

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And here he is in the middle of the picture.

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

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That's him doing the drawing there.

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They are absolutely beautiful. And these are all aquatints.

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

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

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Where did you get it from?

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

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And he often used to tell me stories.

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

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

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and after the exhibition, he gave me these books.

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In the text they have these wonderful vignettes of tribesmen.

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These woodcut illustrations are done by Burchell himself.

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-Oh, right.

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

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

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

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But a value now, I think probably

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

-Oh, absolutely amazing.

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-So where did you get this from?

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

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

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

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

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because it has these lovely central rings.

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

-Yes.

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

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

-I kept it in the cabinet.

-That's well done.

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

-Oh, thank you!

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

-My uncle bought it.

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He remembered seeing the bow hanging in Barlborough Hall.

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

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

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

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

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and my uncle attended the auction.

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

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But what makes you think it is the genuine article?

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Because of this document which goes with it.

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

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

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

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for medication.

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

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

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

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

-I don't know.

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But he's supposed to have said,

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

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

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could fly an arrow 650 yards.

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

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

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And I was told to pick one as a bequeath.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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-Is that where it was in the kiln?

-When the kiln is opened, it oxidises.

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-I'm pleased it's Chinese.

-Why?

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

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

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Chinese material and copied it.

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This is the real thing.

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

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symbolic of age.

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Bamboo is symbolic of steadfastness in friendship.

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The two birds suggest marriage. All these are symbolic.

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

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

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

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

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

-Excellent.

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-So it's a nice example.

-That's excellent.

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I bought them approximately 20 years ago.

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And I just liked the depth of the pictures themselves.

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

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

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

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

-I didn't know that.

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

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

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That's probably why I like them!

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He's Hungarian, Hermann Kern,

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

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and I think these are probably

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

-Yes.

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

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

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

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And smoking it out at the same time!

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

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

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

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-I just liked them very much.

-That's the best reason to buy anything.

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

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

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insured, the pair, for £7,000.

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Really?

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

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

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

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-I don't know if you agree.

-I do.

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

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

-Where did he start?

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

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

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

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

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

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They came to Britain after WWII.

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

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It also related ceramics more closely to sculpture.

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

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You can place it in that period.

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

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

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

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

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-So these were bought directly from them?

-From them.

-In the 1950s?

-In the late 1950s.

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

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

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A wonderful balance of the glaze effect top and bottom.

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-It is a piece of sculpture.

-Yes.

-Yet it's a vase.

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

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

-Absolutely.

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-Does that explain this damage?

-Yes!

-And why not?

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These are honest pieces for that purpose.

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

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I like very much the sort of incised patterning

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

-That would be early '60s.

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Early '60s.

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

-Yes.

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

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-No.

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

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-Delighted.

-It's a very exciting piece.

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

-A lot more of his own work, yes.

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-But not the real...

-Not the real thing, no.

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-Was that hair crack always there?

-No.

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

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

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-Yes.

-For a piece like that.

-Yes.

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

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

-Yes.

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So they're very desirable pieces.

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

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and her daughter-in-law said I could

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take anything that I wanted.

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

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Signed Leroy and Company, Palais Royal, Paris.

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

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

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

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Little claw feet. Got these little ribbons up here,

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

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

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That family was clockmaker to the king

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before France became a republic.

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

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

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

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-Oh, right.

-Today, even without its travelling case,

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

0:23:090:23:13

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

0:23:170:23:24

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

0:23:240:23:31

-Floral decoration.

-The curves and everything.

0:23:310:23:34

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

0:23:340:23:39

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

0:23:390:23:47

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

0:23:470:23:53

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

0:23:530:23:57

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

0:23:570:24:01

-Three years.

-Right.

0:24:010:24:03

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

0:24:030:24:10

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

0:24:100:24:14

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

0:24:140:24:20

I think it means "the written word remains".

0:24:200:24:24

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

0:24:240:24:27

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

0:24:270:24:32

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

-Right.

0:24:320:24:37

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

0:24:370:24:43

-I think it's amateur carving.

-Right.

0:24:430:24:46

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

0:24:460:24:50

people would be carving at home.

0:24:500:24:53

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

0:24:530:24:59

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

0:24:590:25:02

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

0:25:020:25:07

Shall we move on?

0:25:070:25:11

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

0:25:110:25:14

They're both very well-made -

0:25:140:25:17

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

0:25:170:25:23

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

0:25:230:25:30

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

0:25:300:25:34

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

0:25:340:25:39

-Really?!

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

0:25:390:25:44

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

0:25:440:25:49

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

0:25:490:25:54

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

0:25:540:25:58

A very solid, English holm oak.

0:25:580:26:02

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

-Yes.

-How much did that cost you?

-£900.

0:26:020:26:08

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

0:26:080:26:15

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

-That was £350.

0:26:150:26:22

What do I put on that for value?

0:26:220:26:25

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

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

0:26:250:26:31

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

0:26:310:26:38

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

-Thank you very much.

0:26:380:26:44

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

0:26:440:26:47

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

0:26:470:26:53

No. It was a prisoner of war,

0:26:530:26:56

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

0:26:560:27:00

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

0:27:000:27:07

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

-I bought it from a car boot last week.

-Really?

0:27:070:27:14

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

0:27:140:27:19

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

-£1.

0:27:190:27:24

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

0:27:240:27:29

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

0:27:290:27:33

and then worked for the daughter.

0:27:330:27:37

-They are all royals of Europe.

-Yes.

0:27:370:27:40

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

0:27:400:27:46

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

0:27:460:27:50

but then I was turning over, turning over,

0:27:500:27:54

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

-Yes.

0:27:540:28:02

Now, that is a really collectable postcard.

0:28:020:28:06

One of the most collectable postcards family that you could find

0:28:060:28:11

is the Russian royal family.

0:28:110:28:14

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

-Exactly.

0:28:140:28:17

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

0:28:170:28:23

Anastasia.

0:28:230:28:25

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

0:28:250:28:31

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

0:28:310:28:36

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

0:28:360:28:43

That's a surprise.

0:28:430:28:45

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

0:28:450:28:51

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

-About five years.

0:28:510:28:55

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

0:28:550:29:01

my reaction was, "This is madness."

0:29:010:29:04

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

0:29:040:29:09

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

0:29:090:29:15

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

0:29:150:29:22

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

0:29:220:29:26

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

0:29:260:29:31

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

0:29:310:29:38

therefore you've got a good idea

0:29:380:29:40

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

0:29:400:29:47

-This one, of course, is restored.

-Yes.

-Did you know that?

-Yes, we bought that as restored.

0:29:470:29:53

-Why did you buy a restored one?

-Basically because of the size.

0:29:530:29:58

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

0:29:580:30:01

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

-About £250.

-Well, yes...

-That was shipped.

-That's very good.

0:30:010:30:07

I mean, to a purist, and me,

0:30:070:30:10

it slightly offends me that we've

0:30:100:30:13

-got all this restoration round here.

-Yes.

0:30:130:30:17

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

0:30:170:30:23

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

-Yeah, that was about £100.

0:30:230:30:29

-This is a rare one.

-Yes, I've never seen that before.

0:30:290:30:33

More than double your money.

0:30:350:30:37

-There is a very slight...

-Is there slight restoration?

0:30:370:30:40

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

-Oh, yeah.

0:30:400:30:45

-Which was also explained.

-It's not a major problem, that.

-No.

0:30:450:30:50

-Impressed "Moorcroft" there.

-That's right.

0:30:520:30:55

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

0:30:550:31:00

We bought that for 74, shipped.

0:31:000:31:04

-Really?! Shipped?

-Shipped from America.

0:31:040:31:07

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

0:31:070:31:11

-Because it's not light, is it?

-No.

-That's not the original.

0:31:110:31:17

-No. We must get it restored.

-It's probably signed, is it?

0:31:170:31:23

-We don't know what the signature is.

-Will it fall apart on me?

0:31:230:31:26

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

0:31:260:31:32

That's signed Guoko.

0:31:340:31:37

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

0:31:370:31:42

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

0:31:420:31:45

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

0:31:450:31:50

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

0:31:500:31:58

-Really? Yes.

-And that one, probably £1,500.

0:31:580:32:02

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

-Thank you.

0:32:020:32:08

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

0:32:080:32:14

-Do you know who it might be by?

-I think it's Faberge.

0:32:140:32:18

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

0:32:180:32:23

I looked up books at home.

0:32:230:32:26

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

0:32:260:32:30

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

0:32:300:32:36

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

0:32:360:32:40

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

0:32:400:32:47

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

0:32:470:32:54

firing each layer as they go.

0:32:540:32:56

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

0:32:560:33:01

-Do you know how that got there?

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

0:33:010:33:08

-So the friend took a file to it?

-I don't know.

0:33:080:33:13

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

0:33:130:33:20

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

0:33:200:33:25

-Yes.

-That's got the Russian silver stamp.

0:33:250:33:27

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

0:33:270:33:33

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

0:33:330:33:40

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

0:33:400:33:46

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

0:33:460:33:52

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

0:34:020:34:07

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

0:34:070:34:11

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

0:34:110:34:18

What a wonderful summer's day(!)

0:34:180:34:20

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

0:34:200:34:23

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

0:34:230:34:30

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

0:34:300:34:37

Walter Arnfield.

0:34:370:34:39

-And was he a relation of yours?

-Yes, he was my mother's brother.

0:34:390:34:42

And how did he know Stanley Spencer?

0:34:420:34:45

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

0:34:450:34:53

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

0:34:530:34:57

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

-Oh, Cookham, yes.

0:34:570:35:03

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

0:35:030:35:09

based in rural Berkshire.

0:35:090:35:12

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

0:35:120:35:16

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

0:35:160:35:24

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

0:35:240:35:30

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

-About 1944.

0:35:300:35:35

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

0:35:350:35:39

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

0:35:390:35:43

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

-Really?

0:35:430:35:49

But it's a wonderful drawing.

0:35:490:35:51

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

-And still in their original boxes.

0:35:510:35:58

But he played with them a lot.

0:35:580:36:01

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

0:36:010:36:08

Down here in this little lozenge,

0:36:080:36:10

there are the initials SH,

0:36:100:36:11

which is for the company called Horikawa.

0:36:110:36:16

So that's one maker and we can see

0:36:160:36:19

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

0:36:190:36:23

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

0:36:230:36:30

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

-Yeah, I watched the film.

0:36:300:36:38

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

0:36:380:36:42

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

0:36:420:36:48

with the fact that there was something in space.

0:36:480:36:52

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

0:36:520:36:57

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

0:36:570:37:04

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

0:37:040:37:08

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

0:37:080:37:15

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

0:37:190:37:26

I'm amazed that the lights still work here.

0:37:260:37:29

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

0:37:290:37:35

No, I think they're ugly!

0:37:350:37:38

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

0:37:400:37:44

because this one is probably worth about £300.

0:37:440:37:48

-Like it a bit more now?

-Not really.

0:37:480:37:51

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

0:37:510:37:56

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

0:37:560:38:03

What does this one do?

0:38:050:38:07

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

0:38:070:38:11

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

0:38:140:38:18

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

0:38:200:38:24

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

0:38:240:38:28

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

0:38:280:38:32

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

-Crikey.

0:38:320:38:40

I like that one!

0:38:400:38:41

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

0:38:450:38:49

So, um...

0:38:490:38:51

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

0:38:510:38:59

That's one of the great things about these -

0:38:590:39:02

they were art that was generally done by the owner.

0:39:020:39:07

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

0:39:070:39:12

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

0:39:120:39:18

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

0:39:180:39:25

Perhaps reading and writing wasn't his strong suit.

0:39:250:39:29

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

0:39:290:39:35

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

0:39:350:39:42

It's certainly between the two countries.

0:39:420:39:47

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

-Yes.

0:39:470:39:52

He'd have done it for various reasons.

0:39:520:39:55

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

0:39:550:39:59

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

0:39:590:40:06

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

0:40:060:40:09

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

0:40:090:40:16

Yet down the bottom here we have New York.

0:40:160:40:20

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

0:40:200:40:27

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

0:40:270:40:33

-Things he saw every day.

-Who would own something like this?

0:40:330:40:38

Anybody who needed to carry gunpowder in the back woods.

0:40:380:40:43

And horn is light and completely waterproof.

0:40:430:40:47

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

0:40:470:40:53

with these very characteristic brass-headed nails.

0:40:530:40:57

Yes. That doesn't fit too well now,

0:40:570:40:58

-but obviously it did.

-No, it didn't.

0:40:580:41:02

It's the powder measure.

0:41:020:41:05

So there was something else they pushed in there?

0:41:050:41:09

A simple piece of wood or cork.

0:41:090:41:12

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

0:41:120:41:19

-And then put the stopper back.

-What about this? Is this original?

0:41:190:41:23

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

0:41:230:41:29

but rarely do you see the little measure.

0:41:290:41:32

And even rarer do you see the suspension strapping.

0:41:320:41:37

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

0:41:370:41:44

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

0:41:440:41:49

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

0:41:490:41:54

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

0:41:540:42:00

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

0:42:000:42:05

-to be hanging the right way.

-Yes.

0:42:050:42:08

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

0:42:080:42:12

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

0:42:120:42:17

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

0:42:170:42:22

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

0:42:220:42:27

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

0:42:270:42:31

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

0:42:310:42:36

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

0:42:360:42:42

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

0:42:420:42:48

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

0:42:480:42:54

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

-Really?

-It's a super thing.

0:42:540:42:59

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

0:42:590:43:02

Our sincere thanks to Sir Reresby and Lady Sitwell

0:43:020:43:05

for allowing us to saunter through their lovely gardens.

0:43:050:43:08

From Renishaw Hall, goodbye.

0:43:080:43:12

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