0:00:34 > 0:00:37Welcome to Wilton House, near Salisbury,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40the home of the Earls of Pembroke since 1543.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Being rich and well-connected,
0:00:42 > 0:00:46the earls employed only the best artists, designers and craftsmen
0:00:46 > 0:00:50to add the necessary embellishments to the house.
0:00:50 > 0:00:55The early Earls were immortalised on canvas by the Flemish master, Sir Anthony Van Dyck,
0:00:55 > 0:01:00and their portraits form part of the largest collection of his paintings in private hands.
0:01:00 > 0:01:06They grace the walls of perhaps the grandest Palladian-style rooms in England.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10The double cube room was conceived by Inigo Jones
0:01:10 > 0:01:16and contains furniture by Thomas Chippendale and William Kent.
0:01:16 > 0:01:22Kent also sculpted the original of this statue of Shakespeare for Westminster Abbey.
0:01:22 > 0:01:27The bard would feel quite at home here because the Pembrokes were generous patrons of the arts
0:01:27 > 0:01:32and Shakespeare dedicated the first ever published collection of his plays to the third earl.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39There have been plenty of grand visitors too.
0:01:39 > 0:01:44These cushions have felt the weight of every reigning monarch since Charles II,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47but in the First World War, things were a lot less languid here
0:01:47 > 0:01:50when Wilton House was a Red Cross hospital.
0:01:50 > 0:01:5425 years later it became the headquarters of Southern Command
0:01:54 > 0:02:00when Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower paced this floor planning the "D" Day landings.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05But today it's "V" for valuation day
0:02:05 > 0:02:08as Operation Roadshow gets under way.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14She's not the most beautiful baby, but obviously her parents love her.
0:02:14 > 0:02:15Where did you find her?
0:02:15 > 0:02:17I found her in a rubbish heap.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21As a Community Centre caretaker I was going through a pile of rubbish.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24A couple of black sacks - I was going to put them in the bin,
0:02:24 > 0:02:28and I looked in there and there were two dolls and one of them was this one.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31That was about eight years ago, I think.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36Well, sitting here actually you don't get the real reason of her existence.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39It's when you pick her up. She's heavy.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41I'd say she's around eight pounds...
0:02:41 > 0:02:44the weight of a real newborn baby. Yes.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49And if one just looks at the way that she's made...
0:02:49 > 0:02:54She's made out of a sort of stockinet which has then been painted.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58She's got... She's really quite crude underneath these nice baby clothes.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02She's got articulated joints - very simple ones,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05but then she's also got something much more interesting,
0:03:05 > 0:03:08which is a mark here
0:03:08 > 0:03:12which says "Chase Hospital Doll".
0:03:12 > 0:03:14And this particular type of doll
0:03:14 > 0:03:18was invented by a woman called Martha Jenks Chase,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22in the 1880s, in Pawtucket in Rhode Island.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28And she made this particular type of doll, this weighted doll,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32to be used as a teaching aid really for nurses or young mothers.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36Now, there's something else that I wonder if she has...
0:03:36 > 0:03:42and she does have. Yes, that's right. She does have the place where you test the temperature of babies.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46So, she's got a little hole there for slotting in the thermometer,
0:03:46 > 0:03:48so complete in every detail.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Do you know what she's got inside her?
0:03:51 > 0:03:53It should be sand.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58Another company that made similar weighted dolls for that sort of purpose,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02was a company called Kathe Kruse who were based in Germany.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06But the American ones actually are very scarce over here.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08We see quite a lot of the...the German makers
0:04:08 > 0:04:12but the Martha Chase dolls are unusual.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14Who looks after her? My daughter. Does she?
0:04:14 > 0:04:17And how old's she? She's nearly 16.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20So, does she sort of take out her maternal instincts on...?
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Sleeps in her bed. Oh, really? Yeah, sleeps by her.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Because don't they do something like this with, with kids today?
0:04:27 > 0:04:29Don't they have pretend babies they can...
0:04:29 > 0:04:33That's right. Sarah had a baby from school a few weeks ago
0:04:33 > 0:04:36that she had to look after for the weekend.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41It cried intermittently. She had to put a key in the back to stop it crying. It is a reality doll.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44To put you off having babies. That's right.
0:04:44 > 0:04:50How interesting. Well, I suppose this is the sort of equivalent from earlier on in the 20th century.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55This was a teaching aid, just as the one your daughter has now is a teaching aid really.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58This one, although the first dolls were invented in the 1880s,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02this is quite a bit later. I'd say this dates from the 1930s.
0:05:02 > 0:05:08And value? Well, I mean, it came to you for nothing just in a black bin bag. That's right.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10I would have said in this condition,
0:05:10 > 0:05:14we're talking about something around £500, maybe a little bit more.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19It's not exactly easy bringing furniture to a Roadshow, so... No.
0:05:19 > 0:05:25But I've seen some unusual ways of bringing it but a horsebox is definitely a first. Right. Yes.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29Obviously something which, um... needs something more than a car.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Well, yes, but we ran short...
0:05:32 > 0:05:36so we decided to just bring it along and hope for the best, so...
0:05:36 > 0:05:38Oh, is that made of ebony? Yes, I believe so.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40Oh, my goodness!
0:05:40 > 0:05:46That IS about the most exciting thing I've ever seen in a horsebox actually. Right.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49I can quite see why you didn't want to carry it.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53I imagine it weighs an absolute ton. Yes. Yes. It's quite a lump.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57It's very heavy. It's made of solid ebony, the base, is it? I believe so, yes.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Oh, my God.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05Fantastically well carved, completely made of solid ebony.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10You couldn't carry that across a field very easily. No. Now, this must have a story to it.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13Well, it was my grandmother's who handed it over
0:06:13 > 0:06:16to my mother and father who have since handed it down to me,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18so it's come through the generations.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23She bought it in a Bournemouth auction room about 60 years ago.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26Originally, it came from further afield than Bournemouth,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29as you'll realise. I mean one of the great giveaways is the fact that
0:06:29 > 0:06:32it's made completely in the solid, from not only ebony
0:06:32 > 0:06:38but also this whole block is made of solid padauk and the top is,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42I think, one of the best I've ever seen of its type.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46Apart from having this extraordinary, swirling pattern
0:06:46 > 0:06:48of arrangements of specimen hardwoods,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51it's also got ivory inlay
0:06:51 > 0:06:55and ebony inlay as a sort of chevron pattern.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00And inlaid in-between those is little fillets of silver. Yeah.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Not just white metal - it's actually silver inlaid in the top.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Having silver is about as good as it gets.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09It's difficult trying to identify all these specimen woods,
0:07:09 > 0:07:12very time-consuming. But you've got everything from tulip wood
0:07:12 > 0:07:16to holm oak, to calamander to Makasar ebony, pear, apple -
0:07:16 > 0:07:21all of the things that were available in India in the first half of the 19C.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23This is an Anglo-Indian centre table
0:07:23 > 0:07:30and it's a complete celebration really of colonial trading in the early 19C
0:07:30 > 0:07:33and the availability of woods from all four corners of the world.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37It's a complete celebration of that. Shall we try and put the two together?
0:07:37 > 0:07:42It's not very easy work, I'm sure, but...OK...it's heavy, isn't it?
0:07:42 > 0:07:44It is, certainly is.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50Well, it's absolutely the best I've seen of its type
0:07:50 > 0:07:52as Anglo-Indian tables go.
0:07:52 > 0:07:57I guess, in Bournemouth 60 years ago, this was not everybody's taste. Do you know how much it cost?
0:07:57 > 0:08:00I believe my grandmother paid £25.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02£25!
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Well, I should think it would fetch
0:08:06 > 0:08:10between £20,000 and £30,000. Really?
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Right.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15It's a FANTASTIC thing.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21I'm taking a cuppa with our host, Lord Pembroke. Thanks for having us. It's a pleasure.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26Now, like everything at Wilton House, there's a story attached. There's a good story.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30The... There's an Irish peer who was the Viscount Fitzwilliam, he, um,
0:08:30 > 0:08:36he had no children of his own, so he wanted to invite his young nephew, and cousin...
0:08:36 > 0:08:38the son of the 11th Earl of Pembroke -
0:08:38 > 0:08:42over to Dublin, to try and decide who he would pass his estate on to.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45They were sitting there having tea, and the tea was very hot,
0:08:45 > 0:08:50and his nephew proceeded to pour his tea from the cup into the saucer,
0:08:50 > 0:08:55and slurped noisily. And he didn't really impress his, his uncle so much,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59whereas the son of the 11th Earl of Pembroke, Sidney -
0:08:59 > 0:09:03he drank it very politely from the cup
0:09:03 > 0:09:05and, um, he thought his manners were so good
0:09:05 > 0:09:09that he should pass his estate onto, onto his cousin -
0:09:09 > 0:09:13the young earl. So, the other guy lost out because he was a slurper?
0:09:13 > 0:09:18Exactly. Imagine when he got home, his nanny must have slapped the back of his knees.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21So, it's not just your average cup and saucer.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24This led to us being handed the, um, the Dublin Estate,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27which, unfortunately, no longer exists,
0:09:27 > 0:09:31but it's quite a nice story behind the cup and saucer.
0:09:31 > 0:09:331790. Cheers. Cheers.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36Well, two AMAZING gold boxes.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38Tell me, where did you find them?
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Um, I bought this a couple of years ago
0:09:40 > 0:09:44um, because I liked it...the detail,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48and I like researching things. So, that's where that one come from.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50I bought this one five years ago,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53um, from a dealer,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55because I collect a number of boxes.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58I have...two or three dozen boxes.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01And the point about this box is, that it hasn't changed at all
0:10:01 > 0:10:04since it was made in Paris in 1779.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Now, it's exactly the same state for you as it was
0:10:08 > 0:10:11for an aristocratic gentleman who was taking snuff.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14Now, it was an age in which status was terribly important.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18France was run by a monarchy, a very, very powerful monarchy...
0:10:18 > 0:10:23and in order to find your place in society you needed to carry a gold box.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25This is quite a plain one strangely,
0:10:25 > 0:10:30but it's decorated in a practical way. Do you know what that's called?
0:10:30 > 0:10:33No, I've no idea. No idea whatsoever.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Well, that we call engine turning.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39The metal is brought against a tooth rather like a sort of gramophone record.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42It gives this silken effect to the gold.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45It means that when you touch it you don't leave fingerprints.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48And about this time, a little bit earlier actually,
0:10:48 > 0:10:53a machine was invented, an engine-turning machine - a "tour a guillochage" it was called...
0:10:53 > 0:10:58to decorate gold boxes' surfaces in this way. But that's not enough actually,
0:10:58 > 0:11:03the goldsmith has heightened the design by decorating it with green gold.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07This is red gold alloyed with copper, green gold alloyed with tin.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10Right, I didn't, I didn't realise that, oh.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14Some aristocratic gents would have one of these boxes for every day of the year.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19He could not afford to be seen in society with the same box on the same day,
0:11:19 > 0:11:22otherwise it was social death to him.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25So, that gives you an idea of how money
0:11:25 > 0:11:31was in the hands of a very few people at that time. Not for nothing did the French Revolution come along.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36I mean, this is only a little over ten years before this all ended with the thud of the guillotine.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41Right. And so this box is telling you all of this, and this is the absolute excitement of it,
0:11:41 > 0:11:46because it hasn't deteriorated at all and is a true souvenir of pre-Revolutionary France.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49I think that's terribly exciting. It's a story that comes from that.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Tell me about this one.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56Well, I'd seen this in the auction room and I thought I've got to buy it, just purely on its weight.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01Yes. And the diamonds. I worked it out. I thought, "I'm buying that for its scrap value."
0:12:01 > 0:12:05So, I had to buy it. I've actually just started to research it.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09I know it's German because it's all laid out there.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14I'm just trying to find out a lot more about it because the quality of workmanship is, I can...
0:12:14 > 0:12:16is beautiful, you know.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18This box has got a different story to tell us.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22This is an Imperial box. This was made for an emperor to give away.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26We know which emperor it is, because it's quite clearly laid out inside.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28Exactly. It's Kaiser Wilhelm...
0:12:28 > 0:12:31Now, because of WWI he's not a terribly popular person,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34but what very few people bear in mind
0:12:34 > 0:12:40is that he's actually a grandson of Queen Victoria and, um, he came to visit her on several occasions -
0:12:40 > 0:12:44in this instance, to Windsor Castle. We can see perfectly because it says,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47"Presented to Lord Edward Pelham Clinton
0:12:47 > 0:12:50"by The German Emperor William II
0:12:50 > 0:12:54"at Windsor Castle, November 24th 1899."
0:12:54 > 0:12:59It's simply a gift to the head of Queen Victoria's household from an Emperor.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02It jolly well had to look Imperial. It does, doesn't it?
0:13:02 > 0:13:07Mm, without a doubt. It suffers a tiny bit from the excesses of Victorian taste.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11It's decorated with rococo scrolls and simulated woodwork,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14but emblazoned on the base there is the Imperial eagle -
0:13:14 > 0:13:17the double-headed eagle of Germany.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22Right. And the man that held that box was going to wreak havoc and destroy the world.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27That gives it a most marvellous context for you, doesn't it? And why these things are exciting.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29They have a voice these objects.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32They come from the past and it's our job to make them speak to us.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Now what about value? How much was that? Um, I paid a lot.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39I paid £7,000 for that box.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42Well, I don't think £7,000 is anything, frankly.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47If this diamond swag was a wearable thing, without the cipher of the Emperor and the enamelled crown,
0:13:47 > 0:13:49you'd expect to pay 7,000 for that.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51That's what I thought.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56So I don't know what value... I mean, I find value very bewildering but I think £7,000...
0:13:56 > 0:14:01well, my goodness, what a bargain! And this one? I think it was £1,500.
0:14:01 > 0:14:02£1,500.
0:14:02 > 0:14:08Well, I don't how one can repeat that. I mean, it looks like £1,500 without any context at all.
0:14:08 > 0:14:13Um, I don't mind raising that up to close to £10,000 today.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15Right. I don't think any of these... Wow!
0:14:15 > 0:14:18..I don't think these sums are relevant.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20I mean, say £10,000 for this one,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23£20,000 for that, it doesn't matter...
0:14:23 > 0:14:27they're just fascinating things, and thanks for bringing them, thank you. Great.
0:14:27 > 0:14:28Brilliant.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33If, like me, you're computer illiterate and yearn for the time when things were easy to understand,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36you'll know how happy I am
0:14:36 > 0:14:40to introduce a man who's a passionate collector of OLD things.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43And these OLD things are typewriters - easy to understand.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47Nick Fisher, why collect typewriters? Are you a frustrated secretary?
0:14:47 > 0:14:51No, for some peculiar reason, I was once wandering through Reading
0:14:51 > 0:14:54when I alighted along, across a junk shop.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57In the junk shop was this typewriter which is fairly unusual.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02and it just struck me the absolute craftsmanship involved in it
0:15:02 > 0:15:06and the way you could see all the parts that worked. It had absolute integrity.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09It was later that I realised each and every one of these typewriters
0:15:09 > 0:15:12probably has a story it can't actually tell.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14How many have you got? 200 all told.
0:15:14 > 0:15:20I think they're most ingenious anyway, from the word go. I presume it's an American invention.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24I think the Americans would like us to think so,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26but really it was a cumulative invention if you like.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Many people, including the Italians, Germans
0:15:29 > 0:15:31and the Americans were involved.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35The first people to produce the true commercial typewriter were Remington,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38who produced their first model in about 1876 really.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42Got one here? Yes, this one here which is not the first.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44This is actually model number five
0:15:44 > 0:15:48which was produced again in the late 1880s.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52It was also a machine, along with this one,
0:15:52 > 0:15:58which actually took part in a typewriting duel in 1885 between two typists -
0:15:58 > 0:16:03one a touch-typist and one who actually relied upon looking at the keys and using two fingers.
0:16:03 > 0:16:08The chap who was using the Remington and using all the fingers actually won the duel
0:16:08 > 0:16:13and, as a result of that, gradually, over a period of time, these much larger keyboards disappeared
0:16:13 > 0:16:19because this is a much more manageable keyboard system for a touch-typist.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21These were men? Now, it's interesting,
0:16:21 > 0:16:25you would think it's changed the working lives of women.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29It did. To start off with I think there was resistance to allow women into the office,
0:16:29 > 0:16:34by people who were already there - clerks who saw them as interlopers.
0:16:34 > 0:16:40But what actually happened of course was that they were found to be, with all due respect, very dextrous
0:16:40 > 0:16:44and good users AND possibly cheaper to employ.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47And so it really did, to some extent, liberate women.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49A lot of them, I guess much later on
0:16:49 > 0:16:53would not have thought it was necessarily a liberation for them.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55Are most fellow collectors women?
0:16:55 > 0:16:58No, most collectors seem to be men,
0:16:58 > 0:17:03which I think indicates the fact that it's chaps who are interested in mechanical objects.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07Is there a golden typewriter in your imagination? There are golden typewriters...
0:17:07 > 0:17:10not just one. Not a really golden one, I mean...
0:17:10 > 0:17:13There is a golden typewriter, um, Fleming.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17The author of the Bond books actually had a gold-plated typewriter.
0:17:17 > 0:17:23But, you know, there are plenty of typewriters I'd like to own. It's unlikely I ever will own them...
0:17:23 > 0:17:26but that's not a problem. Your mother wrote in...
0:17:26 > 0:17:30It was. ..to tell us about your fanatical collection. Did she type the letter?
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Um, no, I don't think she... I think she, she wrote it.
0:17:35 > 0:17:41I was taught to ask...before you start thinking anything else, what is the picture trying to depict?
0:17:41 > 0:17:46In your case, what do you think? Well, it's the Resurrection. Yes, it is, and so this is Mary? Yes.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49And there's Christ with the stigmata in his hands. Yes.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51What else do you know about it?
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Very little until a few months ago,
0:17:53 > 0:17:59and then I was told by someone that it was possibly 1890s to 1900. Yes.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03And, um, it was possibly painted on silk.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05Right, absolutely spot on, as far as it goes.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08It's out of its frame to see it better,
0:18:08 > 0:18:10and we can see it's actually on fine linen.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14Now, I've been thinking about this and trying to figure out who it was by.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17I've been getting closer and closer to it.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Now, I'm fairly sure that it's by a member of the so-called Birmingham Group -
0:18:21 > 0:18:24a group of painters inspired by Burne-Jones
0:18:24 > 0:18:28who came from Birmingham and gave a lecture there in the '90s.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33But, finally, I've honed in on an artist called Bernard Sleigh...
0:18:33 > 0:18:35who favoured religious subjects.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38and what was the clincher for me
0:18:38 > 0:18:41is that several of his religious pictures
0:18:41 > 0:18:45featuring Christ, have him standing on a kind of glowing launch pad
0:18:45 > 0:18:48like Thunderbird I about to take off or something.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52OK? And it's clear that this picture, unfinished,
0:18:52 > 0:18:54was about to go in that direction,
0:18:54 > 0:18:58so I'm going to attribute this, quite firmly, to Bernard Sleigh.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01I LOVE it. I do. Why?
0:19:01 > 0:19:04I think the features.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06The features here, they're so clear.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10Um, I don't know. They're very clear aren't they? They are very clear.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15They're really clear, it's that kind of plainness, simplicity, very much a...
0:19:15 > 0:19:18a...I love her blue eyes, don't you?
0:19:18 > 0:19:21And her blonde hair. I do, and her lips in particular I like.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25Can't believe Mary really looked like that, but it is a wonderful interpretation.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28Um, and then look at the halo
0:19:28 > 0:19:32which is almost glowing flowers. So, now, value...
0:19:32 > 0:19:35It's a very good example by him and I think very early
0:19:35 > 0:19:38and very beautiful, so, I think,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41I've really got to put £2,000 on it.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Oh, dear.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48Well, isn't it beautiful? It is beautiful. I didn't expect that at all.
0:19:48 > 0:19:54There is, oddly, a link between these two objects.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57Did you know that? No, I certainly didn't.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59I'll tell you what it is.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01It's bicycling.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05Let's start with this one,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08this was made by a man called William Henry Goss.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13And Goss had this brilliant idea in the late 19th century
0:20:13 > 0:20:15that he would make his fortune
0:20:15 > 0:20:20by making souvenirs for people who were cycling round the country.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22Bicycling was THE craze...
0:20:22 > 0:20:25and he thought to himself...
0:20:25 > 0:20:29"They cycle round the country, when they get there, they want a souvenir to bring home."
0:20:29 > 0:20:34Put it in the saddle bag, mostly quite small, and they're very collectable.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37There were some bigger ones,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40and this is one of the rarer ones.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44It's the Durham Knocker.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47We've got on here the mark
0:20:47 > 0:20:50of the goshawk which was the factory mark
0:20:50 > 0:20:55and the transfer on there.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57This is rare
0:20:57 > 0:21:01and I think that one would probably make in the region of £500 to £800.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04It's a nice thing.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Where do these come from?
0:21:06 > 0:21:09They were...certainly this was a family inheritance.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14They've been in the family for years. There's an interesting story with the jug
0:21:14 > 0:21:19because my grandmother bought it for my father in the early 50s
0:21:20 > 0:21:24after my father led a team of physicists at Malvern
0:21:24 > 0:21:28in developing the travelling wave linear accelerator. Wow!
0:21:28 > 0:21:31That's a...that's a claim to fame!
0:21:31 > 0:21:33How extraordinary! So, what was the...
0:21:33 > 0:21:39ah, the link is "The Lady's Accelerator"... Absolutely. ..on the back. Absolutely.
0:21:39 > 0:21:45OK, what we've got here is the most wonderful Regency pearl ware jug.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Pearl ware is a cream ware
0:21:48 > 0:21:52which has been dressed with a slightly blue glaze
0:21:52 > 0:21:54to make it more like porcelain.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58It's been transfer printed in black
0:21:58 > 0:22:03and then all the rest of the colour has been put on by hand.
0:22:03 > 0:22:09And we've got here a Regency lady seated in this tricycle and she...
0:22:09 > 0:22:14with her feet pedals these boards which drive the wheels
0:22:14 > 0:22:19and it was obviously called "The Lady's Accelerator".
0:22:19 > 0:22:21On the other side
0:22:21 > 0:22:24we've got a bone-shaker bicycle
0:22:24 > 0:22:29and it's somebody, I suppose the Duke of Wellington,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32with, as a passenger, Queen Caroline
0:22:32 > 0:22:36who was of course married THEN to the Prince Regent.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Now, Richmond was where she lived.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43Carlton House was where the Prince of Wales lived
0:22:43 > 0:22:46and of course they were separated.
0:22:46 > 0:22:51And this is showing her apparently going to see him in Carlton House.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53It's a DREAM of a jug.
0:22:53 > 0:22:58Any political jug collector would absolutely love this.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01Made in Staffordshire probably, possibly Liverpool,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05it dates from around 1800-1805,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07somewhere about that time.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12And...I think it would probably make...
0:23:13 > 0:23:17..£400 to £600, something like that.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20Yes. They're a wonderful two objects and thank you for bringing them in.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22A pleasure, thank you very much.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26The trouble with doing a show in the open air,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30is that we're in England it has a habit of turning a bit SOGGY!
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Still, it's good for the flowers and it's won't stop the show,
0:23:33 > 0:23:36so what am I complaining about? MUSIC BOX PLAYS
0:23:38 > 0:23:39Bye, girls!
0:23:48 > 0:23:50That's much better.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54I've known this for, ooh,
0:23:54 > 0:23:56the last 50-odd years.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00And, um, I went out to Kenya in 1954... Mm-hm.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05..and, I think, saw it at the first, um, agricultural show then.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09It was always in all the great equestrian events, of which there were dozens and dozens,
0:24:09 > 0:24:13all over Kenya. Gymkhanas and horsy events. Oh, yes.
0:24:13 > 0:24:19Even in, even in Africa? Oh, gosh, yes. Kenya was a little spot of aristocratic Britain
0:24:19 > 0:24:23where time stood still, quite a long time ago.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27So you'd seen her being driven around and admired it, had you? Oh, yes.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29Very good, and who did it belong to?
0:24:29 > 0:24:32Oh, at the time I knew it, it belonged to Daphne Mason.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34So, Daphne Mason was whom?
0:24:34 > 0:24:36She was the daughter...
0:24:36 > 0:24:38as far as I know...of the...
0:24:38 > 0:24:41of Lady Muriel Jex-Blake,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44who was in turn the daughter of the 14th...
0:24:44 > 0:24:46The 14th earl. ..Earl of Pembroke.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50So this thing originally came from Wilton, came from this very place?
0:24:50 > 0:24:51Yes.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54Lady Muriel had gone to Africa with her husband.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57And they had a coffee farm a few miles out of Nairobi.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01Brilliant! You found it at auction, did it up and shipped it back.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03I put it all to pieces again
0:25:03 > 0:25:07and put it in packing cases some years later and brought it back in 1974.
0:25:07 > 0:25:13Well, I think it's just extraordinary that this vehicle is now back at Wilton House where it started out,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16because Lady Muriel was born in 1885
0:25:16 > 0:25:21and this vehicle was probably made around about 1900.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25And it's a specialist sort of vehicle called a "whisky" -
0:25:25 > 0:25:29which is derived from the term "to whisk" from one place to another.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34And these vehicles were known as whiskys because they travelled about frightfully quickly.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37And, in a way, around about 1900
0:25:37 > 0:25:41for a young girl to have one of these was like being given a sports car...
0:25:41 > 0:25:45So, perhaps in 1901, when she was 16,
0:25:45 > 0:25:49Lord Pembroke gave his daughter this vehicle.
0:25:49 > 0:25:55And if we look down below at the hub cap, it says "Orfords, London". Yes.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59Orfords were making specialist vehicles for over 150 years.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01They continued until the 1930s
0:26:01 > 0:26:05and it was just the sort of place that an aristocrat would go and buy
0:26:05 > 0:26:09the equivalent of a sports car for his daughter.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11It's an absolutely brilliant object. Well, it...
0:26:11 > 0:26:17I'm absolutely delighted to see it, because despite the weather, what finer setting anywhere in England?
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Quite. And it's back home, which is lovely.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Well, I have to tell you that these things are really quite desirable.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26There's a big market for horse-drawn vehicles.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29I think, if you were to sell this today,
0:26:29 > 0:26:33you would get between £4,000 and £6,000 for it. Oh, my goodness!
0:26:33 > 0:26:37When I came to Wiltshire I thought, "I'll see plenty of sheep on the way down,"
0:26:37 > 0:26:40and I haven't seen a single sheep until today.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42And then you bring me a glass one(!)
0:26:42 > 0:26:47Um, and it's not so much a sheep but definitely a ram's head, isn't it? It is. He's lovely, isn't he?
0:26:47 > 0:26:52He is lovely, but you and I know that he should be on a car. Well, he should, that's very true.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Now, tell me about the car that this car mascot started life on.
0:26:56 > 0:27:02It's my daughter-in-law's actually, and her father was a chauffeur for Lord Hives.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05Tell me about Lord Hives. I'm not very big on aristocracy.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10Right. Lord Hives was the chairman of...John Lewis in London.
0:27:10 > 0:27:16And...Lalique gave it to Lord Hives as a gift.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21OK, well you mentioned the magical name there, didn't you? That's right, I did twice perhaps. You did.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24You're a name dropper, aren't you? I am, I am.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28Lord Hives and Lalique, because we're talking of course of Rene Lalique.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31And there we go. It's there to be seen.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34Moulded, actually, in the actual glass itself.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37I mean, here is a man
0:27:37 > 0:27:39that decides to, um, build a career,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42second time around, in industrially produced glassware,
0:27:42 > 0:27:47I mean, before then, he was a major, major, um, jeweller
0:27:47 > 0:27:52working in the Art Nouveau style in France and then come around about 1907-1910 he moves into glass.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56Now, as far as Lalique car mascots are concerned,
0:27:56 > 0:28:01um, he...he produced 29...in total. OK?
0:28:01 > 0:28:05There was one, just one, that never made it into production.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08This particular one I know was introduced in 1928,
0:28:08 > 0:28:12um, and what I think is fascinating about them is the fact that...
0:28:12 > 0:28:15the way we're looking at it here,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18really sort of belies, um, just how this would have been fitted.
0:28:18 > 0:28:23Once it was on your car bonnet it could be illuminated
0:28:23 > 0:28:28and so, I mean, it worked on the basis that the faster you went
0:28:28 > 0:28:31the brighter it SHONE. Oh, right.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33Um, now, that only lasted for a short time
0:28:33 > 0:28:39because the London County Council decided it was too dodgy to have THREE lights coming up behind you
0:28:39 > 0:28:42when you're driving a car down Pall Mall.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44So, um, you could still keep a glass car mascot
0:28:44 > 0:28:49but you couldn't illuminate it, which is all very sad. That's a shame.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52It is, because you could put coloured filters in there too,
0:28:52 > 0:28:54so you could turn a clear glass mascot...
0:28:54 > 0:28:57and they did a frog - so put a green filter in
0:28:57 > 0:29:00and you'd got a green frog once it was illuminated.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03I suppose the other, the other question is, condition...
0:29:03 > 0:29:06because that's all important.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09Um, and I've noticed there IS a small crack.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11That's the bad news. Mmm.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13Um, the colour goes for it.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15It's a nice subject.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18There are a lot of people out there who go for them.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23These days the market has switched very much from Lalique glass collectors
0:29:23 > 0:29:26to motor memorabilia... Oh, really? ..car mascot collectors.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29And there are a lot of them across the world.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31If that turned up, even in this condition,
0:29:31 > 0:29:37I don't think you'd have any problem in a collector putting his hand in the air and bidding
0:29:37 > 0:29:40somewhere around about £2,000 to £2,500.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44Really? Really. Oh, she'll be pleased. Do you think so? Mm.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49Looking at this as a doll,
0:29:49 > 0:29:52it's actually not a particularly interesting doll.
0:29:52 > 0:29:57But looking at it as...something rather different,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00it becomes really fascinating.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03And the thing that immediately focuses my eyes
0:30:03 > 0:30:06is the badge that she's wearing - "votes for women"
0:30:06 > 0:30:08and this extraordinary outfit
0:30:08 > 0:30:12that the doll is dressed in, with arrows on it. Now, tell me more.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15Um, well, it was my great grandmother's
0:30:15 > 0:30:18and she'd have given it to my grandmother when she was a girl.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23But all of the clothing is actually made from parts of the actual uniform when they were in prison.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25So, this is...
0:30:25 > 0:30:28using the original prison uniforms... Yeah.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31..that the women were put into.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33How amazing! Who was your great grandmother?
0:30:33 > 0:30:35Was she a firebrand of the movement?
0:30:35 > 0:30:40Well, I'm not exactly sure how far in the movement she was, but she was very up in it.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43She called my grandmother after Emmeline Pankhurst.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47But you don't know if, for instance, she was ever imprisoned.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51I'm not entirely sure. I don't know if she was in prison or not.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53I haven't got any documentation, so...
0:30:53 > 0:30:57OK. There's a GREAT book, it has an index which lists practically everybody.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01And that's called, um, "The Women's' Suffrage Movement"
0:31:01 > 0:31:04and it's by a woman called Elizabeth Crawford, so get that.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07You might have an extraordinary surprise...
0:31:07 > 0:31:09That she might be in it? Yes, exactly.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11But the interesting thing for me,
0:31:11 > 0:31:15is the way that this has all been put together.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17I mean, it's correct in EVERY detail,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21every layer from the outer layer to the flannel petticoat here...
0:31:21 > 0:31:26Yes. ..the cambric petticoat, the drawers, all with arrows on.
0:31:26 > 0:31:31And in fact...oh, in fact, even the little shoes... Shoes. Yeah.
0:31:31 > 0:31:32..have got the arrows on.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36And the Women's Suffrage Movement was such an important part
0:31:36 > 0:31:39of the early 20th century political landscape.
0:31:39 > 0:31:44Although the actual movement started in the 1860s, it wasn't a really radical movement at that point.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47When we think of Women's Suffrage and suffragettes,
0:31:47 > 0:31:51we're thinking of that sort of 1910, 11, 12 period
0:31:51 > 0:31:54when all the major political events happened -
0:31:54 > 0:31:58chaining to the railings... That's right ..and all the rest of it.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00So, this to me is no longer a doll,
0:32:00 > 0:32:05and I mustn't look at it as a doll and I mustn't think about valuing it as a doll,
0:32:05 > 0:32:11because it IS a symbol of a very important and influential movement.
0:32:11 > 0:32:12And Women's Suffrage,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15and particularly suffragette items,
0:32:15 > 0:32:17have an EXTRAORDINARY following.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19I would have thought we're talking about
0:32:19 > 0:32:22upwards of £2,000.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26Something between perhaps £2,000 and £3,000. That's excellent.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30It's good news, isn't it? Yeah. Are you a bit of a firebrand yourself?
0:32:30 > 0:32:33Well, I'm all up for Women's Lib, it has to be said.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36That's for others to say, is it? Yeah.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39Well, it belonged to my mother-in-law.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44Um, we don't know the history of it, I'm afraid, at all.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47Um, she...arrived one day
0:32:47 > 0:32:49with a little bowl...
0:32:49 > 0:32:52Mm-hm. ..an enamel bowl... Yes?
0:32:52 > 0:32:55..in which there was jewellery, some of it was costume jewellery.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58She called it a lucky dip and she asked me if, um,
0:32:58 > 0:33:03I would like to choose a piece of jewellery for both of my children.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06Amazing. This is probably the most spectacular lucky dip
0:33:06 > 0:33:10I've ever seen in my life. She said that she had a King Charles I ring
0:33:10 > 0:33:14and we never ever believed it. It was sadly at the end of her days.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16She had Alzheimer's
0:33:16 > 0:33:19and so one thought that the confusion was normal.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22Well... And there was this ring.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26It wasn't until after she died that we looked at it and saw...
0:33:26 > 0:33:30What? An inscription inside. It has an inscription. What does it say?
0:33:30 > 0:33:32I'm not sure. I'll tell you.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36Not Charles I but Elizabeth, is it? Well, it absolutely does.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41Princess Elizabeth. Well, it says "Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King Charles I".
0:33:41 > 0:33:45She was born in, um, 1635
0:33:45 > 0:33:47and she died in 1650,
0:33:47 > 0:33:50so it was a remarkably short life actually.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54And, in a way, this may be some kind of memorial to that life.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58In jewellery studies we can recognise the date of a piece of jewellery
0:33:58 > 0:34:01by the style of the mounting.
0:34:01 > 0:34:06Now, what's confusing to me is that the mounting is slightly later than one would expect from 1650 -
0:34:06 > 0:34:08not necessarily the cut of the diamonds
0:34:08 > 0:34:13but the way the ring looks is more to do with the beginning of the 18C.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17What we've to try to understand is what the inscription on the ring really means.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20Does it mean that this ring belonged to that princess?
0:34:20 > 0:34:24And, I think, frankly, as we see it now, it didn't.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26The stones in the ring belonged to the princess.
0:34:26 > 0:34:31Somebody loved it, wore it, wore it out and it had to be remounted.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35And I think it was remounted in, in about 1700 - maybe 1720.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40Now that's utterly consistent with the style of the script that runs on the inside of the ring
0:34:40 > 0:34:42and also this fluted back.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45It's actually a closed back setting.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48The stones are set against silver foil.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51Now, the silver foil's deteriorated over these hundreds of years
0:34:51 > 0:34:55and it gives this diamond a much more sultry look
0:34:55 > 0:34:58to it really which one doesn't expect.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02Modern diamonds look like headlamps and they're frankly rather boring.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05And here is a very beautiful stone... It's sparkly.
0:35:05 > 0:35:10..Very sparkly. It's doing it now. It likes the attention. I'm thrilled with that.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13Um, anyway, so is it a Stuart relic or not?
0:35:13 > 0:35:18To be perfectly honest, I think it probably is, which is a very exciting thing for me to say.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20But, without doubt, it's been remounted
0:35:20 > 0:35:24and, um, how on earth one's to value this, I haven't the slightest idea.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27Maybe 7, 8, £9,000 for it...
0:35:27 > 0:35:32without any reference to provenance. Put the provenance on and the sky's the limit perhaps.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Maybe £15,000 isn't wrong. Hmm.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38It started with the little...
0:35:38 > 0:35:41um, oddly enough it was the deer. The little stag.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44And, um, then, because we live on a farm
0:35:44 > 0:35:49I thought, "Well, I'll collect animals and a few, few birds."
0:35:49 > 0:35:53How long ago was this? Were you...? It started in the middle '70s.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57Right, so 30...35 years ago. What sort of prices were you paying then?
0:35:57 > 0:36:02Well, some of the little ones, of course, were about £30 or £40
0:36:02 > 0:36:06but they've become VERY expensive now. They have.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10Now, most of these are actually dating between about 1905 and 1910.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15Right. And some of them are by leading makers of pincushions
0:36:15 > 0:36:17including Sampson Mordan of London,
0:36:17 > 0:36:21Levi and Salaman and Adie and Lovekin.
0:36:21 > 0:36:23And most of them are very crisply hallmarked.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25They're very, very simply made
0:36:25 > 0:36:30just by sort of embossing. And, of course, this is where you stick your pins.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32Now, what do you make of that?
0:36:32 > 0:36:34That was one of the early purchases,
0:36:34 > 0:36:38probably a mistake. But you learn from your mistakes
0:36:38 > 0:36:42because we think it came from the top of a cow creamer.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44Yes, or a butter dish. Or a butter dish.
0:36:44 > 0:36:50A finial off a butter dish and the base has been let in, it would have originally screwed onto the lid.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54Would they have made a hole? Yes, they pierced it and put a little cushion in.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58This is how we learn about antiques, and you learn by your mistakes.
0:36:58 > 0:37:03What was the date on it? 1842 and made in Sheffield. Oh, so that's much earlier.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05Before they even made pincushions.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07So, that's almost a fake, isn't it? Yes.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09I think so.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13Now, I know you've brought everything in an old margarine tub.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18I did. And it's amazing, there's about 42 examples here.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20If I said to you...
0:37:20 > 0:37:23to replace that one would cost you now...
0:37:23 > 0:37:26over £1,000...
0:37:26 > 0:37:29would that surprise you? That's serious money, isn't it?
0:37:29 > 0:37:32It's serious money. Yes. I knew they were expensive,
0:37:32 > 0:37:35but I hadn't sort of thought... You didn't realise that much.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38A little polar bear. ..Yeah.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41It's less than an inch long. Not much silver. No.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45There'd be very little change out of £1,000 for that one.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48And if I tot up all the other rarities...
0:37:48 > 0:37:51You've a range of wildfowl. You've a tortoise.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53There's a wonderful little fish -
0:37:53 > 0:37:56again, absolutely exquisitely detailed.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59If you wanted to go out
0:37:59 > 0:38:02and buy all these, you wouldn't have much change
0:38:02 > 0:38:05from £25,000.
0:38:05 > 0:38:10Collectively, over the time... So, you have brought me... ..that's a lot of money.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13..£25,000 worth of pincushions in an old margarine tub.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20Well, the weather tried to beat us, but it didn't succeed and we managed to find some unbeatable items.
0:38:20 > 0:38:26Thanks very much to the people of Wiltshire, and now chin up, stiff upper lip and keep smiling.
0:38:26 > 0:38:31And, if you can do that, we'll see you at the next show. Until then, from Wilton House, goodbye.