Stornoway Antiques Roadshow


Stornoway

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'..Malin, Hebrides - north-east four or five, becoming cyclonic, then south-west six to gale eight,

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'perhaps severe gale nine later.

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'Rain. Moderate or good.'

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Well, as you might've gathered, the Roadshow is a long way from home

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on one of the most remote, windswept parts of the British Isles.

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a place known best to us as a fixture on the shipping forecast.

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So welcome, on a mercifully sunny day, to the largest island of the Outer Hebrides - Lewis.

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The Hebridean landscape is sometimes beautiful, sometimes forbidding,

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but the islands boast a world heritage site, four national nature reserves

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and no less than 55 sites of special scientific interest.

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The coastline offers dramatic cliff views, secluded sandy coves and mystical standing stones.

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The Celts and Vikings both left their mark on these Western Isles,

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and a traditional way of life still flourishes among the 26,000 people who live here.

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70% of them are native speakers of Scots Gaelic, an ancient Celtic language.

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Fortunately, they also speak English, making life easier for our experts.

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Now, until recently, there wasn't a venue here big enough to hold the Antiques Roadshow,

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then we heard they were building a new leisure centre in the principal town of Stornoway.

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In fact, we're due to be the first public event in the new complex, assuming its finished, of course.

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Like the Olympic Stadium in Athens, it's showing every sign of being a close-run thing.

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Our experts are hoping for some interesting finds, though, and up here that wouldn't be unknown.

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During a particularly violent storm in 1831, a local crofter, who was rounding up his cows

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in these sand dunes near Ardroil, came across a stone chamber unearthed by the force of the wind.

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He broke into the chamber and discovered, to his amazement,

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what looked like a gathering of gnomes and elves.

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There were 78 little people in all, dressed as churchmen, royalty and warriors.

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Wise people at the British Museum finally concluded that they were 12th-century Norse chessmen

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carved from walrus tusk.

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Many regard the original Lewis figures as the finest early chess pieces in the world.

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Lo and behold, come the day and all the pieces are in place here in Stornoway,

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where they've finished enough of the building for our opening gambit. So, on with the first event to be held

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in the brand new Lewis Sports Centre and the first ever Antiques Roadshow from the Outer Hebrides.

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Two classic views of the Highlands painted on porcelain.

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Are these scenes you've grown up with?

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Eh, yes, I've been in Scotland all my life.

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So you can picture the highland cattle there by a loch. Yes. And the sheep amongst the heather. Indeed.

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These are scenes I'VE grown up with, because these are from Worcester, they're Royal Worcester plaques. Ah!

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And nice to see them in their original frames. This is how they left the Worcester factory.

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Yes. And the Worcester always had a little cut-out on the back.

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When we look around...inside the frame, there's a little hole showing the factory mark. That tells us...

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the Royal Worcester sign, and this little code system,

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they've got little tiny dots around the factory mark, 25 dots there, that's the year 1916.

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So that's when they were made. Oh!

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And they're by two of the greatest china painters of all time, really,

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this one by John Stinton and this one here by Harry Davis.

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Yes. John Stinton specialised in the cattle. And during his very long life - he lived to be over 100...

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during his whole life at Worcester, he painted the highland scenes with the cattle by the loch there.

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Yes. Though they're not scenes that he ever saw himself. Oh, he never...? During that time...

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His son said that John Stinton never went further north than Droitwich,

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which is only a few miles up the A38 north of Worcester. He never came to Scotland at all. Didn't he?

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Neither did Harry Davis, here painting sheep. And you can sort of smell the heather in the atmosphere!

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Yes, yes. I knew Harry Davis when I was a young lad at Worcester, growing up. Oh.

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He was in his 80s, still painting at Worcester - he lived there all his life -

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painting the sheep in the landscapes. When I was ten years old, I would watch him paint,

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still painting highland scenes, doing it from memory! And I thought, "How did you do this?"

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He'd never seen the sheep themselves. Didn't know...

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And he showed me little picture postcards that friends had sent him of Highland scenes. Uh-huh?

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He did it all from that. He just imagined the scenes.

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Neither Stinton or Davis ever went there. Where did these come from?

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Have they always been in your family? No, my husband bought them at a house sale in Greenock.

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And...? I think he didn't pay very much for them.

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£2.10/- in old money, somewhere about there.

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Porcelain lovers know the Highlands from the work of Stinton and Davis,

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and they pay very big money for them nowadays indeed.

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This one here, by John Stinton,

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is probably worth, today, something round about £3,000. Mm-hmm.

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and this one by Harry Davis, probably £4,000. Oh.

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Harry's work is...is just so special. And a plaque like that has got everything.

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Oh, I shall look at them in a different light!

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"The Peter Pan portfolio by Arthur Rackham, from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens by J. M. Barrie."

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Now, why do you like this?

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I bought it because I love... I like anything about Peter Pan, I like the stories and...

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Never-never land. And Never-never land.

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Yes. And where did you buy it?

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I bought it in Inverness at an auction.

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At an auction? Yes.

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I mean, just look at that!

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Yes, it's beautiful. It looks absolutely...absolutely glorious. And this lovely attention to detail!

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This one I've always loved because it's got this...

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This is Kensington Gardens. There you've got all the fairies.

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In fact, you probably have beer bottles down here today.

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But they've got fairies. And this lovely sort of twilight...

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That's the Serpentine.

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And here's another one, look at the movement in those. I mean, they are just absolutely tremendous.

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And...autumn fruit, I suppose, coming in there,

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and all that. And this little chap.

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Well, Arthur Rackham, as you know, obviously a very famous artist, started working for magazines

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in the late 19th century. And then, by about 1900-1904, I think,

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he started to bring out coloured illustrated books

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of other people's texts and, you know, possibly Christmas wasn't Christmas without a Rackham in it.

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Now, you'll have to tell me how much you paid for this.

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I can't really remember correctly, but it was £300 or £400, I think it was. 300 or 400.

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I couldn't be quite... Couldn't be quite sure? That was quite... that was quite a punch.

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I thought it was, yes. Yes, very bold. My husband was saying, "Oh!"

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Was he absolutely horrified? I love this one of this chrysanthemum as a man.

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Yes. Isn't he tremendous?

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Gorgeous. And he's got a monocle. I suppose he looks like Joseph Chamberlain, doesn't he?

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I mean, you know, of the period.

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And this child, the expression on its face!

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Well, look, there are various things wrong with this. The binding itself is not in bad condition.

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The vellum - obviously people have been putting fingers all round there. But it could be tidied up

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and really made to look absolutely very special.

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Oh. In fine condition,

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the Peter Pan portfolio is worth somewhere between £1,500 and £2,000. I see.

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So if you care to - and I think it would be worthwhile - spend a bit more money on it. Uh-huh, yes.

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And put it into apple-pie order. That's lovely.

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This is your table, isn't it? It's my table.

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The chair however, we have borrowed from the Cabost collection in the local museum.

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Oh, yes. And that is of interest here, but let us actually concentrate on your table. Right.

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What can you tell us about it? Well, it's been in my family... I mean, first knew about it

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when we came here to visit my grandparents in the '30s. Right.

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And it was there then. And your grandparents were local people?

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My grandfather was. Right. But my grandmother was a New Zealander.

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But do you think they acquired it or made it, or what?

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No, it was made by my great grandfather. Right. He made this.

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That's actually very interesting.

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Is it? Because, in fact, furniture of this sort, made on the island,

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was almost certainly made from either driftwood...

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Ah. ..or fragments of wood that were left over from other construction projects. Because there was so...

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there's no indigenous wood on the island. Everything had to be imported then and now.

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That's right, yes. But your great grandfather had obviously seen fashionable pieces of furniture

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on the mainland, and tried to recreate it, without the...

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without the real knowledge OR the technology to do it.

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This stem - he had no access to a lathe so he simply carved it. Uh-huh.

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The legs themselves are shaped, to a degree, as a fashionable one would have been,

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but it is likely he tried to find pieces of wood that had that natural shape in them.

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Ah. Now, he made the base, but the top is a different kettle of fish altogether.

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This is made of oak. It is also a reclaimed piece of wood.

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But you can see in the joint here that it's a very sophisticated joint, a tongue-and-groove joint.

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Yes, yes, you can see that, yes.

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And that was made, almost certainly on a machine.

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So it is likely that this was maybe a door once.

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Ah. You know. A ship got wrecked and that's a door of one of the cabins.

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Yes. And that's as big a top as he was able to salvage from this piece of wood.

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So that's fascinating. The other wonderful thing about these two bits of furniture,

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now we've put them together. Ah?

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Is the size of them. What do you use this for?

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Oh, I just use it as a coffee table. As a little coffee table, absolutely.

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But have you ever wondered why it was so low? They didn't have coffee tables in the 19th century. No.

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Well, they had very low ceilings and very small places to live in. That's exactly right.

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The original blackhouses, and do you know why they're so low?

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It's not necessarily the height of the ceilings,

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it's the level of the smoke that gathered in the roof. Oh. Yes! And if you're low down here,

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you're below that smoke level. Yes. A lovely, lovely local detail.

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And you only find that sort of thing in local, vernacular furniture. Yes. It's absolutely fabulous.

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What's it worth? No idea. I haven't a clue. Not a lot. The curious thing is, this local blackhouse furniture

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is so rare - it is SO rare!

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And you can value it in many, many hundreds of pounds,

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possibly over £1,000. Really? Yeah. My aunt wanted to buy it, but I wouldn't sell it.

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How much did she offer you? £10,000. TEN thousand? Yes, she offered me... Yes. She's American. A lot of money.

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That's exactly the point. And I said "No, I'd rather keep it".

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When... When you find somebody who really wants it, in America...

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I said "over £1,000". I wasn't dreaming of £10,000, but it doesn't surprise me! That's what she said.

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She said "I'll give you £10,000 for it," and I said "No, I'll keep it." That is absolutely brilliant.

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Well, I think anyone watching with a nervous disposition might well be obliged to switch off now,

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before we explain what this rather gruesome object is.

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How did it come into your possession? I inherited it from my father. From your father, right.

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Was he a doctor? He was indeed. That gives us a clue as to what it is.

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Well, in fact it's a tonsil extractor. That's right. And how it worked

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was that this was put in the mouth,

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covering the tonsils. You push this forward...

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and the sharp blade here underneath cuts off the tonsils

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which then attach themselves to the barbed points

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and you pull this back, and the tonsils come with it.

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It must've been a pretty horrendous business. Oh, these days it wouldn't be allowed.

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I think something like this probably dates from around 1900.

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It's made of steel, it's a bit pitted, not in the best of conditions,

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certainly wouldn't pass modern hygiene regulations.

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Um, any idea as to its value?

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None at all, no.

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Well, if it came up at auction, I think it would probably fetch between £200 and £250.

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Really, would it? Extraordinary.

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So this is for making biscuits. Yes. What, sweet biscuits or oatmeal biscuits? Oatmeal.

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Oatmeal, ah, the best sort.

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Can you read backwards? Yes.

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What does it say? "Playtime." And does this one have a name on it?

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"Ness." Ness. That sounds very Scottish.

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That's where they were made. So these are for making monster biscuits!

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The thing is that this is not Dom Perignon. No.

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And because it's not Dom Perignon 1921

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and it's Guinard 1923,

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it's only going to be worth £50 to £60!

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After all that! Yes.

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I was talking to one of my fellow experts on the Roadshow today about Clarice Cliff,

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who told me their mother received a Clarice Cliff dinner service as a wedding present in the 1930s,

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and she was so disgusted and appalled with it, she thought it was so common and downmarket,

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that she threw it away. What do you think about it? Same. Don't like it at all, no. Same?

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But you haven't thrown it away. No, I haven't. Put it in the loft.

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You put it up in the loft and then it's been resurrected.

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Well, Clarice Cliff is generally a very famous ceramic designer.

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She was working in the '20s and '30s and producing things in this wonderful Art Deco style.

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I think, you know, when one looks at a jug like that, which is the most extraordinary, even bizarre shape,

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in many ways totally impractical... Not nice at all. There's no way to put your finger through the handle.

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You have to grip it, hold on to it for dear life, otherwise you'll drop it. Similarly, the cups.

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Can you imagine a cup full of scalding hot tea...? She must have had a lot of designs, though.

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She did. We looked on the Internet and couldn't find that design. We found other designs but not that. Ah.

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It's interesting you should mention the design. There are two aspects to a piece of Clarice Cliff tea ware.

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There's the design, the pattern, which in this instance is called "Sunshine". Yes.

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And there's the shape. You didn't find this one?

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No. It's not actually a particularly rare one.

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The shape, however, is the thing I like about this set, and it's called the "conical shape",

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Conical shape is what everybody wants because of this wonderful, stylish Deco design.

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But the pattern is, perhaps, not so good.

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Some of the Clarice designs are really strong, bold geometric designs. Yes.

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Although this is clearly of the period, it's a more naturalistic, floral pattern.

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So how old is this one, then? This, interestingly, is dated. It's easy for me to tell you when it was made.

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Some of the Clarice Cliff pieces have...

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impressed, just inside the foot-rim, the date.

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And there we have "30" for 1930.

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Ah. So it was made in 1930, not all the pieces are dated in this way

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but the teapot, being the most important piece...

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Well, I never noticed that before. ..is obviously the one thing to date. And you've no idea...?

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Perhaps your father bought it? No, probably my mother bought it, I would imagine, yeah.

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Or it might have been in her family. She must've been rather avant-garde and stylish. Yes, she was. She was.

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You know, had a bit of a sparkle. Yeah. I can imagine - these sort of things, she would've gone for.

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She did well and, despite the less commercial design

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but because of the wonderful shapes and the completeness of the set,

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we're looking at a value probably about £800 to £1,000 at auction

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and you should insure it for a little bit more than that. Wow. But it's a really good set. Yeah.

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That must've been one gigantic whale! What's the story? Yes, it was over 80 feet long, I believe.

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The story is that it came ashore in a bay on the west side of Lewis

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and it had been wounded by the harpoon, like you see hanging there.

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And whales make for shore when they're wounded.

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And the local people, of course, took a great deal of interest in it.

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They took all the blubber and used it, in fact, as oil and for various other reasons -

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because this was 1920. And leaving... And they left this. All the bones, in fact. This is its lower jawbone?

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This is the lower jawbone. And how high is it?

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Eh, about 22 feet high and 14 across.

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And this was the harpoon that it dragged with it? Yes. And have you any idea what distance it travelled?

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We don't know exactly,

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but it may have... There was a whaling station in Harris,

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but it may have come from anywhere in the North Atlantic. What a difficult job getting it here!

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They had two horses and a lot of men -

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I think, over 20 young men fresh from the war -

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to drag it out the whole length of...

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the mile from the shore up to here.

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And here it stands, looking like the entrance to a film studio!

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A landmark. A landmark indeed.

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I think you know what this is. Yes. I knew it was a scarifier,

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I knew it was used as a skin incisor,

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but I wasn't very sure as to its date. I wasn't sure whether it succeeded the leech,

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whether it was a mechanical leech or what. I'd be interested to hear. In a way, it's a mechanical leech.

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In the bottom, here, are hidden some blades.

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And you hold it against the skin

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and fire it, and those blades will come out and cut the skin.

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Bloodletting in that way was meant to relieve things like high blood pressure.

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I can see on this it's got a name, it's got a maker's name.

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It probably dates from the first 20 or 30 years of the 19th century.

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That early? Now, we ought to see how this works. Indeed.

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I've already worked the trigger to load it, so it's ready to spring,

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I don't suppose you want to try it on yourself, do you? I do not, thank you very much.

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It just so happens that I have a balloon handy.

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Very convenient! And you can see there are no blades showing.

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This is how it would work. You would've rested it on the balloon...

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LOUD BANG Oh! And fired and that's what would have happened. Very quick action.

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The blades have gone again.

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That on your leg, or wherever it was held, will have done the scarifying. And blood would be flowing even now.

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Yes, nasty. Nasty, really nasty!

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So this has some value.

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I mean, no medical connections or anything like this in the family?

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No, but the ground floor of our house was leased out as a doctor's consulting room,

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and when the lease expired and my husband wanted to use the rooms,

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he of course ended up clearing out some of the cupboards, and he discovered this amongst other things.

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A rather nice find to have. Really?

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They're now wonderfully valuable today. No, no.

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But old medical antiques, before anaesthetics and before antisepsis, are collected. Right.

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And such a collector would pay between £100 and £150 for this. Oh!

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I'd like to begin by confessing that this artist is completely unknown to me,

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but I think it's an absolutely beautiful image. Can you help me identify the artist?

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Well, John Hunter, he's an artist who worked in Northern Ireland.

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He was born in China. I believe his mother was Russian...

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Missionaries in China.

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This particular painting is of the Mull of Kintyre

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And it's rather stylised,

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but it emphasises the wildness and bleakness of the landscape.

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Indeed. particularly like the way he...

0:21:170:21:21

We have sort of conflicting planes of both curving lines and angular...

0:21:210:21:26

this sort of angular profile of the hills. It's all very geometric, there's a wonderful design to it.

0:21:260:21:31

Yes. When I first saw this picture, it reminded me very much of another Irish artist called John Luke.

0:21:310:21:36

Now, he worked, essentially, in tempera. Yes.

0:21:360:21:40

Um, but his pictures are altogether more colourful than this.

0:21:400:21:45

Now, do we know much about when John Hunter was active?

0:21:450:21:50

Well, he died in, I think, 1951. And he was born 1875, so...

0:21:500:21:54

So he was a contemporary of Luke. So it might be that they'd have known each other? I'm sure they did.

0:21:540:22:00

There's distinct similarities.

0:22:000:22:02

I just... I love this picture.

0:22:020:22:05

I think... Collectors are always looking for new opportunities,

0:22:050:22:10

for new artists whose work they may not previously be familiar with.

0:22:100:22:14

And this picture has all the elements of different styles in British painting in the 20th C -

0:22:140:22:21

the suggestion of Cubism in the foreground, with this very angular approach to the rocks...

0:22:210:22:28

and this wonderful diagonal line here,

0:22:280:22:31

which reminds us of vorticism. It's just got everything in it!

0:22:310:22:35

Have you had the picture valued? No, not at any stage.

0:22:350:22:38

It has some sentimental value because it came to me through my mother,

0:22:380:22:43

who was married, at one stage, to one of the sons of the artist.

0:22:430:22:47

Ah, right, that's very interesting.

0:22:470:22:50

In saying all that, it's not a valuable picture,

0:22:500:22:53

but I would think, at auction, it would probably fetch in the region of about £2,000 to £3,000. Yes.

0:22:530:22:58

Well, you've got a nice little stash

0:22:580:23:01

of early 19th-C Chinese porcelain in here.

0:23:010:23:05

But it's not really that that caught my eye, it's actually the container.

0:23:050:23:09

Tell me the history of this extraordinary box.

0:23:090:23:13

Well, I bought it about 12 years ago from a dealer in the North of Scotland.

0:23:130:23:18

I saw it in the shop. It was a fantastic object - damaged, like most of the things I buy.

0:23:180:23:24

And I had...a thought that at some point I might restore it myself, and I bought it.

0:23:240:23:30

Did you have any idea where it was from? Did he say?

0:23:300:23:34

I spoke to him about it because, obviously, it's very unusual,

0:23:340:23:37

and he said that it had come to Scotland from a Norwegian family who owned a shipbuilding line.

0:23:370:23:43

Yeah. Well, of course, there are huge contacts between Scotland and Scandinavia,

0:23:430:23:47

in particular Norway.

0:23:470:23:48

it's easier to get to Norway if you're living north of the wall than it is to get down south to London.

0:23:480:23:55

How do we actually work out which part of the world this comes from?

0:23:550:23:59

I think that the beautiful little cartouches of these animals

0:23:590:24:04

are beginning to give me a clue, especially the elephant.

0:24:040:24:08

The elephant does figure enormously in Danish and Norwegian art

0:24:080:24:12

because the elephant represents the Danish state,

0:24:120:24:16

the Order of the Elephant - a Danish equivalent of the Order of the Garter. Yeah?

0:24:160:24:20

So the elephant is very popular in Denmark.

0:24:200:24:23

It's a very interesting box, this, so let's have a look inside.

0:24:230:24:27

First, there's a bit of a mystery. "What on earth are we looking at?"

0:24:270:24:32

The wood seems to have been used once before, before it became a box.

0:24:320:24:36

You've got various lines, you've got oak, you've got pine and then, on the top surface, a bit of mahogany.

0:24:360:24:43

Three types of wood. Now, what about the decoration? Well...

0:24:430:24:46

you've got almost everything you could throw at a box! You've bone...

0:24:460:24:52

running all the way along the edges

0:24:520:24:55

and across the bands here.

0:24:550:24:58

You've got stained ivory...

0:24:580:25:01

this is green stained ivory.

0:25:010:25:04

You've got an ivory panel in the middle.

0:25:040:25:07

And behind that panel there's this little twinkle which suggests...

0:25:070:25:11

That LOOKS like silver foil behind a transparent... Well, it could be mica,

0:25:110:25:16

something trying to look like tortoiseshell.

0:25:160:25:18

Mm. On the front we have what appears to be a courting couple. Now, that could be the clue.

0:25:180:25:26

I think, I think there is...

0:25:260:25:28

this has a weddingy feel to it.

0:25:280:25:31

If we go round the box, there's a lion standing in a heraldic scroll,

0:25:310:25:35

again, a courting couple on the back...and then another lion.

0:25:350:25:42

Now how do we date an object like this? Well, I suppose the biggest clue is in scrollwork,

0:25:420:25:48

in all of these cut-out panels you've got fragmentary scrolls,

0:25:480:25:52

c-scrolls cos they're a "c" shape. Yeah, right.

0:25:520:25:55

And with those sort of fragmentary rococo scrolls, I'm going to push it towards 1740-1750,

0:25:550:26:01

the middle 18th C. Right.

0:26:010:26:03

It's a gorgeous little thing and...

0:26:030:26:06

Well, how much did you pay for it? I paid £50 for it. £50? Do you think you got a deal?

0:26:060:26:12

I think I did.

0:26:120:26:14

Well, you have to bear in mind it is actually quite badly damaged.

0:26:140:26:16

I mean you've got these missing parts of the ivory on there,

0:26:160:26:20

but otherwise it's in reasonable shape. And I think you've got something there, for £50,

0:26:200:26:25

which might today fetch between...

0:26:250:26:27

let's say £1,200 and £1,800. ..That's quite nice!

0:26:270:26:32

I don't think I'll part with it, though, it's a beautiful object. It was a very good buy. Yes.

0:26:320:26:38

And so to our dedicated collector. If anyone in the hall gets a touch of the vapours today,

0:26:390:26:45

help will be at hand, because we're going to meet a gentleman who claims to be a gatherer of almost anything,

0:26:450:26:51

but specialises in items of a pharmaceutical nature, Sandy Matheson.

0:26:510:26:56

Sandy, you have a professional interest in this, don't you?

0:26:560:26:58

Yes, indeed. I am a pharmacist. I qualified some 40 years ago, came home to work in the family business.

0:26:580:27:05

And when I did my apprenticeship to be a pharmacist, in Aberdeen,

0:27:050:27:08

I was taught by an apprentice-master who was very much a traditionalist.

0:27:080:27:12

He taught me how to do things like make pills and so forth, all of which are gone, obsolescent and past now.

0:27:120:27:20

I always, because of this gentleman, maintained a great interest in pharmaceutical memorabilia.

0:27:200:27:27

It was an art almost more than a science. Indeed. And you made the medicines by hand?

0:27:270:27:32

That was it, made the medicines by hand, if I can show you for instance, "tincture of opium..."

0:27:320:27:38

If you were going to...pour it out,

0:27:380:27:42

you would take it like this and you would pour it in there.

0:27:420:27:46

And then you would put the stopper back like that - part of the art - then you would pour this into your...

0:27:460:27:54

into your medicine mortar for making the pill.

0:27:540:27:58

And you would then make it into a mass...

0:27:590:28:04

like that, which you would place on there.

0:28:040:28:08

And you would...you would roll it into a roll like that.

0:28:080:28:12

then you would...

0:28:130:28:14

cut it, and you would get your pills.

0:28:160:28:20

And that is the birth of a pill?

0:28:200:28:21

That is a birth of a pill, then having got them nice like that,

0:28:210:28:25

you would want to round them,

0:28:250:28:27

make sure they were nice and spherical.

0:28:270:28:30

Once they were spherical you would put them in this, a pill-coater,

0:28:330:28:37

to coat them with, sometimes, gold leaf, silver leaf, sugar...

0:28:370:28:42

the coating actually changes the characteristics of the pill inside, you know.

0:28:420:28:47

So you... In those days, I don't think they had music to go with this,

0:28:470:28:51

but maybe this is where the maracas came from!

0:28:510:28:55

When they were nice and round, you would put them in a pill bottle. And there, the finished article -

0:28:550:29:00

which have been coated. These have been coated with chocolate. What about this bottle? I noticed,

0:29:000:29:05

when you lifted up the opium bottle, that it's got this ridge. Is that significant?

0:29:050:29:10

Yes, very much so. First, it's a green bottle, and that is to change the characteristics of light.

0:29:100:29:16

If light got onto the tincture of opium in here, it would speed up its decay.

0:29:160:29:23

We call this a "ribbed" bottle and, of course, this is to give you a tactile as well as a visual reminder

0:29:230:29:30

that this stuff is poisonous. And these things, being poison, had to be very carefully recorded.

0:29:300:29:35

Oh, yes. Pharmacy was institutionalised, or put on statute, in 1841.

0:29:350:29:43

In the course of it, one had to take careful notes.

0:29:430:29:46

The pharmacist had a responsibility to know to whom he was selling certain drugs and for what purpose,

0:29:460:29:52

so they had a register. And this is over a hundred years old, isn't it?

0:29:520:29:57

This is just a hundred years old, but in terms of original pharmacy, I have this book

0:29:570:30:02

that goes back to 20th November 1863.

0:30:020:30:06

And I can see that a Mr John McLean was given a tonic made up by Mr McPherson, the pharmacist,

0:30:060:30:14

according to one of his own particular recipes. Wonder if it did the trick? Oh, I'm sure it did!

0:30:140:30:21

Well, I suppose we get used to looking at these in glass cabinets or in galleries,

0:30:230:30:28

but the joy of a pot like this is holding it, the feel of it, isn't it? Yes, yes.

0:30:280:30:33

Of course these are by one of our greatest modern potters, Lucy Rie.

0:30:330:30:36

How come you've got two? More important, when did you get them?

0:30:360:30:41

Well, I got them in the 1960s, when I was teaching out in Africa and came through London and went to Primavera

0:30:410:30:47

and bought these two things - 4/6d each -

0:30:470:30:50

and had them with me in Africa from then on, and used them.

0:30:500:30:54

They used to come camping with me, they used to be slung into the chock box along with the pots and pans,

0:30:540:31:01

and they survived. Well, it's nice to think that the potters who made them

0:31:010:31:06

was creating objects to be used. She wanted you to use her pots. Absolutely, yes.

0:31:060:31:11

These things have given me more pleasure than almost anything else, so I wrote to her and told her

0:31:110:31:16

about using them in Africa. So this is the letter that she sent me. Oh, she wrote back to you!

0:31:160:31:21

She was 92, I think.

0:31:210:31:24

She's heard about your adventures with her pots and they were, after all, meant to be functional.

0:31:240:31:29

Yes. She was a grand old lady. She'd had a great tradition of making pottery by hand

0:31:290:31:33

and she was creating a new style in modern pottery. Yes. When you look at the simplicity of that...

0:31:330:31:38

It's beautiful. Look at this sgraffito work. Just scratched them through - controlled very well

0:31:380:31:44

so it gives a light pattern to the rim. Just really so successful!

0:31:440:31:48

But these are so very different pieces of pottery indeed. Yes. These, you presumably you got...

0:31:480:31:54

when you were in Africa? Yes, at the pottery at Abuja that was started by Michael Cardew

0:31:540:32:00

after he came from the other West African countries.

0:32:000:32:03

Michael Cardew was a British potter who went over to set up a pottery at Abuja.

0:32:030:32:07

He was learning from their traditions and introducing British traditions to them.

0:32:070:32:12

This is the famous African tradition of Abuja pottery...

0:32:120:32:15

this, much more European, yet it still works with the traditional African figures,

0:32:150:32:20

That's something you got at the same time? Yes, though from further south. It's from the Yoruba people.

0:32:200:32:25

You know, they do go together, they have the same sort of... So you're collecting the tribal arts? Yes.

0:32:250:32:30

And also bringing back pottery to go with your more modern pottery traditions here.

0:32:300:32:35

And of course, these ARE domestic pieces, still, but most of Abuja...

0:32:350:32:39

You can actually collect Abuja quite affordably now. It hasn't yet reached crazy prices.

0:32:390:32:44

That tureen is going to be a few hundred pounds today. It's becoming collected.

0:32:440:32:49

Well, I hope, I hope. Indeed, but of course, by Lucy Rie, domestic or not, is now serious money, isn't it?

0:32:490:32:57

Probably is but I'll be keeping those. Those are very, very precious.

0:32:570:33:01

As, as you should, but it's best not to use them too much now when, to a collector...

0:33:010:33:06

But I do use them, I get tremendous pleasure from using them.

0:33:060:33:10

It's a privilege, in a way.

0:33:100:33:12

That's nice. But they're probably worth, what, £3,000 each.

0:33:120:33:16

Oh, don't say things like that.

0:33:160:33:19

No, I doubt it very much, not as much as that. Anyway, they're actually used.

0:33:190:33:22

Lucy Rie from the '60s is serious art now, but it's also great pottery,

0:33:220:33:27

A lovely story. Great meeting you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

0:33:270:33:30

Now, I don't come from a maritime or sea family, but all my life I've liked things to do with the sea,

0:33:330:33:39

I don't know why it is. I've always admired these three-dimensional but rather primitive models of ships

0:33:390:33:45

and I've always wanted one, but never had one.

0:33:450:33:48

This is a particularly nice one.

0:33:480:33:50

It's a barque - I suppose the end of the 19th century -

0:33:500:33:53

three-masted barque. Tell me about it, what's the connection with you?

0:33:530:33:57

This is my grandfather. He was a captain at sea in the late '80s.

0:33:570:34:02

This is his ship. He made this himself.

0:34:020:34:05

So this old story one hears so often of the sailors in their idle moments making models is true?

0:34:050:34:11

It's true yes, he made this himself, the cage, everything. So we've got a model of your grandfather's ship.

0:34:110:34:16

Now, what was he doing? Was he in the grain trade or general cargo?

0:34:160:34:20

Probably general cargo and passengers. Ships like this were sailing to Australia for grain

0:34:200:34:26

and were still carrying cargoes like tea.

0:34:260:34:29

There was a lot of activity of this sort of ship.

0:34:290:34:32

Now this box...? This box belonged to my grandfather as well. Right. And he had all his documents in there.

0:34:320:34:37

Right, so there we've got the same ship. Same ship yeah.

0:34:370:34:40

And he painted that? He painted that himself.

0:34:400:34:42

So again, we add to the story. So not only does he make ship models, he also paints.

0:34:420:34:46

Yeah. Because again, the old mythology is that sea captains would have their special box

0:34:460:34:51

with a portrait of their ship. Yes. I've always believed it,

0:34:510:34:55

but I've never known it to be absolutely accurate. But here... Oh, it is. ..you can guarantee it. Yes.

0:34:550:34:59

If we move on...

0:34:590:35:01

Now we've moved on a generation, in shipping terms, we're in the 1930s I imagine. So who is this?

0:35:010:35:06

This is my father's ship,

0:35:060:35:08

a yacht owned by Sir Thomas Sopwith of aircraft fame. Wait a minute! So Tommy Sopwith owned this yacht?

0:35:080:35:14

He owned this yacht, yeah. This is the Vita, Royal Thames Yacht Club.

0:35:140:35:18

That's right. And what was your father to do with that?

0:35:180:35:21

He was a sailor, an able seaman on that yacht. They used to go across to America for the Americas Cup.

0:35:210:35:27

They used to tow the yachts. So the yachts were towed across the Atlantic.

0:35:270:35:30

The racing yachts, yeah, and the crew of these yachts would stay in these...accommodations

0:35:300:35:36

on the way across the Atlantic.

0:35:360:35:39

Right, and then... Then they'd be fit and ready when they got there. Then they would race the yachts.

0:35:390:35:45

And which is your father? This is my father, that's my father. Right. He went to sea at probably 14, 15.

0:35:450:35:51

Right. And the captain of these ships was a local man called McKillop, Captain McKillop. Right.

0:35:510:35:58

And he took the young boys to sea. So a lot of these people came from...?

0:35:580:36:02

Most of these people are islanders. These two linking together I think is wonderful!

0:36:020:36:07

If you think in terms of value, it's much more to do with the family story - this is your grandfather -

0:36:090:36:14

but just to put it in market terms,

0:36:140:36:17

a model like that now fetches between £400 to £600.

0:36:170:36:22

A painted box like that will be a bit less, but in the same sort of area.

0:36:220:36:28

But much... The value is greatly added to by the fact that you can identify who did it.

0:36:280:36:32

Again we're looking at slightly less for that. The Sopwith connection makes it important.

0:36:320:36:38

Normally that would be about £200 or £300. I think, because of the Sopwith link,

0:36:380:36:42

again one can say probably about £600 or £700.

0:36:420:36:45

Now, these are very unusual cards. They date from the Cromwellian period - 1649, when he came to power

0:36:510:36:57

and chopped Charles' head off and then declared himself Protector.

0:36:570:37:02

And just looking through, they all appear to me to be pro the King and anti-Cromwell.

0:37:020:37:08

As a Puritan, Oliver Cromwell would not have approved of these cards at all,

0:37:080:37:13

Because Puritans...obviously, gaming and all this sort of thing is not on,

0:37:130:37:19

so these were an act of rebellion, really,

0:37:190:37:22

and they are quite incredible! They're all political. Here,

0:37:220:37:25

"A free state, or a toleration of all sorts of villainy."

0:37:250:37:30

Here, "Oliver seeking God,"

0:37:300:37:33

and there's obviously the king having his head chopped off

0:37:330:37:37

in the background there.

0:37:370:37:39

They're wonderful! And they're copperplate engravings.

0:37:390:37:42

They'd do, I don't know, about a whole page of them at one time and then cut them out later. Yes.

0:37:420:37:50

But it's a remarkable collection.

0:37:500:37:52

Unfortunately, you don't have a complete collection.

0:37:520:37:56

Yes. I don't know where the others disappeared to.

0:37:560:38:00

Can I ask you where they came from? Because I think that's important. What is their provenance?

0:38:000:38:04

Just don't know. You don't know.

0:38:040:38:06

My wife's great-grandmother had them at one stage,

0:38:060:38:11

we know that much, but other than that, I'm afraid, we just don't know how they appeared in her family.

0:38:110:38:16

But look here, the "High Court of Justice or Oliver's Slaughter House"

0:38:160:38:19

I mean what could be more anti-Cromwell? These would have been hidden and, you know, you would...

0:38:190:38:26

I'm sure this was a treasonable act, to be caught playing with these.

0:38:260:38:32

Yes. Anyway I would need further and better particulars from a history book of some sort,

0:38:320:38:38

but I'm sure we could get to the bottom of them. But they are, I am sure, incredibly rare.

0:38:380:38:43

Just as engravings themselves, I think that they would be worth

0:38:430:38:48

somewhere between, what, £800 and £1,000. But as an incomplete deck of cards,

0:38:480:38:54

I think possibly they might be worth even more than that. This is subversion - great stuff.

0:38:540:39:01

Yes. That's been my life, I think! Strange that I've got them here.

0:39:010:39:05

Subversion's why you've come to live in Lewis, is it? In Lewis, yes.

0:39:050:39:09

Well, I bought this picture about 15 years ago and, since I bought it,

0:39:090:39:14

I've seen in various places,

0:39:140:39:17

in card shops and in buildings, similar prints.

0:39:170:39:21

Subjects that are close to it. Yes, I was wondering what the original...

0:39:210:39:25

Where it had been sourced from. Right.

0:39:250:39:28

Not a print, actually. This is in fact an oil painting by Jack Hoggan,

0:39:280:39:33

signed down here. Interesting man, actually, because he worked as a mining engineer in Fife

0:39:330:39:38

until, well, well into his 20s.

0:39:380:39:40

and then his girlfriend, when he was about 21, gave him a set of watercolour paints

0:39:400:39:46

and he set about trying to teach himself to paint, and became surprisingly successful,

0:39:460:39:52

moving on to oils.

0:39:520:39:54

He didn't really use many subjects that he made up from his own mind,

0:39:540:39:58

he would look at other pictures

0:39:580:40:00

and make pastiches, really, you'd have to call them, of subjects from other artists.

0:40:000:40:06

I think here he borrowed heavily from an artist called John Lavery - this is typical

0:40:060:40:12

of his sunlit garden scenes with a pretty girl wearing an 1890s costume, sitting in a deck chair -

0:40:120:40:19

but he would then alter them quite considerably so that they became his own,

0:40:190:40:24

and really became more generic rather than specific.

0:40:240:40:28

Well, I actually bought it... It was in Elie in Fife that I bought the painting. Oh, was it?

0:40:280:40:33

That's interesting. So, where he lived I suppose? And when was this?

0:40:330:40:37

About 15 years ago. And what did you pay for it?

0:40:370:40:40

I don't remember. I wasn't out looking for a painting, I was actually out grocery shopping,

0:40:400:40:44

and it was in a window of a bric-a-brac second-hand shop. And I liked it.

0:40:440:40:49

Saw it, loved it, bought it. Yes. Yes, that's so often the way. I thought a couple of hundred pounds...

0:40:490:40:53

You didn't find anything out about the artist then? No, just bought it.

0:40:530:40:57

I didn't think about anything other than I really liked the picture. Well, that's interesting, you know,

0:40:570:41:03

because if the story ended there, this picture would probably be worth considerably more than that,

0:41:030:41:09

something in the region of £2,000, something like that.

0:41:090:41:13

Very pretty picture. But, you see, the story doesn't end there, really.

0:41:130:41:17

in 1988, he changed his name.

0:41:170:41:20

And I won't tell you what to,

0:41:200:41:23

not yet, but I will tell you what his most famous picture is now.

0:41:230:41:27

Um, you may have noticed it.

0:41:270:41:28

it's a picture of a butler with an umbrella standing on the seashore, do you know what I mean?

0:41:280:41:33

Yes. Very modern one. Very modern. It's called The Singing Butler.

0:41:330:41:38

And this artist changed his name in 1988

0:41:380:41:41

to Vettriano, Jack Vettriano.

0:41:410:41:44

so it's very interesting in that respect because, of course,

0:41:440:41:48

Jack Vettriano's pictures do sell for rather more money than that.

0:41:480:41:52

And, in fact, "The Singing Butler" sold earlier in this year

0:41:520:41:55

for £744,000. Is that so?

0:41:550:41:59

Yes, it's a lot of money, I know.

0:41:590:42:02

Now he's been called the "people's painter", Jack Vettriano,

0:42:020:42:06

because the art establishment tends to turn its nose up at his pictures somewhat -

0:42:060:42:12

some would say rightly -

0:42:120:42:15

but the people love him, his prices show you that. The two markets are HELD very distinct -

0:42:150:42:21

those for Hoggan, those for Vettriano -

0:42:210:42:24

and it's said that the Vettrianos, that is, those painted after 1988,

0:42:240:42:28

are those that have HIS ideas in them, and the ones pre-'88 are the pastiches, you see.

0:42:280:42:33

Um, that line does become blurred.

0:42:330:42:35

Those people that market his pictures would prefer it was extremely clear...

0:42:350:42:40

Hoggan - different market, Vettriano - different market,

0:42:400:42:43

but certainly, I think, when you look at this, you realise that the two, two kinds of painting

0:42:430:42:49

are very, very similar.

0:42:490:42:51

So I really don't think that we can value it

0:42:510:42:55

at less than £15,000 to £20,000.

0:42:550:42:58

Good grief. Wow.

0:43:020:43:05

That's fantastic.

0:43:060:43:08

Well, life is full of wonderful surprises. But here in the top left-hand corner of Great Britain,

0:43:080:43:14

the weather has had the last laugh. after our wonderful day of filming yesterday, today the rains came.

0:43:140:43:20

Luckily, the roof of the new sports centre doesn't leak.

0:43:200:43:23

So thank you very much to the people of Stornoway and round about

0:43:230:43:26

for braving the elements and bringing us their treasures.

0:43:260:43:29

From the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, goodbye.

0:43:290:43:33

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