Abergavenny Antiques Roadshow

Our venue today sits snugly among the beautiful Brecon Beacons,

were the rivers Gavenny and Usk come together.

It's an area we've always found difficult to resist

so we have succumbed, once again, to the charms of Abergavenny.

Like a Welsh rugby pitch,

it's a landscape littered with the evidence of ancient battles.

To the East lie the castles Grosmont, Skenfrith and White,

which formed a defensive shield

to protect the gateway to Wales from Norman invaders.

The great buildings weren't all military establishments.

Llanthony Priory was one of the country's finest medieval piles.

Underneath its now ruined arches

was founded one of the earliest houses of the Augustinian order.

It's been a religious site since the 6th century.

If religion kindled the spirit of the local people

then it was coal that warmed their bodies.

The once thriving coal industry is remembered at the Big Pit Colliery,

which, in its prime, supported 1300 men, women and children.

The wheels are turning once more on this visitor attraction,

which has been given world heritage status

alongside Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China.

Street signs here record other bygone industries,

during the 18th and 19th centuries,

Welsh flannel-making, leather goods and wig-making kept the devil from the door.

Now, there's just the odd sign,

the old tannery building

and an occasional "hint" of the past.

Something that did survive

and become the vigorous hub of life in Abergavenny is the market.

There's been one here since medieval times,

attracting people from all over the country.

It settled for the Victorian style and it sells everything from antiques to fleas.

As the centre of community life,

the market building houses the mayor's parlour,

the council offices, and a theatre.

The only thing it couldn't quite squeeze in was the leisure centre,

which itself has, today, managed to squeeze in the Roadshow.

So, let's get to work.

My father, when he was due to retire,

was going round country house sales. Yes.

And he just picked up things that he liked and he liked that. Excellent.

Do you know how much he paid for it?

Yes, I do, he paid £5 for it. £5? Yes. Good Lord!

But it's splendid,

it's a superbly designed jug made by the Doulton factory.

Yes, it's got all the details under the bottom here.

King George V and Queen Mary, 1935, isn't it?

And it was a limited edition, there were 1,000 in the edition

and this is number 356. Right.

There, usually, were certificates with them... Have you got the certificate? No.

It's a little printed-out certificate

that was put inside the, um, the loving cup.

So it's a shame you haven't got that.

They're impossible to find again now, of course,

so it must have got lost at some stage,

but, it's designed by, by a man called Charles Noke.

It's got his little signature, just down there,

I don't know whether you've noticed it? Yes, I had noticed.

He's a very, very important designer of the Edwardian period

and it's nice to have that.

It's a wonderful pot, isn't it?

George by Windsor Castle, I suppose,

and all round here is all heraldic sort of things, people blowing trumpets,

people in the crowd, it's a very busy pot, isn't it?

Yes. But you, you like it, do you?

Well, too busy really, for my taste,

I like things rather more simply designed.

Simpler things, yes, but it's spectacular, I think.

It's got the nations of the, of the Commonwealth around there. Yes.

I think that's a handsome pot. Yes.

So its value...?

Well, they usually fetch, at auction,

something like around about £500 to £600. Yes.

But a dealer would probably charge, say, £700, £750 for one of these.

But it's a splendid, splendid pot,

so enjoy it, even though it is a bit busy.

All right, thank you.

We inherited it in 1986 from my husband's mother,

and it was her mother's so it's his grandmother's.

Right, and here's a leading question -

were you happy to inherit it?

Oh, yes, I love it.

You do? I love it, yes.

OK, this is, quintessentially, a piece of Art Furniture

and it's a type of furniture that arrived on the scene in and around about 1870-1880. Really?

Um...it's ebonised in so far as this is obviously a wood that's been painted to simulate ebony. Oh.

Which is quite expensive.

What they're trying to do here,

is they're trying to emulate lacquered furniture that's coming out of the Orient.

Uh-huh. And out of China, out of Japan, and then the British designers thought they'd have a go themselves.

What is interesting is, is the quality of the decoration,

because this is nice quality decoration.

This would have been an expensive piece of furniture.

Then, of course, your eye is drawn, obviously, to these, these lovely bulrushes

and more of the same.

The thing that dominates it are the panels. The panels are beautiful.

And, normally, these are tiles, which would be printed and then overpainted.

But here, we've actually got entirely free painted tiles,

which is very unusual. Really?

Because any tile expert watching would say, "oh, no, they're printed."

But I'm nearer and I can assure them. Yeah. These are painted.

Oh, really? And the designs themselves are very much in the manner of Walter Crane.

I can't swear to it. Have you ever had the back off? You should find out...

No, no, no. ..who made the tiles. They could possibly be Minton, Minton and Hollins.

Oh, really? Or they could be, they could be Wedgwood.

Or several other factories... Anyway, function -

I've been trying to find out the Welsh word for plant stand

because, you know... Yes, yes. I mean, because I operate out of London I'd call that a jardiniere.

Yes, yes, it's never had pots in there.

Well...what's missing is actually a metal tray. Oh, really?

That should fit inside there. My husband could never remember that. No? No.

That's what it really needs, because you get flower pots in it.

So, because these tiles have been hand-painted, I think that's going to add to the value

and this is probably worth between £600 and £800. Uh-huh.

The tiles themselves are probably worth at least £400 to a collector.

BIRD SINGS

Amazing thing, isn't it?

Marvellous. How long have you had him for?

I've had him for about 20 years. Does he always behave quite well?

Well, it wasn't in very good condition when I first had it

and it's been repaired and a bit refurbished

then the last time I used it, I wound it up and broke the spring.

Oh, dear. Ooh there he goes.

We had to have a new spring put in, locally, which was very good.

That seems to have done it beautifully. Yes.

It's undoubtedly Swiss, and this sort of florid palette for the enamelling is a...

is a signpost to that.

And the reason that it is brightly coloured

is because it's to attract an Oriental audience, really.

It was almost certainly made

for export to the Middle, if not the Far, East.

And it may date from,

well, I don't think this one's quite 1820s, the fashion started in about 1820. Yes.

And, and it went on, because it was highly successful and highly amusing.

I think this one's probably getting towards the end of the 19th century.

What did you feel like when you saw that for the first time?

Amazed, I couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe it...

Especially when all the wires come up through that tiny little pedestal

to operate all the beak and all the wings and everything moving.

It's incredible, in my view, wonderful.

Tell me, the bellows in there, of which there are numerous bellows are made of...mouse skin?

It could be mouse skin, chicken skin is the cliche for it.

I've never heard that. They are miracles, really.

It's tiny miracles to keep at home in a strange way.

You've got to envisage a society where there's no TV, no motor cars... How wonderful. ..and no... Yes.

No cinema and so entertainment had to be found in very small intimate ways.

Yes. And nothing was more amazing, really, in the 19th century than to open this marvellous box.

I suppose the swan on the lid is a bit of a sort of hint as to the contents, isn't it?

I suppose, yes. Hmm. It's a curiously sort of child-like thing, perhaps.

I don't know, I mean, it's something that, that would amaze a child.

Do you show it to children at all? I have not, no.

Sensible, they'd sort of snatch at it. Exactly. They're humming bird's feathers.

Are they?

That's why, and kingfisher as well, perhaps. Yes, yes.

So a marvellous thing giving everybody great pleasure,

look how his head turns. He's got tired, we all have.

Poor chap's run down. We all need our batteries winding up.

Anyway, he's not going to close, so we'll have to leave him there and wind him up again...

Brilliant thing... Yes.

Did you have him valued at all?

Not really no, I've had one or two people look at it,

just for interest, to say what they thought, but, not officially, let's say, no.

What did they say? They had a go, didn't they? No, not really. No?

Local chap valued it about £4,000 a couple of years ago, that's about all, really.

Mm, I think £4,000 is quite enough.

It's a right value, I would go along with that.

They can be very much more valuable when they're gold,

sometimes they're gem-set, if they're for the Pasha of Egypt

they might be bigger and more exciting.

This is a very, very good example of a Swiss singing-bird-box.

What a joy... Honestly, you are lucky.

I wish I were the granddaughter of Eric Gill, but I'm not.

I'm a friend of the granddaughter of Eric Gill

and this one IS a portrait of my friend when she was ten years of age.

This is Gill's granddaughter? Yes, Eric Gill's granddaughter.

Absolutely fascinating and, of course, he came to Wales, didn't he?

He did, he lived in Capel-y-ffin, yes, for four years, I believe it was.

Yes. Before he moved on to Buckinghamshire.

Yes, yes, well, I think...

It's a very beautiful drawing, it's somewhat time stained

and a little bit creased and so on, but it's a wonderful profile.

I always love his line.

These...drawings in black lead,

sharp accent and then this lovely soft undulation...

Very sensuous line and, of course, he was a typographer,

letter-cutter, sculptor and artist, a writer.

He had very advanced... I think it's probably the polite way of saying,

he had eccentric ideas, when it came to social, religious and sexual tastes.

Had a fascination for hair...

Really? And you can see that in his drawings and in his sculpture

and he was very, very careful to delineate these things.

He showed them to their best or the way they interested him

and there is also something...

he was very fascinated by Indian art and this comes into his work.

Here, you've got his initials here...

Eric Gill and the date, 26th of the 3rd, '38...

Then we have another drawing here.

A sketch for a head of a statue,

she looks a little bit Oriental with those eyes.

Yes. I was thinking of the Indian influence and so on,

that it actually looks rather like a piece of Indian sculpture.

The mounts are somewhat time-stained and the drawings, I've said are...

The paper's gone rather yellow. Yes.

But I think, probably, for the drawing of your friend,

Gill's granddaughter, this lovely profile...

I would have thought...

One should say, it's worth £1,500, £2,000, possibly more for insurance.

And the head of the sculpture...

Somewhat less, £1,000, something like that.

Thank you, that's very interesting.

It's a really nice and appropriate find to have in this part of Wales. Good.

Can I have a go?

Hey, look at that. Look at that.

You could have hours of fun with him. I would...

What I love about this particular toy,

it's in such good condition.

Yeah. And also, if you look at the detail here,

particularly right down on the front here,

it's a real, sort of, time capsule.

He needs a stick and a lick.

Yeah, but it's a time capsule from that 1950s period. Did you remember playing with this toy?

Oh, yes, I remember yeah, all these are steel, not plastic like today's.

That's right and this particular...

interestingly, was made in Germany.

So it's made five years after the war. Is it?

And manufactured in Germany for the export market,

I'm going to put a value of at least £75 on him.

Really very nice... Good. They're great, fantastic things.

What do you think it is? I think it's a samovar.

That's what it's not.

I always thought it was.

No, no, it's the mistake everyone makes, it's actually an urn. An urn?

An urn. What's the difference between a samovar and an urn?

A samovar has a heating device underneath, a tube that runs through the centre to take the hot air up.

If it was a samovar, you'd actually have a fitting on the top

to hold a teapot sitting on the top.

Clearly, this one, you can't sit a teapot on the top.

You'd have difficulty, so that makes this an urn as opposed to a samovar.

Because the way that Russian tea worked,

you had the tea stewing in the little pot, the hot water in the samovar...

Yes. ..and then you just poured the tea concentrate

and then diluted it to taste. So this is an English tea urn.

Tea urn. But not a samovar, which is a very Russian thing.

Now this particular one was made in about 1880.

It's electroplated...

and is worth about...

£500. Is it, really? Lovely, that's great.

There has been an extraordinary coincidence in the queue.

I just wondered if you could explain who, whose this is and what's this?

What's going on here?

Well, the album that I've brought in belongs to my father,

who was pictured with The Beatles here on this...

this is the blow-up of the print that Stan brought in,

and of course the album was signed on the same night.

So The Beatles came here to Abergavenny in June, 1963.

Did you see them?

I saw the helicopter land. We've got the helicopter here. Yes.

And the photographer was Albert Lane, he's been dead ten years

and I acquired the negatives not so long ago.

So you bring this photo in, and here is the group photo of The Beatles.

We've got it again here... Who's this chap?

This is my father and the original negative, that Stan owns, father's on the print.

Bizarre, you didn't know each other? Not at all.

Extraordinary! Your father was pictured here next to Ringo in the photo

and he got The Beatles to sign the album on the day.

Yes, and it got passed round again and Paul McCartney signed it again.

So you've got Paul McCartney twice? Yeah. And who's Tina?

My eldest sister...

Does she know you've brought it along today? No, she knows we've got it, don't worry about that.

Good and, I mean, this is a fantastic thing to have, have you had...?

Have you an idea of its worth? Have you had valuations?

We've had some offers from America, but not true valuations.

What sort of money have they been offering?

We've been offered £15,000 for it.

My goodness, well, I think it's a very valuable thing.

I suspect it might not make that,

but a private collector would want it,

and maybe someone from Abergavenny would want it.

I'm on the warpath. Excellent, thanks.

Signed by Persis... Persis Kirmse.

Kirmse, is that how you say it? K I R M S E...

And can you tell me about them? How did you get them?

There were three sisters

and I knew the youngest, who was 90-something when I first met her,

and she was moving flat in Bath.

Right. And I was asked by her cousin to go and help her to move

to collect a whole lot of books that she had left with this friend, you see.

And she'd got all these and she was literally throwing them out and she asked me if I'd like some.

So I came away with oh, dozens and dozens and dozens.

Because you really liked them? Well, she wanted rid of them.

Was that it? She was going to a smaller flat

and she had nowhere to put them, when I got home, I had nowhere to put them either,

but I didn't think they would be of any interest at all.

Well, I can only say what I love about them. And looking at this one,

look at the expression on that dog's face. I know, it's wonderful.

Not only is it beautifully drawn with all this detail, but the eyes, the eyes are beseeching

and it is... It's lovely, isn't it?

..a well-trained dog, he's got his arms open, he's ready to spring because he wants to go

and in his eyes there's a kind of appeal and the drawing is just absolutely superb.

And this little face here, look at him, he's...

he's like a little whisky dog, isn't he?

He's very appealing.

These are very period pieces, in a way, you can see that they were probably done in the 1920s.

And this is also a lovely one, look "Much wants more".

This Siamese, you can see... He's got designs on what's up there.

Well, he's been on the table and he's had the cream

and knocked these plates and look he's had some fish

and the whole, again it's the movement that attracts the eye.

He's given it a lot of thought to get that recorded.

They look as if they're...

simply done with just a series of lines,

but when you look at them, you realise how skilful they are. I'm glad I brought them.

I think they're wonderful. Good.

This is a lovely one. Do you like that one?

Oh, I love it. This is "He is wise that is wary".

Yeah. And this is a little fox cub, actually. Yes.

And again the life in those little eyes and the nose... I know.

It's wonderful.

In the album, I would imagine from the size of it, there are perhaps about 30 or so.

Yes, I haven't counted them.

And just as an estimate, they've got to be worth in the region

of a couple of thousand pounds. Oh, no. Really!

For that many drawings and they're just so wonderful, in other words,

they're varying perhaps between £50 - £100 each depending on the subjects.

And I have burned dozens of them. Oh!

I had too many, there was nowhere to put them,

they were stored in a car in the garage.

Do you know what sort of spoon? It's an apostle spoon.

Absolutely, apostle spoon, the apostle we've got here, that's St Andrew.

What is fascinating on this one

is that we've got this lovely series of initials and that's the earliest set.

You've got AE. So you've no idea who AE might be?

No. No, that's AE conjoined.

What we've got here is the date letter for London for 1634.

Good grief, right.

So we're Charles I. OK.

Oh, and we actually know the maker in this case.

The maker's mark, which is just there,

is RC and that's been attributed to a chap called Richard Cross

who was working in London in 1630s, 1640s, that sort of period,

which is becoming quite a difficult period, we've got the Civil War looming,

economic situation is changing and not the ideal period to be in silver.

But spoons are so personal, they're the most personal of all pieces,

so when you were baptised into a well-to-do family you got a silver spoon.

With St Andrew on the top, it's a baptismal spoon,

of course being born with a silver spoon in your mouth.

The front of the bowl is a little bit thin there,

it's clearly seen quite a bit of use. Used as a spoon you think, do you...?

When you say "used", as a spoon? Oh, yes, used as a spoon,

you see it where people have been opening tins with them

and this is NOT a good idea, you get a crease right across the bowl.

So you haven't been doing that? No.

No, I can see you haven't been doing that.

Only the top is gilded, which is normal for a spoon like this.

Condition is going to pull its value down,

because of this thin bowl front.

In an auction, in this condition, Charles I...

I think there would be an estimate of say...

£1,500 - £2,000. I would insure it, perhaps, for slightly more than that.

If it had been in tip-top condition

we'd be talking more like £4,000 to £5,000 without any problem.

But thank you so much for bringing it in.

Thank you for the information.

Well, do you have Scottish connections?

Oh, gosh yes, my grandmother was Scottish.

Well, this is a very typical Scottish clock

of a type that they call a Scottish regulator.

Now the word regulator, in terms of clocks, is used for clocks that were designed for precision time-keeping,

they weren't for simple domestic use.

They might have been used in an observatory

or a jeweller's, where he would be adjusting other clocks.

You do find them in private houses but as a general rule,

the regulator was a precision instrument for semi-scientific purposes.

In Scotland, they didn't take quite the same view of it, it seems,

as we did in England, because the original regulator, English type,

would have a separate dial for the hours, small dial for the hours, let's say there,

the minute hand would be the whole dial and then the little dial for the seconds.

But the Scottish never did that, they tended to have a conventional dial,

hours and minutes, then you've got seconds at the top and you've got a calendar on it.

Now the Bryson family...

I think there was a Robert, two Roberts and an Alexander... were based in Edinburgh

and they were probably the equivalent of the best clockmakers of England at their time.

This one is probably by a Bryson working in about 1830

and he specialised in clocks something of this type,

again with the so-called regulator dial with the two hands,

and he particularly liked these hands, these moon hands...

Curved top although sometimes he did pedimented tops

and this rather light coloured orangey look to mahogany.

So it's a classic example of his work and it's an interesting thing to find in Wales.

Thank you, I think it's handsome.

Handsome, yes.

A valuation, um, I would have said somewhere in the region of about...

£4,000 something like that, perhaps five. Really?

Crikey.

Well, one thing the Victorians were good at

was painting children. And here's a very delightful example.

It's by a well-known artist for this type of subject, George Bernard O'Neill

and here's his name here...

Actually there's one "L" short, he has two "L"s, O'Neill, and as you might suspect, he's Irish,

he was born in Dublin. Did you buy it, did you inherit it?

No I inherited it.

Yes. Always remembered, it's been a family piece. Who had it before?

My mother. Your mother did? Yes.

I see. Do you know anything about O'Neill...? No, I'm afraid I don't.

Well, he was an Irish painter who settled in a village called Cranbrook in Kent.

What this is, we can see from these flowers she's holding,

the girl, this is May Day.

It's May Day garlands and you know May Day used to be a big festival in the countryside

and so in some ways this picture is social history,

you know, as well, as painting. It's also beautifully painted

and observed as a George O'Neill usually would be

and it's signed down there.

Oh, I.... It is signed.

It is signed, in red, G B O'Neill with two "L"s you see, rightly.

Quite rightly, yes.

It's in a very pretty period frame too, I don't think it's ever been out of that frame

and it's a really nice complete piece, you know, the picture, the frame, everything.

It's a delightful thing and have you got it insured? No.

We have to talk about value.

No insurance at all? No insurance.

No insurance at all? No. I think it should be insured.

I think it's certainly going to be worth...

£5,000.

It would certainly make that, I think it might make more, £6,000 or £7,000.

It's a really delightful little picture so I think insurance you've got to think about...

..£7,500. Seven and a half... You have.

And thank you. Thank you so much.

I brought the drawer, I couldn't bring the whole thing

so I just brought you the drawer to see and I brought a photograph as well.

Don't show me the photograph, see if I can guess what it is. OK.

Well, the date I think is easiest, Georgian, mid 18th-century,

lovely piece of mahogany, lovely original brass handle there,

so 1750, George II. Now what is it from?

Let's see if we can guess, lovely oak linings to it -

is it a desk, like a bureau, a flat-topped bureau? No.

Chest of drawers? Tallboy...!

Bingo. There you are. Look at that, how's that?

It's a lovely piece.

Michael, what do you think of these?

They're very unusual. Very heavy, extraordinary things...

Swiss-made, I suppose what, Victorian?

I should think they're quite valuable.

Well, it would be...

if it was genuine.

Ah. And you can't believe what you see, sadly.

But, you know, as a genuine piece, it's worth £500, £600, but it's all lies.

How do you know? How do I know?

Well, the quality is where I think it's all given away.

They've both got, or should both have rings on them,

this one's already lost its ring.

It comes off pretty easily, very very flimsy quality

and if you feel it, the quality of turning and casting is very sharp,

if it had been around for 100, 120 - 130 years it would be you know, nice

and it would have a patina to it and just feel worn.

This is all dead sharp, razor sharp, they're worth £30 - £40 each.

Where are they from?

They're from India. India. Yeah, yeah.

This is a love token, now if you gave your loved one a token you want it to be the closest thing to your heart.

Ah, yes. So this is a piece of corsetry.

Is it, really? And it's called a stay busk.

Stay busk... So it was probably made by a sailor.

Did you have anybody in your family at sea?

Well, I had an uncle who was a sea-captain,

but this certainly didn't belong to that side of the family.

Right, well, what I really like about this piece is the romance about it, of course. Yes.

But what's extraordinary about it, it actually has these wonderful scenes engraved all the way down.

Well, well. From top to bottom.

And what collectors get excited about are whaling scenes.

I see. And if you just see here, you can see the whaling ship... Yes.

..the long boats and you can just see the whales here, with the flags on them.

They've actually tinted it red to show the blood in the water. I see.

In the background you can see the pinnacles of the Pacific Islands. Yes.

This design is exquisite, it's in fantastic condition,

it has the romance of being a love token.

At auction, I could see this making between...

£1,500 and £2,000.

My word!

He must have loved her a lot.

He must have.

It's a very dramatic necklace, loads of colour, what was the first occasion on which you saw it?

It's always been in the family, my parents collected a lot of antiques

and jewellery during the '40s and '50s so it has always been around.

Right. And my mother gave it to me for my 21st birthday.

It's a very handsome gift.

Blazing with colour and scintillation and refraction

and all kinds of yummy things like that. Have you ever thought about its origins?

I mean what...what did you think when you first saw it?

I just assumed it was another piece of Victorian jewellery,

but a particularly lovely one.

I think, well, it is particularly lovely...

and I think it is made for a Victorian lady, but it's made in the Far East.

There's aspects of the gem-cutting that tell me that

also this loop in loop chain work

is very much part of... almost tribal tradition, really, of weaving gold.

So I'm wondering whether this isn't Ceylonese or Indian or something like that.

Now have you done any work about finding out which stone is which?

No, I know that the moonstones and the opal, but the others...

I think agate, but the others, I don't know.

Quite tricky, to be honest.

This is a hessonite garnet and that's a star ruby

and this we know, only too well, as an opal

and a moonstone and an amethyst

and a perfect...

well, perfectly beautiful...sapphire.

Perhaps not a terribly valuable sapphire,

but a lovely pleasing colour here.

And another sapphire here and turquoise...

Those in-between, I haven't got a clue what they are.

Really? Strangely, they're not necessarily terribly valuable stones.

No. But they are very beautiful and as to value... Heaven only knows, how do we value that?

Um, I suppose sit down in a rather mechanical way, try to guess the weight of these stones.

I don't think that's the way. I think it's a hugely decorative and wearable thing...

You've been wearing it. On occasion, yes.

What occasion was that?

I wore it when I got married and, on a few occasions, for anniversaries.

Ah, that's a lovely thing to do with it.

Would it frighten you if I said

that it was worth about £8,000?

Oh, yes, it would definitely frighten me.

Don't be frightened, it's the same necklace and it's beautiful.

I've never seen these before, these little metal straps and, look, there's one in each corner. Yes.

They're lovely, they're hand-made nails, it's just a bit of extra tension.

Are they? Holding the legs, the apron, together...

Really? Normally you'd expect some blocking in there.

Yes. Like...Victorian chair blocking or something...

You've got blocking here, so like that, but larger, I'd expect.

But this is novel, very unusual and charming,

I mean, it's the fun of furniture, it's the fun of what you discover.

30 years looking at furniture, I've never seen that.

Do you know what date this is?

Well, I've been told it's George, either George III or II. Right.

That would be 1780-90.

Yes, or possibly we're looking at even earlier than that. Really?

I think earlier rather than later Georgian. Oh.

Do you feel strong enough to put it back on its...up on its feet?

Oh, it's solid, isn't it? It is very solid.

I love that, so tell me where did you get it, and when?

I bought it at auction in about 1965. Right.

For £5.

£5? £5.

£5, right, right.

And we use it as a dining table.

So you use it as a dining table, of course, it's meant as a side table.

Yes, I wondered about that, I was told it could be a side table.

It's meant as a serving or side table,

but the fact it's on all four sides is unusual

and I can't immediately think why.

You've got this lovely moulding under here

and it's all cracking, which is what I like to see, again,

you can run your nail along there and, clearly, it's cross banded. Yes.

It's old, it's beginning to dry out and the movement just going,

the wood going a little bit concave, and this lovely chamfered leg. Yes.

Typical of...I said 1750, I'm going to go a bit later...

You were right, yes, I was wrong, you were right, it's about 1770 or '80 is probably more correct.

So you've given me a real headache now,

£5 is not much of a hint to what it might be worth today.

I can see it going into an auction at let's say...

£2,000 to £3,000, something like that.

But that would be wrong because I don't think it's enough.

I think people would look at it and say, "It's just a side table."

It's a smart and sophisticated piece of furniture,

so I think even if it was at £2,000 or £3,000,

I can see it going up

to £3,000 or £4,000 at auction.

So I think just re...not repolished but polished up a little bit,

cleaned up a little bit and tidied up a little bit in a sort of London showroom or a big antique centre,

I can see this with a retail price ie, what I mean by that is, what you should be insuring it for... Yes.

..£8,000. That's very nice to hear.

Thank you very much indeed. Excellent...

This is my uncle's teddy. Uncle's? Yes. And how old do you think he is?

Well, my father who was the younger of two brothers,

was born in 1910 so I guess it's somewhere between 1907 and 1910.

Well, absolutely spot on, it's about 1910 in date,

but the most exciting thing about this lovely little teddy is...

that he's a Steiff bear.

You can tell that by that little label in his ear.

And he's got all the right credentials of being an early Steiff bear.

He's got these eyes here, which are these little button eyes.

And if we look round to the side,

he's got this, again,

characteristic bump on his back

and it's also straw-filled.

Oh, is it? And I've also noticed we have a bit of damage here.

Yes, afraid so... That's fine, he's been around for quite some time.

If we were to sell him we could put him to auction,

he's going to be worth... £1,200 to £1,500.

That much? Yes.

Superb! Isn't that fantastic?

Yes, I didn't expect that much.

I have to say, one of my favourite designs of sauce boat, I mean, this wonderful movement.

Very hot...if you use them as gravy boats, which we do... Right. ..gosh they get hot.

Remember, you're not supposed to pick them up.

Ah. You're supposed to have them on a salver and have a ladle

and you ladle the sauce out, you don't pour the sauce. We've been pouring it.

No, when they were originally made, that's how they would have done it. Oh.

But these were first made around the 1740s, that sort of period, 1730s-'40s.

Yes. And particularly by leading goldsmiths of that period

and if we look here...we've actually got the marks...of Barnard.

You can recognise that? Yes, the marks are a little indistinct. Yes.

But I can certainly read them, actually if you huff on the surface it makes them much easier to see.

Right, So we're back to the trade again.

Oh, absolutely...

What we've got there, as I say, Barnard's maker's mark and Barnard,

very good maker of the 19th century. And the date letter...

you can just make that out, so it's all there. Right.

And it's actually 1821. Is it, is it?

So what we're actually seeing here is rococo revival.

And interesting rococo revival because they're actually doing a pure, a straight, a very pure copy.

In fact, when I saw those sitting there,

I thought, "Gosh are they by Welland,"

I mean they are THAT good as copies.

Yes. Just look at that, the way that edge, how it goes along, folds in,

and then where the handle joins the body...

This wonderful shaped handle and do you see there?

It's always a weak point where the handle joins the body. Oh, right.

But can you see how he's put that shell round there?

Yes. That spreads the stress.

Makes a really good join. Be soldered, would it?

Oh, it's all soldered together. I would say today you'd have to insure those for about...

£5,000.

For the pair? For the pair... Good heavens!

For the pair, yes. Not quite free...

So let's swap them round, let's have a look at these others.

Now these are quite dinky. Yes, pretty little things.

What's the background?

Well, they, I think, have come down on my father's side

through my great-grandfather who was a silversmith.

Probably those appeared through some transaction they were involved in, you know, being in the trade.

Right. They must have come through his hands, I feel.

That's interesting. Now the size, of course, in the 18th century would actually be that of a cream boat.

That's what I, sort of, rather thought they were.

Yeah. But... But...

But...and this is a very big but.

Yes. I think we have a bit of a problem here.

Now we've got two sets of marks, quite...

This one, which is actually for 1735. Right.

And with this one we've actually got marks of 1736.

Actually that in itself, there's not a great problem with that,

sometimes things could be going into the assay office the next day.

Yes, yes.

Um, the maker's mark I have to say, is quite interesting.

Oh, well, I'm glad you can recognise it, I...

The maker's mark, you can see it just there. Yes.

Paul de Lamerie.

Paul de Lamerie? Great.

However, I have to say,

I don't think Paul de Lamerie would recognise this.

Oh. Because I don't think, for one moment, that he made them.

Oh. How does he get his stamp on it then?

Well, this is where...

I say they really are, to my mind, they're rather naughty.

Oh, are they? Yes.

Makes them much more interesting then.

Well, yes, it also makes them highly illegal.

But let me just explain why I think they're wrong. Yes.

There are various things about them, first of all the proportions...

It's a very odd proportion.

Oh! Remember what I was saying about the handles. Yes.

Now look at that handle. No good.

There's no really good join at that point. Yeah, yeah.

That's a very ordinary way of joining up a handle like that.

Right. I couldn't... I've never seen Lamerie do that.

No, right.

I've also never seen Lamerie put a really poor wire like that round the top edge.

Oh. That just isn't right. Yes.

It's not right for the period, let alone for Lamerie.

Then, underneath the handle...

just when you breathe on it you can see there's some solder marks there,

something's... Been changed, has it? Well, something's been going on.

Now those legs, funnily enough, do look somewhat "Lamerieish." Oh.

What I suspect...

What I suspect, is that somebody's got hold of something like a pair of salt cellars

because that's the right size for the leg of a salt cellar... Yes.

..by somebody like Lamerie,

and they would have almost certainly have been circular salt cellars. Yes.

And then they've reshaped the body to make them into something they felt was far more interesting and useful.

Yes. Certainly, my recommendation is those go down to Antiques Plate Committee.

Do you think Paul de Lamerie had something to do with it originally then?

I suspect, well, my suspicion is,

they may have been Paul de Lamerie salt cellars. Mm, mm.

And... but they've been altered from those, they've been worked and, of course, that makes them illegal.

Value as of this moment...

nothing apart from scrap value... Assuming I'm right. Yes.

They may surprise me and come back as genuine,

but I don't think they're going to, for one moment.

Simply because they cannot legally be sold, so these need to go to Antiques Plate Committee.

Perhaps that's why Grandfather took them home, in other words...

I think you've got it. He might have...

He realised they were wrong. Yes, and he thought...

And of course, didn't want to sell them. No.

In fact, if he had sold them at that time and put his name on,

he would have been then in line for 14 years in prison.

It's come down a bit now. I might have to serve it now.

I think it's about ten years now.

Long before Crimewatch UK was invented

the British public took a terrific interest in crime. Right.

And as I'm sure you know,

this depicts the scene of a very famous 19th-century crime. Yeah.

The Red Barn and who were the characters?

I thought it was Maria Marten and...

James Rush and Emily Sandford and I can't remember who murdered who,

but here we have...

The potter seized the idea and they make this model.

Really in 1829, this is it,

hot from the press.

The view of the barn where it all took place.

Is this a family thing?

Yeah, my wife actually inherited it in 1986 when her father died

and he had it from my wife's grandmother

and as far as we're aware it's been in the family since the late 1800s.

So...well, maybe they were involved with it. Well, they used to live...

Possibly...

Knowing my mother-in-law, quite possibly, yeah.

And they knew all about the story, did they?

Yes, they did yes, it was fairly taboo as far as the wife was concerned.

This was on the mantelpiece and when the children asked about it, nobody would tell them...

Oh, they weren't... ..the background.

Probably because of murders and mistresses and...

All that salacious stuff. Yes, yes, indeed.

Now this is quite amazing,

this is a very rare group.

I would have said, I...

yet in the last 18 months,

four examples of it have appeared on the market.

So...

and we actually have quite a good snapshot of what this kind of thing is currently worth.

And I think the most damaged one fetched somewhat more than £3,000.

I'm glad I'm sitting down. And the most perfect one

fetched something around £7,000.

Now, your one has a bit of nibbles to the trees.

Yeah.

Which I am glad to see

you haven't had fixed up, I think it would be silly to do so.

So, I think, being prudent we would, should say that probably this today

is worth something between

£3,500 and £5,000, allowing for the...

The damage, right.

So, you see, this is a case where crime evidently pays. Yeah.

And there we must leave the scene of the crime.

As we do a runner, many thanks to the folk of the Abergavenny Leisure Centre for providing our cover.

Until next time, goodbye.

Subtitles by BBC Broadcast