Dartington Hall 1 Antiques Roadshow

For this week, we've abandoned the open road and climbed aboard the South Devon Railway

which runs between Buckfastleigh and Totnes.

We have an Art Deco carriage, plus a view of the River Dart

as we steam our way

towards the largest medieval house in the West of England - Dartington Hall.

The house was built in the 1400s.

In 1925, it became the focus of a cultural revolution and was born again.

It was discovered by a young couple with vision, a sense of adventure

and enough money to put their radical ideas into practice -

Leonard and Dorothy Elmhurst.

The son of a parson and the American daughter of a powerful politician,

they wanted to regenerate the estate and to create a school.

The school was to be progressive and anti-authoritarian

with a minimum of class work and a strong bias towards the arts.

The headmaster's accommodation, High Cross House, was an example

of the Elmhursts' radical vision.

A model of early modernism, it was the start of a new type of domestic design...

..where inside and outside merged.

Four terraces offered the head every chance to soak up the sun and fresh air,

and, if he was so inclined, to sleep under the stars - popular with 1930s naturists.

The Elmhursts didn't stop there.

They gathered creative people around them by the armful.

Michael Chekhov, who taught Marilyn Monroe, had a theatre studio here.

Jacqueline du Pre gave her first concert at Dartington. Simon Rattle taught here.

Henry Moore chose this spot in the garden for his reclining figure.

Today we're all here courtesy of the Dartington Hall Trust.

And the Antiques Roadshow is ready to receive all-comers in the medieval courtyard.

This is your bust, sir? Or...

This is my wife's bust.

-It's your wife's bust.

-I'm very proud of it.

-I'm sure. I mustn't get into that territory.

We're looking at a Victorian worthy of some kind.

It was very characteristic of that period to present the heroes of the time as though they were Romans.

A number of sculptors worked that way. It goes back to the 18th century, Neo-Classicism.

You were not shown in contemporary dress, you were shown as if toga'd.

Do you know who this is?

-No, er, we thought for a long time that it was Sir Charles Bell.

-Right.

-Bell's Palsy.

-Yes.

But we had a recent discovery of an oil painting of Sir Charles.

-I don't think it is him.

-I don't think there's any parallel at all.

-No.

-So let's go down another route.

Who is it by? Well, I'll look on the back and it's William Theed, or, "W. Theed, London 1851."

-We know the sculptor. So that's important.

-Yes, yes.

Theed was a very interesting figure, 1804-1891, a typical... not journeyman sculptor,

but a very busy sculptor through the 19th century, worked for the royal family from 1844...

Queen Victoria later,

constantly doing busts of either classical figures or worthies of the time.

-Now, where did it come from?

-He was bought in an auction in the 1940s, middle 1940s.

-Where?

-We think probably in Exeter.

-So he has a local background.

-Yes.

-So, wait a minute, by a relative?

-Yes, my father bought him.

-To buy something like this in the 1940's was an extraordinary thing.

I think he bought it for a specific position.

-We had a large hallway...

-He wanted a bust.

-He just looked right there.

As to who it is, there are two routes to go down. Have you been to the National Portrait Gallery?

-No.

-Right, take a photograph and go in, or send it up, and say, "Who is this?"

-Yes.

-If they know, they'll tell you. They may have paintings, they may have other versions of the bust.

Give the Theed details and all you know.

This is clearly a portrait of someone.

The other route is many sculptors produced or had work reproduced

in porcelain material called Parian, and they were made small scale, so you could get a book on that.

Look up Theed and see what Theed's works are illustrated,

-I bet one of those routes will produce a conclusion.

-Yes.

I suggest, which might be slightly out of court, but there is a certain resem... Come down a bit.

-I'm getting quite like him.

-I think...

-A couple of years and you'll be there. Perhaps that's what it was.

-Great classical man.

Exactly. Obviously you've no idea what your father paid for it, no?

-No.

-20 years ago these were knocked out in sales for £2-300.

Really garden, stairwell ornaments.

Theed is a pretty good name and I would expect this now to fetch somewhere between

£4-6,000 but that's dependent very much on the identity.

If you can say, "It's so and so," that makes it much more appealing.

That's lovely, very pleasing. Thank you, that's very kind of you.

A neighbour got my father's newspaper,

and she came on hard times and her husband was a military man,

from military background, and she asked him to lend her some money, which in those days was £10.

-An awful lot of money.

-"Those days"? How long ago are we talking about?

-60 years.

-Right, OK.

-I know that it was two weeks of my father's wages.

-Right.

-He kept them in lieu of this £10.

And then she come over one day and said, "I can't pay you the money back, will you keep the cufflinks?"

"No, they're a family heirloom, you should have them back." But she was just too proud.

So, that was how it come in the family.

First of all, let's just talk about what we've got.

We've got a blue sort of enamel border going round the outside.

In the centre surround, you've got mother of pearl. Diamonds form a tiny little letter G.

And a diamond fleur de lys, that's the clue, the fleur de lys motif, and then almost

to sort of ram the point home here, about the potential with the Prince of Wales feathers is that you've got

little crowns, surmounts, above, so you know you look at these things, you think, "well, just a minute...

"Prince of Wales feathers, the monogram letter G - this has to be connected with royalty."

That's why I'm interested to know whether the person, the source of these,

was connected with the house, the royal household, or was there any...?

-He was in the Coldstream Guards.

-Well, that's all we know about him?

-Yeah.

Well, I think if it's G,

it's George, and with the Prince of Wales plumes,

you're looking at George before he became king.

So when he was Prince of Wales, so the year is

probably around about, say, 1905-1910.

Often, um, well-respected people who've done a particular service

for a member of the royalty,

would be given a gift, and I think that these were a personal gift

from George, when he was still Prince of Wales, to this gentleman.

They're extremely well made - you've got one little tiny diamond missing just there - apart from that

they're absolutely pristine, and they're mounted in high-carat gold.

Look at the bright yellow gold,

look at the quality there, super gold frames with individual little sort of hand links between.

So we can date them accurately, we know what they're set with.

We look at how collectable they are because there are people

that collect cufflinks, and people that collect royal memorabilia.

-Right.

-They're not easy to value because they're a one-off pair.

-So I wouldn't be surprised that they might be as much as £3,500 in the retail shop market.

-Very nice.

-I inherited it.

-You inherited it?

That's all I can tell you - I don't know. My parents had it for many years, I don't know more than that.

Well, as you can see, it's signed here by a German artist called Rudolph Gustav Muller.

-Yes.

-And it's dated 1886 - Muller was born in 1858 and died

30 years later in 1888 so it's a late work.

-Wow.

-We know he travelled to Tunisia and to Algeria.

-Yes.

-So I guess this is probably something painted from that area.

-Right.

-But because it's dated 1886, it's almost certainly painted back in his studio in Munich.

-Right.

And so it's a sort of perhaps make-believe at the same time,

but this whole market is fascinating because after September 11th

and the horrors of the attack on the Twin Towers, the whole of this market,

the Orientalist market, collapsed - no-one was interested in this subject matter.

But after 18 months, the market recovered

and people started buying, again, this wonderful subject matter.

I love these artists - although they're not that well-known, we have fantastic detail here.

-Look at the tiling on this gateway.

-Incredible.

-And again on the dome here.

-Yeah.

-I mean, the quality cannot be faulted and also it's topped off

with this beautiful frame which is an arabesque frame.

-Yes.

-So beautiful and works with the picture so well.

I think it's wonderful, yeah.

I like the wood panel which gives it a sort of nice slick feeling.

-Yes.

-Um, and again I just...

I often feel that people don't look at pictures properly.

-Yeah, so much detail.

-There is. I love this man.

-Is he looking at his belt?

-Yes, yes.

-Are they trading? It's lovely.

And the carpet, it's a real eye-opener.

Something like this is always going to be desirable.

There have been extremely high prices for the artist, but on a bigger format.

-I'd say about £15,000.

-Blimey!

That's weird, isn't it?

Amazing.

It's very, very nice. Thank you so much.

This is an extraordinary Doulton Lambeth pot, decorated by Eliza Simmance.

I've been puzzling what the Dickens you do with it.

It's got all these holes around here, but what do you do with the pot?

-I imagine you use it for canes.

-And sticks and parasols or something like that.

-What else could you use it for?

-Any ideas, anybody?

-Umbrella stand? Possibly. Made in 1883.

-Yes.

Wonderful. I think the stand is marvellous, made for the pot.

-And you've had this a long time?

-I've had it in the attic nigh on 40 years.

-In the attic?

-In the attic. It belonged to my wife's grandfather.

-Yes.

-Who came from Hertfordshire and he bought it in the market in London.

Yes, these things were found in London markets you know.

You got up early and you went with a torch and you found these things.

Wonderful. Oh, I think it's great. So that's Eliza Simmance, 1883.

-Yes.

-This big pot here.

-The big one.

-Marvellous.

Hannah Barlow did this wonderful incised work.

She had a marvellous skill depicting animals,

carved out of wet clay with little incised tooling.

She drew animals, all sorts - she had a great love of animals.

She had a zoo with strange animals.

And all the other work... Beautifully done, isn't it?

1884 and absolutely marvellous.

Hannah Barlow's work is tremendously valuable nowadays.

That's going to be about £1,000, so it's jolly nice.

-I don't know what grandfather paid for it.

-Not much.

-Not much, no, and there's been a little pup, a little baby.

-Yes.

Which one's going first? Well, that's sweet, isn't it?

That's dated 1884, 1884, similar body to this one, so perhaps that's had

a little baby and it's going to be worth around about £60-£70.

Right.

But the big chap, we've got to be looking here again, at £1,000,

and perhaps even more for the stand - the stand is fantastic.

Obviously made to fit the pot. Keep them together.

-Yes.

-And put your canes in it with great care.

-Thank you.

-Wonderful thing.

This is a long case clock. Richard Lear, Pinhey and Plymouth Dock.

Are you a Plymouth man or not?

I come from about 15 miles away. It's always been within the area.

Today is the furthest it's been from where it was made.

It is a terribly pretty dial.

Overall, the thing's in what I call a fairly rough condition, but I mean, let's just have a look at this.

We've got the wonderful dial centre here,

a little smoking chimney and we've got the sea and sunset there,

And then we've got the calendar sector at the bottom, and then just underneath the 12, the seconds dial.

If that was all silvered, as originally,

it would look absolutely stonking good, and if you left it brass and re-silvered the chaptering,

that would be lovely and then up here, we've got Richard Lear's signature from Plymouth Dock.

From memory and just looking at the clock, we're talking about sort of 1775-1780 - that sort of date.

I'll look at the movement.

Gosh, it's a heavy old hood, I have to say. Have a look at that.

The immediate thing that comes to mind here is that the seat board has been replaced.

It's a very new bit of wood. Did you do that?

It was done by my uncle who owned it before us. I think it was 1977.

That's a sort of slightly sloppy repair.

A very thin bit of seat board and the dial is sitting too low

within the aperture of the hood, so it could do with a bigger seat board to just bring it up.

-And this thing really has been working, has it?

-It has. Not continually.

-Special occasions.

-Well, look at all these cobwebs.

-Oh, yes.

There's three dead spiders. I don't think that's been cleaned for years.

-No.

-you mentioned the 1970's...

That was the last time anybody's even looked at it.

I'll just simulate if the pendulum was on... That lovely moving ship.

It's a very pretty dial, very pretty clock, and let's look at the trunk.

You've got a nice, very accentuated arched door,

this dentil cornice here and rather nice fluted canted corners.

Be honest with me - what have you done to this case?

Nothing. I've had it 15 years and prior to that it was my uncle's, and prior to that my great aunt's.

-You didn't put this horrible varnish on it?

-No, no, no.

What a shame because if that was all stripped off,

you'd get down to the lovely original mahogany.

It would look so much better.

I think it's got a lot of potential.

-What would you pay to replace that? An absolute minimum of £6,500.

-Really?

-Thanks.

-Thank you very much.

A question that's always being asked is - does television affect the behaviour of young people?

This lady was so impressed by what she saw

that she became a fanatical collector - Lynsey Kent.

What was the magic moment for you?

Arthur Negus, Going For A Song. I was watching it with my grandmother who was a mad fan.

Once he had a doll, just like this little one, on the programme.

He said you could find out who made them and where they came from.

-How many have you got now?

-There's about 900 catalogued.

So you're a collector and you're a doll doctor as well, aren't you?

Well, if you'd seen this one about six weeks ago.

She came home from an auction in 12 pieces.

-I put her back together again.

-Who makes the most dolls in the world?

The Germans were the most prolific, the French made the best quality.

French dolls are the most expensive and the most beautiful.

-What's the most you've ever spent on a French doll?

-Um, about £800.

For a long time this one was my most expensive doll.

I had to get a bank loan for her.

-That's handy - you work in a bank.

-I had to ask my boss!

He's used to people borrowing money for cars, but not for buying dolls!

-It was worth it.

-She's beautiful.

She's German, made by the firm of Simon & Halbig.

Bunny, what about this lot? What do you think?

I love your story, what a great collection, and you've got 900.

What do you find the most exciting?

Well, I love Betty Oxo. Tell us the story about Betty Oxo.

Betty Oxo was sold by the Oxo company and to get her, you had to save up Oxo coupons.

You had to save 480 and according to the Little Children's Newspaper

that they produced in 1925, you saved them between January and April, so I reckon

they'd eat Oxo cubes every meal to get enough coupons for a free doll.

But she is very sweet. She's got such a cute face.

-She's lovely.

-But it's a very expensive hobby?

It is and I think you've done it at the right time.

It's a very expensive field, so if you are going to start,

go to an auction, get an idea and... Don't you agree with me?

I do. Or if you're prepared to take one that's a bit less than perfect and give it a little bit of TLC.

-You have something to be proud of.

-Right.

-Well, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Yes, congratulations.

If you bring furniture outside, it shows up things you don't want to see.

But with this, you can see what a beautiful cut of mahogany you've got.

Lovely figuring, a very good colour, a little bit dry.

Beeswax would warm it up a bit, but it's really in a very lovely natural and unspoilt state.

Now, is this something that you've owned for a long time?

It was given to me when I came back from boarding school, already...

1957, I think it was. I've lived with it ever since.

It dates from the first part of the 19th century, probably the 1830s.

Stylistically, it's what's known as Biedermeier,

a term invented mid-19th century

by a man called Eichrodt, and he invented this character Biedermeier

who really summed up the bourgeois European, and it's a style of furniture

that derives from Empire furniture,

the sort of courtly furniture in Paris, in Vienna, in Berlin

in the 1805, 1810, 1815 period.

Then later in the 19th century, you get this more simplified version.

And there really are two features which give it particular character.

One is the beautiful timber,

this really lovely shape here, and this arcade underneath here.

Do you have any idea where it might have come from?

-Its country of origin?

-None, I've had lots of opinions but nothing that I would rely on.

I think stylistically, German rather than French or Austrian,

and let's just look and see what it looks like inside.

It's got a lovely counterbalanced weight

so this supports itself - I imagine it's got some sort of weight system.

At one time, I was told, because I was worried about the leverage...

-Yes.

-That in fact it's agricultural engineering at the back.

-Absolutely! No, that's absolutely right.

-Right.

-Sadly - and this often happens - it's cracked here.

-Yes.

From the structure underneath, and that can be restored. I mean, it so often happens.

and what's lovely... When we open it, it's got this beautiful, again, very architectural interior,

but quite simple. It's a "schreibschrank", a writing desk. Um...

You've got a replacement handle here, but the original ivory knobs there

I would also think that these handles here have been replaced.

These escutcheons are probably original. And it's nice the way that the little mask covers the keyhole.

So a very handsome bit of 1830s furniture.

Something that I think appeals as much to contemporary taste as it did at the time.

very good in a simple interior, in a small apartment or small house,

and would work very well with contemporary things as well as with older things.

-Well, I think today it's something that one should certainly think of insuring for £4,500.

-Right.

It's a very beautiful piece of furniture and in a lovely state.

All I would simply want to do is just put a little bit of beeswax on that, just to bring a bit more lustre up.

-Yes.

-Thank you for bringing it. Beautiful

-Thank you!

-AMERICAN WOMAN:

-When I moved here 40 years ago,

my mother gradually thought it would be awfully nice if some of these pieces were here,

so she stuck one in her purse each time she flew over.

And brought them. Well, from your accent I can tell you're American,

so it seems appropriate you should bring in some American art glass.

-Well, as you know, obviously, they're from the Tiffany studios.

-Yes.

And Louis Comfort Tiffany, the founder of the company,

patented the idea of making iridescent glass in about 1880.

And these goldy colours - I think they used gold chloride as the main sort of chemical, if you will,

-to give this golden iridescence...

-Didn't know that.

-So...

the golden colour is probably the most common because it was the most popular, probably, at the time,

and consequently lots was made. This is, on the surface, quite a standard-looking bowl,

but what's quite nice about this,

and makes it slightly different,

is that, instead of just the iridescence,

there's added decoration engraved into that surface.

So it removes the iridescence, but it gives this leaf detail

which stands out in sort of visual relief against the shiny surface.

-I mean, sadly, having been used... I don't know whether a plant pot was ever inside this.

-I hope not.

But it's taken all the iridescence away on the inside, so that will reduce its value, unfortunately,

but it's still a nice, interesting piece. This piece in the front is...

it's a lovely little piece.

It's amazing to think it was just a salt...a utilitarian little piece.

There's a sort of bluey tint to this one which...

which adds another sort of dimension to its appeal.

But this piece, while being just golden iridescence again,

and a very common colour, this piece is really enhanced beautifully.

I mean this transcends being just a simple vase

to a little gem, quite honestly,

And you've got these little leaves inlaid into it. So these...

These take up the iridescent colour as well. They're like a creeper,

And these little stems all extend down over the base,

and some extend up the neck.

So a lot more work's gone into this

and it makes it that much more desirable than perhaps a relatively ordinary golden iridescent piece.

You've got "LC Tiffany", Louis Comfort Tiffany, "Inc"

and then "favrile", that's a name...

a name that he used, implies that it was hand-made.

And then the numbers around the top, they'd indicate,

with a suffix at the end, a date that it was manufactured. I'd have thought it would be about 1900 or so.

Price-wise, that is obviously going to be the most valuable,

This is a nice piece, but with the damage or wear on the inside I'd have thought, no,

it might be somewhere broadly between about £100 and £200 because of that.

This little salt - while only being a simple object -

I would have thought perhaps it might be £200 or £300.

But I'd have thought this piece, the gem of the crop, so to speak,

would be perhaps £1,000, £1,500, something of that order.

-How wonderful.

-It's a lovely piece. And I'm really pleased to see it.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

-Really enjoyed it.

-Can you read that for me?

-"Do all the good you can, in every way you can..."

-Now, you can't read that?

-No, because that's not how it's writ,

It's, "Do all tha gude you cann in every wey."

-The spelling is... I think spellcheck on your computer wouldn't like that would it?

-No.

-No, I mean, way spelled W-E-Y, yeah.

-That's right.

-My husband was given a print when he left as captain of his old cricket club.

-Right.

And that started off a collection which, um...grew.

-and we started to buy things like this lovely urn.

-But he's not here today?

-No. I'm afraid the Test Match won over Antiques Roadshow.

-So he's gone to watch the Test Match?

-Yes, he has.

Excellent. And I see you're wearing a cricketing medallion. That's part of your collection, is it?

Well, it is. In fact...

the cricket bat I added. But that is nice because it's got a picture

of, I think, somebody who was a cricketer.

I don't know who they are, but I bought it cos I liked it.

Excellent, well let's have a look at this lead planter or jardiniere.

Obviously, as you say, you bought it because of the cricket association. If we start with the base,

we see here a little medallion with crossed cricket bats and a ball.

And similarly, above, larger crossed cricket bats

and then if we go up to the jardiniere itself, a batsman with the wicket keeper behind

And on either side are the pieces de resistance...

two medallions of WG Grace.

In his day, he was reckoned to be one of the two most famous Englishmen,

him and another "WG", William Gladstone, four times Prime Minister,

And certainly he's the only cricketer who is known by his initials alone.

So you bought it how long ago, this planter?

I think it was about mid-80s.

-Right.

-I bought it at a sale. I saw it right at the end of the auction and I thought, "That's for me".

-Can I ask what you paid for it 20 years ago?

-I think it's about £75, I can't really remember.

Yes. Well, I would think that was a very good buy, because the interest in cricketana has grown enormously

over the past quarter of a century, and I would think, if this came up at auction today,

-I would probably expect it to fetch between £1,000 and £1,500.

-Really? I am surprised.

-Yes.

Here you are, Henry, extract from a letter to Leonard and Dorothy Elmhurst dated 1942...

"The tier pot I hope you may use for butter, marmalade, jam

"by your bedside some lazy - if you ever have such - or cheerless morning." signed Bernard Leach.

Yes, this is the pot! It's a wonderful little pot, very much in the Japanese style.

Bernard Leach of St Ives came here to Dartington on a number of occasions.

he intended to start his pottery here, but didn't - chickened out and went to St. Ives instead.

But made these pots in the style of Japanese...

It's like a Japanese set of pots.

A little cover, take off. Single one, middle one and big one at the bottom.

Decorated with little tiny fish,

little fish swimming round like mad.

-I think it's a fascinating little piece.

-Lovely colour too.

-Lovely. Signed under the bottom. "BL"

for Bernard Leach. And the St Ives mark, there it is,

It's all authentic, and a super little pot by the grandfather of English pottery.

-I mean, all his family pot. And they're wonderful.

-Historic piece.

-Historic piece.

-Would you put a value on that?

-Yes. Well, if it wasn't provenanced,

if it was just a Bernard Leach piece, it would still be important -

Perhaps £1,250 to £1,500. But being provenanced as coming directly from Bernard to the Elmhursts

and from the Elmhursts now to a friend...

I think it's...well, not priceless,

but it's got to be around about £2,000.

I always have this little quote

that "a pretty little box", in the clock and watch trade, means something very sweet inside,

and we are not wrong with this, are we?

Isn't that charming? What do you know about this? How long have you had it?

When my mother was moving house from a bigger house to a smaller house,

she asked me if there was anything I would like, and I happened to remember the little clock.

-That's what I chose.

-If I can say so, madam, that was very generous.

This is very, very sweet.

-You probably know that it's solid silver.

-Yes.

-There we go.

And here we are, we've got a full set of marks on the bottom. "Sterling".

And it also says "argent", and it also has a Swiss mark for 935.

So - solid silver

and lovely enamel over this machined background.

You've got that sort of translucent enamel over the guilloche back.

And let's have a look indoors!

Isn't that pretty? And we've got it going now, but do you ever have it going at home?

I did have it going originally,

and we actually had it mended at one stage for one reason or another.

And then, when it stopped I went to wind it, and turned the key,

and it appeared to me as though it wouldn't move, it was over-wound,

so I put it back in the cupboard quickly and hid it before I did any more damage.

Well, listen with all these little boxes, as you know, the keys are usually kept in the back...like that.

-We remove that panel, and look at that, the original key sitting there. That's the one you used?

-It was.

So why couldn't you get it to work?

-Because...I bet you were trying to wind it clockwise, weren't you?

-I was, being logical...

-Yup. Anti-clockwise...

-It works!

-Goes like a little dream.

It's very, very sweet.

Dating from around about the 1920s.

have you noticed this name on the case?

-Cartier.

-Cartier...

There's a possibility it was retailed by Cartier,

-but it wasn't actually MADE by Cartier.

-No.

-So it's been sitting in the drawer at home not working?

-I'm afraid so.

-But still a little bit loved.

-Very loved!

-You'll love it a lot more

when I tell you that really it's worth between £900 and £1,200.

-Ooh.

-Right, sounds wonderful.

Now, many years ago, in another life, I taught briefly at St Martins School of Art, in the 1960s.

And amongst my students were two very strange men

called Gilbert and George. They are a phenomenon of the British art market,

the British art scene, in the last 30 years. Why do you have a Gilbert and George item?

This belongs to my partner. And he thinks it was sent to him

when he was studying A-level art at the local school.

He thinks his cousin, who'd probably been to this exhibition, had sent him this as an item of interest

which might help him in his studies.

Gilbert and George are an important component in the development of conceptual art,

in the development of, particularly, performance art. This is 1970...

They invented a form of art where they said, in a way,

"We are the artists. We sing, we dance, we perform. And everything we do is a work of art. Art for all."

At this point they were doing singing, dancing, performing sculpture,

so they're taking the object away from the artist and saying,

"Actually, it's the artist himself who is the work of art." Since then,

-they've become international superstars.

-Mmm.

-What we have here is a wonderful, riveting document,

"A message from the sculptors Gilbert and George," Inside, we find a set of little photographs

and a statement. "Gilbert and George, the sculptors, are walking along a new road.

They left their little studio with all the tools and brushes, taking with them only some music,

"gentle smiles on their faces and the most serious intentions in the world".

Now, this is a little kit of photographs...

And everything they did, whether it was eating, walking... All aspects of their life, become art.

We move on, and a sculpture sample entitled Sculpture Samples.

"G&G's make-up."

"G&G's tobacco and ash."

"G&G's hair." "G&G's coat and shirt."

"G&G's breakfast."

And in a way, this is advertising their work,

They are saying, "Look, this is what we do. We can do sculpture for YOU.

"We can be like a party piece," You know, "We can come to your house and perform." In this day, of course,

they were still very eccentric, little known, except by the real sort of art fringe.

Their whole career as really sort of important pictorial artists

and performance artists was ahead of them. Now, one of them is local, isn't he?

I believe George Passmore... He did live in Totnes in his early years.

-Yes.

-I think he was born in Totnes, but...

-So he's a Devon lad.

The other one, Gilbert, is Italian. Now...I'm sure many people think "Well, THAT'S a load of rubbish."

You know, "why are they wasting time looking at something like this?"

Is this a great work of art? Well, who knows? At the moment, it's very, very collectable.

-think the right sort of collector is going to pay a lot of money for this, I'm going to say £2,000.

-No!

-I've said it.

-Well, that's incredible.

This is a very exciting collection of silver, obviously put together by your family over hundreds of years.

-It's not family at all, it's church silver.

-Oh, really?

-Yes.

And, um, how did you come by it?

Well, we were having a Parochial Church Council meeting,

and because we've got a number of large bills at the moment, we were looking at what our assets were.

One of the things that came up was...

a churchwarden said he'd been talking to a previous churchwarden who said we have got some silver...

in a safe under the stairs!

-What was your reaction when you opened the safe and these treasures fell out?

-Well,

I think the reaction was at the meeting the night before, when they said that we HAD the silver...

-But you didn't know what?

-..and read out a list of things.

-Oh, right.

-And there was...were gasps all round.

-So you were mentally prepared.

-So we were mentally prepared

but when I actually took the things out of the safe, I was just staggered really. Amazed.

-I can quite understand that.

-Yes.

-Several pieces have an inscription from the Bampfylde family.

-Are they local people?

-They would have been lord of the local manor.

And the local manor-house owned not only the church, but a lot of the land and properties around.

Well, it's a very exciting collection. I must say that church silver is...

you often find particularly early pieces which have usually escaped destruction.

and there really are some exceptionally interesting things here, notably...

this tazza here,

which was made in 1710

by a well known Exeter silversmith - so it's local interest - John Elston.

A particularly nice piece, and also with a quite interesting inscription

from the Bampfylde family, "Doctor of Divinity" - that's a gift of his,

beautifully hallmarked,

and with this chased gadroon border which is very typical of the period.

And similarly on the foot.

For you silver collectors, I should point out the foot is also marked, which is quite an important thing.

-And that's a paten?

-That's a paten. Or "tazza", we tend to call them.

And then we have, again, you could say another member of the family,

this rather spectacular George I flagon

which was made in 1715 -

but this is a London made piece.

Interestingly, this had a Victorian spout added at a later date.

And they've actually done the right thing, which they often didn't do, of having it hallmarked as an addition.

-Interesting.

-So it's got a little Victorian hallmark for the 1880s.

-Oh, right!

To me, although it isn't hallmarked, the most interesting piece,

because I really like its rather rustic character,

is this chalice and paten.

Now, this is Elizabethan,

and it would date from about 1570.

When Elizabeth I came to the throne,

she succeeded Mary who, of course, was a good Catholic.

And this is not the Catholic form of chalice.

So somewhat into Elizabeth's reign,

an edict went out that all churches had to have the more Protestant type of chalice,

so you find that that a very large number of these chalices were made over a few years in the 1570s.

Although this has no marks at all,

it was undoubtedly made by a local silversmith.

it's absolutely typical of the period with this beautiful banded engraving.

-Lovely.

-Partially gilt, and gilded inside.

Very elegant. And the paten is very similarly decorated.

It's quite surprising that it has absolutely no hallmarks at all.

Well, to run through...

I would estimate the tazza at...

£4,000 to £6,000.

The flagon, which again has been altered, which does alter the value somewhat,

-I should think in the £10,000 to £12,000 range.

-Goodness me!

This is very difficult to put a price on. If it were fully hallmarked, it'd undoubtedly be a lot more valuable

but, I would say, this is probably £6,000 to £10,000.

-..My!

-So that should set the church bells ringing a bit.

And that's it for today - there's only so much Devonshire cream a person can take!

But we've all fallen for Dartington Hall. Only one thing for it - we'll have to come back.

I'm sure the people of South Devon have more to offer.

If you'd like a preview of what'll be coming our way, log on and play the valuation game.

But for now, goodbye.