Lichfield Antiques Roadshow

Welcome to another far-reaching pilgrimage by the Antiques Roadshow.

In fact, for this series we may go further than we've ever gone before.

For openers, we've come to Lichfield in Staffordshire,

where 7th-century pilgrims used to come looking for miracles at the shrine of St Chad.

The church of St Chad is long gone.

In its place, a pretty miraculous building - the only English medieval cathedral with three spires.

This is where we're doing our show.

The Gothic nave is being transformed as we carefully install our state-of-the-art technology,

but Lichfield Cathedral has been through worse ordeals than this.

Its commanding position and massive stonework made it a perfect fortress, and in the Civil War,

it held the record for sieges, three of them altogether.

On 2nd March 1643, the Royalists were in charge

and a young fellow called John Dyott, known as "Dumb Dyott",

stood here, on the central spire, carrying a duck gun loaded with lead, taken from the cathedral roof.

In his sights, in the street a quarter of a mile away,

was a high-ranking Parliamentarian, Lord Brooke.

-Dyott pulled the trigger.

-GUNSHOT

To everyone's amazement, his aim was deadly accurate.

Lord Brooke was shot through the eye and killed.

"Dumb Dyott" had had the last word.

The cathedral was a real casualty of war

and when the Parliamentarians took over in 1646, they showed little respect for the building,

even stabling their horses in the nave.

One of the clerics who worked here in the cathedral library anticipated the mayhem,

and smuggled out the Lichfield Gospels, putting them in the care of the Duchess of Somerset.

She returned them safely, with 1,000 books from her collection, to replace those that were destroyed.

One of the stars of the library's collection

is a first edition by Lichfield's famous son, Samuel Johnson.

His momentous Dictionary Of The English Language

has just celebrated its 250th birthday.

Samuel Johnson was a man of many words and very definite opinions.

He once wrote, "The pleasure of expecting enjoyment is often greater than that of obtaining it."

Let's hope that doesn't apply to today's Roadshow!

The stained glass windows here at Lichfield Cathedral are replicated in the fantastic colourful costumes

of this Punch and Judy set that you've brought in. Tell me where they came from.

-I presume that they must be a family inheritance.

-No. No, they weren't.

I started collecting toys when my house was open to the public,

and we had a little house in Chelsea

and I was looking round in the World's End.

-I know.

-And I found this antique shop there and saw these puppets

and thought, "Oh, I must have those for the collection. I've got nothing like that."

And so I went in and bought them.

Well, they are the most exciting group, I have to say.

The history of Punch and Judy, of course, goes back to the Teatro del Arte,

the Italian tradition of theatrical entertainers,

and these travelling puppeteers travelled all through France

and into England, and brought with them the Punch, or the Punchinello character,

and this set, I think, is from the middle of the 19th century,

with these wonderful characters.

On the far right, we have the policeman.

We have Punch and his wife Judy

with a rather... a rather strange-looking baby.

Now who is this?

-Let me just have a look at him, because he is, I think, one of the most exciting characters.

-Yes.

And all these little figures have a label on there, in very neat writing, and this says "Pantaloon".

So this is the character Pantaloon, who, of course, we don't see in present-day Punch and Judy shows.

-But his face is so extraordinary, isn't it?

-Yes. Do you think they're carved wood?

-They are carved wood, then covered with a very thin layer of whiting or gesso, which softens the edges.

-Yes.

It creates a good grounding then for the paint.

-So here we have Mr Pantaloon. Now, who's he? He looks as if he's the sort of...

-..Is he the beadle?

-The beadle, exactly! Almost Dickensian, isn't he?

-Looking very official, yes.

I've seen a lot of Punch and Judy sets,

but these have what I can only describe as an X factor.

It's something to do with the quality of the carving, and I think also the quality of the painting,

the costume, and also, one has to say, their condition.

It looks to me as if they've never, ever been used.

Well, when I bought them, they were in a little travelling... a wooden suitcase with a handle,

so obviously they were meant to be used, but I've had them for about 50 years

-and so they've been in a glass case all that time.

-And you've never been tempted...

-No..

-..to put your hand up and give them a go?

-I haven't tried.

Think back 50 years. How much do you think you would have paid for them?

I don't know. It wouldn't have been a great deal.

-50 years ago, they wouldn't have been valued at a great deal.

-No.

-Nobody appreciated them.

So what are they worth now? I think that they would be worth...

It must be £5,000.

I mean, they are SO unusual. They are SO perfect.

And, best of all, they're such fun.

"Please treat this book with care when you look through it. Thank you."

-So who put this in here?

-That was me. I was a primary school teacher.

This book was on display as a resource.

Well, I have to say you shouldn't stick it in, a note in like this, with Blu-tac.

It stains the book and it really isn't very good for it. I'd take that out after we've finished.

But, anyway, having smacked you for that, this is the most fantastic album I think I've seen, of scraps,

in a very long time. Where did you get it from?

This album belonged, originally, to my wife's great aunts, who lived in the Black Country,

born in the 1870s and died in the 1960s.

-So they were maiden aunts?

-Yes.

-Awfully fashionable.

-Yes.

-And what did they do?

-They were both in service at various houses throughout the country.

-What, big houses?

-Yes.

-So you could imagine them climbing the stairs to their garrets at night...

-Absolutely.

..and sticking the scraps in. It's meticulous, isn't it?

-I mean, this is Albert Victor. Albert Victor...

-Yes.

..who was supposed to...

Some people believed that he was Jack the Ripper.

-I see.

-I don't think he was clever enough for that.

And he was engaged to Princess Mary of Teck, as she was then,

and he died,

and so Queen Mary conveniently slipped off and married his brother...

-Oh, right.

-..who became George V.

That's a bit of history I wasn't aware of.

You've got virtually the whole royalty of Europe here.

-Yes.

-The royalty of Europe were all related to Queen Victoria.

-Yes.

-Oh, and this one, I like this one.

-That's one of our favourites.

-Wonderful Victorian sentimentality!

-Here's the death of the Prince Consort at Buckingham Palace.

-Right.

And there's Queen Victoria with her Prime Minister, Disraeli.

-And it goes on and on and on.

-On the old Empire, as it would have been then.

-The old Empire.

Absolutely fantastic! It's an exceptional album, and I suppose you want me to value it?

-Um, it's been rebound at some stage with this sort of covering.

-Yes.

-Take the label out.

-Yes!

You've got an album that's worth the best part of, what, £800 to £1,000.

It's fantastic.

-Can I be very rude and ask you how old you are?

-82.

-82?

-Next month.

-Well, do you know, this is just a little bit older than you are. Not much.

It was probably made around 1900, 1910.

And can you tell me anything about the history?

Well, I was a teenager, a very young teenager, when my mother came in with it.

She was one that went round antique shops.

-Ah!

-She picked it up. That's all I can tell you. I didn't like it.

I voiced my opinion when she brought it in, but she took no notice.

And so you never liked it, but you've kept it?

I like it now. When the china's in, it looks lovely.

-What about your daughters? ..What do you think of it?

-Well, I don't really like it.

It stood in our front room when we were small children

and we weren't allowed to play there for fear that we did some damage.

So it's got a sense of foreboding, really, for me and, in fact, this is probably the closest I've ever stood.

-I think I'm going to move slightly away from it.

-And what about you?

I think it's pretty, I've always liked it, actually. It's exquisite.

So it's one for and one against, which is an interesting situation.

It's from the beginning of the century, Art Nouveau.

It's very English Art Nouveau. It's quite restrained.

This has little details like this overhanging eave or cornice, which is quite flat.

That's absolutely characteristic of the period in England, and so are these little inlays,

copper and pewter, or copper and tin, and this delightful wood inlay, and brass and pewter at the base.

Quite interesting. Usually you find this sort of cabinet in mahogany,

whereas this one is satinwood, which gives it that lovely golden colour.

At the top, at the back, there is a registration mark,

which means that, although I can't see any maker's name,

we could probably look up in the patent number, the register, and find out when it was registered

and who registered the design, who made this piece.

Often having a maker will increase the value.

Value.

Well, there are one or two little areas of damage,

but I would think £1,200 to £1,500.

So does that change your feelings about it at all?

No, I still like it.

I like it a bit more, but not a lot.

Excellent.

Well, this bear belonged to my husband's great aunt, Mollie.

Her husband was called Selwyn, and she always called him "Jimmy".

-She always said, "Please look after Jimmy's bear."

-Look at him. Look at those yellow eyes.

This is a very special bear. I see so many on the Roadshow, and they're usually the expensive Steiff ones,

which are the German ones, so it's wonderful for me to find an English one that is really special.

He's by JK Farnell, John Kirby Farnell.

I think he's more likely to be about 1910, and his fur is very special

because it's silvery, so it's not an ordinary bear colour, and it's very collectable.

And he's stuffed with the usual... what they always call "sawdust" but it's not.

It's thin strips of lime wood.

-Anyway, I'm going to get to a very important point...

-He used to growl, can I just say? He really growled!

-And he no longer wants to...

-No!

-So have you any idea...?

I haven't a clue. I'm not interested, other than to tell my children, "Look after him!" and get him insured.

-Maybe we should say that, so that they will look after him.

-Yes, yes.

And for insurance, you should insure him for £5,000.

You are...

Good grief! Well, he will be insured, because he's not going anywhere.

-Thank you so much.

-I'm glad to hear it.

-Gosh! He's such a dear bear.

-Oh, you are...

-I am, actually.

-You're going to make me cry now.

This has been in the family as long as I have, and it's said to come from Howard Carter's estate.

We understand that it came out of Tutankhamun's tomb.

My grandmother knew Howard Carter and when his estate was sold up,

she went to the auction and bought this artefact.

And that was when?

Erm...

1939, I think, that sort of time.

-Which squares perfectly with the base.

-Yes.

That is a typical base that you'd find on a 1930s bronze and ivory figure,

-but here we have a statue of a much more ancient gentleman.

-Right.

-You think that it may have come out of the tomb of Tutankhamun?

-Yes, that's the family history.

-Stylistically, it's much later...

-Right.

-..than Tutankhamun.

-Yeah.

-This is probably, maybe getting on for 1,000 years later.

-Right.

Getting on to 600 BC or thereabouts.

But the interesting and nice link with it is that it is actually a statue of the god Amun...

-Right.

-..after whom Tutankhamun is named.

-Right, really?

He was originally named Tutankhaten,

-but the religion changed and Amun became top dog.

-Right.

-That's him.

So maybe Carter had a penchant for the god

after whom his most famous tomb was named, and there he is.

He's rather spectacular. Bronze with beautiful details - look at that wonderful plaited beard of his.

He would have been holding a flail, I think, and it is a very, very nice object.

The problem with valuing this is not what it is, when it was made - we know that - but the provenance.

It belonged to one of the most famous Egyptologists of the 20th century,

the man who opened the tomb of King Tut. That gives it a kick extra. How big is that kick? I don't know.

-Yeah.

-Let us say,

conservatively, it's probably worth somewhere in the region

-of £2,000, £3,000.

-Lovely. That's very nice. Thank you for telling me that.

Now this is a heroic piece, isn't it?

-I think that's the best way of describing it.

-Yes.

-What do you know about it?

I believe the model was an airman in the Second World War, a pilot.

And it's by Dora Gordine.

Gordine, yes.

When I started to look into the background and everything,

I found later on, about the house that she'd given to, with a lot of these things,

-to the University of Kingston, I think it is.

-Yes.

I took myself off to London and that's how I realised I'd got something I didn't know about.

Yes. But you must have known it was a good thing. It's very powerful.

Well, we liked it. My husband liked it very much.

-And when was it produced?

-About 1942. And there are...

-There is an identical one in that house in Kingston.

-That's interesting.

You can see it's clearly signed by Dora Gordine.

-Yes.

-And then it's actually got number 4.

-4 of 6.

Quite a small edition for bronzes, it was often nine.

Dora Gordine, you'll probably know,

-born in Petersburg of a Russian mother and a Scottish father.

-Yes.

She brings to English sculpture between the wars,

a really quite an exotic feel, I think, a new influence.

It's not just from Russia and it's not just from Singapore, where she later spent some time.

I think his features are slightly Asiatic, actually, don't you think?

-The way the eyebrows are done, there's a slightly Asiatic feel to the face.

-Yes, I agree, yes.

I wondered whether she picked that up in Singapore, where she went with her first husband.

At any rate, the other thing she did was spend time in Paris,

where she met the French sculptor, Aristide Maillol.

Now, he is quite clearly a strong influence on this sculpture, I think, because he went in for

this very heroic style, very far apart from what Rodin was doing at the same time,

which is very flowing and very human.

You'd expect that, actually, thinking about it, of an airman in the Second World War,

-because they did save the country, the Battle of Britain.

-Absolutely.

-So there's an appropriateness to the stance, to the figure. This is the personification of the hero.

-Yes.

Have you had it valued?

I was told, when I went, um, to Kingston,

that it was not possible to value him

because one had never come on the market before.

-There hasn't been one on the market.

-And I don't think still there has.

But there is, on the other hand, a big resurgence of interest in the art of this period.

Um...and particularly the sculpture of this style.

It should command a price about £6,000 retail,

-but it's not something you'll be selling, I imagine.

-I would not sell it, no.

We always rather liked him.

-Where he is at home, it's a very, very austere background, you know.

-Suits it quite well.

He's not going to come out so well here!

Time to be amazed by this week's dedicated collector.

Without show business, there is no business for Fred Mead because he collects theatrical memorabilia.

-In fact, not so much collect as amass.

-We do, Michael.

We have 6,000 items at home, covering most of the performing arts.

And all your life you've been collecting?

I've been collecting since I've been about 11 when I first saw a theatre programme that my parents took me to.

-Has it been difficult to find these pieces?

-Some are quite rare.

Most come from dealers or specialist collectors.

Some of the items, in fact, come from actors themselves,

because if you write a nice letter, you may be lucky to get a souvenir sent back.

So this is just a selection. What's the oldest piece you've got?

The oldest items come from the Roman era.

These are Roman theatre tickets, or theatre tokens.

I think it's interesting to think as to what kind of performances these tokens may have seen.

They could have been gladiatorial contests, or even mimes, of course.

-So the performers might not have finished the show?

-Indeed! That's probably quite true.

-Fred, who was Chung Ling Soo?

-Chung Ling Soo was as much a mystery off stage as he was on.

He was a very famous Chinese conjuror who appeared around 1900,

and whenever he appeared for interviews, he always had an interpreter with him.

His most famous trick was the bullet-catch trick.

In this trick, two guns would be loaded and aimed at Chung Ling Soo, and fired.

He'd catch the bullets in his teeth and drop them into a plate at the end of the performance.

One evening, he didn't check the apparatus.

When the guns were fired, the bullets hit Chung Ling Soo, he fell to the stage and died the following day.

But the mystery didn't end there.

Only after he died did the general public realise that he wasn't Chinese at all,

but an American conjuror by the name of William Ellsworth Robinson.

This is an unusual autograph, because Chung Ling Soo had autographed the album page

and had written, "Go slowly - you will live longer." Slightly ironic.

-Do my eyes deceive me, or is that a letter from Houdini?

-Yes. It is a letter from Houdini, the magician.

Synonymous with magic, but more famous for escapology, of course.

Houdini, as you probably know, died in 1926

after somebody struck him in the stomach

because he said he could withstand almost any blows, which he could,

but Houdini wasn't prepared for this blow when this student hit him.

Unfortunately, so the story goes, it ruptured his appendix.

A letter from Houdini, addressed to somebody in Southend-on-Sea!

David Garrick was from Lichfield. He would have been interested in this.

-Are you a frustrated thespian?

-Frustrated maybe, but I'm not quite sure about thespian.

You do the occasional trick, do you?

-You can use your props? That fan, for example?

-We can use...

I'm not actually a magician, but this is a rather unusual fan that I could actually say to you,

-"Thank you, good night."

-Follow that!

Imagine yourself as a guest at an English country estate.

You've just arrived and are waiting for the main meal of the day,

which would have been taken at three o'clock in the afternoon.

This is how you might have just spent the first two hours of your visit,

being shown round this wonderful landscape.

You're walking, you're talking. Here, you're flirting even.

And this lovely figure has got a fishing-line,

just flicked over into the water. I love the dog down here.

It tells us so much about what was going on at the end of the 18th century.

-How this has been done is in layers, rather like doing the backdrop of a stage set.

-I see.

Some of the figures in the front and some of the landscape

will have been painted directly reversed onto the glass.

And then, behind that, if you took it to bits, I think you would find a sheet of paper

which has also been painted with a landscape.

So you get this sort of 3D-effect.

It really is an absolutely startling image. I love it.

Tell me the story here.

Well, it's been in the family as long as I know, possibly about 100 years.

My mother-in-law used to have it in her house here in Lichfield and then,

when the house was sold and items were divided up by the family,

I particularly liked this painting and said, "Can I have it?" So...

There's not a lot known about the artists who paint these reverse paintings.

Classically, they're done in China, and they're taken from engravings and images,

for export back into the English market.

But I feel pretty certain that this in an English painter.

-I think we're looking at a figure somewhere in the region of... £3,000 to £4,000.

-Gosh!

I'm amazed.

It does, however, leave you with a slight problem, because in no way is this fitting securely in its frame.

It's completely unstable.

Because its value is that it is perfect,

the most important thing is to get it properly framed and properly secured within its frame.

Thank you very much.

I'm always absolutely delighted when people bring long case clocks along to the Roadshow,

particularly where we've got an automaton that we can get working. What do you think of that?

Well, quite frankly, that's the first time I've seen that working in my lifetime.

My father disconnected it before I was born because it didn't keep good time if the automaton was working.

-Seriously?

-Absolutely.

-You've never seen that go before?

-No.

The clock should run absolutely perfectly with that going. When it goes home, I'm sure it will.

-And you've really known it all your life?

-Oh, yes. It was the only clock we had.

We lived in the country, no radio, no electricity.

Father used to go out at nine o'clock at night and listen to the town hall clock at Preston eight miles away,

-rush in and set the clock and that set us up for two or three weeks.

-So you're a Lancashire man?

-Yes.

And here we are,

J Alker of Wigan.

You probably know there were a large family of Alkers working

for about 120 years in Wigan, and this fits in exactly.

This is one of the Johns and it fits in exactly with the date of the clock as being around 1830.

It's the most extraordinary thing because it's a highly visual clock,

absolutely typical of a north country clock from the 1830s,

and yet we've got this incredible mixture of a very military case

with this very Biblical movement. And the four spandrels,

-which are painted with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Do you know who these are?

-Faith, Hope and Charity.

Faith, Hope and Charity makes very good sense to me.

It's a very attractive dial, but not the sort of thing I'd expect to see with the rest of the case.

Then we've got these two superb pictures.

We have Nelson, we have Hardy there, we've got Royal Marines fighting on the quarterdeck.

What do you know about that?

Erm... Well, it's always intrigued me, all my life.

My wife and I tried to find out where the original is,

and it is in the museum opposite The Victory at Portsmouth.

Right, what a concoction!

What a wonderfully visual piece!

An incredibly difficult thing to value, mainly because it's not really a clock man's clock.

It's going to sell to somebody who just loves Nelson, not that you'd ever sell it.

But, as a rough guide, I suppose, if it came up at auction with all this...

-probably between £7,000 and £10,000.

-Good.

I just can't believe this is a box for a Schuco scent bottle.

Look at that! Look at the colour of it!

How did you find it in such good condition?

-A car-boot sale.

-Do you go to a lot of them?

-I do, yes.

What time do you get there?

-Half past four.

-They don't open at half past four.

-They do.

-Do they?

-They do, they do.

-And that's how you found him?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Just sitting there?

-No, it was in a chest of drawers.

That is fantastic! Look at that colour!

Schuco was a very good German maker, as you probably know.

These were patented in 1926.

The fact that he's in the original box adds another...

Well, double what he would otherwise be making at auction.

Do you mind if I ask you how much you paid?

It was £3.

-Well, you've done extremely well. With the box, £500 to £700.

-Really?

-Fantastic, thank you.

-Thanks very much.

You've brought two catalogues, Volumes Two and Three, Catalogue Of Artistic Japanese Bronze Ware.

Let's look at Volume Three,

which is "K Kakuha, most reliable and reasonable establishment in the East.

"Largest manufacturer of every description of artistic bronzes and brass ware."

-I love this shop here.

-Yes.

-Now, is it possible that one of your family members went through that very door?

-I do think it might be.

We've been travelling into Japan and into India quite a lot at the beginning of the last century

because we were cotton people in Manchester, so we were visiting that way.

I do believe that probably some of the things that we've got were chosen by those catalogues,

from them, and I think that could be why we haven't got Volume One.

I feel that Volume One is probably the one that has got the ticks and the choices in.

Do you know whether any of your family went to the great exhibitions out in Japan?

Yes, we've got a panel at home which the family tradition says

was bought at the Great Tokyo Exhibition of 1901.

-Ah!

-Whether anything else was bought at the time, I don't know.

-The family doesn't have any record of anything like that.

-That is a magical date.

-Japan, of course, had been totally isolated from Europe for most of the late 18th and 19th centuries.

-Yes.

It starts opening up in the 1860s.

-By the time we get to the Great Tokyo Exhibition of 1901, it has almost become European-ised.

-Yes.

-Hence this sort of catalogue, when Europeans like your family were out there visiting.

-Yes.

This is the thrilling thing for me. You may find it naughty of me to be ignoring these lovely pieces.

This is a wonderful catalogue. A great document.

I can't put a value on these because I have never seen such catalogues before,

but it strikes me that the family, having gone to those exhibitions,

-was intending to buy using these catalogues. They took them away as a privilege.

-Yes.

That leads me on to this piece behind us. What's its history?

Well, this is Wallace.

-Wallace.

-He's been Wallace ever since I can remember.

-It's not a very Japanese name, Wallace.

No. Well, if you remember, Stanley Holloway did a monologue and he had a stick with a horse's head handle,

and his little boy put his head in the mouth of a lion at the zoo.

I think that's why we call him Wallace.

It is a remarkably good piece.

I mean, look at the way the stripes are alternately burnished, given this matt finish,

so you've got this wonderful variation in the tone. It's an incredibly robust, muscular object.

The one thing these catalogues don't tell us is...

-Yes.

-..prices.

-Right.

Do we have any idea what Wallace might have cost?

-No, we don't.

-Right. OK.

-Well, for me, it's a toss up whether these are more valuable than this, in real terms.

-Oh, right, yes.

But, in money terms, I can say that Wallace is the sort of guy

who, if you were to buy him in a shop or at a very smart fair today,

would cost you...

-certainly in the region of £6,000 to £9,000.

-Yes.

Yes, well, he's very nice.

THEY LAUGH

This is such an interesting interior scene.

If I'm not mistaken, I think this man is looking at fossils, it appears to be.

Is this someone you know in the picture?

Yes, this is my great-grandfather, Alfred Leeds.

He was involved in digging up fossils at Eyebury, Peterborough.

And did he form a collection?

Yes, he did. He formed a collection, part of which is in the National History Museum

and the other part is at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.

What interests me is the monogram down here.

When I first saw this, there's one artist that signs with an "N",

who is called Sir William Nicholson.

But this is not his usual monogram.

-Do you know anything about Nicholson?

-Only that he was my great-grandfather's cousin.

Right. Well, looking at the date here, and it's dated 1889,

and he was born in 1872 -

an early work painted by Sir William Nicholson when he's 17 years old.

Now, he became, in the 20th century, a great artist.

He had a son,

who became almost even more famous than him.

He was called Ben Nicholson who, as you know, was the artist who went to St Ives with Christopher Wood

and he became an abstract artist.

I think it must have been a fascinating family dynamic there,

because this man's brother was the curator of the Ashmolean Museum

and also a friend of Lawrence of Arabia, so I think it must...

-It's amazing, all the connections.

-Fantastic, yes.

There was an exhibition last year of Sir William Nicholson's work in the Royal Academy,

and he is one of my favourite artists of the 20th century.

This picture,

painted when he was 17,

just shows how technically proficient he was as a 17-year-old.

His style in the 20th century goes on.

He does these still lifes of silver and flowers, and he paints silver better than anybody else.

His still lifes are really luxurious and painted loosely, and just what I call very sexy.

They're marvellous, marvellous pictures.

But to see a work like this is just so interesting, academically.

So this puts this picture, to a collector,

in a different light than just being another early picture by an artist.

Value.

I was looking at this, and I just feel that,

if this came on the market today, and because he is so important,

I think this would make probably £8,000 to £12,000 at auction.

It sounds a lot of money but, believe me, I think, academically, it's really interesting.

To a collector, I'd actually want this.

It's more than a 17-year-old boy. I wish I had a 17-year-old son that could paint like that.

-Well, it really is a weird cubist cat, isn't it?

-It is, rather, yes.

-It's quite ugly, to be honest.

-You don't like it?

-I don't like it, no.

I inherited it about 21 years ago but really don't know much about it, except that it was...

-I know Louis Wain is famous for cats.

-Well, you're quite right.

Louis Wain is very famous as an illustrator of cats, and cartoon cats in particular.

Um, but what's interesting is these funny little models made in ceramic.

Some of them are made on the Continent in hard-paste porcelain.

This one was made in the UK, in England.

It's in such lovely condition, but isn't he odd?

Yes, he is very odd. It doesn't even look like a cat to me.

-I thought it was just like a warrior lion or...

-Do you know what he's for?

-No, no.

-He's a match-holder.

-Right.

He sits there by the fireside, take your match out, strike it on the wall.

Shame he hasn't got a match strike, sometimes they do. I think he's marvellous.

-Right. Were there quite a few characters?

-I think there are between 10 and 15 different shapes.

-He dates from round about 1910, 1915, that sort of period.

-Yes.

-He is really quite an unusual one.

-Is he?

-Yeah.

-In what way?

-But you haven't done any homework on this?

-Not a lot.

My son found a similar cat and he thought it was valued at about £200, but that was a few years ago.

That's one of the common ones.

-Right.

-I'm not sure exactly how uncommon this one is.

-Right.

-But he's certainly somewhere around £1,000 mark.

-Really? You do surprise me.

-Could be more.

-For an ugly character like that?

-He's not! He is a marvellous cubist cat.

-Right. Now I know(!)

I see you like Mortimer. Of course, Mortimer is one of the premier gunsmiths

-that ever operated in London.

-Mortimer was one of the top makers, as you say.

But the two pistols here by Mortimer are unique.

They're Nelson's own. They came from the Davidson Collection, recently auctioned.

Anyone in the world could buy them, which means they would have gone out of the United Kingdom.

I thought it'd be nice to have them as the pinnacle of my collection and also to save them for the nation.

Good job you were there!

Now, you see before Nelson lost his arm at Santa Cruz, he was very much a fighting man himself.

He was always first in the boat, and first out of the boat, onto the enemy ships.

So there's every possibility he used these weapons at that time.

Let us talk about one or two. Now, we have a double-barrelled sword pistol.

Now, it's something to see a single-barrelled sword pistol, without a double barrel.

Mind you, not playing the game! One chap draws his sword and then you draw this sword and shoot him.

But, of course, one of the magical weapons. Of course this ISN'T Mortimer.

-Not at all, no.

-No, made by Nock, at the time.

A seven-barrelled volley gun.

You can imagine, you fire this and all seven barrels go off at once,

so I don't think you remain standing afterwards, you know.

-Not probably without a broken shoulder.

-Have you ever fired it?

-I have, actually.

-Have you?!

-At low charge.

-Have to be low charge.

But it's a hell of a kick.

Mmm. Nelson wouldn't allow these to be used in the firing tops

-because he was worried about the sails catching fire.

-Yeah.

But, of course, you've seen that series, Sharpe?

-That's right.

-That we've seen on television.

-The sergeant carries one of these with him, doesn't he?

-That's right.

But I suspect they're naval use rather than infantry.

Oh, yes, yes. More naval use.

Now, shall we go to one or two values here?

I think this would fetch something like £20,000.

-The seven-barrelled volley gun, of course, I think because of Sharpe series, the popularity.

-Yes.

I've seen them offered at £35,000.

Wonderful, wonderful things.

It's a privilege to handle them and see them.

This jewellery came from my late husband's family and, as far as I believe,

my father-in-law's grandmother

was nanny to Queen Alexandra and Edward VII's children,

or Lord and Lady Knollys' children,

and Lady Charlotte Knollys was lady-in-waiting to Queen Alexandra.

Well, fantastic. There's plenty of evidence to back that up, isn't there?

-Yes.

-These magnificent little presentation brooches are a sort of little march through her career.

This is the cipher of Queen Alexandra, the double A.

-Yes, that's right.

-Under the Royal crown.

So perhaps this was a Christmas present.

Maybe that's a birthday present, and yet another one.

This nanny would wear them with enormous pride, I'm sure.

These two, actually, made her swell with pride even more.

Have you thought about the date? 1902, why that would be special?

-Um...

-It's the coronation of Edward VII.

-That's right.

Certainly, Mrs Martin, the nanny,

would have shared in the great drama that surrounded the coronation

and those at that coronation would have been given a medal.

More intimate friends would have been given a brooch,

where the date 1902 is laid out on the lid.

But if we can get a measure of how intimate this relationship is,

and it very clearly is, we need to look at these stunning telegrams.

It says, "Handed in at Sandringham.

"Mrs Martin at Sir John Knollys's stable yard, St James's Palace."

And it says, and I think this is full of drama, I really do.

"Poor dear Baba and tiny Mama miss Nana very much.

"Hope she is well and not too sad, signed Princess of Wales."

Would that be the sadness of Queen Alexandra's death?

-What's the date of that?

-Yes, I suppose that's absolutely right.

-Of course, you're living with them. Absolutely marvellous.

-Yes.

-That an absolute bombshell to receive.

-Yes.

A bombshell to have taken down by the secretary at the postal office.

A very exciting moment to get that. Similar excitement here.

Fantastically exciting invitation.

It says, "At Sandringham, the Queen wishes to let Nana know

-"that she's expected here as usual for Christmas."

-That's lovely.

-Fantastic. Straight from the heart.

-Quite a closeness. Very nice.

-These were enormously important people

that sent these telegrams, gave these jewels.

What do you really feel about them?

I just love them.

I feel as though I'd like to go back in time and be a part of it.

But, I suppose, in a way, I am a part of it, because they've ended up in my care.

So, value... Goodness.

This is almost vulgarity to value them, isn't it?

I mean, I don't know where to start.

A little medallion from the coronation of Edward VII.

£500 or £600, perhaps, for that.

Gosh.

And a brooch commemorating the same occasion, maybe £1,250.

-Gosh!

-And then move on to this one, slightly smaller,

but much more complex. It's a reverse intaglio.

It's made of rock crystal that's been engraved from behind,

with the cipher of the Queen,

then painted from behind, so it seems to be in 3D,

backed with mother of pearl and then sealed in gold.

And original box, um, £1,500 maybe.

-SHE GASPS

-£1,750, I don't know.

A watch, a gorgeous watch.

Actually plain, but sophisticated.

Well, maybe £2,000.

And then back here with more colour, in translucent green enamel and white enamel and pearls.

They're not only masterpieces of ciphers and monograms,

but they're also thought out in colour, in texture and in 3D.

-They are little sculptures in boxes, so £2,000 for that one.

-Gosh!

So, heavens above, I don't know, what does it all add up to?

-I nearly didn't bother to come today.

-Did you not?

-Nearly stayed at home and decorated.

I'm massively relieved that you put the paintbrush down!

-Thank you!

-You completely made my day. This is absolutely marvellous.

-I know you'll take great care of them, because you care about them, don't you?

-Oh, yes, I do, very much.

In the past, when we've broadcast from great churches like this,

people have told us they're uncomfortable about us

discussing the values of material things in such places.

-Canon Tony Barnard, do you feel there's a conflict?

-We always think carefully where we draw the line.

But, basically, the things that have been brought are beautiful treasures,

beautiful artefacts, and the Church has a long tradition of sponsoring the arts. We still do it today.

More importantly, it's bringing hundreds of people into the cathedral

who probably wouldn't come here otherwise,

and they can be touched by the beauty of the place that we're standing in, and hopefully by God.

It's been a wonderful day all round, then.

-Thank you for that seal of approval, and for your hospitality.

-We've enjoyed it very much.

And from Lichfield Cathedral, until the next time, goodbye.