Rochdale Town Hall Antiques Roadshow

The idea of civic pride isn't exactly all the rage these days,

but there was a time when cities and towns across the land

wanted everyone to know they were special.

"If you've got it, flaunt it", was the cry.

The best way to do that was to dazzle the world with your public buildings.

Our venue this week is a perfect example - it's a masterpiece of Gothic revival architecture.

And it has the lot - magnificent stained glass windows,

vaulted ceilings, grand stairways, wonderful Minton tiled floors,

stone and wood carvings worthy of a stately home.

There's even a great organ.

Is this another of our great cathedrals?

In fact it's a town hall.

We're in Rochdale, Lancashire, home of the Co-op Movement and once an industrial boom town.

In the Victorian era the town's leaders wanted to prove

they had enough brass and "chutzpah" to turn a functional building into a work of art.

Rochdale's old coat of arms hints at where the brass came from.

A woolsack and a ram suggest a woollen industry.

But the crest also features a large garland of cotton buds.

In the 19th century the cotton mill chimneys of Rochdale were smoking for England.

The population exploded as workers, many of them women, poured in from

the countryside to the factories to operate steam-driven power looms like this one.

Lancashire became the cotton goods capital of the world.

The mill workers themselves lived in atrocious conditions.

Some of Rochdale's councillors opposed the plan to build a grand town hall

because they felt the money would be better spent on decent sanitation.

Half the streets in town didn't have the luxury of a sewer.

But by 1866 the budget was approved and the foundation stone was laid, although the building ended up

costing nearly eight times Crossland's original estimate of £20,000.

Rochdale eventually got a decent sewage system too.

Designed for public meetings and concerts, the Great Hall is the setting for today's Roadshow.

Above our heads, an enormous hammer beam ceiling based on one at Westminster.

And on all sides, stained glass windows that depict every monarch of England,

from William the Conqueror to Queen Victoria.

Now that's flaunting it!

And it's time for the people of Rochdale to do a bit of showing off for our experts.

What a nice little group of pieces, aren't they?

How did you come by them?

My mum's aunt left my mum £500 in her will when she died.

I've got two brothers and two sisters, so my mum decided to give us £100 each.

My brothers and sisters were all given £100 to go and do what they wanted with.

Whereas I was only quite young, there's quite a big difference in our ages,

so my mum decided that it would be better if we went to an antique shop.

It might be quite nice to go and spend the money on some antiques.

Hence, I've still got my £100.

-You've got yours still. Your brothers and sisters spent it on wine, women and song.

-I think they squandered.

It's remarkable for a youngster to want to buy these things.

-Did you like them at the time? Did you fall in love with them?

-I did. It was between us what we chose.

-The girls are pretty.

-They're fascinating things, aren't they?

The two figures are French.

The two girls, a pair, nice to have the pair, they're Jean Gille

of Paris, in bisque.

That's an unglazed body which lets the flesh show very beautifully.

I think they're absolutely lovely and in remarkable condition.

The pot here is Doulton of Lambeth,

with a pattern called "Chine" -

this sort of lovely little shining gold decoration on the top.

Chine decoration, about 1900.

Whereas the French figures

are about 1870, something like that.

The little tiny group,

these little three girls, seated on there, on the top of a box,

they've put the thing on top of a box.

-Right.

-They're made by a firm called Conta & Boehme of Germany.

So little fairings, things somebody bought when they went to Brighton

or to, I suppose, Blackpool, or something locally here, wasn't it?

And brought it back and gave it to mother.

So those aren't complete but I think they're wonderful.

Thinking of value, your £100, do you think it might have increased a bit?

Well over 30 years, maybe it would have gone up a little bit, perhaps.

We'll see.

-The little figures, I suppose they're going to be £20, £30.

-Right.

They lack their box underneath.

-Yes.

-The chine vase, should be one of a pair.

-You haven't got the pair?

-No.

£80 to £100.

-Really?

-So that's nearly your...

I've nearly got my £100.

-You've got your £100 there, haven't you?

-Right.

But the French figures are very nice.

I think, probably in value, they're going to be say £600 or £700.

-Really?

-So your £100 has multiplied alarmingly!

-Wow!

-That's jolly nice, and instead of wine, women and song, you've got these.

-That shows them, doesn't it?

-Yes, yes.

Have you got any marine background to the family?

None at all, none at all.

My uncle was in the Merchant Navy but apart from that, none at all, no.

-So this hasn't come down through the family?

-No.

This is the only antique my father ever bought, I think.

My mother, she got plenty, but this is the only one he bought.

Right. It's a very well designed barometer

-and the chap who invented it, he didn't make the barometer, this man, Admiral Fitzroy.

-No.

He was really the world's, certainly this country's, first meteorologist.

And the whole weather forecasting system that we now use, basically owes a huge amount to his work.

-Yes.

-And he's an interesting man.

I think he was born about 1805 and committed suicide in 1865.

-Did he?

-And in the meantime he was a Member of Parliament,

I think he sat in the Houses of Parliament,

he was associated with Darwin, and he came up with the barometer.

But he came up with a very advanced system of how you could actually predict and forecast the weather.

Whereas before that they simply had the scales and perhaps a few simple instructions.

Well, although Admiral Fitzroy died in 1865, the vast majority of barometers were made after his death.

-This one dates from somewhere about 1880.

-Yeah.

And, as I'm sure you know, the way this one works

is you have two knobs here that can adjust the needles.

-Yes.

-The pointers, depending upon what, set for yesterday, set for today.

And you have two sets of scales - the winter and summer.

So, if you set it today,

apparently it's hot and raining, or it could be much rain and snow!

Now they come in various qualities.

It's not signed. I don't know who the exact maker was.

But this is quite a superior one because the scales are all enamelled.

And some of them are in cardboard, printed paper.

So this is a rather good one.

Quite a nice size, decorative carving, well-made.

Do you know what he paid?

No, I don't.

-He wouldn't have paid a lot.

-No, I don't think so.

-25 years ago...

-Well, no, longer than that.

About the '30s, I think he probably bought it. In the '30s.

They weren't very popular then. People didn't understand the significance.

He had it in the porch, he used it daily. He followed it daily.

Yep, well he's done all right, I think.

Nowadays, £1,500.

£1,500 to £1,800.

That is a surprise, that.

It's a lovely hall. Have you been here before?

Yes, it's beautiful. Yes, I've been to you know, dances in there.

-Oh, really?

-When I was younger, you know.

What, ballroom dancing?

Oh, yes, ballroom, dinner dances and things like that.

And who did you come here with?

-Me cousins, actually.

-Oh, right, not your husband?

Oh, no, I hadn't met him then.

Anyway, these boxes, why did you bring them along today?

Because they've been in the family for years and years.

I don't know how far they go back at all, you know.

-So, that's really the question, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-How old are they?

And there are a couple of clues here.

This one is dated 1616.

-Yeah.

-And the other is dated in a very similar place, right down.

Right at the bottom.

1542.

-So the suggestion is that they're 16th and 17th century.

-That's right.

This is a very standard form of piece of furniture around that date.

-Right.

-People used coffers to store everything from textiles...

-That's the proper name for them, coffers?

-Coffers, yes, or little joined chests.

-Yes.

So the question is, do we believe the date or not?

-Well.

-What do you think?

I haven't a clue, I haven't a clue.

Well, the problem with them really is that they're a bit of everything.

-Right.

-And so, whilst there are some old pieces of timber within them,

they've almost certainly been constructed or made in the 19th century.

And on this one it's very clear that the whole box has been constructed out of various sections of timber.

But in order to match all these different bits of timber from different dates together,

they've put a nice thick glare of dark staining over the top.

Yes, to make it look authentic.

Exactly. This, I think, is really quirky. Where does this live?

It doesn't fit in anywhere at all.

-I had a cover made for it to match the bedroom.

-You cover it up?!

Cover over it, so that it blends in with the bedroom.

Blends in with the bedroom, right.

Well, one of the things that's wrong with this is the top.

-You daren't touch it.

-Well, I can see that you, was it you who put the Blu Tack on

to try to keep the whole thing together?

I've seen all sorts of restoration, but I don't think I've seen...

I was told I hadn't to put nails in it.

-So you went for the Blu Tack option instead?

-Yeah.

I am going to attempt to lift it.

And again here, now that's a very good example of where...

-Peeling off.

-..the dark staining, exactly.

-You can see it's almost like a black paint that's been applied to it.

-Yes.

They're just decorative boxes.

-Yeah.

-Little sort of 19th-century creations.

Taking a bit perhaps from earlier centuries, putting all the pieces together.

-Yes.

-As far as value goes, because they're 19th century pieces...

-Not worth anything.

-I wouldn't say nothing.

-Oh.

-But a piece like this would be around, I suppose, £80 to £120.

And a small chest like this, around perhaps £150 to £200.

Oh, right. So I can get rid of them?

-You can't, or you can?

-I can, I can.

Well, yes. I mean, if it's just covered up in your...

Well, you just keep holding on thinking well, well, well.

Now I know, they can go.

Now when I first saw this little gold pencil,

I could see it was a very, very good thing.

And there's an inscription here that suggested that it was made by a firm called Sampson Mordant.

And it was. But you know more about it than that, don't you?

Well, it was given to the wife of a friend of mine.

Apparently it was an old gentleman who she used to take care of.

But he used to live in London, from what I gather,

-and he worked for the government. That's about all I know.

-That's all.

But we can find out a bit more, because when we read this inscription,

it says, "The gift of His Majesty George IV, 25th December,"

"Christmas Day, 1825".

-I think that's a bit of a belter, don't you?

-I think so, yes.

A gold pen by Sampson Mordan set with an amethyst in the end.

A propelling pencil, given by King George IV.

He's a very fascinating character because

he missed the genetic gene bank rather conspicuously.

He had 15 intimate friendships in his life.

The upshot of those is that he's said to have had as many as 14 illegitimate children.

He acknowledged very far fewer than that.

And he had one legitimate child who died in childbirth, Princess Charlotte.

And the upshot of that was, the succession went to the Duke of Kent, who'd just given birth

to what was to become Queen Victoria.

So, it's just a sort of inch away from an enormously powerful situation.

And fate would not have it that the giver of this pencil

was to be the father of the next generation of monarch.

And so, I think it's a rather powerful thing.

He was a rather full figure. Do you know about King George IV?

-Not a lot.

-No, a very, very big man.

Had a home in Brighton which is the Brighton Pavilion.

Huge sense of design and discrimination, without doubt.

I think that's a very quietly beautiful thing.

I think what is exciting about it is that the royal inscription's very tiny.

It takes a while to find it.

But anyway, something from a king's hand, not bad, eh?

What do you reckon it's going to cost to buy something from a king's hand to somebody?

Oh, I wouldn't have a clue.

No. Heaven only knows what it was.

Maybe it was to one of the ladies of the 15 intimate friendships, I don't know.

Anyway, I'd be jolly pleased to pay £600 or £700 for it, I really would.

-Really?

-Would you?

Probably.

What a fascinating bit of furniture.

It is fascinating for several reasons to me -

first off, it's been used,

but not in a home, it's too dusty.

-Yeah.

-But it has the warmth of use.

So, you tell me if I'm right, where has it been -

in a garage or an office?

It's been in a garage as the office desk.

It belonged to me father and his father.

-His father took it as a debt.

-Really?

-Yeah. I don't know how much the debt was,

but I believe the office it came from was in the Corn Exchange Buildings in Manchester.

-Right, OK.

-That's about as much as I know.

Well, I mean that makes sense.

First of all, I think it reflects several periods of social history.

-First of all it's a Chinese piece of furniture.

-Yeah.

It's very, very flamboyant, very elaborate, which makes it late 19th century.

But the interesting thing is that when this was bought,

probably in London from Liberty's or somewhere like that, major store,

maybe in the north, but it was a huge amount of money and it had to look like a lot of money.

So when it came here, like this hall, I mean money was no object in the late 19th century.

It was a display of huge wealth.

And this is typical. This was the most luxurious thing you could buy,

not only an English decorated piece, something from China.

Something from the Far East was magical and looked wonderful,

and looked a lot of money. Then it went out of fashion.

I'm ashamed to say now that pieces like this were broken up and thrown away.

I was partially guilty.

I mean, you know, this was not saleable in the 1950s.

You couldn't sell it, couldn't give it away.

Now, gradually it's coming back.

Now I'll tell you something about it.

Why I'm interested as a piece of furniture -

a little detail means nothing to most people -

to me is magic, is that handle and that little escutcheon.

Those you would find on a piece of Chinese furniture made in the English style from 1780 onwards.

This man was using the same old dyes, the same casting

as his family had used to make furniture for a hundred years.

That's why that is totally out of date to this.

Looks great though, it worked.

So I think probably between £4,500 and £5,000 would be reasonable at the moment.

But it will go up.

There's no question that one day this will be the equivalent of what

it cost when it was new, which would have been probably £20,000 or £30,000 in the same money.

-But it will come up to that.

-Yeah.

-Perhaps not in my time, but certainly in theirs.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Now for this week's most addicted collector.

The love of his life is one that dare not speak its name.

We're referring to cigarette packets.

Chad Irwin, your collection started long before there were health warnings on cigarettes.

That's right, I was collecting for about ten years.

It was an area which people were just, were just ignoring.

I decided to collect up as many of the old packets as I could find.

-Have you any idea how many you've got?

-I've got quite a few thousand.

It seems like a whole lot of smoking was going on there.

I've never seen such an array. And this is only a tiny representation.

I mean how many cigarette companies were there?

There was, um, literally every town had its own cigarette company, or there used to be three or four

in each town. I mean Chester alone had five manufacturers, Liverpool probably had about 60 manufacturers.

Turn of the century was the heyday for cigarette packets.

In those days they were very, very pictorial as you can see.

And were there any from, from Rochdale?

Did Rochdale have a manufacturer?

Rochdale with the start of the Co-op, with Rochdale Specials.

On the back it says, "Rochdale Pioneer Society Ltd."

And some very interesting names as well.

Nimble Dick, five Nimble Dicks there.

They were mostly sold to the miners in South Wales.

They were small packets because they were able to put them inside their top pockets when they were working.

Do you have a favourite? Is that a silly question?

My favourite packet is called Tit-Bits,

which is made by a company from Manchester called B Muratti.

I believe this is about 1892.

And the reason you love that so much?

It's very, very pictorial.

It's just got everything that you would want in a cigarette packet.

And do you come across packets with the cigarettes still in them?

About every 50 packets I find, I usually find one with the cigarettes still in.

And those particular type of packets, we call them "live packets".

-Live?

-Live packets.

-Like ammunition, they're live.

-Yes.

-Some of them are very grand.

This has got the royal touch here, what's the story behind that box?

This is Lambert & Butler and it's their New Reign cigarettes.

They're 22-carat-gold-tipped

-and they're from about 1902, coronation.

-Are they all there?

They're pretty well all there, yes.

I think maybe one or two have been sneaked out and smoked I'm afraid.

-They were even sold by chemists.

-That's right.

We've got a few examples here of cigarettes sold by chemists,

which was Boots asthma cigarettes and catarrh

and on the back it tells you how to actually use these cigarettes -

"Inhale the smoke, keep it into the lungs as long as possible to get the maximum benefit".

-Boots the Chemist.

-Boots the Chemist, I'm afraid.

There's another company from Wigglesworth, Fumora, they also did,

"for asthma, catarrh and bronchitis."

Then another company, Kinsman.

But there was quite a lot of companies producing asthma cigarettes.

Some were recommended by doctors as well.

What stopped the huge production, the huge number of companies?

Basically, lots of these companies were swallowed up by the big combines.

That was the decline and the end of really nice pictorial packets.

Now that smoking is so politically incorrect, does that add a certain flavour to you as a collector?

Yes, well I like to collect them

because it's a part of our social history which has been ignored.

It's a shame that if somebody doesn't collect these things,

in the future people won't realise you know, how pictorial, and how much art work there was.

GENTLE TINKLING

Makes the most phenomenal sound, doesn't it?

-Yes.

-What a lovely thing. Have you got this in your front room at home? Where does it live?

It's in the public lounge in a public house.

-You run a public house?

-Yes, yes.

-Is it a draw for the people coming into your pub?

-Very much so, yes.

-And have you had it for a long time?

-We've had it for, well it's been in my husband's family for 60, 70, 80 years.

-Has it really?

-Yes.

-Because they're brilliant things these.

-Yes.

I mean the tradition of making music mechanically

using a machine goes back right to the 18th century.

But in the 19th century they made music out of a solid bar, a cylinder music box.

It wasn't until one particular moment in the 1880s that they developed this type of music player.

On the top here it says "Polyphon".

-Yes.

-That's the trade name for this type of player.

It's peculiar because they made all the music on these tin discs.

-Shall we have a demo?

-Yes.

All right, so out comes the Mikado.

-Yes.

-Which has got all these brilliant holes in it which tie up

with the mechanism, which is playing the music on a series of teeth.

-Which is brilliant, isn't it?

-Yes.

-But in this extraordinary, vertical format.

-Yes.

And what I like about them

is where you get the CD storage disc, down underneath here.

So if I file that one

and we take that chap out,

which is a lovely waltz,

insert the disc on top of the machine like that.

It's a great piece of kit.

The whole thing died a death in 1905.

Between 1905 and 1907 these things were completely obsolete,

just like a CD player coming along and being

in fashion for a few years and then being superseded by something else.

A very tight time frame really, 1880-1907.

But it's a great survival.

They're very sought after, particularly in America because these people, Polyphon,

started a factory in America, and in America these players are called Regina players.

Particularly the coin-op ones, they love them.

I think you could get at auction, say between £4,000 and £5,000.

-Are you going to play us a tune?

-Yes.

-Yes.

TINKLING

What an extraordinary pair of plates. Did you buy them or not?

No, they belonged to me mother.

I inherited them from her.

-Clumsy, was she?

-No, not really.

-Did she make them?

She made them, yes.

And where did she get all these shards and remnants of porcelain and pottery from?

I believe they're from the local tip.

So she went to the local tip,

found all these bits and pieces and made a couple of plates.

Let's have a look at them. They're heavy, aren't they?

They are.

And the fascinating thing is, from my point of view,

is to try and see how many factories one can see

in the porcelain and pottery that you've got here.

You've got a bewildering example, it's wonderful.

I mean, if we take the girl's head,

-that's probably German bisque porcelain.

-Really?

-Dating from about 1880-1890.

-Yeah.

Here, what looks like the border of a Staffordshire blue and white,

perhaps willow pattern plate

dating from the 1850s.

You've got a bit of cranberry glass here.

All this porcelain dates from the 1850s to the 1920s.

-Really?

-So that sort of period.

Well, I should imagine she's made them after 1900 up to 1920,

-something like that.

-Yes, yeah.

-And I must ask you, do you have them hanging on the wall?

-Yes.

And you find them attractive?

-Oh, yes, they're in the hall.

-Well, they are unique, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-And they're extremely colourful.

I think they're terrific.

I suppose if they were in a shop, I would expect, as a novelty item

for them to be priced at perhaps £100 or £150 for the pair.

-Really?

-But good for your mother, is all I can say.

-Yeah.

-It must've taken her a long time to make them. Very much a one-off but I think they're great.

-So thanks for bringing them in.

-Right, thank you very much.

It's a pity that not all children are this well behaved.

-Look at them, they're very attentive, they're doing exactly as they're told.

-Wonderful.

I find them very interesting because not only are they very large dolls,

it's a very interesting kind of contradiction with these two dolls.

Which one's the prettier to you?

Which one do you most like?

If they were children I couldn't really say, could I?

-But I think she's the prettiest.

-You think she's prettier?

-Yes.

-Now that's interesting in itself.

I think she's the prettier but I have a little bit of inside knowledge, I suppose, as well.

What we have are two very different strata of dolls.

She's a German doll.

Looking at this doll here, I know she's a French doll.

Now in order to reveal more,

I really have to look at the backs of their heads.

Can you tell me while I'm doing this, how did you come across large dolls like this?

Did you purchase them at auction? Are they something you collected?

-This one here, belonged to a lady who was emigrating to New Zealand.

-Right.

She was such a large doll, she couldn't take her along.

Right.

Knowing my interest in dolls, she asked me if I'd like to buy her.

-So I bought her from the lady.

-I see right, OK.

Well, on the back of her head she's marked "AM" with a 1-5 in the middle.

-AM for Armand Marseille.

-Yes.

Very well known manufacturer

who basically specialised in producing an enormous range of dolls.

The 1-5 mould is relatively common in many respects.

If we stand her back up, pop her there.

Looking at this doll, if we turn around,

we're into a different ball game.

Here we're talking about a doll which is regarded as being the Rolls-Royce of manufacturers.

And if we look here, we can see the words "Tete Jumeau", which in doll terms is an absolute magic word.

Jumeau, one of the best doll manufacturers that people like to collect, to be honest with you.

Now that's why I was interested to see which one you liked most.

You didn't go for what I regard as the expensive doll as being the best-looking.

Which is wonderful in many ways because this doll here

is probably worth at auction maybe around about £250 to £350.

-What did you pay for her, can you remember?

-I paid £200.

-How long ago?

-Last year.

-Last year.

-Yes.

-We're not far off then.

-No, that's about it.

We're about on the mark. Now this beauty is a different matter.

I'd like to know what you paid for her

and how long ago you paid it?

I think it was about £800 and it was over 20 years.

Now £800 is quite a lot of money.

-It was.

-And 20 years ago, it wasn't a small amount of money.

-Yes, my heart was pounding.

The price was going up and there was one other lady bidding with me, against me.

-Right.

-And I'd got £500 in me mind.

-Once it gets to £500 I'll have to stop.

-And you got auction fever.

I continued and continued until...

-And you couldn't stop. I bet you've never regretted it, have you?

-No I haven't. I'm very pleased.

That's the thing with auction buys. In spite of going that extra mile, you've never regretted it.

-No.

-You'll be pleased to know that essentially,

in the present market because she's a Jumeau, she's worth up to £2,000.

-So after all that heartache, I think you did all right in the end.

-Yes, thank you.

A cracked Chinese porcelain bowl from the 1920s.

Essentially not of any real value at all but why have you brought it to show us?

Well, it was my uncle's, who was a Japanese prisoner of war.

He had nothing to drink from, and a Malay prisoner gave him that.

When I asked him where he was, he said he was on the river building a bridge.

So the bridge would be the River Kwai?

So this sustained him all his time while he was there.

All the time he was in... Just over four years.

-And then he brought it back.

-He brought it back to England

when he was released.

So the piece, as humble as can be, yet given a very different meaning

because it was passed on to your uncle

-to save his life almost.

-Yes.

People who lived during the Second World War and in the 1950s

and '60s would know the name Albert Pierrepoint.

He was one of Great Britain's official executioners and one who did execute a great number of people.

Can you tell me how you got this interesting archive?

Yes, he gave it to me over the years and the books are signed to me.

We were very great friends.

We went to each other's homes, shared holidays and what have you.

We had a really good time, and he was a very kind man, very kind.

A lot of people would think that it's macabre owning material like this.

Did you find it in any way makes you uncomfortable or unpleasant?

-Nothing whatsoever, no. It's part of history, it's part of life.

-Yes.

And you know, people make fortunes out of stories about criminals today.

Albert really believed he was put on this earth from a higher being

to actually carry out this job.

And he believed it was vengeance on behalf of the state,

because murder will never stop.

People will always commit murder. He really believed that.

People say, "Oh, he didn't believe in hanging". Not true.

Albert said it never solved it.

That's very clear, because I can remember reading this book when I was a boy at school.

I was absolutely fascinated by it.

At the end of it, his conclusion that it acted as no deterrent, you know, I found very, very interesting.

-And this has got a dedication in it.

-That's right.

-That's his signature on it.

-That's it.

-How wonderful.

Now I understand these are the little diaries or records that he kept of all the people that he executed.

-Yeah.

-With their age, height, weight and the amount of drop that

they gave them. Presumably he would have got the

drops from the table here which was officially issued by the Home Office.

Yeah, because when somebody's in custody for a long while,

as you know, they lose a huge amount of weight with the worry.

And also with a death sentence over you.

So even when they go into prison, they're weighed and then obviously

the day before the execution he looks at them again.

So there was that last bit of personal discretion

on the professional judgement of the executioner.

Yeah, and Albert was, without a doubt, an expert on it.

I'm very interested in this entry here.

William Joyce. I think a lot of people will know that he was far better known as Lord Haw-Haw.

-That's right.

-And he was executed for treason.

There's Derek Bentley - very, very controversial case.

Is Ruth Ellis in here?

Yes, she's in there, yes, 53.

That was again a very, very controversial execution

-and she was of course the last woman to be executed.

-That's right.

I suspect that probably pushed the death penalty on the slope downwards towards abolition.

But this is an absolutely fascinating and very important archive.

It's a very difficult thing to put a value on.

It's a very, very limited market and there are not many instances when you

see material like this coming up for sale.

My view is that it would make between £3,000 to £5,000 if it were to come to auction.

It could do very much more if you've got the right people there on the right day.

Whatever its monetary worth is, I think it's got a far greater worth because of its historical importance.

I hope that it's going to be preserved for posterity because it is part of our history.

I believe it is, also.

Now, what have we got in here? Let's have a look.

Brushes. Any significance in the brushes?

Well, I happen to know that the brushes belonged to LS Lowry.

Fascinating. Right.

And my parents were friends of Lowry's.

It was a friendship that was established in the 1960s and went on until his death in 1976.

I don't know the circumstances for the brushes being handed over,

but they were given to my father.

Well, I think this is absolutely remarkable.

Here in Rochdale, and almost on Lowry territory,

we are handling the tools of one of the modern masters of British painting in the 20th century.

They're remarkably tactile objects, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-And also, you almost feel there's an

organic quality, as if it's an extension of the artist himself. It's a link between the artist.

Very much so. It's the way the paint goes all the way down to the bottom.

The value of these objects is a very difficult one to speculate on.

To someone who's an avid collector of Lowry, someone who wants to

possess not only his paintings but the tools of his trade,

a broad estimate and a comfortable estimate would probably be somewhere

-in the region of £500 to £1,000.

-Right.

Somewhere in between.

-I had no idea of that.

-They're very beautiful.

-They're just lovely instruments of his trade.

-I know.

-It's a thrill to see them.

-And it's a good job they were never cleaned.

-Indeed.

Henry, I want you to look deep into my eyes -

-I'm taking you back to Rochdale 1991.

-Oh, God, yes.

The worst day of my life.

I was down there on a table and this chap brought in a beautiful vase made by Minton, decorated by Solon,

worth, oh, I don't know £6,000 to £8,000.

I said, "I want to record it"

and he wouldn't do it. We argued a bit about it, and he agreed finally.

Then I had a tap on my shoulder - would I go off and see the producer.

So I said, "Excuse me," to the chap. "I won't be long".

He put the lid back on the box, off I went, to be met by a

detective chief superintendent from the serious crime squad.

-DETECTIVE:

-The gentleman with the vase, is somebody who's of interest to us.

Oh, I see. Might be a stolen piece?

The thing is, if you can press him a little bit,

he might reveal a few facts, a few connections.

Something we haven't got, is that OK?

So I went back, the lid was on the box and we sat there, we chatted and I was scared stiff.

I thought he might have a gun.

Then eventually a uniformed bobby burst his way through the crowd

and said to this man, "I'm arresting you".

The fellow jumped up, knocked onto the floor this box which smashed.

I could hear the smash. I sat there staggered and frightened stiff.

He went tearing off down the town hall and this policeman said, "I think it's broken, sir".

I said, "I think it is". He picked up the box, starts rattling it and I said, "Don't do that!".

I turned and looked at him, it was Noel Edmonds.

I'd been stitched up for a Gotcha Oscar. I've never ever forgotten it.

I found out afterwards they'd switched the box so they hadn't broken this precious pot.

And only last year, this pot was sold in London for £35,000.

Oh, thank God they didn't smash it.

But it was horrible shock.

-But a happy ending for someone.

-A happy ending for somebody.

-But not you.

-Not me, no.

I don't want you to get the wrong impression, but I've been willing you to come in today.

-Now we've never met before, have we?

-No.

But anybody who collects Pilkington pottery, let's say that again,

Pilkington's Lancastrian pottery, is my sort of person.

First of all Pilkington's Royal Lancastrian pottery is based at Swinton, at Clifton Junction.

-Which is how many miles away from here?

-About 12.

-About 12 miles away.

-12 mile, yes.

-OK.

And for my money

it's the premier art pottery of the late 19th, early 20th century.

I'm biased because I'm a Lancastrian, you'll forgive me that, won't you?

-I am meself.

-Ah, I'm glad to hear it.

Let's start with the earliest one.

The plate at the end is dated 1906.

Now it's interesting because it's actually been signed

by somebody called Foy Evans.

To be frank with you,

I don't know who that is because I'm still learning.

The plate's Pilkington because on the back it's got an impressed "P"

which is a mark you'll get on pots which tend to be late 19th, early 20th.

Now because it has the possibility of being an outside decorated piece, it's difficult to value.

So, I could only hazard that you know, a collector

may venture somewhere in the region of round about £150 for it.

-Am I on safe territory?

-Yeah.

-What did it cost you?

-£115.

Right, OK.

Let's get to these because they are jewels.

What is it that attracts you to Pilkington's pottery?

Let's see, the style and the layers on it.

Let's give it a twirl because the thing with Lancastrian pots is that they change colour,

almost in different light - artificial light, strong daylight, evening light.

The control of this lustre decoration was something they really specialised in.

This particular vase

has been decorated, and the great thing is he's put his monogram underneath there,

William Salter Mycock.

Yes.

A great servant to the Pilkington pottery.

I mean he's there in the early days.

The golden age is really just before the First World War.

So that's William Salter Mycock.

Um...

value, well I'd go in there today and say that's around about £1,500.

-Yeah?

-Are we quids in here so far?

-Yeah.

Good. And then this little fella.

Let's just give it a twirl because you've got that lovely frieze,

that lovely band and this fabulous ruby lustre.

The maker, or should I say the decorator, what have we got? RJ -

-Richard Joyce.

-Richard Joyce, yes.

And again another great servant to the Pilkington dynasty.

It's a great pot and today, if I want to buy that, around about £800 to possibly £1,000.

And then finally, another pot.

I've got to look under it right away just to see who's responsible.

Again, Richard Joyce.

I think the combination of this gold lustre and this lovely

rich sort of honey glaze underneath is just magical.

I wouldn't hesitate to say a pot like that could quite easily have an asking price of around £2,000.

Oh.

So, quids in?

-Certainly is.

-Well, you haven't told me, how much did this one cost you?

About £550.

-This one?

-£400, £700.

See, and you were buying these how long ago?

The '80s.

Have you ever bought a crystal ball?

-No.

-I don't think you need one.

-No.

Now this is one of those objects where I think, and hope, I know what I'm going to see before I open it.

But before we do that, do you know what the case is made of?

I haven't a clue.

I have always treated this almost like a toy.

Well, it's what we call shagreen

which is a fish skin, normally that of a shark.

-Right.

-So it's probably shark skin and inside we find a pocket globe.

-And it's perfectly normal for them to be in shagreen cases.

-Right.

Normally with a globe like this, you can find a maker's mark on it.

Oh, yes, we've got one here,

"Cary's Pocket Globe."

That's great because John Cary was working in London,

and the firm was in London, in the late 18th and early 19th century.

-Oh, right.

-They were one of the best globe makers of the time.

It's probably dated. Have you any idea of the age?

I have no idea at all.

Yes, we have a date there, 1791.

My goodness.

So it's from the reign of George III.

How did it come into your family?

It belonged to my grandfather.

He had various knick-knacks from around the world

and it was always something that I used to play with, but never

attached any particular respect to it, because as a globe it wasn't actually particularly useful.

The idea was they're called pocket globes

because you walked around with them in your coat pocket, or in your jacket,

-and you discussed the latest developments that were going on in the world.

-Oh.

And it might be difficult for us to appreciate these days,

but the great excitement in the 18th and early 19th century when ships came back from abroad

-and had discovered new towns, and new countries even.

-Right.

And so the world was very evolving and people got frightfully excited about it.

Australia's always an interesting one to see what it was called.

If we look at this in the 1790s, Australia was called "New Holland".

-Oh, right.

-That was the name for Australia.

It's actually very fortunate to be here because it's been high up on

the list for jettison on several occasions.

-Well, I'm glad you didn't.

-No, so am I.

Any idea of values?

Well, up till now I'd always imagined it was worthless, but obviously it's not.

-No.

-But I haven't a clue, I wait with interest.

Well, I'm glad you didn't jettison it.

Because there's a great following for globes.

Recently there's been an increase in prices.

If this came up at auction today,

I guess it would probably fetch £2,500 to £3,000.

Oh!

I'm very glad I didn't jettison it.

-Perhaps you'll treat it more respect from now on.

-It will now get great respect.

There have been a lot of people in the Great Hall today, and

not surprisingly, since Rochdale is the birthplace of the Co-operative Movement, we all got on rather well.

In fact, the mayor has just invited me to step into the parlour for a cup of tea.

So, if you'll excuse me, until the next time, goodbye.