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We are being allowed a brief glimpse into the nerve centre of the Roadshow... | 0:00:31 | 0:00:36 | |
the scanner. Inside this small vehicle, parked in a corner of | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
the location, the directors are calling the shots on the items being recorded by the experts. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:45 | |
DIRECTOR: Can we have a shot on camera three, please, and come in camera one next. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:49 | |
With up to six people in there, I can tell you you'll find out | 0:00:49 | 0:00:53 | |
who your friends are... it can get very cosy. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:56 | |
It's a lovely move. Two, can I just have a look at close-ups of medallion, please, on the table? | 0:00:56 | 0:01:01 | |
Well, while they get a sneak preview of the day's best finds, | 0:01:01 | 0:01:05 | |
let me show you some unscreened gems from recent shows. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:08 | |
Tonight we visit England, Scotland and Wales in our quest for prize pieces, a journey that begins | 0:01:08 | 0:01:14 | |
in the time warp that is Beamish Open Air Museum in County Durham. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:18 | |
Well, I don't know Newcastle particularly well but this seems quite familiar somehow. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:27 | |
-Can you tell me where it is? -Well, this is the Black Middens Rocks. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:31 | |
-Notorious to seafarers in Victorian periods. -Yes. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:36 | |
It's the entrance of the Tyne, we're looking through the piers. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:40 | |
Black Middens is here which the people are standing on, | 0:01:40 | 0:01:43 | |
-er, you've got South Shields on the left here. -Right. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:46 | |
You've got North Shields with the two lighthouses, one at the bottom. | 0:01:46 | 0:01:51 | |
Oh, yes, and has it changed a lot in 150 years or so? | 0:01:51 | 0:01:55 | |
-I think it has, it has, yes. -Are there houses in the Middens like this now? | 0:01:55 | 0:02:01 | |
The Middens, you can still go there, I do believe... | 0:02:01 | 0:02:04 | |
me wife and I have been there and we can still see this rock. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:07 | |
-This rock? -This rock is still... -Has been weathered. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:10 | |
Yes, a bit but it was a big rock and we believe it's still there. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:14 | |
Marvellous, yes, so the artist has really got it right. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:17 | |
He's captured the moment. | 0:02:17 | 0:02:20 | |
Well, what I like about this picture is that it is a local scene, | 0:02:20 | 0:02:23 | |
but you know, when you look on the front it's not signed and who's it by? | 0:02:23 | 0:02:28 | |
We know vaguely, don't we, because if you look on the back, just round here | 0:02:28 | 0:02:33 | |
there's this lovely old label | 0:02:33 | 0:02:35 | |
which says "Matthew White Ridley", | 0:02:35 | 0:02:38 | |
the painter, but Matthew White Ridley | 0:02:38 | 0:02:40 | |
is not that well known. He was born in Newcastle on Tyne, and then I think he came to London | 0:02:40 | 0:02:46 | |
to make his fame and fortune and he exhibited at the Royal Academy. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:49 | |
-That's right. -And this was exhibited in the Royal Academy, I think in 1863, something like that. -Correct. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:55 | |
And the title of the picture is... | 0:02:55 | 0:02:57 | |
"Two strings to the bow". | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
..To the bow, so he's got two friends... | 0:02:59 | 0:03:03 | |
Perfect, perfect. I think it's got great charm and I think, | 0:03:03 | 0:03:07 | |
actually, for me, the value is in the fact that it's a local scene. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
The best bit of the picture I think is the landscape in the background. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:14 | |
-Yes. -Although the figures are well done, they're not as good as perhaps | 0:03:14 | 0:03:19 | |
this sort of area here. It's just so beautifully done... | 0:03:19 | 0:03:22 | |
Have you ever had it valued? | 0:03:22 | 0:03:24 | |
-Not really, no, I'm not particularly interested... -In the value. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:29 | |
In the value, I've always wanted a north-east oil painting | 0:03:29 | 0:03:33 | |
and one that displayed that vista of the Tyne. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:37 | |
-Yeah. -And when I seen it, I was standing with me back to it, | 0:03:37 | 0:03:41 | |
and me wife says, "Have you seen this picture?" | 0:03:41 | 0:03:44 | |
-And I turned round and I couldn't believe it. -Amazing. -I fell in love with it. -Yeah. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
That's the best reason for buying anything. When was this? | 0:03:48 | 0:03:52 | |
It was about three or four year ago. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:54 | |
-OK. -It was in an auction. -Tell us what you paid. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
I paid at the time, I believe... | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
-A world record price(!) -£3,000. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:03 | |
Oh £3,000, oh, well I think that's good. I mean, I honestly, without knowing that, | 0:04:03 | 0:04:09 | |
I was going to say £5,000 or £6,000 now because I just think that, you know, because of the local | 0:04:09 | 0:04:15 | |
interest and because of the topography of this picture, you've got a wonderful work. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:20 | |
So a musical jug... | 0:04:21 | 0:04:23 | |
It plays Here's A Health Unto His Majesty. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:25 | |
The words are round the back. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:27 | |
The words... Oh, the words here. Yes, Here's A Health Unto... | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
You can join in if you like. With a fa-la-la-la-la. Great, isn't it? | 0:04:30 | 0:04:36 | |
Made to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VIII... | 0:04:36 | 0:04:40 | |
How did you come by the jug then? | 0:04:40 | 0:04:42 | |
It belonged to my great-grandmother and came down through the family to my mother. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:46 | |
-And now it passed to you? -It will do, yes. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:49 | |
It will do to you. It's jolly nice, | 0:04:49 | 0:04:51 | |
made by Fieldings of Crown Devon Pottery | 0:04:51 | 0:04:55 | |
and of course 1937 but of course the... | 0:04:55 | 0:04:59 | |
Although, "long may he reign"...! | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
He hardly ever reigned at all, did he? | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
I mean, he sort of abdicated and people think therefore that | 0:05:05 | 0:05:10 | |
things that show the coronation of Edward VIII are very, very rare... | 0:05:10 | 0:05:14 | |
Mostly they're very common. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:16 | |
But the fascinating thing about this one is that it says here | 0:05:16 | 0:05:22 | |
"abdicated December 10th 1936". | 0:05:22 | 0:05:25 | |
That was when he went off with his love affair, didn't he, really? | 0:05:25 | 0:05:29 | |
Mrs Simpson, wasn't it? | 0:05:29 | 0:05:31 | |
-It was, yes. -But it's wonderful to have that, that is terribly unusual. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:36 | |
Well, I suppose if this was just a normal coronation jug in good condition, it would be worth | 0:05:36 | 0:05:43 | |
something about £400 to £500, | 0:05:43 | 0:05:46 | |
but this abdication detail puts it into a different league altogether | 0:05:46 | 0:05:51 | |
and I suppose we're looking at £700 to £800 for it. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:54 | |
-Really? -So that's the important thing to know. | 0:05:54 | 0:05:58 | |
-I thought about £20. -Whoa... | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
those days are past. | 0:06:01 | 0:06:03 | |
-Now you called it a wine cabinet. -Yes. -Because if I open this door... | 0:06:04 | 0:06:10 | |
It's interesting because we can see that it's actually fitted out | 0:06:10 | 0:06:14 | |
for wine bottles and an interesting circle in the middle - | 0:06:14 | 0:06:19 | |
which I suspect was for a soda siphon. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
That's right, that's what we normally have in. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
-Because I wouldn't call it a wine cabinet. -What would you call it? | 0:06:25 | 0:06:30 | |
Well, opening up the top here, | 0:06:30 | 0:06:32 | |
I call that a cocktail cabinet. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
-Exactly, you've got your cocktail sticks. -Absolutely. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
For me to call it a cocktail cabinet puts it into a different period, | 0:06:39 | 0:06:43 | |
-it puts it between the wars, between the First and Second World Wars to me. -Yes. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:49 | |
That was the jazz age, that was the age of the bright young things... | 0:06:49 | 0:06:53 | |
I'm not quite sure when Thoroughly Modern Millie was, | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
but it kind of suggests that idea. Did it come with glasses? | 0:06:56 | 0:07:00 | |
Just odd glasses. Not very... | 0:07:00 | 0:07:02 | |
-Didn't have all its original glasses? -No. -But it... Was this inside it? | 0:07:02 | 0:07:07 | |
-Yes, I bought these... -Cocktail sticks. -Yes, these were all with it. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:11 | |
-Lemon squeezer and strainer - all essential for making cocktails. -Yes. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:16 | |
Something missing here. Was there ever anything there? | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
No, and I've always wondered what it should be. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:22 | |
Well, I'm not absolutely sure. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:24 | |
I know that the essential bits of kit were a nutmeg grater, measuring cups, | 0:07:24 | 0:07:28 | |
but also long-handled spoons, they would have been certainly around somewhere in this, in this piece. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:36 | |
-Yes. -But what's so fascinating in a way is that when you look at it | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
-close up, you don't know it's a cocktail cabinet. -No. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:43 | |
It's only really when you open it up that everything | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
becomes revealed and so it's not being absolutely modern | 0:07:46 | 0:07:50 | |
in terms of its presentation on the outside, | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
but on the inside it's saying "We're very much up to date, we know how to have a good time in a modern way". | 0:07:53 | 0:08:00 | |
In 1930, the Savoy Cocktail Book came out | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
and it was absolutely, you know, the height of modernity and jazziness to have that. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:08 | |
Now do you enjoy this? Do you have... enjoy a little bit of a tipple? | 0:08:08 | 0:08:12 | |
Not really, it's not used to its full potential, no. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:16 | |
Well, I think it's a great thing, I have to say that it's a bit of a problem because there are people | 0:08:16 | 0:08:22 | |
who collect cocktail cabinets but often they will want that to reflect the Deco period, | 0:08:22 | 0:08:28 | |
that between-the-wars period, and this in a sense doesn't do that, | 0:08:28 | 0:08:32 | |
this is more conventional, so it wouldn't necessarily fetch | 0:08:32 | 0:08:37 | |
an enormous amount on the open market. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:40 | |
We're perhaps looking at around £300 which is maybe a bit disappointing, | 0:08:40 | 0:08:44 | |
but I think it's a great thing. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:45 | |
I wasn't really interested in the value, | 0:08:45 | 0:08:48 | |
just what it was all about really, that I wanted it to come on the show. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:54 | |
So had your bananas in this bowl this morning? | 0:08:54 | 0:08:57 | |
Yes, I did, I had to take them out to bring it down here. | 0:08:57 | 0:09:00 | |
-And that's what you usually use it for? -Oh, yes. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:02 | |
And how do you come to own it? | 0:09:02 | 0:09:06 | |
My mum bought it from a charity shop and one of her friends was wanting | 0:09:06 | 0:09:10 | |
to buy it, to have it, and when I'd seen it, I said, "No, I like it", | 0:09:10 | 0:09:15 | |
-so I won. -And why do you like it? | 0:09:15 | 0:09:18 | |
The colours, the green and the gold fleck's lovely and when you hold it | 0:09:18 | 0:09:22 | |
up to the light you can see through it. And, and... | 0:09:22 | 0:09:25 | |
-Can I, can I do that? -Yes. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:28 | |
Because it is a wonderful design, | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
with the gold, which is actually not gold, it's filings, so with | 0:09:30 | 0:09:35 | |
the light passing through, you can see this gold effect which you like and this imitates a natural stone | 0:09:35 | 0:09:41 | |
called aventurine, and the gold flecks in aventurine normally are on a green ground rather like this. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:48 | |
The effect is lovely, I think. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:50 | |
And here you can see the pontil mark which shows that it's been handmade. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:56 | |
The maker of this glass is a man called Augustine Ysart | 0:09:56 | 0:10:02 | |
and he came to work for the Moncrieff family and they traded under Monart | 0:10:02 | 0:10:10 | |
-for selling this type of Scottish glass before the war. -Right. -The Second World War. -So it is old. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:15 | |
It is old, it is old and they achieved all sorts of wonderful effects in this glass | 0:10:15 | 0:10:22 | |
and it's very much collected. | 0:10:22 | 0:10:25 | |
-If this went to auction, it would make between £150 and £250. -Right. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:31 | |
So are the bananas going back into it this evening? | 0:10:31 | 0:10:34 | |
No! | 0:10:34 | 0:10:36 | |
-So what do you keep in this? -Nothing. | 0:10:36 | 0:10:38 | |
-Nothing? -Nothing. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:40 | |
That's a waste of a box that, isn't it? | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
I say a waste of a box, I suppose it's too grand to be called a box, wouldn't you agree? | 0:10:42 | 0:10:47 | |
-I think it's grand. -I don't. -You don't care for it too much? | 0:10:47 | 0:10:50 | |
-No. -You don't? I'm dying to have a look inside. -Oh, right. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:54 | |
-OK, and it's not good news, is it? When you look in there. -No. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:58 | |
It's in a bit of a state, but at least it's the original lining | 0:10:58 | 0:11:02 | |
with the original sort of pea green silk | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
and I agree, that's not everybody's favourite colour. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:09 | |
-No. -So let's have a look at the construction of it. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:14 | |
-It's a strange looking thing, isn't it? -It is. -In every respect | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
because technically this is something that goes by the name of Jugendstill. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:23 | |
Now Jugendstill is the German and Austrian approach to Art Nouveau. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:29 | |
-This is their interpretation. -Yes. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:31 | |
So it makes use of lots of angularity | 0:11:31 | 0:11:34 | |
and it also includes sort of very stylised features rather like these, | 0:11:34 | 0:11:39 | |
these flower heads | 0:11:39 | 0:11:41 | |
and then you've got this amazing frieze here which is totally... | 0:11:41 | 0:11:46 | |
-The only bit I like about it. -You like that? -Yes. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:48 | |
-The children's faces. -Yes. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:50 | |
Which is almost like a contradiction to the rest of it | 0:11:50 | 0:11:53 | |
and then at the sides you've got these panels with very sort of stylised organic ornament. | 0:11:53 | 0:12:00 | |
Now the people who almost certainly made this | 0:12:00 | 0:12:03 | |
were the Wurttemberg metal workshops and they used to put a tiny mark - | 0:12:03 | 0:12:08 | |
it's so tiny that often you miss it. And I've missed it... | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
so I'm hoping that I've got it right. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
So, there are plenty of collectors out there | 0:12:14 | 0:12:19 | |
-who would be happy to take that off your hands for £500. -Ooh! | 0:12:19 | 0:12:24 | |
It's nothing to you people from Beamish, I realise that, but you know, that is a desirable casket. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:29 | |
-Is it? -Yes, do you like it any more? For it being worth that bit more? | 0:12:29 | 0:12:33 | |
I like the £500. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:36 | |
We've got a lot of jewellery here, so is there a period of rest between | 0:12:38 | 0:12:42 | |
buying pieces of jewellery or do you just...? | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
I only rest as long as it takes me to save up enough cash to go out and buy the next thing, yes. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:50 | |
-So when she falls in love with a piece she's just got to have it? -Yes. | 0:12:50 | 0:12:55 | |
Well, I think she asks me to be the little voice of reason, but I don't try very hard. | 0:12:55 | 0:13:00 | |
But she asks when she's already bought them and then she shows me. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:05 | |
And I just leave her to say yes. You have to have it. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:09 | |
Now one thing about it all, she's got unfailingly good taste hasn't she? | 0:13:09 | 0:13:12 | |
-Absolutely. -She knows what she's going for so if I was to ask you | 0:13:12 | 0:13:16 | |
which piece has got the greatest age, would you know? | 0:13:16 | 0:13:18 | |
I think that. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:21 | |
Well, it's a collection that spans something in the region of about 50 years. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:26 | |
-Oh, really? -That is, I would say, made in around about the 1880s with a cluster of diamonds | 0:13:26 | 0:13:32 | |
in the centre on a typical gold narrow knife-edge back, | 0:13:32 | 0:13:35 | |
made in this country, very much a late-Victorian piece, | 0:13:35 | 0:13:39 | |
as incidentally is our swallow-in-flight brooch. | 0:13:39 | 0:13:42 | |
Did the swallow have a significance in the Victorian period? | 0:13:42 | 0:13:46 | |
Well, they were one of the most potently sentimental things. | 0:13:46 | 0:13:49 | |
If you give a swallow... What do swallows do? | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
-They always come back. -Yeah. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:53 | |
So if I give you a diamond swallow it means you're going to come back. | 0:13:53 | 0:13:57 | |
-You hope. -Um, this piece here, this is continental, made in around | 0:13:57 | 0:14:03 | |
the 1890s. Now tell me about this piece here | 0:14:03 | 0:14:07 | |
-because this is not the original necklace for this piece. -No. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:10 | |
That came on a sort of silver chain but I thought it looked | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
particularly attractive worn on the pearls, I wear a lot of pearls. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:17 | |
Yes, well this is a piece that we call, it goes by the | 0:14:17 | 0:14:22 | |
style of the Garland look, belle epoch, as we call it. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:26 | |
And it's that Art Nouveau period of around about 1910-1915. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:29 | |
Typified by these swirly scrolly flowery pieces. | 0:14:29 | 0:14:34 | |
Then you move through into the 20th century | 0:14:34 | 0:14:38 | |
and this piece here is 1915, a straightforward, very standard | 0:14:38 | 0:14:43 | |
-almost utilitarian looking diamond bar brooch. -I think it's stylish though in its simplicity. -Yes. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:49 | |
I feel the passion you have for jewellery. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:52 | |
-Oh, yes, I love it. -You would wear that on the slant on your lapel. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
-Yeah. -Then right straight forward into Deco, Art Deco which are these | 0:14:55 | 0:15:01 | |
two pieces here, now this one at the front is a rigid diamond plaque, | 0:15:01 | 0:15:08 | |
but this one has got the feature of so much of the Art Deco period, | 0:15:08 | 0:15:13 | |
which means it's a double clip that you can split into two | 0:15:13 | 0:15:17 | |
and wear one on each lapel of your jacket. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:20 | |
Imagine that nipped-in jacket and on each lapel you've got a diamond clip and that is a very, very nice clip. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:28 | |
Now if you've bought all this jewellery over the past | 0:15:28 | 0:15:32 | |
10 or 15 years... I'm assuming you keep it all safely. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:35 | |
Absolutely, it's kept in a safety deposit box in the bank. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:38 | |
-Good, that's very important because that's the best place for it. -Yes. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:44 | |
So let's just talk a little bit about what you paid for them. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:47 | |
-This is the first piece you bought? -Yes. -And you paid? Do you remember? | 0:15:47 | 0:15:51 | |
£2,200 I think. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
OK, well, it's unlikely you might get quite as much as you paid for it, curiously enough. | 0:15:54 | 0:16:00 | |
-What about the belle epoch diamond brooch here? -I think that was £950. | 0:16:00 | 0:16:05 | |
That would make £1,200 today. Now my personal favourite. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:09 | |
I love that, I love the shape of the stones. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:12 | |
We both share the same feeling about Art Deco diamond jewellery you see. | 0:16:12 | 0:16:16 | |
-Oh, yes. -So, what did you pay? -£1,450. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
-£2,500. -Oh, lovely. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:22 | |
Now if we top that up, very, very approximately, I think therefore | 0:16:22 | 0:16:27 | |
you're talking about the best level of around about... | 0:16:27 | 0:16:30 | |
-£10,000 to £15,000. -That's great. -Well done. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
-What a pleasure to see someone who is so avid about jewellery. -Oh, yes, I do. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:38 | |
She gets so much joy out of it. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:40 | |
-Well, we all enjoy it. -I can see that, thank you ladies, thank you. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
-Thank you. -Thank you. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:46 | |
More absolute gems came to light in the sunshine that welcomed us | 0:16:48 | 0:16:51 | |
recently to the University of Wales in Lampeter. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:55 | |
It was handed down from my great grandfather and he died in 1900 | 0:16:55 | 0:17:00 | |
and it's been coming down through the family all the way down. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:04 | |
There are lots and lots of different periods represented which in some senses perhaps relates to, you know, | 0:17:04 | 0:17:09 | |
the way it's come through the family, but if you start at the bottom, it kind of goes right back | 0:17:09 | 0:17:15 | |
to the later part of the 17th century, the shape of the legs, | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
the turning here, these mushroom caps there, | 0:17:18 | 0:17:22 | |
it's very sort of 17th century in character | 0:17:22 | 0:17:25 | |
and then you come up to the stand, it's almost a sort of Gothic feature in the middle there | 0:17:25 | 0:17:32 | |
which perhaps takes you into the 18th century. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
And then the chest with its cross banding is also very 18th century, | 0:17:35 | 0:17:39 | |
-and then you have these curious handles. -Yes. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:42 | |
-Do you know anything about the handles? -No, I don't, I'm sorry. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:46 | |
That doesn't matter, but they're just very incongruous | 0:17:46 | 0:17:50 | |
because they come from the late 19th century, | 0:17:50 | 0:17:53 | |
they're slightly aesthetic movement in character, very angular, | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
they don't stylistically go with the piece. When I first looked at it, I thought it was quite | 0:17:56 | 0:18:02 | |
complicated and if you look at the top drawers here, you've got the little black sort of arrowhead | 0:18:02 | 0:18:07 | |
into the scroll and then these little dots of inlay, | 0:18:07 | 0:18:11 | |
and then I realised, hang on, those aren't part of the inlay originally, | 0:18:11 | 0:18:15 | |
they're little plugs that have been put in, to show where handles have been changed. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:20 | |
-Oh. -We know these are not original handles. -Yes. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:24 | |
And actually you can see there are handles there, | 0:18:24 | 0:18:27 | |
and the pairs there, | 0:18:27 | 0:18:30 | |
and on another one you can see there was another handle in the middle somewhere. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:36 | |
Here you can see that there were handles there, so I was thinking that this in a way, | 0:18:36 | 0:18:44 | |
it's a bit like modern kitchens, the doors of the cabinets date terribly quickly, so in order | 0:18:44 | 0:18:50 | |
to update your kitchen, you change the doors of the units. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:54 | |
Here they've changed the handles fairly consistently through time, | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
-to give it a slightly more, up-to-date look. -Yes. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:01 | |
Lovely colour, it's looked after and loved by the looks of it. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:07 | |
Yes, my mother used to polish it regularly. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:10 | |
Brilliant, yes, well, she obviously cherished it and I think that's paid off. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:15 | |
In terms of valuation, well, I think because it's so decorative, | 0:19:15 | 0:19:23 | |
£6,000... £7,000 at a sale. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
Fancy, my father was offered £100 for it in the 1940s. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:29 | |
-It's a long time ago... £100 could buy a house actually. -Yes. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:33 | |
-So somebody appreciated it then, and I'm sure there are lots of people who would appreciate it now. -Yes. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:40 | |
"As there is no Elton John fan club and no future plans to officiate one, | 0:19:40 | 0:19:44 | |
"I am writing on Elton's behalf to thank you for showing | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
"such an interest in his music. I have enclosed an autographed photo. Yours sincerely, Helen Walters. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:53 | |
"PS: Elton will be touring America until early July." | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
-Now I kind of can't quite envisage Elton John not having a fan club really. -No, that's right. | 0:19:56 | 0:20:01 | |
-So this shows how early on we are in his career. -Absolutely. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:04 | |
It also shows obviously... That's why he looks the way he does, I suppose. | 0:20:04 | 0:20:08 | |
Far less follicly challenged than he is today and also much slimmer, | 0:20:08 | 0:20:14 | |
so I mean, had you always been an Elton John fan from the early days? | 0:20:14 | 0:20:18 | |
I mean, what prompted you into writing off? | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
-I actually met Elton John. I grew up in Portobello Road. -Right. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
And I came home from work one day and it was raining and himself and Bernie Taupin were standing | 0:20:24 | 0:20:30 | |
in my porchway I had at the time, sheltering from the rain and we got talking. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:35 | |
-So you had to push past him to get into your house, did you? -Almost yes, yes. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:39 | |
-So what did you say, "Oh, Elton I'm a fan of yours". -Well, I wasn't at the time. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:43 | |
-Oh, I see. -But he said to me they were into music, both of them. | 0:20:43 | 0:20:47 | |
-So at that point you didn't actually realise who he was. -No, he was virtually unheard of then. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:52 | |
Oh, how amazing, so that was your kind of first encounter. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:56 | |
-Mm, that's it. -Have you met him again since? -No. | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
-Or was that the one and only meeting? -The one and only. -You've watched him progress through his career. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:03 | |
My friend and I used to go to all the concerts. This is a Crystal Palace one in July '71... | 0:21:03 | 0:21:10 | |
-that's the programme. -Well, that's interesting because I actually | 0:21:10 | 0:21:15 | |
lived just next to Crystal Palace for many years and I see it's Crystal Palace Bowl Garden Party '71. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:20 | |
-In fact the Crystal Palace Bowl is still there, um, but it wouldn't be hosting this kind of event. -No, no. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:26 | |
It's generally classical music now, but it's still there and it looks exactly the same as this. | 0:21:26 | 0:21:32 | |
-Exactly the same. -It's got the lake in front of it, fascinating. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
At the end of the day it's quite difficult pricing things like this | 0:21:35 | 0:21:40 | |
but because it's early and it's at the beginning of his career, | 0:21:40 | 0:21:44 | |
I find that more interesting. I mean, the fact that he hasn't got a fan club here I think is, is fascinating. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:49 | |
Well, that's one of the reasons I brought it to you. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:51 | |
-Yeah, and I suspect... I mean this is actually really only a cheap reproduction. -That's right. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:56 | |
It's not even a well produced... | 0:21:56 | 0:21:58 | |
-A proper copy. -Copy glossy photograph. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:01 | |
But it is actually signed by him. that's fine, there's no problem with that and I suspect that if | 0:22:01 | 0:22:06 | |
you were to sell this as a package, we'd be looking at maybe around about £100... £150 at auction. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:11 | |
-Right. -Not enormously high value but interesting to a collector. -They're value to me too. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:16 | |
-Absolutely. -So I'm not so sure I'd sell them anyway. | 0:22:16 | 0:22:17 | |
-What's your favourite album, by the way? -It's Tumbleweed Connection. | 0:22:17 | 0:22:22 | |
Yeah, the early Elton John was my favourite, no doubt about that. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
Good, good, well fascinating little item and nice to see Elton there. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
-Yes. -Thanks for bringing it along. You're welcome. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:31 | |
-You inherited these watercolours from your great aunts. -Yes. -And then looked into their lives. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:38 | |
Yes, I had them for about 30 years and framed a few up that I liked. | 0:22:38 | 0:22:42 | |
They were spinster artists who probably had a small income | 0:22:42 | 0:22:48 | |
but basically painted for their living. One of them, Eta, the family history said she studied | 0:22:48 | 0:22:55 | |
at the Sorbonne. The other one, Bridget... I think probably, both, started off studying at Glasgow. | 0:22:55 | 0:23:01 | |
We have a letter which shows that Eta Jardine who was the more conventional watercolourist | 0:23:01 | 0:23:07 | |
of the two, was commissioned by the North East London Railways, I think it was, | 0:23:07 | 0:23:13 | |
to provide pictures for their first-class carriages. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:16 | |
Well, I've never heard of the Jardine sisters, | 0:23:16 | 0:23:19 | |
but I'm absolutely delighted to have seen these works because | 0:23:19 | 0:23:23 | |
they're really very, very good, and emerging are two unknown artists, well, relatively unknown, | 0:23:23 | 0:23:30 | |
spinster sisters living on their own who are producing exciting things. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:34 | |
Now I take it that this one is a bit of the railway aunt? | 0:23:34 | 0:23:39 | |
Well, I don't know exactly what they did provide, but I think | 0:23:39 | 0:23:42 | |
all Eta Jardine's work was of this character | 0:23:42 | 0:23:45 | |
of being watercolours of scenery, | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
I don't think she went into figurative art or details. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:51 | |
-So if we call Eta the railway sister then... -Yes, perhaps we should. | 0:23:51 | 0:23:55 | |
You can imagine jolting along, can't you, long journeys, seeing this up | 0:23:55 | 0:24:00 | |
-in an old railway track, railway station. -Yes. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
But where life gets really interesting is with the sister | 0:24:03 | 0:24:05 | |
and I think we have a watercolour of the sister, or at least one of them. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:09 | |
It's... Well, we're guessing here. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
So we think this one might be by Eta? | 0:24:12 | 0:24:14 | |
This one might be by Eta and it maybe of her sister Jez. | 0:24:14 | 0:24:18 | |
It would be interesting to know because I think she's beginning to emerge as a very significant artist. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:23 | |
-Yes. -Because there's sides to her character which come out in her art. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:27 | |
-This is a particularly good example of it here. -Yes. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:30 | |
This is not a cosy old lady sitting at home doing watercolours of roses, | 0:24:30 | 0:24:34 | |
these are vicious gossips that she's decided to... | 0:24:34 | 0:24:38 | |
Yes, absolutely and they're all sepia, they're all in | 0:24:38 | 0:24:41 | |
these awful neutral colours, I think it's a very judgmental picture. | 0:24:41 | 0:24:44 | |
-It is, they look deeply malevolent. -Yes. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:47 | |
And then you've got this one, also by Bridget - | 0:24:47 | 0:24:50 | |
a very subversive looking image of motherhood. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:54 | |
Indeed, entitled "Modern Ma" | 0:24:54 | 0:24:56 | |
and with the cigarette, not exactly drooping... | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
Even the cat has an extremely malign appearance | 0:24:59 | 0:25:01 | |
and might easily jump onto the baby. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
But I think she occupied a world which was full of lateral thinking. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:08 | |
Some shades of Little Britain here, isn't it? | 0:25:08 | 0:25:10 | |
But where it all seems to come together really well is in the watercolours | 0:25:10 | 0:25:15 | |
that she produced simultaneously which is so arresting, so enticing. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:21 | |
Yes, but you either hate or love. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:23 | |
And do you love or hate? | 0:25:23 | 0:25:25 | |
Well, I rather like them but all the members of the family probably have at least a few goblins | 0:25:25 | 0:25:30 | |
and amongst my uncles and aunts they were equally divided between the loathers and the lovers. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:36 | |
In this work here, entitled rather appropriately, Full House, | 0:25:36 | 0:25:42 | |
you see I think real accomplishment, you're getting a combination here | 0:25:42 | 0:25:46 | |
of the softer illustrative side of her character | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
and also the subversive malevolent side that comes out in those satirical images that | 0:25:49 | 0:25:55 | |
we've just been talking about, but here it blends together beautifully. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:58 | |
These are wonderful watercolours and were you to exhibit them as a whole, | 0:25:58 | 0:26:02 | |
I think you would really put Bridget on the map. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:05 | |
-Right. -I don't know about her sister at the moment, I think we need to know more about her. -Yes. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:09 | |
These drawings that you've shown me are worth, probably, £500, £600, £700, £800 each - the goblins. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:15 | |
-Good heavens! -If we could put the whole lot together and build her up. | 0:26:15 | 0:26:19 | |
-Yes. -Because I think she deserves a voice, we could be talking up to £1,000 each. -Really? -Yes. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:24 | |
-I'm really delighted to have seen them, thank you. -Thank you very much. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:29 | |
So what's all this blue sticky stuff up here? | 0:26:29 | 0:26:32 | |
I had a wooden plug made up for a lampshade to turn it into a light. | 0:26:32 | 0:26:36 | |
I didn't have the hole drilled in the bottom, to keep its value up. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:41 | |
Well, that's good thinking. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:43 | |
Drilling a hole in a good vase is a bad idea, but the other problem | 0:26:43 | 0:26:46 | |
with adhesives is that adhesives very often take off gilding, and that's what's happened on the rim. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:53 | |
-Right. -So I mean you win some, you lose some. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:57 | |
Now what do you know about this piece? My father brought it back from the Far East during... | 0:26:57 | 0:27:01 | |
at the end of the war, he brought a big big box of stuff, that's just one bit I picked up. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:06 | |
Where from out there I've no idea. | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
-Right, and you haven't done any research on this since then? -No. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:12 | |
-OK, well that's why we're here. -Lovely, thank you. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:15 | |
First of all I'm going to look at the design. I decided to have a look at it | 0:27:15 | 0:27:20 | |
because I am fascinated by how a two-dimensional graphic design | 0:27:20 | 0:27:26 | |
gets put onto a vase. | 0:27:26 | 0:27:28 | |
-Right. -And my judgement of what is a good design | 0:27:28 | 0:27:32 | |
is a design that makes you want to rotate the vase, | 0:27:32 | 0:27:37 | |
and the Japanese... | 0:27:37 | 0:27:38 | |
because this is Japanese... the Japanese are great masters | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
at doing this. The scene we've got here is a group | 0:27:41 | 0:27:45 | |
of elderly gentlemen, bewhiskered gentlemen all studying hard a text... | 0:27:45 | 0:27:51 | |
there it is, it's impossible to read it, it's written in a cursive script, | 0:27:51 | 0:27:56 | |
now then, we instantly, looking at that, we see | 0:27:56 | 0:28:00 | |
that there are two levels of design, there's underglazed blue - | 0:28:00 | 0:28:04 | |
the blue pigment, all of the blue pigment here was put onto the vase before they put a glaze on. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:10 | |
-Right. -But it was fired, it came out as a blue and white vase. | 0:28:10 | 0:28:13 | |
It was then sent to the enamelling workshops and then the other colours were added on top of the glaze | 0:28:13 | 0:28:19 | |
and the result is that you have a depth of colour which your eye senses, you get a sense of depth | 0:28:19 | 0:28:26 | |
in the design and it's something you only expect to see | 0:28:26 | 0:28:29 | |
on the best factories when you see it of this quality. | 0:28:29 | 0:28:33 | |
So there they are, the sages, one, two, three, four sages | 0:28:33 | 0:28:37 | |
studying their scroll and behind them a wee laddie, an acolyte | 0:28:37 | 0:28:40 | |
bringing a dish of pomegranates or apples, some sort of fruit. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:45 | |
Another acolyte here is arriving with another group of, in this case, | 0:28:45 | 0:28:50 | |
three sages who are also studying a script. | 0:28:50 | 0:28:55 | |
And then another acolyte brings a musical instrument, this is a koto. | 0:28:55 | 0:29:02 | |
-A koto? -Yes, so it's basically a scholars' party, they're enjoying scholarly scripts, they're going | 0:29:02 | 0:29:07 | |
to enjoy music and they all live in a bamboo grove. | 0:29:07 | 0:29:14 | |
These are the seven sages of the bamboo grove beautifully rendered | 0:29:14 | 0:29:18 | |
and then to add to all of that you've got the difference of the | 0:29:18 | 0:29:22 | |
glazed surface, this lovely glassy surface, with the ground colour, | 0:29:22 | 0:29:27 | |
which is matt. You've felt this? | 0:29:27 | 0:29:29 | |
-Oh, yes, it's beautiful. Very tactile. -Isn't it, so you've got everything going for this. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:33 | |
This is a really good piece of design. | 0:29:33 | 0:29:37 | |
It makes you want to rotate it and it tells a story | 0:29:37 | 0:29:42 | |
and we're almost participants in the party, | 0:29:42 | 0:29:48 | |
-so the vase is just getting on for 100 years old. It may have been one of a pair. -Right. | 0:29:48 | 0:29:54 | |
But it works in its own right. | 0:29:54 | 0:29:55 | |
-Yes. -I would not want to see another one quite frankly, I think this works on its own and what's it worth? | 0:29:55 | 0:30:02 | |
I think that if you were to put it up for auction today, it would fetch somewhere in the region of | 0:30:02 | 0:30:08 | |
-£1,200 to £1,800. -Would it? Ohh... | 0:30:08 | 0:30:14 | |
-You almost look surprised. -I AM surprised actually. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:17 | |
It frightens me what I've done with it now, in the past. | 0:30:17 | 0:30:22 | |
This really is a pretty gorgeous looking album, isn't it? | 0:30:22 | 0:30:25 | |
It says everything about the Art Nouveau period with these swirls and what not. | 0:30:25 | 0:30:30 | |
How did it come into your possession? | 0:30:30 | 0:30:32 | |
My mum and dad decided to move into a house, back in 1973. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:36 | |
The house was built in 1897 and when they moved in, this was in the attic. | 0:30:36 | 0:30:41 | |
-So it came free with the house, did it? -It did. | 0:30:41 | 0:30:44 | |
Well, the amazing thing about postcards as a collectable is | 0:30:44 | 0:30:48 | |
that they come in all forms, so you could, for example, like saucy ones, or you could like | 0:30:48 | 0:30:54 | |
ones with animals, or buildings, or you could do perhaps military | 0:30:54 | 0:31:00 | |
collections, or seaside collections, | 0:31:00 | 0:31:03 | |
collections of lovers, collections of flowers, babies, trains, | 0:31:03 | 0:31:08 | |
almost any subject is a collectable within the postcard genre, | 0:31:08 | 0:31:13 | |
which is what makes it really interesting. | 0:31:13 | 0:31:16 | |
Now in a mixed bag like this, some of these postcards are going to be worth | 0:31:16 | 0:31:20 | |
10p, 50p, £1, but for the more unusual ones, you really need to find something like this... | 0:31:20 | 0:31:27 | |
Here we've got a postcard in mint condition of the Lusitania. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:32 | |
Now this postcard dates from 1911 | 0:31:32 | 0:31:34 | |
and the Lusitania was sunk during the First World War so it's when it was | 0:31:34 | 0:31:39 | |
-still sailing perfectly happily, but a collector would pay perhaps £15 or £20 for that card. -Oh. | 0:31:39 | 0:31:46 | |
But what I particularly like about this series of cards is the story that it tells about one young girl, | 0:31:46 | 0:31:53 | |
and this particular postcard is what they call a suggestive card. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:58 | |
I mean it's very risky and daring | 0:31:58 | 0:32:01 | |
because before the First World War if you got a glimpse of a girl's ankle | 0:32:01 | 0:32:04 | |
you were very, very lucky and here we've got almost her entire lower leg | 0:32:04 | 0:32:10 | |
and the gentleman is enjoying it very much. | 0:32:10 | 0:32:13 | |
Anyway, it's sent to a Miss Evans of Buck Cottage in Liverpool | 0:32:13 | 0:32:18 | |
and the message on it says, "Dear Miss Evans. I have just received your postcard | 0:32:18 | 0:32:23 | |
"and pleased to hear you are well | 0:32:23 | 0:32:25 | |
"and will meet you this evening in Holt Road about six. | 0:32:25 | 0:32:29 | |
"I'm longing to see you and it seems ages since we met." | 0:32:29 | 0:32:33 | |
This earnest young man called J Pye | 0:32:33 | 0:32:35 | |
can't wait to get his hands on Miss Evans... | 0:32:35 | 0:32:40 | |
Here we've got another one, this is looking pretty dodgy too. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:44 | |
"Yours always". The relationship is progressing. | 0:32:44 | 0:32:47 | |
"Two heads with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one." | 0:32:47 | 0:32:51 | |
As they have a session underneath the silver birch down by the river side, | 0:32:51 | 0:32:57 | |
a particularly special card that she received is this one which in a jokey way says, | 0:32:57 | 0:33:02 | |
"a Welsh rarebit". | 0:33:02 | 0:33:04 | |
Quite appropriate as we're in Wales. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:06 | |
-Yes. -And if I turn it over, here we go, | 0:33:06 | 0:33:09 | |
"Dear Em, I hope you will have one of these ready when I return, hoping you're well." | 0:33:09 | 0:33:16 | |
-And I presume what he's talking about is a bit of toasted cheese. -Yes. | 0:33:16 | 0:33:20 | |
-Pretty naughty though, isn't it? -It is! | 0:33:20 | 0:33:24 | |
From Welsh Rarebit to Scottish splendour now. Manderston, the ancestral home of | 0:33:24 | 0:33:28 | |
Lord Palmer, near Berwick on Tweed provided a stunning backdrop for some more great Roadshow finds. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:36 | |
A relatively plain box, but lovely opening inside, | 0:33:36 | 0:33:40 | |
look at that, splendid Royal Worcester coffee set. | 0:33:40 | 0:33:44 | |
Normally these were given as wedding presents. Do you know...? | 0:33:44 | 0:33:47 | |
Yes, this was a wedding gift to my mother in 1930, she was married. | 0:33:47 | 0:33:53 | |
That fits in. These were the popular gift at that time in the 1920s. | 0:33:53 | 0:33:58 | |
Royal Worcester specialised in beautifully painted sets. | 0:33:58 | 0:34:03 | |
When this was made, hand-painted here by Walter Sedgeley | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
all individual birds, a lot of work went into this and it would have been quite expensive and costly | 0:34:06 | 0:34:13 | |
and over the years people neglected them but now Royal Worcester collectors love these sets, | 0:34:13 | 0:34:18 | |
they're actually quite precious to collectors. | 0:34:18 | 0:34:21 | |
Having the whole set together makes it actually quite expensive, | 0:34:21 | 0:34:24 | |
so you've got one broken one there but apart from that, each cup and saucer today is worth £400 or £500. | 0:34:24 | 0:34:32 | |
-Oh, my goodness. -So that adds up to a set worth £2,000... | 0:34:32 | 0:34:38 | |
-£2,500. -It is very beautiful. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:40 | |
And nice that it's been used and enjoyed, thank you. | 0:34:40 | 0:34:44 | |
-I'm pretty certain this is a marine chronometer, am I right? -You are indeed. | 0:34:44 | 0:34:48 | |
Indeed I am, look at that, Ellicot and Smith, Royal Exchange, London. But they were only working for about | 0:34:48 | 0:34:54 | |
ten years - 1830-ish to 1840-ish is absolutely it, | 0:34:54 | 0:34:58 | |
and I'm going to give you that key and then the easiest way | 0:34:58 | 0:35:03 | |
to get this out of its box is just to invert it like that, having of course clamped the gimbal up, | 0:35:03 | 0:35:11 | |
and there we can see that absolutely lovely movement and I'll just pop it there upside down, | 0:35:11 | 0:35:18 | |
again signed, numbered, | 0:35:18 | 0:35:20 | |
in good condition. Have you had this restored recently? | 0:35:20 | 0:35:23 | |
-About 20 years ago. -Uh-huh. | 0:35:23 | 0:35:26 | |
Before that it had been in a vertical case. | 0:35:26 | 0:35:28 | |
-Because that brings me on the fact that in my humble opinion this is not the original box. -No, it isn't. | 0:35:28 | 0:35:34 | |
Do you know what happened to the original box? | 0:35:34 | 0:35:37 | |
Well, it was taken to Australia in 1882 | 0:35:37 | 0:35:42 | |
then brought back from there and then it was used in an observatory | 0:35:42 | 0:35:46 | |
-in Rousdon in Devon for 40 years or so. -Why did it go to Australia? | 0:35:46 | 0:35:50 | |
Ah, well it went to observe the transit of Venus in 1882, | 0:35:50 | 0:35:54 | |
my great-grandfather went on it and they went round the Cape and to Sydney and up to Brisbane | 0:35:54 | 0:36:00 | |
and then up by train and then by dray and horse cart to a big house | 0:36:00 | 0:36:06 | |
on the Darling Downs in Queensland and they set up two observatories there to watch the transit. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:12 | |
Did they see it? | 0:36:12 | 0:36:15 | |
Well, unfortunately, they had beautiful weather until the morning | 0:36:15 | 0:36:20 | |
of the transit and then it poured with rain and it was cloudy and they didn't | 0:36:20 | 0:36:25 | |
see a thing and they'd gone all the way to Australia to see this. | 0:36:25 | 0:36:28 | |
So this photograph you have... | 0:36:28 | 0:36:30 | |
Oh, look at that, that looks like the whole thing's set up doesn't it? | 0:36:30 | 0:36:34 | |
That's in the grounds of the house at Jimbo in Australia. | 0:36:34 | 0:36:38 | |
Do you think that's the chronometer? | 0:36:38 | 0:36:40 | |
-I should think it is, yes. -And I can see quite clearly that this has got proper drop handles | 0:36:40 | 0:36:45 | |
of the period and that is definitely the instrument. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:48 | |
Tell me what this other photograph is, here. | 0:36:48 | 0:36:50 | |
Well, when they came back from Australia, my great grandfather was given the job by this man here, | 0:36:50 | 0:36:57 | |
to be his private astronomer and so he was, if you like, | 0:36:57 | 0:37:01 | |
a sort of servant on the estate but he was the astronomer. He looked through the telescope | 0:37:01 | 0:37:06 | |
and measured the rainfall and the temperature and so forth, and this is him at a later age of course, | 0:37:06 | 0:37:13 | |
looking through the telescope at Rousdon and there is another, there is the chronometer. | 0:37:13 | 0:37:19 | |
-There is the chronometer without its box. -That's right. | 0:37:19 | 0:37:22 | |
And there is a marked family resemblance if I might say so. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:28 | |
There really is. What a wonderful story, it really is. | 0:37:28 | 0:37:33 | |
There was a recent transit of Venus, did you observe that? | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
Well, I shared the experience with my great grandfather | 0:37:36 | 0:37:40 | |
because I also tried to watch the transit of Venus and it rained and it was cloudy | 0:37:40 | 0:37:46 | |
and I did not see a thing, but I could watch it on television and he couldn't. | 0:37:46 | 0:37:50 | |
Well, it's fascinating that this has been down to the Antipodes and back. | 0:37:50 | 0:37:54 | |
Of course your great grandfather used this on land... | 0:37:54 | 0:37:58 | |
When I called it a marine chronometer to start with... | 0:37:58 | 0:38:02 | |
its use was purely naval. | 0:38:02 | 0:38:05 | |
If I can just grab that key back off you, | 0:38:05 | 0:38:07 | |
which lives in there, we'll undo the gimbal lock and I can simulate | 0:38:07 | 0:38:14 | |
the motion of the ship, basically in a rough sea, | 0:38:14 | 0:38:18 | |
and the whole point of this gimbal is that this wonderfully | 0:38:18 | 0:38:23 | |
accurate timepiece always remains in the horizontal despite the motion of the ship. | 0:38:23 | 0:38:29 | |
The officer of the watch was able to open the top lid | 0:38:29 | 0:38:35 | |
to check the time for his star shots, sextant etc, etc | 0:38:35 | 0:38:40 | |
and normally the captain was the only key holder. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:43 | |
If it was in its original box that we saw in that first photograph with the lovely brass drop handles, | 0:38:43 | 0:38:50 | |
with that history, probably between £4,000 and £5,000, | 0:38:50 | 0:38:54 | |
but here we are in a later case with these recessed... | 0:38:54 | 0:38:58 | |
very nice, don't get me wrong, very nice box, but it is re-cased... | 0:38:58 | 0:39:02 | |
..so £2,000 to £2,500. | 0:39:05 | 0:39:07 | |
-Ooh, very good. -Still good news, is it? -Yes. -Excellent. | 0:39:07 | 0:39:10 | |
You won't have seen many of these on the Antiques Roadshow in the past | 0:39:10 | 0:39:14 | |
and not because they're terribly rare | 0:39:14 | 0:39:16 | |
but because they're terribly common and a plate like that is worth £40. | 0:39:16 | 0:39:23 | |
Yeah. | 0:39:23 | 0:39:25 | |
It's Chinese, made in Jingdezhen, | 0:39:25 | 0:39:29 | |
the main porcelain centre, brought down by pack mule and on people's | 0:39:29 | 0:39:33 | |
backs and by river and by donkey and then it arrives in Canton | 0:39:33 | 0:39:38 | |
and in Canton they put the decoration on. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:42 | |
Of the 19th century, this is the most common pattern | 0:39:42 | 0:39:46 | |
and we call it Canton porcelain, but... | 0:39:46 | 0:39:51 | |
the point about this one is we've got that on the back. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:58 | |
-Yes. -As I'm sure you are well aware. -Indeed, yes. | 0:39:58 | 0:40:01 | |
This is a crest... | 0:40:01 | 0:40:03 | |
now it was common practice from the 17th century onwards to order via | 0:40:03 | 0:40:11 | |
somebody who went out with a ship, a service with your arms on. | 0:40:11 | 0:40:16 | |
To find a crest on a second half of the 19th-century dated piece is very rare. | 0:40:16 | 0:40:22 | |
Is this family? | 0:40:22 | 0:40:23 | |
Er yes, and no. | 0:40:23 | 0:40:26 | |
Oh, good. | 0:40:26 | 0:40:28 | |
Um, the family connection is Mackintosh, my great grandfather | 0:40:28 | 0:40:33 | |
was Mackintosh. He was a shipping agent, lived near Inverness. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:38 | |
He had a very close friend who was a sea captain who captained a clipper that traded with the Far East. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:45 | |
-Ah. -And my great grandfather got married in 1868... | 0:40:45 | 0:40:51 | |
his very good friend Captain Turner said "Right, next time I'm out | 0:40:51 | 0:40:56 | |
"in the Far East, I'll bring you back a dinner service". | 0:40:56 | 0:40:59 | |
-How amazing. -So... | 0:40:59 | 0:41:01 | |
unfortunately his next trip wasn't until 1869 which is why the date is 1869 rather than 1868. | 0:41:01 | 0:41:07 | |
-How fascinating. -And by the time he got there, Captain Turner | 0:41:07 | 0:41:11 | |
couldn't remember exactly what the Mackintosh crest was. | 0:41:11 | 0:41:16 | |
He knew it was something to do with a cat | 0:41:16 | 0:41:19 | |
and he knew that the motto was roughly something about taking care, | 0:41:19 | 0:41:24 | |
the actual motto is "touch not the cat but a glove". | 0:41:24 | 0:41:28 | |
He didn't know much Latin either, did he? He's got a Y at the end... | 0:41:28 | 0:41:32 | |
-That's right, yes, it's sort of in between everything, it's not French, it's not Latin. -Exactly. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:37 | |
-It's nothing. -Well, it's actually difficult to put a price on it, | 0:41:37 | 0:41:42 | |
to be quite honest because it's out of the normal run of business. | 0:41:42 | 0:41:47 | |
I think a single plate would make probably £250 to £350. | 0:41:47 | 0:41:54 | |
-A single plate. -A single plate. -Yes. | 0:41:54 | 0:41:57 | |
The venison dish... | 0:41:57 | 0:42:00 | |
I think you know that could easily make | 0:42:02 | 0:42:06 | |
£800 to £1,200 maybe even a bit more. | 0:42:06 | 0:42:10 | |
-Yes. -And the two vegetable dishes... | 0:42:10 | 0:42:13 | |
..I would think would make £1,000 to £3,000. | 0:42:14 | 0:42:19 | |
Together? | 0:42:19 | 0:42:20 | |
-The two together, yes, as a pair. -We have a third one as well. | 0:42:20 | 0:42:24 | |
Well, you would have, wouldn't you? | 0:42:24 | 0:42:27 | |
-Um, that one would think of as a single and we'd probably put £800 to £1,200 on that. -Right. | 0:42:27 | 0:42:33 | |
It's a great thing to see and thank you so much for bringing it in. | 0:42:33 | 0:42:37 | |
-Thank you very much indeed, I'm delighted to have brought it. -Thank you. -Thank you. | 0:42:37 | 0:42:42 | |
And that's all for today, we'll be back next week I hope with another | 0:42:42 | 0:42:46 | |
stunning array of finds. Until then, happy antiquing and goodbye. | 0:42:46 | 0:42:51 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:43:01 | 0:43:04 |