Coughton Court 1 Antiques Roadshow

Today the Roadshow has come to a location that has its own dramatic place in history,

having played a vital role in the ultimate political thriller of its day.

This story has all the necessary ingredients -

charismatic heroes and villains,

outlaws on the run,

betrayal, torture and death.

Add to that list "gunpowder, treason and plot" and you'll know the rest.

Two churches that lie side by side here at Coughton Court in Warwickshire

offer clues as to what sparked off the whole affair.

November 5th 1605 was a turning point in religious history,

marked these days by spectacular entertainment for all the family.

But Guy Fawkes wasn't in the Gunpowder Plot alone.

There were 13 plotters in all

and several were kinsmen of the Throckmorton family,

who've lived at Coughton Court for over 600 years.

When news reached them that the plot to blow up Parliament had failed,

Fawkes's fellow conspirators gathered here in the blue drawing room, to discuss tactics.

They decided to ride north but they were followed by the king's soldiers and rounded up for execution.

What led these men to become desperadoes, determined to overthrow the crown?

They were Catholics and victims of a harsh regime imposed on their religion

which had begun during the reign of Henry VIII.

They wanted to practise their faith without fear of persecution.

Which brings us back to Coughton Court's two churches.

This one, the original Catholic church,

was seized and handed over to the Church of England during the Reformation.

It took 300 years for Catholicism to be officially recognised again.

And in 1853 the Throckmortons built a new church next door.

During those 300 years,

many Catholic houses continued to worship in secret. The penalty was death.

As you might expect, the framework of Coughton Court contains a number of secret hiding places.

Visiting priests would take refuge when the authorities came knocking.

Here, two compartments, one above the other, were hollowed out.

Their design was so cunning that not one of the secret occupants was ever discovered.

Turbulent times required a vigilant lookout.

Today, I've got a bird's-eye view as the gentlefolk of Warwickshire arrive for the Roadshow.

An historic one, of course.

I think if this were mine I'd hang it in the larder.

-Where have you got it?

-It's in the hall.

-In the hall?

-In the hall.

-Do you like it?

-I love it.

-You've got a macabre sense of humour, have you?

-Possibly, yes.

-You and the Japanese both.

-I think it's FANTASTIC! It's a real goody.

-It is, isn't it?

-Where did it come from?

A friend of mine, when he was seriously ill.

-He knew I'd always admired it and he came round one night and asked if I'd like to keep it.

-No!

-Isn't that wonderful?

-That was lovely. He said that when he'd had a few drinks, he saw them dance.

And he'd seen them dance many times.

-It's a great idea.

-Yes.

The Japanese do actually have quite a macabre sense of humour.

And the West actually like the sort of mad Japanese sense of humour

and their stories and their legends.

And the two came together. This would never have been made for a Japanese house.

This is the Japanese making for the Western market.

They were so skilled, the Japanese ivory carvers. This is ivory.

Quite often they're bone, the lesser-quality ones are bone. Here with humour,

we've got the ringmaster with a fan.

-And the fan is not a complete fan.

-No.

-They've made it purposely with bits out of it, which is brilliant.

-Tatty.

This is in mother-of-pearl, abalone shell, and he's got a scarf on his head the same.

Here we've got something, I don't know whether it's a young human

jumping through the hoop or whether it's supposed to be a dog. But, whatever, there it goes.

They're being entertained by another skeleton playing a samisen.

Samisen is a three-stringed instrument. "Sen"

is three, one, two, three strings down here.

And another one playing a drum and the drum's got no skin.

It goes straight through, it's just wonderful.

Problems, we've lost a foot here.

-I vacced it up.

-You what?

It fell off and without realising it I vacced it up in the vacuum cleaner.

I know.

-Well, that's not good news.

-No.

What's happening is the glue, which is made of fishbones and scales,

is after... What date's this? 1885.

..is breaking down.

And that's a problem.

Um, it would be possible to get that recarved. It would not be cheap.

But it would be doable, and frankly it deserves a new foot.

I love it, I think it's a great, great thing.

I've never seen another one like it and that's in 30 years of playing this game.

So I think that would... would sell extraordinarily well.

I think it would make at auction somewhere between £5,000 and £8,000.

That's absolutely wonderful. Absolutely wonderful, thank you very much.

Now what is in this lovely Christmassy box?

Is it one of your treasures?

No, it belongs to my father and it was his mother's before that.

Oh!

Nice bit of ancient, ancient tissue. Oh, he's great, isn't he?

Let me just wind him up and put him down on the table.

Does he stagger about a bit too?

Yes, I think we've all seen people like this on Christmas or New Year's Eve, haven't we?

Well, let me tell you a little bit about him

as he ricochets around the table.

He's made by a company called Fernand Martin.

Which sounds like an English company but was French.

And, ooh, hang on.

Oh, that's nice. Look here, this will tell us all about it.

Here's the name, "Le Pochard", the drunkard.

And here we have all the details about the maker, FM, Fernand Martin.

And the date here of 1900.

So we know it's after 1900.

We can also see that he's called Nellie. Who's Nellie?

Nellie's my grandmother.

Your grandmother. So he was bought for her, presumably.

-Presumably, yes.

-I mean, it's quite a strange present to give to a child, this particular toy. Don't you think?

Well, I've always thought so, yes. Especially as we're a strict Methodist teetotal family.

-Oh, perhaps it was to show the dangers of drink.

-Perhaps so.

THEY CHUCKLE

Now, what about the value?

I wonder what your great-grandfather paid for it when he bought it for your grandmother.

A few shillings, perhaps.

But today, this particular company, Fernand Martin, is very much sought after.

And I would have thought we're talking about perhaps £400 or £500 with this box lid.

Wow.

Well, they do tend to say that dogs look like their owners.

I'm not sure if this dog looks like its owner, but it looks like that little dog. What's the story?

First of all, she was the daughter of a mill owner in Lancashire.

And she married PT Barnum, the famous circus man.

-That must have been exciting.

-She was 23 and he was 63. So there was quite a...

Sounds right.

After he died - and they had quite a happy marriage, I think, for about 18 years - she was left very rich.

She then married, they say for love, but unfortunately the Greek diplomat died after 11 months.

She moved to Paris and she married the Baron Alexandi Doningani.

-And she had this little dog called Follette.

-Right.

And I presume when Follette died, she had this brooch made from it.

I don't know much about this brooch but I believe it's called an Essex.

-I don't know what an Essex is.

-When was this photo taken?

1920s, I should think. I think she died 1928.

Mmm, and how did you come by this delightful little object?

Well, my great-grandmother, who I remember, she died when I was ten, was the residual legatee.

Although she married three times, she had no children.

-This lady?

-Yes.

-Well, that's interesting

because I would have thought that, rather than having had this made,

-she probably found it, thought it looked exactly like Follette and bought it.

-Right.

Because these usually date from a considerably earlier period.

And it's quite right, it is called an Essex crystal after William Essex

who actually painted porcelain, so I've never quite worked out why these are called that.

But how these are done is very interesting because they're all carved out from behind.

-Not painted?

-No, it's carved from behind.

Carved from behind.

And it's quite three-dimensional.

When you look at them sideways you can see that the carving occupies all of the thickness of the rock crystal.

-Rock crystal, not glass?

-No, rock crystal.

And then painted with a very, very fine brush, very fine brushes.

And he's got a little border of raised cut diamonds.

And he's wearing his dog collar.

-Yes.

-And he's wearing it there too.

-Is it French?

-No, I would say it was English.

And they're usually about 1870-1880.

1870-1880?

They're quite sought after.

And as it's a particularly charming subject,

and a very popular one,

I'd value this for insurance at about 2,000 today.

2,000 today?

Yes, the last we heard was about 800 or something, yes.

-It's lovely, thank you very much for bringing it along.

-Thank you.

-We get a lot of football programmes turning up.

-Yes.

-But what's particularly unusual is that they're all yours.

-Yes.

-I don't collect football programmes, I don't collect football memorabilia.

-You don't?

-No. No.

-So?

-They're all mine.

-They're all yours?

-Oh, yes.

-So you've been to all these matches?

-Yeah.

I've got three sons and I take my sons off to the football quite often.

But wasn't it slightly unusual for a girl to be going to football?

It was most unusual.

-And how did it all start then?

-I don't know, my father was very keen on football.

He was a very good player who could have turned professional.

And I got very keen on football.

And my first great football hero was Stanley Matthews.

Right, well, we have him here.

And I actually went to Villa Park one day, just to see Stanley Matthews play.

And how old were you then?

-13, 14.

-Really?

-Yes.

-And you went by yourself?

Oh, yes. They used to have football special buses from town.

-But you must have been the only girl on board.

-Probably, yes.

You've several different clubs, what's going on here?

Well, I went to Birmingham one week and Wolves the next.

Because I couldn't afford to go away with Wolves very often, and so I went to Birmingham.

This one's slightly scruffy, what was going on here?

Well, that was my very first match.

It was a very dreary cold February and I was overjoyed at being able to go.

-Your father had allowed you to go?

-Yes.

-When you went to these matches,

as a young girl, I mean, it must have been extraordinary with no other girls there. It was all boys.

There were one or two.

And sometimes I used to take people with me, not football fans,

but people who would come to keep me company.

And I had a friend who used to stand on the terraces knitting.

She never saw anything that went on, on the pitch, she just stood there turning

out her little woolly garments, while I was watching the drama.

And then as soon as the whistle went, she'd put it back in her bag and off we'd go.

-That's when you find out who your friends are.

-Absolutely.

An England-Denmark match. Neither of those are Wolves or Birmingham.

-No, but it was at Wolverhampton.

-Oh, is that so?

-And it was a World Cup qualifier.

And they hardly ever had World Cup qualifiers except at Wembley.

This was interesting from my point of view, later on,

because three of the players were killed in the Munich disaster.

That team there, you can see, is the old Manchester United, pre-Munich.

-Right.

-And that one is just after the Munich disaster when they were a team of anybody who they could buy.

-Wow, and look, it's just a complete...

-Hardly anybody left.

-No.

-I mean, I was at that match, and the atmosphere was phenomenal.

The outpouring of sympathy and grief for Manchester United had to be seen to be believed.

And everybody was wanting United to win.

-Sadly, probably the most valuable ones are the Manchester United match programmes.

-They are.

These sort of programmes are worth,

you know, perhaps £100, £150 each, for the really good ones.

-Thank you so much for bringing them, it's a fascinating story.

-Thanks a lot.

Well, this looks an awful lot worse than it is. I'll put your mind at ease, it isn't really a problem.

This great big piece of walnut that's come off here,

I'm afraid that this glue gets very, very dry, as you can see.

It's very dry and it's just simply fallen away.

Just clean it off and as long as somebody uses a reversible wood adhesive, it can go back.

As long as the glue's cleaned off, it'll be fine.

And you'll never really see, it's made in two pieces anyway.

It hasn't broken, so don't worry about that.

But while we've got it open, look at that lock.

Lovely old early lock. Now you tell me where this has come from.

Because I think I can tell you quite a story about it. But what story can you tell me?

Well, I'm not 100% sure, but my aunt brought it over from the Continent in about 1935.

She was born and bred in Czechoslovakia and brought up in Czechoslovakia.

Its most likely provenance would have been in Czechoslovakia.

I'm thrilled that you said Czechoslovakian parents and background, because that's wonderful.

But what is so fantastic, you just don't see this sort of thing any more with the top part.

-Yes.

-I mean, if you go the big, big castles in Germany,

Regensberg, Baden Baden, yes, you see this sort of thing lined up.

Sometimes the bottom half, occasionally with the top part. It's quite rare to see the two together.

I love this illusion pattern. Isn't it lovely?

A sort of trompe l'oeil, three-dimensional aspect of this perspective. It's lovely.

-What have we got in here? We'll just have a quick look.

-The lock's a bit fragile.

-OK, if you just hold that.

And these release the drawers, do they?

-That's right, yes, they slide.

-Oh, I see, yes. Up, and then open.

-Oh, isn't that nice?

-Yes.

-Not a secret drawer, just a way of locking it.

-That's right.

The top here is a sort of Rococo 1730-50 look,

with this serpentine flowing shape

-but the bottom is Neo-Classical, isn't it?

-Yes, yes.

Much more severe, rectangular shape.

All straight lines. So this is sort of 1770-1780 in Northern Europe.

Whereas this is 1730-50.

So, clearly, it is late piece.

-And they do belong together, don't they?

-They do.

-Yes.

-What I love about this is that it's been in this country 70 years now, at least.

-Yes.

It's never been touched by anyone. That is the most important thing.

I like this dirty old condition and that will affect the value.

-Yes.

-The dirt.

-What, improve it or reduce it?

-What do you think?

-Improve it, I hope.

To me, improve it, yes. I'm going to be mean with the valuation.

I don't want to overvalue it, because I like it a lot. But I do like it.

I'm going to put £12,500 on for insurance.

That's lovely.

Thank you very much indeed.

I inherited these, I think it's about two years ago.

And I've always really loved them.

I used to house-sit for a friend.

And I used to always admire these particular figures and I was lucky enough to inherit them.

Just visually, and I can absolutely understand why you love them,

is because they've just got so much life in them.

-The person who made these was in fact a woman.

-Oh, right.

And her initials are...

CLJR Colinet.

Claire Jeanne Roberte Colinet.

And she was actually born in Brussels.

And she moved to where the market was, to Paris.

Paris was an incredibly exciting time in the early 1900s.

It was full of artists and artists' models, dancers.

And it was really about the first time that society allowed women

in certain circles to go bare breasted without it being absolutely taboo.

I mean, it was still very shocking but, I mean, look at her, she's absolutely fantastic.

And I think these models show very much a female understanding of the female.

I always thought so. I don't know why, it's the way they look.

-It's the sensitivity.

-Glamorous and sensitive.

-They are incredibly glamorous.

She has chosen the best figured ivory for her neck, her chest and her underarms.

This wonderful slight, very slight stripiness

which you have in good-quality ivory.

The bronze is full of movement.

Absolutely stylistically up to the moment.

I mean, you couldn't have more exciting, more vibrant costumes

than they had, you know, as their models.

And of course the skill to get this movement,

which, of course, is where the problem has occurred with this model.

Because she's been carved absolutely standing on her tiptoes.

So she's had a break there.

And her support, because her dress is very heavy, has gone, has broken.

And somebody has repaired that, not terribly well.

But probably as best as they could.

But the horrid thing is, and why it looks so bad, is it's then been painted.

-Right.

-Gosh.

Well, say no more, there is a little bit that's come off it.

So we'll put her to one side and we'll look at this,

the slightly bigger... the bigger model.

I absolutely love her cap. I mean, look, it's got this wonderful plume.

The jewel on the front, these great big, almost sort of...

sort of earmuffs.

She's got a wonderful face.

The movement with her leg, her dress is swirling out.

And if you look at her little bolero, which is quite skimpy, you'll see that there are traces of colour.

Now this would have been much more colourful.

The red would have been much more vibrant,

-there would have been more colour and I'm afraid the enamelling has worn away.

-Right.

-What I would say is these are worth restoring.

-Right.

This one needs the most restoration.

I think that we're talking about spending...

Brave enough to spend 1,000?

-Right.

-OK.

For £3,000 or more, when she's in good condition.

I think she, in a way, needs less restoration. And I think spend...

1,000...

for maybe a retail price of £8,000 or more.

Grief!

So sometimes you just have to go that extra step.

OK, it'd be worth it, I think.

Absolutely fabulous.

You're part of this coach party that's come from Bromsgrove.

-From Bromsgrove, yes.

-What is the connection with you all?

Well, we all belong to the Health Service

and all so happy working together that we all joined the fellowship.

-But you brought me this to see.

-I did, yes.

-How did you come by it?

Well, my family all came from Worcester and my mother had six sisters -

three were nurses and three did other work.

And I'm the last one of the family now, so it's come down to me.

-You've inherited this.

-I have.

-And you like it, do you?

-Very much, yes.

It's a cigarette box, which you shouldn't really like,

health people shouldn't like.

It's a very nice lining as well, isn't it?

It's a lovely lining, but of course the important thing about it is the plaque on top.

I've took it to someone and they said, "Oh, that's plastic,"

-and dismissed it.

-Good heavens, you want to dismiss them.

-It's painted by Harry Davis.

-It is Harry Davis.

-My great idol at the Worcester factory.

-Yes.

And it's made by Royal Worcester, somewhere about the 1910s, '20s, something like that.

-It's very difficult to date because the plaque's been affixed to the top of this pewter cigarette box.

-Yes.

But it's absolutely beautiful.

Highland sheep. These sheep are up in a sort of wonderful misty Scottish setting behind there.

-Yes.

-It's beautiful, isn't it?

-Have you been to the Highlands?

-Oh, yes.

-Yes, so you'll recognise scenes like this.

-The mistiness, yes.

Now it's fairly valuable, do you realise that?

Well, it's valuable to me, yes.

Have you got it insured?

Only with the house insurance.

Yes, I think you should get your house insurance altered.

-Yes.

-And insure this for £2,000.

ASTONISHED GASPS

Thank you.

So that'll pay for the coach going back, won't it?

-How far away's Birmingham from where we are?

-About 20 miles.

15 to 20 miles, I think.

Oh, right, so in fact these have not travelled very far.

They started off their life in Birmingham.

-Yes.

-Because there, of course, we've actually got the marks of Matthew Boulton.

-Yes.

-Boulton was a great driving force behind the Industrial Revolution.

-Yes.

And so inventive. Interestingly,

with these chamber sticks, which are Old Sheffield Plate, I'm sure you realise that...

Yes. They're not solid silver, no.

..we've actually got "Soho Patent" stamp.

Soho, of course, was Matthew Boulton's great factory.

-Yes.

-The patent here, though, is fascinating, because I can't remember seeing this one before.

It's got a spike at the bottom there and then of course turning that,

that lifts up.

And the stub of the candle is then extracted.

I would think today you've got to think in terms of about £500 or £600 for those.

-Each?

-No, for the pair.

For the pair, oh.

But what excites me even more

is what we've got here.

What can you tell me about this jug?

It was bought here about 1960-1963.

Right.

Georgian, I think.

Yes, that's fair enough.

And from documentary evidence I've got, it was awarded to the master of a ship.

Well, in fact he'd lost his ship.

Gosh, so he was given this, having lost his ship?

-Now normally you get a present when you save a ship.

-It's incredible to me.

-It's engraved on the bottom there by the people who financed the trip and the insurers.

-Extraordinary.

Yes, what have we got here? "The gift of respondentia lenders

"and underwriters on the late..."

I love that, "the late ship". I've never heard of a ship being referred to as a late ship before.

"Lord Mansfield".

And that is "the 2nd July 1774 to Captain...

"William Fraser".

-The year after the ship was lost, roughly.

-Right, right.

But this has to be one of the finest Neo-Classic jugs I've seen.

-Really?

-Oh, it's an absolute joy.

Perfectly proportioned,

wonderful beaded edge there.

They're just like separate pearls on the surface.

And then, when you look at the satyrs and

drapery festoons, I mean, those are brilliant.

The acanthus leaf, most beautifully executed.

So, you know, it's got to be somebody pretty good making this.

And there we are, tucked right down inside

are the marks.

Now the actual date

we can see just there is 1774.

So that's good, it ties up absolutely.

The maker's mark, we can see practically all of it,

is Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp.

They produced some of the greatest Neo-Classic silver.

What did you pay for it?

About £480...

-in 1960.

-In 1960-something.

Yes, which is a fair amount of money at that stage.

But I think there's a bit of improvement.

This I could see quite easily going 2,500-3,000,

possibly even more, with all that wonderful history to it.

It really is a most stunning piece.

Are you a gambler?

Sometimes, yes.

OK, I'll tell you what we'll do.

I'm not a gambler, I was once told to take a bet on the Grand National and I lost.

And I thought, "This is ridiculous, there goes £10, I'm not doing this again." But I will make an exception.

This has just come out of my pocket, what have we got here, 20, 40, 60, 80... There's about £100 there.

-I bet you £100 you haven't had these for very long.

-You would be correct.

You owe me a hundred quid, quickest hundred quid I've ever earned.

Now let me tell you, you've been going either round fairs or auctions.

Yes, not recently.

It was something I did about four to five years ago when I got the interest, to have a look at them.

And have you now stopped?

-Yes, yes.

-Because?

I stopped because I enjoyed the pieces I bought...

to look at and thought, "If I gain more pieces,

-"I'm not going to have time to concentrate looking on the ones I like."

-OK.

What did you think you were buying?

In some instances, probably very modern...um, netsukes.

I think there is possibly one there that is a bit old.

-That one?

-Yeah, yeah.

-It isn't.

-No.

-None of them are.

-No.

-The whole lot are brand-new.

Yeah, I didn't think any of them were really old.

There are millions of them about.

I was Ardingly antiques fair yesterday, day before yesterday,

and there was a stall there which must have had 1,000 of them on.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Now I don't mind that, because they were all wood.

You can keep that one, you can keep that one, you can keep those.

But you can't keep any of those.

Why? Because they're all ivory.

These are modern ivory - elephants are being killed for these.

-That's it, yeah, yeah.

-And you mustn't buy them.

No problem with old ivory.

If you want to collect old netsuke I've no problem with that at all. And so I'm delighted you've stopped.

Good.

Well, this is classic Roadshow.

This is beautiful weather, wonderful grounds, lovely house,

-smashing crowd. What more could we ask for?

-Excuse me for interrupting.

-Do excuse me. I wonder whether you'd fancy a cigarette.

-Mark, a cigarette?

-But Navy Cut, I never did smoke those.

-You don't smoke?

-Very strong, you shouldn't have those.

-Filterless?

-Oh!

-Not these ones!

LAUGHTER

Excellent, isn't it? In fact, actually if you look at this, it borrows that Navy Cut look.

But in fact actually this is a German toy made in the first quarter of the 20th century.

And in fact, actually if you look at the writing on it as well, "Manufactured from Walker & Sons".

They didn't get that right. It wasn't perfect grammar.

Let's see it again.

It's just a bit of fun, isn't it?

I think it's wonderful. It's a rare survivor that would have cost nothing when it was made.

It's survived in someone's drawer.

What's it worth? £10 but it's worth every bit of £10, isn't it?

Yes.

Looking at some of these images here on the table, the posters behind us,

they're actually images that some people will recognise, they are sort of imprinted in our brain.

-But it's the name of the artist that one doesn't know, Margaret Calkin James.

-Exactly.

Now Margaret Calkin James was your ma?

-Yes.

-Tell me about her.

Well, she was an extremely accomplished designer,

calligrapher, painter, embroideress.

-You name it, she had done it, really.

-She had tackled it.

-And she became a commercial artist in, I think, before 1920 with the Rainbow Workshops.

-Yes, that's right.

-And here we've got...

-Her day book.

-Rainbow Workshops on the front.

-Yes, yes.

-Oh, underground posters, bluebells, this one, I presume.

-That one, yes.

That was done on April 7th.

And it's got a nice cross through it, how satisfying to cross it through.

-Yes, yes.

-Mission accomplished.

What else have we? Ah, that's nice, I presume that's why this one is marked Kenwood which is behind me.

Tell me, just as a matter of interest,

-you...were you around when these underground posters were...

-Oh, yes.

-Did you ever see them as a child in the underground?

-Yes.

Tell me what that felt like.

It was the greatest thrill. The first ones that I remember plainly walking into the underground

and seeing were Kenwood and its mate Box Hill.

Oh, I know Box Hill, yes.

And there they were and I stood and looked at them and thought,

"My mother did those!" And I was so proud.

If one thinks of Margaret Calkin James, one thinks of colour,

-one thinks of geometry, one thinks of patterns.

-Yes.

And we've got all that here, and perhaps it says it most obviously in the Royal Tournament poster there.

-Yes, yes.

-Where you have this wonderful rhythm counterbalanced with one way, the other way,

-the cross checking of the lances.

-Yes.

-And the whole thing is

-such a marvellous piece of mathematical design.

-Yes.

-But with movement and with life.

-Yes.

Just next to you, we've got a piece of needlework.

How does that all fit into the scheme of things? I'm sure it's there for a reason.

Well, that is most remarkable. 16 years before my mother's death she had a massive stroke.

And was she badly affected?

-She lost her speech and the use of her right side.

-Oh, dear, dear, dear.

But she was such an indomitable person that she taught herself

-to do embroidery with just her left hand, on a frame.

-And she was not left-handed?

-No, no, she wasn't left handed, and she did over 200 of these small embroideries.

-Which are delicious.

And she did this chair seat because it was worn out.

And did she continue working right till the end?

Almost to the end, about I suppose two or three months before.

The patterns started getting weaker, she would just do rows of different colours.

-It was very sad to see it.

-But she still had the passion to create.

-Yes.

Now I'm pleased to say that although lots of people out there don't know the name of Margaret Calkin James,

a good number of connoisseurs do, and her work is certainly sought after.

These posters would easily fetch into four figures.

-Really?

-Definitely, without any question at all.

So the market is there for her designs and what she produced.

What I hope is that in the next few years,

people will begin to see her in the round

and realise that she is much more than the designer of Kenwood

or Trooping the Colour or Kew Gardens.

I think that in the next ten years,

Margaret Calkin James will be a name that everybody knows.

Well, that's very encouraging of you to say so.

It's lovely to see blue and white together, it makes a wonderful colour.

-Yes.

-Especially out in the sunshine, it looks beautiful, doesn't it? All through the family?

Yes, indeed. Came from my great-great-grandmother.

And it passed down through the family

and came to me because I had a cabinet to put it in. I ended up with the collection.

Oh, do you like it as well?

-Yes, I think it's lovely. We're particularly interested in this piece here.

-This one here?

Yes. This is almost an odd one out, isn't it?

-Very much so.

-It's all Worcester.

Oh, is it?

Say from the start. Yes, you've got a butter pot

and cover but without its stand. It should have a stand, you haven't got the round stand to it?

I think we have. I thought it was a separate plate.

Good. No, it's the stand for the pot.

Oh, right, well, we've got that too.

-This is a mug for drinking cider.

-Oh, right.

-Do you drink cider?

-Oh, yes.

-Yes.

Well, it's jolly good stuff.

And a nice teapot. Worcester teapots I think are the most perfect shape.

-Yes.

-And this is wonderful, isn't it?

-Isn't that pretty?

This is a beautiful basket with the pine cone pattern.

This is transfer printed and beautiful. That's a lovely piece.

And this one is a spoon tray

for putting the spoon on, part of a tea set.

-You carry the spoon around and give it to somebody to stir their tea with.

-Oh, I see.

And one of the later pieces of this -

these are all in the 1770s-1780s -

this one is almost in the 1790s, has a little pattern mark,

a factory mark of a disguised numeral and for a spoon tray it's unusual.

And this is the quite unusual pot, yes.

We don't know what that is.

I wondered whether they put crystals in, a towel over their head and sniffed it.

-Yes, we used...

-Friar's Balsam or something.

-Friar's Balsam...

BOTH: ..to clear the head.

-No, no, no.

-Wrong guess.

Wrong guess, what else did you think it was?

-Shaving mug.

-A shaving mug!

It's actually an inkwell.

-Oh, right.

-A desk inkwell, yes, you have a little glass pot in there

which you keep the ink in, as ink is very corrosive.

And in here are wafers for sealing your letter

and sand to dry them up, and the pens go in there.

-I see.

-So there you are.

The unusual thing about it, it is Worcester, it's got a little tiny crescent,

in date about 1785-1790.

But it's an unfinished pattern.

It shouldn't just be lines of blue.

I think that it should have been gilded, lines of gold to make it...and gold round the rim.

-It would look very smart.

-Yes.

You know? But for some reason or other,

it left the factory without being gilded.

Perhaps it was a little damaged, got little blemishes on it.

-Yes.

-And they said, "Oh, to hell with this, we won't finish it off."

-Oh, I see.

-"We'll just sell it."

I suppose cheap as a second or something,

-and somebody used it as an inkpot.

-Yes.

-You've got some unusual pieces.

Some ordinary pieces, but beautiful. None of these are phenomenally valuable.

-I mean, the basket is probably going to be what, sort of £400, something like that.

-Gosh.

-The mug, a very, very pretty mug, 300 to 400.

-Heavens!

Teapot the same. The butter dish...

If you can find the little stand for it to sit on, it's going to be about 600 with the whole thing.

-Good heavens!

-Spoon tray 200 or 300.

-We'd better get them insured.

And the ink pot is very unusual.

I don't know what that's worth because it's unfinished.

I would have a guesstimate of about, say...I don't know, 400.

-Wow.

-You've got a few thousand.

I was going to bring them on my bicycle in my rucksack but I couldn't. Glad I came in the car.

It's really hot, but what a view.

That's going to cool you down, isn't it?

-I love it.

-Do you?

-I do.

-What do you love most about this completely wonderful painting?

The way you can see through to the valley beyond.

This hoosh, that rainbow, that boat and its tiny tender and the waterfall and...

-where do you want me to stop?

-Well, because it just goes on for ever, doesn't it?

The detail of it is extraordinary.

You can completely lose yourself in this.

Everywhere you look there's another extraordinary, almost cataclysmic vision of weather.

You've got the clouds parting here to allow

a wisp of cloud over that distant and almost horrific jagged edge of cliff.

You've got this amazing mist driving up this

valley here and out of it coming this splintering, scintillating waterfall

down to this unbelievable cool, placid, calm loch

with a great big ship in it so far down.

And then, over here, I love this vertiginous bit here, this rock just... Isn't it extraordinary?

You want to push it over the edge and yet you know it's massive

and vast along with the rest of this huge landscape.

And then this wonderful rainbow in that mist, and just look at it.

And it goes on for ever.

I mean...it's magical.

You can dream of trolls living in here. You can think what you like about it.

-But, overall, it's a symphony of different weather conditions, isn't it?

-Absolutely.

Quite, quite lovely.

So, it's by Alfred William Hunt and we can see bottom right there.

And it's signed and dated 1869,

which has got to be the heyday of this artist's career.

Now, he was a very interesting chap, born in Liverpool.

-He's a Liverpool artist.

-Right.

But he went to Oxford

and was a very well-educated man and really he was a scholar and a poet.

I think that tells you a lot about the way he's seeing this landscape, because he's seeing it poetically.

I mean, this is a series of beautiful stanzas of poetry

about the weather and the landscape and the magnificent mountains.

I can't tell you how modern this picture would have been for 1869.

If you'd gone into the exhibition where this was shown and seen it,

you'd go, "Wow! That's new, I've never seen anything like that before".

It's because he's looking forward - he's a Modernist really.

He's looking forward, finding a new way of expressing his emotion

and his, er, reaction to the landscape.

Anyway, a wonderful painting, completely wonderful painting and what's more, you know,

not known to academia.

-This is a lost masterpiece. There's been an exhibition just literally.

-Don't tell him.

-What?

-Don't tell him.

-Don't tell anyone.

-Don't tell anyone. OK, it'll be our secret.

But it's been lost for hundreds of years.

You knew where it was... and one or two others.

There's been an exhibition in the Ashmolean Museum just earlier this year

of this artist's work and they didn't know anything about it. Nothing.

They knew it existed but they didn't know it still existed, or where it was.

How did it get into your family?

Grandfather used to drive ships around the place and when he came back from America he was very rich.

A-ha! There's money in ships, money in ships, can be.

He bought lots of pictures and things he liked and when he died,

it sort of came down the family to us.

-And it's been on your walls ever since.

-Yes.

How wonderful. Ever had it valued?

-No.

-Not at all.

-Probate value.

-And what was that?

-About 5,000.

-5,000-ish? Yeah, yeah.

Well, I can imagine how that would be.

Now, I think probably a picture this good,

this rare, of this date, by this artist...

at least £40,000.

Good grief.

Is there a doctor in the house?

And the rest. I mean, that is conservative. That is conservative.

It is that good.

I think if two people got carried away, I can see it doing 60,000...easily.

It's really, really beautiful.

I might be able to buy that cottage then.

That would be nice.

Well, people come to the Roadshow in twos and threes, families etc, but look at this crowd of people.

-Where have you all come from?

-Bromsgrove, Redditch.

-Is that far away?

-Not very far, no.

-Eight to 12 miles.

-How many of you are there?

-39, 40.

-39, 40.

-It's grown since you've got here. Have you had a good day at the

-Roadshow? ALL: Lovely, thanks.

-And has anyone had any really good news?

-ALL: Yes, yes, Sheila.

-You have.

-I did indeed, yes.

-Really, what happened?

It was a...a box I had that Arthur Sandon valued for me over £2,000.

Henry Sandon, was this?

-Sandon senior.

-Yes.

-He knows what he's talking about. So, a successful day for you?

-It was indeed, yes.

-And everyone else?

-Yes, lovely.

-But you're desperate to get home. So thanks for coming. And you're welcome any other time.

All aboard.

You don't have to tip, but anything's welcome. Thank you.

Well, everyone else has gone home, so I might as well.

See you soon, bye.