0:00:28 > 0:00:33If every picture tells a story, this one would have a great deal to say.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35It's a portrait of Bishop Thomas Burgess,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38a man of many words and, if he hadn't spoken up,
0:00:38 > 0:00:41the Antiques Roadshow wouldn't be where it is today.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57And where we are is the busy market town of Lampeter in West Wales.
0:00:57 > 0:01:04It's 155 miles to Oxford, 220 miles to Cambridge, if you're interested, and Burgess certainly was.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08It was the 19th century and the distance between those great university cities
0:01:08 > 0:01:12and little old Lampeter troubled the Bishop of St David's.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16He wanted Welshmen with a vocation for the church to have the chance
0:01:16 > 0:01:21of a university education, but Oxford and Cambridge were just too far away.
0:01:21 > 0:01:26So on St David's day in 1822, with a little help from his friends,
0:01:26 > 0:01:31Bishop Burgess laid the foundation stone for St David's College.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35It became the third oldest university institution in England and Wales,
0:01:35 > 0:01:39and changed the face, and the future, of Lampeter.
0:01:39 > 0:01:44Today, the college buildings stand at the heart of the town and during term time,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47the students pretty much double the local population.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51Not content with founding a college and getting works underway,
0:01:51 > 0:01:56Thomas Burgess - an Englishman - left St David's his collection of books,
0:01:56 > 0:02:008,000 volumes altogether - as I said, a man of many words.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07In the beginning, St David's College concentrated on preparing students
0:02:07 > 0:02:10for the Anglican ministry but today, under a new name -
0:02:10 > 0:02:13University of Wales, Lampeter -
0:02:13 > 0:02:18it offers a broad range of degree courses from church history to Chinese studies.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22And the university can make a rare boast. With just 2,000 students
0:02:22 > 0:02:24it's one of the world's smallest
0:02:24 > 0:02:29but, as part of the University of Wales, it's one of the biggest,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31and to give it the feel of Oxford or Cambridge,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35it's built around a quadrangle complete with chapel and cloisters,
0:02:35 > 0:02:40and that's where the Antiques Roadshow begins its learning curve today.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43This looks like a clapped-out Victorian ledger to me,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46It's really not in great condition, is it?
0:02:46 > 0:02:48- No.- Um, how did it come your way?
0:02:48 > 0:02:51My aunt gave it to me about 20 years ago as a Christmas present.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55From the look of the outside, you weren't thrilled, were you?
0:02:55 > 0:02:59No, but knowing her, when I opened it up, I was more than pleased.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Well, the first thing to note is the inscription isn't it,
0:03:02 > 0:03:06where it says "All the cuttings in this book were given to me
0:03:06 > 0:03:09"by Mrs LJ Brierley, and are the work of Mr Samuel Brierley."
0:03:09 > 0:03:14One person did the lot and they were given to the Misses Saville Whittle
0:03:14 > 0:03:16at Belvedere in Chorley in 1904.
0:03:16 > 0:03:22But the wow factor is when we open the first page because this is
0:03:22 > 0:03:28- just one page of over 55 pages in the album, it's amazing isn't it?- Yes.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33The work is so delicate, it just amazes me that somebody could do this work with a pair of scissors.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36- I know, it's incredible, isn't it? - It's incredible.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39- You have to think about silhouettes and their history.- Oh, right.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42What is a silhouette but a shadow of an image.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45- Shadow, yes.- And the first silhouette was made in France
0:03:45 > 0:03:48by the French Finance Minister in 1750
0:03:48 > 0:03:50who was called Monsieur Silhouette.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55- Oh, right.- And he perfected a method whereby to get your image accurately recorded,
0:03:55 > 0:03:59he put you in front of a light source and it cast a shadow.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03He then traced around that shadow, life size and had a little instrument
0:04:03 > 0:04:09- that reduced the size of your shadow from life-size to tiny-size. - Oh, right.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13And that's called a pantograph and in the 18th century
0:04:13 > 0:04:16they painted black those images on a solid card.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20You get to around about 1800 and the making of silhouettes
0:04:20 > 0:04:24completely changed and they, they...
0:04:24 > 0:04:27they turned to thin pieces of black paper which were cut-outs.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32I mean here are two pigs about to enjoy their Christmas pudding.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34- Isn't that marvellous?- Yes.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38And the intricate, wonderful way that the top of the holly spray...
0:04:38 > 0:04:41I mean their little trotters and their tails,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44then these two characters that look just as if
0:04:44 > 0:04:49they've come out of Mary Poppins, this one tripping along here
0:04:49 > 0:04:52with the frill of her dress, rearing elephants,
0:04:52 > 0:04:56bears around a stake, and that's just one of these pages.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58Let's have a look at another.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00Now isn't this gorgeous?
0:05:00 > 0:05:05Here we've got a photographer taking a photograph of an old biddy
0:05:05 > 0:05:10and every outline of her - her basket and her umbrella are recorded.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14Opposite, we've got the same photographic set-up
0:05:14 > 0:05:17but actually coming out is a monkey taking the photograph.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22Now photography in 1850 spelled the death of silhouette artists,
0:05:22 > 0:05:25because suddenly, instead of going to the seaside
0:05:25 > 0:05:30and seeing a man who'd make your image out of a shadow,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34you had photographs, so you didn't need those silhouette artists.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39So here the silhouette artist is cocking a snook at photography.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43- Yes.- He's saying, "There's a photographer taking an image
0:05:43 > 0:05:45"but actually he's just a monkey."
0:05:45 > 0:05:47Brilliant. They're wonderful aren't they?
0:05:47 > 0:05:50- Absolutely extraordinary. - Delicacy...
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Here's a gravedigger who's doing his job at night, digging out
0:05:54 > 0:05:58a grave and suddenly this skeleton appears from behind the gravestone
0:05:58 > 0:06:00- and gives him a great fright.- Fright.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04Absolutely extraordinary, I don't think I've ever seen anything
0:06:04 > 0:06:05quite like this album.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08He's even been able to do it in geometric designs.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11- Yes, these are my favourites. - Are they?- I think they're wonderful.
0:06:11 > 0:06:17I think the delicacy and the intricateness of those is out of this world.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20- It blows you away, doesn't it? - It does. It blows you away.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24And curiously enough, this happened at the seaside, it continued
0:06:24 > 0:06:28at the seaside, particularly in Brighton, until about 1940.
0:06:28 > 0:06:29Oh, right.
0:06:29 > 0:06:30You'd still go to the seaside.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35- You wouldn't have necessarily your portrait cut out by a silhouette artist.- No, no.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38But you'd go and see him do that butterfly, wonder at it,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41pay a guinea and take the butterfly home as a souvenir.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43What are you going to do with them?
0:06:43 > 0:06:48Well, I'd love to frame some because I feel at the moment in the album,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50we can't appreciate them.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52- Would that spoil...? - No, not at all.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55- And that would be exactly what I would do.- Really?
0:06:55 > 0:07:00I think it's a wicked thing to break up a book, rip out the prints and frame them up,
0:07:00 > 0:07:04- but in this instance, all this book is, is an album.- Like a scrap book.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08Absolutely. And I promise you, if you filled a wall with 50 sheets,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11the drama and interest that you'd have in front of you,
0:07:11 > 0:07:13it would be tremendous.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17- Mm, yes.- Fifty of them framed up, on a wall, at £100 a time,
0:07:17 > 0:07:22- is £5,000 worth of silhouettes. - Goodness me.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27Now this involves an unpaid bill and a chance meeting at a party.
0:07:27 > 0:07:34- Yes, indeed.- How so?- Well, some 35 years ago, my son was in a gymnastics team who were successful
0:07:34 > 0:07:36in the British Nationals
0:07:36 > 0:07:39and the parents had a party for their kids.
0:07:39 > 0:07:45At the party, there was a guy there called Ron Dunton, an artist's engineer
0:07:45 > 0:07:48and because I lived in Wales, he said, "Would you like a bust of Dylan Thomas?"
0:07:48 > 0:07:51he said "I've got one in my workshop"
0:07:51 > 0:07:55but he said, "I'm retiring and I want to clear the old moulds "out of my workshop."
0:07:55 > 0:08:00We've investigated the history of it now and the artist is Hugh Oloff de Wet.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04But you managed to come by this because the bill wasn't paid
0:08:04 > 0:08:07- by de Wet to his engineer. - To his engineer, precisely.
0:08:07 > 0:08:13Because he cleared his shelves by smashing the mould on presentation of his bill.
0:08:13 > 0:08:19He would be paid and then the artist would have everything about the copyright completed.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23- So you're dealing here with a cold-cast resin bronze.- Yes.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27In other words, not the normal type of bronze that we associate with,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30but the cold process, a sort of run-on by the engineer as a gift to you.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34- That's right.- Nonetheless, I think, a really exciting object
0:08:34 > 0:08:37because this is the great icon of Wales,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41this is the libertine, the hard drinking individual
0:08:41 > 0:08:45who transformed the way we see poets, I think,
0:08:45 > 0:08:50and you have here what I reckon is probably the most significant
0:08:50 > 0:08:53sculptured image of Dylan Thomas.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57Why I think it's so good is that sculpture is a very difficult
0:08:57 > 0:09:02hard material to express movement, it's stone, it's bronze, it's solid,
0:09:02 > 0:09:04but what you have here is a feeling of movement,
0:09:04 > 0:09:09this is almost like a drawing or a watercolour
0:09:09 > 0:09:12or something done in wax which indeed it might well have been originally,
0:09:12 > 0:09:16and in so doing, the sculptor, de Wet, has managed
0:09:16 > 0:09:20to express all those characteristics that we associate with Dylan Thomas.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23He looks as though he's had a hard night,
0:09:23 > 0:09:29and then you've got that slightly puffy drinker's face which he's managed to sort of cream around
0:09:29 > 0:09:35and produce that intuitive quality that you normally associate with a drawing rather than a sculpture.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38And then this brilliant touch of the fag in the mouth to the side.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41If you're trying to express movement and freedom
0:09:41 > 0:09:45in a sculpture and you're dealing with a hard material like bronze or stone,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48it's always a bit of a challenge to know how to mount it,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51and here it's a most intriguing way of doing so,
0:09:51 > 0:09:55by using this - probably food-stained tie - that Dylan Thomas had.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58The artist has used this as the stand,
0:09:58 > 0:10:02so he's pirouetting in this sort of gainful and light-hearted way,
0:10:02 > 0:10:07it just really elevates the sculpture and adds to his other dissolute
0:10:07 > 0:10:11qualities, to produce a rather amazing poet-goule figure really.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14You must have enjoyed living with it.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19Oh, indeed yes, it's been in our lounge now for 30-odd years and everybody admires it.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23- One of the prime versions is in the Royal Festival Hall, is it not? - Yes, indeed, that's the original.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27And we know that a number of cold casts were produced,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30so this is not unique but what is interesting I think
0:10:30 > 0:10:32is the provenance, is the story.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34It's not hugely valuable because it's not bronze,
0:10:34 > 0:10:36but it is none the less I think...
0:10:36 > 0:10:40because of that story and because of the strength of the image,
0:10:40 > 0:10:43- worth about £2,000. - Yes, oh, that's wonderful.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46I understand it's a cake basket.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51- Right, that's what I thought you might say and I'm afraid it's wrong. - Oh, really?
0:10:51 > 0:10:55Yes. We have all the evidence we need to show that in the 18th century
0:10:55 > 0:10:57this was actually a bread basket.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59Oh, I didn't know that.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02How did it actually come into your family?
0:11:02 > 0:11:05It was actually owned by my auntie who lived on her own
0:11:05 > 0:11:09and she kept it in an old suitcase along with a couple of other things....
0:11:09 > 0:11:12- Right.- And she said to me that she had this
0:11:12 > 0:11:15and she thought it was of some value and she had no idea,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17and it had come down through the family.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21I did speak to somebody that knew a little bit about silver,
0:11:21 > 0:11:26and, um, he thought it would be perhaps George II?
0:11:26 > 0:11:30Absolutely spot on. In fact we've got the hallmarks here,
0:11:30 > 0:11:35the three castles, that is actually Newcastle and the date letter we've got there,
0:11:35 > 0:11:39- that particular "L" is actually 1750. - Oh, really?
0:11:39 > 0:11:43- So we're absolutely in the middle of the 18th century.- Right.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47What is rather frustrating though is that we've got no maker's mark.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49Oh, what does that mean?
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Well, the chap who actually produced the piece,
0:11:52 > 0:11:54or the firm that produced the piece.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56But, having said that,
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Newcastle - there weren't that many people working at that time,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03and certainly not on this sort of scale,
0:12:03 > 0:12:07so it's quite likely that it was made by somebody like Isaac Cookson,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10a really top Newcastle man at the time.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15What makes me think particularly of Cookson was the swing handle here,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18we've got these lovely monsters
0:12:18 > 0:12:22and I have seen similar on Cookson's work, things like sauceboats,
0:12:22 > 0:12:23that sort of idea.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28So with a bit, a bit more research one might be able to narrow it down.
0:12:28 > 0:12:29Little bit rubbed here,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33and can you see, there? It looks as though there's been a split,
0:12:33 > 0:12:37- in fact what appears to have happened, a repair there.- Oh.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40That plate and there's another plate over there,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44I don't believe either of those plates were original,
0:12:44 > 0:12:46but they're not desperate.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48So often with a basket like this,
0:12:48 > 0:12:52you find whole sections have been replaced.
0:12:52 > 0:12:58Newcastle bread baskets are not thick on the ground,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02particularly in the middle years of the 18th century...
0:13:02 > 0:13:07- that's the good news. The bad news is not many people are keen on collecting Newcastle.- Oh.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12If you think in terms of a London example of a basket like this,
0:13:12 > 0:13:16is going to sell for in excess of £15,000.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18Oh, my goodness.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21- But...- What's the "but"?
0:13:21 > 0:13:23I'm afraid there's a "but"...
0:13:23 > 0:13:26the condition is not as good as might be,
0:13:26 > 0:13:32- we don't know who the maker is and it's Newcastle.- Not good.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37So as I say, it is a very difficult one to call, a little bit of TLC,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41a really good restorer just to sort out some of those problem areas,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45but certainly we should be looking in excess of £5,000.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Oh, my goodness, I had no idea.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50That's amazing, isn't it?
0:13:50 > 0:13:53- Well, thank you.- Thank you.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56I know what's in here. I like it very much.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- Oh, right. - It's a love token, isn't it?
0:13:59 > 0:14:00- Yes.- Isn't that great?
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Now, where does that come from?
0:14:02 > 0:14:07Well, it was found in a rubbish bin my mother-in-law was chucking away
0:14:07 > 0:14:12- and I told her, "Don't chuck the box away, I'll have a look first." - So it was still a shut box.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16- It was shut box.- But did you know what it was, when you found it?- No.
0:14:16 > 0:14:17- Do you like it?- Yeah, I do.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19It's lovely, isn't it?
0:14:19 > 0:14:23- Beautiful.- These patterns made from shells, from the West Indies,
0:14:23 > 0:14:25we've got here "a gift from Trinidad."
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Traditionally, in the late Victorian period,
0:14:28 > 0:14:30sailors travelling far abroad,
0:14:30 > 0:14:34they'd buy these and they'd come back and they'd say to their girl,
0:14:34 > 0:14:36"Here you are darling, I love you",
0:14:36 > 0:14:38It's a very traditional sailor's present.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43Now, these have become very desirable because ones in this condition
0:14:43 > 0:14:44are really quite rare.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46They weren't particularly well made,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49so they often fall apart with time, so one like this,
0:14:49 > 0:14:54- in this condition, is going to be £600 to £800 for that.- Really?
0:14:54 > 0:14:57- Yes.- You're joking!- I don't joke.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01It's a legacy of my grandfather's days in the Merchant Navy...
0:15:01 > 0:15:03he used to collect ceramic items.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06I don't know too much about it, it's a lovely piece,
0:15:06 > 0:15:10I love the translucent effect and the colours but I'm fairly ignorant
0:15:10 > 0:15:12about its background and its worth.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16OK, well you said ceramics but this is of course glass,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20and it's glass in many layers when you actually stroke the surface,
0:15:20 > 0:15:22you can feel the layers.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27Those layers have been added, subtracted using acids and engraving tools
0:15:27 > 0:15:31and as part of all that process we actually have the name
0:15:31 > 0:15:34of the place it was made - Nancy.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Nancy which is famous for its creative schools
0:15:37 > 0:15:39in the late 19th century, early 20th century.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43The most famous glass maker of all at Nancy - Emile Galle.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47An absolute genius when it came to producing coloured glass.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51His glass was extremely expensive and soon some of his neighbours
0:15:51 > 0:15:56discovered that they could probably achieve similar effects to Galle
0:15:56 > 0:16:01by other less expensive techniques, and this is one of them.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05This is the Daum Brothers whose name appears there.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08They set up a rival factory and they produced this sort of glass.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Now, this is not as good as the best of Galle
0:16:11 > 0:16:16but there is something about Daum which is particularly wonderful.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21I love the dryness of the textures and the terrific range of colours.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24You've got these wonderful blue berries
0:16:25 > 0:16:29then these russet coloured leaves with flushes of green and the shape
0:16:29 > 0:16:30of the glass itself.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34It looks like what the French call an "objet trouve".
0:16:34 > 0:16:39It looks... That groove doesn't look as though it was made by human hand.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42And of course that is the whole secret to the Art Nouveau period,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44and I think Daum is fantastic.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47The other wonderful thing about Daum glass,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51is the colours you see when you're looking at light that's reflected off the surface,
0:16:51 > 0:16:56is very different to the colours you actually see when you, when you hold it up to the light.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58Now if you hold it up to the light you'll see how
0:16:58 > 0:17:03light going through the glass gives you a fantastic range of colours.
0:17:03 > 0:17:08So although it's poor man's Galle, which is bad news, I'm afraid,
0:17:08 > 0:17:11I think if you were to put that up for sale today,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15you would fetch somewhere between £700 and £1,000.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Ooh! Ha, ha, ha!
0:17:19 > 0:17:21That's a pleasant surprise.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24I had the table by way of a gift from a lady
0:17:24 > 0:17:27who became a great friend of mine.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32She was married to a high ranking officer in the British Army
0:17:32 > 0:17:39and she spent some of her time out in Algiers in North Africa,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42and I believe she had some connection, you know,
0:17:42 > 0:17:46with the Spanish monarchy. And I think this table
0:17:46 > 0:17:49was brought back by her from Algiers to this county
0:17:49 > 0:17:52and she bought a smallholding outside Lampeter.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54Oh, I see.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58Well, it's interesting that you say that she moved around,
0:17:58 > 0:18:02because what's so fascinating about this table is, of course,
0:18:02 > 0:18:04- that it is a multi-functional table. - Yes, yes.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08And as such, the shape of the table, the shape of the legs
0:18:08 > 0:18:13give us immediately a date which is about 1740,
0:18:13 > 0:18:20- straight legs with this very nice crisp lappet, as it's called, at the top.- Yes.
0:18:20 > 0:18:21This sort of apron at the top.
0:18:21 > 0:18:29- Yes.- And simple feet. And then the curve at the top which, when you open it out,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33- and it's a gate-leg action, so we have a support there.- Yes, yes.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Gives it these wonderful sort of protuberances - like earlobes at each corner,
0:18:37 > 0:18:44and once more you've got this extraordinary strong red colour on the inside of mahogany,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47very straight grained mahogany which is quite characteristic
0:18:47 > 0:18:50- of that early period when it was used.- Uh-huh, yes.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53This sort of table you can see in paintings by Hogarth in the 1740s.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57- Uh-huh, yes.- And this surface could have been used as a tea table.- Yes.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59And after tea you can play your game of cards
0:18:59 > 0:19:03- with the candelabra, the candlesticks in the corners.- Oh, I see.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08- Here, and your chips, your game chips here.- Yes, chips there, uh-huh?
0:19:08 > 0:19:12- So this is superb, you've got already two tables in one.- Yes.
0:19:12 > 0:19:19And then it goes once more and the backgammon table which is very bright, very lively.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Yes, it is beautiful.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25- And I can see that there are other things that are happening here.- Yes.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30- So to go back, and you have a writing slope, or a reading slope.- Yes.
0:19:30 > 0:19:36- And that explains what we've got on this side, which is inkwells possibly, here.- Uh-huh, yes.
0:19:36 > 0:19:43So it could be used as a writing desk or virtually anything you like to use it for.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47- Yes.- It truly was a multi-purpose piece of furniture.
0:19:47 > 0:19:53And I think what, at the period, in that time, you had people moving around in terms of accommodation,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56- they often went into rented accommodation, leased property.- Yes.
0:19:56 > 0:20:03- And pieces of furniture like this would be extremely compact and easy to take with them.- Yes.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05So you clearly use it now?
0:20:05 > 0:20:08I do occasionally, yes, but I don't play backgammon.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11- You don't play backgammon. - No, unfortunately.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15No, I don't either, I've never mastered the art of backgammon.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18- No.- But it's a wonderful table, beautiful colour.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20In terms of a valuation,
0:20:20 > 0:20:25I would have thought five or six thousand pounds at least,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28and possibly more than that.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30That's far more than I anticipated.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33I had a figure of about two and a half thousand in my mind.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37- I think you can do better than that. - Yes, I'm delighted.- Good.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41What did you do in the war, Daddy?
0:20:41 > 0:20:44That's a question that many children have asked their fathers,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46but you know, don't you?
0:20:46 > 0:20:48- Indeed, yes, I do, yeah. - Tell me what he did.
0:20:48 > 0:20:54He was with the first tanks, went out to Sinai, Palestine.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56There's a group of soldiers here.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58Is one of them your father?
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Yes, it's this chap, this chap here.
0:21:01 > 0:21:02- With the glasses?- Yes.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07- He looks very young.- Yes, he was 20, 21, I believe, at the time.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10It must have been quite an adventure for him, I would think.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12I think so, particularly in those days
0:21:12 > 0:21:17- when people didn't travel very far. - No, true.- To go out to Palestine was quite something.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20- Hang on a minute, these are photographs inside a tank?- Yes...
0:21:20 > 0:21:24I've never seen photographs taken by an amateur photographer
0:21:24 > 0:21:26- inside a tank. - He took them himself.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30- He did?- Yes, and developed them. - Did he take all of these photographs?
0:21:30 > 0:21:34- He took all of the photographs and developed them in war conditions. - Good heavens above.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37So, you're Mother are you?
0:21:37 > 0:21:42- Yes, I'm Mother.- Yes, and you were married to... What's his name?
0:21:42 > 0:21:44John William Bishop Farmer.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48John William Bishop Farmer, and was he just in the Tank Regiment?
0:21:48 > 0:21:51He did serve with Lawrence, didn't he?
0:21:51 > 0:21:54Hang on, Lawrence? THE Lawrence of Arabia?
0:21:54 > 0:21:56- Yes, yes, yes. - He served with Lawrence?
0:21:56 > 0:22:01Yes! Donned Arab costume and went and served with Lawrence, yes.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Good Lord! That's extraordinary, and fought the Turks with Lawrence?
0:22:04 > 0:22:08- That's right, yes, that's right, yes.- And rode a camel.- Yes, yes.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13That's amazing. But he seemed to be, from some of these medals,
0:22:13 > 0:22:16quite well awarded, he has here the MBE...
0:22:16 > 0:22:18- military MBE.- Yes, indeed, yes.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21And these two First World War medals.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Yes, he also had the Military Cross didn't he?
0:22:24 > 0:22:27- Did he really?- And the OBE. - And the OBE, yes.
0:22:27 > 0:22:28So he was very well awarded.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32He was commissioned in the field, for bravery.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34And did he find quite a great interest in the Arabs,
0:22:34 > 0:22:36I mean was he very interested in them?
0:22:36 > 0:22:40- Oh, yes, oh, yes, yes, he did indeed.- He liked them a lot.- He did?
0:22:40 > 0:22:44He liked their bravery. And when he returned to Britain
0:22:44 > 0:22:46he actually called his home "Khanyunus"
0:22:46 > 0:22:48which means "little oasis."
0:22:48 > 0:22:51- Oh, how wonderful.- Which was a spot where he was wounded
0:22:51 > 0:22:53when he was out in Palestine.
0:22:53 > 0:22:59And as it happened, "Khanyunus" was in Oriental Road in Woking
0:22:59 > 0:23:03where the first mosque was built and he made contact there
0:23:03 > 0:23:05and converted to Islam.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08- This presumably is him?- Yes.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12- And this is the Koran.- And that's me with him learning to read...
0:23:12 > 0:23:14- This is you?- Yes, yes.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17And you have also taken that faith, have you?
0:23:17 > 0:23:19I have indeed, yes, and so have my children.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23Really? You know, it's a fascinating story, and I would
0:23:23 > 0:23:28imagine there's far more involved than we can possibly go into now.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32- Indeed.- And of course at some point we have to look at the value,
0:23:32 > 0:23:34or think about the value of what you've got -
0:23:34 > 0:23:39the majority of which, I would imagine, is in the medals.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43The moment you start to improve the interest in a group of medals
0:23:43 > 0:23:47with ephemera, photographs, the story of someone who actually
0:23:47 > 0:23:52served with Lawrence, who served in the Tank Corps in the Eastern Desert,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56who converted to Islam - the most extraordinary life, really,
0:23:56 > 0:24:02the moment you put all that together, it makes quite a valuable group.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06And I would say that we would probably be thinking in terms of
0:24:06 > 0:24:10an auction value of something in the region of five to seven thousand.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14- Good gracious!- Extraordinary, extraordinary story.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19- Of course we wouldn't get rid of them, they are of sentimental value. - Oh, indeed.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23- Pass it down the family, whatever you do.- Oh, yes, yes.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26They were on my uncle's windowsill and when I was a child
0:24:26 > 0:24:29I used to gaze at them, but I don't know anything else.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33Right, this is a type of tile which is known generically as encaustic
0:24:33 > 0:24:34and the way it's made,
0:24:34 > 0:24:42the basic brown tile is pressed into a mould with all the design in cut-out, not in relief, in intaglio,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44and when you've got that,
0:24:44 > 0:24:49- you fill it with clay of another colour.- Oh, yes.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54Scrape it clean and fire it, and so you've got one colour clay inset into another colour.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57- Right. - And this is a medieval process.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00- Right.- If you go back to certainly the 13th C
0:25:00 > 0:25:02and possibly even earlier in Britain,
0:25:02 > 0:25:06cathedrals, abbeys, had tiled floors made of encaustic tiles.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Right, from High Wycombe, I read that.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Exactly. But the technique was lost from the Middle Ages
0:25:12 > 0:25:16and then in the 19th C the problem arose...
0:25:16 > 0:25:21We've got all these buildings with medieval floors which are all falling apart. How do we restore them?
0:25:21 > 0:25:27- And so in Staffordshire in the 1830s they had to completely reinvent the technique.- Oh, right.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30And they were used extensively through the Victorian period,
0:25:30 > 0:25:34the Palace of Westminster, Houses of Parliament, are filled with tiles...
0:25:34 > 0:25:38- much more colourful, but in this technology.- Right.- These come from designs,
0:25:38 > 0:25:42that were produced by a man called Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin
0:25:42 > 0:25:46who was one of the architects of the Houses of Parliament,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49- Palace of Westminster.- Oh, right.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51He was a very famous Victorian designer.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55He became interested in tiles in the early 1840s
0:25:55 > 0:25:59and the first tiles he designed were made by Minton
0:25:59 > 0:26:03and they were published in a book called "Old English Tile Patterns" in 1842.
0:26:03 > 0:26:04- Right, right.- And some of these...
0:26:04 > 0:26:06that and that... are in that series.
0:26:06 > 0:26:12- OK.- So in theory you're looking at very early Victorian encaustic tiles.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14How did you get them?
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Well, I got them after my uncle died.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20I asked for them because they'd always been favourites of mine.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23He told me that when London was bombed
0:26:23 > 0:26:26he'd got them from a church, and he said The Temple.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28Well, that's a very revealing remark,
0:26:28 > 0:26:31because when they began to remake encaustic tiles
0:26:31 > 0:26:34for restoration projects at the beginning of the 19th century,
0:26:34 > 0:26:38there are references that the first ones were made for the Temple Church.
0:26:38 > 0:26:39Oh. There we are, then.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41- So there we are.- Oh, good grief.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44If these come from the first Pugin Minton series
0:26:44 > 0:26:50- in 1842, they're worth about £300 each.- Are they?
0:26:50 > 0:26:53These may be a bit later but they're still a Pugin design,
0:26:53 > 0:26:57they're early productions of the encaustic process,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00they're a lovely evocation of Gothic Revival in that period.
0:27:00 > 0:27:01- Right.- I think they're lovely.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05Well, this is a great trophy. How did it come in your possession?
0:27:05 > 0:27:10Well, it is my grandfather who won it at this college here in St David's.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15How terrific, well let's have a look at it, it says "Athletic Sports SDC".
0:27:15 > 0:27:19- St David's College. - And I think that's St David on the building behind us isn't it?
0:27:19 > 0:27:23- In person, yes.- First prize for throwing the cricket ball, 1884.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28- Yes.- And do you know how far he threw the cricket ball, or not? - I'm very sorry, no.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32We've got the lion here with the coronet on top holding up the shield.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36- Yes.- And his head tilts back and of course it turns into an ink well.
0:27:36 > 0:27:37That's right.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39It's not silver, it's silver plate.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42- I see.- And we know the date, 1884.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45- Yes.- I think it's a lovely family memento and how appropriate
0:27:45 > 0:27:47that it should be here at St David's College.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Well, exactly, this is why I thought I'd bring it along.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55Well, thank you for doing so. Difficult to value but if it came up at auction it's such a fine model,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57we might expect it to fetch between £300 and £500.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01- I see, yes. - But I hope being your grandfather, it will stay in your family.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05Oh, exactly, I'm M Richards, my father's M Richards,
0:28:05 > 0:28:07my son's M Richards... and his son is M Richards
0:28:07 > 0:28:11so they're all M Richards. How terrific. Diolch yn fawr!
0:28:11 > 0:28:16So this is the work of Scottie Wilson who was a Scottish Primitive painter
0:28:16 > 0:28:20who did some work for Royal Worcester and this is a Royal Worcester dish.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24- Royal Doulton actually. - Eh?- Royal Doulton, isn't it?
0:28:24 > 0:28:25No dear...
0:28:29 > 0:28:30Sorry.
0:28:30 > 0:28:31Put your hand out...
0:28:31 > 0:28:33Royal Doulton, bah!
0:28:33 > 0:28:39- No, it's Royal Worcester. - Sorry, folks!
0:28:39 > 0:28:42He did a lot of work for Royal Worcester in the 1950s.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46- Er, yes, that's right, yes. - Yeah, and designed these plates to...
0:28:46 > 0:28:49- very similar to some of his watercolour paintings.- That's right.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52- And you've actually got one of his watercolours?- Yes, yes.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55- How did you acquire that? - Well, we acquired that later.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59My husband had met Scottie at an exhibition he was holding
0:28:59 > 0:29:00down in Teignmouth
0:29:00 > 0:29:05and then later on this came out, and we were rather delighted
0:29:05 > 0:29:10- to see that it was so similar to the...- The scene with the swans.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12- Yes, yes.- He loved swans.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15- Yes.- Yes, you've got more of this, have you?
0:29:15 > 0:29:18Well, I've got sort of a couple of cups, saucers, plates.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22The work that he did in the '50s for Royal Worcester were very unpopular,
0:29:22 > 0:29:24no-one wanted to buy the damn things,
0:29:24 > 0:29:28they were left with stacks of the stuff... Although Lord Snowdon
0:29:28 > 0:29:29had a great appreciation for them,
0:29:29 > 0:29:33he praised them up enormously, but that didn't do any good
0:29:33 > 0:29:36so the stuff is out there for people to collect.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39- Oh, yes.- But it's now beginning to fetch money, so your other pieces
0:29:39 > 0:29:41- are in good condition?- They are, yes.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43Yes, this one's a bit of a wreck.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47- It is.- So you'll look after the other ones you've got, won't you? - I will, yes, I will.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50They're going to be worth, I don't know, £40 or £50 apiece at least.
0:29:50 > 0:29:51- Are they really?- So - careful with them.
0:29:51 > 0:29:56- Yes.- But this is very unusual, although his watercolour paintings
0:29:56 > 0:30:00- don't fetch as much now as one would think they should do.- No.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03- I mean probably £100 to £200 for a piece.- Yes.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07But one day, I think, his watercolours will fetch
0:30:07 > 0:30:11- a much greater amount, so keep them carefully.- I will, yes.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14- Don't break them.- No. - And look after the jug.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17- I will, yes, I will indeed. - Even if it's not Royal Doulton.
0:30:17 > 0:30:23Well, the valleys of Wales are famous for male voice choirs but this little
0:30:23 > 0:30:26instrument has also played its part in Welsh worship, hasn't it?
0:30:26 > 0:30:30Yes, it has. It came from Pembrokeshire.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34It was with a retired farmer who my husband used to live with
0:30:34 > 0:30:37before we got married, and he asked me one day
0:30:37 > 0:30:40whether I'd be interested in having it, and I said I would love to,
0:30:40 > 0:30:44so he said, "Well funny thing is", he said, "There was one sold
0:30:44 > 0:30:48"in the auction just down the road from here the other day and it made £500".
0:30:48 > 0:30:50So I said, "Well, you'd better keep it then!"
0:30:50 > 0:30:53So I ended up by giving him £150 for it,
0:30:53 > 0:30:58but he then told me that it had been in his family for many, many years.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00It was said that it had been used by John Wesley
0:31:00 > 0:31:04to travel round Pembrokeshire doing his preaching.
0:31:04 > 0:31:10- Yes.- But it was only said, there is no written proof of that. - That is what we call a "by repute".
0:31:10 > 0:31:13- By repute, that's it. - Yes, you mentioned the word "organ",
0:31:13 > 0:31:16and it does sort of make an organ-type noise
0:31:16 > 0:31:20but the instrument in question is basically a...
0:31:20 > 0:31:22what is called a "free reed" instrument.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25Whereas an organ - a conventional church organ -
0:31:25 > 0:31:26- blows wind through pipes.- Yes.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29Here you have what is called a free-reed instrument
0:31:29 > 0:31:31- and it's basically a harmonium.- Yes.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34And they are incredibly portable,
0:31:34 > 0:31:37we've got two rather sturdy handles at the ends.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40- That's right.- We have the maker... or the retailer's...mark.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45Hamlyn is not a name I've come across before. But let's be optimistic
0:31:45 > 0:31:49and think could this possibly have been around at the time of Wesley?
0:31:49 > 0:31:52- What do you think?- I doubt it.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54Well, the style of this piece is totally Gothic
0:31:54 > 0:31:58with a bit of Arts & Crafts thrown in,
0:31:58 > 0:32:00I mean those handles, slightly medieval handles,
0:32:00 > 0:32:04I would put this instrument somewhere towards the end of the 19th century,
0:32:04 > 0:32:09and there's one other thing I would say. These keys are plastic.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11- Right.- This would have made history
0:32:11 > 0:32:16- if it really had been around the time of, of Wesley.- Yes, yes.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20£500 would be a lot to pay for something like this
0:32:20 > 0:32:22and today, generally speaking,
0:32:22 > 0:32:24you shouldn't have to spend more than £100 or £200.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26So I was in about the right price.
0:32:26 > 0:32:31- Do you use it for any form of worship at the moment?- Not really.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33It's quite a narrow range.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35- You can't really get very far with this.- No, no.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38We normally need a chair to pump the bellows so you're going to have
0:32:38 > 0:32:41- to take the left hand side, I'll take the right hand side, OK?- Yes.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44So for what we're about to receive.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46Here we go.
0:32:46 > 0:32:52HE SINGS FALSETTO: # Ave Maria... #
0:33:00 > 0:33:03- You mean this is an early model of you?- Early model of me, yes.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06- They did a lot of them. - Well, it's pretty accurate isn't it?
0:33:06 > 0:33:08- Not bad really.- Sideways on.
0:33:08 > 0:33:10Yes. When I had more hair.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13- I'm looking at the other bit, actually.- Oh, dear!
0:33:13 > 0:33:15- Yes, it is me.- Very good.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17- Lambert I suppose is it? - This is Henry Sandon.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20- Henry Sandon. - Yes, it might be Lambert.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23- I'm related to Lambert in shape. - And in the genes.
0:33:23 > 0:33:28Yes, the JEANS are very difficult to get on now but, but I'm sure I am.
0:33:28 > 0:33:34- This is the obverse side. - Right.- The side which does not have the pattern actually.
0:33:36 > 0:33:38Looks a bit dull doesn't it?
0:33:38 > 0:33:39Doesn't it look very dull?
0:33:39 > 0:33:44How terrific, a wind-up razor, isn't that great?
0:33:44 > 0:33:47- Where did you get it from? - I got it from a charity shop just down the road.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49- Very period isn't it?- Yeah.
0:33:49 > 0:33:54I would think that's what, mid 1950s, something like that, it's got the maker's name there, Thorens, who were
0:33:54 > 0:34:01quite a well known maker at the time, Riviera's the style. And you press, presumably the red button, is it?
0:34:01 > 0:34:04There we are, and it goes. And the black button to stop. It's nice
0:34:04 > 0:34:10that it's got its original case and it just winds up from the back, and how much did you pay for it?
0:34:10 > 0:34:12Um, I think I paid £1 for it.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14Well, you can't lose at that price can you?
0:34:14 > 0:34:18- No.- I would think in a shop specialising in items
0:34:18 > 0:34:24of this period, from the '50s, '60s, you might well pay £40 or £50 for it.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26- Right.- Are you going to show us how it works?
0:34:26 > 0:34:28OK, um...
0:34:34 > 0:34:37- Where are you, dear? - I'm here.- I'm not with you, what?
0:34:37 > 0:34:39There you are.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41That's right turn it up a bit...
0:34:41 > 0:34:46These were made at the Shelley factory, which is a great Art Deco factory, in the 1930s
0:34:46 > 0:34:50from designs by Mabel Lucy Attwell, so they're really quite collectable.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52Where did you get them from?
0:34:52 > 0:34:55They were given to my daughter by an aunt.
0:34:55 > 0:35:00- Well, she was jolly lucky. Aren't they lovely?- No.- Oh.- Not particularly.- You don't like them?
0:35:00 > 0:35:06- No.- Well, I'll give you the good news. Even if you don't like them, they're still worth about £600.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10Oh, right. That's OK, I can live with them, then.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12And then you've got another.
0:35:12 > 0:35:18Ta-da! Look at that, isn't that amazing?
0:35:18 > 0:35:23Incredibly brilliant colours, but yet, if you look at the back
0:35:23 > 0:35:27it's as dull as anything. Now tell me, where did you get these from?
0:35:27 > 0:35:33- Captain Birch was in the artillery in the Far East.- Right.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36He died eventually in Aberystwyth some time before WWI.
0:35:36 > 0:35:42My grandfather bought his house from the estate, fully furnished.
0:35:42 > 0:35:43In two chests were these.
0:35:43 > 0:35:48Well, you would think that Captain Birch having been an army officer
0:35:48 > 0:35:54and been in the Middle East would've bought something in the Middle East that came from the Middle East.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57- Well, you would think so. - Well, you'd be wrong.
0:35:57 > 0:36:04Because this cannot be more Islamic looking, as a cloth, in all the wide world, can it?
0:36:04 > 0:36:07- No.- Now the secret to this is on the back...
0:36:07 > 0:36:11because you don't see any knot or weave on the back, it means that
0:36:11 > 0:36:18this thing is entirely machine made and this is machine made in Brussels.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21- Good heavens.- So, a Belgian machine-made cloth.- Get away!
0:36:21 > 0:36:27Made in Europe, sent to the Middle East and sold in some souk,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31bought by the Arabs - or the visiting British military -
0:36:31 > 0:36:36and brought back to Wales and fitted up in a house. Now, isn't that the most extraordinary thing?
0:36:36 > 0:36:38Absolutely marvellous.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42- And have you, all these years, thought that this was made in the Middle East?- Yes, we did.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45There you go. I'm sorry about that, but it's the truth of the matter.
0:36:45 > 0:36:50Oh, well, That is absolutely marvellous. This is what we've been trying to find out for years.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54We've had these things, we bring them out, show people, and everybody
0:36:54 > 0:36:58says "Oh, definitely Burmese, definitely Indian, definitely..."
0:36:58 > 0:37:03And now this. Tim comes along... and shatters all our dreams!
0:37:03 > 0:37:07- I'm sorry!- Completely... And says the ruddy thing's made in Belgium!
0:37:10 > 0:37:14This is one of the most delicate and exquisite little pieces of textile
0:37:14 > 0:37:16I've had the pleasure of dealing with.
0:37:16 > 0:37:24And to look at it, I was immediately taken by its absolute beauty.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26The work that has gone into this is just staggering.
0:37:26 > 0:37:31- That aside, there's a lot more to it. - Yes. It's Napoleon.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34It is Napoleon and I'd like to know how you came across it.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37- It's been in the family for a very long time.- Right.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39- I have no idea how it originated there.- Right.
0:37:39 > 0:37:44And unfortunately, there's nobody I can ask who would know where it came from so I'm a bit stuck on that one.
0:37:44 > 0:37:50It's an extremely rare survivor. What we've got in fact is, is Napoleon sitting here on an eagle,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53but also there's something very majestic about him. Look at him here.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57The Legion of Honour at the bottom. He's being portrayed as an emperor.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02That, to me, almost tells us something about the way and the time in which it was done.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06I feel that it was done by someone who very much admired Napoleon
0:38:06 > 0:38:12and perhaps thought he shouldn't be in prison. Now if we look at this very carefully, we can see here
0:38:12 > 0:38:13his foot is on a map
0:38:13 > 0:38:15and underneath,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18in extremely tiny letters, "France"
0:38:18 > 0:38:21"Cors" for Corsica and "St Helene".
0:38:21 > 0:38:23- St Helena.- I hadn't noticed that.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26Now, he was put on the island in around about 1815
0:38:26 > 0:38:32and died in 1821 and I feel that this was done in that period.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36- Right.- I mean obviously, because the island is named there, it has to be after that.- Yes, yes.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39But I feel that that was done in his lifetime.
0:38:39 > 0:38:44It's on silk. And the problem is with silk, and particularly silk of this age, it obviously deteriorates.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46It needs to go to a skilled conservator.
0:38:46 > 0:38:52- Yes.- And I think what they would certainly have to do is probably mount it on...on a gauze...- Yes.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56to give it stability. I think that's how they would approach it.
0:38:56 > 0:39:01But I think, given all those things that we've discussed, it is absolutely exquisite.
0:39:01 > 0:39:07- Putting a price on it is very, very difficult.- Oh.- Personally if I were to go and buy this,
0:39:07 > 0:39:12I would probably be tempted to pay £200 or £300 for it without thinking about it.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15Having said that, I think if it were to go to France...
0:39:15 > 0:39:18- Yes.- ...then it would acquire even more value than that.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21So from that point of view, how long is a piece of string?
0:39:21 > 0:39:26It's a difficult one. It's a gorgeous thing and I have to say, today,
0:39:26 > 0:39:32- it's one of the most beautiful and exquisite little things I've seen. - A pleasure. Thank you.
0:39:32 > 0:39:37You know I'm immensely jealous of you. If I had lots of money,
0:39:37 > 0:39:39what I would collect is this.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42Italian "istoriato Maiolica".
0:39:42 > 0:39:47I think it's one of the most beautiful classes of ware ever made.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49Do you like it?
0:39:49 > 0:39:54I love it. Many years ago, my father, in Wales, happened to ring me one day
0:39:54 > 0:39:56and said "Oh, I've seen a nice little decanter,
0:39:56 > 0:40:02"I think you might pop in and have a look at it when you're down here." so I did and I bought the decanter.
0:40:02 > 0:40:07As I was going out of the shop, this very small shop,
0:40:07 > 0:40:13I noticed this plate hanging from a very precarious looking hook,
0:40:13 > 0:40:19so I thought "Well, I don't know, that looks as if it's an istoriato plate to me." So I asked the chap,
0:40:19 > 0:40:24"What are you asking for that?" and he said "£5."
0:40:24 > 0:40:26And I walked away with it.
0:40:26 > 0:40:31Well, I'm glad that it found a good home and somebody who loves it,
0:40:31 > 0:40:35what I always think is so amazing about these pieces is they look very colourful,
0:40:35 > 0:40:41yet if you start counting how many colours there are in them, blue,
0:40:41 > 0:40:45ochre and yellow and manganese...
0:40:45 > 0:40:48four colours, that's all...
0:40:48 > 0:40:51arranged in such a way that they give,
0:40:51 > 0:40:55by brilliant juxtaposition of colour,
0:40:55 > 0:40:59- you get a great feeling of brightness don't you?- Indeed, yes.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04And this was made in about 1540, maybe 1550.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08and when you look at a dish like this, because it was fired,
0:41:08 > 0:41:12you are actually seeing, we are actually seeing,
0:41:12 > 0:41:18the colours exactly as they started out all that long time ago.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22So this really gives us a snapshot of what people liked
0:41:22 > 0:41:28in terms of colour and design in 1540 or 1550.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32Now, as often is the case with these dishes -
0:41:32 > 0:41:38generally made in Urbino or in that area -
0:41:38 > 0:41:42is they wrote on the back what the subject was.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46And this says "Tobie misterium",
0:41:46 > 0:41:51The mystery of Tobias." So presumably it's something from the Book of Tobie.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56Now there's one other interesting thing about it,
0:41:56 > 0:41:59which affects the date.
0:41:59 > 0:42:05Somebody called Bernard Salomon in Lyon published a Bible
0:42:05 > 0:42:08with little woodcut illustrations.
0:42:08 > 0:42:14In 1552. And it got to Urbino extremely quickly, we know that.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18And I suspect that this is taken from an illustration of that book.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23- Really?- So it pushes me to date it slightly later
0:42:23 > 0:42:25than some people might have thought.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29It's still, you know,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33- 400 years old!- That would be part of Henry VIII's time.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37Exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah! I think if you had to go out and buy it again,
0:42:37 > 0:42:41you'd probably have to pay £10,000 for it.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44- It's that kind of money.- Dear me.
0:42:44 > 0:42:51So, fantastic. I've been longing all the years I've done the Roadshow for a nice bit of istoriato Maiolica,
0:42:51 > 0:42:56- so you've made my day and I'm thrilled.- Thank you so much.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59What is this strange contraption?
0:42:59 > 0:43:04I think it's a pair of foghorn bellows that a sailor would've used, coming into harbour in thick fog,
0:43:04 > 0:43:08- to let everybody know a boat was coming.- And how old is it? - About 100 years old.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12I'll tell you what, it's nearly time to go home.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16- I think we could use this as a sort of blowing the retreat, couldn't we? Sounding the retreat.- After you.
0:43:16 > 0:43:22Right, I'll just do this once, it's been a wonderful day at the University of Wales, Lampeter,
0:43:22 > 0:43:26and on behalf of the entire Antiques Roadshow team may I say...
0:43:26 > 0:43:30TRUMPETING BLAST ..and goodnight.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd