Londonderry Antiques Roadshow

In its mission to visit all points of the compass, the Roadshow has arrived for the first time at the

UK's most westerly port, a position that more than once has placed the

walled city of Londonderry at the very heart of historic events.

During the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest campaign of World War II, more than 20,000 Royal Navy

personnel were stationed here, but these shores

haven't always offered a warm welcome to the weary sailor.

In 1588, ships of the Spanish Armada, limping home from defeat

in the English Channel, were driven way off course by storms.

One ship, La Trinidad Valencera was grounded on a reef at Kinnagoe Bay,

30 miles from the city of Derry, and broke up.

Ironically it was bad weather that resurrected the vessel.

400 years later on a miserable February day in 1971 the City of Derry Sub-aqua Club

were forced by conditions to do their diving a lot closer to the shore than usual.

The first clue to the lost ship was a bronze cannon, but the divers soon

realised that the wreckage was spread over a huge area.

Over the next number of years, club members, with the help of

the Ulster Museum, catalogued and conserved each fragment they found.

In every war, each side considers its cause to be just, and both Protestant England

and Catholic Spain believed they fought in the name of God.

Before going into battle, Spaniards were given a certificate absolving them of their sins.

They were also given a holy medallion and this one was found on the sea-bed at Kinnagoe Bay.

You won't find a finer set of city walls in Europe - they date back to the early 1600s and they've been

through several sieges without ever being breached, that's why Derry is called "The Maiden City".

Our venue today is tucked neatly inside the walls. The Millennium Forum is a state-of-the-art theatre.

It's been adapted to accommodate the special needs of the Antiques Roadshow.

Well, we're sort of dressed for a cream tea - we've got the jam and

cream dish and we have a nice little teapot.

Tell me, where does this teapot come from?

It was a wedding present to my grandparents, and it's Belleek but it's very unusual.

They haven't got a record of that teapot in the Belleek factory.

And Belleek, of course, is an incredibly, and rightly celebrated,

Irish factory based in County Fermanagh.

If we take the lid off to have a look at the mark underneath, there it is,

there's the mark, the dog, the harp and the tower, it says "Belleek"

and it says "County Fermanagh, Ireland".

Now, that mark immediately tells me what period of Belleek this belongs to.

This particular mark doesn't come in until the very end of the 1880s...

-Does that square with your own family record?

-Yes.

My grandparents were married in 1896 so that would fit in.

So this was a wedding present in 1896?

Yes, yes.

You happen to have brought along one of my favourite teapot models of all time.

Look at that shape. First of all you've got a pentagonal shape.

How often do you see a teapot with five sides?

And each of the sides is conceived as a bundle of bamboo, with these notches overlapping

and they've even gone into that delicious detail of the severed ends of each of these rods of bamboo.

You can see the pith - they've actually taken the trouble to

model the pith that you would see on bamboo.

And then you have a bamboo spout and you have a nice bamboo stem for the handle.

Now this is not a Belleek invention, that may be why it doesn't appear in the pattern books.

Royal Worcester produced this shape, in this very material, this Parian body,

back in the 1880s and Belleek took a lot of designs, almost copied them straight off, from Royal Worcester.

So you could say, "Hang on, that's a Royal Worcester shape." But no, it goes further back than that.

If you go back into the 18th century, back to around the 1760s-1770s,

this shape was being produced by Josiah Wedgwood.

-But it doesn't stop there.

-Really?

If you go back another 60 years to China, and to a part of China called Yixing,

that's where we find the original pentagonal bamboo teapot.

-Bamboo teapot.

-And there it's made in a red stoneware but it's exactly the same and it's come through...

-That's very interesting.

-..That hop, skip and a jump, over the water to Ireland, to Belleek.

-Oh, right.

So how much would it cost to lay something like this out for tea?

Well, your little Victorian coloured glass jam-and-cream set on its electro-plated stand would probably

cost you in the region of £100, £150.

The teapot... I would expect if you were to sell a piece like this to a

collector of Belleek, and let's remember that

Belleek collectors aren't merely in Ireland, but also in England and, more to the point, in America.

A rarity like this would probably cost them at least £1,000.

For that teapot?

Oh, my goodness.

One lump or two?

Oh!

That's... For that simple teapot? I can't...

I cannot believe that.

Thank you very much indeed. That's...that's amazing.

So now, you inherited this from your great aunt?

-That's right, yes.

-How did she come by it?

Well, she'd always collected a lot of paintings and all sorts of stuff, I mean from my going to

the house there was always, there was lot of bits and pieces in it,

but this one here was one that she particularly liked herself and I always liked too, and when she did

get, um, you know, iller, when she became older, she had to move into a small flat and this is one

of the few things she kept from, you know, all her belongings, so she had a great fondness for this and...

And, rather poignantly, this is about, about an ill child, isn't it?

Yes, yes.

Well, I must say it's really lovely to see this, not least because it's by a very interesting artist.

Caroline Paterson, who painted this, is the sister of the famous watercolourist, Helen Allingham.

Now Allingham is known for her cottages and her flowers. She did them with exquisite detail,

and in this case you can see that her sister has obviously

got a bit of that genetic skill. But, of course, the thing that really strikes one about this picture

is the subject matter, because we're dealing with the passing of a life in the form of a child,

the pale face indicates to me something pretty chronic, don't you?

-I would say so.

-It suggests to me that he may well be suffering from

-consumption, from tuberculosis, quite a killer at the period.

-Yes.

-There he is, wrapped up, his face pointed downwards. His sister, I imagine.

-Yes.

..Looking rather poignantly at him, almost as if she knows.

That's strange because it's so sort of pretty-looking, then when

you start to look into it, it's actually quite dark.

-It is, isn't it?

-Yes.

It, it's...it's real life, but there is a sinister element,

and, of course, that aspect is underlined by the symbolism in the

picture as well, because the beautifully delineated clock

-indicates time, the passing of time.

-Yes.

A memento mori, used for hundreds of years as a device just to remind people they're not here for ever.

-Yes.

-And then the flowers dropping on the ground. Again, the passing of spring and summer. Spring -

that's a tragically short season...

A wonderful image of imparting the notion of death of a child.

I must say, it's very moving.

-It is.

-And it's moving because it's done by an artist who has this skill with detail.

-Yes.

-Who knows how to impart on a literal and a poetic level.

If the subject matter were a little bit more

-upbeat, it might be worth more.

-Yes.

But it's still worth about £4,000.

Really? Goodness, that's... Thank you very much, that's very nice to know.

"Soft, pliant spirits who can playful stoop...

"..To purchase, capture from the rolling hoop,

-"Who watch the sleeping top with keen delight and gaze with transport on the graceful kite."

-Yes.

-Isn't that lovely?

-Yes, it's lovely.

-Oh, so romantic, isn't it?

It's the most fantastic three pictures I have ever ever seen, you must be so proud of them.

-Yes, I am.

-Shall we just look at the back?

-Because you've got an inscription there which is very difficult to read.

-Yes, yes.

-It says, "This was designed and cut by Martha Dorothea Bennett."

-Yes.

"Castle Crea in County Limerick".

-Yes.

-And, "In the year 1817 or 1812"...

So, they're not quite sure.

-Tell me about them.

-Well, I had a Miss Eileen Bennett living with us for a few years.

-Yes.

-And, er, she knew that I done handiwork

and, was very interested perhaps.

-Yes.

-So one day she come in and she said to me, "Would you like those pictures, because when I die...",

she said, "..I don't know where they'll go."

-So she give me those.

-So she was called Bennett.

She was called Bennett, she'll be ancestor, that'll be her ancestors that's on this.

Well, what in fact we are looking at is someone who's cut out the oval piece of paper and put it down,

they've pinned it all the way round and then with a very, very fine razor they have cut every single little

branch, flower, all the way round this charming watercolour

and what's so lovely is that's also a watercolour,

a little harp.

-Yes.

-And I think this is a very romantic mother and daughter scene, ladies

embracing. This possibly is an older daughter with her mother and I'd like to think that is what it is.

If you think about the intricacy - candlelight, 1812. They used, if they could, a magnifying glass

-and I should think it really hurt the eyes too.

-It sure did.

-What a lot of patience.

-Yes.

And love.

-They are incredibly rare.

-Are they?

And it is very difficult to put a price on them.

I would say that if these three went up for auction,

I can see them making something as much as £2,000 to £3,000.

Well, they'll not be sold.

-Good.

-No way.

I agree with you, because that something that you're given, you can't sell, can you?

No. What did you say again?

-You've forgotten already? Forget it, forget it.

-Forget it.

For this sort of furniture, this is a belter, but I must say,

I just imagine... Did you have trouble getting this in, on the top of your car?

No, actually your people came and brought it in here, so they did.

Well, that's a great relief. I was just wondering what it must have looked like.

Do your friends like it?

They do.

They don't think, "What on earth is that great monster?"

They don't tell me, anyway.

-They don't go out of the house thinking...!

-Maybe.

The angle of this is that at no time before the 1880s

was there such a combination piece of furniture design.

This is of that period and it lasted till about 1910, just before

the First World War, so this is of the period and there were two styles.

One was this, which is the Sheraton revival, the other was Chippendale, which is all carved.

They both had mirrors in the backs, they had shelves, they had columns,

we had cupboards, we had doors with glass in, everything is in this combination piece.

This is rosewood, it's decorated with satinwood, it has beech, it has ivorine, the one thing about these

pieces is that they are now rare in their entirety because in the 1950s

and '60s, you couldn't sell them - nobody wanted these great pieces, so they used to take the top off here...

Right? ..You could fill the holes in and this would go over a mantelpiece

-and this part would be the other side of the room as a sideboard.

-Right.

Now then, they got split up because Auntie Edie had the mirror and

Uncle George had the sideboard and they were never the two seen again together.

Now, when you get one that's original, it's not a rarity but it is a more unusual thing to see, OK?

-Right.

-So that puts great added value, historical value to it, and of course you have a genuine antique.

-Mm.

-Now, it's been moved recently.

-It has.

-It has. OK, tell me the story.

At the start of this year, it was moved - my aunt and

her husband gave it to me and my husband as a present.

-OK.

-So they did,

and that was just at the start of the year.

OK.

-So where had they had it stored before?

-There was no heating.

-Ah.

-There was no central heating.

-OK.

-So there wasn't.

-And you've got central heating?

But I kept the heating off in the room it was in.

OK, but it has, it has been moved and I'll tell you why.

You can see the top, that panel on the left-hand side.

-Right.

-It's bevelled, it's done that, hasn't it?

-Mm.

That's because it's veneered onto pine and mahogany,

and not very thick sheets, so you've got a one-sided sandwich.

You know, like the vicar's sandwiches, that all sort of curled up,

and that's what's happening.

Now you needn't remedy that, but you want to prevent the rest of it going that way, otherwise this is all going

to pop out, you know, there will be little bits flying all over the place because ivorine, boxwood, satinwood,

are all different timbers and materials which react to the heat

-at a different rate, to the rosewood and the pine and the mahogany.

-Right.

So you need to keep in the room, just keep a bowl of water either end underneath.

Right.

That will just add enough humidity to ease it into its new situation.

If you get any popping out, if you get any damage, don't do anything with it

for at least a year, because it needs to settle in its new home, OK?

-Right.

-It will settle and it will be repairable.

Now, the rest of it is purely that it is of its type.

It is as good as you'll see, it has everything on it that it should have and it would have been made in one of

the leading furniture manufacturers of that period and between 1885 and 1910, and it's worth today,

a market that is rising,

-because of the fact that it's altogether, round about £2,500 to £3,000.

-Very good.

-All right?

-Lovely, OK. Thank you.

-Thank you.

I'm assuming that you're both a couple of collectors, is that right?

Well, car boots I'd say more, collectors...

We buy at car boot sales, markets and some auctions but mostly markets and car boot sales and that.

OK, because I go to car booting, you know, but I'm a solo booter.

-Yeah.

-Because I like to whizz down the tables, how do you, how do you play it between the two of you?

Well, he be my, he be my apprentice. He's been in training, you know?

-Oh, yes.

-We be up early on a Sunday morning and generally make a day of it, till about one or two o'clock.

Do you always use your proper names? Because some people don't, you know.

Well, he has a name...

Just kind of picked it up...

-He calls me Fagin.

-Fagin?

-Yes.

-Well, then.

-He calls me Dodger.

-Dodger!

-And we even have a dog, we even have a dog called Bullseye.

-No!

-Yeah, he was a stray, so he was.

Now hang on, your mother's not called Nancy, is she?

-No.

-OK, let's get that one sorted, but, um, let's have a look at the,

er, the box of goodies. What have you got for starters?

The first one's...

Yeah, well I always raise a smile when I see this, this character, because I used to have an office in,

in London and my office window used to look out onto the man who

actually drew this, his house was directly across the road, his name was Bruce Bairnsfather.

It says: "Well, if you knows of a better 'ole, go to it."

He brings humour into what was really a terrible scenario in the First World War and often on the back

they're marked by Grimwades and there's this lovely little line saying,

"Made by the girls of Staffordshire when the boys were away fighting in the trenches."

So, car boot. Got a crack. How much did that cost you?

Well, in euros about ten euros, so that was about five quid, I'd say sterling.

About five pound, when you say euros, you're buying these in the south?

-Dublin, we're from.

-You're from Dublin?

Yeah, from Dublin, yeah.

-Yeah.

-OK, so you came all the way from Dublin?

-Oh, yeah. Well it's not much. We spent two, over two hours.

Well, obviously the condition affects it and I mean for £5 though, you can't go wrong.

-Oh, no.

-I mean you could treble your money, OK.

Not a huge amount. If it was perfect, £40 or £50, no problem.

-Yes.

-OK, what else have we got?

-I have this here.

Very nice, I like that. When you bought it, I mean, what did you think it was?

I was there late, I was there about half nine, there was two or three fellas having a conversation.

Well, they were talking. I was just interested enough to not talk and just buy it.

-Oh, right.

-So I bought it, I was reasonably sure that it was a Victorian dog trough.

I gave him 15 euros, I don't know only about £8 sterling or something,

I don't know where it was made, I don't know the potters and that.

Let's have a look because there's nothing, there's no real marks. It's impressed new stone,

which is a form of stone china, so transfer-printed, yep.

-Made in Staffordshire, um, date-wise about 1835, 1845.

-Well, I heard they were rare.

It is rare because, you know, by definition, you know a dog bowl like this, or a dog trough as they're

often referred to, they suffer the ravages of time what with, especially...

It depends on the size of your dog.

Anyway it's got a little bit of damage, I notice, but there are plenty of collectors out there

would be very happy to give you the best part of £100 for that, OK?

So, things are getting better. What else have we got?

This is one of the ugliest pieces of silver plate

I've seen on any Roadshow. Where on earth did you get it from?

Well, actually it was a friend of mine that came from England

and he brought it with him and he came along to me and said, "Would you like this?"

and I looked at it and I...I had my own impression,

but I said, "I don't mind", so obviously he had a price against it and I bought it.

-You did?

-We've never had it on display within the house, we keep it in the corner.

-I'm not surprised.

-My friend would agree with you!

And what did you have to give for it?

-I had to give £50.

-£50?

-Yes.

-Well.

-That wasn't too bad, was it?

-It's got quite an Indian influence to it.

-Yes.

With these ivory-tusk handles and this lid, which is really bizarre,

looks a bit like a pith helmet, but with a feather on top.

Reminiscent of the raj. But the most interesting

thing about this piece is the maker's mark on the bottom.

-Right.

-The mark "H & H"

is for the firm of Hukin and Heath.

Now, they were most famous for producing articles for Dr Christopher Dresser,

who was a very well-known designer from the 1880s.

And that's about the date this piece was made.

It's a really wonderful example of Victorian kitsch.

The good news is though, even something as rather weird as this...

-Yes.

-..There's a market for.

-Oh, good.

And I wouldn't be surprised if somebody paid £300 or £400 for it.

Mm, well that's an interesting seeing I only paid £50 for it.

-Well, you've done very well. Thank you very much.

-Not at all, delighted to be here.

So tell me all about this.

Just move those up a little bit.

Let's get comfortable over here.

OK. Let's just pop it there.

Can I say... Car boot sale again, Sunday morning.

-Were you with your dad at the time?

-He was, yes.

-Did you, did you want your dad to buy this?

-Yes, I did.

-You did?

-Yes.

Did you fancy playing with it yourself?

No, I wouldn't play with it, because it looked old when I was looking at it,

because it was in an old condition and I think it was just used for a model, used for modelling.

I think you may well be right there in some respects.

Um, it says on here...

"Uncle Wiggily's Crazy Car", um, and what's this...? "Copyright",

and we've got there "Howard Garis".

Now, he's the man who invented Uncle Wiggily.

He was invented in the early part of the 20th century for the Newark News in America, just outside New York.

Mention Uncle Wiggily to any American over the age of 60 and they'll know

exactly who you're talking about, but over here he's a bit of a rarity, bit of a rarity.

Now I notice on the back, just above that tie there...

-Germany.

-Germany, so I am pretty well convinced that your car

was made by a firm called Distler, and they were known for making these tin-plate toys.

-What date would it have been made?

-This, I would suggest, is around about 1925.

-'25, that's nice.

Mm, so it's quite a... quite an ancient vehicle.

-The point is, it's all down to condition when it comes to the value of something like this.

-Yes, yes.

However, having said all that, it obviously begs the question

as to exactly how much did you end up paying for

Uncle Wiggily's Crazy Car?

Well, um, I paid 40 euros, be about...a little less than £20 sterling, that's what I paid for it.

But I... I just had a feeling about it, that's all, so I just couldn't leave it there, you know?

Yes, you couldn't. You had to take it home with you.

It was a good instinct, I think there's every chance

that if this came up for auction, that the bidding would be somewhere between £800 and possibly £1,000.

-Sterling?

-Sterling.

-That's very good.

-And that's the good news.

-Yes.

-The bad news, which is not really relevant, is that if

it had been in perfect condition, one of these was sold in London not so very long ago for £4,000.

Wow.

-So it, it's worth getting up in the mornings, isn't it?

-Yes.

If you can find treasure like this.

When I was evacuated to Somerset during the war, one of the highlights was

the arrival of the American troops who were stationed there for a while before they were taken off to D-Day.

They got to Northern Ireland quite a while before they got to Somerset

though, as this week's collector, David Fitzsimmons will bear witness.

David, you weren't around at the time, so why are you so interested in the Yanks?

Well, about ten years ago

I heard me Uncle Gerald and my father talking about an

American soldier that used to come to my grandmother's during the war

and they knew he was killed in the war but they didn't actually know what actually happened

to the man, where he ended up, or one thing and another, and I thought, "I'll look into this."

I happened to be searching on the website one day and I come up with this site "World War II Search",

and I put in his details and up he come, Iris L Bradshaw, the plot, the row and his grave.

He's buried in Laurent-Sur-Mer in France and I sent the details over to my Uncle Jim

in England and he was delighted - he actually then went over to visit the

-grave and you can see the picture of the grave, there.

-So this is it?

-Yes, this is it, there, yes.

-And where was that?

That's in Laurent-Sur-Mer... That's near Omaha Beach, there.

That's amazing to be able to follow and find out not only what happened to the man but where he rests.

Why were so many of the troops stationed here in Derry?

Derry was the first European port that the US Navy had actually got.

This was the closest, they accounted the first European port and they needed a deep-water port,

so they dredged the place, they dredged that port down there,

but they were actually neutral when they did it, so they knew then

they were going to have plans, they would be here some day.

It was quite a thing, wasn't it, the families would kind of adopt the troops?

Well, there was a lot of young soldiers

between the ages of 18 and 22, and they were a long way from home, literally 3,000 miles, and they

couldn't get no leave to get back home, not like the British soldiers,

so the COs of the different units said at that time,

"Would you please adopt a soldier, you know, take him into your family and share your home with him?"

The girls found them attractive, hence the GI brides, got evidence of that?

Well, yes, as you can see here...

This is a young local girl and she's by the name of Phoebe Ford,

and she met this fellow here, he's called Ellis Hench and he's from Alabama

and he was in the tanks, he met this young local girl and they married,

so they did, and she's now, now this man has passed on,

so he has, but this lady's still alive and she's 80-odd and she's still living in Alabama.

-And he survived the war?

-And he survived the war. There's another picture there, taken in the '70s.

See them wee things will tell a story, just like I got a phone call one night from a lady in Derby,

she was going to marry an American soldier

and she regretted not marrying him before he left here.

She never found out, he'd actually wrote letters when he left here,

they were going to get married, but she never actually found out until her mother died

that he'd sent letters to her mother but the mother wouldn't let her see them.

-Like a movie script, isn't it?

-It's sad.

These are extraordinary insights into that time. Why do you think your collection is important?

Well, I think there's an emotional side to it all. I believe every piece tells a story

and I believe these young men, they were only 18-20, average age, like, and they come

an awful long way to fight for our freedom, 3,000 mile, and a lot of them didn't get home.

And I would say to the people, especially older people that took

an American soldier into their home, the Lord bless you for that,

because that's the last piece of home them young lads would have received,

because a lot of them, as you can see, went out there and they didn't come home.

They ended up dead. So I think it's worth it to preserve that,

you know, because they did come a long way for our freedom.

This is very attractive silk binding you've got on here.

-Everything she had, had lovely things.

-Who is she?

My great aunt. I mean folders of paintings that her mother had done, beautifully bound.

-Was she a traveller?

-Yes, very much so.

-Where did she go, do you know?

-She was born in Tasmania.

-Gosh.

-And, er... It's a very long story.

-I can't possibly tell you, but I'm writing the history of it.

-Oh, wonderful.

Yes, and then she married an Irishman eventually, and had

a home in County Tyrone at The Argory which is now National Trust.

We've got here an inscription on this album which says, "Rice drawings collected in Cheltenham, 1833."

-Mm, they were bought in Cheltenham.

-They were bought in Cheltenham.

They would have been not very old at the time, 1820s maybe,

but they were almost new when they were bought.

This is called rice paper.

I don't know where the word came from, I suppose it looks like cooked rice

or something and people imagine it's made from rice, it's not,

it's pith and the pith comes from a tree

which largely grew in Formosa

and it was then imported into Canton as paper and then these were painted

in Canton, and I mean, it's a huge industry, and

they did them from the 18th century right through into the 20th century.

What paint did they use?

It's actually what we would call gouache - watercolour with body colour -

and that would give you a greater depth and a strength.

But the colours are so vibrant and zinging at you.

I mean, this is...

170 years old and it's absolutely...

as fresh as...

And they've been in the folder and the light has

-been absent.

-That's it, exactly.

So we've got a basket of flowers, a traditional Chinese subject there, and another one, which is

wonderful - that is just magic, that.

The colours are extraordinary, aren't they?

They are. Oh, isn't that wonderful?

-You could eat that!

-God, that's good!

-Very tempting.

"The nutmeg in the shell, 1832." Oh, so we've gone back a year from the early one anyway.

-Yes.

-So that's what a nutmeg looks like. And a tree-frog.

No, it is that way, isn't it?

Because they're hanging down, gourds. Cucumbery-type things hanging down there and butterflies.

This is fantastic.

A live, a live butterfly.

Do you have a favourite?

I think, yes, these last two. Not so much those ones, but this, I think.

It's wonderful, isn't it?

Gorgeous.

Well, I think you've actually got a really quite expensive album here,

because, A, the quality is so good, B, the condition is perfect,

C, you've got very good subject matter,

you haven't got people having their heads chopped off

and hands chopped off, which they did rather a lot.

-I know, I know.

-Um, botanical things are always popular,

butterflies are always popular.

I think we're looking at somewhere around...

£2,000-£2,500.

I had no idea, but I've always thought they were wonderful.

-You were right. Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Do you know what this is made of?

No, I haven't a notion at all.

Can't believe it, the intricacy of it. Do you know it is human hair?

It is human hair.

It is with little tiny beads.

It's a pin cushion.

It's dated 1812.

That is just so unusual.

I've never seen one all of human hair - what a lot of work! Are you a seamstress yourself?

-No, I'm not.

-I would...

It's difficult to put a price on it.

I suppose it could be worth £300, it could be worth £3. It's really a question of who would want it.

So where did you get this fellow from then?

I got it about 18 months ago at an auction.

-How much did you pay for it?

-£30.

-£30! £30! Look at that.

I was...

It was an early-morning auction and I was still suffering from the night before.

So, were you in need of a wheelchair particularly or, or, what was the plan?

Plan, twofold.

-Yes.

-One, it would get me back from the pub on a Saturday night.

-Oh, yes.

-My wife would always would have transport for me.

Save the taxi.

-Thank you, yes, yes.

-Yes.

-And secondly perhaps, you know, it may be useful.

-Advancing years.

-Yes.

Well, I'll tell you, you want to be really careful on this chap, see all these little holes here?

That's the hungry woodworm. I mean, lose a bit of weight

before you depend on this for your method of transportation.

The other thing that I think is interesting is it's cheaply made of beech,

because suddenly in 1914, you needed not one or two of these, but several hundred thousand of these fellows.

And every long ward on a First World War hospital - and they converted lots of country houses for these

gassed chaps to escape to - had one of these at the end of the bed and the poor military patient

would have been wheeled outside and stuck out in the fresh air with the traditional blanket over him,

and that's why we've got this plaque here, see?

"E & R Garrould, Hospital Furnishers, London W." See that?

-Yes.

-That's because those people supplied top end

of half a million of these things to the Red Cross and the St John's and off they went to the hospital.

Lightweight, very easy to use.

Do you know something? I think this is £30 very well spent.

You know, just occasionally, I see a piece of furniture and you think...double-take.

It's not a very good expression but you stop and look again because there is something extra about it

and this table has that quality, so tell me the family history.

I assume family history because it looks like it's come from the family.

-Um, well no, actually, it was bought at a local auction.

-Really?

About 17, 18 years ago. We had it about three or four years

and a gentleman came in and was admiring it

and we turned it over, and there was a maker's stamp on it.

-It is stamped?

-It is stamped, yes.

Let's have a look. Who's it by? Let's roll it forward and then just tip it back.

-Well, it's by...

-Straight on the floor is fine. OK.

-Where is it?

-It's here.

Oh, there.

-T Seddon.

-T Seddon, whoever he was.

Seddon was the great family of furniture makers from the 18th century

but this isn't 18th century, so Mr T Seddon...

-Well, I did look it up on the internet.

-Ah! And?

And I found Seddon, but then there's so many T Seddons.

It seemed everybody... every generation seemed to have a Thomas Seddon,

so I gave up. I got totally confused.

Well, what we have to do is to establish a T Seddon,

and looking at the date of the table, from its design,

we can, it has to be 1870 or 1860, it's that sort of period.

And that would have been a grandson of George Seddon.

-Right.

-We know where he was working and we know that he worked for a company in London

and we know that some of Seddon's work, T Seddon's work, went into the exhibition of 1862.

The first tables you'll see like this were just prior to a man called Pugin.

It was a late-Regency design and it came in in the 1810-1815 period,

and lasted through to the Houses of Parliament.

And here you've got a host of different timbers,

all of which, when this was new, would have been bright colours.

This is a type of burr, it's almost, it's a sycamore,

but it has a particular cut to it. This would have been bright green, it was dyed with oxide of iron.

-Oh.

-This is purple heart, this would have been a deep purple.

Oh, it must have been fabulous once.

Well, yes, but it's lovely now.

This is a type of partridge wood here, which has this wonderful cross-grain.

Again, vibrant colours. Blacks and whites when new. Fabulous.

-Right.

-And how much did you pay for it?

I think it was about £460, £470.

-Really?

-Yeah.

Do you think it's worth that?

-Oh, yes.

-Good.

I think if you were to insure it, up it a little bit...

to...

..Probably £12,000.

12,000?!

You're joking.

-Aye, you are joking.

-No.

It's wonderful, it's wonderful.

I wonder were there two of them there that day?!

It's just a joy to see and a very important piece of furniture.

SHE MOUTHS

-12,000.

-God.

I understand that you are the dean of one of the two cathedrals, St Columbs in Londonderry.

Yes, that's right.

Um, what actually made you decide to bring these along today?

They've been in the keeping of the cathedral for a few centuries now,

and in fact these pieces, the collecting plates and

the flagons, they come from the collection of one of the bishops.

-Right.

-Going right back to the 1680s, a man called Bishop Ezekiel Hopkins.

OK, because I notice that they've...

All of these pieces have an inscription on them.

-Yes, they've got his name on.

-On this one it says...

"The gift of Ezekiel, Lord Bishop of Derry,

"to the Cathedral Church of Derry, 1683."

That's right, the year they were given to the cathedral.

Right, well, if I tell you that these are

probably the finest bits of silver I have ever seen on an Antiques Roadshow

you can understand that I'm getting a bit excited about this.

-Sure.

-This is the stuff dreams are made of, for us.

-Really?

They are truly truly great rarities.

-Are they?

-Yeah, and the great thing about this is its colour.

-It's got a glorious dark grey colour, this is absolutely typical of the period it was made.

-Right, yes.

And this is a Communion flagon, for the Communion wine and it was made

in 1655, a lot earlier than the inscription.

-Right.

-..In Dublin.

Now, if this was an English-made flagon,

it wouldn't be worth anything like what it is as an Irish one.

It has this very wide flared base that's absolutely typical

-of flagons made in the Commonwealth period, the mid-17th century.

-Yes.

We have another one over there, and I've noticed,

looking at the makers, that they are actually by two different makers but made in the same year.

-Yes.

-Both 1655.

I have to tell you that the records of Irish silver at that date

are so thin on the ground that I can't actually tell you who the makers are. Right.

But they have got a lovely set of marks stamped around the side here.

Oh, yes.

-And we also have a pair of alms dishes here.

-Yes.

-These are actually made in London in 1674.

-Right.

What I have to ask you is, are these used on a regular basis or...?

Yes, oh, they are. Yes, they're used week by week.

-All these...all these pieces are.

-All these pieces?

But they're kept under very tight security in the cathedral, they're well and securely locked away.

Well, I was just going to say to you that

-something as special as these really should only be used on special occasions.

-Right.

And...because these are so early, these flagons, and because they are Irish,

I have to tell you that this group on the table here

is worth in excess of £100,000.

-Are they really?

-Yes, yes.

These are so rare, they are so wonderful, they're in such lovely condition, they really are.

-Absolutely amazing.

-They are just so fine,

so rare it's been a total and utter privilege and excitement for me to see these today.

-Well, thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-It's good to talk with you.

It's always interesting to follow up items that appear on the Roadshow and this painting, or the original,

is a Roadshow veteran. Where and when was this?

Well, in 1999 I brought the original of this painting to the Roadshow in Coleraine

and it was valued between £60,000 and £80,000.

That was in 1999, what's happened to it since?

Well, since that, because of the value of it, we now show it,

-it belongs to St Columb's cathedral and we now show it in the National Gallery in Dublin.

-Perfect home.

-Yes.

-Did you bring anything today?

We did, we brought some silver.

-Nice result?

-Oh, yes.

But the great thing is, of course, that we'll now be able to follow up

on our next visit to Northern Ireland, the things that we've seen today in Derry.

So, until that time, from Derry, goodbye.