0:00:30 > 0:00:33Welcome back to magnificent Montacute House in Somerset.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37On our last visit, we saw the place through the eyes of the characters
0:00:37 > 0:00:40in Sense And Sensibility, but the real-life residents
0:00:40 > 0:00:45of Montacute and what happened here would certainly have caught Jane Austen's imagination.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51The Phelips family were separated from their fine ancestral home
0:00:51 > 0:00:56in 1911 - reckless gambling, mental illness and sheer misfortune
0:00:56 > 0:00:58all played their part.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02A number of tenants followed,
0:01:02 > 0:01:06including Lord Curzon, a former Viceroy of India.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10He pointed out the decayed state of Montacute and had the rent reduced,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14agreeing to install electric light and to redecorate at his own cost.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18This task he entrusted to his mistress,
0:01:18 > 0:01:23prolific writer Elinor Glyn, the woman who coined the term "it"
0:01:23 > 0:01:26as a 1920s euphemism for sex appeal.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29Elinor's notoriety was enhanced by her eccentric ways
0:01:29 > 0:01:31and a fondness for exotic furs.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36The furs came in handy as she endured arctic conditions,
0:01:36 > 0:01:41climbing up ladders in large unheated rooms like this long gallery.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44At a staggering 172ft, it's the
0:01:44 > 0:01:49longest of its kind to survive and it's been through the wars.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51Locals remember ponies being
0:01:51 > 0:01:55exercised here, which is rather surprising because...
0:01:55 > 0:01:57we're on the second floor!
0:02:02 > 0:02:06One morning, alone at breakfast, Eleanor came across a notice in
0:02:06 > 0:02:11the Times announcing the engagement of Lord Curzon to Mrs Alfred Duggan.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16This, it has to be said, came as a bit of a shock.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19Curzon offered not a word of explanation.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24Elinor left Montacute at once and burned nearly 500 of his letters,
0:02:24 > 0:02:29in the process destroying any evidence of their detailed plans for Montacute.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34Four years after Curzon's death in 1925, the lease expired.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38The house was valued at £5,882
0:02:38 > 0:02:41for scrap and put on the market, where it lingered for two years.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43It was eventually saved from demolition
0:02:43 > 0:02:46and presented to the National Trust.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50And today, as so often, they are the Roadshow's hosts.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53A little model of a kneeling camel,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56but when you look at the head there forming a spout
0:02:56 > 0:02:59and here's a handle, of course, it's a teapot,
0:02:59 > 0:03:01but what a bizarre teapot it is.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03What do you know about it?
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Well, I remember it from my early childhood.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09It belonged to my Aunt Annie who was born in 1860.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14- Oh, right.- And so I knew her in the 1950s, it was in her house.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17I suppose actually, I couldn't really imagine...
0:03:17 > 0:03:19How do you use it for tea?
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Supposing you're going to pour it from the handle,
0:03:22 > 0:03:25there's the little lid, and it's nice having the lid remaining with it
0:03:25 > 0:03:27and inside you put your fine tea leaves.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Imagine putting the water in there and trying to pour it out through the spout.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35- Do you think they ever used it?- I can't imagine they would, would you?
0:03:35 > 0:03:38- I wouldn't have thought so. - But of course it's...
0:03:38 > 0:03:41I mean in theory this is a functional teapot and really quite
0:03:41 > 0:03:43an early teapot because we think of
0:03:43 > 0:03:47novelty teapots, silly teapots, being perhaps a 1930s idea, but they
0:03:47 > 0:03:52started way, way back and this was made somewhere round about 1745-1750.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55- As early as that?- So, back in the middle of the 18th century...
0:03:55 > 0:03:57Yes.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01..when a design like this was really quite outrageous, it was totally new,
0:04:01 > 0:04:05totally stunning design, made in the Staffordshire Potteries.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08You've got a piece here of English salt-glaze.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13- Oh, right.- And salt-glaze is a very difficult material to make and cast.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17You glaze it by literally throwing salt into the kiln and it forms a
0:04:17 > 0:04:21hard surface reacting with the clay and it's very durable,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25it lasts a long time, but it shows the modelling quite well underneath.
0:04:25 > 0:04:31Here we've got the work, probably of a potter - Thomas and John Wedgwood.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35- Oh.- Some of the early Wedgwood family, started out making these
0:04:35 > 0:04:38salt-glazed teapots around 1750.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41So, what is the design?
0:04:41 > 0:04:44On the howdah here that he's wearing,
0:04:44 > 0:04:48there is some sort of strange Oriental temple I suppose that is.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51What strikes me holding it is how light it is.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55- Yes, yes.- Incredibly thin and light, it really is.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58And that is really to me the star piece because it's still here.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01So rarely do we find camel teapots
0:05:01 > 0:05:06and other thin teapots like these, I haven't seen many of them,
0:05:06 > 0:05:11but to find one with its top as well and fitting so well...
0:05:11 > 0:05:14So, it's really quite a special piece of rare pottery and
0:05:14 > 0:05:17think in terms of a value about...
0:05:19 > 0:05:20..£7,000.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22Blimey...
0:05:22 > 0:05:23that's a lot.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30- Did you buy this?- Yes. - When did you buy it?
0:05:30 > 0:05:37The late '60s, in the late '60s, and my husband and I went to
0:05:37 > 0:05:43an antique show in Kent and while we there I saw this
0:05:43 > 0:05:47and, being an amateur sewer, this was very important to me,
0:05:47 > 0:05:48but...
0:05:49 > 0:05:52..it was quite expensive for me.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56We were courting at the time
0:05:56 > 0:06:00and my husband very kindly bought it for me.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04Oh, right, well, I must ask in that case, how much did it cost?
0:06:04 > 0:06:07£35.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10What was that as a proportion of income then?
0:06:10 > 0:06:14Well, my income at that time was £9.50 a week,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18so it was about a month's salary.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22That's quite something, isn't it, to think of that, a month's salary
0:06:22 > 0:06:24going to this? But this... I presume
0:06:24 > 0:06:27you know by now, having handled it for 40 years, what this is made of?
0:06:27 > 0:06:30We think it's an antelope horn.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33Yes, exactly, exactly - and I can date it relatively easily.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37You get the same sort of thing in England in the 1810-1820 period
0:06:37 > 0:06:40and I always think that Indian things are probably
0:06:40 > 0:06:4410-20 years behind time, so let's say 1820-1840, that sort of date.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46So, inside, we're going to find
0:06:46 > 0:06:49what we call now the typical Indian interior here,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51ivory with sandalwood,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54this lovely, lovely, it's a wonderful smooth wood,
0:06:54 > 0:06:56very, very well polished.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58It's lovely to touch, very tactile.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00It's quite a luxury item, you've got...
0:07:00 > 0:07:02I won't play with all the toys,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05You've got a tape measure there which is so sweet!
0:07:05 > 0:07:08I said I won't play with it, I'm going to now! It's so sweet.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11I love that, and all the sort of little things for a lady's
0:07:11 > 0:07:14necessaire, but do you use it today?
0:07:14 > 0:07:17No, I'm afraid I just keep it so that it doesn't get spoilt.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19But did you ever use it?
0:07:19 > 0:07:23- No.- So he bought it for you, all that money, and all that long ago and you've never used it?
0:07:23 > 0:07:26- But it's too good to use.- So, are you going to keep it?- Oh, yes.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31- Even if I tell you what it's worth today, you're going to hang onto it? - Oh, yes.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36Well, today it's worth at least £1,000.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39That was a good bit of investment, wasn't it?
0:07:39 > 0:07:42- Sounds like a good relationship!- Yes.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46Now, what is Clare Leighton to you?
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Well, it must have been, I would imagine, in the late 1970s.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54I was in a bookshop, always had a love of books, and
0:07:54 > 0:07:56picked up the Four Hedges book,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59didn't appreciate the significance
0:07:59 > 0:08:05of it at the time but, when I started looking into her work,
0:08:05 > 0:08:10I realised how powerful and how significant her images were.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12But was it just her, or wood engraving as a whole?
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Wood engraving as a whole.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18I was particularly struck by the...
0:08:18 > 0:08:20Around the '20s and '30s,
0:08:20 > 0:08:24there seemed to be a plethora of female wood engravers,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28people like Agnes Miller-Parker, Joan Hassall, Gertrude Hermes...
0:08:30 > 0:08:33But I suppose, to me, Agnes Miller-Parker perhaps finer in detail,
0:08:33 > 0:08:39- but I just like the absolute power of Clare Leighton's work.- They're very strong, aren't they?- They are.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43I think that's what appealed to me, as I say, the Four Hedges I certainly
0:08:43 > 0:08:47knew when I was very young, I've still got a couple of copies of it.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Yes, that's my favourite book because I'm a gardener.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54- Oh, well, it's perfect for you. - You know, I love gardening.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56This is, in a sense, as it says,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00it's The Gardener's Season, so she was a gardener, and so
0:09:00 > 0:09:04as one goes through the book you find this mixture of beautifully drawn...
0:09:04 > 0:09:08- They are, yes.- ..and then wonderful scenes like that of...
0:09:08 > 0:09:12And what has gone in to make that picture is always
0:09:12 > 0:09:14behind, you know, wonderful skill.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16Yes, it's the skill of the engraving
0:09:16 > 0:09:20of the wood, but it's also the strong, rich contrast
0:09:20 > 0:09:24between the black and white and I think that's why wood engraving appealed so much.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29She was a very determined woman, she wrote her own books, she'd engrave
0:09:29 > 0:09:33books as illustrator for other publishers.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Erm, emigrated to America in 1939, she became an American citizen in
0:09:37 > 0:09:43- 1945 and lived the rest of her life there until she died in 1989.- Yes.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45And when she was in America of course
0:09:45 > 0:09:48she could take further this ruralist, this strong country tradition.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51- Typical I think are these Wedgwood plates.- Yes.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Now these are a set of 12, isn't it?
0:09:54 > 0:10:00- Yes.- Produced by Wedgwood in the early 1950s, the basic industries
0:10:00 > 0:10:07of New England, and it's things like the grist mill, erm, ice cutting,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10it's a whole range of rural industries and, of course,
0:10:10 > 0:10:14we're at a period when there was a romance about these, many of them
0:10:14 > 0:10:18were disappearing, mechanisation was taking over and I think her voice is
0:10:18 > 0:10:22not saying, "Gosh," you know, "it's all going to be awful."
0:10:22 > 0:10:24She's simply saying, "This is what we have,
0:10:24 > 0:10:26- "let's record it, let's remember it all."- Yes.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29Now, what do you pay for things like this?
0:10:29 > 0:10:32If we go back to the first book,
0:10:32 > 0:10:36- erm, I probably paid I think about £2 or £3 for it.- Yes.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Back in 1977.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40And now what are you paying?
0:10:40 > 0:10:43Because there is a greater awareness I think of her work
0:10:43 > 0:10:49- I tend to pay more. The plates probably about 20 or 30 each.- Yes.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52Which is not much and also the difficulty is,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55you don't get them very often in the UK.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58- No. Because they were made for the American market.- Yes.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02I mean, as you know, I mean you're probably as au fait with
0:11:02 > 0:11:05values as I am, you know, a good signed edition like that is
0:11:05 > 0:11:11probably going to be about £100, possibly more, the plates, as you
0:11:11 > 0:11:16say, can be bought for £10-£15 each and this is great collecting
0:11:16 > 0:11:20and I think you've done very well, I'm very envious of some of these.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Well, a relative had died in the family and we were left the house,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28it was left to me parents at that time, and, er,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32when you're youngsters, you go out into the back garden and you start
0:11:32 > 0:11:38digging stuff up and playing around and, erm, I found that along with
0:11:38 > 0:11:41various other pieces of silver, and it was all in the back garden.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45- Just buried?- Just buried in the back garden, yeah, but it turned out that
0:11:45 > 0:11:49my great-grandparents were actually some form of antique dealers
0:11:49 > 0:11:53and stuff like that, but I think they went a bit eccentric,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56come the end, and... and just put it in the garden.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58Good heavens! What a wonderful story!
0:11:58 > 0:12:00- Yeah. - And how old were you at the time?
0:12:00 > 0:12:03I must have been about 15, 16, I would say.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06Right, and did you then clean it up yourself?
0:12:06 > 0:12:08I had a bit of a go at it, yeah,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11and it's been basically in a box and it's moved from one garage to
0:12:11 > 0:12:17another garage over the years and then I've been meaning to come to an Antiques Roadshow for many years.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21Well, you can probably tell by what's engraved at the bottom here -
0:12:21 > 0:12:23"Brandy" - that it comes under
0:12:23 > 0:12:26the general name of a wine label, even though it's actually a spirit.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31- Yes.- But what you might not know is, this is one of the rarest wine labels I have ever seen.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35- Mmm. - In fact it might well be unique.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39Not only that, it's beautifully marked on the front here,
0:12:39 > 0:12:44it's got a date letter here for 1838, it's got a maker's mark over here,
0:12:44 > 0:12:46"WE" for William Elliott.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49- Right.- But I think one of the nicest features of all
0:12:49 > 0:12:51is that, if we turn it round,
0:12:51 > 0:12:53on the back here,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57actually got the name of the ship, the "Blenheim", and "60 guns".
0:12:57 > 0:13:01- Right.- Have you made any attempt to find out...?- I haven't, no.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05No, I should think if you contacted the National Maritime Museum or
0:13:05 > 0:13:09some institution like that, you'd get a pretty good idea to find out what
0:13:09 > 0:13:14this ship was and if it was involved in any major engagements.
0:13:14 > 0:13:19- Can you imagine if it was involved in Trafalgar or something...? - Well, yeah.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21It would be a very different object altogether.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24As it is, this is a very, very special piece.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26- Right.- Very special.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30It could well be a one-off wine label.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34It's not a converted piece because - do you notice at the bottom,
0:13:34 > 0:13:37the sea is actually cut away?
0:13:37 > 0:13:40- Yeah.- Where they've left a space for the name to be engraved.- Right.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44I presume from the age of 15 onwards you've never had it checked out.
0:13:44 > 0:13:45I haven't, no, it's just...
0:13:45 > 0:13:47I just imagined it went
0:13:47 > 0:13:51on a decanter and it would have been like brandy, maybe port or something like that
0:13:51 > 0:13:54and there were probably four of them there.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57- Possibly.- And that was one of the four, that's what was in my head.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01- Quite, quite possibly.- I've never done any research into it.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05- Well, I think you might need a big swig of brandy in a moment.- Right.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10I think this is worth between £3,000 and £4,000.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12- Yeah?- Yeah.
0:14:12 > 0:14:18This is any collector's dream. It is an absolutely must-have wine label.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22Well, what a fantastic clock!
0:14:22 > 0:14:24I'm sure,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28I'm positive that a clock like this must have a fascinating history.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Yeah, I've been given a letter by my mother-in-law which details
0:14:31 > 0:14:37the history quite comprehensively and we believe that it was gifted
0:14:37 > 0:14:39to my late husband's grandmother.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42- Right.- By one of Carl Faberge's sons.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44Carl Faberge, the famous Russian jeweller?
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Yes. And it was brought to London from Russia,
0:14:48 > 0:14:50prior to its being given to her.
0:14:51 > 0:14:57So, Carl Faberge must have...his son must have settled in London and...
0:14:57 > 0:14:59We believe so, yeah, and he was about to move
0:14:59 > 0:15:02house and didn't have room for it.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05That would explain how a clock like this came over to England.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09Well, it all figures, it makes perfect sense because
0:15:09 > 0:15:13it is... I've been doing clocks for an awful long time,
0:15:13 > 0:15:15and it is a difficult clock to place.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17It's only when you take the movement out
0:15:17 > 0:15:21that you realise that it is in fact made in Russia.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24And I have had a word with Christopher Payne
0:15:24 > 0:15:27in the furniture side, and he tells me that this is birch wood.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32- Right.- Which is harvested from the Karelian Forest in the Baltic
0:15:32 > 0:15:36and it looks exactly like mahogany. I could have sworn it was mahogany
0:15:36 > 0:15:39but Christopher tells me absolutely not.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41We wondered if it was German.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45Well, it does have a very German overtone, this architectural pediment
0:15:45 > 0:15:47and this lovely reeded decoration,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50this is absolutely lovely,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54- but it is in fact almost certainly made in Russia.- Right.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59What I love about this case, what is really special, is the way, although
0:15:59 > 0:16:03it's quite a crude construction, it has one secret little catch to it.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07If you press this button on the top here, it releases the door
0:16:07 > 0:16:11and it's beautifully made and it just releases, away it goes.
0:16:11 > 0:16:12And in order to get it back,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15you put it gently back in there
0:16:15 > 0:16:19and click, straight back into place, beautifully made.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22It's probably, it's the best part of the whole case, it's lovely.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25We've got a gilt metal bezel that goes around the dial
0:16:25 > 0:16:27and what we call a regulator dial,
0:16:27 > 0:16:31where the seconds, minutes and hours are all separated out,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34- and was most often used for astronomical observation.- Right.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38People who observed the stars needed to know the exact time keeping.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41What they really wanted to know was the position of a star
0:16:41 > 0:16:45going from one point to the next and they timed the star
0:16:45 > 0:16:48going from one point to the next using a regulator.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52And I suspect that this clock, being in a very flashy case,
0:16:52 > 0:16:56was probably used by either an amateur astronomer
0:16:56 > 0:16:58or it could have been the house regulator.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03It would have been the clock in the house that told the most perfect time.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06As you walked out of the front door, you took out your pocket watch,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09checked the time from the best quality time keeper in the house,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12corrected your watch and strode off to work.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15They were very expensive clocks to buy at the time,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18around 1840, that sort of period. Value is extremely difficult.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Um...I've never had to value one before.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Have you got it insured?
0:17:24 > 0:17:26No!
0:17:26 > 0:17:29- No.- Well, many times people don't have them insured.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31I think it's fantastic,
0:17:31 > 0:17:36and I can see that at auction it could easily fetch...
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Because the Russian market has gone from richer to richer
0:17:40 > 0:17:44and there's an awful lot of Russian money around at the moment,
0:17:44 > 0:17:49I can see this clock fetching anywhere between £10,000 and £15,000.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51- Right.- So, you need to take good care of it.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Insurance, you probably ought to insure it
0:17:54 > 0:17:57- for as much as £20,000-£25,000. - Yeah.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03These give the impression of not having been assembled recently.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07No, I've inherited them from my parents who inherited them
0:18:07 > 0:18:09from my mother's aunt.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12- Right, so you...- So, that would have been in the '20s and '30s.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16Good time to be buying. A lot of good things were available then.
0:18:16 > 0:18:17Yes, I think they were lucky.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20- So, you've got them at home?- Yes.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24Must be quite difficult housing them!
0:18:24 > 0:18:28I mean, these are not sort of little dishes, are they?
0:18:28 > 0:18:31We've got these on the top of quite a big buffet.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34- Oh, right.- And the rest are scattered round the house.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36Right. OK.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40There is one that sticks out
0:18:40 > 0:18:43as not belonging to the rest.
0:18:45 > 0:18:46Which is it?
0:18:46 > 0:18:50Erm, I would imagine this one.
0:18:50 > 0:18:51Wrong.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55They're all Chinese...
0:18:55 > 0:18:57- except that one.- Ah.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59- That's Japanese.- Ah.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03That is Seto porcelain.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07That dates from around 1880,
0:19:07 > 0:19:09and that would fetch
0:19:09 > 0:19:12somewhere in the region of £300 to £400.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Now, in the 18th century,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19Chinese porcelain was flooding into Europe in huge quantities,
0:19:19 > 0:19:25brought over by the East India Companies.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28What the East India Companies liked...
0:19:30 > 0:19:32..were objects like that,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35because this is heavy
0:19:35 > 0:19:37and you can pack it tight
0:19:37 > 0:19:40in the bottom of the ship, right?
0:19:40 > 0:19:43So, square objects - good news.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Bad news - complex objects like teapots.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51And even more bad news - huge objects like that.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54But these are extraordinary.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00These dishes would probably have come with a dinner service,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03but were not part of it
0:20:03 > 0:20:06in the sense that they would have been used.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08They were buffet dishes, just as you've got them,
0:20:08 > 0:20:10you're doing exactly the right thing,
0:20:10 > 0:20:12you've got them on a buffet,
0:20:12 > 0:20:17- they are for display, they're to show how wealthy you are.- Right.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20Because you invite your smart friends in to dinner
0:20:20 > 0:20:24and they come in and they say, "Wow, look at the size of those dishes!"
0:20:24 > 0:20:27And they know you've paid a huge amount of money for them.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32Because to get these landed in England in good condition
0:20:32 > 0:20:34in the 18th century...
0:20:34 > 0:20:36And I say 18th century,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40I mean, we're talking about 1745-1755 for these.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43..was not easy.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45In fact, that one is cracked,
0:20:45 > 0:20:49but this one is in good condition.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52Do you know, that's fascinating.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55Rule of thumb...
0:20:55 > 0:20:58if you've got spur marks
0:20:58 > 0:21:02where the thing was fired on the bottom of a dish, it's Japanese.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04Oh, right.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07- You don't get them on Chinese.- Ah.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11But this one was so large, they had to put spur marks on, otherwise it
0:21:11 > 0:21:17would have sunk in the kiln, so here is an exception to the rule, but that
0:21:17 > 0:21:21red colour - absolutely characteristic of Chinese.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26So, you've got a pair of dishes, one with a slight crack
0:21:26 > 0:21:28but the other perfect,
0:21:28 > 0:21:30which is extremely unusual.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34I've got a feeling that if those were in auction,
0:21:34 > 0:21:36you'd be looking at...
0:21:36 > 0:21:39£3,000-£4,000.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41Good grief!
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Well, I've seen people arrive at Antiques Roadshows
0:21:51 > 0:21:54on a lot of different types of machine,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57but this takes the biscuit, it's wonderful. Tell me what she is.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01It's a 1901 Locomobile steam car.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03She's just glorious.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08Listen to that, a whisper, nothing in the background practically.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11Now, are you the proud restorer of this machine?
0:22:11 > 0:22:15No, I regret I can't claim restoring it,
0:22:15 > 0:22:21but I bought it because somebody rang me up and said, "Would you like to buy a steam car?"
0:22:21 > 0:22:24- So what does one do, but buy a steam car?- Absolutely.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29Well, I remember steam cars, I used to do the London to Brighton rally in a previous life
0:22:29 > 0:22:33and I was driven on a 1902 Pannard Lavasser and this thing
0:22:33 > 0:22:37- always broke down and do you know what always sailed past?- A steam car.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39- A blooming steam car!- Of course.
0:22:39 > 0:22:45And it was so infuriating, but I think looking at this machine,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48listening to it, knowing what it runs on - it runs
0:22:48 > 0:22:51on water with a little bit of petrol and that's it.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54It's the solution really to all our transport problems, isn't it?
0:22:54 > 0:22:57Provided we're happy to go just a little bit slower.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02It is because even with a petrol fuel, the combustion is so much better,
0:23:02 > 0:23:06you don't get the nitrous oxide you get with these internal combustion engines.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10- Exactly, exactly.- So you don't have that, you don't have the noise,
0:23:10 > 0:23:15you can drive along with this at 20-25 miles an hour if you're brave,
0:23:15 > 0:23:17and you can hear the birds singing in the hedges.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21- It's wonderful. - I can demonstrate if you so wish. - That would be fantastic.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25I tell you, I live in the Midlands, so we ought to set off fairly soon!
0:23:30 > 0:23:33The quality of this carving is absolutely wonderful.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37- What's her name?- O Mimosasan.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Right, and her history?
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Her history is that she came from an aunt by marriage
0:23:42 > 0:23:45who was in love with China, and all things Chinese
0:23:45 > 0:23:47so when her husband was posted to
0:23:47 > 0:23:51Hong Kong, it was just a superb gift and she collected all sorts of bits
0:23:51 > 0:23:55and pieces, some from a more senior officer who admired her greatly
0:23:55 > 0:23:57and others she collected herself.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00- So, she was a China fan? - She was a China fan.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02And she gave her a Japanese name?
0:24:02 > 0:24:05I don't know, you're the expert, you must tell me.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07- She is Japanese.- She is?
0:24:07 > 0:24:09- She is.- I wondered whether she was.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11The Japanese at this time, what, 1900-1910...?
0:24:11 > 0:24:16About 1920 they were out there, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't bought earlier.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Well, I would say it could have been carved certainly as early as 1900.
0:24:19 > 0:24:221920 - it's unlikely. By then the quality was really
0:24:22 > 0:24:26going down, but this is superb and it's so superb that the artist has
0:24:26 > 0:24:28actually of course signed underneath.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33I can't read that because it's in a grass script, but it is beautiful,
0:24:33 > 0:24:35a beautiful piece of carving.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39I know, you can study her for hours and it's just exquisite.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41But the icing on the cake is really the fact that she's
0:24:41 > 0:24:45been inlaid with these little pieces of mother of pearl.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48At some stage someone's done a bit of a repair job.
0:24:48 > 0:24:49These have been glued back in.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52- Yes, not very well, I'm afraid. - Is that you?- Certainly not.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58Er, this is, erm, a technique which we generically call shibayama
0:24:58 > 0:25:02technique and it is very, very good, especially on the back of the obi
0:25:02 > 0:25:06at the back of the costume, you've a little bit of a loss there.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09So she is Japanese, not Chinese,
0:25:09 > 0:25:14and she is worth somewhere in the region of, I guess, £400 to £500.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16Oh, right. Oh, that's lovely.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20So, here's a painting by Jacob Jacob.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24I hope I've pronounced that right - probably not.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Dutch, 1844, and it's signed down here by...
0:25:27 > 0:25:29Well, it's like "Jacob Jacob".
0:25:29 > 0:25:32I like this little white sign here where they've called him
0:25:32 > 0:25:36"Yacoob Yacoob", Anglicising it. It's Antwerp.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39It's lovely, isn't it?
0:25:39 > 0:25:44Yes, it was hung on my husband's parents' dining room wall
0:25:44 > 0:25:45for a very long time and then
0:25:45 > 0:25:48we were lucky enough to be given it
0:25:48 > 0:25:49about 12, 13 years ago.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51Yes, I see.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53It has this lovely light in it.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56It's sort of aqueous that light.
0:25:56 > 0:25:57I was looking for a word
0:25:57 > 0:26:00and aqueous I thought just had it.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04It's like a very thin line of buildings across there, it's a bit
0:26:04 > 0:26:06like some artists paint Venice,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08or more appropriately Petersburg.
0:26:08 > 0:26:14Because this artist spent time in the Baltic and it seems to me to have a rather sort of Danish feel to it.
0:26:14 > 0:26:19I love the way that light plays on it as well, especially in the foreground where it's quite golden
0:26:19 > 0:26:22and then it gets cooler and cooler as it goes into the distance.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Because it's got such a low line of buildings, you get this sense
0:26:26 > 0:26:30of sweeping right back into the far, far distance, that works very well.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35No, it's a really lovely thing and you've also brought along
0:26:35 > 0:26:37this other picture here.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39We'll move over there and have a look at that.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Now this is him somewhere else altogether.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45I just love the juxtaposition of
0:26:45 > 0:26:49the two pictures because here he is in the near East, he's gone to Egypt
0:26:49 > 0:26:53and again he's drawn on this library in his mind,
0:26:53 > 0:26:58I think, and painted it in a very Italianate way with these golden
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Italianate colours, a bit like the French artist Claude Lorraine, with
0:27:02 > 0:27:08this wonderful sort of sunset going on and this romantic picturesqueness,
0:27:08 > 0:27:13but I don't think Egypt really looks like that. What do you think?
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Well, I've never been to Egypt and it is how I always thought
0:27:16 > 0:27:20Egypt would be, very romantic and with lovely
0:27:20 > 0:27:25architectural, archaeological features, but I don't know Egypt.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29Yes, well, I confess I don't either, but I know this...
0:27:29 > 0:27:32- It's got its palm tree. - Yes, it's certainly that,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34but it has got this very Italianate way of looking at it.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38I suppose being in the family for so long you've never valued them
0:27:38 > 0:27:40- No.- No thoughts of that at all?
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Well, it's never been really important
0:27:43 > 0:27:46because we've just always loved having them
0:27:46 > 0:27:49and I know my in-laws loved having them, too.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51Yes, yes, well, I'm, you know...
0:27:51 > 0:27:54a picture this size by this artist would typically fetch about £8,000.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56Would it?
0:27:56 > 0:28:00Yes, but again it's bringing a kind of Western way of painting,
0:28:00 > 0:28:02it seems to me, to Egypt.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Other painters went to Egypt and painted exactly what they saw,
0:28:05 > 0:28:07no frills.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10I think that he's been... if we go back to this painting...
0:28:10 > 0:28:12..rather more honest in a sense
0:28:12 > 0:28:15because this is his homeland and I think he's
0:28:15 > 0:28:19found it easier to depict it and it's much more effective in that way.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24Certainly it has got more resonance for me and probably for the market,
0:28:24 > 0:28:26worth about £15,000, I think.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28Gosh!
0:28:30 > 0:28:35- I'm a bookbinder, that's my hobby. - Right.- And whenever I see a piece of leather
0:28:35 > 0:28:38with tooling on it, I get kind of excited.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43And that's exactly the kind of box
0:28:43 > 0:28:47or case that really you think, "What am I going to find inside there?"
0:28:47 > 0:28:51"It's got to be something good," so,
0:28:51 > 0:28:53up come the hooks...
0:28:56 > 0:29:02And we have a little glass inside, nicely cut, wheel-cut
0:29:02 > 0:29:09with a diaper pattern, pearls with a crown above an "A"- who dat?!
0:29:09 > 0:29:14Well, my great-grandfather, who obtained it in Paris, I think
0:29:14 > 0:29:18around 1867, said that it was Marie Antoinette's,
0:29:18 > 0:29:23but I've since had it looked at by somebody who said the cipher's not hers.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26- It isn't.- It's somebody else's. - It isn't Marie Antoinette.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29This is a real bit of social history.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33Why do you have a glass in a leather case?
0:29:33 > 0:29:36And of course... Do you know?
0:29:36 > 0:29:38Well, to protect it while it was travelling.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42She took it in rough riding coaches you know, very hard springs.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47- Everything would have been thrown around.- They were travelling the whole time
0:29:47 > 0:29:49and they were pulling up into inns
0:29:49 > 0:29:51and the inn had got no cutlery,
0:29:51 > 0:29:56it had got no glasses, it had got no bedding...
0:29:56 > 0:29:59Well, it probably had got bedding but it was a straw palliasse, and unless
0:29:59 > 0:30:03you wanted to scratch all the next day, you brought your own bedding.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07There was a retinue going on for ever with these people as they
0:30:07 > 0:30:13travelled round and yes, that was exactly why you had a case.
0:30:13 > 0:30:18I think it might never be possible to track down whose this was.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20- Yes.- But it might be.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23I think it's a jolly nice little thing,
0:30:23 > 0:30:28it's a sophisticated little bit of glass-making and I think that would
0:30:28 > 0:30:32probably sell, depending again on who it turns out to be,
0:30:32 > 0:30:36somewhere around £700 to £1,000.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42This big red book seems to have been through the wars. What's the story?
0:30:42 > 0:30:47Well, it has to some degree. It came out of my great-great-grandfather's
0:30:47 > 0:30:52ship, the Africa, which was involved in Trafalgar and it was actually
0:30:52 > 0:30:58in the bookcase in his cabin when one of the cannonballs came more or less through the
0:30:58 > 0:31:03porthole and smashed the bookcase and it crumpled and smashed the top
0:31:03 > 0:31:07of the book itself and because a cannonball in those days was a
0:31:07 > 0:31:10very, very hot object coming through, I think this is one
0:31:10 > 0:31:15of the reasons why the leather has got so, so pitted and so on.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17And the inscription that it's
0:31:17 > 0:31:21actually got inside it tells you what actually happened on that day.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25It says that, "This book was shivered in this manner by a shot
0:31:25 > 0:31:30"knocking to pieces the bookcase in the Battle of Cape Trafalgar,
0:31:30 > 0:31:36"October 21st 1805 on board The Africa, 64 guns,
0:31:36 > 0:31:37"signed Henry Digby."
0:31:37 > 0:31:40This is wonderful stuff. What is the book itself?
0:31:40 > 0:31:44Well, the book itself - we always assumed that it was some sort of
0:31:44 > 0:31:48weighty tome on the Battle of the Nile and how it was fought and everything else
0:31:48 > 0:31:51and my father the other day decided he'd read through it
0:31:51 > 0:31:56and it's actually entitled "The Memoirs of the Compte de Grammont".
0:31:56 > 0:32:00It turns out that this is actually the equivalent of Lady Chatterley's Lover of the time
0:32:00 > 0:32:03and so I think we could almost say that
0:32:03 > 0:32:05this is 18th-century pornography.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10- A little...- Very useful in the Captain's cabin, I'm sure.
0:32:10 > 0:32:12- Yes, a little bedside reading.- Yes.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16- We'll keep the inscription and close the leaf.- Thank you.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20Luckily for me, they brought this
0:32:20 > 0:32:23to me because it's furniture, at least it's small furniture.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26It's bigger than treen - or it doesn't quite fit into that.
0:32:26 > 0:32:31It's carved wood in the most wonderful style, a mystery object so far.
0:32:31 > 0:32:36I want to look at the stand in more detail, so tell me what you think it is anyway.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39It's just got a bit of black glass in there, so...
0:32:39 > 0:32:40I have no idea, I've asked
0:32:40 > 0:32:44lots of people for several years and they have no idea what it is.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48- Really?- I brought it along today to see you could throw any light on it.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51I'm very glad you did. How did you find it? Where did you find it?
0:32:51 > 0:32:56It was in a box of goodies that belonged to my former husband and I've just had it restored.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58Well, whoever did it is to be commended because he did
0:32:58 > 0:33:03a first class job. It's what I would call sympathetic restoration, but the
0:33:03 > 0:33:07fineness of this is reminiscent of the Bushey School of Art.
0:33:07 > 0:33:12Herkomer is the man responsible for leading that movement,
0:33:12 > 0:33:16and we look under here, these lovely big fat fleshy leaves which are
0:33:16 > 0:33:19beautifully carved, look at the kick in that scroll.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22When you come down here, you've got this sort of Tudoresque style
0:33:22 > 0:33:26with the finest possible little flowers,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29and each of those panels is different.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31I mean absolutely charming.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36Somebody might have suggested, because this is black glass,
0:33:36 > 0:33:40that it might be for looking at eclipses, but in fact
0:33:40 > 0:33:43it's a "Claude glass"
0:33:43 > 0:33:45named after Claude Lorrain,
0:33:45 > 0:33:51the artist, OK, and it is for an artist to hold up
0:33:51 > 0:33:54to create the view of his picture.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57It's an illusionary thing.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01- Gosh.- And if you, if you look in here, can you see?
0:34:01 > 0:34:04- Yes.- Now can you see the background, can you see the trees?- Yes.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06Now there's a perfect oil painting
0:34:06 > 0:34:10and that's what he would have in his mind to paint.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12It clarified the vision.
0:34:12 > 0:34:17Fabulously interesting, beautiful object, just wonderful!
0:34:17 > 0:34:22- There, there it is, mystery object solved.- Wonderful.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25Now, value-wise, very difficult.
0:34:27 > 0:34:32Its value wouldn't relate to its extreme rarity and interest, but to
0:34:32 > 0:34:38a collector today, anything between £800 and £1,200 - that sort of price.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41- Gosh. - Oh, yes, I know, I've got four people
0:34:41 > 0:34:44lined up here who'd like to buy it.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50This is so exciting for these to turn up today.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53EHS - Ernest Howard Sheppard -
0:34:53 > 0:34:57an obvious-looking Owlie and Eyore and Pooh,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00absolutely fantastic.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Just out of interest, where did these come from originally?
0:35:03 > 0:35:06In my lifetime they hung in my grandmother's spare room
0:35:06 > 0:35:10at her house when I stayed when I was a kid and I got interested in them.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13As far as I know, they've been in the family since my mother's
0:35:13 > 0:35:16childhood and she can tell you more about that.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20They were in my nursery when I was three in the early '50s.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25She had an aunt who bought her all the original books when they first came out, the year they came out.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28- The first editions.- I think they were first editions.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31They could have been the second because of the short print runs.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35We think they came into the family that way and then it's possible,
0:35:35 > 0:35:40that she went to a book signing with that aunt and was given these there.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44Well, great foresight on her behalf and she obviously loved the images.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47Now I know quite a lot about Ernest Howard Sheppard because
0:35:47 > 0:35:51many years ago, in the late '70s, I actually was involved in doing
0:35:51 > 0:35:53a studio sale of his pictures.
0:35:53 > 0:35:58And of course he was born in the 1870s and of course his early work
0:35:58 > 0:36:02- was in the early 1900s - he did it for Punch magazine.- Really?
0:36:02 > 0:36:09And then he started illustrating and he met AA Milne in the 1920s and did,
0:36:09 > 0:36:13in 1924, When We Were Young with Christopher Robin
0:36:13 > 0:36:17and then, in 1928, did the first Winnie The Pooh book.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21And of course in the 1930s he illustrated Kenneth Grahame's
0:36:21 > 0:36:23Wind In The Willows.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25And when you look at these closely,
0:36:25 > 0:36:27you know, when he started doing these figures,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30it's not just pen and ink, there is pencil underneath that.
0:36:30 > 0:36:35He'd worked out the images freehand and there's so much spontaneity here.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38You've only just got to look at Owlie, it's fantastic.
0:36:38 > 0:36:43If we come up the top here, I mean just look at this, a fantastic study
0:36:43 > 0:36:45because you've got Pooh stuck in
0:36:45 > 0:36:49the sort of rabbit hole, being pulled out by Christopher Robin.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51Rabbit's behind and then we've got
0:36:51 > 0:36:54Piglet there hanging on the back trying to
0:36:54 > 0:36:57pull him out, and it's just charming.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00I imagine there would have been some writing in here.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02They've left some space.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04Now the condition, as I say,
0:37:04 > 0:37:08it's an original and we've got mould here round the signature.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11Now forget about the mould, that can
0:37:11 > 0:37:15easily be removed, but it's just so nice because these aren't... He did
0:37:15 > 0:37:20rework some of his images in the 1950s and '60s and he died in 1976.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25But these are actually from the 1920s and '30s period.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29You can tell just by the way that they look.
0:37:29 > 0:37:34And some years ago I sold a little picture of Toad
0:37:34 > 0:37:38when he came out of jail, dressed in washerwoman's clothes, and we had
0:37:38 > 0:37:43an estimate of £5,000-£7,000 on it and it made £10,000, just for one.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47- Wow!- But having told you about Wind In The Willows, of course,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50Pooh is much, much more popular.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55And so we've got the three here and I look at Owlie and I look at
0:37:55 > 0:37:57Eyore and Pooh looking up like that.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00I think, what is that worth?
0:38:00 > 0:38:02Well, I can tell you they're certainly going
0:38:02 > 0:38:05to be worth £20,000 to £30,000...
0:38:05 > 0:38:06- Woah!- ..just for those three.
0:38:06 > 0:38:07Wow!
0:38:08 > 0:38:11So, we come to this one.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14Now, I don't know if this is the original from the book,
0:38:14 > 0:38:17but if it is, and I know
0:38:17 > 0:38:20- that this would make between £30,000 and £50,000.- Wow!
0:38:20 > 0:38:23- That is how popular.- Wow!
0:38:23 > 0:38:25There's a huge interest in America.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28Wonderful.
0:38:28 > 0:38:33A vote of thanks to Sir Edward Phelips, who built Montacute House over 400 years ago.
0:38:33 > 0:38:38The family name lives on in the title of a pub in the village, which I think is a wonderful legacy.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41Thanks to the National Trust for opening the gates and to the people
0:38:41 > 0:38:43of Somerset for coming through them.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46Until the next time, from Montacute House, goodbye.