0:00:32 > 0:00:36Whenever the Roadshow team are asked, "Who wants to go to Scotland?"
0:00:36 > 0:00:38There are cries of, "Me, sir! Me, sir!"
0:00:38 > 0:00:42The last time we went to Edinburgh, by an extraordinary coincidence,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45two sets of identical twins turned up on the show.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47And we not only saw double twice,
0:00:47 > 0:00:51but we found enough good items to make two programmes.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54And here's the second helping.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58Now where did you get this gaudy figure?
0:00:58 > 0:01:02I got this from my, my mother and father actually.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05My mother inherited it from our granny,
0:01:05 > 0:01:08when my granny died and it was given to my mum and dad
0:01:08 > 0:01:14- and my dad hated it, so my mother gave it to me. - OK, and do you like it?
0:01:14 > 0:01:15- I like it.- That's good, yeah.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18My wife doesn't like it. But I like it a lot.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22OK, it's a pottery figure and, I mean, it couldn't be more quintessentially Scottish.
0:01:22 > 0:01:27The little piper sat there on a marbleised pedestal.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31The colours, which are painted under the glaze and thus preserved so well,
0:01:31 > 0:01:38are very typical of what we refer to generally - Portobello type.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42Now Portobello, just west of Edinburgh, had a number of kilns
0:01:42 > 0:01:46producing charming little figures and jugs and everyday products.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51However, pieces of this palette were also made in Glasgow, Fife, Alloa -
0:01:51 > 0:01:53there were potteries everywhere.
0:01:53 > 0:01:59- Right.- We don't exactly know, and I think that's part of the thrill, the mystery of these little figures -
0:01:59 > 0:02:02a lot of them have yet to be fully researched.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Obviously we can date it because the great rare factor is
0:02:05 > 0:02:06it's got a date on it, 1835.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Oh, right.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12And this charming little fellow is Rob Roy MacGregor's Piper.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14I'm talking to a Scotsman -
0:02:14 > 0:02:17I'm sure you know far more about Rob Roy than I do.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19I don't know much about his piper,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22but Rob Roy was really the Scottish equivalent of Robin Hood.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27- He was, yes.- Yes, something of an outlaw, he was a Protestant
0:02:27 > 0:02:30with Jacobite sympathies, which was very unusual.
0:02:30 > 0:02:36And of course, he became romanticised by the writings of Walter Scott.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Now he's sat on a barrel, he's dressed very, very traditionally.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42Now, who damaged him? Was that the cat or...?
0:02:42 > 0:02:47I think my mother did that as a child. She knocked it off a dressing table or something,
0:02:47 > 0:02:49- so she always said.- Right, right.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53I don't know who glued it together, because they missed a bit.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56Well, look, you've obviously had various members of the family
0:02:56 > 0:02:59who've either loathed it or loved it.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02- Have you ever imagined what it could be worth?- Haven't a clue, no.
0:03:02 > 0:03:08Right, well it is something of a rarity and I think if you wanted to own this figure,
0:03:08 > 0:03:12you wouldn't have much change out of £2,000.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15- What!?- £2,000.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17£2,000?
0:03:17 > 0:03:21- It is a very rare little figure.- Wow!
0:03:21 > 0:03:23Maybe your wife will take a shine to it now.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26My wife might like it. Yes, gosh.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28So here we are, sitting in the "Athens of the North"
0:03:28 > 0:03:32on, very appropriately, a classical bench,
0:03:32 > 0:03:37and I think this piece of furniture is probably more Roman than Greek.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41But none the less, looking back to that Classical tradition
0:03:41 > 0:03:45and benches of this form were popular really from the beginning
0:03:45 > 0:03:51of Neo-Classicism so from the end of the 18th century, from the 1770s and then right
0:03:51 > 0:03:56the way through the 19th century. Do you know anything about the history of this particular piece?
0:03:56 > 0:04:02This bench, I got in 1974, or so.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06- Yes.- It was being thrown out of an old church, and I phoned my husband
0:04:06 > 0:04:09and asked if he could come. I asked them first if I could have it
0:04:09 > 0:04:11and they said, "Certainly, take it away."
0:04:11 > 0:04:15He said, "What piece of old rubbish are you taking home now?"
0:04:15 > 0:04:19so he came with the little van we had...a Morris Minor
0:04:19 > 0:04:23- and we took it home. - Do you remember the church? Was it a classical church?
0:04:23 > 0:04:28- Was it a Gothic church?- It's the church that everybody in Edinburgh knows because it's now The Hub,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31which is the centre of the Edinburgh Festival.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34I think what I can tell you, without knowing more of its history
0:04:34 > 0:04:38in a definite way, it's a piece of furniture that's been commissioned.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41It's very large in scale, it must be all of seven foot long
0:04:41 > 0:04:47and pieces like this were really designed for public buildings -
0:04:47 > 0:04:53for a town hall, for an assembly room such as this, and would probably have gone in an entrance hall
0:04:53 > 0:04:56and...
0:04:56 > 0:05:00responded to the architecture of, of the building.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03If you look at the end of it, it's got this "s" scroll,
0:05:03 > 0:05:08which is a very characteristic feature of, of classical design
0:05:08 > 0:05:13and a little lotus leaf carved in here and then these shaped legs which again...
0:05:13 > 0:05:17slightly fluted and you can imagine those legs done in marble
0:05:17 > 0:05:18- on a Roman bench.- Yes, yes.
0:05:18 > 0:05:24Which is the origin of a thing like this, and this one is made of oak.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29I think it dates probably from the middle of the 19th century - 1850s.
0:05:29 > 0:05:34I think of designs by people like William Smee who published designs for this sort of bench,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37but this might also have been designed by the architect of the building
0:05:37 > 0:05:39that it was originally from.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44- It wouldn't fit in every house. - No, it wouldn't, but these things are very popular today.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48- You'd certainly want to insure it for about £2,000. - OK, thank you very much.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53We often hear our art experts talking about
0:05:53 > 0:05:55whether a painting is worth restoring,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58therefore enhancing the value and we've got a good idea.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01Rupert, is it generally a good idea to restore pictures?
0:06:01 > 0:06:04It depends. In the hands of somebody skilled, like Kenny,
0:06:04 > 0:06:08it's an extremely good idea and you can see it's absolutely necessary at times.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10This looks a right mess.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14I think, as a technical term, yeah, yeah, it is a right mess.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18And we have a well known restorer, Kenny McKenzie who's agreed to the challenge
0:06:18 > 0:06:24of working on this painting. He's got, what eight hours, to bring at least part of it back to life,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26so Kenny, which bit are you going to work on?
0:06:26 > 0:06:30I think we'll do this part here, which has got its original varnish on it
0:06:30 > 0:06:32and probably these bits down here
0:06:32 > 0:06:33with the people and the boat,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36a sharp contrast before and after as it were.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40Somebody's attacked it, but there's still original varnish on it,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42which can be removed at a later time.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46But in the meantime, we'll do as I suggest and you'll see a considerable difference.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48So what do you know about this picture?
0:06:48 > 0:06:50Well, it's by G E Herring
0:06:50 > 0:06:55and it's dated to 1862 and it is a very typical Englishman's view
0:06:55 > 0:06:59of an Italian lake scene from the middle of the 19th century
0:06:59 > 0:07:00and actually a very good one.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Can it be got back? There's a lot of paint missing.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07I think that's the problem, but if the rest of it cleans well,
0:07:07 > 0:07:10the missing paint is only in these out of the way areas.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12It isn't over any faces or over any detail.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15I think we can probably put it back, or at least Kenny can.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Well, at least we'll see your art at work today.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21- Craft, yes.- Craft.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24The art's been done and the craft's being done now.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28But you know in terms of value, this could be a significant difference.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32- We'll have to see how he gets on. - All right, good luck. Over to you.- Thank you.
0:07:34 > 0:07:40We're looking at a drawing by one of the great artists of the latter part of the 20th century,
0:07:40 > 0:07:42somebody called Feliks Topolski.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47Here's his initial down here and he's signed it down here as well.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50What do you make of it? Do you like it?
0:07:50 > 0:07:55Yes, I do, really because of the war interest in it -
0:07:55 > 0:07:59the fact that it was London in 1944.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03In 1944 and Feliks Topolski is probably best known
0:08:03 > 0:08:07because he was a Polish refugee really
0:08:07 > 0:08:11and he was the official Polish war artist during the Second World War.
0:08:11 > 0:08:17- Oh, was he?- And lots of his sketches and so on, show this sort of busy figurative scenes.- Yes.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20And what I like about this particular scene
0:08:20 > 0:08:22is that we have various uniforms.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26We have a Polish soldier, British airman and Wren officer -
0:08:26 > 0:08:27that's this group here
0:08:27 > 0:08:31and then we have a Czech and Dutch and Austrian, French sailor -
0:08:31 > 0:08:33here's the French sailor.
0:08:33 > 0:08:39So he's got this wonderful snapshot of a scene in London in 1944.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42There's something in here though that draws the eye
0:08:42 > 0:08:45and we have a double-decker bus full of people,
0:08:45 > 0:08:48and on the side is the name Ascher.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50Because of course,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53although this is a great work of art,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56it's also just a headscarf.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58Tell me where you got it from?
0:08:58 > 0:09:04My husband spotted it in an antique shop, or sort of junky-antique shop really in Oban about ten years ago
0:09:04 > 0:09:08and he likes Topolski's drawings very much so he...
0:09:08 > 0:09:10- So he recognised it? - So he homed in immediately, yes.
0:09:10 > 0:09:17The name Ascher relates to the couple Lida and Zika Ascher who were Czech emigres.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21They left Czechoslovakia in 1938, when it was annexed, and came to England
0:09:21 > 0:09:25and set up this incredible cloth manufacturing business.
0:09:25 > 0:09:31They provided cloth for some of the great fashion houses, people like Schiaparelli and so on.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35But then, they came up with this brainwave of producing headscarves
0:09:35 > 0:09:42and they got in touch with a number of different prominent artists and designers
0:09:42 > 0:09:47and asked them - commissioned them - to produce drawings for their headscarves
0:09:47 > 0:09:53and that's what we have - this Ascher scarf in the most sumptuous fine wool.
0:09:53 > 0:09:54It's lovely wool, isn't it?
0:09:54 > 0:09:58I sort of expected scarves to be in silk rather than wool, so...
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Have you got a number of scarves at home?
0:10:01 > 0:10:04- I've got a few, yes, nothing very exciting though. - Name me some names.
0:10:04 > 0:10:09Oh, I've got a Comet one, a silk one, BOAC and I've got Hermes...
0:10:09 > 0:10:13- one with falconry on it.- Oh, that's nice.- But it's got a hole in it, so...
0:10:13 > 0:10:18I really love this. It's difficult to think of something
0:10:18 > 0:10:23that would be more typical of its, of its moment, that precise moment.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27Going back to that shop in Oban,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30what do you think your husband paid for it?
0:10:30 > 0:10:32I know he paid £10 for it.
0:10:32 > 0:10:37The market for late 20th-century and post-war design
0:10:37 > 0:10:44has grown in an extraordinary way in the last five to ten years
0:10:44 > 0:10:48and in a specialist sale of 20th-century design,
0:10:48 > 0:10:53this would probably fetch between £1,000 and £1,500.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56- Really? Oh, that is astonishing. - It is, isn't it?
0:10:56 > 0:11:01Well, I'm almost overwhelmed by this vast collection of royal memorabilia,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04but it mainly centres round the Duke of Windsor, doesn't it?
0:11:04 > 0:11:05- Yes.- "Dear Storrier,"
0:11:05 > 0:11:10this letter reads, "Thank you for your letter telling me of poor Osborne's death,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14"I'm afraid when we pass the milestone of three score years and ten,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18"which he had, these afflictions are to be expected."
0:11:18 > 0:11:23Then we get to the second-last paragraph and this is something that I've never seen before.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26It says, "It was very nice to hear from you again
0:11:26 > 0:11:31"and now that I have your address I will call you the next time Her Royal Highness."
0:11:31 > 0:11:33Well, this is Mrs Simpson, Wallis Windsor,
0:11:33 > 0:11:39and she was denied that status by the crown after Edward abdicated anyway.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41He was known as "His Royal Highness",
0:11:41 > 0:11:46but she was never known as "Her Royal Highness" and here is her husband making that point
0:11:46 > 0:11:48and he makes it twice, the last paragraph reads,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52"With constant appreciation of your loyal and devoted services
0:11:52 > 0:11:57"and Her Royal Highness and my best wishes," signed Edward.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01We then go to a much earlier letter here.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03This one's signed "Wallis Simpson".
0:12:03 > 0:12:09"Dear Storrier, here is a book I forgot for His Royal Highness. It has made such a difference
0:12:09 > 0:12:15"having you come here and I want to thank you for all you have done for HRH.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18"Faithfully yours, Wallis Simpson."
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Now she normally, I mean,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24- autographically Wallis Windsor is normally how she would sign herself.- Right.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28So Simpson is rather, rather interesting and rather good.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Now why have you got them?
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Well, they were left to me really by my uncle when he died.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35Uh-huh, and he was...?
0:12:35 > 0:12:42He was a personal bodyguard, shadow to the Prince of Wales originally.
0:12:42 > 0:12:47- Right, yes.- Then King and then when the abdication came, my uncle went to France with them.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49- He actually went to live in France with them?- Yes.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52He was still employed by the Metropolitan Police.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56- I see.- But he was a link between the London establishment and the Prince.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59- Because nobody else was with the Prince at that time.- No.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03He was just the Duke of Windsor and all royal connections had really...
0:13:03 > 0:13:06all establishment connections had really been broken.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10So my uncle liaised between the establishment in London
0:13:10 > 0:13:14and his family because his brother wanted to be kept informed
0:13:14 > 0:13:18- of how he was, his health was. - What you mean George VI? Yes.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Yes, how his health was bearing up.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23- You think he could give him a phone call.- Yes.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26Instead of waiting for a policeman to have to come...
0:13:26 > 0:13:28Yes, you see, the government...
0:13:28 > 0:13:32did want to know too what he was up to and all that sort of thing.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Yes, I'm sure, and there was all this scandal of the going to Germany
0:13:36 > 0:13:38- and meeting Hitler. - Well, they did go to Germany and...
0:13:38 > 0:13:41- Did he go with him on that famous...?- Yes.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46And one comment that's made about his pro-Nazi feelings was when he came out,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50back to the car, the Duchess turned to the Duke and said,
0:13:50 > 0:13:55"There aren't many lounge suits in Hitler's Germany."
0:13:55 > 0:13:58Because everyone was attired in military uniform.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Yes, yes, that's very, very interesting.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04So that, my uncle never had any doubt he was loyal to Britain.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09Yes, I mean, this is an incredible lot, look this private photograph here
0:14:09 > 0:14:15of Edward and Mrs Simpson on the beach. I suppose they were married by then, but there they are,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18on the beach, which is quite remarkable really.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20To get a private photograph like that -
0:14:20 > 0:14:23and you've got wonderful press photographs as well.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24I mean, this one here...
0:14:24 > 0:14:28- what a dress! I mean that is quite a dress, isn't it?- Yes.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30That's presumably in Venice?
0:14:30 > 0:14:33- Yes.- They were in Venice, but you've got private photographs here,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36stacks of them, you've got more over there...
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Oh, yes! And this wonderful photograph of his youngest brother.
0:14:40 > 0:14:47- That's George.- Prince George, um, looking very, very good, I suppose,
0:14:47 > 0:14:53signed 1932. Of course, he was lost during the war, he went up and never came down,
0:14:53 > 0:14:59or so they, so they say, and of course he was, um, he, Noel Coward absolutely loved him.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02- Oh.- Thought he was... he sang Mad About The Boy
0:15:02 > 0:15:07- in the Palladium straight at the Royal Box where Prince George was sitting.- Oh, right.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10You've got wedding cake, you've got this lovely,
0:15:10 > 0:15:13um, cigarette case with the famous W/E -
0:15:13 > 0:15:18Wallis and Edward monogram on it.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20You've got...
0:15:20 > 0:15:22- these are from where? - The royal car -
0:15:22 > 0:15:25these were his personal standards on the car.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28And tell me, where does the bottle of Cognac come from?
0:15:28 > 0:15:31That's supposed to be from the wedding reception, at the chateau.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35- Oh, la Croe, yes.- In France, yes.
0:15:35 > 0:15:36Just tell me one thing,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40how did you manage to drink that much without taking the cork out?
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Oh, I didn't actually, I just received it like that.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Someone had a swig before it got to me.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49Well, that's absolutely splendid and such a pleasure
0:15:49 > 0:15:52- to see such fabulous royal memorabilia.- Thank you.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Have you any idea of the value?
0:15:54 > 0:15:57I mean, it's obviously a difficult thing to put a price on.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01Not at all. I've never had it anywhere to have it valued or anything.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06Well, I think we're looking somewhere between £10,000 and £15,000.
0:16:06 > 0:16:07Ooh, my goodness!
0:16:07 > 0:16:10- Thank you.- Well, thank you for bringing it in.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13As I say, I think it is the most extraordinary lot.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18My father had an old Citroen before he was married, he got married in 1934
0:16:18 > 0:16:24and this was on the radiator and I guess they sold the car when they got married.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27Well, it's very exciting for me to see this
0:16:27 > 0:16:32because apart from anything else this is the long-nosed Mickey
0:16:32 > 0:16:35and they were the much earlier Mickeys
0:16:35 > 0:16:39before they became less sort of bulbous on the nose.
0:16:39 > 0:16:45He's got the original, what we call the pie crust eyes which go in here.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47Oh, yes, yes.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50And he's enamelled tin plate basically.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54He's had a bit of wear and tear, maybe your father went into something...
0:16:54 > 0:16:58He actually knocked a lamppost down in the car.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00He always told us which was his lamppost.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03- Oh, really?- So that is possible, possibly true.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06That's a shame because it has slightly devalued him.
0:17:06 > 0:17:11Um, having said that, it's difficult to be absolutely sure who made him
0:17:11 > 0:17:15because he's essentially a mascot, but he goes on the grill of the car.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18- Yes, yes.- And on the back you see that he's got two pins here,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21which would have been attached to the grill.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25There's a company called the Desmo Corporation of England
0:17:25 > 0:17:30and they are listed as starting in England making mascots -
0:17:30 > 0:17:35car mascots in 1934 - but if you say your father got married in 1934
0:17:35 > 0:17:41and he didn't have the Citroen then, it is possible that these were made before they registered.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44This particular... it's got no marking on it,
0:17:44 > 0:17:48it's got no copyright, register, patent, nothing,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52so I surmise that it's the Desmo Corporation.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55They're very collectable,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59even with this lamppost damage, between £800 and £1,200.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01- What?!- Between £800 and £1,200.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Good gracious! For that?
0:18:03 > 0:18:05Now tell me about this vase.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10Well, it was given to my father, I think, many years ago
0:18:10 > 0:18:12by a patient - he was a GP in Lincolnshire -
0:18:12 > 0:18:17and I think he was given this just as a gift one time.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20A grateful, living client.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22Yes, indeed, you could say that.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Yeah, well let's tackle the date first of all
0:18:25 > 0:18:29- because the giveaway is miniaturism. - Right.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33In Japan, towards the end of the 19th century,
0:18:33 > 0:18:38all the crafts of Japan seemed to move towards miniaturism -
0:18:38 > 0:18:42everything that could be made smaller was made smaller
0:18:42 > 0:18:46and smaller and smaller and also the ceramic technology.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50And so much so, that here you have an almost extreme example.
0:18:50 > 0:18:58- Oh, right.- Of how miniaturistic a painter could get, in fact you could almost say he was wasting his time
0:18:58 > 0:19:03because you have to be myopic, like me, or have an incredibly powerful magnifying glass
0:19:03 > 0:19:06- to see some of the details on this. - Yes.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11But I think that, that's possibly the secret, there is a sort of delight
0:19:11 > 0:19:15in an object where the detail is so fine that
0:19:15 > 0:19:21- it's almost hidden, it's almost like a sort of secret code between you and the person who made it.- Right.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24So when, you're looking at it, even at this distance,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28what you see is a blue vase with a couple of panels
0:19:28 > 0:19:31and some pretty sort of flowers in between.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34Well, let, let's sort of...
0:19:34 > 0:19:38I'm lucky of course being myopic I don't need magnifying glasses
0:19:38 > 0:19:41so I'm going to take off my glasses and look closely.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44On one side, we've got this sort of market scene.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46At the top of the picture...
0:19:46 > 0:19:51is a fruit and veg stall laid out with melons,
0:19:51 > 0:19:53long white radishes.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Then we move down into the bottom left hand corner
0:19:57 > 0:19:59and we seem to have a little fish stall.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01Right.
0:20:01 > 0:20:08Tiny, tiny fish, look, I mean the way that they are depicted, different colours with a different skin,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11the way they're lying there, their fins floppy.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16I mean, it's not just any old fish, that is a dead fish on a bench.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19- Uh-huh, right. - Now to be able to paint like that,
0:20:19 > 0:20:24using one hair of a brush and probably, probably going blind in the process...
0:20:24 > 0:20:27- Oh!- ..is breathtaking.- Yes.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31Now on this side, we have a totally different idea.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Here we have a still life with flowers.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37Actually, inside amongst the flowers,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41- there's the occasional flounder up here in the corner.- Really?
0:20:41 > 0:20:44This pink fish. Never seen him before?
0:20:44 > 0:20:49- Then on the fan, because that's what this is, this is a fan.- Yes.
0:20:49 > 0:20:50You have another landscape.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54- This is even finer than the one we saw on the other side.- Right.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57You've got a receding distance, you've got figures in paddy fields,
0:20:57 > 0:20:59you've got figures...
0:20:59 > 0:21:04I think they are probably harvesting rice and there is a water wheel
0:21:04 > 0:21:07and the, the sluice is running right in front there.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09I mean, this is just fantastic
0:21:09 > 0:21:14and then right in the foreground, another fish, another prawn,
0:21:14 > 0:21:17or is it a lobster? I suspect it's a lobster.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19- Right.- And some sort of a shell fish.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22I mean, this is miniaturism gone completely mad.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25I hadn't realised all that detail was on it.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30Well, there you are, I mean this is a universe on a small piece of pottery.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33- Good grief. - And it is exceptionally fine.
0:21:33 > 0:21:39Now the...unfortunately this is not by the finest of all the miniature artists
0:21:39 > 0:21:45on Satsuma, this is, from the workshop of a man whose seal appears at the bottom there.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48- It's an impressed mark.- Mmm. - It says Kinkozan...
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Nevertheless, a good maker - he made low quality goods,
0:21:51 > 0:21:55he made high quality goods and this is probably the upper, upper scale.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58It's still not that magic name of Yabu Meizan,
0:21:58 > 0:22:02- but it's about as close as it comes to Yabu Meizan.- Right.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04So it didn't cost your father anything,
0:22:04 > 0:22:06- it doesn't cost you anything.- No.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10So you're not at all interested in what it's worth?
0:22:10 > 0:22:14I like it a lot, I suppose it would be nice to know how much it's worth,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17but if you don't want to tell me, fine.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19- Well, I will tell you. - Good, thank you.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24If you sold that in a Japanese works of art sale in the current climate,
0:22:24 > 0:22:29I think it would probably fetch somewhere between...
0:22:29 > 0:22:30£1,200 and £1,800.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34Oh, right, yes. Ooh! That's good. That's good.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39Well, this is a view that gives me a great deal of pleasure to look at
0:22:39 > 0:22:41because I've known this place since I was a boy.
0:22:41 > 0:22:47It's The Tweed At Melrose, so it says here. There's Melrose Abbey
0:22:47 > 0:22:51and it's by Tom Scott, probably the best known
0:22:51 > 0:22:54and best loved painter of views in the Borders.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57You can hardly go into a house in the Borders
0:22:57 > 0:23:00without finding a watercolour by Tom Scott, so it...
0:23:00 > 0:23:05- is it a family picture?- Yes, it was left to my late father
0:23:05 > 0:23:08by an elderly lady, about 40 or 50 years ago.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10- Yes.- And it's been in the...
0:23:10 > 0:23:13family ever since, it belongs to my mother now.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16- But you've always known it? - We've always known it.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19- And you know this place? - I know Melrose well.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22- Yes, yes, so do I.- Lovely place and the River Tweed.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26My parents had a holiday cottage just off there,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29in the middle of the Eildon Hills, three Eildon hills
0:23:29 > 0:23:33and they were at the foot of the middle one and I fished here.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36- Oh, right.- Yes, I may have even caught my first trout,
0:23:36 > 0:23:41so this is a view that brings back very happy memories for me
0:23:41 > 0:23:43- and further up the river is Abbotsford.- Yeah.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47Sir Walter Scott's house - he's another great hero of mine.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50So it gives me real pleasure to, to look at this.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Tom Scott is well known in the Borders,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56but I wouldn't say he makes terrific amounts of money.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59I think he's perhaps a bit under-rated actually,
0:23:59 > 0:24:03so at the moment I would think this is worth about £700 to £1,000.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05- Ooh.- Something like that.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13Kenny, I've noticed a lot of people watching you restoring our picture.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Now we're all interested in the technique,
0:24:16 > 0:24:18I mean what, what materials do you use?
0:24:18 > 0:24:22This is what you call an easy clean, which is quite fortunate
0:24:22 > 0:24:28and I'm using a fairly low strength mixture of acetone and white spirit,
0:24:28 > 0:24:32which I apply with a swab...
0:24:32 > 0:24:37without any pressure, as I can demonstrate to you, right,
0:24:37 > 0:24:38on this wee bit here.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43It takes the varnish... This is a technically very well painted picture
0:24:43 > 0:24:45and it's very nicely varnished, very thinly.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47See that's the varnish coming off.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51- Yeah.- And it comes off very, very easily and very cleanly.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56Now you're a professional, do you recommend people at home do the same thing?
0:24:56 > 0:25:00No, I do not. I frequently get the results of such excursions.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02At which point do you,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05are you, might you actually start removing the paint itself?
0:25:05 > 0:25:10Well, the thing is, on a picture like this, as I say, it's very hard -
0:25:10 > 0:25:12there's enough oil in the paint,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16so you can actually feel when you go through the varnish, and the varnish has come off.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21- And you're not going to go any further because nothing else comes off.- Right.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25But of course some pictures are more soluble than this one is,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28so you have to be extremely careful.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31You've still got a few hours left so there's a lot more you can do.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34I'll round up Rupert and we'll see the finished work later.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38Right, I'll do what I can.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40Now you've been a good Samaritan today, haven't you,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43because you've queued for a few hours for...
0:25:43 > 0:25:47on behalf of the lady who owns this particular woodcarving,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50- which just happens to be your...?- Daughter-in-law.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55So how long has your daughter-in-law been the proud owner
0:25:55 > 0:25:59of this rather lithe looking lady?
0:25:59 > 0:26:04About five years, she had actually inherited it from her mother
0:26:04 > 0:26:11who had received it from an old lady that she had known for several years.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14OK, well the sculptor's name's on the back, let's turn it
0:26:14 > 0:26:17because we can see it quite clearly.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21- You've got the initials N J and Forrest.- Yes.
0:26:21 > 0:26:27For Norman John Forrest. OK, now anybody might be forgiven,
0:26:27 > 0:26:32looking at a figure like this, for assuming that it's a mademoiselle.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36But in all truth, this is a Scottish lassie
0:26:36 > 0:26:42because Norman Forrest was a native of this very same city
0:26:42 > 0:26:46and he was quite a celebrated son
0:26:46 > 0:26:50of this particular city when it came to sculpture.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55He's probably best known for some of the,
0:26:55 > 0:26:59some relief panels that were to be found on the liners -
0:26:59 > 0:27:03the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth -
0:27:03 > 0:27:08so he's really at his zenith, if you will, in the 1930s.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11He's got quite a decent pedigree
0:27:11 > 0:27:16and his work is quite keenly sought after.
0:27:16 > 0:27:22So I'm assuming that no thought has been given to value?
0:27:22 > 0:27:27I had thought it would probably be a few hundred anyway,
0:27:27 > 0:27:29but I'm no expert at all.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33That makes me feel as though, you know, today's important
0:27:33 > 0:27:35because I'm here really to tell you that
0:27:35 > 0:27:41if I went into, into a gallery to try and buy this today,
0:27:41 > 0:27:45I would not be able to get out of that gallery with this under my arm
0:27:45 > 0:27:50without writing a cheque for somewhere in the region of around about...
0:27:50 > 0:27:52£3,500 to £4,000.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57She may be naked, but at least she's on home turf.
0:27:57 > 0:28:02Here we have a wonderful picture by Richard Simkin -
0:28:02 > 0:28:05great artist of watercolours.
0:28:05 > 0:28:10There's Harry Payne, there's Richard Wymer and there's Richard Simkin.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14All three are sought after by militaria collectors
0:28:14 > 0:28:17and this is a most delightful painting
0:28:17 > 0:28:22because you have all these various facets of one regiment.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27Now, often, you'll get the single pictures come up in auction,
0:28:27 > 0:28:34but rarely you see these multi-coloured and multi-uniform pictures.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39The regiment was formed in Scotland in 1742
0:28:39 > 0:28:42and it was called Cunningham's Regiment.
0:28:42 > 0:28:48And then they were Dragoons to begin with, they became Light Dragoons,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52onto Hussars right through the Napoleonic Wars.
0:28:52 > 0:28:58After the Napoleonic Wars, they adopted this type of shako here,
0:28:58 > 0:29:03which was against tradition, if you like,
0:29:03 > 0:29:06because then they went back to the busby again, you see?
0:29:06 > 0:29:07Well, how did you come by it?
0:29:07 > 0:29:11Well, it was, it belonged to my godfather and due to the fact
0:29:11 > 0:29:15that I think I'd spent 24 years in the Royal Marines, he thought
0:29:15 > 0:29:22I would appreciate the military history behind the painting and he passed it on to me,
0:29:22 > 0:29:29so I actually then found a restorer in Edinburgh and had it restored to its present state.
0:29:29 > 0:29:34Now, I would say that this painting, if it was put into an auction
0:29:34 > 0:29:39of militaria, or military paintings,
0:29:39 > 0:29:43should fetch something between £2,000 and £3,000.
0:29:43 > 0:29:48- Really, great.- Because these single pictures can fetch up to £500 each.
0:29:48 > 0:29:52- Oh, right.- So if you look upon it in that light, five, ten, 15 -
0:29:52 > 0:29:54you're looking at a lot of money.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56- Yeah, yeah, thank you.- Great.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00- Well, what can I tell you? - I've thoroughly enjoyed reading
0:30:00 > 0:30:04The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe myself and my children,
0:30:04 > 0:30:06but I'm just wondering whether it's safe
0:30:06 > 0:30:09to hand it over to the grandchildren to enjoy.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11Right, right. Well, let's have a look at it.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13It's got a dust wrapper
0:30:13 > 0:30:17and we want to see whether it's a first edition, so as we turn over,
0:30:17 > 0:30:20- back of the title page, there it is, "First published 1950".- Ah.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24- So this is a first edition.- Oh. - Now, let's have a look.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26Cover not very good I'm afraid -
0:30:26 > 0:30:31there's a little bit of damage there, there's some damage at the top.
0:30:31 > 0:30:37It's been in the sun somewhere, but overall it's quite a good, good copy.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Now, whether the children can be let loose on it,
0:30:40 > 0:30:43or the grandchildren, rather, can be let loose on it?
0:30:43 > 0:30:46The modern first-edition market is a very strange one
0:30:46 > 0:30:52and it has been going completely bonkers recently, but CS Lewis,
0:30:52 > 0:30:58Tolkien and people like that are all making a lot more money,
0:30:58 > 0:31:03so your Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe now...
0:31:03 > 0:31:07- probably cost half a crown when it was new.- Yes, yes.
0:31:07 > 0:31:12A fine copy of this would make somewhere in the region of £5,000.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15- Heavens.- Yours is not a fine copy, I have to say.- No, no.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18So can we put it down to £1,500?
0:31:18 > 0:31:22Now you decide whether you want the grandchildren to have it or not.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25If I was you, I'd let them buy, I'd let them buy the paperback,
0:31:25 > 0:31:27or buy them the paperback anyway.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29Yes, I would agree with you there.
0:31:29 > 0:31:35This fellow here is definitely the worse for drink, his name is Silenus
0:31:35 > 0:31:39and he's being helped into oblivion by this bevy of maidens
0:31:39 > 0:31:42who are also rather the worse for drink and then these little putti.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45I don't know what they're doing there - they're underage.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49The dance going on here and the whole thing is covered in vines.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52They're drinking, it's a Bacchic scene.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55My sister can remember it from when she was younger,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58but I can't, where my mother got it from I do not know.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00But let's turn it upside down
0:32:00 > 0:32:04because that's where we're going to see an awful lot of information.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06We have a really unusual back stamp -
0:32:06 > 0:32:10that's what we call the mark on a piece of pottery, a back stamp.
0:32:10 > 0:32:15And around the outside it says "The Society of Arts Medal presented
0:32:15 > 0:32:19"to Charles Meigh for the best model of a mug
0:32:19 > 0:32:21"ornamented in relief".
0:32:21 > 0:32:25Charles Meigh was one of those factories in the 1840s
0:32:25 > 0:32:29who perfected this material, because when you rub your finger on it,
0:32:29 > 0:32:33you can feel, you know, it's got a waxy, almost marble-like quality.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35- It's called Parian ware.- Right.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38And this is right at the beginning of Parian ware,
0:32:38 > 0:32:40this is almost the birth of Parian ware.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45I think if you were a Parian collector and you wanted
0:32:45 > 0:32:47a really early piece of Charles Meigh,
0:32:47 > 0:32:49this is the piece you'd go for.
0:32:49 > 0:32:54I'm going to put a price of somewhere between £120 and £180 on that.
0:32:54 > 0:33:00- Interesting.- And now back to your ceilidh.- And the whisky.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05Now we have this autograph album, you're not thinking of giving that to...
0:33:05 > 0:33:09No, no. I'm not letting, turning the grandchildren loose on that, no.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12No, I mean you've got a lovely load of autographs here,
0:33:12 > 0:33:14they're just absolutely splendid.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17I should make it clear that the autographs are my mother's
0:33:17 > 0:33:20and she's still very much with us, so it's up to her to decide
0:33:20 > 0:33:22what she wants to do with them.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25Yes, there's a lovely one here of George Robey.
0:33:25 > 0:33:26That really is rather good.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29And you've got lots of fascinating people in here.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33Yeah, I was asking my mother about it and she said that she...
0:33:33 > 0:33:37it was a hobby of hers and it was quite fashionable in the 1920s,
0:33:37 > 0:33:40when she was a girl, and she wrote to people
0:33:40 > 0:33:44or she went to stage doors or to people after concerts.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47- Yes.- And she said people were very good and co-operative.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49Well, that's absolutely splendid.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52This one of Ernest Shackleton, this is particularly good.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55I have to say that that is particularly good.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58- Oh.- Because there's a great, I don't know, polar revival,
0:33:58 > 0:34:00possibly it never really went away,
0:34:00 > 0:34:06but certainly the man people all want to collect now, autographically,
0:34:06 > 0:34:08is Ernest Shackleton...
0:34:08 > 0:34:12- Oh.- ..whose ship was crushed in the ice, if you remember,
0:34:12 > 0:34:14when he made the famous boat journey
0:34:14 > 0:34:18over to Elephant Island. Well, that is a very good one
0:34:18 > 0:34:21and one that people would pay quite a lot of money for.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24You've got lots of other lovely people in here.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28There's our dear friend Edward Elgar, your mother must have gone to the...
0:34:28 > 0:34:33Well, she had a friend who was a theatre manager or a relation
0:34:33 > 0:34:39and I think he was in Malvern and I think he probably got her quite a lot of the theatrical ones.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43Yes, yes, it's a lovely dazzling array of some old-fashioned stars,
0:34:43 > 0:34:45old-fashioned music-hall stars.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47- Yes.- Some really good names.
0:34:47 > 0:34:48Now if I told you, the Shackleton,
0:34:48 > 0:34:52you'd probably get...or at least one would probably get for it...
0:34:52 > 0:34:56somewhere in the region of £400 or £500.
0:34:56 > 0:35:01I mean George Robey is not so much, but I mean he's down
0:35:01 > 0:35:04in the sort of 30s, £30 sort of thing, but when you add this up.
0:35:04 > 0:35:09- Yes.- You've got an album worth, I suppose, in the region of £1,000.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14- Not for the grandchildren.- No, not for the grandchildren.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19My husband's grandfather bought them. He likes antiques -
0:35:19 > 0:35:23he collected a lot of different things, furniture and all sorts.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25- Anything that took his fancy.- Yes.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29Well, these are actually, they're Japanese
0:35:29 > 0:35:35and if they've been in the family for a long time that wouldn't be surprising
0:35:35 > 0:35:38- because they actually date from the end of the 19th century.- Right.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42They are really a rather spectacular pair of vases of their type
0:35:42 > 0:35:44and it's called shibayama.
0:35:44 > 0:35:50And the shibayama is, is this decoration which is basically ivory
0:35:50 > 0:35:55and then this is inlaid with stained mother of pearl, tortoiseshell...
0:35:57 > 0:36:01It's a very beautiful and very colourful, very refined technique
0:36:01 > 0:36:05and then of course the bodies of the vases themselves are silver.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10This would all have been hand-raised, handmade, and then enamelled.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16And then the panels and ivory set in separately
0:36:16 > 0:36:20and this of course is the dragon chasing the flaming pearl.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24- Really?- Which is a very typical motif both in China and Japan.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30And they are really extraordinarily decorative
0:36:30 > 0:36:35and generally speaking in pretty good condition as well because they're often damaged and there is...
0:36:35 > 0:36:37- Yes, one of them's...- I have noticed
0:36:37 > 0:36:40that there is one section missing there.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42Are the dragons supposed to move?
0:36:42 > 0:36:47- I think the dragons were fixed because I notice that this one is quite loose.- Yes.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51But you can actually see the bit of solder there and I think
0:36:51 > 0:36:53probably the tail, or something, was attached
0:36:53 > 0:36:56- and you can also see a bit of solder there as well.- Yes.
0:36:56 > 0:36:58So I think that they were,
0:36:58 > 0:37:02they weren't intended to move around but the contact point's so small...
0:37:02 > 0:37:05- Yes.- ..that inevitably, with handling over the years,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08they have shifted about. I don't think it really matters.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11The most important thing is the decorativeness of them,
0:37:11 > 0:37:14that's really what people go for.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18- Yes.- And of course the condition - with the exception of the odd missing piece -
0:37:18 > 0:37:20which is quite easily replaced...
0:37:20 > 0:37:21Really outstanding.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25Well, I think that they are quite surprisingly valuable, these
0:37:25 > 0:37:30and I think that these probably should be insured for something in the region
0:37:30 > 0:37:33- of £8,000 to £10,000 for the pair. - Oh, that's very good.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37Well, if I was going to use the word exquisite about anything,
0:37:37 > 0:37:39I think I'd use it for this.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42It's very small, concentrated and extremely beautiful.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44Tell me about it.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48It came from my grandmother, my maternal grandmother,
0:37:48 > 0:37:51who was raised in Ireland.
0:37:51 > 0:37:58And it came to me because my mother, when she died about eight or nine years ago,
0:37:58 > 0:38:01there were a whole lot of artefacts from my grandmother,
0:38:01 > 0:38:06which she wanted to divide up between myself, my sister and my two cousins.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10And she said, "You can draw lots for who goes first
0:38:10 > 0:38:15"and all the artefacts can be laid out on the dining room table and then you pick them in order."
0:38:15 > 0:38:18And I took an instant shine to that
0:38:18 > 0:38:21and I said, "Well I hope I'm going to get it."
0:38:21 > 0:38:23I was the one that got the fourth straw
0:38:23 > 0:38:28and so I had to wait while my three others chose
0:38:28 > 0:38:32and luckily they were all far more practical than I was
0:38:32 > 0:38:36and they all took things like toast racks or knives and forks
0:38:36 > 0:38:38and so when my turn came I got that.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40A heart-stopping moment -
0:38:40 > 0:38:43when the roulette wheel's not spinning in your direction,
0:38:43 > 0:38:47- but it absolutely did.- Yes. - And my goodness, what a fantastic condition too.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50What do you know about its contents?
0:38:50 > 0:38:53Well, it's got this little paper almanac inside.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57Yes, full of all kinds of interesting facts and a very sweet engraving
0:38:57 > 0:38:59of a view of London at this time.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02- And there are the phases of the sun and the moon, aren't there?- Yes.
0:39:02 > 0:39:07- And there are lists of the Lord Mayor of London and lists of the... - Kings and Queens.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10And the senior dignitaries of Queen Victoria's Court - her favourite
0:39:10 > 0:39:16Lord Melbourne is mentioned, top of the list. Weights for stamps...
0:39:16 > 0:39:18Very conveniently, it's dated 1840
0:39:18 > 0:39:23and I'm sure the goldsmith's work is exactly from that period.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25It's very interesting to me actually because
0:39:25 > 0:39:29had we not that external evidence I might have been, for a while,
0:39:29 > 0:39:32thinking along the lines that this could be a piece
0:39:32 > 0:39:34of 18th century English goldsmith's work.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37It's in the manner of a goldsmith called Strachan
0:39:37 > 0:39:40working in London in the second half of the 18th century
0:39:40 > 0:39:44and I think in a strange way this is an 18th-century revival.
0:39:44 > 0:39:481840 is certainly in the reign of Queen Victoria.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50It was the year she was married.
0:39:50 > 0:39:56So this is an early Victorian piece of London goldsmith's work and why does it exist?
0:39:56 > 0:39:58It's hopelessly impractical, isn't it?
0:39:58 > 0:40:03Bound in beautiful silk here and its function is really
0:40:03 > 0:40:07very much secondary to the fact that it's a truly beautiful object.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10For these sort of hopelessly useless and beautiful things
0:40:10 > 0:40:12there is a terminology.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15We call them objects of virtue, which has its etymological roots
0:40:15 > 0:40:18- in the fact that they're toys for grown ups.- Yes.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22They come from an age really when there's no television, no radio,
0:40:22 > 0:40:24in the evenings amusements were taken in odd ways
0:40:24 > 0:40:28and one would have a collector's cabinet with goldsmith's work
0:40:28 > 0:40:30and get these beautiful things out
0:40:30 > 0:40:33in candlelight and look at them and view them with amazement.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36Well, a beautiful thing to give a beautiful girl in 1840.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38We don't know exactly who that is,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41- but we share in that life by seeing it.- Yes, yes.
0:40:41 > 0:40:46It'll probably be the grandmother of my grandmother, that would,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49that would fit date wise, I would think.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51Marvellous and it's very rare
0:40:51 > 0:40:54and this is an enviable object and with envy of course comes value.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56I mean if this were...
0:40:56 > 0:41:01but if it, if it turned up for sale, it would excite an enormous amount of interest.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04I'd want it really badly and I would bid, my goodness, what would I bid?
0:41:04 > 0:41:09I'd bid £5,000, £6,000.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12- Good gracious.- And I might even go one more at £7,000.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16- I think it's a marvellous thing and thank you for bringing it. - My pleasure.- Thank you.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21Now for our final visit to the restoration scene. As you know
0:41:21 > 0:41:27Kenny McKenzie has been working hard putting his magic to this canvas, a very dilapidated painting indeed,
0:41:27 > 0:41:32and he's restored whole sections of it, so let's see what it looked like this morning.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37And...
0:41:37 > 0:41:40what it looks like now.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43I mean entirely fresh, Rupert, whole sections of it.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45I think, I think now you can see,
0:41:45 > 0:41:50what probably a dealer or a more trained eye could see before,
0:41:50 > 0:41:55but now you can really see its potential, you can see what it's going to look like.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57So much brighter - these areas on the right
0:41:57 > 0:41:59where all the light and all the action is -
0:41:59 > 0:42:02those sun-kissed walls, they are beginning to make sense.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05And what a lovely pink that is in that wall
0:42:05 > 0:42:10- and the texture of the plaster.- You can see the knitting needles here.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12- This woman's holding...- Yeah. - Brilliant.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15So this is what he has done today, over several hours,
0:42:15 > 0:42:18but has it actually improved its value?
0:42:18 > 0:42:22I think it's important to realise that the work that Kenny's done today
0:42:22 > 0:42:25hasn't so much increased the value of the picture,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28but simply revealed the value that was always there.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32A dealer, a dealer can see it sooner perhaps than a member of the public,
0:42:32 > 0:42:36but it's certainly a lot more apparent now how good this picture really is.
0:42:36 > 0:42:37And this artist, Herring,
0:42:37 > 0:42:41or "Hearing" - I'm not quite sure how to pronounce it -
0:42:41 > 0:42:43he's worth a bit of money, and rightly so.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47I think this picture's worth about £10,000 in any condition.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51- In any condition?- In any condition and you know, by the time Kenny's
0:42:51 > 0:42:56worked his magic on it, I think, er, why not £15,000 in a nice frame?
0:42:56 > 0:43:00- Why not indeed? What a happy ending.- It's good.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03Talking of endings, Kenny, your day's work is done, thanks.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06Work is done for all of us because it's time to go home,
0:43:06 > 0:43:11so thanks very much to Edinburgh for playing host and until the next time, goodbye.