Tavistock Antiques Roadshow

This week, the Antiques Roadshow is racing through Devon,

our destination - the historic town of Tavistock on the edge of Dartmoor.

Wonderful country and a breeding place for myth and legend.

At nearly 1,000 square kilometres - make that 368 square miles - Dartmoor is the largest

and the wildest area of open country in the south of England.

Distinctive granite tors, abandoned tin mines and Bronze Age settlements are scattered all over the place.

You can see how it would appeal to writers.

Arthur Conan Doyle did his bit to immortalise Dartmoor

with his terrifying tale of The Hound Of The Baskervilles Versus Sherlock Holmes,

and HERE is the very swamp where the half-starved beast lay in wait for its victims.

The dog was around here somewhere, too.

HOWLING

The great moor land was also said to be the lair of witches

who infested the granite tors,

luring young men into the swamps and watching them sink to their deaths.

Even now, when a mist descends, the imagination can run wild.

Right, that's enough myth and legend, here's an ancient fact.

There's gold in them there moors.

Well, tin, actually.

The miners who dug the stuff up needed somewhere to have their tin evaluated,

and 700 years ago a royal charter to do just that was granted to a town by the name of...

Tavistock, and this is it.

Tavistock already had a thriving weekly market which Henry I had agreed to back in 1105.

The first traders set up their stalls here in Market Street

exactly 900 years ago, and they're still doing it.

An unknown poet has written,

-IN A WEST COUNTRY ACCENT:

-"I love to go to Tavistock on market day when people flock by train and bus

"and trap and car, from every village near and far they bring their butter, cream and cheese,

"their chickens and their ducks to please the many folk who find their way to Tavistock on market day."

The only chickens and ducks we see today will be made of porcelain, I think.

The most recent market to open here is one for antiques.

And in a comradely way, the traders of Tavistock's Pannier Market have offered up their pitches

to our experts for what we hope will be an historic roadshow.

You know, some people love gnomes and some people loathe gnomes.

-What are you?

-I think they're hideous, but then that's only my personal opinion.

They're my wife's, actually, and she likes them and her family like them so...

-So descended to your wife, have they?

-Yes, indeed, they belonged to her grandparents many years ago,

and they owned hotels down in Cornwall, in Weybridge, and they seem to remember these,

er...chappies were in the hotels and in the foyer, you know, welcoming people as they went in.

They're welcoming creatures, aren't they? Lovely happy faces.

Oh, they have, and you can tell they're Cornish.

This chap's collecting money from people,

and this chap's obviously taking the tourists' photographs.

You'd better not go to Cornwall after this!

Now, a lot of people think they're English creations, but of course they

don't come from England originally, they come from Germany.

And these are German gnomes in terracotta,

painted terracotta, um, somewhere in date about 1900, incredibly early.

They're about the earliest gnomes you're likely to come across.

There are a few earlier ones,

they became very popular in Europe and then came over to England

somewhere about the 1880s, 1890s, and I suppose they derive really

from, um, you know, the Ring of the Nibelung, you know, they're little miners and getting money and...

But the camera is fantastic, isn't it?

A little box Brownie, yeah.

An early box camera, yes, and in date quite right for about 1900,

so they're both very, very early gnomes and as such are very collectable.

They just stand around looking handsome, I suppose.

-So they're not Cornish piskies after all.

-They're not, no!

But I think they're great, though you obviously don't like them.

I'm only joking, really, we can give them house room.

Give them house room now, because they are reasonably valuable.

I suppose a good pair like this,

in very, very good condition,

I suppose they're going to be at auction something like about £2,000.

-Well, you do surprise me.

-So look after them.

-Will do.

-And cheer them up.

-Well, they'll keep smiling, don't worry.

-Keep smiling!

This is probably the most uncomfortable suit of clothes

I think, I've ever seen.

It's made of, er...sacking or canvas.

-Yes.

-With this incredibly coarse stitching. Where did you get it from?

Um, well, I actually work for a museum, local, Dartmoor Prison,

and they obtained it last year.

It was from Exeter Prison, it's either originated from Dartmoor or Exeter.

They weren't sure themselves but other than that...

Well, certainly, as far as dating is concerned,

the National Penitentiary Service, which was formed in 1850, I think,

the prisoners of that service wore the broad arrow outfit, the uniform.

-Right, yes.

-And so we're certain... We know that it can't be before 1850.

-Oh, right.

-And I think the National Penitentiary Service was abolished in about 1920 or thereabouts,

-so it wouldn't be after 1920.

-No, no.

So it has to be in that sort of actually fairly broad corridor.

-Yes.

-It's certainly a really uncomfortable uniform.

Can you imagine wearing this on a really cold icy winter's morning with probably no underwear?

It must have been incredibly uncomfortable to use.

What about the broad arrow? What do you know about that?

We believe it meant that...

it's a government symbol, something like that.

Absolutely right, it was quite common at the time for guns and anything really belonging to the government

to be marked with this broad arrow, so I guess what they were saying here

that the prisoner was - for the time that he was in prison - property of the government.

I can't imagine there are very many of these around in the country.

It must be almost unique, I would think.

-Yes.

-But you've brought in something else...

-Yes.

-..That I find fascinating and actually quite gruesome at the same time.

-It is really.

-This is a real, genuine cat o' nine tails.

-Yeah.

And has this come from the same place?

It did, yes, we don't know any background to that at all, that's the thing.

OK, well, um, it's a pretty gruesome object, and of course the origin,

really, in common use came from the Navy in the 17th and 18th century.

And it brought about such common phrases, for example, as, "Don't let the cat out of the bag"

and, "Not enough room to swing a cat."

-On board ship, of course, room was very, very tight.

-Yeah.

But this is extraordinary, because this has never, ever been used, thank goodness, I think I should say.

It looks almost new. I mean, if you'd said to me this was made last year, I'd have believed you.

But I think it has to have some age to it, it's a genuine...

Oh, that's interesting, we've got a wax seal on the end

that says, "Prison Commission, Home Office".

-That's interesting. I think probably that means it's 20th century.

-Right.

And you've got to remember that corporal punishment, of course, continued until the...what?

1950s, even '60s, I think...

-I wasn't sure.

-..With birching and beating with the cat o' nine tails, in prisons in particular.

Now, what about value? Have you thought about that?

-We haven't got a clue.

-How do you put a value on something like this?

We really haven't got a clue with these, no. We really don't know.

It's very, very hard to put a value on objects such as these.

There are collectors of police and prison memorabilia, of course.

I guess that if something like this came up on the open market today,

it's such a rare object, such an unusual object, that I think it could sell for

-several thousand pounds, probably two, maybe even £3,000, because it's so rare.

-Yes, thank you.

And as far as the cat o' nine tails is concerned, not quite that much,

but it is a very collectable object...

-Thank you.

-..I'm afraid to say, and my guess is, again if it came up

on the open market, that it would sell for £500-600.

-Amazing.

-Quite extraordinary.

-Tell me about her.

-Well, she was my mother's,

and so I did see her from time to time. I mean, she was brought out.

-Were you allowed to play with her?

-I didn't, but I know my mother did.

My mother was born in 1905, and she played with her a lot, I think.

-Can I hold her?

-Yes.

-Um...

Now you said your mother was born in 1905.

-Yes, she was.

-So this doll actually was born a bit later, as it were,

she was registered in 1909.

-Oh, right.

-In fact, she could have even been registered

in 1911, even a bit later than that, so your mother would have been what?

-Six or something.

-Perhaps, could it have been...

I don't think she'd have been given a bisque doll, which is what it is -

-it's, unglazed porcelain...

-Yes.

..If she was really a baby,

so if she was sort of six, it would have been perfect.

-I see.

-She's kept it very well, although the stringing's

a little bit loose, but that's what happens with a bit of elastic.

It sort of starts going a bit loose, you know, like all of us when we get later on in life.

Now, behind, I mean, I immediately knew what she was

because of the mould of her face,

because of the charming little smiling mouth.

-She's got a lovely, lovely expression.

-She is a darling.

And do you know what she's known as?

She's German, and they call her, "Mein Liebling", my darling.

-Oh, really?

-Yes, and behind...there is, underneath the wig,

"K*R...Simon & Halbig...117."

Now, the K*R is Kammer - or Kammer with an umlaut over the "a" -

and Reinhardt, together with Simon and Halbig.

Now, Kammer and Reinhardt designed it but made the body,

and Simon and Halbig made the head according to the design,

and 117 is what we call the hundred mould of Kammer and Reinhardt.

-Yes.

-Have you any idea of her value?

None, no.

-No? None whatsoever?

-Not at all, no.

So if I said she was worth 300, what would you think?

Well, she could be, I don't...I honestly don't know.

Well, if you add a nought and say between £3,000 and £4,000, would that make you feel a bit better?

I am...I am astonished, and my mother would have been astonished, too.

-She's a real little darling, isn't she?

-Good gracious, yes.

And I nearly didn't bring them!

The box says, "Clock".

Yes, there is a clock.

Yes, this is one of those relatively inexpensive American clocks that were made to simulate marble.

They were sent over to this country in quite large numbers to...

to combat, as it were, the influx of marble clocks from the Continent,

made for very much...let's say the cottage market.

-So I can see the clock's dismantled, this must have been a restoration project.

-Yes.

-Who did it belong to?

-My husband.

-And he enjoyed mucking about with clocks?

-Oh, yes.

This is obviously the movement in here, I can see the bell poking out.

But while I was glancing earlier,

I can see a telltale sign of a problem that these, as I say,

inexpensive clocks often have, and yes, look,

there is further evidence of what I think I'm going to find.

Oh, dear, yes,

-this has got the best example of this problem that I have ever seen.

-Yes.

-The only thing holding it together is the lacquer on the outside.

-Yes.

The woodworm have really gone to town.

There's nothing you can do, and this clock really boils down to a set of spare parts.

Now come on, David, nationality.

We've got to try and get this right.

I've been looking at these things for 30 years,

and I sway backwards between China and Japan,

and I've never really formed a definite opinion.

-Well, they're export, I presume?

-Oh, yeah, and they're characteristically

Chinese in style, but that doesn't mean to say they can't be Japanese.

-Cos the Japanese were copying the Chinese styles.

-Yeah.

-So let's go for it, then, what is it?

-Japanese.

-Chinese.

So you think Chinese? OK, well, we'll give it some more thought.

Yeah, OK.

So what do you think this extraordinary object could possibly have been used for?

Well, it was sold to me as a warmer, but how it works or what...

-A warmer?

-Yes.

-A warmer of what, do you...?

-I'm not sure.

-It is a food warmer, um...

and to understand the principle behind it, you have to...

we have to cast our minds back into the 18th century

and imagine how people lived, and you might imagine a rather dark, cold, inhospitable room

which might have been somebody's bedroom,

and they might have decided they wanted a warm snack in the middle of the night.

The kitchen was miles away,

your staff had all gone to bed.

How do you get your food warm?

-You might have a bit of soup, something like that, and that's what these were for.

-Oh, right.

Can you speculate how you warm food in that?

It's difficult, isn't it? I guess a candle or something went in there.

Yeah, yeah.

-There must be something missing out of the top here.

-Absolutely right.

I have seen... You say you haven't seen one before,

I have seen one before illustrated in a book.

And your piece is, in fact, missing...

a little bowl that rests in the centre here, and this was the lid that went on the top to keep it warm,

and to combine a knop or a handle with a little taper stick, so you would have had a little

taper in the top with a flame alight that you could have used to light the burner underneath.

It's English Delft, and it dates from about 1760-1770.

They were made in London. We think they were probably made in Lambeth.

A very, very reassuring thing to see is, when we turn the piece over,

we've got a numeral painted on the base,

the same numeral there on the lid, so we know that these two pieces

have been together since 1760-70 when they were made.

Um... But really a very, very rare object.

The design is terribly interesting, too, these wonderful scroll handles

and human masks, human masks applied to either side.

And that typical symptom of Delft,

it's an earthenware body covered in a white tin glaze, and the glaze chips

off very easily to give you these...little imperfections, I suppose you'd call them.

On Delft, minor chipping isn't really an issue.

What probably is more of an issue with this is the lack of the bowl.

Can you tell me where you got it?

I bought it from an antique show last summer, and I paid 700 for it.

-700, and they knew what it was?

-They knew what it was, yeah.

Yeah, well, I think you did tremendously well, because...

if we start at the top and say...

if you had the liner, the bowl,

and if the cover wasn't in rather cracked condition,

-I'd be saying 4,000 or 5,000 on this.

-Really?

It is extremely rare.

I think without the bowl

you're still going to be 1,500, probably £2,000.

-That's fantastic.

-So that's what I call good investment,

buying last year for £700, and doubling your money in 12 months.

-Fantastic, thank you very much.

-Good, wonderful.

We were having a look at this earlier

and trying to decide whether it was Japanese or Chinese,

and I've always kind of thought they were Japanese

because I've got a catalogue, a 1920s catalogue,

by a company called Yamanaka, and they were a Japanese company which imported goods into Europe,

and these are illustrated in it.

So I kind of, without really thinking about it, assumed they were Japanese,

but...the more one looks at it,

the more one suspects that actually it's not Japanese, it's Chinese.

It's red lacquer over carved wood.

The dragon here is pursuing the Buddhistic pearl of wisdom

which it's managed to catch in here.

Actually, I see it's got my moustache on it, which is...

But the thing that clinched it for me as China, not Japan, is this panel.

I was in the Forbidden City in Peking earlier in the year,

and there are panels almost identical to that

over some of the doorways,

and I think this is definitely Chinese, not Japanese.

I think the date is 1920s, um...

but the interesting thing is that the form

is rather like a George III English chair.

-Yes.

-Mahogany chair.

-Do you sit in it?

-Yes, now and then.

-You do?

-Yes.

Well done, where did it come from?

-Um, I bought it when I was 12 years old.

-When you were 12?!

Yes, yeah, from a house clearance.

Very precocious, if I might say so.

Well, I went there with my father,

and he was doing something there, I don't know what he was doing exactly,

but, um...I liked the look of it, and I bought it for £12.

-Really?

-Yes.

-And when was that?

That'd be 1939. I'm 78 now, so...

What on earth was a 12-year-old doing buying a chair?

You could have bought a bicycle!

Ah, I already had a bicycle.

Very good! What attracted you to it?

-Well, I just liked the intricate carving on it.

-Yes.

Have you bought more antiques since?

-No, no.

-How extraordinary!

A flash in the pan, well done, you.

I remember these selling in salerooms in London in the 1970s for quite a lot of money,

and it's the sort of thing which moves in cycles, in and out of fashion.

But I have to be quite honest, the market at the moment is...

I mean, the market really is flat, not just for this, but for a whole raft of things,

and I think if you put this into an auction today, I suspect it would probably make in the region of

£400, £500, something like that, so it's not a bad investment.

Not a bad investment, no.

-Can I... Can I do something?

-Yes.

I want to sit in it.

-It's very comfortable, actually.

-It's good, isn't it?

-Yes, it is.

-I can see why you bought it. Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Everyone here at the Roadshow has personal items that they cherish,

but there is one symbol of a momentous day in people's lives

that often gets thrown away or forgotten about, and that's the wedding dress,

but not in Barbara Churchill's case. You've not only got your own dress,

-but you've got how many others? 140?

-That's right.

Why do you collect wedding dresses?

They...are worn on a very happy occasion

and then invariably put in a box.

I thought, you know, it's a shame that such happiness is packed away.

Even if marriages go wrong in the end,

that day is a special day.

So when did wedding dresses come in?

White wedding dresses came in in the Victorian times when Queen Victoria

had a white dress, so everybody wanted to follow fashion, basically.

White, I suppose, symbolising purity.

Purity, that's right, and a green dress

had the sort of hint that maybe...

you know, there'd been a bit of frolicking in the grass, so they seemed to die out.

So there's a stigma attached to a coloured dress.

Very often, very often.

Well, you've got a selection of your huge mass of dresses.

Are these as old as they appear, these pretty ones?

These are from the 1940s.

This pink one here is not actually mine, but it's on permanent loan,

because I show them occasionally for charity,

and the lady who wore this dress had really gone to the shop to buy

some white fabric, but when she got there, she didn't have enough...

coupons, so she had to have pink.

You mean white was more expensive than any other colour?

-Absolutely, absolutely.

-This is very pretty, too.

This one is a friend...was a friend of mine,

and she was getting married six weeks after her mother had died,

and so her father was a little bit perturbed about her wearing white,

so out of respect for Mum and Dad, she went and purchased a grey dress.

Right, because a dress doesn't necessarily look...

or rather it can look older than it is because people choose different styles, don't they?

Absolutely, absolutely, yes.

I mean, that looks terribly old there, and it probably is, is it?

This one is from 1887, and they came very often in two pieces, rather than in the single piece.

-That's a two-piece?

-That's a two-piece, yes, it is,

and the belt covers up the join.

Actually, when it was made, it had lace all around the collar

and all draping over the sleeve.

This is a photograph of the lady.

-Oh, that's the very dress.

-That's the very dress.

-There it is.

Good Lord, women have all the fun, don't they?

Here he is, looking very staid, and she looks ravishing.

And this is your own wedding dress. Is it as it was on the great day?

No, nothing like it.

-This dress has been worn about 20 odd times since I actually wore it on my wedding day.

-By you?

No, once when I was 21 I had it cut off so I could

wear it without tripping over, and then after that it was reduced

again to be worn in many pantomimes by the fairy,

and I think it's been in about 20 pantomimes since then.

It's paid for itself, that's what I was looking for.

-You've got the ultimate dust trap here, tell me.

-I'm afraid I have!

I love it, but my wife hates it.

I have to clean it.

And how long have you had this?

Well, my mother bought this in Kingsbridge market in 1954 for £4.

She then took it on to Saltash and painted it white,

and she painted all the leaves green and all the flowers red and yellow and blue.

She did a beautiful job of it.

Then years later... My mother incidentally died in 1999, aged 102,

and years later the central heating took over, and the whole thing disintegrated.

I had some friends round for tea one night, Andrew Sharrick and his mother from Tedburn St Mary,

and I told them about this, so he asked to see it, and he said, "Cor, I'd love to restore it!"

I said, "Andrew, help yourself," and what you see today

is the result of Andrew's handiwork.

What a wonderful, wonderful story.

I believe this is made out of solid ebony.

-Right.

-And it would have been one hand who would have made it and executed it.

-It would have been made for the European market in Ceylon, it's Ceylonese.

-Right, right.

It's quite crude, I mean it... the whole is beautifully executed,

-but when you get into it, it's quite crude.

-Right.

If we look closely at the baskets, when we look at the detail there, it's not as sharp as it could be.

-Right.

-When we come down onto the base, you can see again, if you look

at the lion paw foot, instead of being a nice, big, generous paw,

it's a little bit on the mean side.

-Naive I think would be the word, would it?

-Yes, naive or crude.

So originally it was designed for holding a plant,

an aspidistra or something like that.

Really, I suppose you want to know what it's worth in today's market.

Yeah, yeah, I would.

-I would place a value in today's market at about £1,500.

-Really? Oh.

It's not hugely valuable, but it's interesting.

For four quid, that's not bad, is it?

Absolutely, she's done well, the girl did well.

£1,500?! My gosh!

There, do you like it any better now, dear?

Well, yeah.

How did you get this here?

-With some very strong men.

-How many very strong men?

Only two, very strong.

I haven't lifted it up, but I'm intrigued to know two things.

I want to open it as soon as possible, and I want to know if there's anything inside it.

-Ah, mmm...

-I mean, you obviously know what it is.

-Yes.

-Is it...?

-It's locked.

-It is locked.

This will be bogus.

Yes. How that ever fooled anybody,

hopefully there's a keyhole in the top here.

-Yes, would you like the key?

-Ah!

-Can I open it?

-You can try.

I think that...

Oh, have I got it right? I have.

I'm really excited. Drop those off...

-How many turns?

-Just the one.

Oh, look at that!

Isn't that fantastic? There's nothing in it!

-No.

-That's wonderful,

I think the condition of it is amazing.

-It's called an armada chest.

-Yes.

I'm sure you know that, armada chest after the armada, 1588.

One would like to believe that perhaps.

There's absolutely no reason, looking at this,

with the exception perhaps here, one or two 20th-century nuts.

-Have you put those on?

-Not me, no.

-I can't see anything about this that isn't original.

-No.

And it could well be 16th-century.

-What is so amazing, our surname is Drake.

-It isn't?!

-Yes.

-Are you a direct descendant?

-Oh, no.

-Perhaps this came from him!

If you're going to take provenance, it's going up in value considerably.

-How did you get it?

-My father bought it from a junk shop on the south coast somewhere, I think.

-Really?

I've no idea, before I was born.

-Right, and you've inherited it.

-I've inherited it.

I think it's tremendous. Do you think it's worth something?

-How much did your father pay for it?

-I have no idea, absolutely no idea.

Is it worth anything?

Of course it's worth something,

-because it's in such good condition, it is such a fantastic bit of history.

-Yes.

I would say it's worth round about £1,000.

800-1,200 would be a sensible saleroom estimate.

Now, here is a woman, obviously a high-ranking Naval officer,

and she looks to me stern but somehow kind.

-Did you know her?

-She was my great aunt, and she was also my godmother.

She was superintendent of the Wrens in Portsmouth during the war.

Oh, I see, right.

But that was only a part of quite a glorious career.

She's mentioned in quite a number...a lot of literature,

in Portsmouth, and then after the war,

she became the director of the Land Army until 1950 when it was disbanded.

-I see.

-And so she was part of disbanding the Land Army.

-Well, altogether an extremely capable woman, then.

-Yes.

-Extremely capable.

Yes, and the antithesis of the great career was that she went back

to the west of Ireland, lived the rest of her life and started a raspberry farm

and was well known as quite a character with the locals in the west of Ireland.

-I bet.

-Yes.

-Well, would you agree that she's stern but kind?

Cos I think this portraitist, whose name is Middleton Todd, Arthur Middleton Todd,

is well known to an entire generation, a younger generation of artists whom he taught,

and was involved in setting an example to. Apparently a very modest man himself.

I often like to think of the chemistry between a sitter and an artist,

and it seems to me that this stern but kind woman

rather got on with this artist, because she looks as though she's about to laugh, don't you think?

-Yes.

-Now, anyway, I think it's a very successful painting, you know it's quite dirty, don't you?

-Perhaps you don't.

-Yes, probably.

-Well, it is quite dirty,

and it would clean, and I think that she would come alive.

I think she'd look great.

-Yes.

-Even more characterful. Have you ever thought of value?

Probably not, cos she's a family member.

No, I'd like to give the whole collection with her medals, her CBE...

-You've got the medals, her medals here.

-These are her medals,

her CBE, and I'd really rather they went to a museum in Portsmouth.

-They should be returned to Portsmouth.

-Whoever owns it needs to have some identity

with the sitter, otherwise it doesn't really, you know, have much relevance.

-No, no.

-And in that sense, in the open market, um...

a portrait of just somebody isn't really going to be worth that much.

-No, no.

-Unless it's a very beautiful girl or an extremely handsome or terribly important man, you know.

-Yes.

-And so really in the open market you couldn't put more than...

-I don't know, er, £1,000 or £2,000 on this.

-As much as that?

Well, as much as that perhaps, you know, but incalculable value to yourself, the family,

-and perhaps to the Naval museum.

-Yes, I think the Wrens perhaps.

Anyway, it's a really interesting life and a good portrait of her, I think.

-Yes, thank you, thank you very much indeed.

-Right.

-Thank you.

-How old are you?

-I'm 13.

-And what's a 13-year-old doing with a snuff box?

-Well, um...

And medals and all sorts of objects?

Well, I was the only grandchild interested in all this, and my grandad wanted to give it to me

because he didn't want to give it to anyone else because he thought I'd look after it.

-And it's really maintaining the family history.

-Yeah.

-So you're the family historian.

-Yeah.

-Well, you've got to keep these very, very carefully.

I'm quite interested in the engraving on the cover here. What's his name there?

-John Brockington.

-John Brockington, is that your name?

-Yeah, I'm Sam Brockington.

-You're still Brockington, wonderful.

But this is extraordinary, because we've got a skull and crossbones here,

which is quite an unpleasant symbol, if you like, and here you've got the clasped hands of friendship,

so it makes me wonder why we've got the two opposing symbols, really,

in juxtaposition, quite strange, but it's a wonderful object,

and it's something that obviously he would have used every day.

It's really...really history of your grandfather, your great-grandfather,

-your great-great-grandfather.

-Yeah.

-And you need to start writing

it down, because it's great to be a family historian.

-Long may you continue.

-All right, thank you.

A bulging bag, what have we got?

All kinds of rubbish in there, I'm afraid.

Anything you like.

-Right, there it is.

-Oh, that's a good start.

-What do you reckon?

-Do you know what it is?

-It's a piece of Bow, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Is it an eggcup? It's jolly large for a hen's egg, isn't it?

-One wonders whether it's not actually a drinking cup.

-Right, yeah.

After a Chinese Blanc de Chine original, about 1755, 1760, so a nice and early one and rare but...

-Slightly damaged.

-Where did it come from?

Well, it came originally from a boot sale, a friend bought it,

-and I bought it off him, because I liked it.

-Are you a frequenter of boot sales?

-'Fraid so, yeah.

-Have you ever been to the market here?

-Yes, many times.

-Bought?

-Oh, yes. It's always a good market here.

-What did that one cost you?

-Well, I had to pay a few quid for it.

He knew it was good, but we didn't quite know what it was.

I think probably in that state about £30-40.

Yeah, that's good, that's fine, that's good. Well, it's not worth a lot. Right, er...

A piece of... A piece of glass.

Do you know what that is?

I've got a vague idea. It's an oil lamp, isn't it?

It's a lace-maker's lamp.

Lace-maker's.

It should be...mid-18th century.

Oh, right.

-What do you think?

-You know that wonderful review of...

in a newspaper of a play called I Am A Camera?

Somebody wrote a review of this play, which said, "Me no Leica,"

which I think is rather wonderful. And it applies to this object.

I don't trust that an inch.

-That is a reproduction worth very little money.

-Good heavens.

-There you go.

-Bad one, I'm afraid.

Win a few, lose a few.

Oh.

-Oh.

-You like that one?

-Do you like it?

-I like it, yeah.

That's really very nice and rare, with this pie-crust rim.

-This is a piece of English Delft, probably Bristol.

-Right.

I'm not good on the English Delft factories,

and I have this slight fear that most other people aren't either.

-We seem to change our opinion of where a piece of Delft was made every other week.

-Oh, right.

Somebody digs up a shard in Wincanton, and they find

another one in Liverpool, and is it halfway between?

That's sort of 1760.

A rare thing. How much was this?

-I didn't pay very much for it, I bought it at a boot sale again.

-How much is not very much?

£1.

Will you take two?

No, no, no, I'll be more clever than that.

Well, you'd be mad to. I think we're pushing the upper hundreds here.

-Really?!

-Yeah, I think 600, 800, no problem at all.

-Oh, right. Oh, big money, then?

-You did well there.

Right, so this telegram reads, "Thank you all so much for the lovely carnations

"and for your thoughts of us both, Winston and Clementine Churchill."

And then you have a note which says, "With all good wishes, Winston S Churchill."

And then you have a pennant. What's the story?

-Well, my grandpa was Churchill's bodyguard from 1950 to 1965.

-Really?

And as far as I know, they were given to him when Churchill died.

-It must've been a very interesting job, did he tell you stories... No, he wouldn't have.

-Not particularly,

but the impression I got was he spent a lot of time painting, oils of Churchill obviously,

-and travelling to the South of France.

-Have you got any of the paintings?

-Unfortunately not, I think they're worth quite a lot of money nowadays.

-They're worth an incredible amount.

-Now, there's good news here and there's bad news here.

-OK.

-Right, what do you want first?

-Er, whichever, I have to have them both sometime.

Brave lad, brave lad, right, here we go.

This note here is a facsimile.

-It's not a real note.

-Oh, really?

Yes, so instead of being worth loads if Churchill had actually signed it,

it's worth virtually nothing,

but it's a curio and it goes with the rest of the stuff.

There's little enough value in the telegram.

But the pennant I think is fantastic, and it's a wonderful relic

-and with the provenance that your family can give it...

-Yes.

..I'm going to say £1,000.

Oh, really? That's fantastic.

Thanks. Any more in the bag?

Ooh!

Where did this come from?

Same sort of place, I'm afraid, boot sale.

What do you do as a job?

Building is my job, is what I do, but...

-Really?

-..But at the weekends I go to boot sales.

You have an amazing eye, you know.

-No, you do!

-Really?

Yeah, you do, I mean OK, you get it wrong occasionally.

-Oh, yeah, I did there, didn't I?

-But that doesn't matter.

I mean, basically you're honing in on the real thing, um...

And of course you're going to make mistakes, we all make mistakes,

but this is a really very nice South Staffordshire box.

There's a transfer print under here and then hand colouring on top.

Date - about 1770,

and I tell you the extraordinary thing about this one

is that it's in perfect condition.

These enamel boxes...

This is a layer of enamel on copper.

-Right.

-And they're always bust, they're always chipped or cracked, and this one isn't.

Yeah.

Go on, how much?

Er, that one, I think I paid 50 pence for that one.

Sorry about this.

What's the housing market like down here?

I think you wouldn't have any trouble getting...

..700.

How much?!

-You wouldn't have any trouble getting £700 for that.

-Good grief!

-That shocks me.

-Give up the building.

That shocks me, I'm probably better at this by the sound of it. I'm amazed, so how old is it?

1760-1770.

-Good grief.

-Any more?

So you were at D-Day, and this was with you, was it, as a mascot or what?

No, no, no, I didn't even know I was going to have to sound this horn at all.

I was with the Army Commandos, and we came in

on the beaches near to Quistreham, and there was a bit of

a thing went on about whether or not the radio sets we had would work well in a built-up area.

They were perfectly all right for open country, and so I understand that

the French commander,

Commandant Philippe Keifer,

produced a horn and, er...and said, "Well, look, find somebody to sound this."

And the adjutant came and pointed at me and said, "You can sound a hunting horn, you sound it."

And when I tried it, I found that it was a little

different from a straightforward English hunting horn.

You've got to give it a little more puff with this.

And when we...when we finally came and bashed our way through and came to the German gun battery, we were

ready to go, I found the radios were working quite well,

so I thought, "Well, I won't have to sound it."

And what happened?

Well, my commanding officer,

Colonel Dawson,

he said "OK, sound the bloody thing just for the hell of it!" And...

And so I sounded the tally-ho twice, just for the hell of it.

Well, just for the hell of it, could I ask you to give us a blast now?

Well, I can't reach the high notes, I don't think I can make the tally-ho, but, um...I'll have a go.

-Any more?

-Er...

Yeah, a nice old dish.

Well, it would have been nice to go out on something good, wouldn't it?

Oh.

-We did.

-Oh!

Oh, right.

That's a corker, isn't it?

You like it?

And this was local again?

I bought it in here, in this building.

-They have things at the weekend and...

-How long ago?

Oh, that was a few years ago, about six years ago, I think.

That's not very long, is it?

-No, no, but...

-And how much?

It was on a stall with a pile of junk,

and I gave the guy £35 for it.

It makes me weep. I think it's a lovely, lovely dish.

-Right.

-Wonderful bird in the middle here.

-Right.

-Um... Stylised flowers round here,

terrific palette.

Again, I think probably Bristol.

A few nibbles round the rim.

-Yeah.

-An odd, curious firing thing here, which is not a problem.

-Not? I thought it was damaged.

-Yes, I did too, but it isn't, no.

-The back stop.

-Little crosses and ticks on the back,

exactly what you expect, beautiful clean back there to it.

Yes.

Well, your 30 quid has turned into £1,000.

1,000?!

Good grief! Really?

-I'd no idea!

-Give up the day job.

Thank you very much indeed, that's absolutely fantastic.

-You've made my day in Tavistock, I have to say.

-Good.

It's a fantastic group of things, you've got a great eye.

-You're very kind, thanks very much indeed.

-Thank you very much indeed.

Well, time's up, we've had a couple of cases of deja vu today, some of the items that were brought in were

purchased here at the Pannier Market originally, so in a way they've come home, and now we're going home,

but we're coming back, so until Tavistock 2, from Devon, goodbye.