Prideaux Place 1 Antiques Roadshow

North, south, east or west, the Roadshow knows which way is best.

This week we've chosen south, as far as south as we'll get this season.

Welcome to Padstow in Cornwall.

Standing guard over the village is Prideaux Place,

family home of an ancient Cornish clan whose origins date back to the 11th century.

The Prideauxs' manor house was built

over 400 years ago and was built well.

In all that time, the front door and its lock has never been changed.

And this is the very key that's been turning those locks through the centuries.

It's been handed down from generation to generation

on the eldest son's 21st birthday.

So I'm holding a piece of history that has seen many a thrilling escapade.

What tales could this key tell us?

Mm-hm.

Yes, yes, that's a very good one, I'll tell that.

The date that I'm told is 1592 and the key has only just been cast.

A merchant ship, the Mary Bonadventure lands at Padstow having been blown off course.

Its stolen cargo of beef, wax, linen and hides proves irresistible to Padstonians,

including one Richard Prideaux.

Richard soon has the Crown Commissioners on his trail

and after a chase through Cornwall they finally trap him on board a ship in Padstow harbour.

It seems that the game is up, but rescue comes

in the form of Richard's greatest friend and protector...his wife.

Mrs Prideaux scrambles aboard and attacks one of the Commissioners -

a serious crime - but the Prideauxs have a lot of support in Padstow

and the rumour is soon spreading that it was Mrs P who was attacked and killed.

By the time the truth is discovered three days later, the Prideauxs are

safely home behind their front door, there is nothing left of the cargo

and everyone in Padstow is quite satisfied with the result.

Today the key is in place, the lock is well oiled and we open the door of Prideaux Place

onto today's Roadshow... on the south lawn, of course.

Well, of course everybody's dream find is a piece of Ming porcelain

and, er,

you could pay, you could pay probably ten million pounds for a good bit of Ming porcelain,

-but you can also buy Ming porcelain for thirty quid, so it doesn't mean very much.

-Sure.

This is a piece of Ming porcelain. Where did you get it from?

Well, it came down through the family. I think my father bought it,

I imagine in the 1950s but I really don't know.

The only thing I know is I've never really liked it.

-I was...

-Right, say no more.

I was actually going to put it in a car boot sale with a tag of £5 or £10, but I thought...

Well, let me know, I'm prepared to drive down.

But I thought I'd better make some inquiries and I was told by one auction house

that it could be 200 or 300 years old

and I never really believed that, because it is absolutely perfect,

there's not a mark on it, and to me it could have been taken out of the kiln yesterday.

You're right, it is in extraordinarily good condition,

as to the 200 or 300, no, it's rather older than that.

-Older?

-It dates from the reign of the Emperor Wanli,

the last of the great Ming emperors.

He reigned from 1573 to 1619,

so we're looking at something which is 400 years old.

It's in a style called Kraak.

K, R, double A, K.

The style ran from about 1550 to 1650 roughly,

so this is quite early on in the style.

Kraak can be very sloppily painted

and rather sketchy, but this is actually very well delineated.

-You always have panels...

-Yes.

..of wildlife. Here we've got rocks and plants, we've got a horse -

unusual - we've got a goose, pine tree,

and on Wanli porcelain characteristically

we have these tassels with jewels or dots -

pearls going down -

-so it's a really stonkingly good bit of Kraak porcelain.

-Oh, lovely.

Now what did your auction house

say it was worth?

Well, they said that if I put it to auction, I ought to put a reserve price of £1,000.

-Right.

-But on a good day with a following wind, it might make £1,800,

maybe £1,800.

Right, yeah, well, I can see their thinking.

-I think if it were an ordinary one, I would concur with that.

-Right.

But it's not an ordinary one.

-Oh, good.

-It's a lot better than an ordinary one and I would be happy to put £2,000 to £3,000 on it.

-Lovely.

-I'd say, on a good day, it could do better than that.

-Great.

So I'm delighted

you didn't put it in a car boot sale with a ten quid price tag on it.

I'm beginning to like it now.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you very much, that's lovely.

The fabrics on this quilt are eye-popping, they're sort of

-dazzling and psychedelic.

-Yes, they are.

-Where did they come from?

Well, I was given this quilt by an aunt of mine and she told me

the story that, I believe, an aunt of hers was a reporter for The Lady magazine.

She used to report on court events

and she was given these little pieces of fabric of the dresses

that reputedly Queen Victoria and her daughters were going to wear,

so that she could describe them in The Lady,

then she apparently made this quilt out of all these pieces of fabric.

-That's extraordinary.

-Yes, it is, but you can see they are so rich and lovely.

Exactly, some of them, I have to say, are not particularly exciting,

but then you get pieces that are vibrant and embroidered

-and covered with little bits of sparkle.

-Yes.

And you can just imagine them being worn at a court appearance.

-Yes, you can.

-Tell me about this safety pin in here. What does that mean?

Yes, that is reputed to be a piece of the dress, the wedding dress,

-of Princess Mary, later Queen Mary.

-How extraordinary.

-So...

Of course you said that it's only hearsay, you don't have actually...

-I don't have any evidence for that, no.

-I bet you could find out.

How could I find out?

Well, I mean if they're wedding dresses,

then the Kensington Palace has got a lot of the royal wedding dresses.

-Yes.

-And they may be able to say this little bit of lovely ivory, sort of bluey ivory...

-Yes.

-They could say yes, that's exactly Queen Mary's wedding dress.

-Yes, yes.

And others, you may have some joy

at somewhere like the Victoria and Albert Museum who have got

-extensive collections of costumes and royal costume and so on.

-Yes.

So I think there are ways that you could put credence

-to the family story.

-Yes.

But almost immaterial, it almost doesn't matter

because it's so glorious, isn't it?

It is so lovely, and every time you look at it, you see something different.

Exactly, this is what's known as a bizarre quilt, bizarre pattern,

everything higgledy piggledy,

different colours sewing the things together, different colours next to

-each other and I rather like that, that psychedelic approach.

-Yes.

Let's hope that the story's true

and as little snippets of royal court costume,

I think that this would have a value of perhaps £500-£600.

-Yes.

-If the story isn't true,

-then the value will obviously be a bit less than that.

-Yes.

-But I think let's give it its full momentum.

-Yes.

-And I think, yes, £500-£600.

-I don't think I would ever consider getting rid of it anyway.

I don't blame you.

When I was very young, my mother took me to see

the Walt Disney film Peter Pan which had just come out,

and I enjoyed it enormously and I remember it very well.

And here we have an original celluloid painting from that film.

And here we can see the mermaid,

who I think appears in the lagoon scene, doesn't she?

Looking rather coy. How did it come into your possession?

Well, it was given to my mother

from a gentleman who was called Tom Henn.

He was the editor of the Radio Times.

-Oh, was he?

-Back a long time ago.

It was given to him with an interview from Walt Disney himself.

Gosh, he interviewed Walt Disney. When did he sign it?

We think it was about '54, um, '55 because Tom died '57.

The film came out in 1953 and this was used in the film,

so it couldn't have been given to Tom Henn until after the film

had been produced, so that would tie in with the dates.

-It's come down through the family.

-Family.

-Yeah.

Have you ever had any thought as to value?

We had it valued, Mother had it valued, back in '71,

and they said it was worth about £50.

That would probably have been right at the time, but since then

there's been enormous increase in the interest in film animation,

particularly in America where Walt Disney is revered and recognised

for the genius that he was.

If this came up at auction, it would fetch somewhere

-between £2,000 and £3,000.

-Right.

But it's a wonderful thing to have, keep it in good condition,

keep it out of sunlight and enjoy it.

Some people say that the Spanish landed in Ireland

and maybe some Spanish landed in Cornwall

because there are tall, dark Cornishmen

and this is very much a Spanish piece,

so how did you come to have it?

-I bought it at auction.

-At auction?

-Yes.

-What attracted you to it?

-I just liked the look of it.

-What in particular?

-Well, just the general design of the whole thing.

It's wonderfully decorative.

-It is, yes.

-And it's really stunning, it's called a vargueno.

The style goes right back to the 16th century.

And all this geometrical inlay work

really came from North Africa, the style of it came from North Africa

-and of course the Moors were very important in Spain.

-Yes.

Most varguenos of the 16th century are made out of walnut

and this very decorative wood that you can see here is actually rose wood.

-Is it really?

-Which is an important clue to the fact that I don't think

-this one comes from the 16th or 17th century, but from the 19th century.

-I see.

Let's open it up.

Now, it's quite complicated, so we go there...

-So it's even more wonderful inside, isn't it?

-Yes.

Absolutely tremendous.

-I think, in the 19th century, this inlay work might have been imported from North Africa.

-I see.

Particularly these very complex panels here which are lovely,

-but almost more than you would expect in a 16th or 17th century vargueno.

-I see.

But what's fascinating about it, is that it really fits into that whole

19th century romanticism of looking back to an earlier period.

In England it kind of starts with

Sir Walter Scott and the whole idea of looking back

to the Middle Ages, the Gothic period and the 16th century.

-I see.

-And so this one is picking up that...

sort of idealism if you like,

nationalistic idealism of looking backwards

to an earlier period, and lots of important collectors

started to buy revivalist pieces and genuine pieces

in the late part of the 19th century and this was the same in Spain as it was in Great Britain

or in France, for instance.

Well, the market is a funny thing, nowadays I think you would -

in a fairly sort of straightforward auction -

-expect to get around £3,000 for it.

-Really?

If there were a couple of people with real imagination in the room

who could see how this could have an impact in an interior,

it could go considerably higher than that.

This is a slightly romantic piece and I like to think that,

romantically, perhaps the Spanish did land in Cornwall at some time as well.

Well, during the spring of 1944,

when, in this country on the south coast, there was an enormous amount

-of inactivity going on in the lead-up to D-Day.

-Yes.

In the Far East, in Northern India and in Burma,

very few people remember that there was an enormous amount of

bitter fighting going on between the Japanese who were advancing through Burma and trying to get into India,

and the British and Indian troops who were fighting against them,

and you've brought along here today

-some items which relate to that intense fighting.

-That's right.

-Tell me what you've brought.

-Well, this is the, um...

battle flag of surrender which was taken at Kohima

when the Japanese decided to give up the fighting,

and it belonged to my father-in-law,

he was in fact wounded at Kohima.

Apparently, all these are the names of the, um...

soldiers who were there, or names of a lot of the officers, yes, yes.

Kohima was very important, it was a hill station in Assam in North East India

and it was on the only route through towards Burma

from the various supply stations

that British and Indian troops were preparing

in order to make their great push into Burma

to push back and fight the Japanese

in the spring, or leading up to the spring of 1944.

That's right, yes.

And the Japanese realised this, so they advanced beyond the Chindwin

and into the Assam region

and in particular went towards Kohima

which was essential in the British supply

to the troops who would eventually go into Burma.

The siege, if you like, of Kohima, was one of the most intense

and bloody battles of the whole of the Second World War.

Yes, it was a dreadful battle,

it was fought over a very small area actually and the most important part

of course was the tennis court of the District Commissioner's bungalow.

-Yes.

-And the bungalow and the tennis court

of course were completely destroyed.

-You've brought some photographs.

-Yes.

-Are these his photographs?

-I presume so, I can't answer that.

-What was his name?

-Shapland.

Major...well, he was a Brigadier then.

Here it says "The DC's bungalow." District Commissioner is that?

-District Commissioner.

-May 1944.

-Not much left.

-There isn't much left, you can't call that a bungalow.

-No.

But the bungalow and the tennis court, which must have been here.

That's right.

-The site of the most... almost hand-to-hand fighting.

-That's right.

And in fact I know that there are stories where a soldier says that it was...

there was what could be the closest resembling to a snowball fight with hand grenades

either side of the tennis court.

The Japanese one side, the British and Indian troops the other side.

And they were hurling grenades at each other both ways.

It wasn't realised at the time, but this was the turning point of the war.

-Yes, yes.

-In, the East.

-In the East, yes.

-It really was.

And in fact it was probably this one point, this one battle if you like,

that meant the overthrow eventually of the Japanese,

so this battle of Kohima is incredibly important in our history.

The next photograph actually shows

a Japanese officer surrendering a sword.

-Yes, that's it.

-That's this sword?

-No, this was given to my father-in-law later as the Second in Command's sword.

-So is this him?

-That is my father-in-law taking it.

-That is him?

-Yes.

-This one in khaki?

-That's right.

Well, the sword itself is an officer's sword,

it's a Katana, to be precise.

-Right.

-They're often passed down from generation to generation

and the sword furniture, in other words the scabbard etc, the hilt...

they are changed with the generations.

So it's an important thing from the Japanese family point of view.

-Right.

-And wouldn't be readily surrendered.

The medals are wonderful. What a group of medals...incredible!

He was a very brave man, quite clearly.

Yes, he was, yes, he was.

Have you, have you thought about...?

It's difficult to value something like this actually.

As far as the medals are concerned,

I would think today, with the story that goes with them,

they're probably worth somewhere in the region of

£10,000, £12,000 or maybe even £15,000.

We shouldn't sell them.

Of course not. The sword is worth

in the region of £1,000 to £1,500.

-Right.

-I'm not going to put a value on that.

-No.

-Because it would be insensitive, I think.

-Yes, I understand.

One of the things we have to remember is that

those servicemen gave up their lives for us, they gave their today

-so that we could have our tomorrow.

-As the memorial.

-Exactly.

I think it's an incredible story

-and I'm glad you've brought it to our attention again.

-Thank you.

This is a very varied array of watercolours, and they all appear...

Well, this one signed "Arnold Taylor" and "Taylor" over here.

Can you tell me about Arnold Taylor?

Yes, he was my father and he was a very talented artist.

Unfortunately, he became really very well known, I think,

second only to Donald McGill, for the saucy seaside pictures

of which he did probably several hundred if not thousands.

-Can you tell me about this one?

-Yes, this was done when he was at, um...

at art school, and I think that would have been done when he was about 17 or 18.

-It's very sensitive, beautifully done.

-Yes.

And then we come down to here which is the Desert Rats and it's 1942.

Yes, he was actually one of this group

and this was the scene immediately before they were attacked by two Messerschmitt dive bombers,

when he was quite badly wounded, and he did this

and other drawings of the event when convalescing from his wounds.

-Were these published?

-They've never been published.

-And then we come over here, something completely different.

-Yes.

When did he start doing saucy postcards?

He worked for the firm called Bamforths in Holmfirth

and Donald McGill did freelance work for Bamforths

and he started doing those, I suppose, after leaving art school.

He wanted to stay with fine art

and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy and to go and study in Italy

but unfortunately he wasn't allowed to go by my grandfather.

So he earned a good living from doing this?

He earned a living from doing this. At the end of his life he regretted

that he'd got stuck with commercial art.

It's amazing to see this, from the brilliant days of when he was a student...

how you should learn as an artist, to draw, and that is a beautifully observed view.

-Yes.

-Coming down to this, which was Second World War

and then having to make a living doing this, but very well.

-Yes.

-Did he think up these titles himself?

All the thousands that he did, he thought up the captions.

He was a great people watcher,

he had a studio in Holmfirth

and he would watch people as they walked past,

the little man with the large lady, and so a lot of the postcards,

the seaside postcards, are on the theme of the henpecked husband with the very large...

They're very amusing.

Even though this one's not humorous, it's so well done,

that's got to be worth £500 to £700, £600 to £800

and it's got Second World War interest.

-Yes, yes.

-And of course, you know, it's easy to be dismissive

of illustrations like this, comedy like this, but it's not,

it's very much that post World War period

-and highly collectable today.

-Yes.

I think, as we distance ourselves from the 1950s and the '60s,

this becomes more important.

I think it was the art of the people in a sense, all the people

that went on their annual holiday to Blackpool.

These are worth probably £500-£700, £600-£800 each to a collector,

but they're very amusing and I think they really encapsulate the 1950s and '60s humour.

With over 14 generations of your family living here,

there can't be a more poignant story than that attached to this painting.

This is a really romantic bitter-sweet love story.

Now Humphrey who was seven times great-grandfather, seventh owner

of Prideaux Place, like a lot of prosperous young men in about 1740,

he went on the Grand Tour of Europe, ended up in Venice where he had himself drawn,

its not a painting, it's a pastel, by the very fashionable lady portraitist,

Rosalba Carriera, and he was about 21 then

and she fell in love with him. He's a good looking fellow

and she thought he was great,

didn't dare tell him because he was a grand young man on the Grand Tour

and she was just a painter, so she wrote a love letter to him and said,

"I think you're wonderful, I love you."

And hid it in the back of the picture,

so he never knew that she loved him,

and it wasn't found until 1914 when the picture was being restored,

so don't forget this was 1740, and all that time,

no-one knew that she'd fallen in love with my ancestor, Humphrey.

So he died, never knowing that she loved him.

-No. I might have been Italian otherwise.

-It would have changed the whole look of the family.

What about her? She didn't know whether she had been rebuffed.

She never knew, she apparently was very popular, a lot of suitors, but no-one ever proposed to marry her.

And died a rather sad death, this is 1740,

and she died in 1757, unwed, despite her great love for my ancestor,

so it's a wonderfully romantic story, isn't it?

Yes, it's really a two-tissue story.

You know, when people start talking about Liverpool,

for some reason they go back to the early '60s

and the flowering of that great artistic talent in the Mersey Beat

and the Beatles and all that sort of thing,

but for those of us who know that little bit more,

I think it's fair to say that that great artistic talent had been there

several generations before. You've brought in a piece of furniture

that reflects well the Liverpool of, let's say, around about

1890 or thereabouts, because it goes without saying there was a lot of

activity on the art front, certainly the Arts and Crafts front anyway.

-Yes.

-I just want you to tell me a little bit about this cabinet

because I've never seen one identical to this before

and that is what makes this programme exciting.

I bought it at auction, the reason I bought it was not only because it's a quality piece,

it's a really nicely made piece,

-but my main interest was in the handles.

-Mm-hm.

Because the handles are all stamped "Rathbone"

-with a pattern number.

-Yeah.

And, um, Richard Llewellyn Benson Rathbone

was one of the great flowering of artistic Liverpool in the 1890s and 1900s

and one of the big Rathbone trading families, he made these handles

and they're very difficult to come by, in fact I've never ever seen

any of his work before.

Very few people would have picked up on the Rathbone thing

and the Rathbones as a family - and I go to Liverpool quite regular -

and of course there are institutions there with the name of Rathbone.

-Absolutely.

-They're a very important Liverpool family. Let's have a look at

the metal work because the metal work attracts me to the piece,

these wonderful straps, and all, you know, all hand beaten,

and I'm assuming all hand made, or hand finished anyway.

This handle, I mean, how can you get enthusiastic about handles? But you can.

-I know.

-Because its a lovely handle, beautifully designed.

-Yeah, very tactile.

-Very tactile and then when you turn it over and see that mark...

-Absolutely.

-Magic, absolute magic.

Let's have a look inside because another fascinating point

about Liverpool at this time is happening over the water

and it's happening in Birkenhead and the Rathbones are involved.

What an influential family this lot were because they were instrumental

in making wonderful pots at the Della Robbia factory and there's

no points for guessing that these are Della Robbia.

Let's start with that pot,

um, now these are objects, I'm assuming,

they didn't come with the cabinet.

No, over the years, I've bought these.

You've got a mark on there, DR with a ship mark, it looks a bit obscure,

HP for Harry Pierce.

-Yeah, I think so.

-So that's a nice little pot.

What's that worth today?

-I don't know.

-I'd suspect that's probably around about £250 to £350.

Let's pop that one there and look at this one,

look at that, typical with this sort

of scraffito or cut-away design, this incised design,

a little ribbon which tells you it's for keeping strawberries,

but a lovely, lovely design,

and typical glazes, these lovely mottled glazes.

One would suspect around about £400

-because they are missing their covers.

-I know.

But this one has its cover, this has its cover.

I'm going to pop it down because I want to put the lid on there.

Um...and just a lovely...

-Bit of a crack there.

-Bit of a crack, that's a shame

but it's got this sort of lattice with trailing plants on it.

So with a value on this pot,

I would suggest, with the crack, it's probably

£400 or £500. Without the crack,

-I would have said at least £700 to £800.

-Yeah, yeah.

It's all in the eye of the beholder.

-As for the cabinet itself, bit of a quandary.

-Yeah.

Because you bought it recently and I don't know how much you paid for it.

And I'm thinking if I wanted to buy that, how much would I pay for it?

Because often that's all we've got to go on.

And if I saw that, I would be quite willing to spend £1,000 on it.

Quite willing to spend £1,000.

I might, if I could sneak it into the house,

pay as much as £1,500 for it.

I wouldn't like to say more than that. This is where you've got to tell me I'm afraid, if you want.

It was £600, £500 plus commission, so...

-It was your lucky day, wasn't it?

-Yeah, but it was the handles, not the value.

No, but you're probably the one person in this part of the world

that really did... it homed in on you, didn't it?

-It did, yes.

-But it's rather fitting, don't you think,

that in not so many years Liverpool is going to be the cultural city of Europe?

-And for some of us, it always was.

-Absolutely, couldn't agree more.

Thank you.

So what we've got here is, um

a piece out of the Western Morning News which is the local newspaper.

-Daily, yes.

-The daily newspaper, and two catalogues from the 19th century

"Catalogue of damaged bale goods, part of the cargo of ship Samaritan

"for sale in a field at St Saviours,

"Thursday 5th November 1846".

Yes, that field is just half a mile over that way.

Really? So very, very local.

And these goods were sold in a field because they were too wet

for, um, the warehouse sale, which came later the next year.

So this article tells us a bit about the wreck,

"They found the Samaritan dashed on the rocks and the beach strewn

"with iron clad bales and crates and brightly printed silks

"lying wet on rocks and caught in seaweed."

But what was so fantastic, on the night of the storm and the time that the ship was being wrecked,

a young local boy was having a nightmare

that two sailors were drowning

and he went to wake his parents

-to see if there was anything they should do, and they didn't believe him.

-No.

He went into them three times.

-In the night.

-Yes, saying he was having a nightmare about

people in trouble on the beach and he could see two men in his dream.

So eventually, having really woken them up,

he persuaded them to go down to the beach

and indeed they did find these two survivors, the only two survivors in the surf

-and all this strewn cargo on the beach.

-Yes.

-They were the only two saved.

-They were the only two saved.

-Yes.

So they rescued all the stuff from the beach, they brought it up

and catalogued it into these two sales.

No, no. This was what the excise men found later.

-Right.

-And there's no mention of silks in this catalogue.

-Right.

-The silks disappeared.

-Were probably sent off underneath somebody's umbrella.

-Yes, smuggled.

And what was relevant to Padstow is, because the goods were wrecked off the coast,

it meant that the locals had the benefit

-of these goods that they couldn't normally...

-If they got there before the excise men.

So this is the catalogue of some of the things that were salvaged.

-This was just printed for the day.

-Right.

Um, and this particular one, the person who was at the sale wrote down

the names of all the people and what they paid for the particular goods.

What makes this so special to me is that we're not

talking about a great value here, but it is invaluable because this is part of the local history

and without the care of your family,

and you for taking the trouble to get these catalogues restored,

they wouldn't exist. Thank you for bringing these because that is such a lovely story.

Well, the pleasure is mine.

This sensitive face is that of your own brother.

-Yes.

-How did the sculpture come about?

Well, in 1950, the sculptor Jim Clack wanted to try his hand at granite.

He usually worked in wood and he approached the De Lank quarry in St Breward.

-So pretty local then?

-Very local because we were living in St Breward at the time,

and he came to stay with us, and before he left he did this head of my brother.

Do you know why he was staying with you?

-Um, no, not really.

-Why you?

-Why us?

I don't know, we were an incoming family to the village, we hadn't been there long.

He was a bit strange for that time, he was sort of bearded

and sandled and corduroy jackets and taking snuff and that kind of thing.

We've got a photograph of him here.

Yeah, he was an extraordinarily nice man.

Yeah, well, he looks a little bit offbeat.

-Yes.

-But he looks like a sculptor, doesn't he?

-He does.

The quarry was closed for the fortnight that he wanted to work it

and there were no power tools, but he did this torso of a woman

which got christened Phoebe

-and he got a finish like glass on it with hand tools. He was absolutely brilliant.

-He was very accomplished.

-Yes.

-But he found time to do your brother.

-He did. I've no idea how. I think he wanted to say thank you

to my parents for having him there and they did remain friends.

How has it ended up in your house?

My brother died at the age of 11, so it became a very precious object,

and of course it came to me.

-Well, that is...

-Ultimately.

-That is a tragic tale,

but at least you have this.

I do and it's very beautiful.

And here is the photograph of him standing next to his sculpture.

How poignant it is to actually have this sculpture with the thought

that it was done only two years before he died, and you can get the sense of likeness immediately,

and the sensitivity with which the artist has rendered the facial features.

-Let's talk a bit about the sculptor himself.

-OK.

-He's really quite a prominent figure but when you look him up, you don't find a lot of information.

-Right.

The testimony to his life is pretty well all around us in Devon and also in London in Green Park.

-Yes.

-A magnificent sculpture there of Diana the Huntress.

If you look at his exhibits - he exhibited about 40 times at the Royal Academy -

-you can see one exhibit there of Phoebe in Cornish granite.

-Oh, right.

-So that piece he did with you...

-That's amazing!

-..made it to the Royal Academy.

-Lovely.

The process of sculpting an object like this

was long and arduous and I'm surprised he found time.

I myself have recently commissioned a sculptor to do my own son, a nine-year-old.

-Right.

-And it was the most athletic business to keep him still,

and in the end the sculptor had to force him to watch Tintin videos, it was the only way to...

Now he has a violent reaction at the sight of them,

so I know how much work goes into these things

and I'm really quite surprised that he found the time.

Well, it's difficult to put a price on an object like this.

-Yes.

-I don't really want to. But it is a sensitive object

and I wouldn't be surprised if it would make £1,000, £1,100, £1,200

if it were to sell, we know who the sculpture is and it's prominent,

but as a piece of family sentiment, it really is priceless.

-Absolutely.

-And to have the serendipity of

-a couple of years before your brother died.

-I know.

-To have him three-dimensionally caught like this.

-Yes, yes.

It was wonderful for my parents, of course.

-And having no family to pass it through, dying so young, you are now the proud owner.

-Yes, that's right.

This is a letter written by Nelson on board Victory May 25th 1804. What do you know about it?

Very little except that it was handed down to me from my first husband

to be passed on to our sons

and it was passed down his family

and it was written to one of his ancestors

who I assume were one of the Earls of Morton.

Well, Nelson was always being asked

to do favours for friends and relatives and almost anyone,

and they would always write to him asking if they could get a son on board a ship

or do a favour for someone for some particular reason,

and this is clearly a response to somebody who's asked for a favour.

"My dear sir, many thanks for your good wishes,

"I bear your friends in mind, but alas I see no prospect of being useful to them

"during the probable short stay my health will allow."

At that time he was pretty unwell, he'd had several injuries of course

earlier in his career and he really wasn't very well at all,

but of course he realised the French had to be defeated,

so he stayed on board Victory, he stayed down in the Mediterranean,

stayed where he could do his job and fight the French,

and it goes on to say, "To serve in the Mediterranean

"without some rest and expect to eat my..." What's that?

-First.

-"First dinner in England

"and much sooner if the French fleet will come out.

"I only serve to meet them. That done, I feel a great..."

What's that?

-Demand.

-"Demand of my country is complied with."

And there you see he shows that there's a great responsibility

resting on his shoulders to defeat the French and effectively end the war with France.

-It's a pretty important letter. Have you ever thought about the value?

-Absolutely no idea.

I'm pretty sure it's genuine, I don't see a problem with it. If it is,

it's going to be worth somewhere in-between £5,000 and £10,000.

Goodness me, that's quite a lot.

-It's a lot of money for a piece of paper, isn't it?

-Absolutely.

I saw this wonderful bit of manuscript a little while ago

and we managed to delve into Prideaux House and wheel out a piano

which we'll come to later.

But I'm intrigued, looking at this sheet,

there's a name, I think Ivor Novello at the top there. Tell me the story.

Yes, Ivor Novello was a great friend of my mother's because my mother was on the stage

and he used to come and stay with her and he wrote this particular piece of music for her.

-Your mother... I've got... Ah, this is Mum.

-Yes.

-Elsa MacFarlane.

-Elsa MacFarlane, yes.

-Yes, family resemblance, I can see that very clearly, wonderful!

So she was a singer obviously.

Yes, she was a singer and she played the piano.

-Wonderful.

-And she was in quite a lot of shows, you know, before the war.

And she was married to whom? Was she, did she...?

She was married to Mr Clifford Whitney, who was...

he brought a lot of stars over from America

and he particularly brought over Maurice Chevalier.

Ah, so Clifford, this is to Cliff.

-That's my father, yes.

-"To Cliff from Maurice, Hollywood '32."

-Yes.

Wonderful signed photograph of Maurice Chevalier.

So you're, you're really from a theatrical background, aren't you?

That's right, yeah, yeah.

Now this, tell me about this particular piece of manuscript.

It says "Willow Pattern Plate." Was there any particular reason

why he called it that?

Yes, she had a huge piece of

-willow pattern, you know, the plate, on the piano and so he named it...

-Because of that.

-Because of that.

I mean, a little bit about Ivor Novello...

-born in Cardiff 1893.

-Yeah.

-He died very young, didn't he, in 1951.

-Yeah, yeah.

But the thing about Ivor Novello which perhaps this generation may not know

-is that he really was the king of the British stage.

-Yeah.

And let's think of some of his famous tunes.

There was Keep The Home Fires Burning.

-We'll Gather Lilacs.

-We'll Gather Lilacs.

-Everything he produced was an instant hit.

-That's right.

People would flock to his shows, so his place in British musical theatre

-is incredibly important.

-Yes.

And to have a piece of manuscript here is wonderful.

-What does it sound like?

-I have never heard it.

-I've never heard it.

-Are you serious?

-Yes, never heard it.

-Why not?

Because I can't play the piano and it's just one of those things.

You put them away, like photos, and I've never really brought it out,

it was only because of the Antiques Roadshow coming here

that I brought it out and thought you may be interested.

Cor, not half!

-I should say we're interested!

-But I don't know the value of it.

I'm going to disappoint you because I don't know its value either.

I think something like this is incredibly difficult to value.

Had you brought it to me in the 1950s or late 1940s

when Ivor Novello was at the height of his fame and influence.

One would...it would have been quite an easy thing to value.

-Yes.

-But now, I have to say,

it's beyond me.

-But I think part of its excitement...

-Yes.

..is that here, now, in Padstow,

we're going to have the world premiere of Willow Pattern Plate.

Mary, would you oblige and give me a little nod when the page needs turning.

Ivor Novello lives.

What a wonderful Roadshow moment.

So many fascinating things here today.

What you may not know is that Prideaux Place has the very oldest deer park in the country

and the legend is that when the deer die out, so will the Prideaux family.

So all we can do is wish the deer the best of health for centuries to come.

And the same for every one else we've met in here.

Until the next time, from Padstow in Cornwall, goodbye.

Very good.