Southport Antiques Roadshow

Welcome back to the Floral Hall in Southport, Lancashire.

People used to flock here for big bathing Sundays

and sometimes they came for the cure as well,

which consisted of drinking three pints of sea water mixed

with nourishing items

such as cuttlefish bones and woodlice.

Ah, the good old days(!) They're a hardy lot here.

Let's join them again.

Now I'm intrigued to know how long you've been

having a sort of relationship with this, this Egyptian dancing girl.

Oh, I know, I know, goes back a long way, about 77 years.

-77 years?

-Yes, it belonged to my aunt who spoiled me,

and I would go there regularly for weekends and when

I went to bed, and she put me to bed,

she would take the stopper and put it in my hand and tell me stories

about this place called Egypt with camels and pyramids and pretty women.

You've brought along a pretty girl today.

-Indeed we have, indeed we have.

-Because that is, you know,

-one cracker of a perfume bottle.

-Yes, it is.

-Shall we have a look at her?

-Please do, yes.

-OK, I mean, the emphasis is all in that stopper.

-It is.

Because you've got this beautiful moulded figure of an Egyptian...

I think she must be a princess.

-I think so too.

-And then the actual bottle itself.

-Yes.

-Has been made in such a way that you've got these wonderful

spear shapes, or almost lotus leaves, so it's almost as though

she's actually on top of a large stylised flower head.

Now there's no maker's mark on there, is there?

-No.

-I mean although she may well have the appearance of an Egyptian,

if she was going to talk to you, she would do so with a French accent,

because she was made in France.

I think it must have dawned upon me.

What I'm intrigued to know is...

you see, this should have come with a box.

-It did, yes.

-It did?

-It did.

-You remember the box?

-Yes.

-A triangular box.

-Yes.

-I broke it. I broke it.

-You broke it?

-When you say triangular, sort of like pyramidal?

-Pyramid, yes.

-Like a pyramid.

-The two front pieces folded round.

-Yes.

-Like a pyramid.

-Yes, yes.

It was made for a perfumer called Dubarry

and the perfume that would have gone in there was called Blue Lagoon.

-Ah, right.

-OK,

and the actual bottle was made by a bottle manufacturer called Depinoix,

but what is important is the designer.

This bottle was designed originally in 1919,

OK, and all the remarkable because

they hadn't discovered Tutankhamun by that time,

that's later in the 1920s.

That's when you get this, this great rush of everything Egyptian.

But this is designed by something of an unsung hero,

a man called Julien Viard.

As far as perfume bottle collectors are concerned,

that's a magical name,

so on that basis alone there's good news and there's bad news.

There always is, life is like that.

OK, now there are plenty of perfume bottle collectors out there

that would very much like to take this girl home and put them

in their collection.

They would be more than happy to pay you the best part of between £2,000

and £2,500 just for the privilege.

-Never! For that?!

-Right, now that's the good news.

-Yes.

-The bad news is that if you'd have retained the box...

-Yes.

-..then that would have doubled the value.

-Oh!

-You would have been talking nearer £5,000.

-Oh, my goodness, my goodness.

-So it was worth as much as the bottle.

Yes, remarkable.

-You're sure it's not at home?

-Oh, no.

-It's long gone?

Sorry, it's long gone.

But at least you're left with an Egyptian maiden

and there can't be many of those to the square mile in Southport.

Fascinating collection of boxes, but what started you off?

I had a collection of stamps which I'd collected over a number of years

and I gave them to my son,

and I was always fascinating collecting something

so I just thought I'd like to collect some snuff boxes.

Now, which are your favourites?

Well, this one, this one, and that for an intriguing reason, really.

So, the intriguing reason on this one?

Well, it's a good trick one

because you ask people to open it and they can't open it.

Cos of course you've got to squeeze it.

-Squeeze it.

-And up it comes.

-But, actually, this is not a snuff box.

-Oh, right.

-This is a tobacco box.

-Right.

These were made round the turn of the 19-20th century,

very fashionable at that period.

Now, the other favourites.

This one, now this one's actually quite intriguing

because of course we open there to reveal what doesn't seem

to be quite the right sort of space and then open again there,

you get this wonderful sort of concertina action.

Well, I was told, I don't know whether it's true,

that when the gentleman opened it in the first case,

-he offered you the snuff from there.

-Right.

Which was poor quality and he kept the best for himself.

The best for himself in there.

-I don't know whether that's true or not.

-It's a lovely idea.

Now, let's just have a look and see what this one's all about.

Yes, this is a Birmingham-made box, in fact,

by a chap called John Shaw of Birmingham

in the reign of George III,

absolutely super one. It's beautiful the way it all closes back.

But this one, which was another of your favourites...

Yes, I just like it for the work on it.

Yes, and the castle top.

-Right.

-Now, castle tops are amongst the most desirable.

-I see.

-Now the maker here... Do you know who it is?

-Nathaniel Mills, I do know that one.

-Yes, Nathaniel Mills,

great Birmingham box maker, the very best of the Birminghams.

Do you remember how much you paid for that one?

Um, I don't really, it was a few hundred pounds.

Yup, I mean that doesn't surprise me. How long ago?

About four years ago or five years ago.

They have been going up nicely since then.

-Have they?

-Oh, yes.

You'd be hard pushed to find a Mills box

of this quality under £1,000 today.

-Oh, gosh, that is interesting. That's very nice!

-So you're doing very...

-You're doing well on that one.

-Right.

This one,

I should think we're probably looking at a good £600-£700

-on that one.

-Very nice, yes.

-Good, yes.

-Which is nice.

And tobacco boxes like this...

-not snuff boxes.

-Tobacco box, yes.

-I mean, that is not going to be enormously valuable.

-No.

-Um, perhaps around the £200 mark.

-I see, very nice.

So I would not be surprised if there wasn't sort of £3,000-£4,000

quite easily sitting on that table, possibly slightly more.

That's very nice, thank you.

-So keep up your collecting.

-I will, thank you very much indeed.

I'm very glad to see this piece because in current circumstances,

it's very important for us to remember how long

the British love affair with the Middle East has been.

You know, here is a fantastic piece of Islamic-style furniture.

Now, do you love it?

I absolutely adore it, yes, I do.

And where has it come from?

Well, my husband bought it, he bought it in Preston

only about three years ago

and he came home and he said, "I've seen the most wonderful sideboard,"

not telling me how big it was, "the most wonderful sideboard.

"I'm going to get it. I've decided I'm going to get it."

but there was a little sacrifice attached to it.

-Oh, what's that?

-And we got it and...

Just before Christmas about three years ago,

we'd been planning a holiday and of course because

he'd made this purchase,

we didn't have a holiday that year.

-So this is your holiday?

-Yes.

There are so many typical elements about this.

Just to go back in time, from about the 1870s,

every department store was selling

what they called Anglo-Moorish furniture.

-Yes.

-And this is a classic, classic example of that.

-Yes.

This is not based on anything Middle Eastern at all.

Middle Eastern furniture doesn't look remotely like this.

It doesn't matter. This was what we THOUGHT it looked like

and that's why they brought in the familiar pierced panels

and they were used in interior screens in Islamic houses.

You've got these lovely Islamic style arches,

you've got even the Islamic patterning

taken from tiles on the stained glass.

Everything is a mass of Islamic design,

all from books, design books of the time and put together

by some manufacturer.

I'll tell you straightaway I've no idea who made it,

but it would have been probably one of the big Manchester-based

manufacturers whose wares were being sold in the department stores

that were the contemporary taste.

Now I have to ask you...

what's all that?

Well...my husband put those there,

the reason being that on top of there, there are holes which

would have had something in,

maybe finials and he felt that he had to put them there.

-So off he went to the DIY shop.

-And made them, yes.

And he bought some curtain poles and some banisters.

-He did.

-They're great because they're completely, wonderfully wrong.

-Yeah.

But at the same time they've turned it into a sort of mosque,

-they're like the...

-That was his idea, actually, yes.

You ought to have it wired up so that the call to prayer

comes out in the morning.

So, it was bought instead of a holiday.

I think it'll last longer than a holiday.

I'm sure, yeah, I love it.

I think this is such a classic in that sort of Anglo-Moresque taste,

if you wanted to find one, go and find a better one and I bet you

can't, you know, this has it all.

-Yes.

-And I'm therefore going to say I think about £3,000

so you could nearly have had a cruise.

A short cruise.

It would be a short one, yes.

It's a fascinating group. Where did it come from?

They've been in the family now for 50 years at least

because my father-in-law was an avid collector.

He loved things like this and he actually died when he was 45

and it's 50 years next year since he died,

so they've been in the family all that time,

so none of us know what he paid for them or anything at all.

Right, do you have a favourite one?

Well, really, I suppose I've got one or two but I do like that one.

Right, this one's a charming little group of...

father, he's supposed to be, entertaining his son,

the son has got a fish on wheels, which is a typical Japanese toy,

-and, in actual fact, it's not of the best quality.

-No.

Um, nevertheless, that's going to be worth around £400-£500.

-This...

-That's my favourite.

Is it?

-Well done you!

-It's beautiful.

Yeah, it's a fantastic carving.

What's happened is, this boy has...

..walking along with a bucket on his back,

and he's tripped over a snake,

but look at that bottom. I mean, that is staggering,

-you know, the snake and the ropes.

-The detail.

-Carved out, yeah.

All carved from one piece, it's an amazing bit of work.

Superb carving.

Now, what about these, do you like these?

Oh, I do. They were the main things that I was bringing, really.

-Do you know what they are?

-I don't know anything about them at all.

I honestly don't and I haven't seen anything quite like them before,

the pretty colours and...

They are amazing, aren't they?

-They are.

-Um, it's a technique called Shibayama.

We've got a silver - and this is silver - plate,

which has been inlaid with ivory panels and that...

They have then been inlaid

with mother of pearl, stained ivory, coral, coconut shell,

all sorts of things, and in the centre, the same technique,

but into lacquer.

This is the Takarabune,

which is the treasure ship.

-Oh, I see.

-And these are the seven gods of good fortune.

-Oh!

And...here they are again.

-Is that the ones?

-Yeah, here they are again.

They're around a vat of wine which they're slurping from.

It's a wonderful, wonderful group.

Let's do a few values.

£700 to £900,

£800 to £900,

£1,000 to £1,500.

I did a bit of a...a tot-up earlier

-and I came to over £10,000 on this table.

-Oh!

Bloomin' heck, Mum!

This is a very interesting teapot

A theme has begun to develop today.

I'm beginning to see more and more paintings by this singular painter,

James Isherwood

and we've now got one, two, three here with two owners.

-You, sir, I gather, own this one here on the right.

-Yes.

And you, madam, that one on the left.

-That's correct.

-And I'm beginning to get the impression

that he left a very big dent indeed in the history of Southport,

but also in Wigan nearby, so I think we need to sort of go back a bit

and first work out where you found these pictures.

So where did you come across these?

-Well, this one I found in, I think they called the shop Haggerty's.

-Yes.

And it was closing down and it was a shop that did framing

and this was just stood in the corner.

-Did it cost you much?

-No.

-How much?

£10. £10. Oh, not bad, not bad at all,

And then this one beneath, you ended up...

Well, because I'd got this one...

-Yes.

-..I felt as though I would like another one

on the other side of the fireplace, so this one...

there was an exhibition in...

I think it was The Royal at Southport and I took this one.

A very striking picture it is.

And then, for something not completely different,

but by the same artist.

How did you end up with this?

Oh, well, basically I was working for a local antique shop in Southport

and I'd seen it on display for some weeks

and nobody had shown an interest in it

and after about a month, I was back again,

doing some more work for the chap,

and it was still there and it just sort of begged me to buy it

and I just loved the Coronation Street theme as well.

Well, we're going to return to that in a sec,

but we are dealing with a really extraordinary artist.

At least one other picture I've seen today was by him

and I gather there were some drawings earlier on.

Clearly he is someone who is embraced by this place,

but he was also a highly controversial figure as well,

wasn't he?

-He was an eccentric, he was difficult.

-He was, yes.

He was confrontational and it comes out in his art

because what he wanted to do, I think, was shock.

He wanted to find ways, different ways of shocking people

by plundering 20th-century art, by looking at all the techniques

around to express emotion by colour

and by shape and by slightly unformed figures,

he was able to animate this landscape up here

and add quite a lot to the one beneath in a sort of...

not quite impressionistic or post-impressionistic way,

not quite a modernist way, but a sort of mishmash, really,

and then the same theme carries on into this view of Coronation Street.

I mean, what an unusual, what an unorthodox approach to art!

"I'm going to do a painting of Coronation Street on telly."

I mean, bizarre, isn't it?

I think the same character,

the same character who slaps you in the face, is doing it here as well.

What is interesting about this artist is he's beginning

to enjoy an ascension.

He died, I think, was it ten years ago?

-'89, I think.

-Was it?

-Something like that.

-Yes.

And of course many artists need to be dead for at least ten years

before they enjoy that

so I think you're very fortunate, both of you,

owning pictures by this artist

and I think the work at the top there, which you bought for £10,

is probably worth £600 or £700 now.

-Yes.

-I think the one below is worth probably £1,000 to £1,500

and that I think is probably worth £1,500 on its own.

You don't want to swap, do you?

No, I bought them as a pair!

I'm being controversial, a bit like him.

So, two carriage clocks,

ooh, both, if I might say so...

certainly that one and this one probably as well, oh, yes...

very dusty, very dusty indeed, rather unloved.

Tell me why that is.

They belonged to my great aunt

and, um, my mother inherited them and they've been passed to me

to go to my sons.

How old are the sons?

They are 22 and 24.

So you've got a problem really there and I'll explain why.

This little one is early 20th century.

A Bath retailer there, I see, but then the giveaway

is "Made in Paris".

You've got a comparatively boring lever platform on the top.

-Right.

-And you've got the whole thing encased in brass rather than glass,

so although it's a carriage timepiece,

it's not particularly attractive in its sort of squat,

rather un-commercial case.

Which of these do you prefer, by the way?

This one I think, but I haven't seen them very much.

They've been in the case for such a long time

and it's nice to see them again.

OK, well, let's see whether you're sort of on the right decision time.

This is a corniche case carriage clock.

-Do you know what the little button does?

-I don't.

-Well, it's a repeater.

-Right.

-And the intriguing thing about this is that it has two hammers.

-Right.

And what I'm going to do is to press that button and you'll hear it now.

CHIMING

It's currently striking the hours.

-Right.

-And on a different gong, it's striking some more.

Yes.

And it should be striking ten.

It has, it's done ten

and what it's actually done, it's said it's five

and then ten other bits, so it's a five-minute repeater.

-Right.

-It is striking

to the preceding five minutes, so if it was almost six o'clock,

it would say five and then 11 of the five minute periods, do you see?

-I see, yes.

-Rather a nice thing.

So the reason I say you've got a problem is because your two boys

are going to have to decide who has which clock.

Now, was there a favourite of this great aunt or not?

Well, one of the children had more to do with her than the other one,

yes, and did odd jobs and things.

Will you give him first choice?

I think he'll have to, unless they arm wrestle for them.

If he chooses this one, that has an auction price today

of not much more than £60.

Right.

So, if he doesn't choose this, are you going to dare tell him

that this is actually about £1,400?

Right. Fantastic.

OK. Now THAT'S the problem, isn't it?

At first sight, a lovely chest. Tell me about it.

Well, just after the war, my mother wanted a blanket box

and she saw one advertised in the York Press at a place called Malton

so she went along to this ordinary house and there was this chest

and she said to the woman, "You're selling it for £10?"

and she said "Well, I want just to get rid of it."

And so, not unnaturally, my mother said, "Deal done."

Really? How fascinating.

What I want to do first of all is actually to stroke it

-because it feel... This is a real Arthur Negus moment for me.

-Yes.

Arthur Negus used to really stroke furniture,

and this is so satin-like in quality.

-Yes.

-Do you know what it's made of?

-No, I don't, no.

-It's cedar wood.

-Cedar wood? Oh, right.

-It's quite good wood to use for clothes chests

because it's supposed to keep the insects away.

-Yes.

-First of all, you can just about see there are figures here

and there seems to be lovemaking scenes, young men and women,

musical instruments, troubadours, whatever.

-Yeah.

-And I can see that on the top, on this lovely silky wood,

there is evidence that there was decoration here as well,

which has got worn away.

This sort of thing isn't really a blanket chest.

-No.

-It's a cassone.

-A what?

It's Italian and it was...

a cassone, which was a dower chest

-and they were often supplied in pairs.

-Yes.

So these were in a sense designed to take textiles,

but the dowry, the bride's clothes.

-Yes.

-The outside is interesting,

but let's have a look what happens inside.

Oh, wow, look at that!

Now, this is what it would have looked like outside originally

and you can see now on the inside

two panels with lovemaking in a pastoral scene

and you can see, I think, more or less what the sort of date is.

-Can you see the costumes?

-Yes, yes. 16th century?

I think so, late 16th, maybe even early 17th century perhaps

with britches, doublet and hose, in other words,

and in the centre of course, a cartouche, within, in this case,

a blank shield

on which you would have had the coat of arms

or could have had the coat of arms

and that's what these cassone were about in many ways.

It was the two families coming together.

I think it's so romantic, isn't it?

It is wonderful, and I think now £10 turned into £3,000.

Oh, wow!

-Good investment, then.

-It's a wonderful thing.

To me, this shows most beautifully the properties of silver,

its light-reflective properties.

Absolutely stunning!

But the jug itself, where did you get it from?

Well, it came to us from my mother-in-law.

She used it either as a coffee pot or a hot water jug,

but apart from that, we know nothing about it.

Right then, very sensible.

I always think these are so much more useful than coffee pots

because you can use them for whatever,

whereas much else other than coffee out of a coffee pot

looks a bit ridiculous.

But have you ever actually thought about the date of it?

No, we don't know anything about it.

It's George III and in fact it's early George III.

-Look under here, we've got the London hallmarks...

-Yes.

..For 1768 and we've also got, rather interestingly,

the maker's mark there,

-a chap called Emick Romer.

-Emick Romer, right.

-Now, he was actually Norwegian.

-Oh.

He was one of the immigrant craftsmen working in

London in the mid-18th century

and this wonderful flair that he brings to the whole thing.

Some of them... I mean, look at that wonderful detail there,

-the rococo scroll at the bottom.

-It's beautiful.

It really is, it's quite something

and has survived in remarkably good condition.

I mean, there's a little bit of a bruise there,

another one there, but that could be attended to

without too much difficulty.

So, sort of value...

have you thought about this?

-We're ignorant.

-Interestingly enough, actually,

I think these were often amongst the best buys in 18th-century silver.

Were they? Ooh.

In the sense that, ridiculously, although they are far more useful,

they're significantly less in value than coffee pots.

Some of these jugs you can actually buy for sort of £600-£800.

This one, because of its wonderful condition, design

and the quality of the weight of it,

-I think we're looking more towards the £1,000 to £1,200 mark.

-Ooh!

Ooh, golly!

It is a lovely jug and I would certainly love to own it myself.

Thank you very much.

-That brings back memories, you've no idea.

-Really?

I was at a boarding school and we had one of these.

-With folding doors?

-Yeah, and that's how we phoned home.

So apart from my own personal memories,

this obviously takes us into the whole history of the telephone box.

It certainly does.

The first mobile telephone in the world in fact.

-This is a mobile phone?

-It's on wheels at the moment.

It's got a bit smaller.

-But, um, this is actually where it starts, isn't it?

-It is, yes.

Um, I mean going back in time, Graham Bell is 1876, I think.

-Something like that, yes.

-And so by the 1880s,

-the telephone is becoming quite common.

-It is, yes.

-And there

is a need to use them in public,

-particularly railway stations.

-Railway stations, hotels, etc.

Yeah, but do you know the date of this one?

Well, I definitely know it's prior to 1902

so it possibly could be 1890 or thereabouts.

-So it's a Victorian phone box.

-It's a Victorian phone box.

-Fantastic.

-These silence cabinets were produced by one manufacturer.

-What are they called?

-Silence cabinets.

-Right.

-The idea was that they came in a flat-pack,

three sides, the doors, the bottom and the top.

-Flat-packed?

-Flat-packed, they could be then shipped

around the country

and they could go out to the colonies where the railways were expanding.

-Yes.

-So we have records of India,

we have records of South Africa and Rhodesia as well.

But when you look at this, the design is so well done.

-Yes.

-The machinery, the whole concept,

-you'll see there's a hole in the roof as well.

-Yeah.

Now actually when you go inside and close the doors,

it actually creates an air movement

and this is to expel the previous occupant's pipe smoke or cigars.

-Or perfume.

-I don't think the ladies were allowed to use the telephone.

-Really?

-It was only the gentlemen that used it, yeah.

So obviously that is later.

This came from a Chinese restaurant in Southport.

But I mean anybody...

I think you'd have to be 45 or 50 to remember the press-button box.

-You would do, yes.

-Press A, it goes through.

-Press B, you get your money back.

-That's right, yes.

-Now do you use it at home?

-We used to,

but we've got so many other ICT gadgets, we prefer those now.

I think it's great, it brings back fantastic memories,

but it's also, as you say, a seriously rare object.

-It is, yeah.

-I haven't seen one since those days.

-You won't have done.

-And I won't have done.

-No.

So...which brings us onto the obvious Roadshow point,

you got it for £5, as an unwanted, abandoned object.

-Plus VAT.

-Oh, plus VAT. Um, what's it worth?

-You're the telephone specialist.

-I've no idea.

The Gilbert Scott ones were sold off for £300, £500, £700 and it

cost you that much to have it moved.

Um, if you're a real telephone fanatic, where are you going

to get another of these?

-You're not.

-You're not.

-No.

-So I'd have thought we must be talking £1,000

for sheer rarity, don't you?

-Yeah...

-And that's disregarding...

TELEPHONE RINGS

-Expecting a call?

-It must be for you.

Hello?

Not now, darling, we're working.

It was for me.

Right, good, good.

This picture, tell me a little bit about it.

This picture was drawn by a war artist of

the London Illustrated News.

The action took place in Villers-Bocage

and my father's regiment had recently taken quite a beating.

He was sent into the town, saw a number of German tanks,

decided that if he cut them off at either end of this road -

there were six or seven -

he would have them trapped.

And then, when they were well and truly trapped,

this one at the front here started to try and escape,

it started trying to blast the side of the house down,

from where he hoped to deliver a lethal blow

to the Firefly tank there

which was commanded by Sergeant Bobby Brammell.

-So this is your father's...

-This is one of his tanks.

-I see, right.

-At this time, my father was probably on foot

because he'd realised that it would be much better

if he tried to direct the operation on foot rather than in his tank,

and at the same time, it's worth mentioning, it was pouring with rain.

-Really?

-And he was very lucky to have an umbrella

and people often thought it rather funny that he was

directing some of this operation

underneath an umbrella,

and according to my father's diary

that he'd hastily written up that night,

his troop were lucky enough to manage to knock out, he thought,

seven German Tigers,

but that's all he says.

He just says, "We had a good day that afternoon.

"I think we got seven Tigers." He said no more than that.

Right, now we've got some treasured photographs of him here.

-Where's your father there?

-My father is there.

-Oh, the first one, here.

What was his rank and name?

When that picture was taken, he was a lieutenant,

his name was Leslie Cotton, but he was known as most people

by the name of Bill,

so to everybody he was Bill Cotton.

I notice he's wearing an Iron Cross 1st Class and I don't think he...

He must have picked that up on the way somewhere.

I don't think Hitler awarded that one.

No, but of course your father certainly was well decorated,

wasn't he?

Well, yes, he was, he won the MM when he was in the Western Desert

and as a result of this action, he won the MC.

Here we have this lovely group,

MC, MM,

39-45, Africa Star, bar, Italy,

France and Germany, Defence and War medal,

I mean, he was well used, wasn't he?

Yes, he was well used.

He actually joined the regiment a week before war broke out,

having answered an advertisement in the Daily Telegraph

asking gentlemen to attend a particular address in London

if they were interested in joining the regiment so he did that

and subsequently found himself in.

Now, this is quite an unusual combination.

If this was a Military Medal group,

we're looking at something in excess of £1,000 quite easily.

If it was a Military Cross group, without the MM, we're looking at

something like perhaps £1,500...

£2,000 perhaps.

But the combination of two and cavalry...well, and tanks,

-this group has a value of something like £5,000 or more.

-Really?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Because the magic is on the tanks, I feel.

-Yes, yeah, yeah.

And it doesn't demeanour any other's actions,

but, you know, its tank actions

are well regarded from the collecting fraternity.

So, you know, you've got a lovely group there.

My name is Mike Ormerod and that was taken in my days

with the Mecca ballroom circuit and that's taken at the

Locarno Ballroom in Burnley

where I worked as a disc jockey in the 1960s.

Right, there can't be many albums that run from Mrs Mills

right through to Jimi Hendrix.

Well, that's right and being a local DJ did give you an opportunity

to meet contacts who would get you backstage to see these artists.

So let's see what we've got here.

We've got the Rolling Stones.

You've got all five of the Rolling Stones at that period.

Yeah, I worked at Blackburn Locarno

and that autograph was signed when the Rolling Stones

-played at Blackburn Odeon Cinema on a tour in 1964.

-Really, '64?

-1964.

-And in fact, actually, what year is this one?

-That was 1966, that's two years later...

-Right.

..When I saw the Stones again at Chester ABC when they were on tour.

And you got Brian Jones to sign it again.

All five of them again, you know.

So you were a bit of a Stones fan? Or just anybody?

I liked everybody, but I did like the Stones

but I was brought up on rock 'n' roll.

-Right.

-I enjoyed the early rock 'n' roll guys, Little Richard

-and Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis.

-They're all in here too.

-Yes.

And I love this.

You obviously got a bit carried away here with the Rolling Stones

because you've got on each page the Stones and you know, here,

here we've got Keith,

looks slightly better there than he does now.

-He's not worn well, has he?

-He's...

It's not a good advertisement for the rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

-No, no.

-It must have been exciting.

-It was.

-Jimi Hendrix, I mean...

-Nelson Imperial Ballroom.

-Was it?

Jimi Hendrix had a dressing room at the back of the stage

which consisted of a three-sided partition with no roof on

and just a little door into the thing,

slatted benches round three sides

and he was just sat there and I sat down next to him, got all those done.

Was he wearing his trademark jacket like that?

-Can you remember?

-He didn't have that on,

-because he hadn't got ready to go on stage at that point.

-Really?

-No, it was...

-But he had the time to write "Be groovy, Jimi Hendrix".

Oh, yeah, it was just after he released Purple Haze

as a single and he came on stage,

everything went dark and they put the purple spotlight on him

and he just struck up the initial chords and all the hairs

on the back of me neck...

I mean, there is so much but I must have a...

In here, there is a couple more than I must have a look at.

You've got... What have we got here?

-Well, The Beatles, you know.

-Yeah.

All four Beatles on a publicity shot,

but how did you get this particular one?

Backstage, King George's Hall, Blackburn.

Right, it's a great photo, that one.

-And of course a BBC producer today, Paul Jones.

-Paul Jones.

Does the blues programme on Thursday evenings or whatever it is.

-Yeah, I've met Paul about five times.

-Really?

And had some nice chats to Paul.

Well, now, you've got...

The ship's sinking

and you've got to choose which page

-you're going to keep out of all of this.

-Right, right.

Which one would you keep?

Well, there's two pages further on in that book

that's got Jerry Lee Lewis,

Little Richard, Fats Domino and Chuck Berry in,

but that one there...

I know I've got The Beatles and I know I've got the Stones,

but with Jimi dedicating that, it's just got a special meaning.

I must say, if I could choose any of the pages,

-I would probably choose the Hendrix page as well.

-Yeah.

Now, the real challenge is what on earth is all this worth?

It's very difficult to say because of course in this particular album

you've got them all pasted in, but it is a...

It is a complete record of the bands of the day.

Coupled with that, you've got this, which is, they're all loose

but there are some great ones in there, too.

I've got loose ones of those as well.

-Of all these as well?

-Yeah.

-I haven't even seen those.

Imagine what we've got here is all you've got.

Right.

With a Hendrix, one like this is probably worth £2,000.

You've got The Rolling Stones album signed by all the five Stones,

let's say £1,500 to £2,000.

You've got The Beatles here,

all four Beatles on a really nice photo there,

that's going to be £1,500 plus.

Um, and so on and so on and so on, and you know, just at a glance,

you must have somewhere between £20,000 and £30,000 worth

just here on the table.

I need a bank vault, then, don't I?

Yeah, you do because it's just...wonderful.

We're always looking for interesting things in interesting places,

and interesting people.

Welcome to the Paris of the North.

-Where are you from?

-Barcelona.

-Barcelona?

-Barcelona.

-They have Lord Street and you have Las Ramblas.

That's right. Oh, I think Las Ramblas

is just as nice as Lord Street. Not nicer, but just as nice.

-That's the way to say it, diplomatic.

-Diplomatic.

Why are you here?

Because I am a fan of the Roadshow

and I've been following this programme for a long, long time

and I just wanted to be here and I have a girlfriend

who lives in Southport

and I said, "That's my time to go there and be with them."

-And here you are.

-Here I am.

-Nice to meet you, thank you.

-OK.

And from Southport, goodbye.

Adios, amigos de Roadshow! Adios!