Hughenden Manor 2 Antiques Roadshow

This week, the Roadshow team

has infiltrated Hughenden Manor in Buckinghamshire.

Now, Hughenden is a house with a secret.

It's common knowledge that it was the home of Benjamin Disraeli,

the Victorian Prime Minister.

But what happened here during World War II,

none of us have known anything about.

Until very recently, that is.

Like many country houses in wartime,

Hughenden was taken over by the military,

but not just to provide comfortable accommodation.

Otherwise, why would Hughenden be on the hit list for German bombers?

These days, a helpful member of the National Trust

sits in the hallway at Hughenden, to welcome visitors.

Hello.

In the war years,

a rather more stern military policeman sat in the same place,

and would admit only those with top-security clearance.

Disraeli's drawing room had become literally that. A drawing room.

Dozens of artists sat here at lines of desks,

their job was to interpret aerial photographs of mainland Germany.

From these, they drew target maps for a range of Allied missions,

missions like the legendary Dambusters raid,

and the bombing of Hitler's secret bunker in the Austrian Alps.

This is the very map,

and the spot marked "A" pinpoints the Fuhrer's hideout.

The drawings were then carried from the manor, through the woods,

to a photographic studio, set up in this former ice house.

A camera team would then photograph them,

and a strictly limited number of copies were made.

It was nicknamed "Operation Hillside".

Finally, the maps were brought to the stable block,

where a fleet of cars were waiting to deliver them,

driving under cover of darkness to airfields throughout Britain.

Then the RAF would put them to effective use.

It took 60 years before we discovered

what really happened at Hughenden Manor.

Today, on the rear lawn, and under the full gaze of the general public,

the Antiques Roadshow is ready to do its vital work.

No need to draw you a map.

You know, it's great for me to come back to High Wycombe,

because I went to school here during the war,

and especially to see beautiful Royal Worcester pieces.

From one extreme of here, High Wycombe...

I now live in Worcester, and to see this together, here...

This is marvellous, isn't it?

This is part of a coffee set. A cup...

Just a coffee cup and saucer, but...

I've got the whole set, actually, it's a boxed set,

-and I took a photograph to show you.

-A picture, yes.

-Not uncommon.

-No.

These were made in considerable numbers in the 1910s, '20s, '30s.

-Yes.

-But they're beautiful. You've got the whole set?

Yes, my father gave it to my mother as a wedding present in 1932.

Did he? Isn't that lovely?

They make wonderful presents, don't they? But do you use them?

Never. The only time I ever remember the plate being used

was when I was sick in bed,

and my mother brought up a bunch of grapes and gave it to me.

-This plate here?

-Yes.

-Did she?

-The grapes on the plate to cheer you up, obviously.

-Yes.

-That's beautiful.

-I'm scared to use them, because I...

Well, don't be scared to use them,

-but treat them with great care...

-Yes.

..because they're works of art. They're incredible.

This is signed by the painter here, Horace Price,

and he was one of the great fruit painters of all time,

and he was marvellous.

Those strawberries, and the plums, I mean...

You can feel the bloom on them, can't you?

Absolutely gorgeous, but what is extraordinary is this...

What is this?

Well, I found these, my parents never referred to them,

and when we were sorting out their affairs,

I think it was after my mother died,

and I presume that my father sent for a pattern,

perhaps he was wondering what to buy her for a wedding present,

-because this is nearest because of being fruit.

-Yes.

I just found them among her things, just sort of lying there.

I've never seen these out in the open,

these would be for the dealers,

so they could show customers what was the possibility of being made.

These should never have left the factory or the dealer's hands,

-so it's very... And this one is... this one is gorgeous, isn't it?

-Yes.

-This is for a dressing table set.

-I see.

There would be the pieces on the tray,

-and a candlestick to light your way to bed at night.

-Yes.

Instead of the fruit, this is painted with a landscape

-in the style of Corot.

-I see, yes.

And the great painter copying Corot's style

at Royal Worcester was Harry Davies.

Now, this isn't signed,

but it certainly looks like the work of Harry Davies.

-Right.

-And if so, that's an incredibly valuable piece.

-But marvellous that it's got out in the open.

-Yes.

But the whole thing is marvellous.

A coffee set like that, with the six cups and saucers in a fitted box,

is going to be worth about £3,000, £4,000,

but these...they're beautiful.

I mean, if that is actually Harry Davies' own work,

those watercolours on the candlestick and the tray...

-Yes.

-I mean, you're looking at about £2,000 or £3,000 just for that.

And perhaps a bit less for the fruit paintings.

Do you know who painted that one?

It looks like the work of Harold Austin.

-Right.

-I think the same painter as this little saucer.

-I see.

-Very like his work.

Thank you very much.

When I was 16, I bought my first roundabout horse,

from the Billy Smart family.

Now, didn't they have an antique shop locally here?

In Cookham, and that's where I bought it,

and then I started collecting roundabout relics ever since,

horses, carved work, everything to do with roundabouts.

And tell me, these are very unusual in that they are centaurs,

-with a man's torso on a horse's body.

-Yes, on a horse, yeah.

We've got three that we're looking at here,

all carved with obviously recognisable faces. French?

That's General French from the Boer War.

-Yeah, and Buller?

-General Buller, yeah.

But you can imagine, at that time, when a fairground arrived,

-of course, these people were the heroes.

-Yeah.

They were the ones that the kids wanted to sit on.

Exactly, so they were all fighting to get on,

and ride their favourite General,

-Kitchener, or Buller, or Roberts, or French.

-Exactly.

Now, Spooner were based in Burton on Trent, weren't they?

They were one of the great companies.

Another great company was Anderson.

Anderson of Bristol, yeah.

-And they, I think, started out as carvers of...

-Ship figureheads.

And this, rumour has it, is an Anderson figure.

This is an Anderson, yeah.

Now, tell me why it's in a completely different scale,

and is also of somebody unrecognisable.

-This was made for a hand-turned children's roundabout.

-Right.

And it would have had about four horses, and cockerels, and...

-This one?

-That's the one, yeah.

This was made for Thomas Prewitt, quite a famous showman.

All the rounding boards, all the animals, were made by Andersons.

There's four centaurs on there, and to my knowledge,

they're the only four that were ever made by Andersons.

So, how did this one arrive in your hands?

A friend in America phoned me up,

and said there was an Anderson centaur coming up

in an auction in about three months' time,

so they sent me the photographs,

there were about 20 or 30 that had come through.

I started research, and I found this photograph,

and then realised Anderson did carve what appears to be that one set.

-Interesting.

-Then I was excited.

-You were hooked.

-Somehow, I had to get this.

-Yeah.

And then I researched it further,

and the auctioneers asked me if I knew who the figure was,

and I said no. I didn't, at the time.

-Would you have told them?

-No!

Of course not.

So, that was really it,

so then I had to try and research who the captain was.

Well, there are a few tiny clues.

The first, if we just turn it round, I love here...

This looks like a little whale, or a dolphin.

On the back of the saddle.

-That's right.

-OK, so we know that he's definitely a seaman,

and then he's got a white star on his lapel, here.

But, I suppose, the big giveaway are the initials

carved into the top of his telescope, "E. J. S."

That may not mean anything to anybody out there,

but you and I know that relates to Captain Smith.

-That's right.

-He was the captain of the Titanic.

-He was.

-I know you bought this recently,

so I feel I can ask the question,

how much did you pay for it in auction?

It was 13,500 dollars.

Oh, actually, that doesn't sound a lot.

But, of course, it was your secret, wasn't it?

Yeah, exactly, nobody knew it was the Titanic captain.

Now, as far as prices on these are concerned...

The two larger figures, I would say,

would fetch 15 to 20,000 dollars each,

which is about, what... £13,000...

12 or 13,000, yeah.

-This... I'm going to stick my neck out on this.

-Go on, then.

Because everything in me says that I should be valuing it

at the same, or slightly less, because it's smaller.

-Yeah.

-But there is that wonderful, unknown X factor,

-which is the Titanic link.

-Yeah.

I AM going to stick my neck out. I'm going to say £15,000 to £20,000.

I mean, I think it's a great piece.

Wow, that's excellent.

Well, once in a while on a Roadshow, you see something,

and you don't know exactly what it is, but the quality stands out,

and this is such a piece. How long have you had it?

In the family, probably 25 years we've had it,

and then, before that, it was with my aunt.

-So, it's come down through the family?

-Yeah.

What do you know about it?

All I know is that it's English Civil War,

and it's a water bottle on the side of a horse.

Water bottles, at the time, were made in leather,

and they were normally called blackjacks, as you might know.

-Yes.

-The name originated because when they air-dried the leather,

that was called "jacking".

-Right.

-The leather was dark, so it was known as "blackjack."

-Right.

-And you think it dates from the Civil War period?

-That's what we were always told, but...

-1640-1650.

-Something like that.

-I don't actually think it's English.

Oh, well, fair enough.

I think it's Mediterranean,

and more specifically, probably Spanish, or possibly Portuguese.

The English blackjacks at the time tended to be shaped like flagons,

-and this is a different shape.

-Right.

And also, on this, you have the extraordinary silver decoration.

-I know.

-Which I have never seen before.

I think it's absolutely beautiful.

I think probably, originally,

they would have had a broad piece of leather,

and they would have stitched the silver

into the flat piece of leather,

so, if we could see inside,

we would see the back of the silver threads...

And they've curled it round...

And then, curled it round,

and then wet it, put it on a mould and shaped it,

and that's how I think it would have been made.

And blackjacks in Nelson's time, they were known as "boots"

and were the origin of the expression, "fill your boots".

Have a lot to drink, fill your boots.

-OK.

-And being the quality this piece is,

I'm sure it would have belonged to a nobleman or a grandee of the period.

To me, it's museum quality, and I think if that came up at auction,

it deserves to have an estimate of perhaps £3,000 to £5,000 on it.

-Very nice.

-I think it's a terrific example

-of an early 17th century blackjack.

-Thank you.

"C. Rein and Son, patentees, sole inventors and only makers,

"30 Charing Cross Road, London."

So, that's rather fun. Looks a bit like a stylised swan, doesn't it?

It does a bit, yes.

Well, of course you know what it is.

-Yes, it's a hearing device or a hearing piece.

-Absolutely.

-A trumpet, an ear trumpet.

-Yes.

So, the sound is actually... Does it actually...

-Oh, it actually works very well.

-It does, doesn't it? Yes.

-Gives an extraordinary echo.

-Yes.

-In your ear.

Well, it was my ex-husband's,

and when we were clearing out the house,

-he was about to throw it in the dustbin.

-Right.

And I said "Oh, I've always liked that. Can I have it, please?"

And so he said, "Yes, here you are, take it."

So...about to go in the dustbin, that's an interesting thing to do.

Plus, it looked like just brass,

because we'd never cleaned it,

and I thought, "Oh, I'll give it a polish up."

-And then, of course, you saw...

-And then I saw the inscription, yes.

-So, in fact it is electro-plated on nickel.

-Right, yeah.

I think I would probably just leave it, actually, as it is, there.

Date-wise, I would think we're looking,

certainly into the 19th century,

-probably the latter part of the 19th century.

-Right.

Value...

I should think, £400 to £500.

That's good for something that was going to go in the dustbin.

She's a very pretty girl, and how did she come to you?

Well, her story in our family started in the 1880s,

and my grandmother had beautiful handwriting,

and a rather well-to-do lady went to her school,

and asked for a little girl who did nice writing,

and they chose my grandmother,

and she had to go to this lady's house, one evening, after school,

every week, and she was given a "tasty and nutritious tea,"

then she had to write the lady's letters,

because the lady had arthritis or rheumatism,

something that stopped her from writing.

So, your granny was essentially the secretary?

-You could say that, yes.

-Well, how old was she at this time?

-She was born in 1872, so she was quite a little girl.

-Yeah.

And, when the old lady died, she left the lady to my grandmother,

because she'd noticed that she used to gaze at her.

While she'd been penning these beautifully written letters,

she'd seen this thing, and she inherited it.

-That's right.

-Now, I want you to stroke it. Do you want to stroke it?

-Yes.

-Now, what do you think of when you're stroking it?

-What material?

-She feels a bit like marble...

-She feels like marble...

-She feels like...

That's exactly... She FEELS like marble,

and, you know, it isn't marble.

This is a material called Parian ware.

It was developed very early on in the Victorian period,

up in Staffordshire,

and it was because of a rise in the wealth of Victorian England,

-people want to fill their houses with ornaments.

-Yes.

But there isn't enough marble to go round,

besides, marble is extremely expensive,

so when the Staffordshire potters came up with this material,

which feels like marble, they called it Parian,

named after the island of Paros, where classical marble was mined.

The wonderful thing about this is that you can pump it with water,

so it becomes a liquid.

-Yes.

-And you can pour the liquid into moulds,

so once you've made the moulds,

you can actually make hundreds, if not thousands, of these pieces.

So, this very pretty young girl was produced originally by the artist

whose signature appears on the back, William Calder Marshall, R.A.

Now, he was actually elected to the Royal Academy in the 1850s,

so that gives you a bottom date,

it wasn't all that old when your granny was penning those letters.

-Right.

-Um, I think in this state,

if you were to put her up for auction,

-she would probably fetch somewhere in the region of £300 to £500.

-Yes.

But she's worth a lot more to you,

-because of that lovely family association.

-Yes.

I inherited it from an uncle who lived in Malta.

I've had it about 10 years.

I understand that it's an old family,

going two or three generations back, anyway.

Other than that, I don't know.

Well, the interesting bit about it is the Maltese, actually,

in what you've just said,

because I've been toying with where it was made,

and it's got some marks on it inside, up in the lid,

but they are so indistinct,

that they don't really tell me anything,

certainly not, quickly being able to have a look at it here.

-Yeah.

-It's very much in the French taste, and in the Swiss,

if you like, of the period of about 1810-1820, something like that.

And you've got the sort of classical motifs and designs,

and workmanship and elements that are all typical of the period.

It's got French Empire, in a way, coming into that period,

or the end of the French Empire,

but I'm not immediately sure that it's Swiss,

and I'm not certain it's French,

so when you say that the family came from Malta,

there's a possibility that it might be Austrian or Italian.

The way it's made...it's made of 18 carat, or possibly 20 carat gold,

there's no hallmark to say which...

and it's chased onto a matted ground, they've applied gold work,

and it's very difficult to see in this bright sun that's appeared...

In fact, it's done in more than one colour,

so you have green gold and yellow gold.

-Was it actually used for snuff?

-It's snuff, that's right.

Have you had it valued, at all?

I've no idea of the value.

An uncle of mine, from whom I inherited it,

had it looked at by the Victoria and Albert, I think.

-Oh, right.

-This was a note that we found that sits within the box.

So, I'm probably now going to now prove that I'm talking rubbish.

I don't think you are.

5th November 1946, that's a long time ago.

Well, that's when it was either sent in,

or viewed by them, I'm not sure how.

"Dear Sir, if you bring your snuff box along,

"I will endeavour to tell you something about it.

"I'll make it clear that our regulations

"do not permit us to give a valuation."

-Obviously, it was seen and it comes with a note.

-OK.

"Period approx. 1810. A beautiful piece of work.

"Mark does not denote French or English,

"so probably Italian Neapolitan."

-OK, well...

-Or Austrian.

Well, there we are, so I haven't told you very much,

but I haven't wasted your time.

But we CAN, under BBC regulations, we can actually give you a valuation.

And I would reckon this is £3,000, possibly even £4,000.

£3,000 to £4,000.

Gosh, really?

Condition's wonderful.

Hughenden Manor's secret war effort would have remained secret,

if not for one extraordinary coincidence...

Victor Gregory, you came here a couple of years ago on a visit,

tell us about that.

I came here with my grandson, he wanted to know

where I'd been in the RAF, and we came over here on a visit.

One of the stewards saw me talking to my grandson,

and it went from there, really,

and it's grown from there too, really,

it's got more and more publicity,

and more and more people are interested.

You told him you were one of the people who produced the maps.

I told him that I was working in the drawing office,

and I'd been involved in the map on Berchtesgaden.

Ah, you've mentioned that.

I actually have that, and there it is...

This must look very familiar to you...

this was Hitler's country hideaway.

This was Hitler's hideaway.

We produced this map here at Hughenden for two factors.

there was a plan during the war to assassinate Hitler,

and the assassination attempt was going to be made by special forces,

and a very large RAF raid,

and this map was produced for the very large RAF raid,

which took place on 25th April 1945.

And then he committed suicide.

Five days later, he committed suicide,

we didn't catch him at Berchtesgaden,

because he was hiding in the bunker in Berlin.

But you would have, because that's a beautiful map.

And do you keep in touch? Are there any of you left?

Well, I'm certainly one who's left, as is obvious today.

There is another lady living in West Wycombe,

Katherine, who was here as a WAAF,

but it's been very difficult to locate anyone.

Lots of sons and daughters have got in touch with me,

and said, "My mother or father was here",

and I've shown a few people around the house.

It's been very emotional for these people, too.

But you've lived to tell the story.

This is a collection of English Victorian jewellery,

you couldn't get more absolutely English-looking jewellery than this,

so, tell me, is it family bequeathed pieces from the source of England?

Yes, quite a few pieces of jewellery were inherited by my mother,

from her mother and her grandmother.

-So, we're going back a few generations.

-Yes.

Have they been valued? Have you taken them to a jeweller?

Has he said anything about them at all?

I've never had them valued,

and I think some of the pieces were last valued about 40 years ago,

for probate purposes.

-40 years?

-Yes, about £2.

-£2?

-Yes.

The garnet snake, therefore, was valued at a couple of pounds.

-I think so.

-It's a garnet snake, in its original fitted box,

mounted in gold, coiling round in this rather pretty shaped case,

and those were the days, perhaps,

when you could buy a snake for a couple of pounds, I don't know.

It's a lovely piece, it's English, mid-Victorian, lovely garnets.

The type of garnets are called pyrope garnets,

there are different names for different colours of garnets.

These are this deep blood-red pyrope garnet,

and snakes are very good indeed for garnets,

they blend beautifully together,

doesn't the fitted box look lovely?

-It's lovely.

-It really does.

So, that's a garnet necklace,

and there's a garnet brooch, English, 1850,

garnet drop in the middle, a pyrope stone, and a garnet in the bud.

And you've got a gold locket, do we know who the subject is, here?

That's my great-grandmother.

Right, OK, and this therefore was the locket she probably wore?

I would think so. It has her initials on it.

It's got this monogram on it, that was a Victorian feature,

that they would put a little monogram on a locket,

which, I have to say, restricts them a bit,

you put an engraving on it,

and it slightly narrows the appeal in a commercial market.

-Yes.

-Then you've got this brooch, what do you know about this?

I don't know anything about it.

I'm not sure if it was my grandmother's,

or my great-grandmother's.

-It's just there.

-Part of the group.

-Yes.

-Did you know that it was a big diamond in the middle?

-No.

Mm, well, it is.

It's an old Victorian cut diamond,

and did you know that it weighs about...

Well, you didn't know that it weighs about two carats.

-Oh.

-It's a large, chunky diamond in the star in the middle.

-Right.

So, this is going to be a surprise,

-these prices that I'll give you.

-It is.

Well, let's start from this end, here.

The oval Victorian gold locket,

I suppose, in a nice box like that,

-£250 for it, possibly.

-Gosh.

The garnet brooch, here...

I think you're looking at least at £400 to £500,

-probably £600 on that one. It gets better.

-Really?

It does, yes, it gets better.

The garnet snake, I've always had a great affection for snake jewellery,

what do you think that's worth, then?

I know you've got no idea, but take a stab at it.

-£800.

-Yeah, that's very good. I think so, yes...

Well done, that's around about £800.

This thing, which for all I know,

you might have thought was paste, or something like that,

-a bit of glass...

-Um, yes.

Well, it's not the greatest diamond in the world,

but it IS a two carat brilliant-cut old mined Victorian diamond,

-so, do you think it's worth £1,000?

-I would hope so.

Well, I think it's worth £2,000.

-Wow.

-And, in fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's such a pretty stone,

in an appealing gold mount, £2,000 to £2,500...

So, let's say minimums of £2,000, £800,

£2,800, £3,000...

-£3,500 to £4,000.

-Gosh.

-So, last valued in 1960s, for £2.

-Yes.

This is the Roadshow for you.

You know precisely what this is, don't you?

Yes, it's a wine cooler.

The interesting thing is that we can date it fairly accurately,

it's English, made of mahogany,

-and it would be made between 1827 and 1835.

-Right.

It's an extremely important example.

-Really?

-It's wonderful.

I'll tell you why, and how we can date it.

A - it's a sarcophagus shape,

which became extremely popular after the death of Nelson,

particularly with the Classical renovations

and restorations being carried out throughout Europe,

the Grand Tour, and our military and naval campaigns.

Now, this is the bit that's probably the latest clue...

The vine leaves, this type of carving, was almost continental,

it was not an English type of carving,

and, of course, it alludes to wine from the continent,

rather than England.

By the 1810 period, we'd lost most of our wine production in this country,

so we imported it, and this is an instant indication

that of course it's a wine cooler,

there are the grapes and the vine.

Now, inside, well, it's a typical...

Look at the wonderful quality hinges, as you'd expect,

a very expensive and important piece when it was made,

with its original lead lining,

and in the bottom, that's where the plug was, originally,

to let the melted ice out,

and the ice, of course,

would have come from an ice house similar to here,

which has its own history.

In terms of value, wine coolers vary hugely.

Most of them range between £4,000 and £6,000.

This one, because of its obvious clues to date,

and the importance of manufacture,

-I would say between £8,000 and £10,000...

-Really?

..is a true value for that.

-Oh, really?

-Yes.

-I thought about £500.

Well... what can I say? No, no, no, £8,000 to £10,000.

Thank you very much.

And it's a joy to see, it's a real pleasure.

-So, we need to insure it, then.

-I think I would.

-Thank you.

-I don't do vehicles, is there any furniture?

-Some rubbish.

Well, this is not rubbish, what's this?

What a wonderful way to arrive at an Antiques Roadshow.

Me van, it's an Austin 12, and it's a proper...

-What date?

-1936, this one,

and we use it all the time, driven all over the place,

and we camp in the back.

I learned to drive on an Austin Ruby, it's about the same..

Have you got something back here for me?

See what we've got in here.

-In the back.

-Oh, great, oh, local chairs.

-Local chairs.

-Are you a local man?

-I'm afraid so.

-What do you mean, "afraid so"?

High Wycombe chairs...

But these came from my great-grandfather's factory.

We've got the set of four...

So, that's two of them, and that's typical Wycombe run-of-the-mill,

built...what, 1850s on to about 1900?

So, let me get this right, so your...

-Your family made them.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-In their workshops.

-In their factories in the town,

from the 1850s, up to when it burned down in 1936.

I know the Mealing family, as chairmakers,

go back to about 1814-1820.

Yeah, well, these are theirs, and as I say, we have a set,

and we have a set of the straight-backs,

and a set of the slat-backs.

Most people know this as a Windsor chair,

but Windsor chairs are from High Wycombe,

and just the great centre of chair-making in the world, really.

Well, they went all over the empire, didn't they?

Talking about the empire...

Queen Mary, the Queen Mary.

We're hopping about... now, we've got Queen Mary.

This is another Wycombe chair, now, it's a bit tatty, but it's used,

I've got a pair of these,

The Queen Mary... They were the second-class saloon,

they came back to Wycombe for repair,

but war broke out, it converted to a troop ship.

This is the Second World War.

Converted to a troop ship.

We ended up with two, and there must be hundred in Wycombe.

-Which most people know as Ercol.

-Yes, yes, and this is Wycombe beech.

This is why, apart from the fact you have the river as well,

but we have water, but the beech growing here

was why they were able to make these chairs.

This is typical.

-That's elm, but the arm of that is typical.

-And...

Lovely, comfy chairs, a bit tatty,

but meant to be used, it's not a museum piece,

and we have two, and we have Grandfather's comfy chair,

they didn't make those as well, they made these, here we are...

My father used to go motor-racing with the son.

And that's the comfy chair,

machine-made, typical sort of stuff we churned out, good at Wycombe...

I think that's beech again, isn't it?

Yes, it is, you can tell,

the flecks here are a typical giveaway of beech.

And there was a firm in Wycombe, called the Russian Cane Work,

which is still in Wycombe, that did all this caning.

What I like about this, the fact that it's cane,

is that caning came in in about the 1660-1680 period,

the Charles II, James II,

and this chair is copying that Carolean, Jacobean revival

of the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660-1680.

-In a completely modernised form...

-Machine-made, yes.

Twenties, 1920s look, but one thing about value,

double-caning always makes more money,

-when things are sold at auction.

-Oh, right.

It's difficult to value, because they're priceless.

My wife sits in this, doing her sewing,

that's in the kitchen, I use that in the study,

you know, it's family stuff.

-Without the family history, that's a £500 chair.

-Yeah, probably.

The Windsors...

Well, they're only £100 each, there's two.

Well, there's the set, and then the others, to go with them...

Perversely, these are probably worth more,

there's great interest in that great Art Deco liner,

-albeit they're second-class saloon.

-Oh, second-class.

So, £500-£800 the pair, perhaps more. Thank you very much.

No, thank you for your time.

They belonged to my grandmother's brother, and she was Danish.

When the war broke out,

unfortunately, he went off and joined the Nazi party.

-Oh, dear.

-And it caused a bit of a rift in the family,

and...after the war,

when my grandmother came over to England to live permanently,

I don't think they ever saw each other again,

but she came over with the bear,

-as a memento of her brother.

-And it was his bear?

It was his bear, yes.

Great-Uncle was born in 1907,

and we know it was given to him at some point during his...

Either at his birth,

or he was a couple of years older.

That does actually tie in with when these particular ones,

-which are known as the muzzled ones, the muzzled bears.

-Yeah.

As you probably know, they were emulating, typical of the day,

when they'd had these performing real bears in the streets,

poor little things, poor big things, but...

..but very dangerous without the muzzle, and this is made by Steiff.

-Yes.

-You know?

-We know because he's got the little button in the ear.

-You found the button. So, you knew that?

-Yes.

The fact that these performing bears were around, they thought,

"Well, we'd better try out a performing bear with the muzzle,"

-and they made a lot.

-Right.

They made silver ones, they made black ones,

they made dark brown ones, they made this beige colour,

in different sizes, and really, for a very short period,

because, rather like the black ones they tried out,

children went "Aaagh," because he's very frightening.

What did you think when you first saw him?

I remember seeing it when I was about six,

and it wasn't something I wanted to see again after that.

Yes, exactly. Anyway, it didn't take off for that very reason,

-just that children were frightened.

-Yes.

And so, because of that, they're rarer,

and these are very much in demand for bear collectors,

teddy bear collectors love these.

He's not a very rare colour, he's very worn here.

20 years ago, he'd have been more valuable,

because they didn't see enough of them.

-Right.

-We've had a lot coming onto the market.

Having said that, even in an auction,

he's going to be worth somewhere around £2,000.

-OK.

-What a character, I think you should give him a name.

We'll have to think of a name.

-What was the name of your great-uncle?

-Beur.

-Beur.

-Doesn't really go, does it?

-Doesn't ring, no.

Beur the bear.

It's an interesting bronze, it's a type of model I haven't seen before.

It's entitled at the base, "The Treasure Seeker",

and here we have a man digging, presumably for gold,

and like most bronzes of this period,

typically, of the bronzes made in 1890s-1900s in Austria and Germany,

it's signed on the side, here, we can see the signature.

"T. Curts," and also, on the back, it has the retailer's mark,

so, if we turn it round,

we can see that it was retailed by a firm in Vienna,

but there's something slightly different about this bronze.

Isn't there, just?

Very unusually, it's in two pieces, and we can reveal all now,

if we lift up the treasure seeker, lo and behold, he's found his gold.

And there we have it, a naked lady, lain out,

slightly risque for the time,

which is why, obviously, she was covered up on most occasions,

and all respectable men could have these bronzes in their drawing room

or dining room, and, depending on who your friends were that came round,

you could reveal what was underneath, or not, as the case may be.

Any idea of the value of the bronze?

-No idea.

-It's an unusual model, and with the erotic connection,

I would think, if that came up at auction,

it would probably fetch between £800 and £1,200.

-Really?

-Yeah, it's a delight to see the treasure seeker and his friend.

-Thanks for bringing them in.

-Thank you.

Now, if there was a fire in your house,

and you had to grab one object, what are you going to grab?

I think I'd grab two, actually, I'd grab the two beer mugs.

Does that tell me something?

We do use them, it's nice to pull them out on special occasions.

They're 18th century, they're actually tankards, not mugs.

-Oh, right.

-They've got lids.

Mugs don't have lids, tankards do.

That's not what I would grab.

-Right.

-Do you know what I would grab?

-Um...

You're going to go for the dirtiest thing, aren't you?

Close, well, it's one of the dirty...

I'm going to grab that.

-Right.

-So, when did you get that?

I got that at an auction, local to here in Watlington,

about four or five years ago.

I've researched the hallmarks,

and the catalogue said it was early 1800s,

but it didn't have the King's head on the hallmark,

so I thought, "That doesn't sound right."

So, it was going fairly cheaply.

Well spotted, because it certainly isn't early 1800s,

-it's actually early 1700s.

-Right.

-We've actually got the hallmarks here for 1726.

-Right.

Last year of the reign of George I,

-and the maker is a chap called William Darker.

-Right.

London maker.

It is a very early and a rare form of sauce boat.

It's fascinating, if you go back, not...

In fact, to the end of the reign of Queen Anne,

you might just find a sauce boat.

We didn't have sauce boats in England, we didn't need them.

English food was so good, the raw materials.

You know they talk about good English fare,

that was a great compliment to English food.

It didn't need spicing up in any way.

Now, in France, things were very different.

The French raw materials were pretty awful,

so what did the French chefs do?

They developed sauces to disguise how bad the food was.

But what happened in the early 18th century

was that English aristocrats started to...

one or two had done it before... but started to employ French chefs.

They made sauces, there was nothing to put them in.

So, they started making sauce boats,

and, of course, they followed the French idea

of the two lips and the two handles.

One thing that we do have... The Victorians, God bless them,

have added their own initials there.

That does have an effect on the value.

The original initials, funnily enough,

are just tucked on the handle there.

-Right, yeah.

-Those certainly are right for the reign of George I.

So, what did you pay for it?

It was £160.

£160... Ah, yes, interesting.

I think that you could easily think of adding another nought to that.

-Really? Mm.

-Easily, such a rare piece.

This is one of the most exciting pictures

I've ever seen on a Roadshow,

so thank you for making my day, probably my year.

Is that an interesting start?

-Has that raised your hopes?

-It's made our day, too.

Well, I haven't told you enough, yet.

As you can clearly see, it is signed by the Irish artist, Paul Henry.

Now, I have to ask you, have you any Irish blood in you?

-None.

-No, we haven't.

Oh, really? So how did this picture come to your family?

Well, it was owned by my parents, and it's now in my brother's house,

and as far as I know, it's been there about 50 years.

Really? So, no real connections.

-None.

-And do you know about Paul Henry?

-Only this amount.

-Only this amount,

as in the picture you've been seeing for the last few years, yes.

-Beautiful painting.

-Well, it is, and Paul Henry, obviously an Irishman,

studied in Belfast, and like many good artists,

he went abroad in the 1890s, to Paris,

and allegedly, he studied with Whistler.

I can't quite see the connection, but that's allegedly.

But the point is that after he'd worked in Paris,

he then came back to Ireland in 1910,

and, really, was part of a very academic group, a very Irish group.

This was the time when Ireland was asserting itself,

wanted national identity,

and Paul Henry, I think, did this very well,

he was a great, great painter,

and he captured the Irish spirit in simple landscapes,

and this is a wonderful landscape,

painted, I think, probably later in the 1930s,

in the Connemara area, and I love the whole perspective.

Here you are, rather low down,

-looking up at these cottages over the bog here.

-The light.

Yes, and these wonderful, strong clouds coming over,

it's about to throw down a huge amount of rain any second.

And it's wonderful. Also, I like the type of painting,

it's quite blocky, and it's free,

and I love that sort of feeling to it.

It's very uncluttered, isn't it?

Very uncluttered, exactly.

In fact, some of his work was used in posters for the tourist industry,

"Come to Ireland," that sort of thing.

-I see.

-And it's much more than a landscape painting.

-Yes.

-It's a bit of propaganda, as well.

Now, you may be interested to know...

Also, the Irish market has moved quite dramatically upwards,

and 20 years ago, if you'd come to me and had showed it to me,

I would have been interested, but not that interested, money-wise.

But now, with the Irish being such a buoyant economy...

a lot of rich Irish people making money...

They are very interested in buying...

-They want their paintings back.

-Exactly.

So...is it insured?

-As far as I know, no.

-No, we don't think so.

-No, not at all.

Well, I think if it appeared on the market today,

we'd be talking at least £40,000 to £60,000.

-Oh, never!

-That's unbelievable.

It's amazing, it's quite amazing.

And I think you may well find that is slightly conservative as well,

but to find good Irish pictures gets tougher and tougher,

so, as you can see, I'm really excited,

and I can't thank you enough, what a day.

-Thank you very much for the information.

-Pleasure.

Many important things have happened at Hughenden Manor.

Disraeli, planning the nation's future,

those RAF types beavering away at their maps in World War II,

and their spirit lives on.

We have our own team planning the route for the next Roadshow target.

Top secret at the moment, of course...

As soon as we have the details, we'll let you know,

but for now, from Buckinghamshire, goodbye.