Gloucester Cathedral 1 Antiques Roadshow

This year, it's a new look for the Roadshow, or at least a different one.

The cute little Citroen 2CV that used to adorn our opening titles

has gone into retirement and is replaced by a British icon - the noble Morris Minor.

Morris and his metallic mascot will be turning heads

all over the country if everything goes according to plan,

and if we keep oiling the joints.

In fact, there are a lot of miles ahead for all of us.

And there are some mouth-watering destinations.

From Prideaux Place in Cornwall to Aberdeen's Music Hall, to fine country houses,

such as Holkham Hall in Norfolk, and Kedleston in Derbyshire.

The awesome castles of Arundel and Auckland

form the backdrops for our swoops on Sussex and County Durham.

We're even hot on the heels of a mobile steam fair in London.

Who knows who we'll meet along the way?

But we open our 29th series

at the magnificent medieval cathedral of Gloucester.

History buffs will know that Henry III

became one of England's youngest monarchs when he was crowned here at the age of nine.

What else? Well, amongst other things, it boasts a window roughly the size of a tennis court.

Not only that, but a chap called John Stafford Smith,

who wrote a tune that became the American National Anthem,

used to tickle the ivories here at the cathedral's great organ.

Now it's up to our specialists to pull out all the stops

for the latest rendition of the Antiques Roadshow.

-Well, it's a beautiful day, and you've brought...

-Jemmy Wood.

Jemmy Wood, the miser of Gloucester. Can you tell me all about him?

This particular one is my family one and it's handed down by two generations, I know.

-And he was a local man.

-A local.

-Do you know what he did?

-I know a little bit.

He was the biggest man that used to lend money, a money lender then.

-Ah.

-A money lender.

-Well, that probably accounts for it.

One of the lovely things about Staffordshire figures is

that they tell social history, particularly through the 19th century.

So why would they have been making Staffordshire figures of Jemmy Wood?

When he died - I think he died in the 1830s, about 1836-7 -

he left a huge amount of money in his will which nobody knew about.

He left over £700,000 then.

I don't know what that would be today. Multi-millions.

I seem to remember it was divided by four people.

-Oh.

-They contested the will and it went up to the House of Lords.

And the House of Lords case was still going on about five or six years after his death.

I seem to think the city of Gloucester was supposed to be left £200,000 of it.

Yes, they were, I believe, yes.

And they never got it.

-He was suddenly a Gloucester celebrity.

-Yes.

So, hey, Staffordshire factories, they produced portrait figures

of many, many people and so it would have been in the early 1840s.

And that's when these ones date from.

I think it's just terrific to see these.

-This one was inherited.

-Yes.

-This one was bought for...

From an antiques shop that was closing down and we happened to be passing.

-Because we recognised the face.

-On holiday, we were.

They're not terrifically valuable. You probably know. How much was this one?

Just over £100, I believe.

£100. That's actually quite a good buy.

-At retail, I would expect you to have to pay a couple of hundred.

-Yes.

This one's bigger and better and I would think probably £300 or £400.

-Thank you.

-But super things. Very, very nice to see.

-Thank you very much.

-It's interesting you brought this along as well.

-Yeah. That comes from my mother and my father always...

-As a child.

..as a child, always joked that he won that.

-Cos we have a Gloucester cheese roll.

-We have a cheese roll.

-Ah.

And he always joked that the cheese he won, he used to keep in there - a joke.

-It is a cheese dome.

-A cheese...

-Cheese dome?

Yeah. You probably know what the material is. It's English majolica.

-We see quite a lot of majolica on the Roadshow here.

-Yeah.

It comes up for auction fairly frequently.

This one - I had a look at it - it's made by a factory

called George Jones and Son, who were in Staffordshire.

They're one of the better makers. Um... It's worth about £2,000.

-2,000?

-Huh?!

-Yep, 2,000.

Wow! That's a lot more money than I thought.

-Wow!

-Thanks very much.

-I'm really pleased.

-Thank you.

-That's really brilliant.

-Thank you.

-You've made my day. That's great.

Start at the beginning. Do you know who this represents?

-This is my granddad.

-This is your granddad?

Yeah. I think he was about seven or eight when it was made.

-When was he born?

-1906. I'm not quite sure.

-Did you ever know your grandfather?

No, he died when I was one, so I never really got to meet him.

-Right, so this in effect is a record of him.

-Yeah.

-Do you like it?

-Yeah, I quite like it.

It's kind of a nice texture to it and it's...

It brings the child to life in a very, very delicate but at the same time very intimate way, to me.

The key thing is who did it, which, of course, you know.

It's on the side quite clearly - K Scott.

And that was Lady Scott who was the widow of Scott of the Antarctic.

-Yes.

-Who, in her own right, was a very famous sculptor.

-Yeah.

-But what is the connection between Scott and your family?

Well, Scott used to be a childhood friend to my grandfather.

-Hang on a minute, so Peter Scott...

-Yeah, Peter Scott.

-Son of Lady Scott?

-Yeah.

And, as far as I know, Kathleen Mavis sculpted that.

-So the child sat for her?

-Yeah.

-She did a lot of children sculpture.

-Yeah.

Sculpture of children one thing that she was very good at.

And I think it's partly because her own son, Peter Scott, was constantly modelled by her.

-I don't know how much you know about her.

-I know she did Peter Pan sculpture.

Yes, she did Peter Pan. Exactly.

This could be that Peter Pan figure almost, couldn't it?

It's got that almost naive Victorian feel about it.

At the same time, it has reality, which you like. That intimacy.

It's as though it's actually been modelled as though it were clay.

And it feels really loose still and it has lots of texture to it.

Which I think is why people like this.

Of course, all this begins with Rodin.

Rodin was the key figure who made sculpture realistic.

Suddenly, the human body looked like the human body.

So I think it's a lovely thing. I think it's also worth quite a bit.

She's a good name and I think with, all that story,

you're looking at £1,500 to £2,000.

-Really?

-So, if I was you, I'd put your name on it.

-I may try and claim it.

-I think you should.

Here we are, it's written from Merton College.

Merton College Oxford dated December 11th 1954.

"Dear Mr McMahon, thank you for your letter.

"You will forgive me, perhaps, if I say that

"it was not possible to avoid a certain pleasure in your distress."

Well, what was your distress?

My distress was that I had, in 1954, had bought the first volume of the Lord of the Rings.

I was interested in it, because I'd read the Hobbit as a boy.

And it had just come out.

And I didn't realise it was only a third of the book.

So when I got to the end of it, I was left in the lurch.

So I was very cross and I wrote to Tolkien and complained.

And this is just typical Tolkien handwriting.

I mean, just this elfin, runic handwriting that he went in for.

You know, he goes on.

And he's written to you, what, one, two, three...

-four pages.

-Yes.

And signing himself at the bottom there, "Tolkien".

It's absolutely a tremendous thing. And you did buy the others, did you?

-I certainly did, I was thrilled about them. Absolutely thrilled.

-And did you enjoy the film?

-I didn't see the film.

-No?

-No.

-Weren't you curious?

Well, I don't know. I don't believe in special effects.

Well, Ian McKellen's Gandalf, it was extraordinary.

-I liked him in the book, but I don't really...

-Oh, well.

I think that's rather sweet. Right, you're not remotely interested in how much it's worth?

Well, remotely perhaps.

Well, a Tolkien collector I would think would pay quite a lot of money for this.

-I think somewhere between £2,000 and £3,000.

-As much as that?

-Yes, very desirable.

-Yes.

Well, firstly, I must ask you if you know what it is.

Well, I think it's a card holder.

Absolutely correct. If we open the top like that, you can see there, the cards would slip in there.

They were very thin in the 19th century, cards.

It would be for visiting cards rather than business cards.

Because if you went and called on someone and they weren't there, you always left your card.

-Do you know what this depicts?

-No, not really.

OK. Well, it's Westminster Abbey.

-Oh, right.

-Fairly distinctive building.

It was built in the time of Henry I.

So we're looking at the 13th century, although these towers are later.

And they were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, the very famous 18th-century architect.

-Oh, right.

-And it's what's called a castle top card case.

Because they normally depict cathedrals or castles or abbeys.

Whether there's one of Gloucester Cathedral or not, I don't know. If there is, it'd be pretty rare.

And then if we turn it over on the other side, you've got the wonderful foliate scrolling decoration.

Very much in the Victorian style.

In the centre here is a little cartouche which you could have put your initials in, if you wanted.

But it's been left blank in this case.

And the maker has stamped it and hallmarked it there.

And it was made by Nathaniel Mills who is one of the great,

probably the greatest, 19th-century silversmith working in Birmingham.

So it's by a very good maker and it dates to 1855.

So we know it's the middle of the 19th century, castle top card case by Nathaniel Mills.

So, what's its history?

-Well, it's not actually mine. The person who it belongs to couldn't make it today.

-Right.

-That's a friend of yours, is it?

-Yes.

How did he...?

Well, apparently he bought it

about 20 years ago in an antique shop for about £90, he told me. And that's all I know about it.

£90 20 years ago?

-Well, you can tell your friend that it would show a pretty good appreciation in 20 years.

-Oh?

They are much sought after.

And I would think if he was in an antique shop today

and he wanted to buy it, it would probably cost him the best part of £3,000.

Oh, my goodness! He'll be thrilled to bits.

How did you get a film script for Dr Who in 1965 and Not Only But Also, the same sort of period?

You're far too young to have something this good.

Well, a friend of my father, he was buying a filing cabinet in an auction.

-What, just as a piece of office furniture?

-Yes.

And inside were these two scripts among other items.

And he said, "Would you like to have them?" to my dad.

And he thought there might be some value attached to them but he insisted that we had them.

So a bonus for us.

So just serendipity, you know, just, just the way it happened.

What's great about this Dr Who script is of course it's got

the original Dr Who, William Hartnell, in there.

And these scripts just don't escape often. So that's on one side.

The other one is we've got Not Only But Also featuring, of course, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

But also John Lennon. I mean, it doesn't get much better than this.

And if I just flick to that page, here we've got what John is going to say. It's John's script.

"I was bored on the 9th October, 1940.

"When, I believe, the nasties were still booming up, led by Madolf Heartlump..."

I mean, it's just wonderful John gobbledegook.

It's valuable. How valuable?

That's the thing. How many escaped?

I would have thought that the Dr Who,

knowing that there are so many Dr Who fans out there, mad keen Dr Who fans,

that must be worth £300, £400.

Maybe 400. This, with the John Lennon piece in it, I think more.

Probably more like £400 to £500.

I think this is really, really special.

And I'm very jealous.

And I think that your dad did well not to turn these down.

Keep them safe.

So here we are in Gloucester Cathedral, but we're looking at a picture of Worcester Cathedral.

-Yes.

-So it's a strange combination of paintings and a strange gas fire.

But then it all comes into a context together, doesn't it?

-Because these are by your...

-My uncle.

-Your uncle.

-Yes.

Who was?

-Charlie Twilton.

-Charlie Twilton. Charlie Twilton was one of the great painters at Worcester factory.

I never knew him, he died before I got there, but he was a great painter of the 1920s.

-Yes.

-A marvellous painter. I mean, see the quality of these paintings on here.

-These are watercolours by him.

-Yes.

He mainly did china painting of fruit and flowers.

-Have you got any examples of those?

-No. I haven't sadly, no.

But here is Worcester Cathedral from the River Severn

and here is the Cathedral, up from the River Severn

-looking from the weir.

-That's right.

-And of course the water flowing down to Gloucester.

-To Gloucester, yes.

And here, one of my favourite scenes in Worcester is Friar Street where my wife used to live.

My wife had her original home in Friar Street.

Lovely old street. And there it is.

And paintings by Charlie Twilton.

-Yes.

-Charlie was a very fine painter, I've always admired his work.

But I've never seen watercolours like this by him before. So it's great to see them.

He was originally one of the members of the terrible seven.

They were seven young apprentices who tore the factory to shreds. They were dreadful.

They used to play cricket down the painting room, using as the wicket a big vase.

It taught them to hit the ball well, so I was told.

And then Charlie lost his job at the factory and what did he do next?

Well, I don't know whether he went straight there, but he did go to the car factory and was spraying cars.

-Spraying cars.

-Yes.

-It's an awful shame to think that a painter as talented as that

-should have ended up his life spraying cars.

-Yes.

Not that spraying cars isn't important,

but not as important as painting like that.

-But this is a sprayed job, is it?

-Yes.

-How did this come to you?

He made it for my mum for her fifth birthday.

-This is made by Charlie?

-Yes, yes.

-For your mother?

-Yes.

-And does it work?

-It used to. It's quite old wiring system now and there's a battery.

-It's supposed to be run by battery on the back.

-So it's completely workable?

-Yes.

You can light the flames up and it used to have flames coming out that lit up red when you lit it.

-And he would have sprayed the whole thing?

-Yeah.

-And inside it works?

-There's even a little Sunday afternoon chop!

-Absolutely.

Is that made by him as well?

Oh, I say. And there's a picture of him there, is it?

-Yes.

-This is Charlie?

-Yeah.

He's a handsome chap, wasn't he, really?

Nowadays, of course, his work is collectable.

I suppose that lovely scene of Friar Street, that one over there, is absolutely beautiful.

-Is that your favourite?

-Yes. Some of the buildings are still there.

Some of the buildings still there. I'd value that at something like around about £600 to £800.

And similarly for these super paintings of Worcester. I think they're great.

I think the one with the cathedral in the background is absolutely marvellous.

But there is Charlie. A great, great painter.

-You must be very admiring of him.

-Yes, yes.

-A lovely man.

Well, this is an object of unbelievable luxury, isn't it?

-When did you first see it?

-As a child, my mother showed it to me.

And to me it was rather like a fairy compact.

-I just thought it was exquisite.

-Well, it is absolutely exquisite

and I must say the gold is completely inimitable.

I mean, the texturing of it, the return of light.

And it's set all over with these wonderful cabochon rubies, isn't it?

-It is.

-And it opens here, I think, doesn't it?

Look at that. Smooth as a Rolls Royce door actually, isn't it?

Amazing. And of course, it comes from a period of luxury,

really almost the last gasp of luxury at this level.

When ladies used powder compacts, which they don't these days.

No. And they took them out to dances and wore the very finest clothes that they possibly could.

Because a lot of other entertainments simply weren't available to them.

And there wasn't this sort of compulsion to stay indoors, you had to go out and look marvellous.

So who carried this? It was your grandmother's?

-That was my grandmother's.

-And was it bought new?

I don't know, actually. I have to say, I don't know.

-It was always kept in a very special place.

-I bet.

And it was always known as a very special object.

Absolutely. I think there's a... Earlier, I spotted the signature of Boucheron here somewhere.

That's right.

The designer, one of the main designers of Boucheron is there.

Here it is. And it's an engraved signature just above the mirror.

It is, yes. And Boucheron is one of the most famous names in jewellery,

running completely parallel with Cartier in Paris.

And I suppose this may have been bought in Paris, or in London for that matter.

But whoever bought it, or received it, must have been staggered.

-It's beautiful.

-It's a tiny distillation of the decorative arts of the period.

It can belong to no other period.

In my view it comes from the 1940s, actually.

-Really?

-And, as I say, it is the last gasp of luxury at that level.

It's antecedents are the gold boxes of the 18th century.

-Right.

-None of them worked quite so perfectly.

And I think that, with luck, we can make this open in a rather special way.

And there it is. And it's the most extraordinary mechanism, isn't it?

Because it closes as smooth as can be.

-Almost like a secret opening.

-It is a secret opening.

And I think... There it is.

It's just a little pull backwards and then it would reveal it.

I think it's also terribly important to say that this compact was only just one part of her arrangements.

Because her dress would be at the same pitch, wouldn't it?

And do you have any long-term plans for it?

Well, I'd be reluctant to sell it.

But I'm doing a BSc degree at the moment and I've got another year to go.

So if it went to a good home, I suppose I might consider it.

Well, I think it jolly well would go to a good home.

It's a very, very valuable object indeed and a thrilling one to see.

And I suppose, really, if one wanted to sell it,

-one could expect something like £8,000 or £9,000.

-Really?

-And that should take you a long way towards your BSc.

-Certainly would.

-What is the subject of your degree?

-Complimentary therapies.

-Goodness.

-Yes, so if you'd like a massage...

-I absolutely would, actually!

-I think that would be an absolutely fabulous idea. Thank you.

-Thank you.

Here at the Roadshow, many people bring us in old black-and-white photographs

of sportsmen sitting there very proudly, wearing caps.

But here, we've got the actual caps themselves. Who do they belong to?

They belonged to our grandfather, Henry Berry.

He was killed in 1915 in France, in the First World War.

-He belonged to the Gloucestershire Regiment.

-Right.

But more importantly, he was a great rugby player.

He played not only for the regiment, but he played for the south west,

he played for the county of Gloucester and he played for England, four times.

He played all the matches in 1910 and this is when Twickenham was a brand-new stadium.

-And he played on the first international matches at Twickenham.

-Fantastic.

-And we are very proud.

They only got one cap for the entire season, if you like.

And here it is. These caps haven't seen the light of day in decades.

Ever since I and Michael have been born, they have been in a cabinet.

So it's time people saw these beautiful trophies and the wonderful quality of the, of the tassel.

Looks like a solid silver tassel.

They are just wonderful things, they really are.

We also have the rose that was on his football shirt.

Fantastic. Obviously, you're not gonna sell -

they are family heirlooms. However, we've got to think about price.

Irreplaceable, but if they did get damaged by fire or loss,

-we've got to think of a figure maybe as much as £1,500 to £2,000.

-Wow.

Sporting memorabilia is very, very popular now.

And with the story behind them, you've got something of great importance.

-That's great, thank you.

-Thank you.

-My pleasure.

Do you know, at this time of the day,

it's nice to have a chocolate and I see you've brought your own.

-Oh, yes. Well, I don't think you'll be wanting to eat this one.

-Really?

-Yeah, look.

-Oh, hang on.

It's real choc. You can smell it slightly.

The foil's still there, but I think that's shredded paper.

Well, I'm not surprised.

Dated 1900, it's got a reason to be slightly manky.

-Yeah, just a bit, but it'd give you a bad tummy.

-But it's all there.

-Yeah.

-From Queen Victoria to her subjects, soldiers in South Africa fighting the Boer War.

-Yeah.

I wonder why they didn't eat it.

I don't know, I would've.

Let's have a niff.

Well, it is 106 years old after all.

-If I smell as good as that after 106 years, I shall be very surprised.

-GIGGLING

Well, reading this, I'm a little bit confused.

-I mean, "My seven-year-old son John." Is that you?

-Yes, yes.

Right. So it's made of bone china, part of a set

used by Queen Victoria's household when the court was in mourning for William IV.

-What's going on?

-Well, I'm not altogether sure.

My mother went into care in August

and we were clearing out the house and we found this and the other plate that goes with it.

So we took it all back to the house and there were some boxes.

I found this newspaper in the boxes.

I didn't know very much about the plates until then.

She did say there were some mourning plates.

-But the piece of paper supposedly tells us.

-Yes.

A set of six in the kitchen at Windsor Castle.

Distributed around the staff. Um...

Normally on the Antiques Roadshow, we're used to giving people good news stories.

-And I'm afraid here... it's going to be some bad news.

-I see.

But you may not be too disappointed by that, I don't know. It says bone china.

-It's obviously not.

-It's not. It's boody, as we say in Newcastle.

-Right.

-And I don't think it's anything to do with Queen Victoria.

-Right.

-If we look at the mark, it's Ashworths Real Ironstone China.

Ashworths were a firm who took over Mason's Ironstone.

-Right.

-This piece dates to about 1900-1910.

And they've decorated the plate, they've painted on the black,

and then, you see here, it's gone a bit in the kiln, so it's a reject.

-Right.

-And somehow it's come into your family, it's black.

-Yeah.

-They've associated the black and very severe decoration with the death of William IV.

-And here's the proof in the paper. But I'm afraid none of it's true.

-No, right.

So we started off with one of six plates maybe taken from Windsor Castle, to commemorate William IV.

And we've ended up with a rather ordinary

-early-20th-century bit of boody worth practically nothing.

-OK.

-It's worth a few pounds.

-Saves me the insurance.

-Exactly. But you're mentioned on there.

-It's a little bit of your family history. You can have a good giggle.

-Absolutely.

-Thanks very much indeed.

-It's a pleasure.

-I don't think it takes a genius to know who designed these pieces.

-No.

Because his name is written very loud and clear on the base of this lamp.

Rene Lalique -

Frenchman, the most famous glassmaker probably in history.

But it's interesting that Lalique was no revolutionary glass maker.

-He relied on pressed glass techniques that were at least 100 years old.

-Yeah.

But where his talent lay were in his design to create these fabulously attractive motifs.

The iridescence, which was kind of him. He pioneered that.

But really the application of his name onto his work was really revolutionary.

Today, we're kind of entirely familiar with this sort of brand marketing.

But by applying his name onto all his work, all Lalique work is signed Lalique,

there's no doubt about that.

And so he pioneered this idea that, by branding the products, you could sell them for more.

-Right.

-So in a way, Lalique made pressed glass posh.

-Yes.

And this stuff was extremely expensive in its day.

-So tell me, you found it under a gooseberry bush?

-No.

It belonged to my grandmother, who's now passed away.

And it now belongs to my father.

And I've just always loved it and granny, this was her bedside lamp ever since I was tiny.

And still was up until the day she died and it's just beautiful.

-Tell me about Gran.

-We've tried to work out where she got it.

And she was born in 1907 and she apparently went to Paris to a kind of a finishing school.

Which would have been around late 1920s, we suspect.

And she was very much interested in art. She was a hobby artist herself.

And we don't know whether this was bought for her or she bought it for herself because she liked it.

But she'd always had it.

-So your granny was hanging out in Paris in the late '20s.

-Yes.

-Groovy Gran!

-Absolutely.

One of the interesting things that one doesn't generally see with this, is the original shade.

I mean, it's amazing to have the shade.

It's in sad condition.

-I know, I know.

-And to be honest, it doesn't make a great deal of difference to its value.

-Does it not?

-Because it's a curiosity more than anything else.

-Right.

-I mean, it's great to see it and I think she's worn it well.

-Yes.

One of the other interesting thing about the lamp is that it's got the socket beneath.

-I never knew that. I never had known until you pointed that out.

-Two of these are really famous.

-This is Ceylon...

-Oh, right, OK, yeah.

-Auction, £2,500...

-Right.

-..resale £3,500 to £4,000.

-That's the replacement value.

-Right.

This is called Avalon, this vase here.

-Again, of course, it bears the signature.

-Yeah.

It's just here.

And the obvious thing about this vase is that it's been hit by a nuclear missile.

Could that be repaired? It's very yellow and it's obviously been glued back.

This could be seriously improved. They would detach it,

remove this oxidised glue from around the crack

and make it less obvious. You can't make it perfect any more.

-No.

-Intact, Avalon - £1,500 to £2,000.

-Right.

Obviously, with the damage, it sort of turns it into a curiosity and a family piece.

In that it's an attractive design, you turn it the right way, you can't see it. A few hundred pounds.

This powder pot is interesting in that I've never seen this pattern before.

Haven't you? I can't find it on any web sites or anything.

-I haven't seen that pattern.

-That doesn't surprise me.

The common factor to them all is this opalescence, which is distinctly Lalique.

And I think that we'd agree that these are dandelion heads.

-I think so, yes.

-I think we have...

-Dandelion clocks, yeah.

Dandelion clock. As it stands, so what are we going to say?

-On a piece I've never seen before, £800 auction?

-Right, OK.

-£1,200 replacement from a shop.

-Yeah.

-So altogether, I think that Grandma did OK.

-Did all right.

-Thank you.

-Thanks a lot, great.

This must have belonged to a very, very superior and wealthy child.

As of course it's a Christening set.

And it's really quite a spectacular one. But how do you come to have it?

My husband liked the antiques.

He always go round everywhere to look around, you know?

He said, "Quite unusual, that thing."

So he saves all the money and just one lump put in there.

-And get this one.

-Well, he certainly showed good taste when he bought this.

Because it's really one of the nicest ones I've seen. This is the most wonderful quality.

And I love this...

wonderful vine leaves going all the way up and this twisted stem.

And more vine leaves there.

-Yes.

-Then, when you turn it round, it's exactly the same on the other side.

-Fantastic gilding.

-Yes.

-And then on the back, the hallmarks.

-Yes.

AH, that's the maker's mark of Aaron Hadfield.

And a date letter of 1840.

-1840?

-Exactly 1840.

-1840.

-Aaron Hadfield.

Hadfield, Sheffield. In Sheffield.

So where was he when he bought this, your husband?

Was he at an antique fair?

-No, I think he bought it from in Cheltenham.

-Cheltenham, at a shop?

Cheltenham in a posh antique shop.

Round the corner. You know, Cavendish House opposite, that one.

-He maybe bought from there.

-Did he pay lots of money for it?

-He pay a lot of money.

-How much?

-A few hundred pounds we thought.

-But I don't know how much exactly.

-As much as that?

Because he forgot. So long time.

Well, I'm absolutely fascinated by a Chinese chap

going into a shop and buying this very typically English item

-that he didn't know anything about, just because he liked it.

-Yes, he just liked it and just get it.

All his wages on it.

Just one lump. All gone.

I think he did very well, because if he had to go and buy it today

-I think he'd probably have to pay £1,000 for it.

-Ooh. £1,000?

Not a hundred, so I think he did brilliantly.

I see. So if this, want to sell it, where to go? Where to go?

-Oh, you mustn't sell it.

-Eh?

-You mustn't sell it.

-Because we want money!

-No, no, you don't. No, no, no.

-Yes.

Pick him up. Oh, I can't.

-Heavy.

-He is heavy.

-But he's a marvellous piece of theatre, isn't he?

-He is.

-He's super.

-Absolutely fantastic. He's like an Oriental atlas.

Standing there, holding this above his head for ever and ever. But what do you know about him?

Well, I just know that he came from my great uncle Herbert.

The grandchildren play with him when it's supper time, to gong the gong.

-And that's all I know about it, really.

-Great. Well, he's a marvellous looking thing.

He's Japanese and very typically Japanese, really.

-The Japanese had a terrific industry of making bronzes.

-Yes.

He dates from the Magi period, which was 1868 to 1912.

-The second half of the 19th century.

-Yes.

-And the metal industry really flourished in Japan.

Looking at him a bit more closely, the quality of the face,

the quality down here in the toes, is terrific work.

The gong is a bit more crudely made.

It's hammered metal. And we've got this gilt inlay.

The scroll is called a karakusa scroll.

It's a type of a Japanese scroll which runs round the border.

-We've got sort of cracks here. Who on earth did that?

-It's a shame. I don't know how that happened.

-This really has been bashed about a lot.

-Right.

-And do you bash him?

Oh, yes. The grandchildren do, when it's supper time if they want to.

-They think that's good fun.

-Makes a good noise?

-Yes.

BONG!

We are going to be in unbelievable trouble for that.

-I enjoyed it.

-That's a very good noise.

Yes.

When it comes to the price, in this condition,

-he'll be somewhere between £1,000 and £1,500 at auction.

-Right, lovely.

OK, thank you very much indeed. Delighted.

Well, my hobby's scuba diving. And I collected this

on the wreck site of HMS Association on the Scillies.

-Right.

-And the Association was one of five ships that sank.

-Sir Cloudesley Shovel.

-That's it, yeah.

-1707.

-Yes, yes.

And I think I get the point.

Effectively, as I'm sure you know, the sinking of that

was such a disaster than it brought about the concern of the King,

the concern of parliament and effectively started the serious search for trying to find longitude.

Because it was as a result of miscalculation from its longitude, its position, that the fleet sank.

-Yes.

-And so many people were killed. You've picked a variety of items.

The first one is a celestial globe.

And this, as you well know, is an instrument that you can set it up,

you can use your latitude, your longitude, you can position it

in such a way that it can tell you where you should be looking.

It's made by a maker called Carey.

It is the same firm, but it's not the famous period

when they made those wonderful big globes

which you see in country houses and libraries, which go back to the 1800s.

This is much later in the 19th century.

And a fascinating thing, but not desperately valuable,

it's a little bit sort of boring in its box, you know?

In fact, the box really doesn't do justice to the instrument.

That's that. This however is,

I think, rather more attractive. It's a marine chronometer.

This instrument dates from probably I would say early 1820s.

Have you been able to do any research on it?

It's 1837 and I've contacted the..

National Maritime?

At Greenwich. And they've been able to supply me with some dates and some ships that it was on.

Well, it was obviously in military service.

-We have the War Department mark.

-The arrow.

-The arrow, yes.

So we've got a star globe, a marine chronometer,

and this final incarnation, which is totally up to date,

this is the sort of wrist watch that today,

-even young ladies wear a wrist watch of this size.

-Yes.

Now, it's made by Panerai, which was an Italian-based company.

And this particular model was specifically designed

-for use under water, at sea.

-Yes.

And they were carried and worn by those extremely brave men who drove those underwater chariots.

Two men, which is effectively an explosive torpedo.

Yes.

And obviously with such a large dial and being luminous, you could actually read it under sea.

I purchased this from a friend of mine, whose father

was responsible for getting it in the Second World War.

And his father and his uncles, or the father and the brother,

were stationed on the bridge at Nijmegen at the battle of Arnhem.

And they spotted something under the water near the bridge.

And they obviously shot and killed two German divers,

who were on one of these torpedoes, chariots.

They came to the surface and the story is that they were buried,

but of course, the soldiers recovered the war booty from them.

And the watch comes from that.

So we've got an interesting group here.

I haven't got a clue what that's worth.

I'm sure there was probably more than one historical...

And a great start. These are not as valuable as they might look.

They're £200, £300, perhaps £400.

However, your chronometer's a really nice one.

And I would say that that's now, in today's market,

worth £3,000, £4,000 perhaps, something like that.

Getting on that way. It's a good one. This is an interesting one though.

-Proving the story about where it came from is going to be difficult.

-Yes.

But it may be possible to find out if such... whether such things happened,

which would add some substance. Getting in touch with Panerai

to see if there's any records as to who it was sold to would help.

But I'm going to make a punt on it, give you a figure.

And I think...

it's worth about £20,000.

Blimey.

-I know.

-A watch.

A watch, yeah. I reckon it's worth...

-the fat end of £20,000.

-Blimey. Incredible.

It came from an elderly friend who left it to me, with other things.

Had you admired it beforehand, or...?

Yes, I had. I had noticed she'd got you know one or two pretty vases.

But this was, you know, special.

Do you know anything about it?

I know very little about it.

I think it's a Japanese vase.

-You're right, it is Japanese.

-Yes.

It's a type which is generically known as Satsuma.

Which is a creamy-coloured body.

It was made in many places in Japan.

This one is actually made in Kyoto.

It was made around 1885-1900

and it's unusual.

It's got panels on here of a

beautiful maiden, a bijin,

a festival cart and there are figures playing instruments on here.

-There's a tiger painted on the side, which is a wonderful detail.

-Yes, I hadn't noticed that.

Ah, well, there you are, you see.

We've got a warrior priest wearing an eboshi hat

and his attendant is carrying his sword for him.

A basket of flowers here hung with wisteria.

-Down here this utterly charming Pekinese dog, which is probably a shih-tzu in Japan.

-Yes.

We've a very, very unusual

black, almost black, laquer-like ground.

Which is very, very uncommon.

As is this...

colour on here, sort of grey-green.

The painting, I mean gilding, is beautifully done.

These are tiny little dots of gold.

Each painted like that.

And we know that some of these, more major pieces admittedly, took a year to paint.

Now, have you read the bottom?

Well, I have. But I can't read it.

Well, it says what one would love it to say.

Which is Kinkozan seiso.

Kinkozan, Sobei Kinkozan, was one of the three great potters of the turn of the 19th, 20th century.

And seiso means, "made this". So he's simply saying, "I made this."

Yes.

It's in perfect condition apart from this tiny chip on here.

But I don't think that's going to affect the value enormously.

OK.

-Have you insured it?

-No.

No, definitely not.

I think you should.

I think, even with that chip, and given the fact that the Satsuma market is a little bit

sticky at the moment, I can still see that making £6,000 to £10,000.

No!

-No?

-Yep.

Nice pressie.

Wow! I can't believe it!

We've had some rich pickings here today, so many thanks to the people of Gloucester

for turning out in their thousands here at the cathedral.

Legend has it that from the crypt beneath Gloucester cathedral runs an ancient network of tunnels

leading to various public houses in the area. Why, I can't imagine.

But I feel that, in the interests of research, I should investigate.

Oh, by the way, we shall be making a return visit to this lovely place.

What you might call a Double Gloucester.

Speaking of doubles...