0:00:00 > 0:00:03It's not just grand houses we get to visit on the Roadshow.
0:00:03 > 0:00:06We see some of the most beautiful gardens in the land as well,
0:00:06 > 0:00:08and we've two of them to share with you,
0:00:08 > 0:00:13with some unseen gems from two of our most beautifully manicured venues.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59One of the things I like best about the Roadshow is that it's one big guessing game.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Thousands of people stagger along,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03laden down with mysterious bags and packages,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06and their first port of call is what we call Reception.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09That's where we get our first peek.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11And it's my favourite place on the Roadshow.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15I love trying to fathom out what's inside our visitors' bags and why they've brought them.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17But I'm just a beginner at this.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20People like Henry here are the masters of the game.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25Our experts see thousands of objects pass before their eyes at every Roadshow,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29and every now and again they come across a really exciting find.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33Tonight we're bringing you rich pickings from two recent shows -
0:01:33 > 0:01:36from the gardens here at Bodnant in North Wales,
0:01:36 > 0:01:40and from our visit to the Cornish coast when we dropped anchor at Lanhydrock.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47There it was Bunny Campione's turn to make an exciting discovery.
0:01:47 > 0:01:53So this is known as an automaton, which is a singing bird,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57or mechanical clock automaton, so it's got everything in it.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Tell me, how long have you had it?
0:02:00 > 0:02:04Me, personally, about 25 years, because that's when I married
0:02:04 > 0:02:10- my husband and it was his clock, not mine, sort of thing.- Oh, right.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14But I don't know how long he had it before then.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16It just came with him!
0:02:17 > 0:02:19Marry me, marry my automaton!
0:02:19 > 0:02:27It's by the firm of Blaise Bontems in Paris.
0:02:27 > 0:02:33And he founded his workshop in 1849,
0:02:33 > 0:02:35and they went right through to the 20th century
0:02:35 > 0:02:38but they were well known as mechanical clock-makers.
0:02:38 > 0:02:44He then patented a singing bird, which he then became famous for.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48In fact, he had all sorts of birds, including nightingales,
0:02:48 > 0:02:53and he made a beautiful clock for the Tsar of Russia in 1850,
0:02:53 > 0:02:59which had a lovely jewelled egg, which opened on the half hour to reveal a singing bird,
0:02:59 > 0:03:04and this was echoed later in the century by Faberge.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07The part of it that's a mechanical clock -
0:03:07 > 0:03:12its pendulum, if you like - is the little swinging cherub or putto.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15- Yes, yes.- It's absolutely wonderful. There's so much to see.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Yes, there is. I quite agree.
0:03:17 > 0:03:23Some of the colouring has gone, some of the feathers of the birds
0:03:23 > 0:03:26have seen better days, but that's purely the daylight.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28- It's not even the sunshine.- No.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31- Shall we get it going?- Oh, yes, do.
0:03:31 > 0:03:32I think I've wound it already.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34I know it worked before we came.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36BIRDSONG
0:03:36 > 0:03:39Oh, yes, the waterfall's working.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44They're very, very high-pitched.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46Yes. I was thrilled when we first...
0:03:46 > 0:03:50when I first had it, sort of thing.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Like, you know, it was something completely new.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56BIRDSONG
0:03:56 > 0:03:59I think here there's a little bit of mirrored glass
0:03:59 > 0:04:02- that he's pecking into to get some water.- Oh, yes.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06But it's been moved I think probably over the years it's got covered.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09- Unless he's after a worm.- And the swing is meant to be swinging.
0:04:09 > 0:04:15- Yes. Yes, I was going to say... - It's feeling its age.- Ahhh!
0:04:15 > 0:04:17So I can stop it.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19What more can I say?
0:04:19 > 0:04:21What do you think it's worth?
0:04:21 > 0:04:22Oh, I don't know.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27I've no idea because I haven't seen one actually valued anywhere.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32If you would go to the right person, place, dealer,
0:04:32 > 0:04:37say at an antiques fair, you would have to pay upwards of £10,000.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Really?! Really?!
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Goodness me! Oh, I had no idea it was that, no.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49- Shall we get it going again? - Oh, yes, yes, that would be nice.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51BIRDSONG
0:04:53 > 0:04:57So you've sniffed out a nice little box for me here. What's inside?
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Yes, this is a scent bottle.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03I'm not quite sure who the maker...
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Actually, it's a very nice box. Let's just have a look at the box
0:05:06 > 0:05:09because we don't often get scent bottles in boxes like this,
0:05:09 > 0:05:11beautifully tooled leather.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14So you would expect, and you would hope, a quality item inside.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17- What do you think this is? - I believe it could be Meissen.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20I'm not 100%.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23Right. OK. Well, it certainly has the Meissen look.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26It's very finely modelled, very, very detailed.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30- Right.- The painting is good, you've got these flower-encrusted garlands.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34- Yeah.- And it sort of works in the round, it's quite nice,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37but what we want to see on the bottom is the Meissen crossed swords mark.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39And instead we have a spray of flowers.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43- And it's really the spray of flowers that gives it away.- Right.
0:05:43 > 0:05:44It's quite thin enamelling.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48- Right.- So, although it's very crisp and it's very competent,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50I'm going to have to say that is not Meissen.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Actually, the little garland is extremely well done.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57- When you think all those flowers are individually hand made.- Yeah.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00That's, you know, it's still a good factory,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04and it is actually late 19th century in its original box.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08I would say that in its box that's a desirable object.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10In the region of £400-£600.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13- Lovely.- Thank you. - Are you impressed by that, Hector?
0:06:13 > 0:06:15"I am."
0:06:15 > 0:06:19He's probably more impressed by its former contents.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Let's see whether he can detect...
0:06:21 > 0:06:23- the smell.- Yes.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25He's not a bloodhound, is he?
0:06:32 > 0:06:35So here we have two fabulous watercolours,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38one which is signed F Stuart Richardson,
0:06:38 > 0:06:40the other which is unsigned,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42but you've also brought in
0:06:42 > 0:06:45a very beautiful oil by the same artist.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47Yes.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Which has the artist's initials...
0:06:51 > 0:06:55- here, and this is Frederick Stuart Richardson.- Yes.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57- Fascinating group of pictures by him. - Yes.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01And we hardly ever see works by him, so tell me a little bit about them.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03How have you come across them?
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Well, he was my grandfather.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07They've come down through the family.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10And do you have other pictures? You must have others.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14Yes, actually the family have quite a lot, because he was very prolific.
0:07:14 > 0:07:21He never went anywhere without his paint and his easel and so on, ever.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23I've a couple of photographs here,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26one which was taken when he was painting in Polperro.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28There he is.
0:07:28 > 0:07:34Painting. And the other is a couple of years later with him painting on the beach, when he was...
0:07:34 > 0:07:38That's my grandmother, and this is my father here as a little baby.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42It was taken... must have been taken in 1913.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46Absolutely fascinating. And there he is, painting away,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49totally ignoring your father and grandmother.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52- Absolutely, yes.- And there also seems to be a huge age difference.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54- Tell me a bit of that.- There was.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Well, he was painting before that in Coverack in Cornwall,
0:07:58 > 0:07:59staying at the hotel,
0:07:59 > 0:08:03and my grandmother visited with her older sister and niece.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05She was 26.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09She'd just come out of a long engagement to a doctor.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12She was upper-middle-class, careful not to marry into poverty,
0:08:12 > 0:08:16but the first day when she visited, he obviously liked her
0:08:16 > 0:08:18because he leant out of the window and said,
0:08:18 > 0:08:24"Leicester are doing well in the cricket this season, aren't they?" But they hadn't been introduced,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27so she didn't follow up the conversation.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32But a few days later on the beach, she did send the child over to see what he was painting and he said,
0:08:32 > 0:08:37"Well, if they want to know what I'm painting, they can come and see for themselves and ask me."
0:08:37 > 0:08:39Then at the end of the fortnight,
0:08:39 > 0:08:41she went home and her father said, "How did your holiday go?
0:08:41 > 0:08:44"More cheered up?" and she said, "Well, I got engaged."
0:08:44 > 0:08:46And he said, "Engaged! Who to?"
0:08:46 > 0:08:48and she said, "Well, an artist".
0:08:48 > 0:08:51And he was quite shocked. "An artist?! Tell me about him."
0:08:51 > 0:08:53She said, "Well, he's 56."
0:08:53 > 0:08:57And she was 26 at the time, so he said, "Well, you can just get unengaged."
0:08:57 > 0:09:03You know, it would be really frowned upon to marry a quite elderly artist.
0:09:03 > 0:09:04Yes, absolutely.
0:09:04 > 0:09:10Well, certainly a large age gap, and an artist who perhaps wasn't making a great deal of money...
0:09:10 > 0:09:14- No.- Very, very interesting. I love the one of him also, Polperro...- Yes.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16..which connects to this picture...
0:09:16 > 0:09:20- Yes.- ..which is Polperro Harbour, which is a little bit later on,
0:09:20 > 0:09:25and this connects him also to Harold Knight and Dame Laura Knight, because they met at Staithes.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28Staithes. He was a member of the Staithes Group.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31- He travelled a great deal, didn't he? - Yes.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34And so The Mariner's Shop, which is beautifully detailed
0:09:34 > 0:09:36and lots and lots of objects in here,
0:09:36 > 0:09:39this must have been influenced from his trip to Holland where he
0:09:39 > 0:09:43must have met the Hague School - Joseph Israels and artists like that.
0:09:43 > 0:09:44Yes, he did, absolutely.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49And talking about the oil, which I think is an incredibly moody piece of painting.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52Yes. He was very good at cold, bleak seas.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56Some of his greatest paintings have been of stormy, bleak seas,
0:09:56 > 0:10:00not of what I call a "chocolate box" sea. He very rarely did those.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02In terms of value...
0:10:02 > 0:10:06- It doesn't matter.- It doesn't matter cos they're family objects.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08- And I love them.- The little oil.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11- Yes?- I think is an absolute stunner, really beautiful.- Yes.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14- £2,000 to £3,000?- Oh, wow! Help!
0:10:14 > 0:10:20The Mariner's Shop, absolutely gorgeous, easily £2,000 to £3,000.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25And the real stunner, you know, the larger watercolour beneath Polperro,
0:10:25 > 0:10:26- certainly £3,000 to £5,000.- Oh, dear.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29They're a terrific group and I love all your history.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32- Yes, thank you very much. - Thank you very much.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40You've come in with loads of Manchester United material.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44Where did you get this incredible passion for collecting?
0:10:44 > 0:10:46Well, I've been a collector of Man United stuff
0:10:46 > 0:10:48probably for about 40-odd years now.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51- Went to my first match back in the '70s.- Really?
0:10:51 > 0:10:54Got the passion for it and just sort of collected from there.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Tell me, what's a Cornishman doing so far away from Manchester,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59supporting that club?
0:10:59 > 0:11:01I think it was back in the George Best era,
0:11:01 > 0:11:03back at that time when they were doing really well.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07I hesitated about doing this because I'm a Sheffield United supporter.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10- Yes, don't worry about that. - But I think we both share
0:11:10 > 0:11:13a love of George Best, because I grew up with him.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18He was a symbol of everything that was good and vigorous about English football.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20- Exactly.- What's the mainstay of the collection?
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Or have you got a bit of everything?
0:11:22 > 0:11:24I've got a bit of everything.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28- Programmes, scarves... - From right back to the early ages, right up to modern-day stuff.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30It's a club that goes back a long time.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32- Definitely, yeah.- The 1870s.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Yeah, yeah. Well, this is one of the oldest things I've got.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39This is when they won their Division Two Championship back in '35-'36 season.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41- Yeah.- Signed by all the players.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Yeah, here they all are, listed, their positions.
0:11:44 > 0:11:45Their positions, yeah.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49Nice and complete and torn out of an autograph book.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Exactly, yes. And it goes on to 1936-37 season,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56there's just a few autographs of that.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Yeah, I mean it's so rare to find the whole team
0:12:00 > 0:12:04and it's nice to have the period sort of autograph album leaves.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07- Those are worth £500 to £800 each. - Yeah, yeah.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12Easily, as an auction estimate, maybe they'd make more on the day.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16- What about this one? This is a photograph of Sir Matt Busby.- Yeah.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19- He joined the club after the war. - Yeah, from Man City.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Oh, really? Right.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25This would be worth maybe £200 or £300, something like that.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30And of course it was a period that had its fair share of tragedy.
0:12:30 > 0:12:36Yeah, then it goes on to the Busby Babes and the Munich air disaster.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38This album here,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40all of Munich.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44- Right, right.- And it's signed by the complete team of the Busby Babes.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46Duncan Edwards you've got there.
0:12:46 > 0:12:47Yeah. Where's he?
0:12:47 > 0:12:51Dennis Viollet. Duncan Edwards is here look, the big man on the end.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54The terrible date was February 1958.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59- Exactly, yeah, 50 years.- When of course the plane went down in Munich and eight of the lads were lost.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02- Exactly, yeah.- Some survived, including Bobby Charlton.
0:13:02 > 0:13:08- Sir Bobby, yeah.- Of course, I mean it makes these incredibly rare and of course very, very collectable.- Yes.
0:13:08 > 0:13:13I mean, I've sold these at auction in the past, but this is lovely.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18It's complete and a little bit of brown Sellotape but we'd be looking
0:13:18 > 0:13:23at £1,500, £2,000 as an auction estimate just for this page.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25Yeah. There's quite a few pages like that in there, signed.
0:13:25 > 0:13:31And of course it's the '60s when I was born, that I remember perhaps the greatest player, George Best.
0:13:31 > 0:13:32Yeah, it goes on to George Best.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36I've got a couple of shirts on by George here, got them signed.
0:13:36 > 0:13:37Let's have a look at it.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Met George a few times, got his shirts signed by him and bits and pieces.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Here we are, "Best wishes, George".
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Does that say "Best"? It's not too clear.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51It does, just, yeah.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55I mean, obviously, poor old George, he's gone,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58but £500-£800 minimum for that.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01I think even what I've seen here,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04we must be looking at least...
0:14:04 > 0:14:07sort of £20,000 or £30,000, if not more.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Yeah. This is only a third of what I've got, really.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13Oh, you've got more? I thought this was it.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16- Thank you very much, a privilege to see it.- Thank you.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25This is a very important part of Cornish history,
0:14:25 > 0:14:29and you are the team rector here at the parish church at Lanhydrock.
0:14:29 > 0:14:30Tell me about this.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34Well, this is the casket or reliquary of St Petroc
0:14:34 > 0:14:38and it contained the skull of St Petroc, or the bones of St Petroc,
0:14:38 > 0:14:41and as such is a very important part of Cornish history.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43He's the patron saint of Cornwall.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46- Well, he's the chief saint of Cornwall.- The chief saint.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51That's important to say that, and he came from Wales.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56We think he was of royal heritage, from the royal family in Wales,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58in around about 600AD.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03The origin of this casket really goes back to about 1177,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06where the bones were stolen by a monk called Martin
0:15:06 > 0:15:11who had a row with the prior and ran off with the bones to Brittany.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16Oh, dear! That's not very monk-like behaviour! Not very Christian.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Not at all. And Henry II got involved in all this,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24and he was instrumental in getting the bones back again,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28and this casket was chosen as the thing to put them in.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32This casket is ivory and you were telling me that underneath,
0:15:32 > 0:15:34because it's rather bleached here.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36- It is, yes.- I don't dare lift it. Do you dare lift it?
0:15:36 > 0:15:37I can lift it.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41- OK, so let's have a look.- And underneath you'll see some rather...
0:15:41 > 0:15:44- Oh, I see.- You see you've still got the colours whereas the top one...
0:15:44 > 0:15:48Yes, yes, it's all bleached on the top. Here, let's put it back.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50And are the bones still inside?
0:15:50 > 0:15:52- Unfortunately not, no. - No? Well, let's have a look.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Let's see, oh.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56Very disappointing,
0:15:56 > 0:16:01it's polystyrene to keep the whole thing in shape so it's not distorted.
0:16:01 > 0:16:02So what happened to the bones?
0:16:02 > 0:16:09Nobody really knows, but probably at the Reformation it was felt wrong to be venerating bones and so on.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12- Goodness me.- And Henry VIII's gang probably chucked them somewhere.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15So it's just a bit of what, holy dust in there now?
0:16:15 > 0:16:17There's a bit of holy dust in there, yeah.
0:16:17 > 0:16:18Ah, yes, that's good to hear.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22So these are Cornish surfers?
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Well, that's how we refer to them, because we don't know...
0:16:25 > 0:16:27they look a bit like it, yes.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29- And that's the surfboard?- Yes.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33- OK so that would make this a Cornish flagon.- Oh, I wouldn't say that.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35What would you say? Tell me how you got it.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37Well, it's my aunt's.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41She's had it in her house and we looked at it and admired it lots of times.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45- Yes.- She tells us she acquired it in...late 1940s,
0:16:45 > 0:16:50when she opened a restaurant and she was looking for things to dress the restaurant.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53With a sort of Cornish style,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55with these...these surfing gentlemen.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58Well, yes, now we're in Cornwall, you see that's our explanation.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02I'm going to take you a little bit further afield than Cornwall.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07- Yes.- First of all, this painting style is absolutely typically Dutch.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12- Right.- OK? But we have to go even further afield than Holland.- Right.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17- Because the people who painted this were actually living in Japan.- Right.
0:17:17 > 0:17:23And the Dutch were trading with Japan in, let's say, the 1660s, 1680s,
0:17:23 > 0:17:30and sending out to Japan Dutch imitations of Chinese landscapes.
0:17:30 > 0:17:36- Right.- So this was actually made in Japan, in the late 17th century,
0:17:36 > 0:17:42copying a Dutch idea of Chinese people in the late 17th century.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45It's a rare object,
0:17:45 > 0:17:49- probably worth between £1,000 and £2,000.- That?!
0:17:49 > 0:17:54Worth £1,000 to £2,000? No!
0:17:54 > 0:17:58Oh, my aunt's going to be delighted, isn't she?
0:17:58 > 0:18:03She's not going to believe that. I shall have to have that in writing before she'll believe it.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15Now we're sitting here making a television programme,
0:18:15 > 0:18:20everybody knows that, but what interests me is that while you and I know what we're doing here,
0:18:20 > 0:18:24we're suddenly taken into a very important part of television history.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29These are pictures of the Christmas broadcast, Sandringham 1957.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Now that was the first time the Queen did it on television.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37- That's right, yes.- The Christmas broadcast hitherto had a long tradition of being on the radio.
0:18:37 > 0:18:42- That's right.- Suddenly there it is and of course in the technology of the time it was live,
0:18:42 > 0:18:47- she had to do it almost as you and I are doing it here.- That's right, yes.
0:18:47 > 0:18:48So what are these to you?
0:18:48 > 0:18:50Well, it's part of the history of my father.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54He was the superintendent of lighting for outside broadcasts
0:18:54 > 0:18:56for the BBC during the '50s and the early '60s.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58- So a very important person. - Yes, he was.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01I think he was a specialist in the art of television lighting
0:19:01 > 0:19:05and there were very few of that skill around at the time.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07And also outside broadcast then was very little used.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10- It was always live. - And always live, yes.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13So he was there, these were his sets.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15He actually chose the Queen's dress as well,
0:19:15 > 0:19:21and set the set up so it would appear proper when you actually watched it on the television.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23Television was in black and white in those days.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27Today we see in colour but in those days it was about tones rather than colours
0:19:27 > 0:19:32and dresses that might be the right colour might be the wrong tone for black and white television.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35So he said, "I'm sorry, ma'am, you can't wear that."
0:19:35 > 0:19:39- He did, he did.- A very tough man, obviously.- Yes, yes.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42And then who took the photographs?
0:19:42 > 0:19:45The ones of Prince Charles and Princess Anne were by my father,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49and other members of the crew would have taken some of the background pictures
0:19:49 > 0:19:52but it was my father that took all these pictures here.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56- So he was the cameraman in a sense of recording a scene?- He was, yes.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59So there we have the Queen, on that occasion, 1957.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04- Yes.- Wearing the dress that he chose and so he was there, snapping away,
0:20:04 > 0:20:06without any sort of...
0:20:06 > 0:20:09Without any prohibition at all, he was a very lucky person.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12- No royal protocol? - No.- So that's...obviously that...
0:20:12 > 0:20:15- Is this him? - That's him taken just after the war.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17So what was he like?
0:20:17 > 0:20:20He was a very talented person,
0:20:20 > 0:20:24a lot of personality and quite a grumpy old man in many respects.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28And on the set here, the Queen didn't actually know his name,
0:20:28 > 0:20:33and one of the assistants, when asked his name, was told, "Oh, that's Mr Grumps"
0:20:33 > 0:20:36and we actually had a Christmas card from the Queen to "Mr Grumps".
0:20:36 > 0:20:39- But what actually was his name? - Harold Mayhew.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43Here we have Princess Anne and Prince Charles learning to be cameramen.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47- Yes, but they didn't take the trade up.- Oh, what a pity!
0:20:47 > 0:20:50- They might have had a new profession! - You never know.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52So then this is...different dress.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55That would be the 1958 broadcast.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59I think it was a very impressive, exciting part of television history
0:20:59 > 0:21:01and these very much bring it to life.
0:21:01 > 0:21:02It's obviously very personal to you,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05- have any of these ever been published?- No, they haven't.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09- So we are seeing them for the first time?- For the first time anywhere.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11So the Royal Family doesn't know about them?
0:21:11 > 0:21:14I have a feeling that the Royal Family has a set of these pictures here,
0:21:14 > 0:21:17I think my father did present them to them.
0:21:17 > 0:21:18- So buried in the royal archives.- Yes.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21- But otherwise they're unknown images. - Unknown, yes.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23We've got lots of things here.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25We've got television history,
0:21:25 > 0:21:30we've got Royal Family in a very intimate and informal way,
0:21:30 > 0:21:34we've got wonderful records of a period which, as you said,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38is now so far away we forget how difficult it was to do that.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41So we've got this very exciting archive.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46- The copyright certainly rests with you.- Oh, that's interesting to know.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48So they're your images.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52They're going to be £1,500 to £2,000.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54- Really? I'm very surprised.- Oh, yes.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56- That's grand.- And possibly more.
0:21:56 > 0:21:57- Well.- So it's a good legacy.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59It is. I'd like to keep them.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02After all, what would Christmas be without the Royal broadcast?
0:22:02 > 0:22:05- Wouldn't be Christmas.- Not at all.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10Now we're leaving Cornwall,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13and heading back to glorious Bodnant Garden in North Wales,
0:22:13 > 0:22:15where even the green-fingered staff
0:22:15 > 0:22:17have dug up some treasure for our experts.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28So here we are at Bodnant in Wales with a view of Knole in Kent.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31- How come?- Well, I'm head gardener here at Bodnant now,
0:22:31 > 0:22:36but prior to my position here, I was gardener at Sissinghurst,
0:22:36 > 0:22:40and Sissinghurst was the home of Vita Sackville-West
0:22:40 > 0:22:44and her birthplace was Knole, so hence the connection.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Vita didn't inherit Knole, as it passed through the male line,
0:22:47 > 0:22:51so she bought Sissinghurst nearby to Knole in Kent.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53I mean, how did you get this?
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Nigel Nicolson, Vita and Harold's son, was clearing out the attic,
0:22:57 > 0:22:59and he asked me and a couple of gardeners
0:22:59 > 0:23:02to help him carry things out and put everything into a skip.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04And he said, "Anything you want, take it away."
0:23:04 > 0:23:08There was lots of stuff but this particular painting caught my eye.
0:23:08 > 0:23:14Very, very nice. Well, I actually know this artist who painted this called Frank Moss Bennett.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18Now he specialised in doing historical genre paintings
0:23:18 > 0:23:24and he was born in the 1870s and his great period was 1920s, '30s, '40s.
0:23:24 > 0:23:29They did loads of prints of his work and his usual subject matter are Elizabethan interiors
0:23:29 > 0:23:33- with people wearing their wigs, very grand interiors.- Right.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38Because that's what people liked to collect in the 1940s, '50s, '60s.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40And here he's gone to Knole,
0:23:40 > 0:23:45and actually done a study of the interior of one of the main rooms.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47Is this unusual, then, an interior from...?
0:23:47 > 0:23:51- It's not unusual, it's unusual to have it without figures.- I see, yes.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53I know this is just one of his studies,
0:23:53 > 0:23:55and I'd think that Vita probably kept this
0:23:55 > 0:23:59because he would have gone and made lots of studies in the interior.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02- Yes.- And I expect she said, "Oh, I really like that, can I keep that?"
0:24:02 > 0:24:04I'm sure. That's why it was there.
0:24:04 > 0:24:05Well, Vita loved, she loved Knole,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08She was really upset she couldn't inherit the place.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13And I just love the early tapestry here and then you've got the ebonised
0:24:13 > 0:24:17cabinet here with the vases, fantastic detail.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Well, it's in the original frame, this ebonised-type frame.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25- Right.- It's not in great condition and it's oil on canvas board,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28that is canvas laid onto board. It's wonderful.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32Value-wise, it does have a value even though it's just a study by him,
0:24:32 > 0:24:37- and I'd say somewhere in the region of about £1,200 to £1,800.- Is it?
0:24:37 > 0:24:42Yeah, now I'll tell you, if it had had figures in it, this size,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45- it would have been £4,000 to £6,000. - Interesting!
0:24:45 > 0:24:47But I prefer it without the figures.
0:24:47 > 0:24:48Well, I love it like this, yes.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55Well, this is an intriguing collection that we have here,
0:24:55 > 0:24:56some enamelled buttons with a name on,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00"E Tusker", a photograph, an enchanting casket
0:25:00 > 0:25:03with a fabulous inscription on the top.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07What's the connection and who is the lady in the photograph?
0:25:07 > 0:25:12Well, the lady in the photograph is my mother, and she was born in 1890,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16and this photograph is of her at the age of 19 or 20,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20when she would have been attending the Birmingham School of Art
0:25:20 > 0:25:23and learning to make jewellery, leatherwork,
0:25:23 > 0:25:25enamelling, and all those things.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27Excellent. And did she make this box then?
0:25:27 > 0:25:29- She did, yes.- Gosh.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33- And she sent it in for a competition and won a prize.- And the prize was?
0:25:33 > 0:25:37I really don't know, probably be a small sum of money, I should think.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42- How wonderful, and so that would have helped her to make more jewellery, I imagine.- Yes.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45And on the front and the top here we've got an inscription
0:25:45 > 0:25:49- and it says, "It's not what I have but what I do is my kingdom."- Yes.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51And then inside, if we have a look,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55we have some more pieces of jewellery which I am assuming she made.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59- Yes.- Is that correct? - Yes, yes, she made all of them.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02And particularly lovely, particularly the colour,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05- vibrant, strong purples, greens. - That's right.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10And it's quite a strong message on the front of the casket as well and these colours were associated,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13- of course, with the Suffragette Movement.- Yes, so I've learned.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17- Yes.- And that's quite interesting because her elder sister
0:26:17 > 0:26:21was very much involved in the Suffragette Movement.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24So possibly the influence has come from...
0:26:24 > 0:26:27- So she might have suggested it. - She may indeed.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32Yes, definitely, because of course people say that the colours green, white and violet
0:26:32 > 0:26:35- were associated with "Give Women the Vote."- That's right.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38And so consequently there's a hidden message,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41as there often is in jewellery, you know, whether it be romantic,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44- or in this aspect, a political nature.- Yes.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46I've never known that before today.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48Right, excellent.
0:26:48 > 0:26:53So really pretty, made with enamels, silver, opal, little amethyst
0:26:53 > 0:26:57and some white seed pearls, very delicate in that respect.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02- And it's a great reflection of how the Arts and Crafts Movement was working at the time.- Yes.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06From about 1890 into the early part of the 20th century,
0:27:06 > 0:27:11using very basic materials to bring a hand-crafted look back to jewellery,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15which is excellent and very much led by makers such as Arthur Gaskin
0:27:15 > 0:27:16and influenced by Burne-Jones.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20But there's another necklace which I think is absolutely exquisite,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23- and do you wear this at all? - Yes, I wear it a lot.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25- Yes.- And my mother explained
0:27:25 > 0:27:30that they have to make every single little bit of gold chain themselves.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32- Exactly.- With all those little wheels and things.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37Part of the Arts and Crafts Movement was that you were making everything by hand.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40What's interesting about this piece is that it's with gold,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42and normally it's more of the Art Nouveau period,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45which was working alongside the Arts and Crafts period,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48that was working with gold and finer quality pieces.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52So it's absolutely amazing how delicate all these tiny little links are.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54And the patience that she must have had
0:27:54 > 0:27:56to produce the pieces of jewellery.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58It's quite fabulous indeed.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01A lovely selection, obviously sentimentally
0:28:01 > 0:28:03it's worth a huge amount to you,
0:28:03 > 0:28:07and really something that would work exceptionally well within a museum.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09If we were to put a value on it, then I think
0:28:09 > 0:28:11as a collection if it was sold at auction,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15you'd perhaps be looking at somewhere between £1,500 and £2,000.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18Oh, good gracious!
0:28:18 > 0:28:20Well, she would have been amazed.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23- I'm sure.- She lived until she was 96,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27- but she wouldn't have had any idea about that at all.- No, no.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31DEEP GONG
0:28:32 > 0:28:34Mysterious sound of the Far East.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36What a fabulous gong, where did you get it from?
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Well, it's been in the family since we were children.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42It belonged to my grandmother and we've always lived with it,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45but apart from that I know absolutely nothing.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48- No, and a real spider trap, yeah, and dust trap.- Definitely, yes.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52- But do you like it?- I do, it's very bizarre, but yes, I love it.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56I can tell you where it's from, because it actually says on the back.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59- Oh, can you? Oh, I've never noticed! - I'm glad I've got a job!
0:28:59 > 0:29:03Yeah it's signed Klier and Co, Rangoon.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06- Really?- Klier and Co would be not the makers, but the retailers,
0:29:06 > 0:29:08and Rangoon of course is in Burma.
0:29:08 > 0:29:10- Gosh. - Yeah, but I knew it was Burmese,
0:29:10 > 0:29:12because look at how lively the carving is.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17It's made of teak wood and the gong is obviously bronze,
0:29:17 > 0:29:19but it's so active.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22Of course, the piece is centred by this beautifully carved,
0:29:22 > 0:29:24crisp opening lotus blossom,
0:29:24 > 0:29:27the very symbol of Buddhism, the symbol of The Buddha.
0:29:27 > 0:29:34And of course the Burmese practiced a type of Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism,
0:29:34 > 0:29:37which was of course rolled into their local interest
0:29:37 > 0:29:40in the natural spirits of the forest and the landscape.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44- I've always been intrigued by the paintings.- Yes, it's lovely.
0:29:44 > 0:29:49Now these are spirits or devas as they were called,
0:29:49 > 0:29:52and you find figures like this in palace carvings -
0:29:52 > 0:29:56around the doorways of Buddhist temples or palace complexes.
0:29:56 > 0:30:02It's almost certainly made for the tourist market,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05- in and around 1890-1900.- Gosh.
0:30:05 > 0:30:06It's a beauty.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10Value, my own thought,
0:30:10 > 0:30:14- a very healthy £500 worth of carving.- Oh, right.
0:30:14 > 0:30:16Well, thanks so much for bringing it in.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18Oh, it's been a pleasure.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21We've enjoyed seeing your gong go. Thank you.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23- Thank you very much.- Thank you.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Well, you've brought me two really interesting objects here.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32The first is a book of the "Gwynidion,
0:30:32 > 0:30:38"or an Account of the Royal Denbigh Eisteddfod held in September 1828."
0:30:38 > 0:30:39Yes.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43Now, you're talking to an Englishman in Wales.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46- I take it you're a Welshman. - Very much so, yes.
0:30:46 > 0:30:52So you're going to have to tell me a little bit about what the Eisteddfod is, or what the Eisteddfod was.
0:30:52 > 0:30:58Well, the Eisteddfod as an institution is the most important thing in the Welsh life.
0:30:58 > 0:31:04The culture encompasses literature, art, music, drama,
0:31:04 > 0:31:09all that sort of thing and periodically Eisteddfodi are held.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12They are gatherings of people who compete.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16- Right.- It's an annual thing which takes place every August.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19Right, and is it something that goes back a very long way?
0:31:19 > 0:31:23A very long time. The earliest Eisteddfod was in the 12th century.
0:31:23 > 0:31:28So this gathering in 1828 in Denbigh was part of a very long tradition?
0:31:28 > 0:31:29Oh, indeed.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33The other thing you've brought here is a medal which I'm assuming
0:31:33 > 0:31:38- must be one of the prizes won at the Eisteddfod in 1828.- Yes.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43Of course I don't read Welsh, but I can make out the words "Eisteddfod"
0:31:43 > 0:31:45- and "Dinbych".- Yes.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47How would I pronounce that? Denbigh?
0:31:47 > 0:31:50Dinbych is the Welsh word for Denbigh, yes.
0:31:50 > 0:31:56This particular medal was awarded for a particular form of poetry called an Englyn.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58How do you say that? Englyn?
0:31:58 > 0:32:01Englyn is a four-line stanza.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04In this instance, the title was "Awyren".
0:32:04 > 0:32:10- Awyren in present day terms means an aeroplane but of course...- 1828?
0:32:10 > 0:32:13Because of course there were no aeroplanes at that time,
0:32:13 > 0:32:15but it referred then to a balloon.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19It's a beautiful object in its own right, and turning it over there's
0:32:19 > 0:32:21this really breathtaking image.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23I think it's so beautiful.
0:32:23 > 0:32:28I guess I'm hoping that the account of the Royal Denbigh Eisteddfod
0:32:28 > 0:32:30will have a copy of the poem in it.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32- Does it contain the poem itself? - It does, yes.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35I wonder if you'd do us the honour of reading it to us.
0:32:35 > 0:32:36Certainly.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42Awyren, belen, glud bali,
0:32:42 > 0:32:45drwy chwa,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48Derch hynt hyd wybreni
0:32:48 > 0:32:53Nwyf wib long, bau nawf, heb li,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56A llaw dyn yn llyw dani.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00- Of course this medal must be entirely unique.- Oh, it is.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05And therefore of course it has to have some kind of commercial value.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11I wouldn't be at all surprised if these two items together
0:33:11 > 0:33:13brought £1,000.
0:33:13 > 0:33:17- That's a lot more than I paid for it.- I'm very pleased to hear that.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20- Thank you.- So it is good news.- Yes.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27I looked at this and I thought,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29oh, could it be worse?
0:33:29 > 0:33:33and then I thought, well, I don't know actually,
0:33:33 > 0:33:41who would come up with a colour combination of duck-egg blue and this pinky colour?
0:33:41 > 0:33:48And then to mount them with deer heads in biscuit and antlers
0:33:48 > 0:33:54and wild boar and lurcher dogs and retrievers,
0:33:54 > 0:34:01and then set them on a Chinese carved wood base!
0:34:01 > 0:34:04But it isn't, it's all porcelain,
0:34:04 > 0:34:06gilded and picked out in black.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09The thing is extraordinary
0:34:09 > 0:34:12and the more you look at it,
0:34:12 > 0:34:15the more interesting it becomes.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19Did you inherit these or buy them?
0:34:19 > 0:34:25I bought them about 15 years ago at an antiques fair in Buxton.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28And I saw them, and just fell in love with them.
0:34:28 > 0:34:32What particularly appealed to you about them?
0:34:32 > 0:34:36Where I walk my dog there's a deer park and we've always had dogs and...
0:34:36 > 0:34:38Ah, right.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40- OK.- The whole combination.
0:34:40 > 0:34:45OK. Did they tell you what they were when you bought them?
0:34:45 > 0:34:49Um, late 19th century, Parisian.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52OK, half right.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54I go along with the Parisian.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57I think they're pretty definitely Paris porcelain,
0:34:57 > 0:35:02but I would put them rather earlier than late 19th century.
0:35:04 > 0:35:10The way they've picked out the details here, in black,
0:35:10 > 0:35:14was a very short-lived thing
0:35:14 > 0:35:19and it's characteristically around the 1860s
0:35:19 > 0:35:24and the whole thing is kicked off
0:35:24 > 0:35:29by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Balmoral.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32You can imagine these sitting in Balmoral with the hunting
0:35:32 > 0:35:35and the shooting and the fishing,
0:35:35 > 0:35:40absolutely would fit perfectly and that's what's going on here.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43Now, combining biscuit porcelain,
0:35:43 > 0:35:48that is porcelain without a glaze on it, and glazed porcelain,
0:35:48 > 0:35:52here painted with flowers, can work extraordinarily well,
0:35:52 > 0:35:54and it does here.
0:35:54 > 0:35:55I think it's very, very good,
0:35:55 > 0:36:03and I would take a fair bet that these are 1862.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08- An exhibition piece for the 1862 Exhibition.- Really?
0:36:08 > 0:36:11Yeah, I think that's what they are. London.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15If you didn't like them, you could grow to like them, I think.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18- I've always adored them. - Well, I can absolutely see why.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22I don't normally go for this sort of thing,
0:36:22 > 0:36:26but these really do kind of work for me.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30- Um, what did you pay for them? - £3,900.
0:36:30 > 0:36:31Right.
0:36:31 > 0:36:37I think if we found these in the catalogue of the exhibition,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40which I think we just might, you'd be looking at
0:36:40 > 0:36:43£4,000 to £6,000 without any trouble,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46so I think you did very well indeed.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51- Thank you. - Don't be tempted to break the dogs off and sell them separately.
0:36:51 > 0:36:55- Certainly not.- Thank you. - Thank you, David.
0:36:58 > 0:37:03This is not silver, it's actually electroplated, so why am I interested
0:37:03 > 0:37:09in a fish serving knife with a bit of seaweed engraved on the back?
0:37:09 > 0:37:11Well, the answer is,
0:37:11 > 0:37:13turn it over.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17It has some of the finest engraving I've ever seen on electroplate.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22In fact, it ranks among some of the best engraving I've seen on silver.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25This is absolutely beautifully done.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27So what do you know about its past?
0:37:28 > 0:37:31Well, in about 1952,
0:37:31 > 0:37:37I bought it in a little junk shop in Wallasey for 30 shillings.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40- That's not a bad buy.- Wasn't it?
0:37:40 > 0:37:45Well, I think that this slice, together with its fork,
0:37:45 > 0:37:47actually tell a story.
0:37:47 > 0:37:53And if this was an oil painting, I think it would be entitled "The Fisherman's Return"
0:37:53 > 0:38:01because on the blade here we've got I think the fisherman's wife looking rather pensive, rather doleful,
0:38:01 > 0:38:03and fish in a basket at the bottom,
0:38:03 > 0:38:05and if we look at the fork,
0:38:05 > 0:38:09there's the husband out at sea in the sailing boat doing the fishing,
0:38:09 > 0:38:11and she's waiting for him to come back.
0:38:11 > 0:38:16- Yes.- But what I find absolutely astonishing about these pieces
0:38:16 > 0:38:18is that they're such wonderful quality.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22They've got big ivory handles on the end.
0:38:22 > 0:38:27Why did they make them in electroplate, rather than in silver?
0:38:27 > 0:38:32- So, 30 shillings in 1952, I don't know what that equates to in today's money.- No.
0:38:32 > 0:38:37But all I can say is that this is really a work of art.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41- This is such superb quality.- Really?
0:38:41 > 0:38:47That I would think a pair of fish servers of this quality
0:38:47 > 0:38:50are probably £400-£500 the pair.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53Good gracious! Oh.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56- I think they are absolutely drop-dead gorgeous.- I don't believe it! Oh!
0:38:56 > 0:39:03- And the quality of that workmanship is as good as anything I've seen for a long, long time.- Brilliant.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15Well, the last time I saw beautifully detailed little models like this,
0:39:15 > 0:39:17was when I went to see a friend who was a sea cadet
0:39:17 > 0:39:20and I remember in one of their cupboards,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23he showed me some beautiful little wooden models of ships.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26Now I always thought they were for recognition purposes,
0:39:26 > 0:39:30for the Admiralty, but tell me more about them.
0:39:30 > 0:39:36Well, these models, the top ones, were made for Winston Churchill
0:39:36 > 0:39:40by Bassett-Lowke in 1942,
0:39:40 > 0:39:46after the Navy had lost a number of ships bombed by the RAF.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50And he decided, we've got to stop this,
0:39:50 > 0:39:55we're going to have to teach our aircrews how to spot a German boat,
0:39:55 > 0:39:58a British boat and an American boat.
0:39:58 > 0:40:00Because of course from the air,
0:40:00 > 0:40:02ship recognition must have been terribly difficult.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04- Exactly.- To identify a ship.
0:40:04 > 0:40:08And do you know if they then went into production of these prototypes?
0:40:08 > 0:40:13They did, yes. I'm told that Churchill was thrilled by these,
0:40:13 > 0:40:17and he then instructed Bassett-Lowke to make a quantity,
0:40:17 > 0:40:21so that they could be sent to various places where they'd had problems.
0:40:21 > 0:40:27Now of course Bassett-Lowke was very famous for steam locomotives,
0:40:27 > 0:40:30- for model steam engines.- Exactly.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32And trains, train sets, that sort of thing.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34But I'm fascinated by what your father did.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37What was he doing in the firm of Bassett-Lowke?
0:40:37 > 0:40:41- My father was Bassett-Lowke's best friend.- Right.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45- And they travelled the world together.- Right.
0:40:45 > 0:40:50And I have here Bassett-Lowke's sort of signature, really,
0:40:50 > 0:40:54which he took around the world, showing people,
0:40:54 > 0:40:57wherever they went, he said "I can make the best models in the world".
0:40:57 > 0:41:00But this is a watch case, a pocket watch case.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02Yes, and in there is the Golden Hind.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05Good heavens! Isn't that astonishing?
0:41:05 > 0:41:09- Yes.- So Bassett-Lowke were well known for producing these,
0:41:09 > 0:41:12- these wonderfully detailed waterline models.- Exactly.
0:41:12 > 0:41:18Originally in seasoned lime wood, which is beautiful for carving.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20It's got a fantastic grain.
0:41:20 > 0:41:27And because these ships were hand-built in wood,
0:41:27 > 0:41:29they were incredibly expensive.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32And these boats were the initial...
0:41:32 > 0:41:38- Prototypes.- Prototypes, exactly, which Bassett-Lowke and my father
0:41:38 > 0:41:42took to the Admiralty and this is literally the originals.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45I wonder if Churchill himself actually looked at this very case?
0:41:45 > 0:41:48- Oh, definitely, definitely. - Isn't that astonishing?
0:41:48 > 0:41:51Well, you've got military ships here of course,
0:41:51 > 0:41:54but the bottom case looks like a history of shipping.
0:41:54 > 0:41:55Tell me all about that.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00In the early '50s it was decided that they would like to produce
0:42:00 > 0:42:05a unique set of models all to the same scale,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08one inch to a hundred feet.
0:42:08 > 0:42:13- Right.- And every model there is made to that specification.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16There are only two sets of these made.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20One is in the museum in Northampton and the other one is here.
0:42:20 > 0:42:21Is right here.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25Well, I feel rather privileged to be looking at it, in that case.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29After the war the Admiralty of course had no more use
0:42:29 > 0:42:32- for these recognition models.- No, no.
0:42:32 > 0:42:37So, I suppose the end of the 1940s I think it was, they sold them,
0:42:37 > 0:42:39they sold them to the public,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42and they do turn up from time to time at auction,
0:42:42 > 0:42:50very seldom I have to say, and a model warship, a wooden model hand-painted warship
0:42:50 > 0:42:54today at auction can fetch sometimes up to £100.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57Now what does that mean for the prototypes?
0:42:57 > 0:43:01I mean, heavens, what an incredibly difficult thing to put a value on, I have to say.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04That's why we're here, you know!
0:43:04 > 0:43:09- Um, I would say, and I'm going to take the whole lot as a collection. - A package.
0:43:09 > 0:43:17A package if you like, including the pocket watch, that from an historical point of view is just astounding,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21and therefore commercially I think you'd be looking at £10,000 to £15,000.
0:43:21 > 0:43:27Really? That is a figure which would glow in my father's heart.
0:43:29 > 0:43:30Thank you very much.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36Some wonderful items there from two beautiful gardens,
0:43:36 > 0:43:40and despite the weather forecast and my Mac, the sun stayed out for us too.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43From all the team, bye bye.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:44:08 > 0:44:10E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk