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During the 1930s, when this seaside resort was at its peak, | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
half the country's population came to sample the air. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
That was a whopping 19 million visitors a year. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
No prizes for guessing today's destination - Blackpool. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:15 | |
Let's take a bird's-eye view of our venue today. And what a vantage point! | 0:00:56 | 0:01:00 | |
Blackpool has always thought big. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:04 | |
Within 40 years, from 1890 to 1930, | 0:01:04 | 0:01:07 | |
it built this, the country's tallest tower, | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
the world's biggest Ferris wheel, | 0:01:09 | 0:01:11 | |
three piers, the Winter Gardens, | 0:01:11 | 0:01:13 | |
and the Blackpool illuminations were fired up. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:16 | |
At 518 feet, it's the best place to see everything Blackpool has to offer | 0:01:21 | 0:01:27 | |
and it's an imposing symbol for the home of the British summer holiday. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:31 | |
When it was built in 1894, | 0:01:39 | 0:01:42 | |
Blackpool Tower became the ultimate upmarket Victorian theme park, | 0:01:42 | 0:01:46 | |
with its ballroom, aquarium, circus and museum. | 0:01:46 | 0:01:49 | |
There was a zoo, too. | 0:01:49 | 0:01:51 | |
The Tower Circus is famously entertaining, | 0:01:59 | 0:02:02 | |
and they're just getting ready for the new season here behind me. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:05 | |
But did you know, the show has never closed, | 0:02:05 | 0:02:08 | |
not even for war, and that's because three quarters of a million service personnel | 0:02:08 | 0:02:13 | |
did their basic training close by, during the 1940s. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:17 | |
And this is the jewel in the Tower's crown, | 0:02:28 | 0:02:32 | |
the ballroom, where we're just setting up for today. | 0:02:32 | 0:02:35 | |
And its flamboyance is down to a design dreamed up by top theatre architect Frank Matcham, | 0:02:35 | 0:02:40 | |
who let his imagination run wild. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:43 | |
The ballroom's no stranger to hosting glamorous events. | 0:02:50 | 0:02:53 | |
For years it was home to TV's Come Dancing. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
But time now for us to cue the specialists as they take the floor. | 0:02:57 | 0:03:02 | |
Now to quote a very famous poem about Blackpool, it is noted for fresh air and fun, is that right? | 0:03:05 | 0:03:10 | |
-That's correct. -And I have to say that these two ladies are definitely, they're having fun, aren't they? | 0:03:10 | 0:03:16 | |
I would hope so, yes, I would hope so. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:19 | |
But the big question is, | 0:03:19 | 0:03:20 | |
how long have they been having fun in Blackpool, | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
and where have they been having fun? | 0:03:22 | 0:03:24 | |
Well, for many, many years they were in a basement below this very room. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:31 | |
Below the Tower Ballroom along with a few other bronze trophies. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:36 | |
I think about ten years ago they were rediscovered, | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
put into a local auction house and, | 0:03:39 | 0:03:41 | |
-because we are interested in all things Blackpool... -Yes? | 0:03:41 | 0:03:45 | |
..had to have one. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:46 | |
Right, before we get onto that side of life, | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
-let's have a look at the girls themselves, because this is a dancing trophy. -It is. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:53 | |
And it's very appropriate that we're in this amazing temple of Baroque extravagance, | 0:03:53 | 0:03:58 | |
this is Frank Matcham at his best, the great theatre designer, isn't it? | 0:03:58 | 0:04:03 | |
And this is the sort of - if I can use the word out of context - | 0:04:03 | 0:04:07 | |
-the epicentre of ballroom dancing in the North West of England. -Absolutely. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:11 | |
They don't look like ballroom dancers, do they? | 0:04:11 | 0:04:14 | |
-No, they don't, no. -No, I think the inference here is all in the fact that they're... | 0:04:14 | 0:04:20 | |
well, the inferences can be found on the corners, | 0:04:20 | 0:04:23 | |
because you've got bunches of grapes. These are Bacchanalian revellers and, | 0:04:23 | 0:04:28 | |
er, we're going back to Classical Greece, really. So in other words, they're intoxicated. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:34 | |
Right. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:35 | |
Um, but the lady responsible for... | 0:04:35 | 0:04:38 | |
-and this is a lady sculptor. -Yes. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:40 | |
This is a lady called, Claire Jeanne Roberte Colinet | 0:04:40 | 0:04:44 | |
and there is a signature at the back C-O-L-I-N-E-T, | 0:04:44 | 0:04:49 | |
but I've learned enough French to say Colinet and not Colinette. | 0:04:49 | 0:04:52 | |
This is quite typical of Colinet's work, | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
because there's an exuberance in her work and her girls are... | 0:04:55 | 0:05:00 | |
They're quite... They're not quite as skinny as some Art Deco girls. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:04 | |
-No. -She gives them sort of slightly more ample proportions. But these girls, they don't... | 0:05:04 | 0:05:09 | |
Obviously they're dating from the 1920s, maybe the early '30s, but you know, | 0:05:09 | 0:05:14 | |
you've got the movement there, you've got this fantastic base. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:18 | |
It's so graceful. | 0:05:18 | 0:05:20 | |
Dare I ask, when it came to that auction... Your heart must have been in your mouth. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:24 | |
Auctions are wonderful places to get the adrenaline pumping, aren't they? | 0:05:24 | 0:05:28 | |
-Oh, yes. -They really are. So the hammer came down... | 0:05:28 | 0:05:30 | |
The hammer came down and... | 0:05:30 | 0:05:32 | |
And my husband and I were thinking about this, and I think it was 2,000. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:36 | |
£2,000, and how long ago was that? | 0:05:36 | 0:05:39 | |
Might have been ten years, or... | 0:05:39 | 0:05:42 | |
-Ten years ago. -My memory isn't what it was. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:45 | |
All right, well, um, if you were to go out and try and replace... | 0:05:45 | 0:05:50 | |
This is a very rare group. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:52 | |
You're not going to find these girls for less than £6,000. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:56 | |
-Good heavens! -So, um... | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
Wow, well, they won't be going anywhere, they're staying in Blackpool, at home. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:04 | |
Which, let's remind everybody, is noted for fresh air and fun. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:08 | |
Fresh air and fun. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
I'm used to Delft vases in the traditional colouring of blue and white, | 0:06:10 | 0:06:14 | |
but this one is extraordinary - yellow on blue. Most unusual colour. Is it a family piece? | 0:06:14 | 0:06:19 | |
No, it isn't, no, I bought it in a charity shop about two years ago. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:23 | |
-A charity shop, this one? -Yeah, yeah. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:27 | |
-What did you have to pay? -About 50p. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
-50p? -Yes, yes. -Well, what did you think you bought? | 0:06:29 | 0:06:32 | |
I thought it was Chinese at first, | 0:06:32 | 0:06:34 | |
because of the shape, but I'm not sure now, really. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:38 | |
Understandable, because, I mean, the whole design looks Chinese, but that was the intention. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:43 | |
This was made in Holland as a copy of a Chinese vase. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:46 | |
You've got a figure of a boy there, I think he's meant to be a Chinese boy. What is he holding there? | 0:06:46 | 0:06:53 | |
Looks like a guitar, is it? A musical instrument or knapsack? | 0:06:53 | 0:06:57 | |
-I think that's meant to be a fan. -Oh. | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
One of those very elaborate, almost butterfly-like fans, um, | 0:06:59 | 0:07:03 | |
and he's standing in a landscape, here we've got... | 0:07:03 | 0:07:07 | |
There's a little pavilion in the background, rocks in front, | 0:07:07 | 0:07:11 | |
there's a pine tree... | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
here, further rocks, these are very typical Chinese rocks | 0:07:13 | 0:07:17 | |
with the strata divided in a very Chinese manner. | 0:07:17 | 0:07:20 | |
But adapted by someone I don't think had really looked closely | 0:07:20 | 0:07:24 | |
at real Chinese art and was trying to imagine what it would be like, | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
this strange world at the other side of the world, at the time, | 0:07:27 | 0:07:31 | |
because this was made in Holland at a time | 0:07:31 | 0:07:34 | |
when the Dutch were keenly collecting old Chinese porcelain | 0:07:34 | 0:07:38 | |
and they've made an imitation of a classic Chinese shape, | 0:07:38 | 0:07:42 | |
but done in very strange colours. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:44 | |
They tried out different colours in Holland, and that was in the... | 0:07:44 | 0:07:48 | |
-They were still experimenting because this is the end of the 17th century. -Oh, right. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:52 | |
-We're looking at about 1680, 1690. -Good grief! | 0:07:52 | 0:07:56 | |
-So I mean, that really is quite early. -Yes. -Not bad condition either, is it? | 0:07:56 | 0:08:01 | |
And rare. So your 50p has become about £2,000. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:07 | |
-That'll do very nicely. -Very nice. -That'll do me very nicely. | 0:08:07 | 0:08:12 | |
This is such an an intriguing item, | 0:08:12 | 0:08:14 | |
I've just conducted a small crowd survey | 0:08:14 | 0:08:16 | |
because I was interested to see if anyone in the queue behind would have any idea what it is. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:20 | |
Now, I've had a few suggestions. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:23 | |
We've had medieval torture instrument, we've had bent door, Maori shield, | 0:08:23 | 0:08:29 | |
although I think it would be a little bit hefty on that one, and we've had surfboard. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:33 | |
All very interesting suggestions in their own way. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
Now, do you have any idea what this is? | 0:08:36 | 0:08:39 | |
-No idea whatsoever. -So you haven't tried to feed it into the internet? | 0:08:39 | 0:08:43 | |
Oh, yes, yes, but when you don't know what it is, how can you do a search? | 0:08:43 | 0:08:48 | |
Good point. Without that inkling, you've made no progress | 0:08:48 | 0:08:52 | |
and I'm really pleased about that, because for once, I've got a decent job to do. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:57 | |
Now, it's called a tribulum. | 0:08:57 | 0:08:58 | |
Does that get you any closer? | 0:08:58 | 0:09:01 | |
-No, no. -It's a threshing sledge. -Threshing sledge? | 0:09:03 | 0:09:07 | |
And do you know, this is perhaps one of one of the most archaic | 0:09:07 | 0:09:12 | |
-and historic farm implements that there is. -Oh, right. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:16 | |
Because this piece of equipment has its origins in the bronze age. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:22 | |
-And there are still parts of the world, essentially, where things like this are still used. -Right. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:27 | |
And in its construction we can see that it has many things in it that are ancient to us. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:32 | |
Flints, knapped flints, and of course these knapped flints are embedded into this sledge. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:38 | |
Here you've got some additional re-utilised saw blades, | 0:09:38 | 0:09:43 | |
-and those point to its age, which I'll come back to in a minute. -Right. | 0:09:43 | 0:09:46 | |
Now the fact is, what would happen was that a big surface, | 0:09:46 | 0:09:50 | |
or an area, was prepared for the cut crop to be laid onto. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:53 | |
This was then put down flat on top of the crop. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:56 | |
It could then either be hauled by an animal or by people | 0:09:56 | 0:10:00 | |
and it could be weighted down, perhaps with rocks, even, | 0:10:00 | 0:10:04 | |
or quite often with an animal, it would have someone standing on top of it. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:08 | |
And now that's a pretty skilled thing, | 0:10:08 | 0:10:11 | |
-so the person who said surfboard wasn't a million miles away, in many respects. -Yes. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:17 | |
And it separates the grain from the ear and then cuts the chaff, | 0:10:17 | 0:10:21 | |
and it does that by, essentially, dragging it across and breaking it down. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:27 | |
-Now, this one is a 19th century example. -Right. -It's a 19th century example. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:31 | |
-What's happened to this is, it's become a decorative item. -Yeah. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
You can see all this fabulous wear in the grain, | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
it's been now cleaned up and I suspect it hangs on your wall, doesn't it? | 0:10:38 | 0:10:42 | |
-Well, in my hallway, yes, yes. -In your hallway, OK. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:45 | |
-Value as a decorative item it's £200 or £300. -Yeah. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:50 | |
But it embodies so much. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:52 | |
-Yeah, thank you very much. -Pleasure. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:54 | |
Well, we know now. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:56 | |
Well, my heart sank when you brought this in to me, I thought, "Oh, my goodness, | 0:10:59 | 0:11:05 | |
"not another Bible in a terrible state," and all that sort of thing. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:08 | |
-This one is. -But here it is, it's lacking the title page | 0:11:08 | 0:11:13 | |
and quite a few pages, preliminary leaves, but the most exciting thing are these notes all the way through. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:20 | |
And it's a particularly good set of notes here for the New Testament, | 0:11:20 | 0:11:25 | |
which is full of little notes. Tell me about it. | 0:11:25 | 0:11:27 | |
Well, I don't know a great deal. It has been in the family quite a few years, I believe, | 0:11:27 | 0:11:32 | |
50 or 60 years, and it's just been passed down through, through three generations, really. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:38 | |
-So why have they got it? -I was led to believe, my mother's father, er, bought it. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:44 | |
-So where did your grandfather get it from? -Well, he got it from a reputable dealer, um, | 0:11:44 | 0:11:49 | |
around about the late '40s, early '50s. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:52 | |
And what did they say about the notes? | 0:11:52 | 0:11:54 | |
That it was Charlotte Bronte's Sunday school Bible. | 0:11:54 | 0:11:57 | |
Those are apparently her notes. | 0:11:57 | 0:12:00 | |
-And they go throughout the book? -Yes, absolutely, yes, yes. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:03 | |
How much did it cost when it was bought originally? | 0:12:03 | 0:12:06 | |
-£50. -£50? -£50, yes. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:08 | |
My goodness, that was an awful lot of money in those days. | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
-Yes. -You could have probably bought a house. -It's quite a bit now. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
Well, I think it is Charlotte Bronte, I seem to recognise the handwriting. She is very rare, autographically. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:21 | |
And of course, obviously, with a parson for a father, she was obviously quite devout and religious. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:28 | |
-Right. -The date of the Bible about 1835-1840, | 0:12:28 | 0:12:32 | |
it seems absolutely consistent with all of this. So tell me, what do you think it's worth now? | 0:12:32 | 0:12:39 | |
-I've no idea. -It is a fantastic find for the Roadshow, | 0:12:39 | 0:12:43 | |
-and really, Bronte scholars would very much like to look through this. -Right. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:48 | |
I would say we're talking about between £15,000 and £20,000. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:54 | |
Really? | 0:12:54 | 0:12:56 | |
-Really?! -Yes. | 0:12:56 | 0:12:58 | |
I think I'll be sitting down shortly. Good heavens. Really?! | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
Yes, many Bronte collectors would love to have this | 0:13:01 | 0:13:05 | |
and to see what she was thinking and see what notes she was making. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:09 | |
-And the whole Bible is just absolutely full of notes. It is remarkable. -Right. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:14 | |
Now that is quite something, isn't it? | 0:13:16 | 0:13:19 | |
It is beautiful, yes. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:21 | |
-Is this how you have it displayed? -We usually have it displayed like this. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:25 | |
I think one of the great things about these tilt top tables is their flexibility. | 0:13:25 | 0:13:29 | |
They allow people to have them as a card table, a breakfast table, | 0:13:29 | 0:13:33 | |
but I think this was always intended as a show piece, don't you? | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
Is this something you've bought, or something that's inherited...? | 0:13:36 | 0:13:40 | |
We've inherited it from an aunt. We think of her when it's on display sometimes. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:44 | |
I mean, it's not something you can get away from very easily, is it? | 0:13:44 | 0:13:47 | |
-No. -How do you use it? I mean, in a big room, small room? | 0:13:47 | 0:13:51 | |
We keep it in a big room, at the side of the room, hopefully safe from heat and light and moisture. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:58 | |
Well, that's very, very evident because it has wonderful colours, | 0:13:58 | 0:14:02 | |
it really clearly has been away from the light, | 0:14:02 | 0:14:04 | |
it has possibly been re-polished at some stage because the colours are so bright. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:09 | |
-Yes. -And I have a feeling that perhaps once upon a time | 0:14:09 | 0:14:11 | |
there would have been more decoration in the middle there. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:14 | |
Do you ever remember anything? | 0:14:14 | 0:14:16 | |
We hear that there was a plant pot put on there as a centrepiece | 0:14:16 | 0:14:20 | |
in the middle of the table, which caused damage. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:23 | |
-The dreaded plant pot, yes. -Yes, afraid so, yes. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:27 | |
And the decoration around the edge is such fun, I think, you have a tremendous jolly lion, | 0:14:27 | 0:14:32 | |
you've got garlands with this little fawn-like creature | 0:14:32 | 0:14:36 | |
sort of spitting out a garland which is threaded through. | 0:14:36 | 0:14:40 | |
-Yes. -And beautifully done, and little tiny pieces of mother of pearl, as well. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:44 | |
-Yes, wonderful, yes. -It really is spectacular. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:46 | |
Kingwood round the edge, birdseye maple in the middle, | 0:14:46 | 0:14:50 | |
-dating to that very flamboyant period of around 1860, I think, so middle, middle Victorian period. -Yes. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:57 | |
It's quite interesting because in fact the base is very Rococo in style, | 0:14:57 | 0:15:04 | |
like here, whereas the decorations around the table top is more a Renaissance revival. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:11 | |
-Yes. -So there's lots of things going on here, it's quite an exciting period for design. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:17 | |
The disappointing thing perhaps is to put a value on it. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:22 | |
Yes. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:23 | |
In the current market, I would say that £2,000 to £3,000 is about right. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:31 | |
-Five years ago you could have doubled that easily. -Yes. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:34 | |
So in another five years, you never know what might happen. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:38 | |
Yes, right, thank you. Yes, very nice, thank you. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:42 | |
It is a very strange fact that these birds are built on a pile of Pyrex. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:52 | |
Now, you've got no idea what I'm talking about, have you? | 0:15:52 | 0:15:55 | |
-No. -In 1907, Corning, American glassworks, | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
came over to Britain trying to sell the UK and Empire patents for a brand new type of glass, | 0:15:59 | 0:16:04 | |
and they went round all the glassworks in Britain saying, "Do you want to take these rights?" | 0:16:04 | 0:16:10 | |
"Do you want to take these rights?" "No, no, no." | 0:16:10 | 0:16:13 | |
Nobody wanted it. Till they went up to Sunderland | 0:16:13 | 0:16:16 | |
and they ran into a funny little rinkydink glassworks up in Sunderland called Jobling's | 0:16:16 | 0:16:20 | |
and said, "Do you want to take this patent?" | 0:16:20 | 0:16:23 | |
and they said, "We'll give it a go - what is it?" | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
And they said, "It's called Pyrex." | 0:16:26 | 0:16:28 | |
And within 20 years they had three-and-a-half thousand people producing Pyrex in Sunderland. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:36 | |
It was the most democratic glass there has ever been. | 0:16:36 | 0:16:39 | |
Every home from Buckingham Palace to 23 Railway Cuttings owned Pyrex. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:43 | |
And they were making so much money that the governor, Ernest Proctor, began to get delusions of grandeur. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:51 | |
As well as pots and pans, he wanted to make art glass. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:54 | |
Lalique told him to go away. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:56 | |
Sabino, a Laliquesque glass maker, told him to go away, | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
so he decided to make it himself. And this is precisely what they made, Opalique made by Jobling. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:06 | |
And it's quite collected, it's got the patent number, the design patent number there. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:11 | |
So do you like it? I mean, is it a thing you like? | 0:17:11 | 0:17:13 | |
Yes, I do quite like it, yes. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:16 | |
And you came across it, how? | 0:17:16 | 0:17:18 | |
It was my mother-in-law's, and when she died my husband inherited it. | 0:17:18 | 0:17:23 | |
It's obviously not in the same realms as Sabino or Lalique, | 0:17:23 | 0:17:27 | |
but it has a certain home-spun charm, which puts its price at about £150 to £200. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:32 | |
-Oh! -Not bad for a pair of old birds, is it? -It's not, no. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:36 | |
Now, even as a Southerner, which I'm afraid I am, I have seen the Blackpool illuminations. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:43 | |
You know there can be very few people in Britain | 0:17:43 | 0:17:45 | |
who haven't at some point, been taken to see this great spectacle. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:49 | |
-Yes. -And of course, even on my one or two visits, | 0:17:49 | 0:17:51 | |
I was very much aware, as you go through that great procession of lights and ornamentation, | 0:17:51 | 0:17:57 | |
it's all going to go. | 0:17:57 | 0:17:58 | |
You know, it's a one-time exercise. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
And it seems an awful lot of effort just to make that spectacle. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:06 | |
Why did it all come about? | 0:18:06 | 0:18:08 | |
It originated as a way of extending the season. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
-Blackpool wanted to do something different. -Ah. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
It's always been an innovative town. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:17 | |
The illuminations started with eight arc lamps | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
and at the time that was seen as unbelievable new science, and it's grown from there. Now... | 0:18:20 | 0:18:25 | |
-New electricity. -New electricity. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
And today we run a season when other resorts are closed for the winter, so that's what it's for. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:32 | |
Right. So hang on a minute, "We". Who are you? | 0:18:32 | 0:18:34 | |
I'm Richard Ryan, I'm Illuminations Manager, and part of a team that creates this spectacle every year. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:40 | |
So you have this dream job of actually inventing all this. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:43 | |
It's absolutely brilliant. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:44 | |
-We create this every year, and yes, it's brilliant. -Year after year after year. -Every year. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:49 | |
So you come up with an idea, build around it, and then it's all gone. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:52 | |
Every year it's re-invented, but we do save everything and that's what the archive is about. | 0:18:52 | 0:18:57 | |
How did you get a job like that? Is it something you've always wanted to do? | 0:18:57 | 0:19:01 | |
I started off making illuminations when I was seven. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:04 | |
I was born and bred in Sheffield, where they used to have fantastic Christmas lights back then, | 0:19:04 | 0:19:09 | |
-and I applied to Blackpool for a job, was turned down. -What, aged seven? | 0:19:09 | 0:19:12 | |
-No, no, no, fourteen. -Fourteen. | 0:19:12 | 0:19:14 | |
What do I need to do? What qualifications, and all of that. | 0:19:14 | 0:19:17 | |
I applied to the Council and they said, "Go and get an engineering degree, electrical engineering." | 0:19:17 | 0:19:22 | |
I did that, I applied again and I got in. So persistence pays off, I suppose. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:26 | |
But it's also a fulfilment of a dream. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:29 | |
How many people know what they want to do at seven, and do it? | 0:19:29 | 0:19:32 | |
-I'm very lucky. -You're so lucky. -I'm lucky and obsessed. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
When did it first begin? | 0:19:35 | 0:19:37 | |
Oh, 1879 was the initial time. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:40 | |
-Right. -And then... -And then it goes on. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:42 | |
And of course, obviously, what these reflect are cultural change, they're events of that moment. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:48 | |
I mean, this is a great early drawing about the Imperial Power and its links to trade. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:53 | |
-On the other hand, here we have something which is a wonderful 1930s period piece. -Beautiful, aren't they? | 0:19:53 | 0:19:59 | |
Just fantastic, the people, the dress, the cars... | 0:19:59 | 0:20:03 | |
It's of its time. And I just love the way that things we've got here pick up those themes, | 0:20:03 | 0:20:09 | |
those moments in history. You know, things like that, to me, have a wonderful period charm now, | 0:20:09 | 0:20:16 | |
as indeed does the sort of Beatles association. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:19 | |
-It's brilliant, yes. -But there is that great moment of the switch-on, isn't there? | 0:20:19 | 0:20:23 | |
-Now, here is Jayne Mansfield about to do it. -That's right, 1959. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:29 | |
Now, what is she actually doing? | 0:20:29 | 0:20:31 | |
Does she actually switch them on? | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
Yes, and no. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:36 | |
She throws a switch, which switches some of them on. | 0:20:36 | 0:20:39 | |
-Yeah. -And from that moment it's switched on in sections. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
Back in the day, there was a telephony system, and in the later '70s there was a radio system. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:48 | |
-Is that what those are? -That's what those are. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:50 | |
So somebody... she pulls a lever and somebody dials a number and says, "Turn it on Fred." | 0:20:50 | 0:20:55 | |
"Turn it on," absolutely. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:57 | |
All the secrets given away. | 0:20:57 | 0:20:59 | |
So we've got Jayne Mansfield, we've got Ken Dodd, | 0:20:59 | 0:21:04 | |
Gordon Banks, 1973, redoing his save. | 0:21:04 | 0:21:08 | |
-Yes. -You know, it's a great history. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:10 | |
Collectively this is an immensely valuable archive. It is the history of Blackpool. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:16 | |
So, individually they're worth £100, couple hundred, as wonderful decorative things. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:21 | |
There are 26,000 pieces in the archive. | 0:21:21 | 0:21:23 | |
We're talking of tens of thousands of pounds for the collection as a whole | 0:21:23 | 0:21:28 | |
and, of course, the value to the town is greater than that in both financial terms and cultural terms. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:34 | |
I'm so glad we kept it, and we'll develop it in future. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:37 | |
-You must. It must always be there for us, for us all, thank you. -Thank you. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:42 | |
Looking at this, I would guess that this is some kind of Chinese dresser, is it? | 0:21:42 | 0:21:48 | |
Well, it's got a Chinese finish to it, hasn't it? | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
But it's actually a wind-up gramophone or record player. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:55 | |
When I was a young boy away at school, | 0:21:55 | 0:21:58 | |
my father send me a portable gramophone. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:00 | |
And I used to play it every day and had a great collection of rock 'n' roll records, | 0:22:00 | 0:22:04 | |
and then I lost interest. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:06 | |
But about 20 years ago I was given a stack of 78s, | 0:22:06 | 0:22:10 | |
-you know, the speed at which... -Yeah, I remember 78s. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:13 | |
And I was given a great stack of these, many by local artists, George Formby, Josef Locke, | 0:22:13 | 0:22:19 | |
Gracie Fields used to play here, Lonnie Donegan even played here. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:23 | |
But I had this great pile of records and I needed something to play them on. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:27 | |
So I asked a friend of mine to find me a gramophone | 0:22:27 | 0:22:30 | |
that was a nice piece of furniture | 0:22:30 | 0:22:31 | |
and something that my wife would accept in the house, so we found this. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:35 | |
-So where is the gramophone player in here then? -It all starts when you open the lid. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:40 | |
-Ah-ha. -Made by Edison-Bell. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
Has a nice gold finish to the fittings. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
The important part, of course, is the starting handle, or the winding handle on the right here. | 0:22:46 | 0:22:51 | |
And the volume control are these doors as you open the door. | 0:22:51 | 0:22:56 | |
Oh, right. | 0:22:56 | 0:22:58 | |
One of the most famous people in Blackpool, and our hero, | 0:22:58 | 0:23:02 | |
was Reginald Dixon who played the Wurlitzer organ here in Blackpool Tower, and that was of course... | 0:23:02 | 0:23:07 | |
-He used to play here in the ballroom? -In this very ballroom. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
And that used to be broadcast on Radio 2, didn't it? | 0:23:10 | 0:23:14 | |
Yeah, all over the world, and I have here, unusually, | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
a three-and-a-half inch diameter 78 of Reginald Dixon playing his theme tune, | 0:23:17 | 0:23:22 | |
I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:24 | |
-Well, how appropriate, and can we hear it? -You can, indeed. | 0:23:24 | 0:23:29 | |
Normally, when we look at Armada chests on the Roadshow, | 0:23:56 | 0:24:00 | |
we're not standing holding it with one hand. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
And it's not because I am so strong, it is clearly a very tiny one, so tell me about it. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:08 | |
I think it's probably late 17th, early 18th century, | 0:24:08 | 0:24:12 | |
it's been in my family since then. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:15 | |
My family is basically Norwegian. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
-Right. -It would have belonged to my great-great-grandfather, maybe even earlier. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:22 | |
I think a few more greats than that, because I think your dating is actually fairly correct, | 0:24:22 | 0:24:27 | |
it is going to be late 17th century. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:29 | |
Whether it comes from Norway or not, I don't know. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:31 | |
-I would have said Northern European, possibly German, but you know we're in the right territory. -Yes. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:37 | |
But it is the most charming example of an object we see on a large scale, | 0:24:37 | 0:24:42 | |
not frequently, but on occasion on the Roadshow. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:46 | |
-Yes. -With these wonderful wrought-iron locks, blacksmith-made. | 0:24:46 | 0:24:50 | |
They look enormously complicated, in this instance, and also when you see the real thing, | 0:24:50 | 0:24:56 | |
but actually they're much more simple than one thinks. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
Um, there are one or two condition issues - it's the wrong key, | 0:24:59 | 0:25:04 | |
and obviously it's missing that handle, it should have that, | 0:25:04 | 0:25:08 | |
-which is delightful, original wrought-iron handles. -Right, yes. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:12 | |
-Curiously enough, not that relevant to its value. -Right. | 0:25:12 | 0:25:17 | |
What do you think its value is? | 0:25:17 | 0:25:21 | |
I thought it would be no more than about £50. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:23 | |
Miniature versions and small versions of big things always have a premium. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:29 | |
-Right. -And in this instance, it is so charming and in such wonderful condition, | 0:25:29 | 0:25:35 | |
with all its original painting and decorating, that this is probably worth as much as the real thing. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:41 | |
And those things, in slightly poor condition, | 0:25:41 | 0:25:45 | |
tend to be somewhere around about £1,000 to £1,200, and this is very close approaching it. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:51 | |
Well, I think that's... | 0:25:51 | 0:25:53 | |
that's incredible, absolutely incredible. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:55 | |
So how did you end up with these compelling pieces of paper? | 0:25:58 | 0:26:02 | |
They were amongst items left by my husband when he passed away. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:06 | |
I understand they were from my father-in-law, who was in special forces during the Second World War. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:11 | |
Special forces, what did they get up to? | 0:26:11 | 0:26:13 | |
As I understand it, he went behind enemy lines in Albania, | 0:26:13 | 0:26:16 | |
but other than that, I don't know anything about it. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:19 | |
So he was a mystery man in your life. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:21 | |
Yes, yes, he is. And these are mystery objects. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:24 | |
-They are, yes. -But I have to say I think they're utterly compelling. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:28 | |
And so here you have in this picture, the quality, | 0:26:28 | 0:26:32 | |
the hideousness, of the real-life battle experience. | 0:26:32 | 0:26:38 | |
You've got, throughout, water, smoke, flame. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:43 | |
You can almost hear the battle, you can smell it. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:48 | |
In my view, there are occasions when art can do it better than film or photography. | 0:26:48 | 0:26:52 | |
Remember, an artist is there to record, not just the moment | 0:26:52 | 0:26:57 | |
at times like this, but also feelings, feelings in a way that celluloid can never impart. | 0:26:57 | 0:27:02 | |
This top image here of two firemen, | 0:27:02 | 0:27:07 | |
in what looks like the Blitz, has all the drama of film | 0:27:07 | 0:27:10 | |
and yet it has a sort of, clarity and an energy which moves it on. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:15 | |
-And do you know anything about this one? -Not at all. -Nothing at all? -No, nothing. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:19 | |
So all these things are all just totally unknown to you. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
Yes, I found them three weeks ago. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:24 | |
Well, let's go, let's go below. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
There you have a German plane crashed... | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
and I have to say it takes me a moment or two to realise what's going on, | 0:27:31 | 0:27:35 | |
but in the middle ground is a corpse. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:37 | |
Do you see it? | 0:27:37 | 0:27:40 | |
So this, particularly the way the raggedy clouds or done, | 0:27:40 | 0:27:44 | |
or rather the raggedy smoke and fire, the jagged edge feel of this watercolour | 0:27:44 | 0:27:51 | |
imparts to me one thing. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:53 | |
Whoever painted it was there and he's hurrying to get it down. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:58 | |
You can feel the energy, the smoke, the fire, the threat of where he is. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:05 | |
And the one at the bottom there, | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
of a battleship in the sea, | 0:28:08 | 0:28:12 | |
I've seen the sea painted thousands of times, | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
and yet somehow this sea does it for me. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:17 | |
I feel its choppiness, you can feel the metal of the ship from, | 0:28:17 | 0:28:22 | |
from which he must have been looking. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:24 | |
I mean, these really are portals into the Second World War. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:29 | |
Now the question is, who painted them? | 0:28:29 | 0:28:32 | |
Who did them? Have you any idea? | 0:28:32 | 0:28:34 | |
Not at all. I couldn't read the signature. | 0:28:34 | 0:28:36 | |
Well, I can see a signature here in the bottom right, | 0:28:36 | 0:28:39 | |
and to me this is immensely frustrating. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:44 | |
Why? Because I can't quite read what it says, and after the name | 0:28:44 | 0:28:49 | |
are the initials RA - Royal Academy. | 0:28:49 | 0:28:53 | |
So here is someone who has got real form, as we say in the art world, | 0:28:53 | 0:28:57 | |
and yet I can't tell you who it's by. | 0:28:57 | 0:29:00 | |
You see, I think these are by an artist | 0:29:00 | 0:29:02 | |
who's intending to impart information. | 0:29:02 | 0:29:05 | |
I suspect they may well be designs for posters or for illustrations, | 0:29:05 | 0:29:10 | |
but what's so different from the posters and illustrations that I know | 0:29:10 | 0:29:14 | |
is that there is this feeling of actuality. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
You can smell the war in these things. | 0:29:17 | 0:29:20 | |
As to their value, well, we need to get an artist in order to be able to establish a proper value, | 0:29:20 | 0:29:26 | |
but I'm delighted to say they're worth at least £500 each, | 0:29:26 | 0:29:29 | |
and if we can get an artist, possibly considerably more. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:33 | |
-So, with five or six you're talking about £3,000, perhaps a little bit more. -Gosh. | 0:29:33 | 0:29:40 | |
A lot of people who know me, know that I'm a dog lover, in fact | 0:29:42 | 0:29:46 | |
my dog used to come to Roadshows, and here is a really fantastic hound. Do you have a dog yourself? | 0:29:46 | 0:29:52 | |
-Are you a dog... -We do actually, we have a Border Lakeland cross... -Yes. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:57 | |
..terrier, which is quite a character. | 0:29:57 | 0:29:59 | |
And a hunting dog, like this? Or... | 0:29:59 | 0:30:02 | |
Well, he is a hunting dog, he was bred as a hunting dog, but never has. | 0:30:02 | 0:30:07 | |
Right, this is very much a hunting dog. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:10 | |
-It is, yes. -And, um you can see that it's on a chase. | 0:30:10 | 0:30:14 | |
Those eyes have something about the Gothic horror movie about them, it's certainly after something. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:21 | |
-It used to keep us away from the fireplace. -Did it? | 0:30:21 | 0:30:25 | |
Well, I can imagine that, it's so lifelike, it really is fantastic. | 0:30:25 | 0:30:30 | |
-And if you wanted confirmation of hunting, there is the hunting crop in bronze to back it. -Yeah. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:37 | |
And if you look at the back, first of all there's an inscription, | 0:30:37 | 0:30:40 | |
which I must ask you about, but it was clearly fitted to slot onto a wall. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:45 | |
-Yes. -And it's got a date which I would have thought is 1964, | 0:30:45 | 0:30:51 | |
rather than 1864 when it would have been made in the Black Forest, | 0:30:51 | 0:30:56 | |
it probably is pine and stained to look like walnut or a more precious wood, | 0:30:56 | 0:31:03 | |
but what about this date? | 0:31:03 | 0:31:05 | |
Well, the date on the back came from my father who wrote it on the back of it in order to... | 0:31:05 | 0:31:10 | |
in case it was stolen because it was up on the wall of a pub, | 0:31:10 | 0:31:14 | |
-and actually it was stolen. -Was it? | 0:31:14 | 0:31:17 | |
A rugby team, who was trophy hunting, | 0:31:17 | 0:31:20 | |
took it away and because of the address on the back, it actually came back. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:26 | |
-This is really quite a valuable item. -Right. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:29 | |
I think it fits a lot of factors which people are looking for in the market today. | 0:31:29 | 0:31:36 | |
If you're an interior decorator, what a piece of interior decoration. | 0:31:36 | 0:31:41 | |
A dog lover, you don't need to be just a dog lover to want something like this. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:46 | |
-Because of all those factors I think it would make between £1,500 and £2,000 at auction. -Phew. Very good.. | 0:31:46 | 0:31:53 | |
-A very much sought-after piece and very lovely piece to have. -Right. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:57 | |
-Thank you very much for bringing it. -Thank you. | 0:31:57 | 0:32:00 | |
Well, they do say that you can find a better dressed type of woman in Blackpool, would you agree with that? | 0:32:03 | 0:32:08 | |
-Totally. -OK, so you're obviously from Blackpool. | 0:32:08 | 0:32:11 | |
But I have to tell you that I describe myself | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
as a potaholic, that's... | 0:32:14 | 0:32:16 | |
I think it applies to both male and female, but the owner of this pair of shoes | 0:32:16 | 0:32:22 | |
and this handbag, I think was a kindred spirit. I think she could only have been a potaholic. | 0:32:22 | 0:32:27 | |
Now, just tell me a little bit about the lady owner. | 0:32:27 | 0:32:30 | |
Um, she was my aunt and she was wonderful, she treasured these, | 0:32:30 | 0:32:34 | |
and she gave them to me and I've cherished them ever since, really. | 0:32:34 | 0:32:38 | |
So did she wear these on a regular basis? | 0:32:38 | 0:32:40 | |
Er, no, I think only once and that was for, she'd been invited in the '60s, | 0:32:40 | 0:32:45 | |
early '60s, I think it was, to the Queen's garden party. | 0:32:45 | 0:32:49 | |
-At Buckingham Palace. -Yes, yes, absolutely. | 0:32:49 | 0:32:52 | |
Fantastic. Well, let, let's have a look in detail at a pair of shoes | 0:32:52 | 0:32:56 | |
that say more about you than money ever can, | 0:32:56 | 0:32:58 | |
-although I think it's fair to say, these would have been expensive. -Oh, yes, I would think so. | 0:32:58 | 0:33:03 | |
I have never met a woman yet wearing Wedgewood shoes, | 0:33:03 | 0:33:07 | |
but I think these are absolutely wonderful. | 0:33:07 | 0:33:11 | |
Let's just turn around, because it's not just these buckles is it? | 0:33:11 | 0:33:15 | |
-No, no. -It's the heels themselves, these are just breathtaking, absolutely breathtaking. | 0:33:15 | 0:33:21 | |
She's actually got a matching bag as well. | 0:33:21 | 0:33:25 | |
And, er, dare I ask, have you ever worn these? | 0:33:25 | 0:33:29 | |
-Yes, I have once. -Have you? -Yes. -And they are your size, are they? | 0:33:29 | 0:33:33 | |
Yeah... Don't, please. I thought you were going to ask me try them on. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:36 | |
No, no, no, all I'm interested in knowing | 0:33:36 | 0:33:39 | |
is whether or not it's the sort of thing that are being used today, I... | 0:33:39 | 0:33:44 | |
You see, for me, it's like having a car in the garage and not taking it out for a spin. | 0:33:44 | 0:33:48 | |
-I've worn them once, but I thought that was quite cavalier, really. -I think it probably was, wasn't it? | 0:33:48 | 0:33:53 | |
-Yeah, yeah. But it was good. -It was good? | 0:33:53 | 0:33:56 | |
-It was good, yeah. -Obviously you've got no idea what she had to pay for these way back when, | 0:33:56 | 0:34:00 | |
-and to be honest with you, I haven't got much of a precedent because this is a first for me. -Right, oh, good. | 0:34:00 | 0:34:05 | |
-A first for... I've come across a Wedgewood pram before today. -Right. | 0:34:05 | 0:34:09 | |
But Wedgewood shoes and matching bag, it's all new. | 0:34:09 | 0:34:12 | |
-Any thoughts. -No ideas, it wouldn't matter, I just think they're precious. | 0:34:12 | 0:34:16 | |
No, so if I offered you £500 would that be...? | 0:34:16 | 0:34:19 | |
-No, no. -If I offered you £800? -I'm sure they're not worth that, | 0:34:19 | 0:34:22 | |
-but to me they're worth everything. -Exactly. | 0:34:22 | 0:34:24 | |
Ignore the man behind you who said, "Take the money", ignore him, OK? | 0:34:24 | 0:34:28 | |
Well, I mean I think the proof of the pudding would always be in the selling. | 0:34:28 | 0:34:33 | |
But if I had to go out and... Let's put an insurance valuation on, um, | 0:34:33 | 0:34:36 | |
I wouldn't hesitate on this little group, to put the best part of £800. | 0:34:36 | 0:34:41 | |
-No! Oh, right. -Well, hey, listen, find me another pair. | 0:34:41 | 0:34:45 | |
I mean, they would have been worth more | 0:34:45 | 0:34:47 | |
if I could get my feet into them, but I just... | 0:34:47 | 0:34:49 | |
they're just not my size. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:51 | |
This is certainly the lightest piece of jewellery I've ever seen on the Antiques Roadshow, | 0:34:52 | 0:34:57 | |
but it also happens to be possibly one of the rarest pieces of jewellery | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
-I've ever seen on the Antiques Roadshow. -Oh. | 0:35:00 | 0:35:02 | |
-Is that what you thought when you brought it? -No. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:05 | |
-It's like a whisper, you can hardly feel it on your hand. What did you think it was made of? -I had... | 0:35:05 | 0:35:10 | |
I think my mother said it might have been bone. | 0:35:10 | 0:35:14 | |
I thought it was old, that's the only thing I knew about it. | 0:35:14 | 0:35:18 | |
Well, it is seriously old | 0:35:18 | 0:35:20 | |
and it's not made of bone, it's made of horse hair. | 0:35:20 | 0:35:23 | |
-Oh. -And I think that it might well be 17th century, | 0:35:23 | 0:35:27 | |
that it could be 400 years old. | 0:35:27 | 0:35:29 | |
-Wow! -And I think it's part of the kit and caboodle | 0:35:29 | 0:35:32 | |
of somebody who's been widowed, | 0:35:32 | 0:35:34 | |
and she's sort of shunned her real jewellery | 0:35:34 | 0:35:37 | |
and traded it in for black and white jewellery, which is highly appropriate for a widow. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:41 | |
I've talked to our picture people here who recognise it as a type from the 17th century. | 0:35:41 | 0:35:46 | |
You see it in portraits, and that's desperately important for us in dating these things. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:50 | |
It's black and white, which is the colours of Jacobean England, | 0:35:50 | 0:35:54 | |
it's the colours of Jacobean mourning, | 0:35:54 | 0:35:56 | |
the colour of Jacobean death, it has to be said, | 0:35:56 | 0:35:58 | |
but I'm completely besotted with it. | 0:35:58 | 0:36:00 | |
I don't know how it's survived and how it's not been torn to shreds. | 0:36:00 | 0:36:04 | |
It's very fragile, very light, very papery, | 0:36:04 | 0:36:07 | |
it's just like a spider's web, or a whisper in your hand. | 0:36:07 | 0:36:11 | |
And, and is that all startling to you? | 0:36:11 | 0:36:14 | |
Yes, it's just been kept in a jewellery box | 0:36:14 | 0:36:17 | |
with a load of other silver jewellery, | 0:36:17 | 0:36:19 | |
so I'm surprised it's that fragile. | 0:36:19 | 0:36:22 | |
Well, it's probably been in a jewellery box for 400 years. | 0:36:22 | 0:36:25 | |
-Wow. -And, and quite why it's survived, I'll never know. | 0:36:25 | 0:36:28 | |
And, and, and, and I'm very, very excited by it. | 0:36:28 | 0:36:31 | |
And I don't know how to transfer that excitement to everybody. | 0:36:31 | 0:36:34 | |
I'm hoping to do it, and it's certainly not about money. | 0:36:34 | 0:36:38 | |
Money's a completely false barometer. | 0:36:38 | 0:36:40 | |
If I tell you that it was very valuable, I'd be wrong, I think it isn't. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:43 | |
I think it's really worth only low hundreds of pounds, | 0:36:43 | 0:36:47 | |
-maybe no more than £200 or £300. -Oh. | 0:36:47 | 0:36:50 | |
But as a survival I think it's an astonishingly valuable object | 0:36:50 | 0:36:53 | |
and I've loved every minute of it, and what will you do now? | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
I don't know, go and put it somewhere safe, I think. | 0:36:56 | 0:37:00 | |
Very good, it's been safe for four centuries, | 0:37:00 | 0:37:03 | |
and it's your job to keep it safe as long as you can. | 0:37:03 | 0:37:06 | |
Put your hand out and have a whisper in your hand, a tiny, | 0:37:06 | 0:37:09 | |
-tiny butterfly on your hand that's four hundred years old. -Thank you very much. | 0:37:09 | 0:37:13 | |
What more magic could you ask? | 0:37:13 | 0:37:14 | |
Well, I think every cricketing enthusiast recognises that | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
-Don Bradman was the greatest batsman in the history of the game. -Yes. | 0:37:17 | 0:37:21 | |
And on the Roadshow we see quite a lot of autographs and occasionally his signature comes along. | 0:37:21 | 0:37:26 | |
But I've never seen 92 Bradman signatures before. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:29 | |
-They're all there. -How did it all start? | 0:37:29 | 0:37:31 | |
It started many years ago, 1948, which was Bradman's last tour, | 0:37:31 | 0:37:38 | |
and a gentleman, who was an old gentleman - I was only five then - | 0:37:38 | 0:37:43 | |
said he had a Don Bradman autograph and I really wanted to see it | 0:37:43 | 0:37:46 | |
because I was interested in cricket from a very early age. | 0:37:46 | 0:37:49 | |
He showed it me and then I always wanted one. And then in the 1970s I wrote a letter to Don Bradman, | 0:37:49 | 0:37:55 | |
they printed his actual address in the Radio Times, believe it or not, | 0:37:55 | 0:37:59 | |
and I got a reply and he signed it, Don Bradman, and I thought I must get some more. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:04 | |
And then he became an obsession, really, | 0:38:04 | 0:38:06 | |
and I found cuttings and old things to send to him, and photographs, | 0:38:06 | 0:38:11 | |
the only colour photograph from his last tour, 1948, and he signed every one, | 0:38:11 | 0:38:16 | |
and always a reply within a week. Wonderful! | 0:38:16 | 0:38:19 | |
-What a gentleman! -What a gentleman, a true gent! | 0:38:19 | 0:38:22 | |
Well, if we look here we can see some of the signatures | 0:38:22 | 0:38:26 | |
on Christmas cards and cigarette cards and indeed that's a match... | 0:38:26 | 0:38:30 | |
-That's the last match he ever played. -Oh, is it? | 0:38:30 | 0:38:32 | |
-Is that when he was out for four? -He was out... -No, nought... | 0:38:32 | 0:38:35 | |
If he'd have got four he'd have had a hundred average. | 0:38:35 | 0:38:39 | |
I think it was 99.99 his test average, wasn't it? | 0:38:39 | 0:38:42 | |
-Exactly, yes. -But he did in, what? 35 year career, | 0:38:42 | 0:38:44 | |
scored a century every three innings he came to the wicket. | 0:38:44 | 0:38:47 | |
-That's right. -Quite astonishing. -Marvellous. -So how many years have we... Lots of photographs here. | 0:38:47 | 0:38:53 | |
We're talking 25 years to get all these, | 0:38:53 | 0:38:55 | |
and he even sent me an actual birthday card on me 40th birthday, | 0:38:55 | 0:38:59 | |
which was magic, I didn't expect it. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:01 | |
And I think I can guess, but why 92 Bradman signatures? | 0:39:01 | 0:39:05 | |
92, well, when I got to about 70, I thought, "This is round about the same age as Don," | 0:39:05 | 0:39:09 | |
and I thought "I'll try and get one for every year of his age." | 0:39:09 | 0:39:12 | |
And when he'd reached 92 I'd only 91, and I sent one last one off and he just signed it, | 0:39:12 | 0:39:18 | |
-just before he died, sadly died. -Oh, how very poignant. | 0:39:18 | 0:39:21 | |
So I just, just managed it. | 0:39:21 | 0:39:23 | |
And his signature's never changed over the years. Wonderful! | 0:39:23 | 0:39:26 | |
Fantastic! Well, let's talk about values. | 0:39:26 | 0:39:29 | |
The Bradman album, very difficult to value but I think if that came up at auction, | 0:39:29 | 0:39:33 | |
a cricket enthusiast would pay maybe £2,000 or £3,000 for it, possibly more, yes. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:38 | |
-Excellent, right. -Wonderful collection. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:41 | |
Thank you, Paul, thank you. | 0:39:41 | 0:39:43 | |
Now, our experts know a thing or two about collecting and they have some wonderful collections, | 0:39:49 | 0:39:54 | |
but even they have been known to pick a dud. | 0:39:54 | 0:39:56 | |
Now, Bill Harriman, you know everything there is to know about arms and militaria. | 0:39:56 | 0:40:00 | |
You've been an expert in criminal cases, but I was astonished to learn that you even bought a fake. | 0:40:00 | 0:40:06 | |
Well, I'm afraid that I did, even us who are learned in such matters, | 0:40:06 | 0:40:10 | |
we still very occasionally get stitched up. | 0:40:10 | 0:40:13 | |
So this, this is the fake, is it? | 0:40:13 | 0:40:15 | |
-This is a fake, yes. -So tell me the story behind it. | 0:40:15 | 0:40:18 | |
I, for many years, always wanted one of these, it's an 1862 Colt revolver. | 0:40:18 | 0:40:23 | |
-I wanted one from the era of the American Civil War. -Can I hold it? | 0:40:23 | 0:40:26 | |
-Yes. -I've never actually held a gun, or anything like it, so... | 0:40:26 | 0:40:30 | |
I was desperate to get one from the period of the American Civil War, | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
and you can tell their date from the serial numbers, and I saw that. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
It was for sale with a dealer, and I bought it and I was very pleased with it and I got it home, | 0:40:36 | 0:40:42 | |
had a look at it, I was still very pleased with it. | 0:40:42 | 0:40:45 | |
I showed it to various other people and, er, | 0:40:45 | 0:40:48 | |
there was that horrid little seed of doubt planted by a friend of mine who said, | 0:40:48 | 0:40:54 | |
"Oh, I'm not sure about that", so we took it to bits and did a full forensic examination | 0:40:54 | 0:40:59 | |
and my heart started to sink through the bottom of my boots, | 0:40:59 | 0:41:03 | |
as it was very clear that it's a modern-made Italian replica | 0:41:03 | 0:41:07 | |
-that somebody has aged to make it look like it was from about 1864. -So it could take in even you? | 0:41:07 | 0:41:13 | |
It did take me in. I paid good money for it. | 0:41:13 | 0:41:16 | |
So what did you do then? | 0:41:16 | 0:41:17 | |
Well, I went back to the dealer who'd sold it to me | 0:41:17 | 0:41:21 | |
and I'd taken the precaution of obtaining an expert report | 0:41:21 | 0:41:25 | |
and I showed him this and eventually, with bad grace, I have to say, he gave me my money back. | 0:41:25 | 0:41:30 | |
He said "I'll have the pistol back". I said, "Well, have you got authority to possess it?" | 0:41:30 | 0:41:34 | |
He said, "No," and I've had it ever since. | 0:41:34 | 0:41:37 | |
-I suppose it's a salutary lesson. -It is a salutary lesson. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:40 | |
I pick that up occasionally and it tells me that I'm as fallible as the next man, | 0:41:40 | 0:41:45 | |
and it tells me to use your eyes and use your brains and connect the two, and don't take anything for granted. | 0:41:45 | 0:41:53 | |
And what about your best, your best buy, or the thing you love best in your collection? | 0:41:53 | 0:41:57 | |
It's this. It's that...piece of... | 0:41:57 | 0:42:02 | |
shattered bone and metal. Do you know what it is? | 0:42:02 | 0:42:04 | |
-Can you guess what it is? -This was a penknife was it? | 0:42:04 | 0:42:07 | |
Yes, yeah, cheap old penknife, sort of clasped knife that was carried by all kinds of people, | 0:42:07 | 0:42:12 | |
farmers, workers, you name it. And it's very special to me because... | 0:42:12 | 0:42:17 | |
-Why is this so special to you? -It's my grandfather's. | 0:42:17 | 0:42:20 | |
My maternal grandfather who was Corporal Samuel Robinson | 0:42:20 | 0:42:23 | |
of the 7th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment, | 0:42:23 | 0:42:27 | |
and that was about Sam Robinson's person | 0:42:27 | 0:42:30 | |
when it was hit by either a machine gun bullet, | 0:42:30 | 0:42:33 | |
or a piece of shell fragment, | 0:42:33 | 0:42:35 | |
and it clearly took most of the force of the impact and he survived the First World War. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:40 | |
Oh, so if this had been a little bit to the left, a little bit to the right. | 0:42:40 | 0:42:45 | |
You and I would not be speaking today. | 0:42:45 | 0:42:46 | |
-Gosh, that's a slightly sobering thought, isn't it? -It is a very sobering thought. | 0:42:46 | 0:42:50 | |
-And this is him, is it? -Yes, there he is in his uniform taken in about... | 0:42:50 | 0:42:54 | |
I'm guessing about 1916. | 0:42:54 | 0:42:57 | |
That to me, I think, is one of the dearest things that I own. | 0:42:57 | 0:43:01 | |
I get very emotional about it, as you probably see. | 0:43:01 | 0:43:04 | |
-It's wonderful to see it Bill, thanks very much. -Thank you. | 0:43:04 | 0:43:07 | |
This is obviously only the tip of the iceberg. You've got press cuttings, letters from the Prime Minister, | 0:43:10 | 0:43:15 | |
Lloyd George, and pictures of the great man himself, | 0:43:15 | 0:43:20 | |
the counsellor, "To Mr H Veno". | 0:43:20 | 0:43:23 | |
Now tell me, what's it all about? | 0:43:23 | 0:43:25 | |
I'm related, I'm the great grandson of Sir William Henry Veno. | 0:43:25 | 0:43:30 | |
Yes. | 0:43:30 | 0:43:32 | |
Who was born William Reynard Varney. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:34 | |
-Right. -Moved to America and acquired the formula for Veno's Cough Cure. | 0:43:34 | 0:43:40 | |
-And this is the patent here? -Yes. -This is the thing. | 0:43:40 | 0:43:43 | |
He decided to patent the company in 1894, and he patented it Veno's Drugs Company. | 0:43:43 | 0:43:49 | |
He moved back to Manchester, and started a company in Chester Road, Manchester. | 0:43:49 | 0:43:53 | |
-And here are all the products here. -They are the products, yes, yes. -But tell me about his life. | 0:43:53 | 0:43:58 | |
When he moved back to Manchester, | 0:43:58 | 0:44:01 | |
he carried on with the company, he built the company up, he became Mayor of Altrincham, um... | 0:44:01 | 0:44:08 | |
And knighted, there's a letter from the Prime Minister. | 0:44:08 | 0:44:11 | |
There's two letters there, one from Lloyd George, one from Percy Shaw, | 0:44:11 | 0:44:14 | |
inviting him to Buckingham Palace to be knighted, | 0:44:14 | 0:44:18 | |
and from thereon the war broke out, the First World War, which is the letter there. | 0:44:18 | 0:44:24 | |
Yes, let me just read this letter because it's rather sad. | 0:44:24 | 0:44:28 | |
"My dearest Mary, I arrived here last night and am returning to Manchester | 0:44:28 | 0:44:32 | |
"tomorrow night and will be with you Friday evening, usual train. | 0:44:32 | 0:44:37 | |
"Things are looking very black. England has declared war against Germany," | 0:44:37 | 0:44:41 | |
-that must be the First World War, "and everybody is upset and business is at a standstill". -Yes. | 0:44:41 | 0:44:47 | |
Rather sad. | 0:44:47 | 0:44:48 | |
And I believe after that he did have problems with a bottle making company | 0:44:48 | 0:44:52 | |
-which made bottles too brittle and he had to pull them all back because of fear of people getting hurt. -Yes. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:58 | |
So that was another thing that... Probably the demise of the company. | 0:44:58 | 0:45:02 | |
And in 1925 he then sold the company to Beechams. | 0:45:02 | 0:45:04 | |
But I mean surely, I mean he would have sold it for an awful lot of money? | 0:45:04 | 0:45:08 | |
He would have been, he would have been a millionaire. | 0:45:08 | 0:45:11 | |
-He was, he was. -He was a millionaire. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:13 | |
-He was a millionaire. -And does any of these riches descend to you? | 0:45:13 | 0:45:17 | |
Unfortunately not. Only the collection from the family. | 0:45:17 | 0:45:21 | |
Well, individually these items don't add up to much but when you actually have a whole archive like this, | 0:45:21 | 0:45:27 | |
and this is only the tip of the archive, | 0:45:27 | 0:45:30 | |
I would say that it's going to be in excess of £1,000 and you're still collecting. | 0:45:30 | 0:45:37 | |
I am, I am, yes, it's growing. | 0:45:37 | 0:45:39 | |
That's tremendous, thanks. | 0:45:39 | 0:45:41 | |
Thank you very much. | 0:45:41 | 0:45:42 | |
Now this is what I call a dead swanky cocktail set. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:49 | |
Wow this is really nice. | 0:45:49 | 0:45:51 | |
It says 1938 all over it, and that's what it says | 0:45:51 | 0:45:55 | |
on the silver cocktail shaker | 0:45:55 | 0:45:57 | |
that forms the centre of this really nice thing. | 0:45:57 | 0:46:02 | |
The glass is by Walsh, they're cut and engraved. | 0:46:02 | 0:46:06 | |
The silver is by Boynton who is an extremely nobby silver maker, | 0:46:06 | 0:46:10 | |
one of the best English silver makers of the period. | 0:46:10 | 0:46:13 | |
The cocktail sticks are in solid mother of pearl, capped with solid silver cocks, | 0:46:13 | 0:46:19 | |
and I love it, I think it's a hot thing. Where did you find it? | 0:46:19 | 0:46:23 | |
Well, basically my dad was doing some work in the loft and he found this... | 0:46:23 | 0:46:27 | |
Apparently the story goes that my great uncle Billy was an accountant | 0:46:27 | 0:46:31 | |
and he was doing some accountancy work for somebody. | 0:46:31 | 0:46:34 | |
Literally rather than getting paid in money, he was paid in lieu. | 0:46:34 | 0:46:37 | |
Well, I mean, because it's such good quality and it's in very good condition, | 0:46:37 | 0:46:41 | |
-there are people who would love to have this, cocktails are fashionable again. -Yes, sure. | 0:46:41 | 0:46:45 | |
So I think for something that stands you in at nothing, | 0:46:45 | 0:46:48 | |
the four hundred quid at auction that it's worth is quite nice, | 0:46:48 | 0:46:52 | |
and if you wanted to buy it again then you're in to £500, £600. | 0:46:52 | 0:46:56 | |
Right, cool. | 0:46:56 | 0:46:57 | |
Once an antique becomes valuable, | 0:46:57 | 0:47:02 | |
it becomes copyable. | 0:47:02 | 0:47:05 | |
And Toby jugs became very, very collectable in the late 19th century. | 0:47:05 | 0:47:12 | |
How old is this one, do you think? | 0:47:12 | 0:47:14 | |
Well, I'm not sure. I was hoping it was very old, but... | 0:47:15 | 0:47:20 | |
What's "very old"? | 0:47:20 | 0:47:22 | |
-Well, 1785? -That's a very specific date. -Yeah. | 0:47:22 | 0:47:27 | |
So have you done any research on it? | 0:47:27 | 0:47:29 | |
I've done a little bit, | 0:47:29 | 0:47:31 | |
I've tried the internet and I've seen pictures of very similar ones, | 0:47:31 | 0:47:38 | |
associated with... | 0:47:38 | 0:47:41 | |
-the Wood family. -The Wood family of Staffordshire? | 0:47:41 | 0:47:43 | |
-Of Staffordshire, yeah. -Ralph Wood, Enoch Wood, a famous family of potters. | 0:47:43 | 0:47:48 | |
-Yeah. -Well, those are just the sort of Toby jugs | 0:47:48 | 0:47:50 | |
-that people were very keen to get their hands on in the late 19th century. -Yeah. | 0:47:50 | 0:47:55 | |
When there was this great wave of china-mania and for that reason, | 0:47:55 | 0:47:58 | |
the Staffordshire factories at that time started producing | 0:47:58 | 0:48:04 | |
very good copies of things that then were 100 years old or so. | 0:48:04 | 0:48:08 | |
The earliest one I saw that looked like this one was 1785. | 0:48:08 | 0:48:12 | |
Right, but in view of what I've said about these being essentially copied in the late 19th century... | 0:48:12 | 0:48:17 | |
-Yeah, yeah. -..are you sure? | 0:48:17 | 0:48:20 | |
Not now, no. | 0:48:20 | 0:48:22 | |
Now, I'm going to look at it in detail. | 0:48:22 | 0:48:25 | |
Let's look at this fellow, he's beautifully modelled face, | 0:48:25 | 0:48:29 | |
he's got a wart on the cheek, he's got a gap in his teeth, | 0:48:29 | 0:48:33 | |
he's holding a foaming jug and then he's sitting on this barrel. | 0:48:33 | 0:48:38 | |
Let's just actually look at the shirt with those buttons and the creases, | 0:48:38 | 0:48:44 | |
the creases in his britches, and then at his feet, a dog, a spaniel, I think. | 0:48:44 | 0:48:49 | |
The colours are what we call onglaze colours, | 0:48:49 | 0:48:53 | |
-these are metallic oxides that are put onto the piece and actually are sealed into the glaze. -Right. | 0:48:53 | 0:49:00 | |
And you get this incredibly lustrous glaze. | 0:49:00 | 0:49:04 | |
Very, very bright green with this lovely bunch of reeds forming the handle. | 0:49:04 | 0:49:09 | |
And it's only when we actually look underneath, | 0:49:09 | 0:49:13 | |
we can see the colour of the clay, | 0:49:13 | 0:49:15 | |
it's a very white clay, the clay has come from materials quarried down in, | 0:49:15 | 0:49:20 | |
in Cornwall and shipped all the way up to Staffordshire, | 0:49:20 | 0:49:24 | |
and then it's covered in this glaze which has a bluey tinge to it, which we therefore call pearlware. | 0:49:24 | 0:49:30 | |
In other words, there's a lot of work has gone into this, | 0:49:30 | 0:49:34 | |
and that's the clue as to whether it's right or wrong. | 0:49:34 | 0:49:38 | |
Which way are you inclining yourself? | 0:49:38 | 0:49:40 | |
Er, I think he's right. | 0:49:42 | 0:49:44 | |
You're right, he is right. | 0:49:44 | 0:49:46 | |
He is known as the Lord Howe Sailor. | 0:49:46 | 0:49:49 | |
Many of these Toby jugs take names from famous Admirals... | 0:49:49 | 0:49:54 | |
there's a Rodney Sailor as well, but this is known as the Howe Sailor. | 0:49:54 | 0:50:00 | |
And it does date exactly to the 1780s | 0:50:00 | 0:50:02 | |
and it is almost certainly from the stable of Ralph Wood. | 0:50:02 | 0:50:05 | |
Well, a 19th century copy would probably be worth | 0:50:05 | 0:50:11 | |
somewhere in the region of £50. | 0:50:11 | 0:50:15 | |
A 1785-1790 piece like this | 0:50:15 | 0:50:20 | |
is worth £5,000. | 0:50:20 | 0:50:23 | |
5,000? | 0:50:23 | 0:50:25 | |
Very good, must get him insured. | 0:50:25 | 0:50:30 | |
I owe you a very big thank you. | 0:50:30 | 0:50:32 | |
The Beatles played eight times here in Blackpool | 0:50:32 | 0:50:35 | |
so I was expecting to see programmes, tickets, signatures all day. | 0:50:35 | 0:50:38 | |
It's nearly the end of the day | 0:50:38 | 0:50:40 | |
and you're my first person to come in with some Beatles memorabilia. | 0:50:40 | 0:50:44 | |
Did you get these yourself? | 0:50:44 | 0:50:45 | |
I did. I was a very young girl, I lived in Middlesex, | 0:50:45 | 0:50:49 | |
my Dad was the PRO at Heathrow Airport and it was my hobby, | 0:50:49 | 0:50:54 | |
I was mad on collecting autographs of famous people. | 0:50:54 | 0:50:57 | |
-How old were you then? -About 12, it was early '60s, | 0:50:57 | 0:51:00 | |
so that's given me age away but, er, yeah, | 0:51:00 | 0:51:03 | |
I actually got these myself. | 0:51:03 | 0:51:05 | |
So he worked in Heathrow and obviously had access to all the VIPs going backwards and forwards. | 0:51:05 | 0:51:10 | |
He did, yeah, yes, yes. | 0:51:10 | 0:51:11 | |
And he would go along and just ask for their autographs and say, "It's for my daughter"? | 0:51:11 | 0:51:16 | |
-Well, for the Beatles he actually took me with him, he said, "Come on, you can..." -You met them? | 0:51:16 | 0:51:21 | |
Yes, I sat on Paul McCartney's knee. | 0:51:21 | 0:51:23 | |
-Wow! -I was very embarrassed. I had very sensible sandals on | 0:51:23 | 0:51:26 | |
and I was trying to hide my feet, but it was, it was wonderful, it was wonderful. | 0:51:26 | 0:51:30 | |
And apart from the Beatles, who else did he meet, or did you meet? | 0:51:33 | 0:51:37 | |
The Rolling Stones, I got their autographs as well. | 0:51:37 | 0:51:40 | |
-You said that they terrified you. -They did terrify me, yeah. They were very... | 0:51:40 | 0:51:44 | |
heavy-looking, even then. Although when you look back on photographs they look quite sweet now, | 0:51:44 | 0:51:49 | |
but at the time they looked quite heavy to me. | 0:51:49 | 0:51:51 | |
And you kept these and then you stopped collecting... | 0:51:51 | 0:51:54 | |
Well, there's loads in there, loads and loads and loads, Margot Fonteyn | 0:51:54 | 0:51:58 | |
and Muhammad Ali and absolutely loads. But, yeah, for the last few years they've been in a drawer, | 0:51:58 | 0:52:04 | |
won't tell you what drawer, | 0:52:04 | 0:52:06 | |
-been in a drawer. -I can guess, I can guess. | 0:52:06 | 0:52:09 | |
Yes, yes. | 0:52:09 | 0:52:11 | |
And as far as value's concerned, the Beatles, | 0:52:11 | 0:52:14 | |
the Rolling Stones with Brian Jones, Muhammad Ali, they go on and on and I start adding it all up. | 0:52:14 | 0:52:19 | |
Barbara Streisand, Lisa Minnelli. | 0:52:19 | 0:52:21 | |
There's about 80 in total in the books. | 0:52:21 | 0:52:24 | |
-So, exceptional books. Have you thought about value? -No, no, we've never... | 0:52:24 | 0:52:30 | |
Because today this represents, | 0:52:30 | 0:52:32 | |
you know, an important autograph collection. | 0:52:32 | 0:52:36 | |
They are worth in the region of £3,000 to £4,000 each album. | 0:52:36 | 0:52:42 | |
-So we're talking about £6,000 to £8,000 for the collection. -Wow. | 0:52:42 | 0:52:47 | |
-Wow! Ooh! -How many children are they going to be shared between? -Well, maybe I won't now! | 0:52:47 | 0:52:53 | |
So a ballroom jewel in a ballroom, | 0:52:53 | 0:52:56 | |
tell me about it, come on, where did you find it? | 0:52:56 | 0:53:00 | |
At a car boot sale. | 0:53:00 | 0:53:02 | |
-And? -And, with some other bits and bobs, | 0:53:02 | 0:53:05 | |
so I gave about £5 for that with a few other little trinket things. | 0:53:05 | 0:53:10 | |
Obviously I didn't know until a later time it was diamonds, | 0:53:10 | 0:53:14 | |
but it's different, unusual, and things like that, I thought, you know... | 0:53:14 | 0:53:18 | |
Why not? And so you were attracted to the way it returned the light, | 0:53:18 | 0:53:22 | |
it sort of scintillated away there. Goodness me. | 0:53:22 | 0:53:24 | |
It is the most remarkable thing and it's one of the most glamorous pieces of jewellery | 0:53:24 | 0:53:29 | |
-I've seen for a long time, actually. -Really? | 0:53:29 | 0:53:31 | |
Yeah, definitely. Because it's not a brooch at all. | 0:53:31 | 0:53:34 | |
-It's not? -No. | 0:53:34 | 0:53:35 | |
-I thought it was a brooch. -I thought it was a brooch for a while. | 0:53:35 | 0:53:39 | |
-Oh, really? -But actually it's half a tiara. | 0:53:39 | 0:53:41 | |
-Tiara? -Yes, and it would have sat opposite another wing | 0:53:41 | 0:53:44 | |
of exactly the same form on the forehead of a girl, who would have come to a ballroom like this, | 0:53:44 | 0:53:49 | |
dressed to the nines, dressed to the highest possible level that she could afford, wearing her diamonds | 0:53:49 | 0:53:55 | |
and wearing that on the front of her forehead that turned her into a Greek goddess, frankly. | 0:53:55 | 0:54:00 | |
Really? I'm amazed. | 0:54:00 | 0:54:01 | |
Yeah, and, and I'm amazed too, because I love it and I think it's highly figurative. | 0:54:01 | 0:54:06 | |
And I think the anatomy of the bird's wing is beautifully suggested by the undulation of the metalwork | 0:54:06 | 0:54:12 | |
and it's set in silver and gold, which is perfect for the period. | 0:54:12 | 0:54:16 | |
Every setting has been pierced out by hand from the gold sheet and you can see the engraver's mark. | 0:54:16 | 0:54:22 | |
-Yeah. -And, and then he pierces it with a file | 0:54:22 | 0:54:24 | |
and then builds up the settings beyond that | 0:54:24 | 0:54:27 | |
to make what is one of the most poetic forms of jewellery I've ever seen. | 0:54:27 | 0:54:31 | |
In a way we're slightly out of tune with it, | 0:54:31 | 0:54:34 | |
because we do see it as a bird's wing, | 0:54:34 | 0:54:36 | |
but it's not a bird's wing, it's the wings of a God. | 0:54:36 | 0:54:39 | |
I mean, it's a sort of Hermes wing, | 0:54:39 | 0:54:42 | |
it's an Amorini's wing and it stands for eternal love. | 0:54:42 | 0:54:46 | |
And it does evoke a period long gone. | 0:54:46 | 0:54:49 | |
It evokes a time when entertainments were hard to find, | 0:54:49 | 0:54:53 | |
there was no television, no radio, no cinema, no telephone, no computer and what do you do? | 0:54:53 | 0:55:00 | |
You go out to what was called an entertainment. | 0:55:00 | 0:55:02 | |
You'd have an invitation, a very smart invitation | 0:55:02 | 0:55:05 | |
lined with gold, and it would say somebody would receive you for a dance, even a small dance, sometimes, | 0:55:05 | 0:55:11 | |
which would be a clue to you as to how to dress, but whatever happened, | 0:55:11 | 0:55:15 | |
you were dressed to the highest possible pitch that you could afford, | 0:55:15 | 0:55:18 | |
and the highest that this woman could afford was quite high indeed, | 0:55:18 | 0:55:22 | |
because as you now know, they are diamonds, and they're not marcasites, are they? | 0:55:22 | 0:55:26 | |
And we have to understand what the other parts of her arrangements would have been, | 0:55:26 | 0:55:30 | |
if she was wearing diamond feathers in her hair, | 0:55:30 | 0:55:32 | |
what her dress would have been like, what her carriage would have been like. | 0:55:32 | 0:55:36 | |
It could have been in this ballroom, it is of the same period as this ballroom. | 0:55:36 | 0:55:40 | |
-Really? -It dates from about 1900 and she's dressing as a Greek goddess. | 0:55:40 | 0:55:45 | |
Heaven only knows, I don't think one could find a more exciting thing. | 0:55:45 | 0:55:49 | |
What do you feel about all of that? | 0:55:49 | 0:55:50 | |
Speechless. | 0:55:50 | 0:55:53 | |
Good. | 0:55:53 | 0:55:55 | |
Marvellous, I almost am. I've sort of run out now, I've hit home. | 0:55:55 | 0:55:58 | |
I think it's fantastic... | 0:55:58 | 0:56:00 | |
I'm like, "How does he do this?" | 0:56:00 | 0:56:02 | |
Well, I've seen them before and they were made by the greatest jewellers, by Boucheron and Cartier, Guiliano... | 0:56:02 | 0:56:09 | |
superb names involved themselves in this style and it's not a unique thing. | 0:56:09 | 0:56:13 | |
What we do slightly ache to see is the other brooch, | 0:56:13 | 0:56:16 | |
maybe it will come forward somehow or another. | 0:56:16 | 0:56:18 | |
But they do exist in pairs, they were mounted on a tiara frame | 0:56:18 | 0:56:22 | |
and they could be taken on and off and worn as brooches | 0:56:22 | 0:56:24 | |
and they're very desirable and they're still very poetic. | 0:56:24 | 0:56:28 | |
And with, with all of that comes some high value, so £5 investment from you... | 0:56:28 | 0:56:34 | |
If it were a tiara with both wings it would return £12,000 to £15,000. | 0:56:34 | 0:56:40 | |
Oh, my God. Are you serious? | 0:56:40 | 0:56:42 | |
Oh, my God, oh, I nearly screamed then, I'm not going to scream. | 0:56:42 | 0:56:46 | |
Why wouldn't you scream? | 0:56:46 | 0:56:49 | |
Oh, my God! Really? | 0:56:49 | 0:56:51 | |
And half of it is worth less than half, | 0:56:51 | 0:56:54 | |
but it's still worth £5,000 or £6,000 of anybody's money. | 0:56:54 | 0:56:59 | |
Oh, my God, | 0:56:59 | 0:57:00 | |
I can't... I'm so giddy! | 0:57:00 | 0:57:04 | |
-Fantastic. -Oh, that is amazing. | 0:57:04 | 0:57:06 | |
No, I'm thrilled, I love it. | 0:57:06 | 0:57:09 | |
In this splendid ballroom it's easy to imagine the dances that have taken place here, | 0:57:09 | 0:57:15 | |
the bands that have played on this stage and of course the organists, | 0:57:15 | 0:57:19 | |
I mentioned Reginald Dixon earlier on and this organ, he designed it himself and played on it. | 0:57:19 | 0:57:24 | |
And Phil, our organist for the day, is going to play us out | 0:57:24 | 0:57:27 | |
with a little number you might just recognise. But first, | 0:57:27 | 0:57:30 | |
thank you to the people of Blackpool for bringing along such a wonderful array and variety of objects. | 0:57:30 | 0:57:36 | |
And Phil, now, over to you, would you kindly take it away. | 0:57:36 | 0:57:38 | |
MUSIC: Antiques Roadshow Theme | 0:57:38 | 0:57:41 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:58:28 | 0:58:31 | |
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk | 0:58:31 | 0:58:35 |