0:00:03 > 0:00:07This week we set off on an expedition to the most easterly edge of Britain.
0:00:07 > 0:00:12Imagine a triangle with Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Norwich at the far points.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15Well, we are in the middle of it.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19Welcome to Somerleyton Hall in the beautiful Suffolk landscape.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Home makeovers ain't what they used to be.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59Take Somerleyton Hall for example,
0:00:59 > 0:01:06it used to be just your run of the mill 16th century pile, bit on the plain side, and then,
0:01:06 > 0:01:11just after Queen Victoria perches herself on the throne, a builder with ambition and a few pounds,
0:01:11 > 0:01:16buys it, and hey presto, a spectacular country house appears.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23Behind the transformation was Morton Peto,
0:01:23 > 0:01:28a self-made millionaire who built the Houses of Parliament and Nelson's Column.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32In the process his company became the world's largest employer of labourers.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37Peto was a devout Baptist with a dream to turn his country home
0:01:37 > 0:01:40into his very own earthly paradise,
0:01:40 > 0:01:45so he employed the top names and brands from the Victorian world of design.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51Part of his social circle was Prince Albert, who recommended John Thomas,
0:01:51 > 0:01:53a designer with an ordinary sounding name,
0:01:53 > 0:01:58but an extraordinary imagination which he unleashed on Somerleyton Hall,
0:01:58 > 0:02:02giving it its extravagant flora and fauna stone work.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08The top horologist of the day and clock maker to four monarchs,
0:02:08 > 0:02:10Benjamin Vulliamy designed
0:02:10 > 0:02:14a prototype model clock for Big Ben in the 1840's.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19Although the model was rejected, Peto built this magnificent tower for it instead.
0:02:33 > 0:02:39Peto's efforts to transform his home into an earthly paradise were a great success and in the process
0:02:39 > 0:02:45he built one of the finest mazes in Britain, but sadly he suffered a major credit crunch to the tune
0:02:45 > 0:02:49of four million pounds, when his bank went bust, and even worse...
0:02:49 > 0:02:51he had to sell Somerleyton.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56Phew! 'In stepped the present incumbent,
0:02:56 > 0:03:02'the Crossley family from Halifax, whose fortune was made by inventing a technique to mass produce carpets.
0:03:02 > 0:03:08'They've been here for 150 years and have kindly invited us to their Victorian designer heaven.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11'Over to our specialists.'
0:03:11 > 0:03:14Well, where on earth did you a jewel that looks like that?
0:03:14 > 0:03:17I found it at a car boot sale a couple of months ago.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20What were you doing at the boot sale? Why did you go?
0:03:20 > 0:03:25I went because I had a fall on the Thursday and I had a painful knee and I could hardly walk
0:03:25 > 0:03:29and my husband likes them, so I said, "OK, we'll go and I'll sit in the car,"
0:03:29 > 0:03:32and I thought, "No, I can't sit in the car because if I do, he'll take me to the hospital,"
0:03:32 > 0:03:36and I didn't want to land up in the hospital with a poor knee, so I thought, "OK, we'll go,"
0:03:36 > 0:03:42so he got out and off he went and I thought, "Get out of the car and make it to the first stall,"
0:03:42 > 0:03:45which is what I did. And I saw the box.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48And what did you think? I mean, was the box closed, was that...?
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Yes, it was closed, I just picked it up, I thought,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55"Ooh, interesting," opened it up, looked at it and just said, "How much is that, please?"
0:03:55 > 0:04:00so she said, "£5," so quickly I gave it to her and went and sat back in the car.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02This is the most marvellous looking thing.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05It's a jewel in the Renaissance taste.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10It's got curious parallels with the building behind us because that's also in the Renaissance taste.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13- Oh.- It's almost the same age as the building behind us.- Is it?
0:04:13 > 0:04:17They're both expressions of 19th century historicism really,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20this is in the Renaissance taste, that's in the Renaissance taste,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24- that's a bit smaller than that, but it's one and the same message.- Oh.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26It's the sort of jewel that would have been worn
0:04:26 > 0:04:32by the girls who were swirling round the dance floor in Somerleyton Hall and it's made of the real thing.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37Because it is gold and it is diamonds and it is pearls and that's fairly obvious.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42What isn't obvious is that the cameo in the middle is actually made of black and white agate,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45- it's a sort of sandwich of two colours within one stone.- Oh.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49And then the lapidary has very sensitively cut out
0:04:49 > 0:04:54the face of this classical goddess from the white material to expose the black behind, it's a true cameo.
0:04:54 > 0:05:00We normally see shell cameos here but this is a stone cameo, and it suggests that this is
0:05:00 > 0:05:04- a much higher status jewel than what's normally found by us.- Oh.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07The slight mystery of it was where it comes from.
0:05:07 > 0:05:13These cases, made of leather, lined with velvet and satin are a bit like picture frames
0:05:13 > 0:05:19- and there's skill in recognising those and my view is that this might be Austrian or perhaps German.- Oh.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24How on earth it finds its way to the UK, how on earth it finds its way to a boot sale...
0:05:24 > 0:05:28- A car boot sale.- ..to be revved up by you, honestly, I've never seen anything like it.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30Um, I wonder what it...?
0:05:30 > 0:05:35Just a hint of what it was intended for at the back because we can see a photograph
0:05:35 > 0:05:42of what may well be the fellow that presented it to the girl, when she received it in perhaps 1870.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Would it have been a wedding gift?
0:05:44 > 0:05:47Highly likely because it is a sort of locket as well as a pendant.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49- He looks prosperous, doesn't he? - He does.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52He's got a very full beard and he's a well dressed
0:05:52 > 0:05:56and rather sweet looking fellow, and that's probably all we'll ever know.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59- It's a little jewel with a ghost in the back.- Yes.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04And with all that mystery and all that excitement comes a very handsome value really.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09So I think you've really probably turned £5 into...
0:06:09 > 0:06:11close to £1,000.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14You're joking. Really?
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Oh, brilliant.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20When I first saw these figures, I thought I was looking at Hiawatha,
0:06:20 > 0:06:24probably because of the pigtails and the banding here,
0:06:24 > 0:06:29which is rather Native North American in design, but I was wrong.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31- Who am I looking at? - Well, we believe it's Salome.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35- Salome, the famous Biblical figure who we all know about.- That's right.
0:06:35 > 0:06:41Who danced for King Herod and he was so entranced by her dancing that he promised her anything she wanted,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45and, egged on by her mother, she demanded the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48Herod was very upset by this, but he gave it to her.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Um, how did the figures come into your possession?
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Well, they were actually Mike's parents'.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58- Yes.- And, um when we got married they gave us one
0:06:58 > 0:07:02and we've just recently acquired this one, and after the war
0:07:02 > 0:07:07they were in Jordan, until '55 and we're not precisely sure of the timing, but it was
0:07:07 > 0:07:12somewhere in the early '50s we think and their doctor was an Italian
0:07:12 > 0:07:16- and we think that they acquired them through the doctor.- Oh, right.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20We're not sure whether they actually ever met the artist.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25- I think you have a photograph of the artist, don't you?- Yes, that's right.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Wow, he was a striking looking man, wasn't he? And who was the artist?
0:07:29 > 0:07:32- Tiscali.- Not a name I know, Tiscali.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34Well, I don't think he was a very well known artist
0:07:34 > 0:07:40but we heard that he would only do sculptures for people that he liked.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43- Right.- And apparently he was asked by Mussolini...
0:07:43 > 0:07:49- Il duce.- ..or one of his aides... to do a sculpture of him,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52and he refused, so he actually had to leave Italy,
0:07:52 > 0:07:57so again, not sure whether he was in Jordan or not, but he did have to leave Italy for that reason.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59- So he was exiled?- That's right.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02I think he was very lucky just to get away with an exile, wasn't he?
0:08:02 > 0:08:05- Could have been a lot worse.- Yes. - Yeah, how fascinating!
0:08:05 > 0:08:09And there we have a figure of Salome herself, this particular figure.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13Well, I think probably more research is needed on the artist, isn't it?
0:08:13 > 0:08:16- Absolutely.- As you say, he's not a well known name,
0:08:16 > 0:08:20but clearly he was a very talented person and had a lot of style.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24Well, let's have a look at the two figures, and they're both of Salome.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26They're very stylish, aren't they?
0:08:26 > 0:08:33- They are.- Very dramatic, and this one, the larger of the two figures, you can see the pigtails.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36The wood is very close grained,
0:08:36 > 0:08:42it's probably either box wood or lime wood and they're polychrome figures and they go down to the ebonised base
0:08:42 > 0:08:48- and he's got a rather Art Deco style monogram, hasn't he, which he's put on both of the bases.- Yes.
0:08:48 > 0:08:53I like the movement of them, they're very free flowing, aren't they?
0:08:53 > 0:08:58I would suspect, if they came up at auction, this smaller figure would probably fetch
0:08:58 > 0:09:04in the region of £600 to £800 and the larger one, maybe £1,000, £1,500,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07so you've probably got £2,000 between them,
0:09:07 > 0:09:13- but the story of the artist and Mussolini absolutely makes it.- Yes.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17Shawls are back in fashion, in the sense of Pashminas,
0:09:17 > 0:09:25but there was a time in the 1800s when, if you didn't have a shawl, actually you were a nobody.
0:09:25 > 0:09:31And this is a shawl from that golden age of shawl manufacture.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35What is the story behind it? Because it's an expensive shawl to have got,
0:09:35 > 0:09:42so obviously you're from a pretty good family I'd say, looking at the cut of your jib.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47Maybe, it was my great grandfather was a carriage driver in Norwich
0:09:47 > 0:09:52and it was left in one of his carriages one night and has since been handed down the family.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56How interesting, so a receiver of stolen goods. I had you...
0:09:56 > 0:09:58Could be, could be.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02I'm sorry, I had you marked out as the wrong kind of aristocrat there.
0:10:02 > 0:10:08OK, well let's just talk a little bit about what we have. I mean, the word "shawl"
0:10:08 > 0:10:10actually comes from a Persian word, "shal",
0:10:10 > 0:10:14which has been anglicised and the Persian means "a woven fabric"
0:10:14 > 0:10:17so that's how we get the word in English.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22Um, and the point for me which makes it pertinent
0:10:22 > 0:10:26is that it comes from Norwich, so it's an East Anglian shawl.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29- Now you knew that, didn't you?- Yes.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31We have here, a bit of paper...
0:10:31 > 0:10:38from the Norwich Museum Service and somebody wrote there in 1982. This was your...?
0:10:38 > 0:10:42This was my husband's aunt who actually gave it to me.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44That's lovely, she says...
0:10:44 > 0:10:51she wants to know about the tablecloth and of course the answer came back from Norwich...
0:10:51 > 0:10:57that it's not a tablecloth, but it is a shawl and they identify, as indeed I would have done,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59to Clabburn Sons and Crisp,
0:10:59 > 0:11:05who were one of the biggest and most well known of the Norwich shawl makers.
0:11:05 > 0:11:11Now, shawls had an enormous popularity in the 19th century,
0:11:11 > 0:11:16right from the early part through until almost precisely 1870.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Do you know what happened in 1870?
0:11:19 > 0:11:23- No.- The fashion designers invented the bustle.
0:11:23 > 0:11:29Now the shawl had been wonderful draped over the sort of Neo-Classical dresses
0:11:29 > 0:11:33that we all know from Jane Austen telly adaptations,
0:11:33 > 0:11:38and over the crinolines it was wonderful to have draped over those big skirts,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41but with the bustle there was no way of using it.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43- Oh, right.- So suddenly they went out of fashion
0:11:43 > 0:11:48and they were then often cut up and used for dressing gowns, or made into jackets or whatever,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52so to have one in its original state is great.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57It's a good size, it's a square one, which would make me think that it's from the 1860's,
0:11:57 > 0:12:04rather than the 1850's when they tended to be longer, and the nice thing is, on the back here,
0:12:04 > 0:12:09we can see these weft threads that have been left long on the underside,
0:12:09 > 0:12:13they haven't been trimmed, so we can actually see how it was woven.
0:12:13 > 0:12:20Um, the value reflects, perhaps, its rarity and its condition
0:12:20 > 0:12:26- and I would have no difficulty in quoting between £1,000 and £1,500 at auction.- Gosh, really?
0:12:26 > 0:12:28- Oh.- It's an absolute cracker.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31This is amazing!
0:12:31 > 0:12:38I love the title here, "Somerleyton Village, Suffolk, as rebuilt from the designs of John Thomas, architect."
0:12:38 > 0:12:40Now, what I know about John Thomas...
0:12:40 > 0:12:47- of course he was the architect here who redesigned this for Sir Morton Peto.- Indeed.
0:12:47 > 0:12:53And Sir Morton Peto made an awful lot of money building the Houses of Parliament and Nelson's Column,
0:12:53 > 0:13:00and this must be his design for the village, so how did it come to you?
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Well, I inherited it from my parents.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05I found it under the stairs after my father died, and it was all brown,
0:13:05 > 0:13:11but I remembered it from when I was a child at my grandmother's house and I always loved it.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13In fact, my mother used to say it was a "model village"
0:13:13 > 0:13:16and I always thought that meant a model of the village at the time, but, um...
0:13:16 > 0:13:20- Well, it is the model village of the Victorians.- Yes, yes.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25It's this idealistic view of how a village should look, it's wonderful.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28- So do you live here? - No, I've come up from Devon.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33- What!- When I found out I was researching the picture on the net...
0:13:33 > 0:13:38- Yes.- ..and when I got onto the Somerleyton Hall website, I discovered that you were having
0:13:38 > 0:13:43the Antiques Roadshow here so I decided to make the trip, thought it might be of interest.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46You must have a badge for the longest travelled person here.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51But it is a wonderful thing to bring here because when you look at this...
0:13:51 > 0:13:55did John Thomas, the architect, actually paint this watercolour?
0:13:55 > 0:13:57I doubt it.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00So do I, but I think that this...
0:14:00 > 0:14:05the way this is framed, this is mid-Victorian, and this is his view, the architect's view,
0:14:05 > 0:14:10of how the village should look, and I would think that in his offices,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12because he would have had other people working with him,
0:14:12 > 0:14:20- he would have had someone from his plans, draw up his view of how the village should look.- Yes.
0:14:20 > 0:14:26I think it's wonderful and it's so original, and you've got the dome top frame here, and I just love it.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29When you look at these figures here, when you look closely,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33if you look at a proper artist, someone who exhibited at the Royal Academy or Watercolour Society,
0:14:33 > 0:14:37- you get more detail, these are quite sort of basic...- Yes, very.
0:14:37 > 0:14:43..but you stand back, you get this wonderful overall view of what the village looks like.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48I think it's fantastic and it's got to be worth somewhere in the region of £3,000 to £5,000.
0:14:48 > 0:14:54- Oh, lovely.- Because it's such a wonderful panoramic view of the village.
0:14:58 > 0:15:04I have to say, it is the most extraordinary clock that I have ever seen on the Roadshow.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07The most unusual thing. Tell me all about it.
0:15:07 > 0:15:13Well, I inherited it from my wife's Dutch aunt who in turn acquired it
0:15:13 > 0:15:20from, um, Joan's grandfather, so it came really out of the blue to me, this wonderful object,
0:15:20 > 0:15:27but its provenance goes back to her grandfather who was a famous photographer in Holland
0:15:27 > 0:15:30and great friends of this architect Michael de Klerk,
0:15:30 > 0:15:37who was very famous for his work on social housing and is in all the architectural history books,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41and this was a present from the architect to my grandfather.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43Well, having just taken the back off the clock,
0:15:43 > 0:15:48I see here...my Dutch isn't very good, but presumably this is manufactured, or made,
0:15:48 > 0:15:54designed by M de Klerk, architect, and what does this word mean here at the bottom there?
0:15:54 > 0:15:55That means "in the ownership of".
0:15:55 > 0:16:00- OK, and so this, er... - Bernard F Eilers.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04Right, I am slightly familiar with Mr de Klerk,
0:16:04 > 0:16:08but not terribly. I know he designed some fantastic buildings
0:16:08 > 0:16:10in Amsterdam and presumably all over Holland. Is that correct?
0:16:10 > 0:16:15- Mainly Amsterdam.- So was he known for artefacts other than buildings?
0:16:15 > 0:16:17Mainly for these buildings.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20- Right.- So I think the artefacts were a side line.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Well, listen, I mean, what an incredible thing.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28Dated here 1914 so the dates fit in absolutely.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32He died in 1923, if that's right, around that time anyway.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36- Yes, yes.- And then looking at the top we've got this wonderful mask,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39a stylised pear-shaped body
0:16:39 > 0:16:43on what must be skates.
0:16:43 > 0:16:49The thing that lets it down from my point of view, is a very basic quality movement by Junghans,
0:16:49 > 0:16:56which is of course a German factory, but that's just the sort of thing that he would have got hold of
0:16:56 > 0:17:01just prior to the start of the First War to pop in this case.
0:17:01 > 0:17:07Super chapter ring, lovely serpentine hands, just so unusual.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10I really don't know quite how to value it,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14so as in the case of anything, even during this recession,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18"find me another", and the answer is, you won't.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20If this went into the right sale,
0:17:20 > 0:17:25- I could easily see this fetching between £10,000 to £15,000. - My goodness!
0:17:25 > 0:17:31- How interesting! - It's a highly important bit of history in its own right.- Yes, yes.
0:17:31 > 0:17:37This collection reminds me of some shelves in my granny's sitting room.
0:17:37 > 0:17:43They were glass shelves and they were piled high with figures like this, lacy ladies.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47- Quite nostalgic for me, really. - Oh.- Where did you get these?
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Well, basically what it was, me and my dad, when I was about five,
0:17:51 > 0:17:56my dad used to go out to auctions and he used to take me along with him,
0:17:56 > 0:18:01and I'd sit up on his shoulders and he'd look out for what he wanted to bid on,
0:18:01 > 0:18:06and then when he was bidding on something, he'd just touch my knee and I'd put my hand up.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11- You bid?- Yeah, so I'd put my hand up, and then my dad would just look at the chap up in the box
0:18:11 > 0:18:15and give him a nod as if to say that was OK, she's all right, so I put my hand up for him.
0:18:15 > 0:18:20Many adults are nervous about bidding at auction, you were doing it at five, I think that's fantastic.
0:18:20 > 0:18:25Is there one piece out of the things that were acquired there that really appeals to you?
0:18:25 > 0:18:31My favourite piece is this one here, I just love it because of the... just the...
0:18:31 > 0:18:38simplicity of it, just the innocence and the wings, and I just think it's really, really pretty.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42So your favourite piece... It's got a mark on the bottom,
0:18:42 > 0:18:46- crown, cross patterns and D mark of the Derby factory.- Right.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50That mark was used in the early 19th century, 200 years ago.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52So is that 200...?
0:18:52 > 0:18:54- This is a fake.- No, that is a fake.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57This is a fake made in the early 20th century in France.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00- Right.- Probably by Samson, who you might have heard of.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02- I have heard of it, yeah. - Sorry to tell you that.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04That's all right, no problem, but I still love it.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07- It doesn't matter, does it, it's still a lovely thing.- No.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11- It's not that valuable, it's worth £100 or something like that.- Blimey.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13How are these things displayed?
0:19:13 > 0:19:16- I mean, you know...- I've got a cabinet at home which my dad...
0:19:16 > 0:19:21My dad died about ten years ago and he left me the cabinet with the antiques in it,
0:19:21 > 0:19:26because it's something that we used to do and he wanted me to take care of them.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30I mean, I've got a few favourite pieces which to me stand out.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34This pair of vases is one.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38- Right.- And they've got a mark on the bottom too.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41- But it's a genuine mark.- OK. - So mine's real.- OK.
0:19:41 > 0:19:47They're a pair of Royal Worcester vases, and they were made in 1902
0:19:47 > 0:19:53- and they're painted by a chap called Chivers with these little wonderful groups of fruit.- Oh, wow!
0:19:53 > 0:19:56And when you look at that, that is hand painted.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58- Incredible, isn't it?- They are.
0:19:58 > 0:20:03Works of art with raised gilding around the panels, they're beautiful things.
0:20:03 > 0:20:11There is a bit of damage on them, but they're worth £700 or £800 for the pair, even with the damage.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15Goodness gracious. I had no idea they were worth that much.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Any idea what my other favourite might be?
0:20:18 > 0:20:22- I've seen you look at that a couple of times.- Ah, yes, I couldn't hide it, could I?
0:20:22 > 0:20:27No it is that, it is that, and the mark is - there we go -
0:20:27 > 0:20:29Chamberlains Worcester.
0:20:29 > 0:20:35- Do you think that's old? - Well, we've probably had it in our family for a good 30 years
0:20:35 > 0:20:37and we got it from auction so...
0:20:37 > 0:20:39It's nearly 200 years old.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41Oh, no!
0:20:41 > 0:20:45- And it's beautifully painted. That's a nice thing too.- Yes.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48It's worth £1,000.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Oh, my goodness.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55So you and your dad were a clever partnership I think,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59a five year old and her father making a bit of money, so congratulations.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04- Thank you very much for having a look at them for me today. - It's been a pleasure.- Thank you.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10A little bird has told me that you've brought along
0:21:10 > 0:21:13- a very bizarre item in this box. - Yes.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15- Can we have a look?- Yes, indeed.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19Now, what am I looking at? This here?
0:21:19 > 0:21:22- Well, yes, really, yes.- Unfold it?.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24- Yes.- Ooh.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29What is it?
0:21:29 > 0:21:35Well, it's the caul, the membrane, in which my grandfather was born in, in 1849.
0:21:35 > 0:21:41So this is the amniotic sac or the membrane that encloses a baby within the womb?
0:21:41 > 0:21:43Oh, my word!
0:21:43 > 0:21:48And they were believed to preserve either the person who was born within it,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51or anyone carrying one of those, from drowning.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54The idea being that they were swimming inside the membrane.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57- And it got stuck on this piece of paper.- Yes, apparently...
0:21:57 > 0:22:01- And sort of dried.- Yes, indeed, and they were supposed to be...
0:22:01 > 0:22:06- they were sold for as much as 15 guineas in the 1820's, 1830's. - Really? What does it say in here?
0:22:06 > 0:22:09That gave his date of birth, which again is unusual
0:22:09 > 0:22:13because you get dates of Baptism, you don't get dates of birth so 28th February...
0:22:13 > 0:22:18- "Birthright of Jesse..." - Harrap - H-A-R-R-U-P, Harrup. - "Born February 28th 1849."
0:22:18 > 0:22:25And on that tiny bit of paper is says, "This is Jesse Harrup's, to be buried with him when he dies,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29"it's his birthright, as born with it."
0:22:29 > 0:22:31How extraordinary, but then obviously he wasn't buried with it.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35- No.- And it was kept. - He and his wife both died in the flu epidemic of 1819.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40They died within two days of each other and I reckon the hiatus of them both dying within a short time
0:22:40 > 0:22:46and both being buried in a communal grave of 80-odd people in Paddington Cemetery in London
0:22:46 > 0:22:51- that somehow it was overlooked and it's stayed with the family all this time.- Do you know,
0:22:51 > 0:22:53this is why I love this programme.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Now you've lost me for words.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02- The pleasure's all mine. Thank you very much.- Well, thank you.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07This is quite a narrow little desk
0:23:07 > 0:23:12and inside there's really not a lot going on. Do you use this as a desk?
0:23:12 > 0:23:14Yes, we use it all the time.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16So you can get more than it looks in there?
0:23:16 > 0:23:18Yeah, it's usually crammed full.
0:23:18 > 0:23:24But the simplicity of the top of the desk really belies what's going on everywhere else, doesn't it?
0:23:24 > 0:23:28Because you've only got to look at the front here, to see these
0:23:28 > 0:23:32amazing leopards, I suppose they are, but winged leopards sitting there
0:23:32 > 0:23:38in really quite sort of chunky masculine glory with very elegant sweep of the wing up,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42acting as a sort of support to the desk itself, it's a bit like...
0:23:42 > 0:23:45the shape of it is a bit like a Davenport,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48- but it hasn't got Davenport drawers and things like that.- No.
0:23:48 > 0:23:54And if you could help me just swivel this round so we can see the side.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01There's more going on than you would ever know if you look at the front,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05because there's no carving along the front, but here you've got grapes,
0:24:05 > 0:24:13it would appear, a vine carved into the frieze, and then more fruit and strap-work
0:24:13 > 0:24:19and really rich three dimensional carving into this bracket support
0:24:19 > 0:24:24so it makes me think of a period in the middle of the 19th century.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28And it doesn't immediately strike me as being an English piece.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30Right, OK.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34There's something not particularly characteristic about it.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39It's walnut and that gives you this lovely close grain for carving, a very good carving wood.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42If you help me twist it a bit more...
0:24:43 > 0:24:50..it gets even more surprising and confusing because here,
0:24:50 > 0:24:53you've got something completely different again,
0:24:53 > 0:24:58a rather wonderful carving of two lovers.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Well, we've had it about ten years and my husband and I bought it
0:25:01 > 0:25:04- as a wedding anniversary gift, a shared gift to each other.- Right.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09And we were originally looking for a traditional type of Davenport.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12I fell in love with this immediately and my husband didn't like it,
0:25:12 > 0:25:14he said he thought it looked a bit church like,
0:25:14 > 0:25:19but I pleaded my case and got it, and we both absolutely adore it.
0:25:19 > 0:25:20I've never seen anything like it.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Well, no, I would agree with you there. Nor have I, I have to say.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26- No.- It's very romantic, as you can see, and the subject matter
0:25:26 > 0:25:33is actually a subject that was picked up by a lot of Romantic artists, and the subject is Paola and Francesca.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37- Ooh.- And the Francesca is Francesca da Rimini.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Now, you said to me that you bought it as a wedding anniversary...
0:25:40 > 0:25:44- Yes, we did, yeah.- Well, I have to tell you something rather disturbing.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47- Is it a mourning piece? - No... Well, yes and no.- Oh.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51- The fact is that Paola and Francesca were lovers, but they were adulterous lovers.- Oh.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55And they were killed by her jealous husband
0:25:55 > 0:26:00and they were met by the poet Dante
0:26:00 > 0:26:03in the first circle of hell.
0:26:03 > 0:26:08- Oh.- Floating round forever, locked in each other's arms.- Wow!
0:26:08 > 0:26:13And here it is, very clearly depicted but it's not exactly perhaps...
0:26:13 > 0:26:17- No, it's not.- ..the subject that you ought to have chosen for a wedding anniversary present.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21The disappointing thing perhaps is that in terms of value,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25- because it's such a curious piece, it isn't necessarily going to get a huge amount...- No, no.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30..in the sale room, the market value is maybe £1,000 to £2,000.
0:26:30 > 0:26:36- OK, thank you. - But the story and why you've got it I think is fascinating.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Thank you so much. Thank you.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44Well, you know, I'm not often asked to look at bits of scrap metal.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49I don't view it as scrap metal, I view that very much as living history.
0:26:49 > 0:26:56It's pieces of aircraft, the gun sight that came from Rudolph Hess' Messerschmitt 110.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59Hess who was Hitler's second in command.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03That's right, the man that fled to Scotland.
0:27:03 > 0:27:10There's a lot of mystery surrounding the events in 1941, but basically his idea...
0:27:10 > 0:27:17Hess had the idea that he could end the war between Germany and England, or Britain,
0:27:17 > 0:27:21by flying across and negotiating a peace if you like,
0:27:21 > 0:27:27so he flew his twin-engined Messerschmitt across to Scotland,
0:27:27 > 0:27:32he baled out, it crash landed and who did he meet in Scotland? Remind me.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36I believe his plan was to try and connect with the British aristocracy, the Duke of Hamilton,
0:27:36 > 0:27:41because he felt that there were sympathisers at that level that might help with this peace deal.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Might help to stop the war between Britain and Germany.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Yes, perhaps allow them to focus on Russia.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51So, I want to know how your father obtained these. Your father...
0:27:51 > 0:27:54You've got a photograph here - is one of these your father?
0:27:54 > 0:27:59Yes, this is my father in the Royal Norfolk Regiment, 1933,
0:27:59 > 0:28:06had actually gone up on leave with my two elder brothers and they saw Hess's aircraft come over.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Now, being an army man, he recognised the Messerschmitt 110
0:28:10 > 0:28:16and knew that it was strange that it could be so far north, it wouldn't have the range to get back home,
0:28:16 > 0:28:17so he was puzzled about it.
0:28:17 > 0:28:22They saw the aircraft come down, then went and visited the wreckage
0:28:22 > 0:28:25and because, being an army man,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28the two soldiers guarding it, he had a chat with them,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31and the boys were interested in aircraft parts
0:28:31 > 0:28:35so one of the guards unscrewed the gun sight from the machine gun.
0:28:35 > 0:28:41- This sight here?- Yes, and passed it back to my elder brother, who's now passed it down to me.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45- What a wonderful story. - I think it's fascinating.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48These are, historically, from a Second World War perspective,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52incredibly interesting, really interesting,
0:28:52 > 0:28:56and I know there can't be many pieces like this in private hands,
0:28:56 > 0:28:58and actually they do have a value.
0:28:58 > 0:29:03If they came up on the open market today, an aviation collector would pay,
0:29:03 > 0:29:08I think, something up to £700, £800, maybe £1,000 for them.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12- What, for that? That really is... - For two pieces of scrap metal.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17That's quite surprising, I would not have put anything like that on those as a value.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21We won't sell them, of course, because they'll pass to my son.
0:29:21 > 0:29:26So here's a very, shall we say, vibrant picture by Colin Moss -
0:29:26 > 0:29:32- 1952, clearly inscribed, and I understand that it's you. Is it?- Yes.
0:29:32 > 0:29:36- I didn't recognise you with your clothes on.- Yes.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40- I had to say that, you do realise. - Yeah, well, fine, it was inevitable I suppose, wasn't it?
0:29:40 > 0:29:44Yes, exactly. Well, so how, what, why? You know.
0:29:44 > 0:29:49Well, I first met Colin Moss when I began to be a student when I was 16,
0:29:49 > 0:29:53and this was at Ipswich Art School, and shortly after I'd been there,
0:29:53 > 0:29:57not very long afterwards, he suddenly said, out of the blue,
0:29:57 > 0:30:02- that he was enamoured of me. - So I suppose you ran screaming from the room.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05Pretty much, yes, I did, and in fact it was a great shock all round.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09However years later he rang me up and asked if I'd come and pose,
0:30:09 > 0:30:13he'd always wanted to paint me and I said, "Oh, well, all right, you may."
0:30:13 > 0:30:17Just that one session, and that was it, away I went.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21And then many, many years go by, I was asked if I would like to
0:30:21 > 0:30:26go to a show Colin had, and there I was on the front of it, you see.
0:30:26 > 0:30:31- What, on the cover? - Yes, and I couldn't believe it, I was horrified.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33And my sons bought the painting for me.
0:30:33 > 0:30:40It wasn't for sale and he wouldn't sell it to anybody other than to them,
0:30:40 > 0:30:46on the knowledge that it would go to me, so actually it hangs in my son's house now because it's rather large.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49Well, rather large, but, um, wonderfully colourful.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53Yes, he's quite a well known painter in this part of the world.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57He's certainly well known round here and he's also well known nationally,
0:30:57 > 0:31:02he's not just a local hero, and a great champion of Expressionism in this country
0:31:02 > 0:31:07and also Surrealism, which was a very powerful movement, you know, just after the war.
0:31:07 > 0:31:14It's amazingly painted, very quickly, perhaps with feverish haste.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19Yes. But he's chosen some good colours to go in here,
0:31:19 > 0:31:23it's amazing to see that is green and it works perfectly, you know,
0:31:23 > 0:31:27the flesh tones are well built up and I love this bit of purple here.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29The whole thing is a blast of colour.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33I can see why your sons wanted it, it wasn't just because of you,
0:31:33 > 0:31:36you know, it's a powerful punchy picture.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39How much did they have to pay for it? Do you mind me asking?
0:31:39 > 0:31:42I think it was £2,500, something like that, I'm not really sure.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46- Well, like a lot of artists, their day is yet to come.- Yeah.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48- I think he's dead now, isn't he? - Yes, he has died now.
0:31:48 > 0:31:54Um, and there needs to be a looking again at artists of this vintage,
0:31:54 > 0:31:59- but shall we say that it's worth between £3,000 and £4,000.- Yes.
0:31:59 > 0:32:04I think it could well be actually, and great fun. Thank you very much.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07I think it's the first time
0:32:07 > 0:32:11we've ever had a whip collection on the Antiques Roadshow.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13Tell me how it started.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16It started because I've got a big interest in horses.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20- I've been showing for the 30 years. - What kind of horses do you show?
0:32:20 > 0:32:22- Stallion ponies.- Stallion ponies?
0:32:22 > 0:32:28Yes, and this has taken me through with my interest.
0:32:28 > 0:32:33I'm calling it a collection of whips but there are riding crops as well as whips.
0:32:33 > 0:32:37Yes, these would be classed as riding crops, they're elegant,
0:32:37 > 0:32:42and the hunting...the hunting crops have a gate handle which is...
0:32:42 > 0:32:47- Like this.- At the top, which would open the gates, and then it would have the thong.
0:32:47 > 0:32:52They actually use the thong to wrap around the gate to keep the gate open as well.
0:32:52 > 0:32:57Now, this one looks a very, very handsome one, gold.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01Swaine Adeney Co. Piccadilly.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05- Tell me about this one. - Well, I purchased it from a friend,
0:33:05 > 0:33:12didn't pay an awful lot of money for it and I qualified my horse to the Horse of the Year Show.
0:33:12 > 0:33:17- Did you?- And I was going to ride him with that whip to go in.- Yes.
0:33:17 > 0:33:23So Swaine Adeney in London, the top costumiers for hunting and ponies
0:33:23 > 0:33:25and...
0:33:25 > 0:33:31In fact, I would say this is probably dating to about 1920. What did you pay for this?
0:33:32 > 0:33:34About £75.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37- Well, it's certainly worth a lot more than that.- Yes.
0:33:37 > 0:33:42I would have thought several hundred, possibly up to £500.
0:33:42 > 0:33:48The one I really am fascinated with, absolutely fascinating which must be token, it can't have been used,
0:33:48 > 0:33:53because I am sure that this part is a porcupine quill,
0:33:53 > 0:34:00so you've probably got a bit of coral on top, gold and a lovely silk tassel.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03I think this is probably one of your early ones.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07In pictures you see them around about 1860-1870.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09- I was going to say mid...- Very early.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12..mid to second half of the 19th century,
0:34:12 > 0:34:18- and I would put somewhere around £300 to £500 on that.- OK.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21And then you've got another gold one here.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24- Is this a Swaine one as well? - It is, mmm.
0:34:24 > 0:34:29It is, now that's an earlier one because that just says Swaine & Co, London
0:34:29 > 0:34:33so that is stunning, isn't it?
0:34:33 > 0:34:37I bought a box of whips in a lot deal in a farm sale.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42- That was at the bottom of the box and it was still in its original tissue paper.- No!
0:34:42 > 0:34:47I didn't realise it was a whip until I pulled it out, ripped the paper off and I found that.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50It's in its brand new... brand new state.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52- It is, isn't it?- And I think it...
0:34:52 > 0:34:55And that probably must be worth £1,000.
0:34:55 > 0:35:01- Lovely, thank you very much for bringing them today.- Well, thank you for looking at them for me.
0:35:03 > 0:35:08I see by the fact that this has a Cyrillic inscription on the front
0:35:08 > 0:35:12and has got a date 1794 that this is a Russian cup.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16Have you any idea about its history and how it came into your possession?
0:35:16 > 0:35:20Well, it belongs to a son-in-law of mine, who... It's a family cup,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22so I assume it's one of his ancestors,
0:35:22 > 0:35:28and as far as I understand, it's related to a horse race, it must have taken place in Russia.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31And have you any idea what the inscription says?
0:35:31 > 0:35:37- Well, I've got a letter here from the London Library dated 13th November 1893.- Right.
0:35:37 > 0:35:43And it says, "The goblet was made for the double victory of Marion over Bruce
0:35:43 > 0:35:50"and presented by an amateur to Joseph Smith as a token of friendship on 28th June 1794."
0:35:50 > 0:35:53Well, that's extraordinary. I mean, Marion over Bruce...
0:35:53 > 0:35:56I hate to think... What are Marion and Bruce? It sounds Australian.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00- Well, I gather they're horses. - Oh, well, that's a big relief.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02I think they're horses probably.
0:36:02 > 0:36:04Ah, well, that makes a lot of difference then.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09- I think they must be, yes.- Well, it's a fantastic looking cup and if we look at it more closely,
0:36:09 > 0:36:15the engraving on it is beautiful, you've these lovely swags in the sort of Neo-Classical style
0:36:15 > 0:36:21and especially down the bottom here, we've got this wonderful leaf calyx, absolutely beautifully engraved.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25So whoever made this really was a good silversmith.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28I'm afraid, I can't tell you who the actual silversmith was,
0:36:28 > 0:36:34but 18th century Russian silver of this quality, you don't see very often.
0:36:34 > 0:36:41And on a fairly technical side, the colour and the patination, ie all those tiny little scratches
0:36:41 > 0:36:46that come on silver over a couple of hundred years that give it its lovely soft feel,
0:36:46 > 0:36:51they are really wonderful on this, so this is a really, really good piece of silver.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56So the value of Russian silver has gone up, especially with the influence of Russian oligarchs
0:36:56 > 0:37:01coming over here, but it's affected the whole of the Russian market,
0:37:01 > 0:37:07and good pieces like this have really gone up in value in the last five or six years. Have you...
0:37:07 > 0:37:11- or your son-in-law any idea what something like this might be worth? - I think he's absolutely no idea.
0:37:11 > 0:37:17I think a cup like this is probably worth in the region of £3,000.
0:37:17 > 0:37:23- Oh, he'll be very pleased, very pleased.- Hopefully it won't make him go out betting on horse races.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26No, no, probably not, he's a Yorkshireman.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30- Definitely not. Thank you so much for bringing it along.- Thank you.
0:37:36 > 0:37:42We're having a very busy day here at Somerleyton, I'm glad to say, lots of people to see,
0:37:42 > 0:37:45wonderful items, but I've managed to grab one of our specialists,
0:37:45 > 0:37:48Bunny Campione, cos as I'm sure you know by now in this series,
0:37:48 > 0:37:53I'm talking to our specialists about what is their most favoured item in their collections,
0:37:53 > 0:37:56and what has been perhaps a little bit of a disaster.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00Bunny, let's talk about the disaster first of all, come on, get it off your chest.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04Well, this tea set which I had inherited from my granny
0:38:04 > 0:38:08was sitting on a shelf in the drawing room that we used in the winter
0:38:08 > 0:38:14and it had a glass shelf on top of it where someone, one of the family, had put a whole lot of books
0:38:14 > 0:38:19and in the winter we went in there to light the fire, and there was a very smashed set
0:38:19 > 0:38:25because the books had all broken the glass shelf and smashed to smithereens.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29- So collapsed on top of the tea set? - Collapsed, yes.- Oh, dear.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33So, just in case there was any value in it, I took it, in pieces,
0:38:33 > 0:38:39to an expert at one of the auction houses and he said, "Bunny, I think you should sit down,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43"because do you have any idea what this would have been worth?"
0:38:43 > 0:38:46I said, "No, I just inherited it from my grandmother,"
0:38:46 > 0:38:48and he said, "Well, it would have been worth £8,000,"
0:38:48 > 0:38:51- and I did sit down.- 8,000?
0:38:51 > 0:38:54- I was gob smacked. - It would have been worth.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56- Yes, would.- Oh!
0:38:56 > 0:38:58Because it's particularly rare or...?
0:38:58 > 0:39:03It's particularly rare, it's Luigi Agostino of Savona in Italy
0:39:03 > 0:39:08and the ground is particularly rare, it's late 18th century.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10You've obviously had it restored because you can hardly see...
0:39:10 > 0:39:14- Well, a friend of mine... Exactly. Well, if you look really closely, you can.- Yes.
0:39:14 > 0:39:20One of my friends was learning restoration and she said, "Could I make it one of my projects?"
0:39:20 > 0:39:24and I think she worked on it for five or six years, and she's done a great job.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28Now, I see here, I'm assuming that your most prized possession
0:39:28 > 0:39:30isn't a photograph of Stewart Granger, gorgeous though he is,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33but there's a family connection. Just remind me what it is.
0:39:33 > 0:39:40Well, he was my mother's brother, he was my uncle and when his mother, my grandmother, died, he said -
0:39:40 > 0:39:45he was in America - he said, "Will you go and sort out her paperwork?"
0:39:45 > 0:39:51And so in sorting out her paperwork I came across this, which, um, John Martin was one of our...
0:39:51 > 0:39:54I suppose most famous of the 19th century...
0:39:54 > 0:39:56He died in...
0:39:56 > 0:40:01one year after that was painted in 1852 and this is a study
0:40:01 > 0:40:06for one of his huge works, possibly The Stilling Of The Oceans
0:40:06 > 0:40:10or The Deluge which is in The Tate.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12So hugely valuable to you, not only I imagine financially,
0:40:12 > 0:40:16- but in terms of...emotionally, for you and your family.- Absolutely.
0:40:16 > 0:40:22How does this come into it all then, this rather, how can I put it, portly chap here?
0:40:22 > 0:40:27Definitely, he was called Luigi Lablache, he was Stewart Granger's great grandfather,
0:40:27 > 0:40:32my great great, and he was an Italian and he became an opera singer
0:40:32 > 0:40:38and Don Pasquale was written by Donizetti in 1843,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41he performed as Don Pasquale in Paris.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45- What, it was written for him?- It was written for him to be Don Pasquale.
0:40:45 > 0:40:50- How extraordinary!- And he came over to England and he became Queen Victoria's singing master.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53- Really?- Yes. So, um...- Bunny, who would have thought it?
0:40:53 > 0:40:55You are a scion of a showbiz dynasty.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59We are so grateful, aren't we? You've come amongst us.
0:40:59 > 0:41:00Bunny, thank you very much.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02Thank you.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05OPERA MUSIC PLAYS
0:41:16 > 0:41:20I nearly didn't bring it along. It was at the back of the cupboard
0:41:20 > 0:41:26and I'd looked at it in the past and been told it was quite special, it had no mark on it.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30- I just thought it was a bit of a fake really.- OK. A fake what?
0:41:30 > 0:41:32God knows.
0:41:32 > 0:41:38I thought it was china, but I'm beginning to think that maybe it's glass, I don't know.
0:41:38 > 0:41:43- That would explain why you're doing it with me rather than with one of the ceramics guys.- Oh, yes.
0:41:43 > 0:41:48- So what do you think it might be? - I just thought it was a vase.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51OK, well, on that, we absolutely agree.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Where I'm going to be able to illuminate you is by telling you
0:41:54 > 0:42:01first of all that it is a piece of glass, and it's really a quite special piece too.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04Ooh, I can feel my goose bumps coming up as I'm saying this.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06This is a really special thing.
0:42:06 > 0:42:12It's English, made in Stourbridge by Thomas Webb,
0:42:12 > 0:42:18the greatest of the late Victorian glass makers, won prizes all over the place
0:42:18 > 0:42:25and it's decorated, I think, by its finest...the finest glass decorator in Europe at the time.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29- How am I doing so far?- Very good. - I thought you'd be keen.- Very good.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31His name was Jules Barbe and he was a Frenchman
0:42:31 > 0:42:34who left Paris after his wife was killed during the Franco-Prussian war,
0:42:34 > 0:42:38he said, "I've just had enough and I need a new scene."
0:42:38 > 0:42:44And he came to England and worked for Thomas Webb for whom he won prizes and acclaim across Europe
0:42:44 > 0:42:51as the world's finest glass decorator, and you, unbeknownst to you, have an example of his work.
0:42:51 > 0:42:57And this is an ivory base decorated in the Aesthetic style
0:42:57 > 0:43:00with an amalgam, a mish-mash if you like,
0:43:00 > 0:43:06of geometric Chinese lattice with Islamic, quasi-Islamic,
0:43:06 > 0:43:12into a kind of European thing with Chinese symbols over Japanese fish
0:43:12 > 0:43:14in a sort of Oriental wave pattern,
0:43:14 > 0:43:18and it comes under the general heading of the Aesthetic.
0:43:18 > 0:43:23So it's a lovely thing and it probably would have won prizes in its time,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26and I tell you it would win prizes today.
0:43:26 > 0:43:33The thing that it wouldn't win prizes for is it's the filthiest, dirtiest, most mucky piece of glass
0:43:33 > 0:43:36that I have ever had the misfortune to lay my hands on.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40What you've been doing to this, I have no...
0:43:40 > 0:43:44- Has this been in the garden? - No, this has had plants, flowers.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48- Flowers?- A few years ago. - Looks like cow pats!
0:43:48 > 0:43:54which is not a very good thing to do to a vase that's worth between £3,500 and £5,000.
0:43:54 > 0:43:56GASPS
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Well, maybe it got your attention.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04- It jolly well did that. - I don't believe you,
0:44:04 > 0:44:08as you well know, but I'll accept your word because you are an expert.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12- Absolutely wonderful!- I've never been so insulted in all my life.
0:44:16 > 0:44:21Julia Margaret Cameron, a magical name in photographic terms,
0:44:21 > 0:44:27she signed every piece by hand and she transformed portrait photography
0:44:27 > 0:44:31throughout the rest of the 19th century, so massively important.
0:44:31 > 0:44:36I don't know if you've ever seen those rather stultified daguerreotypes of Victorians
0:44:36 > 0:44:41and they're all sort of standing there very upright, not moving, whereas she portrayed people
0:44:41 > 0:44:46in a much more sympathetic way and more like paintings, and they have great charm
0:44:46 > 0:44:52and great personal emotion goes into each of her portraits and that's why they're so collectable today.
0:44:52 > 0:44:54Um, how did you come by them?
0:44:54 > 0:45:00- I was left them by my granddad. He left them to me when he... - Was he interested in photography?
0:45:00 > 0:45:02Yeah, he was a very keen photographer, he's now...
0:45:02 > 0:45:06Did a lot of portrait work, to be fair, so I imagine that's why he bought them.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10- So he obviously appreciated the quality.- Yes, I imagine.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14Now, the thing I find interesting about Julia is that she was given
0:45:14 > 0:45:19a camera by her daughter, I think, quite late in life, she only was a photographer eleven years
0:45:19 > 0:45:22and if you can imagine back in the 1860s,
0:45:22 > 0:45:26ladies weren't expected to get involved with the latest technology of taking snaps,
0:45:26 > 0:45:30so she was very, well, far ahead of her time,
0:45:30 > 0:45:35and she did produce wonderful images of some of the most famous people of the period.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38So there was Tennyson, there was Burne-Jones,
0:45:38 > 0:45:41there was all the Pre-Raphaelites and we have Henry Taylor,
0:45:41 > 0:45:46who's not so well known today, but he was a famous poet in the 1860s,
0:45:46 > 0:45:52and then GF Watts who is very well known as a symbolist painter and I think they're absolutely enchanting.
0:45:52 > 0:45:57I think the Watts one would fetch certainly between £800 and £1,200 at auction,
0:45:57 > 0:46:03and the Taylor one between £400 and £600, so we're talking about £1,200 to £1,800, which I think...
0:46:03 > 0:46:07- They're gorgeous. Thank you very much for bringing them in. - Thank you very much.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11Now, you two practically followed one another in the queue, didn't you?
0:46:11 > 0:46:16And you both had Japanese objects. Now, whose is whose?
0:46:16 > 0:46:23- This is my mother's, she's away and I've brought it for you to see. - She doesn't know you've brought it?
0:46:23 > 0:46:26She's in Italy and she's no idea.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28OK, and that's yours, therefore.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31- That's been in our family for quite a long time.- OK.
0:46:31 > 0:46:38They're both Japanese, this is a typical piece of Japanese Tokyo School carving.
0:46:38 > 0:46:43Tokyo School because there was an art school set up there,
0:46:43 > 0:46:51to get back to the quality of carving that the Japanese had traditionally done.
0:46:51 > 0:46:57And they had a zoo in Tokyo and they would have seen monkeys like this.
0:46:57 > 0:47:02And this is such a charming group of the mother ape
0:47:02 > 0:47:04and her offspring
0:47:04 > 0:47:06after a frog.
0:47:06 > 0:47:13It's so delightful a carving, and so sensitively carved.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17It's signed on the bottom, Kosan,
0:47:17 > 0:47:23- and it would date from about 1880, somewhere around there.- Right.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25So I'll put that down there.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29Now, this looks like a lump of... I don't know what it does look like.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33It doesn't look as if it's got any form to it at all
0:47:33 > 0:47:37and the two are separated by about...
0:47:37 > 0:47:4030 years probably.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42This is a hare...
0:47:43 > 0:47:47..and it is...awfully hare-like.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51I mean, that is exactly what a hare does,
0:47:51 > 0:47:56and every little blob tells a story about the animal.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58It works beautifully
0:47:58 > 0:48:02and I think that the sculptor here
0:48:02 > 0:48:07had seen European sculpture
0:48:07 > 0:48:10by people like Rembrandt Bugatti.
0:48:10 > 0:48:15It's modernist, and it's probably about 1920.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17'15 to '20.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19- Do you know what it is? - I wondered if it was for incense,
0:48:19 > 0:48:23whether you put a stick in there and that's all I could think of.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25So what do you do with the hole in the mouth?
0:48:25 > 0:48:27Well, maybe he's a smoking hare.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33Well, actually, what you do, you get a bucket of water
0:48:33 > 0:48:40- and you put him in it, like that, and he fills up, bubble bubble, and he's now full of water, right?- Yes.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43Put your thumb over the hole at the top,
0:48:43 > 0:48:50here's your ink, you grind it on a stone and you want a bit of water, lift your thumb off and out comes...
0:48:50 > 0:48:52out comes a little stream of water.
0:48:52 > 0:48:57- Fantastic.- So it's for making ink, it's a water dropper.- Wonderful.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01He's signed too.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05I can't make sense of this, but that says, "Heedenau,"
0:49:05 > 0:49:09which is definitely the artist's signature, the other two I'm not sure about.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13So,
0:49:13 > 0:49:15do we like them?
0:49:15 > 0:49:17I think we do.
0:49:17 > 0:49:19I think the hare
0:49:19 > 0:49:21would make, um...
0:49:22 > 0:49:27..£600 to £900,
0:49:27 > 0:49:31and I think that would make £2,000 to £3,000.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33Ooh!
0:49:33 > 0:49:35Mum will be pleased.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39I can ring her up and tell her what I've done now, can't I?
0:49:39 > 0:49:43- She's not prone to heart attacks, is she?- No, she'll be thrilled.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47- Thank you very much for bringing them in.- Thank you very much.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49Well done.
0:49:56 > 0:50:02- So these are primitive ship portraits and they're just so vivid...- Right.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06- ..of the fishing life of Lowestoft, aren't they?- That's correct, yes.
0:50:06 > 0:50:11My father was a fisherman and his father was a fisherman
0:50:11 > 0:50:14and I've lived in Lowestoft all my life.
0:50:14 > 0:50:20We've been collecting these for quite a few years, you know, and I fish myself
0:50:20 > 0:50:26and the smell of the sea brings back a lot of memories, you know, when I used to go and meet the...
0:50:26 > 0:50:29my father from coming in from sea, you know.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31You were sent down by your mother or something.
0:50:31 > 0:50:39Yes, that's correct, yes, sent down the harbour to meet my dad coming home to get the money
0:50:39 > 0:50:45before he went into the pubs and spend it all after a bout of fishing, see what he made.
0:50:45 > 0:50:50There was me, my sister and brother, we used to run all the way home to my mother and gave her the money.
0:50:50 > 0:50:55- Absolutely brilliant. - And wait till he came home in the evening, wonderful, wonderful.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57Now, there's hardly any trawlers.
0:50:57 > 0:51:02- Fishing's gone.- Fishing has gone from Lowestoft now, yes.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04- A bygone age.- Yes.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07Well, these are very, very evocative of that age.
0:51:07 > 0:51:12- Right.- This one here, by an artist called Tench.- Yes. - That's 20th century, isn't it?
0:51:12 > 0:51:18- That's quite early, it's 1909 dated and it's very flat, isn't it? The way it's painted.- Yes.
0:51:18 > 0:51:24You've got the sea and the sky, then the boat stands out rather starkly in very sharp profile.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26- Yes.- And the lettering is very carefully done.
0:51:26 > 0:51:32As I understand it, the lettering often was so carefully done because the artist who painted them
0:51:32 > 0:51:36would ordinarily be painting lettering on the side of the actual ship.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39- Right.- In other words they were jobbing sign painters
0:51:39 > 0:51:42who turned their hands to ship portraits for the skippers and crew and the owners.
0:51:42 > 0:51:47- Yes.- And I think that really comes through, because it's a man who understands boats.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50- Yes.- I would imagine your grandfather would've looked at that,
0:51:50 > 0:51:54and not being able to fault the rigging, he'd have said, "That is exactly how it was."
0:51:54 > 0:52:00Yes, he did actually, he said that's how they were, and he used to say,
0:52:00 > 0:52:05"The sea was rough and we had a horrible trip out to sea," and this and that, you know.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08Well, there's something of the sea's fury up here in this one.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11- Yes, that's right.- Because we know that that is the rescue, isn't it,
0:52:11 > 0:52:19- of a lifeboat full of survivors from the shipwreck of a German passenger liner en route for New York.- Yes.
0:52:19 > 0:52:25It's picking those people up and there's a small child being sick over the side, look at that.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29- Yes, I know.- And there's a chap losing his hat on the foredeck...
0:52:29 > 0:52:33- Yes, yes.- ..which is good, and they're putting their sails down to take those people on board
0:52:33 > 0:52:37and they were the only survivors from more than 350 passengers and crew.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41- Correct, mm. - But what's good about that one, in contrast to the first one,
0:52:41 > 0:52:43- is how natural and real the sea looks.- Yes.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47- I mean, I think that this artist, whose name is Burwood...- Yes.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51..he must've really understood the sea and had the skills to paint it.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55- Yes.- So these Burwoods are 1890s, I think.- Right.
0:52:55 > 0:53:00This one's actually dated 1893, and then this fourth one down here,
0:53:00 > 0:53:05- that's actually in Naples, we can see Vesuvius there and it's by an Italian artist.- Right.
0:53:05 > 0:53:10And also I think it's actually naval rather than commercial fishing boats,
0:53:10 > 0:53:14so this is the one that sticks out as not being belonging quite so much,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17- but it's quite interesting to see how the Italians did it.- It is.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20- Again, very formalised, and that is much, much earlier.- Really?
0:53:20 > 0:53:23That's very early 19th century, yes.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27- What's the most you ever spent on one?- I should think about £600.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29- 600?- Mm. - Which one? One of these?
0:53:29 > 0:53:31- Yes, this one.- This one.- Yes.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34- I think it's the best of them, you know.- Yes, yes.
0:53:34 > 0:53:39It's got a drama and a story, and I think that's probably worth about £2,000 to £3,000 now.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41- Really?- Yes, yes, I really do.
0:53:41 > 0:53:46And this one, also by Burwood, I think that might be worth as much as that, although I don't prefer it.
0:53:46 > 0:53:51And this artist, Tench, who's maybe a generation later,
0:53:51 > 0:53:56- I'd have to say that he's probably a little bit less, something like £800 to £1,200 for that.- Good grief.
0:53:56 > 0:54:02Yes, well, and this Neapolitan one is probably worth about £400 to £600.
0:54:02 > 0:54:04Oh, my word!
0:54:04 > 0:54:08- Absolutely lovely, thank you. - Well, thanks ever so much indeed.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11Well, this is a bit of a thriller for me
0:54:11 > 0:54:18because in this box is something that isn't bad, it's something that's really, really good.
0:54:18 > 0:54:25Now, out it comes, I'm going to give it to you to hold while I just get rid of the box.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28There we go. Tell me about it.
0:54:28 > 0:54:34Um, I won it in a competition in 1991 from a national newspaper.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37And it is...
0:54:37 > 0:54:41let's be honest about this, this is Michael Jackson's fedora.
0:54:41 > 0:54:46- Yes.- It was very much his trade mark during the Bad tour,
0:54:46 > 0:54:49which was 1987, 1988,
0:54:49 > 0:54:55and then...you won it in a competition held by a newspaper, and what did you have to do for that?
0:54:55 > 0:54:58Um, that was just a phone competition.
0:54:58 > 0:55:03- Right.- And obviously I phoned up and they said that I'd won it, won first prize.
0:55:03 > 0:55:08You must've been a Michael Jackson fan or you wouldn't have bothered to go in for the competition.
0:55:08 > 0:55:14- Are you still?- Yes, still a fan, yes. - It's been terribly, terribly sad.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16- Yes.- The world has lost Michael Jackson.- Yes.
0:55:16 > 0:55:23And, as a result, I think that he is going through a renaissance in popularity
0:55:23 > 0:55:26and anything associated with Michael Jackson,
0:55:26 > 0:55:31I think is going to, just at this moment,
0:55:31 > 0:55:33have a renaissance too.
0:55:33 > 0:55:38The great thing is that not only did you get the hat,
0:55:38 > 0:55:45- but you also got a letter of authenticity.- Yes.- Because that actually is what it's all about.
0:55:45 > 0:55:51The object is one thing, the proof is the vital missing piece of the jigsaw, and here it is.
0:55:51 > 0:55:58It's from Head of Press from Epic, which is a division of Sony, Sony Music,
0:55:58 > 0:56:05which was Michael Jackson's record company, and it confirms that this was thrown from Michael Jackson
0:56:05 > 0:56:11- at his 30th birthday, during the Bad tour.- Yes.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14- Have you ever worn it?- Yes.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17- Only tried it on. - I was going to say,
0:56:17 > 0:56:24I was sort of hoping that the last head of hair that it touched was Michael Jackson's, but it's yours.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28- Yes.- It feels slightly like the Holy Grail,
0:56:28 > 0:56:32it's in great condition, it's got Michael Jackson written on the inside,
0:56:32 > 0:56:37- just in case, I suppose, he forgot who he was one day.- Yes.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39He could take his hat off and be reminded,
0:56:39 > 0:56:42but it's a valuable thing.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44With Michael Jackson's recent death,
0:56:44 > 0:56:50his name, and anything associated with him, really is at an all time high.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52Earlier on,
0:56:52 > 0:56:59one of Michael Jackson's gloves sold in Australia. I don't know if you've heard about that.
0:56:59 > 0:57:03I know that they did, you know, I have heard that...
0:57:03 > 0:57:05- You've heard rumours.- Yeah.
0:57:05 > 0:57:12The glove that was sold in Australia went for a lot of money, but I think that this will go for more.
0:57:12 > 0:57:17I would put a figure, starting at the glove price,
0:57:17 > 0:57:21which was the equivalent of £25,000.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28- And go up from there.- Really?
0:57:28 > 0:57:31The moment is now.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33- I will say no more.- Yes.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35- I know you're a huge fan.- Yes.
0:57:35 > 0:57:41But I think that the shares in Michael Jackson PLC, if you like, have never been higher
0:57:41 > 0:57:45and my feeling is perhaps now is the time
0:57:45 > 0:57:50to put your...to put your fan feelings to one side
0:57:50 > 0:57:53and think about the money.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55LAUGHTER
0:57:57 > 0:58:02Things are drawing to a close here at Somerleyton Hall, and we've had some of our longest queues ever.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05Look, I found our longest ever pencil as well.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07So, "what's the point?" you may well ask.
0:58:07 > 0:58:10Well, I thought I'd just draw a line under proceedings
0:58:10 > 0:58:13and sign off, so from the Antiques Roadshow team...
0:58:17 > 0:58:19..bye bye.
0:58:29 > 0:58:32Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd