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The inspiration for Britain's most famous seaside landmark | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
came from the Great Paris Exhibition of 1889 when the Mayor of Blackpool | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
decided that Mr Eiffel had had really rather a good idea. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
So welcome to a second helping of the Roadshow from Blackpool Tower. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:15 | |
2,500 tonnes | 0:00:51 | 0:00:53 | |
of steel, five million bricks and a cost in today's money | 0:00:53 | 0:00:58 | |
of £21 million. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:00 | |
That's what it took to build the Blackpool Tower, back in 1894. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:04 | |
It was considered to be the greatest single piece of British engineering of the time. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:14 | |
And just in case of disaster, the Manchester architects | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
of Tuke and Maxwell designed it to topple into the Irish Sea. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:22 | |
It does get windy! | 0:01:22 | 0:01:23 | |
The plan was to build towers as tourist attractions | 0:01:26 | 0:01:30 | |
up and down the country. It failed in places like Morecambe and the Isle of Man, | 0:01:30 | 0:01:34 | |
making Blackpool Tower all the more desirable. | 0:01:34 | 0:01:38 | |
When the public were first admitted to this Victorian entertainment complex, the riff-raff | 0:01:38 | 0:01:43 | |
were kept at bay by a small | 0:01:43 | 0:01:44 | |
but significant charge of sixpence for the privilege. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:48 | |
And what was on offer beside a trip up the tower? | 0:01:49 | 0:01:52 | |
Tea dances to tunes from the mighty Wurlitzer organ, but there were rules. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:59 | |
"Gentlemen may not dance unless with a lady." "Disorderly conduct means immediate expulsion." | 0:01:59 | 0:02:04 | |
and "On Sundays, please remain seated, as no dancing allowed." | 0:02:04 | 0:02:08 | |
Our palatial venue for the day hosted many a fine tea dance and artiste, | 0:02:08 | 0:02:13 | |
so today we're hoping for a few more neat steps and performances from our specialists. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:18 | |
Let's see what they have to offer. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:21 | |
-Have you said your prayers? -Sorry? -Have you said your prayers? | 0:02:21 | 0:02:24 | |
Why, what do you mean? | 0:02:24 | 0:02:26 | |
-Because you've brought a prayer machine. -I have? Oh, right, OK. -This is for saying prayers. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:30 | |
-Right. -It's an incense burner, and you'll find that throughout the world, all religious communities | 0:02:30 | 0:02:37 | |
at some stage burn incense and the incense goes up to heaven, and that's the idea of this thing. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:45 | |
-Right, OK. -It's called a koro, which is the Japanese term for an incense burner, so that clarifies | 0:02:45 | 0:02:51 | |
where it's from, but how did it get from Japan to here? | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
My nan had a friend that worked out in Malaysia, was a banker out there, | 0:02:54 | 0:02:58 | |
and he gave her this piece as a present and I think it was probably about the 1950s. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:04 | |
When I was growing up she used to keep it in the hall with the dusters in it. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:08 | |
Were they Buddhists? | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
-No, no, I don't think so. -So it's never been used... | 0:03:10 | 0:03:13 | |
-I don't think so. -..in your time. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:16 | |
No, not as far as I know, no. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:17 | |
Well, you take the lid off... And it's a pretty chunky old lid. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:21 | |
Let's just move that off. My goodness, it's heavy! | 0:03:21 | 0:03:24 | |
..and you put the incense inside here and it's an offering, | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
but by putting this on, the incense has to escape | 0:03:27 | 0:03:33 | |
through the vent holes here. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
The vent is cast | 0:03:36 | 0:03:37 | |
with this extraordinary frieze. Now, to Western eyes they look like swastikas, well they are swastikas, | 0:03:37 | 0:03:42 | |
they're Buddhistic swastikas. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
The swastika in Oriental art means "the heart of Buddha" | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
so, by allowing your prayers to waft through this symbol, you're getting into the heart of Buddha. | 0:03:48 | 0:03:55 | |
And on top, he's called the karashishi and he is a guardian, | 0:03:55 | 0:04:00 | |
Buddhistic guardian, dog and you can see he's looking quite friendly. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:04 | |
He's playing with this lovely brocade ball which spins around. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:08 | |
But it's a wonderful piece of workmanship and it would be easy | 0:04:08 | 0:04:12 | |
to overlook something that is really quite subtle. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
This bronze, smooth bronze, actually contains this beautiful design, | 0:04:15 | 0:04:19 | |
and then in the centre here, do you know what that is? | 0:04:19 | 0:04:23 | |
No idea, no. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:24 | |
Well, it's a badge, we would call it a crest, | 0:04:24 | 0:04:27 | |
it's armorial, it is actually the crest | 0:04:27 | 0:04:29 | |
of the Tokugawa clan, so the ruling clan of the 19th century. | 0:04:29 | 0:04:34 | |
This piece was made probably at about the same time as this ballroom. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:38 | |
Japanese works of art were finding their way into Europe | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
in huge quantities at that time. There was an enormous interest in Europe in things Japanese. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:47 | |
If you look up at the ceiling, you'll see one Japanese character. I spotted him before, | 0:04:47 | 0:04:51 | |
he's come straight out of The Mikado, but there was this interest in Japanese works of art | 0:04:51 | 0:04:58 | |
which brought these things to Europe. I guess this was made | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
almost certainly in Kyoto where I've seen them, even to this day, | 0:05:00 | 0:05:05 | |
-they do this inlay work. -By hand? -By hand, tapping in, so it's a jolly nice object. | 0:05:05 | 0:05:09 | |
So back to saying prayers, how much do you think it might fetch? | 0:05:09 | 0:05:16 | |
-I've got no idea, no idea. -It's very difficult to say actually | 0:05:16 | 0:05:20 | |
because this market goes up and down, up and down | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
and with financial uncertainty and Japan being in quite a bad state, | 0:05:23 | 0:05:27 | |
I reckon that today this is probably worth somewhere in the region | 0:05:27 | 0:05:31 | |
-of let's say between £3,000 and £4,000. -Really? | 0:05:31 | 0:05:35 | |
Oh, I'll get that holiday booked! | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
So get out the joss sticks. | 0:05:38 | 0:05:41 | |
That's fantastic, thank you very much. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:45 | |
I can't tell you a lot about them. They actually belonged to my mother-in-law. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
When I first looked at them, I didn't even realise they were mosaics. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:55 | |
So it was only because somebody had a magnifying glass that we realised | 0:05:55 | 0:05:59 | |
they were the mosaics that she kept referring to. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:01 | |
One or two are quite pretty but I have to say | 0:06:01 | 0:06:05 | |
-that this one in particular... -You hate it? | 0:06:05 | 0:06:08 | |
-..I really don't like it at all. -You would never wear it? | 0:06:08 | 0:06:11 | |
-No, absolutely not. -No, what exactly do you dislike about it? | 0:06:11 | 0:06:15 | |
-It's so glittery. -It is glittery, isn't it? -And shiny and sparkly | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
-and I don't really like sparkly. -No. It is very sparkly. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:22 | |
It's sparkly because there are little copper filings | 0:06:22 | 0:06:26 | |
imprisoned in a glass background. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:27 | |
They've come a long way to your mother-in-law, in the main from Italy. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:31 | |
They're the grandest tourist objects you could think of - they're souvenirs. | 0:06:31 | 0:06:35 | |
If you came to Blackpool | 0:06:35 | 0:06:36 | |
you might take away a paste brooch with a tower on it, | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
-if you went to Rome or Florence, you'd come back with a micro mosaic. -Right. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:44 | |
Everywhere you went, you'd be shown miraculous mosaics in the ceilings of Santa Maria Maggiore | 0:06:44 | 0:06:49 | |
in Rome or perhaps in Pompeii, and you wanted a little bit to bring back to smoky, smoggy old London. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:55 | |
As a souvenir, a very grand souvenir, mounted often in gold. | 0:06:55 | 0:07:00 | |
The miracle of these is that they're not made of stone, | 0:07:00 | 0:07:02 | |
but of glass, and glass is an extraordinary material, you can... | 0:07:02 | 0:07:07 | |
when it's viscous you can stretch it and stretch it, rather like toffee and then snap it, | 0:07:07 | 0:07:12 | |
and make tiny little tesserae, | 0:07:12 | 0:07:14 | |
which are a reference to hard stone mosaics but actually in this case, they're made of glass. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:20 | |
It may have helped to achieve this dazzling effect | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
because they could choose the colours, get the grading of the size | 0:07:22 | 0:07:26 | |
correct for the subject matter, | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
but they could also heat the tiny tesserae | 0:07:29 | 0:07:31 | |
in a furnace and to sort of... viscosity I think is the right word. Good word, isn't it, | 0:07:31 | 0:07:36 | |
viscosity? And then they fuse together. When they cool, | 0:07:36 | 0:07:40 | |
they grip one another with an atomic bond within the glass. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:44 | |
And so they're pretty durable. Here are some sort of bucolic scenes, aren't there? | 0:07:44 | 0:07:49 | |
There's a goat herd who's stopped, | 0:07:49 | 0:07:51 | |
perhaps sleeping out under the moon or something like that, | 0:07:51 | 0:07:54 | |
with his dog, and every nuance of his jacket is represented | 0:07:54 | 0:07:58 | |
with a different colour of tiny, tiny glass tesserae. | 0:07:58 | 0:08:02 | |
Those are the doves of Pliny from Hadrian's villa, | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
probably sold to somebody who had just seen them... | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
a Roman mosaic in a wall in a town covered with dust from Vesuvius | 0:08:09 | 0:08:14 | |
and then revived again. Terribly exciting stuff, | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
still is actually... | 0:08:17 | 0:08:18 | |
And some are of gold and very sophisticated at the back. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:22 | |
But anyway, ballpark figures, goodness, doves of Pliny... | 0:08:22 | 0:08:26 | |
maybe £200, £300, £400. Perhaps a more fully-blown one £600 to £800, | 0:08:26 | 0:08:30 | |
and an enormous one of gold with granulation making a reference to ancient techniques...? | 0:08:30 | 0:08:37 | |
Well, if somebody wants it... | 0:08:37 | 0:08:39 | |
and that's really the essence of it, isn't it? Do they these days? | 0:08:39 | 0:08:42 | |
I think so because of their quality, perhaps not to wear, | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
but for collectability, maybe £1,200. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
Without a mount maybe again only £400 to £600. But I love them. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:53 | |
I think they're a great statement of the past. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
-Thanks for bringing them. -Thank you. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:58 | |
Do you know I'm sure, initially as soon as people see this | 0:08:58 | 0:09:01 | |
on screen, they'll think, "Oh, that's a nice telescope." | 0:09:01 | 0:09:05 | |
And, of course, it's not a telescope, is it? | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
No, I've always had a passing interest in cameras and, of course, | 0:09:07 | 0:09:11 | |
being a Blackpool boy, I'm interested in anything that's made in Blackpool and a camera dealer approached me | 0:09:11 | 0:09:18 | |
about 15 years ago and said he'd found a camera made in Blackpool and was I interested? | 0:09:18 | 0:09:23 | |
-And this is that camera. -Yeah. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
It's a wonderful little item, everything we need to know | 0:09:25 | 0:09:28 | |
about it is essentially written on a front plate. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:31 | |
It's made by the British Ferrotype Company. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
-Now I know that it was made between around about 1905 and up to about 1915. -Right. -We've got a number | 0:09:34 | 0:09:40 | |
of over 2,000 on here but I'm not sure exactly how many were made. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:44 | |
-I have to say, they don't turn up very, very often. -Yes, yes. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
What we've got is something that takes a magazine of what we call ferrotype plates. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:54 | |
-Yes. -You know what a ferrotype plate is, I'm sure. -Yes. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
-It's a small metal disc with light-sensitive emulsion on it. -Yes. | 0:09:57 | 0:10:01 | |
That is inserted via the back section here, into a spring-loaded magazine. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:07 | |
We can then start to operate the camera. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:09 | |
We can have our subject in front here, we can essentially line them up through a very simple gun sight | 0:10:09 | 0:10:17 | |
on top there that you just look through and the person goes in front here and that's it. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:22 | |
Once you've lined them up, we use a vacuum-operated shutter, | 0:10:22 | 0:10:26 | |
which you haven't got here, a bulb shutter. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:29 | |
We take the photograph and as soon as it's taken, we basically push this. | 0:10:29 | 0:10:36 | |
-Which has jammed. -Which has jammed, unfortunately. | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
The ferrotype plate drops down into the developing reservoirs | 0:10:40 | 0:10:45 | |
-in the bottom here, and within a minute, within a minute, we have a finished product. -Amazing. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:52 | |
Amazing, absolutely amazing. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:54 | |
Now, here's a finished product. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:57 | |
This is a tiny little ferrotype plate, | 0:10:57 | 0:11:00 | |
portrait of a young boy that may even have been taken on Blackpool sea front. | 0:11:00 | 0:11:06 | |
-Yes, yes. -Circa 1905-1910. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:08 | |
Now, of course, you paid for the little ferrotype plates | 0:11:08 | 0:11:12 | |
and, I suspect, given your little advertising case here, | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
you've got to pick the style of the little frame | 0:11:15 | 0:11:18 | |
that you can put it in, because I see that we've got a selection there | 0:11:18 | 0:11:22 | |
with some painted enamelled flags. | 0:11:22 | 0:11:24 | |
-Yes. -And different gilt borders. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:26 | |
Around the time of the First World War, the young man | 0:11:26 | 0:11:30 | |
would have had his photograph taken and his wife or his girlfriend | 0:11:30 | 0:11:35 | |
would put it in a brooch and she would wear it with pride whilst he was away at the war. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:40 | |
What a lovely story... | 0:11:40 | 0:11:41 | |
In essence, that is a sweetheart brooch. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:44 | |
-That's right. -A form of sweetheart brooch, and very poignant. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:48 | |
These don't come up for sale often, they're not something that turns up that frequently, | 0:11:48 | 0:11:53 | |
so putting a value on it is difficult, but I think the current auction value is going to be | 0:11:53 | 0:11:57 | |
around about £700 to £1,000. | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
Well, yes, I paid about two hundred quid for it. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:04 | |
Well, I think you did all right, 15 years ago, didn't you? | 0:12:04 | 0:12:07 | |
It's a wonderful object and again, it epitomises Blackpool in many ways. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:12 | |
-When I first saw this, I thought it looked Dutch. -Yeah. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:17 | |
So I was a bit surprised when, on the top of the drawers here I found | 0:12:17 | 0:12:22 | |
"Lancaster", absolutely local, and then on this side | 0:12:22 | 0:12:26 | |
-it says "Gillows". -Yes. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:28 | |
So it's a very, very locally made piece. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:30 | |
It is, yes. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:31 | |
So this is something that you have bought, or inherited? | 0:12:31 | 0:12:34 | |
Yes, yes. I bought it, 40 or 50 years ago. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:38 | |
And where did you get it from? | 0:12:38 | 0:12:40 | |
Harrogate. | 0:12:40 | 0:12:42 | |
Antique fair in Harrogate. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
Right, and so why did you buy it? | 0:12:44 | 0:12:45 | |
Because I liked it. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
That's a good answer. Well, what was it you liked about it? | 0:12:47 | 0:12:52 | |
It was Gillow, and Gillow to me was one of the best northern furniture makers | 0:12:52 | 0:12:59 | |
we had, without any doubt, he and his brother. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:03 | |
And the name of Gillows, these days, will really add value | 0:13:03 | 0:13:08 | |
-to a piece of furniture. -Yeah. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:09 | |
This is very handsome, it's a demi-lune shape, | 0:13:09 | 0:13:12 | |
wonderful mahogany, a good colour | 0:13:12 | 0:13:14 | |
and very smart with these box wood stringing. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
-Yes, stringing, yes. -And I would say this dates to around 1800, about that sort of time. -Yes. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:23 | |
And Gillows only started to stamp their furniture right at the end of the century so this... | 0:13:23 | 0:13:28 | |
-perhaps relatively early piece of stamped Gillows furniture. -Yes. Yeah. | 0:13:28 | 0:13:32 | |
I do have to wonder about these handles which don't seem to me | 0:13:32 | 0:13:36 | |
-absolutely characteristic of Gillows. -Yes. -Perhaps you can... What do you think about the handles? | 0:13:36 | 0:13:41 | |
-Yes, I think the same. -You think the same? -Yes. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
But there's also something on the inside which I'm not quite sure about, do you know what | 0:13:44 | 0:13:48 | |
-happened there or...? -No, I don't. -No? It's curious, I wonder if perhaps there was a... | 0:13:48 | 0:13:55 | |
-Maybe something spilt. -Something spilt probably, a little bit of repair in there. -Yes. | 0:13:55 | 0:14:00 | |
But I think it's interesting to see the inside | 0:14:00 | 0:14:02 | |
because it's two very simple shelves. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
-The top shelf lovely polished mahogany. -Yes, yes. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:07 | |
The bottom shelf really quite crude. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:10 | |
Yes, true. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:12 | |
And a smart piece of furniture which is in fact a bedside piece. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:16 | |
-Yes. -And I like to think of this as the sort of en suite bathroom of the day. -Yes. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:23 | |
So that at night, when you couldn't go into the bathroom | 0:14:23 | 0:14:27 | |
-or you had to trot down the corridor... -That's right. -..in the freezing cold, | 0:14:27 | 0:14:30 | |
-you had your potty in the bottom there. -It's a potty cupboard, really, isn't it? | 0:14:30 | 0:14:34 | |
-It's a potty cupboard, it's a lavatory. -Yes, yes. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:37 | |
And I think a very, very handsome lavatory and a Gillows lavatory makes it even more worthwhile. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:44 | |
Now I dread to think what you paid for it 40 years ago. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:48 | |
-Well, I think about £600. -So it was quite a lot of money then? -Yes, it was, yes. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:54 | |
I think if you were to sell it now, you would be looking at around £2,000 to £2,500, | 0:14:54 | 0:15:00 | |
so it's gone up since you bought it, | 0:15:00 | 0:15:04 | |
but if one looks at inflation and all that kind of thing, it may not have gone up hugely. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
-Yes, yes, no it hasn't, no, no. -But I hope... | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
-do you have this by your bedside? -Yes, by my bedside. -Dare I ask? | 0:15:10 | 0:15:14 | |
-Do you have a...? -No. No I haven't. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:17 | |
I love seeing pictures by artists I've never come across before. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:22 | |
-I see this is signed Bannerman down the bottom here. -Yes. -Do you know who he is? | 0:15:22 | 0:15:27 | |
Yes, I do. He is now dead but I knew him about 30 years ago, and we bought this in the 19... | 0:15:27 | 0:15:34 | |
in the mid 1970s. He lived in Cromarty in Scotland. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:40 | |
What I do know, I have one listing for him, living in Aberdeen in 1933 and exhibiting one picture, | 0:15:40 | 0:15:47 | |
and I also know that he studied in Paris and I think that's what a lot of the artists did in the, | 0:15:47 | 0:15:52 | |
you know, 20th century, went to Paris because of the Impressionists | 0:15:52 | 0:15:55 | |
and all the studios where they could study and come back. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:58 | |
-Do you know where this was painted? -Yes, I believe it was painted | 0:15:58 | 0:16:02 | |
in about 1950 in the wardrobe of Sadlers Wells Theatre in London, | 0:16:02 | 0:16:06 | |
because Mr Bannerman, Charles Bannerman, lived in Islington at that time. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:11 | |
It looks '50's and there are little things in here like the light, | 0:16:11 | 0:16:15 | |
and they've put material over the top to direct light down here | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
so they're not going to strain their eyes sewing on all the sequins. It's a wonderful scene. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:23 | |
But what I find interesting | 0:16:23 | 0:16:25 | |
is that I've never come across his work, which makes me think | 0:16:25 | 0:16:28 | |
he was a teacher, or an illustrator, or did commercial work. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
Do you know how he did make his living full time? | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
Well, I believe he was a graphic artist and I believe he designed the original for Rice Krispies. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:39 | |
What, "Snap, Crackle and Pop"? | 0:16:39 | 0:16:41 | |
Yes, so I believe. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:43 | |
Well that's fantastic. Well, we have to put a value on this | 0:16:43 | 0:16:47 | |
and I think you know really, looking at it... I said he's an artist | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
that's really never come up for sale before, but that doesn't matter | 0:16:50 | 0:16:54 | |
and that's what I love about this business, because you look at it, so what, the quality's there | 0:16:54 | 0:16:59 | |
and I think it's good enough to make somewhere in the region of £800 to £1,000. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:04 | |
-That's interesting. -Good. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:07 | |
My Scottish geography probably isn't brilliant, but Kilmarnock I think | 0:17:07 | 0:17:11 | |
-is sort of southwest of Glasgow, is that right? -It is indeed, yes. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:15 | |
-Sounds like you're from that part of the world. -I am originally from there. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:19 | |
So does that mean you've known this clock a long time? | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
I have known it all my life, I have, because it was my father's wedding present to my mother in 1939 | 0:17:22 | 0:17:30 | |
and I was born in 1941 and grew up with this clock. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:34 | |
My father was very musical. | 0:17:34 | 0:17:36 | |
He had a lovely, lovely singing voice and he was very keen that I should learn to play the piano, | 0:17:36 | 0:17:42 | |
and he insisted I practise half an hour every night | 0:17:42 | 0:17:46 | |
from six o'clock till half past, and I used to practise the piano | 0:17:46 | 0:17:50 | |
with one eye on the clock and one eye on the music, practising... | 0:17:50 | 0:17:54 | |
As soon as it was at half past six, the lid went down on the piano and I said, "That's it!" | 0:17:54 | 0:17:58 | |
-This thing literally watched over you the whole time. -Yeah, it did. It did. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:02 | |
And does it bring any other memories back, other than those of it watching over you? | 0:18:02 | 0:18:07 | |
Well, my mother was... she had hidey holes all over the house | 0:18:07 | 0:18:10 | |
for money and one of her hidey holes was inside the clock. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:15 | |
-Down in here? -Inside, yes. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:18 | |
-Incredible. -Have a look. | 0:18:18 | 0:18:20 | |
I'll tell you something, I bet there's a good few people out there | 0:18:20 | 0:18:24 | |
-who'd rather have had their money in the bottom of this than in offshore banking! -I would think so. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:28 | |
So let's talk briefly about the Scottish clock-making industry. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:34 | |
I actually prefer the items from the east coast - | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
from Aberdeen, Montrose, Arbroath down to Edinburgh and Leith. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:42 | |
They tend to be very elegant clocks, long slender trunk doors to make them look really very handsome. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:50 | |
We come over to the west coast and they're a little big chunkier and this is... | 0:18:50 | 0:18:54 | |
-although you've got this lovely tapered case, it's quite a chunky clock, isn't it? -It is. Yes, it is. | 0:18:54 | 0:19:01 | |
-What sort of date? Had you, had you thought about a date for it? -Well, my father bought it in 1939 | 0:19:01 | 0:19:06 | |
-but I think it's a little bit older than that. -Oh, it is indeed, I think we could say 1850 give or take | 0:19:06 | 0:19:11 | |
-a few years in all honesty. -Right. | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
Quite austere, the plain, circular white-painted dial in this drum-head case. | 0:19:13 | 0:19:19 | |
As I say, the tapering's good, but we've got very heavy mouldings | 0:19:19 | 0:19:23 | |
-and a fairly heavy plinth, so very, very different from the east coast clocks. -Yes. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:29 | |
Clocks lower down the range, mid range and lower, | 0:19:29 | 0:19:33 | |
has actually not done terribly well over the last year and a bit. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:37 | |
I hope you're not going to be too disappointed when I tell that if it went to auction, it wouldn't more | 0:19:37 | 0:19:42 | |
-than about £2,500. -No, I'm very pleasantly surprised. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:45 | |
I really didn't think it would be as much as that. | 0:19:45 | 0:19:48 | |
The main thing is, you've got all those memories. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
-Yes. -And it still works. | 0:19:51 | 0:19:53 | |
-It does. -Just keep living with it and loving it. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
Yes, I do. I love it, I do. | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
-Thank you very much. -Thank you. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:01 | |
You know I've never come across a miniature illuminated manuscript before. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:08 | |
And this is what this is. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:10 | |
It is absolutely fantastic. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:12 | |
It's late 17th, early 18th century, | 0:20:12 | 0:20:15 | |
and it's red leather | 0:20:15 | 0:20:18 | |
and it's got little acorns here in the corner | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
and these wonderful little flowers and garlands, too. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:25 | |
It is absolutely delightful. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:27 | |
And inside, inter folia fructus est, there is the most wonderful | 0:20:27 | 0:20:32 | |
Lord's Prayer | 0:20:33 | 0:20:34 | |
illuminated with a coat of arms. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:36 | |
Now do you know anything about this coat of arms? | 0:20:36 | 0:20:39 | |
Well, I found out that the motto at the bottom - | 0:20:39 | 0:20:43 | |
"Foy Pour Debvoir" | 0:20:43 | 0:20:44 | |
-is apparently the motto of the Duke of Somerset. -Yes. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:48 | |
And, also, I believe it may be related to the Seymour family, part of the coat of arms appears to be... | 0:20:48 | 0:20:54 | |
-This is Jane Seymour? -Part of it, I believe. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:57 | |
Yes, it's lovely. And look at this wonderful... It's all... | 0:20:57 | 0:21:01 | |
-it's all on vellum. -Yes. -Which is a skin of course, and it looks | 0:21:01 | 0:21:06 | |
absolutely fantastic. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
And if I turn the page, it changes again, | 0:21:08 | 0:21:10 | |
but what this page, I think, | 0:21:10 | 0:21:12 | |
shows better than possibly the page in gilt | 0:21:12 | 0:21:14 | |
is - "Heavenly Father Immortall God" - | 0:21:14 | 0:21:20 | |
-how tiny the handwriting is. -It is very, very tiny. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:23 | |
-It's absolutely amazing. -Wonderful, yes. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:25 | |
And there are a whole 70 pages of this. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:28 | |
It is just absolutely incredible. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:31 | |
Now tell me about it, where did it come from? | 0:21:31 | 0:21:34 | |
-Well, it's been in the family for a few years now. -Yes. -It belonged to an elderly relation of my wife's | 0:21:34 | 0:21:39 | |
who died about eight or nine years ago, and her father | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
was one Canon Mackintosh, who was for some time vicar of Oldham | 0:21:42 | 0:21:46 | |
-we believe in the 1920s and 1930s. -Yes. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
We can only assume that somehow he had it in his possession... | 0:21:49 | 0:21:53 | |
-And here he is. -..and it came down through the family. -Yes. I wonder where he got it from? -I wish I knew, | 0:21:53 | 0:21:57 | |
-I do. -Because it's much older than he is, obviously. | 0:21:57 | 0:22:00 | |
-Oh, yes, it is indeed. -But I mean it really is quite incredible. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:03 | |
-Now what about value? -Yeah, well, I wouldn't have a clue. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
And you're going to say to me, "How would you know how much | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
-"its value is as you've never seen one before." -That's a good point. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
-I'm going to guess, that's what I'll do. -Yes, yes. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:15 | |
I wouldn't be surprised, if I went to a book fair or something like that, | 0:22:15 | 0:22:20 | |
I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't marked £2,500. | 0:22:20 | 0:22:25 | |
Goodness me. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:26 | |
Shazzam! Kapow! Those are the words that you normally associate with Batman, and here he is. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:33 | |
Now I have to ask you, is he yours? | 0:22:33 | 0:22:35 | |
-It's my husband's. -Right, OK, and was your husband a Batman fan? | 0:22:35 | 0:22:39 | |
I don't think he was. I think that's why he's in such decent condition. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:43 | |
You're absolutely right, he really can't have been a great Batman fan. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
He is in just such superb condition. He's made out of lithographed tin plate, as you probably know. | 0:22:46 | 0:22:51 | |
Um, with a celluloid plastic head, but even his cape, | 0:22:51 | 0:22:55 | |
on the back, which normally gets really very badly damaged over time, | 0:22:55 | 0:22:58 | |
-is normally worn, so no, clearly not a Batman fan. -No, probably not. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:03 | |
-He was made by a company called Nomura... -Right. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:05 | |
-..in Japan. They released him in 1966 to coincide with the fantastic TV series... -Right. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:12 | |
..which I think is one of the campest things to air on TV. I used to love watching those repeated. | 0:23:12 | 0:23:17 | |
-Um, he's battery powered and he walks and, as you probably know, his head lights up. -Yeah. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:23 | |
You have the box as well which is a really desirable feature. Box and model in mint condition like this... | 0:23:23 | 0:23:30 | |
He's a little bit worn at the top there, from probably sitting in his box but his condition is fantastic. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:34 | |
-Mm, yeah, mm. -Prices vary widely. | 0:23:34 | 0:23:37 | |
1997 one sold at auction for £300. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:40 | |
-In America, they go up and down and fluctuate but they've sold for as much as 5,000. -Oh, gosh, right. | 0:23:40 | 0:23:46 | |
I'm going to be a little bit more cautious than that, and say I think he's worth about £1,500 to £2,000. | 0:23:46 | 0:23:51 | |
Golly gosh! I'm absolutely stunned, that was his 7th birthday present. | 0:23:51 | 0:23:58 | |
This looks exactly the type of box that I would expect to find a nice bit of antique silver in. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:02 | |
You can imagine my surprise when I opened it and found a farmyard scene. | 0:24:02 | 0:24:06 | |
Er, do you use this? | 0:24:06 | 0:24:09 | |
Not recently. We have used it. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:11 | |
-And what do you use it for? -It's salt, pepper and mustard. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:14 | |
And any particular occasion you might get it out for? | 0:24:14 | 0:24:16 | |
-Christmas. -Quails' eggs? | 0:24:16 | 0:24:18 | |
Not done that yet, but that's a good idea, we might do that one. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:21 | |
I was trying to work out what kind of birds they were. These are, | 0:24:21 | 0:24:24 | |
-I've seen before, the little chicks, I think are hens, normal farmyard hens. -Right. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:30 | |
Your mustard pot, on the other hand, appears to me to be | 0:24:30 | 0:24:34 | |
a quail or perhaps a partridge. | 0:24:34 | 0:24:36 | |
I'm no ornithologist but I... It's certainly not a hen | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
-and it looks like it might be quite good to eat. -Yes. | 0:24:39 | 0:24:43 | |
You obviously know that that's a mustard pot, inside there you've got a little spoon, | 0:24:43 | 0:24:48 | |
a glass liner - which holds the mustard - which is probably the one that's been with it all its life. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:53 | |
-That is the original. -That's the original one? | 0:24:53 | 0:24:55 | |
And inside the whole of the body it's been gilded, | 0:24:55 | 0:25:00 | |
-so that if any mustard should get stuck down the side, it won't do the silver harm. -Oh, right. | 0:25:00 | 0:25:04 | |
It won't corrode the silver, because mustard's ferociously evil with silver, it eats it away. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:10 | |
This is all made by the same man. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:13 | |
The quail | 0:25:13 | 0:25:15 | |
is in fact marked on the base for London 1897, | 0:25:15 | 0:25:19 | |
and the maker's Sampson Mordan. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:21 | |
-He was probably the best of what we call the novelty silver makers... -Oh, right. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:27 | |
..making animal forms in little snuff boxes and vesta cases, | 0:25:27 | 0:25:31 | |
though I've never seen this mustard pot before. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:34 | |
It's a very scarce model. | 0:25:34 | 0:25:36 | |
The pepper pots and salt shakers in the form of chicks are not uncommon, this is very uncommon. | 0:25:36 | 0:25:43 | |
I suspect that this was a set that was put together with which to eat quails' eggs. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:48 | |
The interesting thing about this that you might want to know is that because it's so unusual | 0:25:48 | 0:25:53 | |
and because there are collectors for mustard pots who would give their right arm for this quail, | 0:25:53 | 0:25:58 | |
if we can call it a quail, I think the whole set together | 0:25:58 | 0:26:01 | |
if you went into a retail shop and tried to buy it, would cost you somewhere in the order of £4,500. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:08 | |
Wow! That's a lot of money. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:10 | |
Er, yes, mm. That is astonishing. | 0:26:11 | 0:26:15 | |
Paul, you've been busy looking at other people's items today and giving valuations. | 0:26:15 | 0:26:20 | |
It's very unusual, you've brought along something of your own. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:23 | |
-Tell me about it. -I grew up in the 1950s with "Watch With Mother" | 0:26:23 | 0:26:27 | |
-and of course this is Teddy from "Andy Pandy". -This is Teddy from "Andy Pandy"! | 0:26:27 | 0:26:31 | |
I used to watch "Andy Pandy". | 0:26:31 | 0:26:33 | |
-So how did you come to own Ted? -How do I come to have Teddy? | 0:26:33 | 0:26:36 | |
My mother was a puppeteer who worked for the BBC in the 1950s for the "Watch With Mother" series. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:44 | |
She did "Andy Pandy", she did "Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men", "Wooden Tops". That was her life. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:50 | |
It was also of course my early life, because it started in 1950 | 0:26:50 | 0:26:53 | |
when I was five and there's always been this story that I was the model for Andy Pandy. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:58 | |
Was there? You've brought some photographs here. Let's have a look. So this...? | 0:26:58 | 0:27:02 | |
That's the group. I mean that's the famous characters. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:05 | |
-So, Andy Pandy, Bill and Ben. -Yes. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:07 | |
Weed, Looby Loo. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:09 | |
-Loo and of course Teddy. -And Teddy! -And here he is. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:12 | |
-There was more than one of each puppet for all sorts of purposes. -So Teddy had stunt doubles, did he? | 0:27:12 | 0:27:17 | |
Or maybe he is the stunt double. The point is all the others | 0:27:17 | 0:27:21 | |
from that sequence are in museums, this is the only one that ever escaped, | 0:27:21 | 0:27:27 | |
but it was given to my mother, | 0:27:27 | 0:27:28 | |
when the programme ended, by the producer. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:32 | |
-And this is your mother here? -This is my mother here operating. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:34 | |
Now, in fact she always operated Andy Pandy. | 0:27:34 | 0:27:37 | |
Her friend, who isn't in the picture, | 0:27:37 | 0:27:40 | |
Molly Gibson, operated Teddy... | 0:27:40 | 0:27:42 | |
I think it was a spare Teddy or a Teddy that wasn't going anywhere else that came to her. | 0:27:42 | 0:27:47 | |
It must have been so exciting for you at five. | 0:27:47 | 0:27:49 | |
It was very exciting because it was television which was so new, | 0:27:49 | 0:27:52 | |
and sometimes I went to Alexandra Palace with her. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 | |
It was filmed live in those days, so it was happening in front of you, | 0:27:55 | 0:27:59 | |
and it was just part of my life, you know the way these things are. | 0:27:59 | 0:28:02 | |
And can you...? Can you work him? | 0:28:02 | 0:28:04 | |
I'm not the world's greatest puppeteer, I have to say, but, you know, he-he-he he does walk. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:11 | |
Oh, he's so sweet. He had a very special way of saying goodbye at the end of the programme didn't he? | 0:28:11 | 0:28:16 | |
You must forgive my terrible voice, but the programme ended with... | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
-HE SINGS: -# Andy is saying goodbye # | 0:28:19 | 0:28:22 | |
and they all sat there and waved. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:26 | |
Bye, bear. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:27 | |
Bye, bear. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:29 | |
ORIGINAL RECORDING: # Andy is waving goodbye | 0:28:29 | 0:28:34 | |
# Goodbye | 0:28:34 | 0:28:36 | |
# Goodbye. # | 0:28:36 | 0:28:42 | |
For me, a painted portrait is not just about conveying information - a photograph can do that - | 0:28:42 | 0:28:49 | |
but it's about memorialising a time in life, and I find myself deeply drawn to this. | 0:28:49 | 0:28:54 | |
I mean I suppose we need to start with who is he? | 0:28:54 | 0:28:57 | |
Yes, actually me uncle called Michael Snowdon who sadly died six weeks ago. We think it was, | 0:28:57 | 0:29:05 | |
well, we know it was painted by a friend of his what lived in Stallingborough. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:09 | |
It's signed in the bottom corner. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:11 | |
Yes, er, and we think he just did it as a... you know, because they knew each other. | 0:29:11 | 0:29:16 | |
So this, in a sense, is a remnant | 0:29:16 | 0:29:20 | |
of a life, a life that was obviously quite close to you. | 0:29:20 | 0:29:24 | |
Oh, yes, yeah, yeah. Me and Steph are cousins, and he knew us both as our uncle. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:29 | |
And he actually, when he died he was 67. | 0:29:30 | 0:29:32 | |
We don't know how long ago this painting was painted | 0:29:32 | 0:29:36 | |
but we think it'd probably be about 50 years ago. | 0:29:36 | 0:29:39 | |
I mean rather like Elizabethan portraiture, I always think | 0:29:39 | 0:29:43 | |
one of the great tests of a very good image is how you can read extra dimensions in it, | 0:29:43 | 0:29:48 | |
and, of course, in this instance, it's a gift, is it not, | 0:29:48 | 0:29:52 | |
-because we have behind him all of this porcelain? And we have it here as well. -Mm, yeah. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:57 | |
I'm no ceramic expert, but I've spoken to colleagues on the show | 0:29:57 | 0:30:01 | |
and this is jasperware, jasperware, Wedgwood, | 0:30:01 | 0:30:03 | |
which dates from the 1950s and '60s | 0:30:03 | 0:30:07 | |
-so pretty well about when this picture was painted. -Yeah, yeah. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:10 | |
It's not hugely valuable but it is, none the less, a wonderful accompaniment to the image. | 0:30:10 | 0:30:15 | |
So, I mean it's trying to tell you something, isn't it? | 0:30:15 | 0:30:18 | |
I mean for me, looking at this, here is a man who, or a young man, | 0:30:18 | 0:30:23 | |
who's a bit of a connoisseur, who has taste. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:25 | |
Who has interests beyond the normal, and then I find myself deeply drawn to his hand - | 0:30:25 | 0:30:30 | |
incidentally his beautifully painted hand - | 0:30:30 | 0:30:34 | |
and on it a ring, which is rather unusual because this is a portrait of what? The 1960s? | 0:30:34 | 0:30:41 | |
And he is wearing a ring in that sort of rather unusually flamboyant way. | 0:30:41 | 0:30:47 | |
It's full of rather sort of curious tricks this painting, isn't it? | 0:30:47 | 0:30:51 | |
He was a very artistic man, he was actually a flower arranger, | 0:30:51 | 0:30:55 | |
he had a shop in Howarth and he also was a musician. | 0:30:55 | 0:30:59 | |
He went to the Royal Academy of Music in London where he was a pianist. So he was very artistic, if you like. | 0:30:59 | 0:31:06 | |
And what I think is so clever about this painting is yes, sure, it says in a literal way with the ring | 0:31:06 | 0:31:12 | |
and the odd tricks around, that this is what this man's about, | 0:31:12 | 0:31:15 | |
but it's the expression as well. There's a feeling of... | 0:31:15 | 0:31:18 | |
a sensitivity, introspection, fragility. | 0:31:18 | 0:31:23 | |
We need to value this intriguing object, and... | 0:31:23 | 0:31:27 | |
Jackson, Ken Jackson, although dead, was a considerable force in portrait painting in the area... | 0:31:27 | 0:31:33 | |
-Right. -..and it needs to be taken seriously. | 0:31:33 | 0:31:36 | |
He's not that prominent, perhaps one day will become so, but I would comfortably value this picture | 0:31:36 | 0:31:43 | |
at £800, £900, possibly even £1,000. | 0:31:43 | 0:31:47 | |
-But of course its value is this memorial, is it not? -Oh, it'll never be sold. I'd never sell it, no, no. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:51 | |
These lovely vintage clothes that a lot of people end up taking to a charity shop. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:57 | |
-Yes. -Why did you keep them? | 0:31:57 | 0:31:59 | |
Well, I think it was mother who kept them and then, because I do tend to hoard things, | 0:31:59 | 0:32:04 | |
I just kept them in the box where they've been all this time. | 0:32:04 | 0:32:07 | |
Right. And this lovely early one here, lovely chiffon and lace. | 0:32:07 | 0:32:11 | |
Well, this one was bought | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
for her when she was 21 and it was to go to a Founders Day at a school | 0:32:14 | 0:32:20 | |
in Highgate in London, | 0:32:20 | 0:32:22 | |
and that's the group of older girls at the Founders Day. | 0:32:22 | 0:32:28 | |
-That's a very, very high stylish dress. -Yes. | 0:32:28 | 0:32:31 | |
So this is 19...? | 0:32:31 | 0:32:33 | |
-1931. -1931. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:35 | |
Absolutely perfect for that period. And then this dress here? | 0:32:35 | 0:32:39 | |
-That's 1934, that was a wedding dress... -Yeah. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:45 | |
..for a double wedding. At the time, it had a train and it had a big veil. | 0:32:45 | 0:32:52 | |
And beautiful simple silk, very highly stylish for the 1930s, | 0:32:52 | 0:32:57 | |
really beautiful, | 0:32:57 | 0:32:59 | |
that wonderful colour which was so 1930s to be married in, and she was a very tiny lady. | 0:32:59 | 0:33:04 | |
She was. Well, I could never fit into it. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:06 | |
-My sister could never fit into it and I think I got dressed up in it when I was about ten. -Yes. | 0:33:06 | 0:33:12 | |
And that was when it fitted. | 0:33:12 | 0:33:14 | |
-Now this is a fascinating one. -Yes. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:17 | |
Well, this one was a copy | 0:33:17 | 0:33:20 | |
of the Duchess of Windsor's wedding dress in 1937, | 0:33:20 | 0:33:26 | |
which had this distinctive high neck, which this has got, and the little buttons. | 0:33:26 | 0:33:32 | |
What's fascinating to me about this is, when you think about it, | 0:33:32 | 0:33:36 | |
-Wallis Simpson was so reviled in some ways, wasn't she? -Yes. -I mean, you know she... | 0:33:36 | 0:33:41 | |
Because for the King to abdicate in those days... | 0:33:41 | 0:33:44 | |
I mean it was a tremendous thing and Wallis Simpson was really regarded very badly. | 0:33:44 | 0:33:49 | |
-I know, not popular. -Not pop... except that women secretly really loved her style. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:55 | |
-The fashion. -Her fashion, you know, and also, in some ways it was like a dream, she managed to get the King. | 0:33:55 | 0:34:01 | |
-Yes. -You know, she managed it and he gave up everything for love. -Of course. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:06 | |
So there was something in that, that people felt... | 0:34:06 | 0:34:09 | |
-And also she said, "Two things in life - you had to be rich and thin". -Yes, well... | 0:34:09 | 0:34:13 | |
-And this dress here, obviously 1940s. -Yes, well it was about 1943. | 0:34:13 | 0:34:19 | |
Yes. Obviously they weren't using silk now because we're talking | 0:34:19 | 0:34:23 | |
about parachutes and everything else and the thing is, | 0:34:23 | 0:34:25 | |
it's rayon. | 0:34:25 | 0:34:27 | |
-Yes. -And that was...that was terribly fashionable at the time. -Yes. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:32 | |
-And do you ever think about values of these? -Not at all. I haven't any idea, no. | 0:34:32 | 0:34:37 | |
In a specialist vintage auction, you know you're certainly talking this one | 0:34:37 | 0:34:43 | |
-maybe £200. -Yes. -This one, again this beautiful silk, | 0:34:43 | 0:34:47 | |
the Wallis Simpson connection, I think again £200. | 0:34:47 | 0:34:50 | |
You know, in a special sale possibly a bit more. | 0:34:50 | 0:34:54 | |
And this one, although not the beautiful silk but very much rayon, the 1940s style | 0:34:54 | 0:34:58 | |
is very "in" at the moment, young people really love the 1940s, | 0:34:58 | 0:35:03 | |
and I could see somebody paying at least £200 for this. So you have a lovely collection here. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:08 | |
-Thank you. -And with all the photographs too, marvellous. -Thank you very much. | 0:35:08 | 0:35:12 | |
The English excelled in the manufacture of duelling pistols and after about... | 0:35:12 | 0:35:18 | |
1770, when gentlemen stopped wearing swords, they then didn't have the means to settle their differences. | 0:35:18 | 0:35:25 | |
This is a long time before they got lawyers involved to settle things expensively, but less bloodily. | 0:35:25 | 0:35:31 | |
And so they went for pistols. | 0:35:31 | 0:35:33 | |
And then you start to see, from about the sort of 1770s onwards, | 0:35:33 | 0:35:38 | |
this development of these very, very high quality | 0:35:38 | 0:35:42 | |
flintlock pistols that are completely identical as a pair, | 0:35:42 | 0:35:46 | |
and they have one purpose and one purpose only. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:49 | |
I always call that "judicially sanctioned murder" because that's what it is. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:54 | |
It's amazing that in a country where the common law recognises | 0:35:54 | 0:35:58 | |
that if you kill somebody with intent, you are guilty of murder - | 0:35:58 | 0:36:02 | |
and in those days of course it was a capital offence - | 0:36:02 | 0:36:05 | |
that it allowed this practice. | 0:36:05 | 0:36:07 | |
Where did you get these from? | 0:36:07 | 0:36:09 | |
They're very, very interesting because they're very rare. | 0:36:09 | 0:36:13 | |
Well, I can remember them at home from being a child. | 0:36:13 | 0:36:16 | |
In fact I shouldn't say it but me and my brother used to play with them when we were about ten year old. | 0:36:16 | 0:36:20 | |
-Playing pirates I suppose? -Well, yeah. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:23 | |
Before that it was me father's and I think it was handed down to him from his father. | 0:36:23 | 0:36:28 | |
They do go back quite, quite a way I believe, yeah, but I've no proof of that though. | 0:36:28 | 0:36:32 | |
They date from about 1775 to 1780. | 0:36:32 | 0:36:39 | |
If you were going to buy a pair of duelling pistols to make sure | 0:36:39 | 0:36:43 | |
that you had the means to settle your differences | 0:36:43 | 0:36:46 | |
then if you had the money you'd get a Wogdon because he just built the very, very best, | 0:36:46 | 0:36:51 | |
and he was so famous that there was actually a poem written about him | 0:36:51 | 0:36:55 | |
and it started off with "Hail Wogdon, | 0:36:55 | 0:36:57 | |
"patron of that leaden death." | 0:36:57 | 0:36:59 | |
I can't think of any other gun maker who's actually been immortalised in verse. | 0:36:59 | 0:37:04 | |
And we can see his name on the top of the barrel there. | 0:37:04 | 0:37:08 | |
Simply writes "Wogdon, London" - | 0:37:08 | 0:37:10 | |
you needed no other advert for it. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:12 | |
They have this lovely ergonomically shaped hockey stick style butt | 0:37:12 | 0:37:16 | |
that just sits in the hand. | 0:37:16 | 0:37:18 | |
Yeah, it fits, yeah. | 0:37:18 | 0:37:20 | |
You really would have difficulty at 30 or so paces, missing with those. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:24 | |
And yet the statistics show that very few people were ever killed duelling. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:29 | |
Two, obviously one for each party, they're exactly the same, | 0:37:29 | 0:37:32 | |
and I think one of the greatest things about this set is the box, which is absolutely original. | 0:37:32 | 0:37:38 | |
Now it needs a bit of TLC I'm afraid - it's obviously had a hard life - but there's nothing | 0:37:38 | 0:37:44 | |
that a really good furniture restorer couldn't do to put that right. | 0:37:44 | 0:37:49 | |
-Have you thought about what they might be worth? -Well... | 0:37:49 | 0:37:53 | |
with the way you're talking about them, you seem quite pleased about them, | 0:37:53 | 0:37:56 | |
I'm thinking it might be a bit more than I thought. | 0:37:56 | 0:37:59 | |
probably, possibly £1,000. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:01 | |
-How much? -£1,000 possibly? | 0:38:01 | 0:38:03 | |
Well, I think we need to do a bit of multiplication. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:06 | |
If these came on the market, in this state, they would make somewhere between £10,000 to £15,000. | 0:38:06 | 0:38:12 | |
They are an absolutely fantastically pair of pistols | 0:38:12 | 0:38:16 | |
by the greatest British maker, and they're just wonderful. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:18 | |
Well, this jewel-like iridescence to me is as good as a signature. | 0:38:18 | 0:38:23 | |
As we look at a fabulous example of a Royal Lancastrian vase by Pilkingtons. | 0:38:23 | 0:38:28 | |
How do you get to be such a wonderful, fortunate owner? | 0:38:28 | 0:38:32 | |
-Well, it's not actually mine. -Ah. | 0:38:32 | 0:38:34 | |
Sadly. It belongs to my Godmother, | 0:38:34 | 0:38:37 | |
who inherited it from her mother, who worked | 0:38:37 | 0:38:41 | |
at the Royal Lancastrian pottery together with her husband. | 0:38:41 | 0:38:46 | |
And in 1925, or thereabouts, | 0:38:46 | 0:38:50 | |
the vase was given to her because, sadly, he died | 0:38:50 | 0:38:56 | |
just before the end of the war, literally days. | 0:38:56 | 0:38:59 | |
So this is a portrait of him? | 0:38:59 | 0:39:01 | |
-This is my Godmother's father. -Oh! | 0:39:01 | 0:39:05 | |
What a wonderful piece and of course done at the factory itself. | 0:39:05 | 0:39:08 | |
Done at the factory, apparently during lunch break | 0:39:08 | 0:39:13 | |
and it was sketched, just from, you know, a scrap of paper and then somebody... | 0:39:13 | 0:39:18 | |
one of the tilers, or one of the painters decided | 0:39:18 | 0:39:21 | |
to turn it into a tile and fire it, and presented it to them. | 0:39:21 | 0:39:25 | |
How wonderful to have these two pieces that are so joined together, | 0:39:25 | 0:39:30 | |
and the face of a worker who was actually at the factory. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:33 | |
-Absolutely. -And of course the factory was originally created for the manufacture of tiles. -Yes. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:39 | |
It was pure chance. They were actually excavating and digging around the ground in Manchester | 0:39:39 | 0:39:45 | |
looking for coal seams when they stumbled upon a bed of clay, and from that arose the factory. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:50 | |
-Oh, right. -Very quickly the company developed. | 0:39:50 | 0:39:54 | |
Now in 1906 the firm launched their art wares, their lustre art wares, | 0:39:54 | 0:40:02 | |
to huge acclaim and there were very, very significant artists there at that time from Gordon Forsyth... | 0:40:02 | 0:40:09 | |
-Yes. -..Richard Joyce and of course the artist responsible for this. | 0:40:09 | 0:40:13 | |
If we look underneath, very clearly. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:15 | |
William Salter Mycock. | 0:40:15 | 0:40:18 | |
William Salter Mycock. | 0:40:18 | 0:40:21 | |
And it's a beautiful signature. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:23 | |
The signature is as artistically flourishing as the vase itself. | 0:40:23 | 0:40:27 | |
Yes, they're fascinating, aren't they? I don't know what it's supposed to look like but they're... | 0:40:27 | 0:40:32 | |
Well, it's just a very ornate and wonderful monogram. | 0:40:32 | 0:40:35 | |
Now in terms of lustre wares, this is just so typically Mycock's style. | 0:40:35 | 0:40:40 | |
He was known for flourishing birds and flowers | 0:40:40 | 0:40:46 | |
-and more scroll work. -Right. -Each artist was basically allowed | 0:40:46 | 0:40:49 | |
to develop their own style, there were no tight restrictions, but what they did do | 0:40:49 | 0:40:54 | |
was produce just quality. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:56 | |
Now if this were to come up for sale today, I think you'd cause quite a stir. | 0:40:56 | 0:41:02 | |
You have maybe the tile that goes with it as well, maybe it's two separate lots, | 0:41:02 | 0:41:06 | |
but the history is all interlinked, but I think for just the vase alone, | 0:41:06 | 0:41:10 | |
I don't think you'd see much change at an auction room out of maybe £800 or £1,000. | 0:41:10 | 0:41:17 | |
Oh, she'll be very happy to hear that. | 0:41:17 | 0:41:19 | |
-Well, I can only hope that maybe you are the favoured Goddaughter. -I'm the only one. | 0:41:19 | 0:41:25 | |
I'm always excited when a group of inanimate objects like this tells a story not only of your relations, | 0:41:25 | 0:41:33 | |
your grandfather in this case, but this takes us right back into | 0:41:33 | 0:41:36 | |
-the earliest years of motoring history. -That's correct. | 0:41:36 | 0:41:39 | |
-When was he born, your grandfather? -In the 1860s in Northampton. | 0:41:39 | 0:41:47 | |
His father was a labourer but he managed to get | 0:41:47 | 0:41:52 | |
an apprenticeship, a poor boys apprenticeship. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:55 | |
They were a manufacturer of gas engines and he stayed there | 0:41:55 | 0:41:59 | |
until he joined Daimler cars in 1896. | 0:41:59 | 0:42:05 | |
1896, that's a very important date. | 0:42:05 | 0:42:07 | |
What you've got here is his original indenture. | 0:42:07 | 0:42:10 | |
-That's correct. -And it says, "here witnesses Alfred Bush at the age of 14, or thereabouts, | 0:42:10 | 0:42:17 | |
"a poor boy of the Parish" | 0:42:17 | 0:42:20 | |
blah, blah, blah and he's "apprenticed to Henry"... | 0:42:20 | 0:42:23 | |
looks like Hobbs or Mobbs, "in the town of Northampton, iron foundry". | 0:42:23 | 0:42:28 | |
As far as I know, he went to the machine shops and fitting shops | 0:42:28 | 0:42:31 | |
and learned the full craft, as they did in those days. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:34 | |
Fantastic. | 0:42:34 | 0:42:35 | |
In 1896 he then moved to the newly formed motoring company, the first motoring company in the UK. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:41 | |
Yes, correct, yes. | 0:42:41 | 0:42:43 | |
-It was called Daimler but previously called "The Horseless Carriage"? -The Horseless Carriage Company | 0:42:43 | 0:42:47 | |
which evolved into Daimlers. | 0:42:47 | 0:42:49 | |
He then got his motoring licence and you've still managed to retain that. | 0:42:49 | 0:42:54 | |
-Yes. -And here's "the motor car act of 1903" | 0:42:54 | 0:42:57 | |
before 1905 you didn't need a licence, did you? | 0:42:57 | 0:43:00 | |
No, you just got into a car and that was it. | 0:43:00 | 0:43:02 | |
-And here is it dated 1st January, 1905, 1906 and 1907 so he had it for three years. -That's it. | 0:43:02 | 0:43:09 | |
Why it's in a tatty condition is you had to take it with you the whole time. | 0:43:09 | 0:43:13 | |
You couldn't get into a motor car, or it was illegal, without your licence. | 0:43:13 | 0:43:17 | |
-And then moving on a few more years, he's now got his licence, 1905, so he can drive the Daimler. -Yes. | 0:43:17 | 0:43:23 | |
And in that same year, the, I think it was the Prince of Wales bought his first car | 0:43:23 | 0:43:28 | |
in 1905 and it was a Daimler. | 0:43:28 | 0:43:32 | |
Yeah, and, well, actually my grandfather | 0:43:32 | 0:43:35 | |
had something to do with that. He did remember, recalled to my mother | 0:43:35 | 0:43:41 | |
that the Prince had a ride in the car, and when he got out of it, he said, | 0:43:41 | 0:43:46 | |
"The days of the horse are limited." | 0:43:46 | 0:43:48 | |
Now how he could imagine that | 0:43:48 | 0:43:51 | |
from one of those things, I do not know, but he was obviously a very far-sighted man. | 0:43:51 | 0:43:56 | |
It's a wonderful story of your granddad's motoring life | 0:43:56 | 0:43:59 | |
because he was obviously a marvellous driver because we have two trophies he won here. | 0:43:59 | 0:44:04 | |
-Yes. -This one is for the... I think the Box Hill. | 0:44:04 | 0:44:08 | |
-Bexhill. -Bexhill, I beg your pardon. -Bexhill Trophy of, um, yes, 1905 | 0:44:08 | 0:44:14 | |
and it was presented by Earl de la Warr. | 0:44:14 | 0:44:17 | |
And he also went to Brighton | 0:44:17 | 0:44:20 | |
and when they got down to Brighton they had trials along the front | 0:44:20 | 0:44:24 | |
and that was one of the races there. | 0:44:24 | 0:44:28 | |
Lots of history again. | 0:44:28 | 0:44:30 | |
lots of things to get early motoring enthusiasts over-excited. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:35 | |
Um, what you must do is write down the story and put it with it. | 0:44:35 | 0:44:37 | |
The whole archive should never be split up, it should be kept together. | 0:44:37 | 0:44:42 | |
If something like this ever did go to sale, | 0:44:42 | 0:44:45 | |
I think it could easily make between £12,000 and £15,000. | 0:44:45 | 0:44:49 | |
Good Lord! I wouldn't have thought that much, because I wouldn't have thought. | 0:44:49 | 0:44:54 | |
Well, no, I would have thought a bit more than the scrap value but... | 0:44:54 | 0:44:58 | |
A lot more than scrap value, you're talking... | 0:44:58 | 0:45:01 | |
the history of the motor car here. | 0:45:01 | 0:45:04 | |
Now I'm sure my two sons would not mind me saying | 0:45:04 | 0:45:08 | |
that when they were small and came to Blackpool, they went to the Pleasure Beach | 0:45:08 | 0:45:12 | |
and they were convinced that was the place you went to when you died. | 0:45:12 | 0:45:16 | |
I'm mentioning this more as a way of an introduction, | 0:45:16 | 0:45:18 | |
because you are a director of that wonderful institution which I'm glad to say is alive and well, yes? | 0:45:18 | 0:45:24 | |
-Absolutely, Eric. I the finest form, thank you. -Good. | 0:45:24 | 0:45:27 | |
Now you have brought along a few items today from your archive. | 0:45:27 | 0:45:32 | |
The archive goes back 113 years since the Pleasure Beach first started at South Shore in Blackpool. | 0:45:32 | 0:45:38 | |
But these are from our Ice Show of 1938, Dashing Blades. It was the second show in the ice drome. | 0:45:38 | 0:45:46 | |
The first was called Marina, but during that run | 0:45:46 | 0:45:49 | |
our managing director then, saw the show Checkmate in the West End, Sadlers Wells. | 0:45:49 | 0:45:56 | |
He met the designer of the set and the costumes and was so inspired | 0:45:56 | 0:45:59 | |
by his work that he asked him to come to the Pleasure Beach | 0:45:59 | 0:46:02 | |
and do our costumes, our sets, and indeed our programme for 1938 | 0:46:02 | 0:46:07 | |
and these are examples of that design work. | 0:46:07 | 0:46:10 | |
And that designer's name was? | 0:46:10 | 0:46:12 | |
Edward McKnight Kelfman... Kauffer. | 0:46:12 | 0:46:15 | |
Exactly, Edward McKnight Kauffer. | 0:46:15 | 0:46:18 | |
It's interesting because he's a big name. | 0:46:18 | 0:46:21 | |
He is a big name in poster design, certainly in that period, | 0:46:21 | 0:46:24 | |
-because he was designing for Shell. -Yeah. -But anyway, | 0:46:24 | 0:46:28 | |
let's have a look at his work because we'll start off | 0:46:28 | 0:46:31 | |
with this design, because we've actually got here the end result. | 0:46:31 | 0:46:35 | |
And these girls, you know, the chorus line if you will. | 0:46:35 | 0:46:38 | |
I'm full of admiration for these girls, because | 0:46:38 | 0:46:41 | |
-not only could they dance, but they could dance on ice as well. -Yes. | 0:46:41 | 0:46:45 | |
Um, so that's, that's one that I particularly like, but I do... | 0:46:45 | 0:46:51 | |
I do also like this. The fascinating thing, | 0:46:51 | 0:46:54 | |
there's all sort of influences there and I mean Picasso is one, | 0:46:54 | 0:46:58 | |
and on top of that, you know, there's sort of elements of sort of Russian constructivism. | 0:46:58 | 0:47:04 | |
But without making this too much of an art lesson, the overall effect is quite, quite dramatic. | 0:47:04 | 0:47:09 | |
But he's happy in that idiom, | 0:47:09 | 0:47:11 | |
but he's also doing this sort of thing as well. | 0:47:11 | 0:47:15 | |
So he can turn his hands to sort of classical costume. | 0:47:15 | 0:47:19 | |
-So how many...? How many in the archive? That's what I'd like to know. -We have 18 of these, | 0:47:19 | 0:47:24 | |
-but the archive of course is enormous. -Well, I mean these things, | 0:47:24 | 0:47:27 | |
they just do not turn up, you know, on the art scene. | 0:47:27 | 0:47:31 | |
They don't turn up at auction to the best of my knowledge anyway, | 0:47:31 | 0:47:35 | |
-so it's a bit of a stab in the dark... -Yes. | 0:47:35 | 0:47:38 | |
..when it comes to putting a value on what you've got there but I wouldn't hesitate to say between | 0:47:38 | 0:47:45 | |
-£6,000 maybe £7,000. -Mm. -And, um, | 0:47:45 | 0:47:51 | |
you know, to be honest with you, the proof of the pudding | 0:47:51 | 0:47:54 | |
would only be in the selling, but that is a situation | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
-that's never going to occur. -I don't think so. | 0:47:57 | 0:48:01 | |
-Thank you. -Thank you, Eric, very much indeed. | 0:48:01 | 0:48:04 | |
-So, really a very unusual subject - the Crucifixion on the back of a watch. -Indeed, yes. | 0:48:04 | 0:48:10 | |
-Are you a very religious man, or not? -Not particularly, no. -So what is it | 0:48:10 | 0:48:14 | |
that appeals to you about this watch? | 0:48:14 | 0:48:16 | |
It's been in the family for a number of years. | 0:48:16 | 0:48:19 | |
It belongs to my son. | 0:48:19 | 0:48:21 | |
His grandfather left it to him, who... | 0:48:21 | 0:48:23 | |
it was given to him by his father, | 0:48:23 | 0:48:25 | |
-so it's been in the family for quite a few generations. -Right. | 0:48:25 | 0:48:30 | |
Well, as I say, it's a very, very unusual scene on a watch | 0:48:30 | 0:48:35 | |
and just looking at it, I see we've got | 0:48:35 | 0:48:37 | |
a very intriguing inscription all around the band here, | 0:48:37 | 0:48:44 | |
in Latin, and I notice you've got a little translation there. | 0:48:44 | 0:48:47 | |
-Yes. -What exactly does it say? | 0:48:47 | 0:48:50 | |
"Stay awake because you do not know | 0:48:50 | 0:48:54 | |
"the day or the hour". | 0:48:54 | 0:48:57 | |
-Well, very intriguing, eh? -Mmm. | 0:48:57 | 0:48:59 | |
And this is even more intriguing. | 0:48:59 | 0:49:01 | |
Open the back and of course it's a silver watch, we've got the cuvette signed by a maker called Ratel - | 0:49:01 | 0:49:07 | |
R-A-T-E-L - with an address | 0:49:07 | 0:49:11 | |
in Paris and underneath it says "horloger" to the Pope. | 0:49:11 | 0:49:16 | |
Well, I don't know this man and I have never ever | 0:49:16 | 0:49:20 | |
-seen a watch before signed watchmaker to the Pope. -Right. | 0:49:20 | 0:49:25 | |
The watch itself is... | 0:49:25 | 0:49:26 | |
Well, there it is... | 0:49:26 | 0:49:28 | |
It is a keyless winding Swiss movement, | 0:49:28 | 0:49:34 | |
-fairly late, the latter part of the 19th century. -Right. | 0:49:34 | 0:49:38 | |
As I say, very intriguing inscription, | 0:49:40 | 0:49:42 | |
a very intriguing back and... wow, look at that dial! | 0:49:42 | 0:49:46 | |
I've never seen anything like that before on a watch. | 0:49:48 | 0:49:51 | |
I believe all the numerals are the Stations of the Cross. | 0:49:51 | 0:49:55 | |
-Right. -The hand is the spear, | 0:49:55 | 0:49:58 | |
I think there's a sponge and nails on the other hand. | 0:49:58 | 0:50:01 | |
There is. There's a hammer, the nails, | 0:50:01 | 0:50:03 | |
where Christ was nailed to the Cross. | 0:50:03 | 0:50:07 | |
It is absolutely incredible. | 0:50:07 | 0:50:11 | |
The enamel is mint, it's perfect. | 0:50:11 | 0:50:13 | |
I see we've got two different things. We've got | 0:50:13 | 0:50:16 | |
sort of things in red around there and then there's an arrow | 0:50:16 | 0:50:20 | |
in that six o'clock position that drops us down to the outer ring, | 0:50:20 | 0:50:24 | |
-which you say are the Stations of the Cross. -Yes. -It's all enamelled | 0:50:24 | 0:50:27 | |
obviously in French, and then we've got the maker's name Ratel | 0:50:27 | 0:50:33 | |
within that basically Crown of Thorns in the centre. | 0:50:33 | 0:50:38 | |
Just suffice to say | 0:50:38 | 0:50:40 | |
it's very, very scarce and a very difficult one to price up. | 0:50:40 | 0:50:45 | |
I'm going to have a little guess. | 0:50:45 | 0:50:48 | |
It's so unusual. Those inscriptions on the dial | 0:50:48 | 0:50:52 | |
-and the hands particularly are just superb quality. -Yes. | 0:50:52 | 0:50:56 | |
So I'm going to suggest something between £3,000 and £4,000. | 0:50:56 | 0:51:01 | |
-Oh, very nice. -Are you happy with that? -I am indeed very happy. | 0:51:01 | 0:51:06 | |
It's a nice thing to be handed down. I think it's great | 0:51:06 | 0:51:09 | |
-and I'm sure you'll continue to do so. -Oh, yes. | 0:51:09 | 0:51:12 | |
Well, we've had a lot of things on the Antiques Roadshow and I think we even once had John Lennon's toilet, | 0:51:13 | 0:51:19 | |
but what made you think of bringing this toilet seat in today? | 0:51:19 | 0:51:26 | |
Because it came from | 0:51:26 | 0:51:28 | |
the old Conservative Club on Victoria Street, | 0:51:28 | 0:51:32 | |
and it's part of Blackpool's history, | 0:51:32 | 0:51:36 | |
and that was in the Conservative Club | 0:51:36 | 0:51:38 | |
when the Conservative Party Conferences were here. | 0:51:38 | 0:51:41 | |
When the conference ended it was like a herd of wildebeests getting to the club first, all the MPs running. | 0:51:41 | 0:51:47 | |
-To get on this? -To get on that. The Prime Minister had the edge on them. | 0:51:47 | 0:51:53 | |
-Was he a faster runner? -He would have to have been. | 0:51:53 | 0:51:56 | |
But the thing is, the nice thing is, it's even got its date here - 1899. | 0:51:56 | 0:52:01 | |
Now this was a nice early thing, that the Blackpool Conservative Club | 0:52:01 | 0:52:05 | |
were absolutely right at the forefront... | 0:52:05 | 0:52:08 | |
-Oh, yes. -..because flush toilets were quite new, so this was quite... | 0:52:08 | 0:52:12 | |
That's probably why they ran as well, because to see it, | 0:52:12 | 0:52:15 | |
you know, it was a very nice thing. | 0:52:15 | 0:52:17 | |
-Oh, yes. -And the whole thing about this is the lovely piece of, | 0:52:17 | 0:52:21 | |
-as you say, social history. -Yes. | 0:52:21 | 0:52:23 | |
And you really do wonder, not to put too fine a point on it, who sat here? | 0:52:23 | 0:52:28 | |
I wonder. I think they should have had a visitor's book | 0:52:28 | 0:52:32 | |
-and signed it. -Now, you know, do we think Winston sat on this with his cigar? | 0:52:32 | 0:52:37 | |
-I think so. -I think so, too. | 0:52:37 | 0:52:39 | |
Debating whether to put income tax up perhaps. | 0:52:39 | 0:52:42 | |
Well, it's fantastic and I love it. | 0:52:44 | 0:52:46 | |
-So when this was knocked down they took...? -They took it to another club | 0:52:46 | 0:52:51 | |
and it was pushed in the cellar and they didn't sort of value its worth | 0:52:51 | 0:52:56 | |
and one day the Chairman knocked his ankle on it | 0:52:56 | 0:52:58 | |
and he said, "Get rid of that so-and-so thing!" I said, "Can I have it?" | 0:52:58 | 0:53:02 | |
And he said, "Well, yeah, if you want it." | 0:53:02 | 0:53:04 | |
THEY CHUCKLE | 0:53:04 | 0:53:06 | |
And I didn't even have a bag, I walked through the streets carrying it home. | 0:53:06 | 0:53:10 | |
-So you're quite attached to this seat? -Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yes, I am. | 0:53:10 | 0:53:16 | |
What's it worth? Do you have any idea what it's worth? | 0:53:16 | 0:53:18 | |
Monetary value I would think, nothing. | 0:53:18 | 0:53:22 | |
But novelty, entertainment, certainly historical | 0:53:22 | 0:53:27 | |
I think it's, I think it's fabulous. | 0:53:27 | 0:53:30 | |
Isn't it marvellous? I mean, here we are, this wonderful setting | 0:53:30 | 0:53:34 | |
of the Blackpool Tower, and here we've got the Blackpool Tower. | 0:53:34 | 0:53:39 | |
So what's your actual connection with this amazing object? | 0:53:40 | 0:53:43 | |
I'm lucky enough to be the General Manager of the tower. | 0:53:43 | 0:53:46 | |
I've been here for six years now | 0:53:46 | 0:53:48 | |
and we're custodians of the model and of the building, | 0:53:48 | 0:53:51 | |
-hopefully for many years to come. -Wonderful. | 0:53:51 | 0:53:55 | |
This inscription down here, | 0:53:55 | 0:53:57 | |
"This was presented to John Bickerstaffe" now who was he? | 0:53:57 | 0:54:01 | |
John Bickerstaffe was the Mayor of Blackpool in the 1800s | 0:54:01 | 0:54:05 | |
and he went to Paris and saw the Eiffel Tower and said, "We want one of those for Blackpool." | 0:54:05 | 0:54:11 | |
In actual fact they built a tower that is 518 feet 9 inches | 0:54:11 | 0:54:15 | |
to the top of the tower, but at the bottom, | 0:54:15 | 0:54:18 | |
being very clever Victorians, decided to build an entertainment complex. | 0:54:18 | 0:54:21 | |
-To make a bit of money. -To make a bit of money. -And so 1898 is actually when the tower was opened? | 0:54:21 | 0:54:26 | |
It was... We were opened in 1894 | 0:54:26 | 0:54:29 | |
-but this was actually presented to Mr Bickerstaffe in 1898. -Right. | 0:54:29 | 0:54:32 | |
That's interesting, because the hallmarks there | 0:54:32 | 0:54:35 | |
are for Sheffield and it's the firm | 0:54:35 | 0:54:38 | |
of John Round, a very famous Sheffield firm, | 0:54:38 | 0:54:41 | |
and they're actually 1897, | 0:54:41 | 0:54:43 | |
so we're that year earlier with the inscription. | 0:54:43 | 0:54:47 | |
What I think's lovely though, when we look at the fantastic detail | 0:54:47 | 0:54:51 | |
of this, right down to what was actually happening | 0:54:51 | 0:54:55 | |
in each section. "Billiards, cafe, restaurant" | 0:54:55 | 0:54:58 | |
then we've got "the circus, pavilion concerts, dancing, | 0:54:58 | 0:55:03 | |
and "variety shows". Now there's what appears to be | 0:55:04 | 0:55:08 | |
tarnish over here. What's actually happened, at some stage, perhaps 20, 30 years ago, | 0:55:08 | 0:55:13 | |
this was all lacquered and I can perfectly understand, I mean this is a cleaning nightmare, | 0:55:13 | 0:55:20 | |
-this is the cleaning job from hell. -I realise that. -Right. | 0:55:20 | 0:55:25 | |
And clearly they decided it was a very good idea | 0:55:25 | 0:55:28 | |
to have the whole thing, basically a nail varnish type lacquer. | 0:55:28 | 0:55:31 | |
But after 10, 15 years it begins to deteriorate | 0:55:31 | 0:55:36 | |
and that's what's happened there. Getting to the stage where it really needs | 0:55:36 | 0:55:40 | |
looking at again. The detail coming up here though | 0:55:40 | 0:55:43 | |
is absolutely fantastic, all the mouldings and so on. | 0:55:43 | 0:55:47 | |
And I love the fact that we've actually got | 0:55:47 | 0:55:50 | |
lifts going up and down. It looks as though those must have worked at some stage. | 0:55:50 | 0:55:55 | |
I believe they did. | 0:55:55 | 0:55:57 | |
-We wouldn't like to try them now. -No. -Wouldn't do it any good. | 0:55:57 | 0:55:59 | |
And then up to this very famous top. | 0:55:59 | 0:56:03 | |
It's interesting as well because with this we can actually see how it's constructed | 0:56:03 | 0:56:09 | |
and we've got all these nuts and bolts underneath | 0:56:09 | 0:56:12 | |
and all the pins and so on. It's a bit of a Meccano set when you... | 0:56:12 | 0:56:18 | |
That was my thoughts entirely, yes. | 0:56:18 | 0:56:20 | |
So, have you ever had it valued? | 0:56:20 | 0:56:23 | |
It has been appraised by Arthur Negus, believe it or not, | 0:56:23 | 0:56:26 | |
on Antiques Roadshow many years ago but he didn't put a valuation on it. | 0:56:26 | 0:56:29 | |
-He refused. -Oh, he chickened out. -I wonder whether you're a little braver? | 0:56:29 | 0:56:33 | |
I'm going to be brave. | 0:56:33 | 0:56:36 | |
Now is it known at all what it cost originally? | 0:56:36 | 0:56:39 | |
-It actually cost £120. -Do we know what it weighs? | 0:56:39 | 0:56:43 | |
700 ounces of silver. | 0:56:43 | 0:56:45 | |
700 ounces today, just the raw material's going to cost £7,000... | 0:56:45 | 0:56:51 | |
that's before you've started doing any work on it at all. | 0:56:51 | 0:56:54 | |
I would be very surprised, if you asked for it to be made again, | 0:56:56 | 0:57:01 | |
if you were asked anything less than £100,000 to have it made. | 0:57:01 | 0:57:07 | |
That's beautiful. | 0:57:07 | 0:57:09 | |
I mean it is such an amazing thing and one thing you can be certain of, you know, | 0:57:09 | 0:57:13 | |
-it's unique. -Absolutely. | 0:57:13 | 0:57:15 | |
You know, coming along to the Roadshow, for some people it can be a life-changing event. | 0:57:17 | 0:57:22 | |
Dorothy, it's fair to say it was a life-changing event for you, | 0:57:22 | 0:57:25 | |
because you were on the Roadshow five years ago in Manchester. | 0:57:25 | 0:57:28 | |
-It was, at Longsight Baths. -Yes. | 0:57:28 | 0:57:30 | |
-Where I met Ian Pickford. -Ian Pickford, our expert. | 0:57:30 | 0:57:33 | |
-Yes. -Who valued one of your items. | 0:57:33 | 0:57:36 | |
-He told you it was worth about £2,000 or something. -Correct, yes. | 0:57:36 | 0:57:39 | |
And what did you do with it? | 0:57:39 | 0:57:41 | |
Well, Ian asked what I was going to do with the item and I said "I'm going to sell it | 0:57:41 | 0:57:46 | |
"and I'm going to donate the money to the St James' University Hospital in Leeds, known as Jimmy's, | 0:57:46 | 0:57:52 | |
"to the liver transplant unit where I had a transplant." | 0:57:52 | 0:57:55 | |
-You had a transplant there yourself, didn't you? -Yes. -And ever since then... | 0:57:55 | 0:57:59 | |
That just came into your head at that moment and since then you've been fund raising for the hospital. | 0:57:59 | 0:58:04 | |
I have. With good friends behind me, yes. | 0:58:04 | 0:58:07 | |
Very good to see, lovely to see you on the programme. | 0:58:07 | 0:58:10 | |
-Lovely to see you too. -And very nice of you to come back. -Thanks. | 0:58:10 | 0:58:13 | |
Thank you, not just to Dorothy, but to all the people who've come from Blackpool. | 0:58:13 | 0:58:17 | |
We've had a wonderful day, I hope you've enjoyed it. Until next time, bye-bye. | 0:58:17 | 0:58:20 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd. | 0:58:38 | 0:58:41 | |
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk | 0:58:41 | 0:58:44 |