0:00:02 > 0:00:06Formidable! We've set off on quite a journey this week
0:00:06 > 0:00:10and travelled hundreds of miles to bring you a flavour of France.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15So it might surprise you to know we're here in County Durham
0:00:15 > 0:00:17at the magnificent Bowes Museum,
0:00:17 > 0:00:19this week's home of the Antiques Roadshow.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Bowes is no ordinary museum.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Its most perfectly appointed French windows
0:01:04 > 0:01:09overlook the undulating splendour of Cumbria and North Yorkshire.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14The man who gave his name to this treasure house was John Bowes,
0:01:14 > 0:01:16a wealthy Durham landowner,
0:01:16 > 0:01:19a coal magnate and a Francophile.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29In 1848, he moved to Paris where he bought a theatre
0:01:29 > 0:01:33and met the love of his life, an actress called Josephine Chevalier.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36It was she who decided to return to Teesdale
0:01:36 > 0:01:40and set about building a museum for their collections.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46John and Josephine amassed marvellous objets d'art,
0:01:46 > 0:01:48at a rate of 1,000 a year.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57They often went on shopping sprees across Europe
0:01:57 > 0:01:59and on their most ambitious trip,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02they travelled 1,500 miles in ten weeks,
0:02:02 > 0:02:06stopping at Cologne, Munich, Vienna and Dresden.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11There they spent hundreds of pounds at the Royal Porcelain Factory.
0:02:11 > 0:02:12They also ran up a sizeable bill
0:02:12 > 0:02:15at the London and Paris exhibitions of the 1860s.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20They recreated the artistic salons of France
0:02:20 > 0:02:23with their chic supper parties for up to 150 guests,
0:02:23 > 0:02:25including Charles Chaplin, no less,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29and Pre-Impressionist painters such as Corot and Boudin,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31and a name that's cropped up on the Roadshow -
0:02:31 > 0:02:35Emile Galle's early work was commissioned by Josephine.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38This is his exquisite cabaret set.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44MELODIC RINGING
0:02:46 > 0:02:50Their most expensive and iconic purchase was a musical automaton.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54It's a beautifully crafted silver swan,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57made in 1773 by John Joseph Merlin,
0:02:57 > 0:03:02bought for the Bowes Museum 100 years later for £200.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08Tragically, they never got to see the final result of their passion.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13Josephine died young, in 1874, and John died just ten years later.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16It was a sad end to a magnificent endeavour.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21The museum opened to much fanfare and adulation in 1892.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25We're lucky enough to see for ourselves
0:03:25 > 0:03:27what wonders lie behind those French shutters.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Over now to our specialists, who are poised to appreciate the treasures
0:03:31 > 0:03:33brought to them by the people of Teesdale.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38I want to know whether this Chinaman's been a resident
0:03:38 > 0:03:39in your home for many a generation.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Yes, it was in my grandmother's house for...
0:03:43 > 0:03:47as long as I can remember and then passed to my parents,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50and suddenly, when they died, I inherited it,
0:03:50 > 0:03:54and it's been with me ever since, which is about ten years now,
0:03:54 > 0:03:57so, he's been around ever since I was very small.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00So, has he developed a Durham accent? That's what I want to know.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02- He's from Yorkshire.- Oh, is he?
0:04:02 > 0:04:04- Yes, yes.- Aha!
0:04:04 > 0:04:07- Date wise, he's around about 1875. - Right.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11Um, the colours give him away immediately for, erm,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14- being decorated in majolica glazes.- Ah, right.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16Nice and bright and vibrant.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19The sad thing is, I don't want to disappoint you, but this Chinaman
0:04:19 > 0:04:25- has probably never been further east than maybe Whitby.- Aw!
0:04:25 > 0:04:28Because he's made in Stoke-on-Trent.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30- Oh, right.- And if we turn it upside down very briefly,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33I'm not going to linger because you can hardly make it out,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36but there's a mark there that says exactly who made him,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38- and that's Minton.- Oh.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42Minton, the great, great factory from the 19th century.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45And, of course, the Victorians loved anything novelty,
0:04:45 > 0:04:49and novelty teapots like this were coming out of Stoke-on-Trent,
0:04:49 > 0:04:53- you know, at quite a rapid rate.- Yes.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55So, I'm not suggesting you should use him,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58- I don't think... I think he's mainly decorative.- Right.
0:04:58 > 0:04:59Where do you keep him?
0:04:59 > 0:05:04He's just on a dresser with various other sort of ornaments
0:05:04 > 0:05:05that I got from my grandmother
0:05:05 > 0:05:08which probably all come from the same place,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11but I've always thought they came from romantic, far-off places,
0:05:11 > 0:05:13so I shall continue to live with that dream.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Well, you should! Well, he's on your sideboard,
0:05:16 > 0:05:18but is he on your house contents?
0:05:18 > 0:05:22Um, probably not, but...
0:05:22 > 0:05:24OK, well he's a relatively expensive Chinaman,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28in so far as, if I wanted to find him,
0:05:28 > 0:05:33- auction estimates for these usually vary between £600-800.- Oh, right.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36Now, I don't want to end on a downer, but that's the good news.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40The bad news is, if we were having this conversation about ten years ago,
0:05:40 > 0:05:41he was worth double that,
0:05:41 > 0:05:46- but the American market has slightly evaporated, so...- Yes.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51Bit sad, really, to think you're Chinese and you're up one minute
0:05:51 > 0:05:56- and you're down the next, but that's life, isn't it?- It is, never mind.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59I know it is clear what this is,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02this wonderful jockey-on-a-horse brooch.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05But, as a jeweller looking at it,
0:06:05 > 0:06:09it has so much detail packed into it, it is extraordinary.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11What's your story behind it?
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Well, I was given the lovely brooch by my parents
0:06:14 > 0:06:17and my mother and father had been willed it
0:06:17 > 0:06:23by an Army friend's widow, so we've had it since the middle '70s.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25And you love racing,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28- are you steeped in the world of racing?- Yes, I love racing,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31especially up here, Wetherby's probably my favourite.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34- You're surrounded by them, aren't you?- We're very lucky.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37So, do you wear it when you go onto the racecourse?
0:06:37 > 0:06:38- Very often.- You do?
0:06:38 > 0:06:41- Very often.- Does it get admired, do people notice it?
0:06:41 > 0:06:43- Yes.- Mm, I bet they do.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Cos I think these sort of brooches, these sporting brooches,
0:06:47 > 0:06:51- were very popular in around about 1910.- Right.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54- I think it may have been made as far back as then.- Gosh!
0:06:54 > 0:06:56Let me tell you about the brooch itself.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00First of all, the first point to make is that usually when we see these,
0:07:00 > 0:07:01they're damaged.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04They were used robustly
0:07:04 > 0:07:09and the enamel decoration on the jockeys was quite frequently chipped,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13so when you come across one where the colour is absolutely perfect,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16- as this one is, it's really rather rare.- Hmm.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19Let's look at the body of the horse himself.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22I mean, look at the gallop, look at the poise there,
0:07:22 > 0:07:23the sense of movement that we've got.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26The horse itself is set with diamonds,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29but it's what we call pave set with diamonds.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32Now, when they're pave set, they're set in touching formation
0:07:32 > 0:07:36- and, I'm sure you've noticed this... - Yes.- There's a tiny sapphire.
0:07:36 > 0:07:37Sapphire in the eye, yes.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40But it's the movement of the thing
0:07:40 > 0:07:42that's really well-modelled.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46- Yes.- And I think it's a very commercial piece of jewellery.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48If you were to sell it,
0:07:48 > 0:07:53- I think you would get something in the region of £2,000.- Right, gosh!
0:07:53 > 0:07:58Sporting jewellery, we see it, this one is a very potent example.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01- That's great.- Around here, with all the racecourses,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04- what a perfect thing to bring! - That's great, thank you very much.
0:08:04 > 0:08:05Thank you very much.
0:08:05 > 0:08:12I've seen many of this class of cabinet in the last 40 years
0:08:12 > 0:08:16and they are universally dreadful...
0:08:18 > 0:08:21..but this one is the best I've seen!
0:08:22 > 0:08:29It's Japanese and it was made about 1920.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31How long have you had it?
0:08:31 > 0:08:34- We've had it ten years. - Oh, only ten years?
0:08:34 > 0:08:41But it's been in the family since probably 1920.
0:08:41 > 0:08:42Right. Do you love it?
0:08:42 > 0:08:44- Well...- I love it!
0:08:44 > 0:08:47- You love it? - I think it's gorgeous.- Right.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51Well, what it is, it's basically a wood construction
0:08:51 > 0:08:56and the whole of the...superstructure is lacquer.
0:08:56 > 0:09:02This would have been made for Western consumption.
0:09:02 > 0:09:10In about 1870, in came teachers from art schools...in Europe
0:09:10 > 0:09:13and they started to teach the Japanese
0:09:13 > 0:09:17how to paint in the Western tradition.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19And the Western tradition was quite different.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24For a start, it had perspective, which they didn't know about at all.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29They painted with a brush which was absolutely flat,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32and here, you've got the result
0:09:32 > 0:09:37of the Japanese painting in Western tradition.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39And it's very naturalistic.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43I'd guess they're probably realistic scenes round,
0:09:43 > 0:09:45I don't know, Yokohama or somewhere
0:09:45 > 0:09:51and if you've got a proper Japanese who could read that sort of script,
0:09:51 > 0:09:55- they could probably identify where the places were.- I see, yeah.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58It's suffering.
0:09:58 > 0:10:05What you've got here is the varnish breaking up over time.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08- And they are all very, very yellow. - They are.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13If you were to take these to a picture restorer
0:10:13 > 0:10:16who dealt with oil paintings, this is exactly the same,
0:10:16 > 0:10:20he would have no trouble removing that varnish
0:10:20 > 0:10:24and then put on a slightly tinted modern varnish
0:10:24 > 0:10:26and it would transform it.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30As I say, it's the best of its type I've ever seen.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32And I think it would probably, at auction,
0:10:32 > 0:10:39make somewhere around £700-1,000, which is an awful lot
0:10:39 > 0:10:43considering that the next one down is worth 200.
0:10:43 > 0:10:44- HE LAUGHS - Right.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46So, well done, enjoy.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49- Right, thank you very much. - Thank you.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57Delightful little match case there with a very Flemish scene on it,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59but what's it all about? Where did you get it?
0:10:59 > 0:11:00Well, it was my father's.
0:11:00 > 0:11:05- Right.- And he was in the 47th Royal Dragoon Guards.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09- Right.- They went over to France on D-Day, landed on Gold Beach,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12- fought their way through France. - Wow!
0:11:12 > 0:11:16And by Christmas time, they were in the region of Arnhem.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19- Was this Market Garden?- This was...
0:11:19 > 0:11:23- Gosh!- Operation Market Garden was to liberate that area.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Anyway, they did manage to liberate some Dutch towns
0:11:27 > 0:11:29and whenever they went in with the tanks,
0:11:29 > 0:11:34everyone came out from their houses and they were waving and cheering
0:11:34 > 0:11:37and one old lady evidently came forward
0:11:37 > 0:11:40and pressed this item into my father's hand...
0:11:40 > 0:11:44- Gosh.- ..and said, "Thank you so much and happy Christmas."
0:11:44 > 0:11:47I have to say I'm almost overcome by the fact that...
0:11:47 > 0:11:50- I mean, that's wonderful, but what's the picture?- Well...
0:11:50 > 0:11:55- this is my father in the central square of Lille.- Right.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58- Erm...- So, that's actually your father there?
0:11:58 > 0:12:00- Yep.- That's wonderful...
0:12:00 > 0:12:02- In this Sherman tank. - Yeah, that's my father.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04He didn't fit the tank very well,
0:12:04 > 0:12:08he was 6' 8" tall, took up rather a lot of room.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11That's...that's tall for getting into a Sherman!
0:12:11 > 0:12:12Very, very tall, very tall,
0:12:12 > 0:12:14though he remained very good friends
0:12:14 > 0:12:17with the rest of the people from the tank after that.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19- Wonderful!- Yeah.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24- Looking at it, very coldly as a matchbox holder...- Yeah.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26- ..it's worth what, £50 maybe to a collector?- Yeah, yeah.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30But what you must do is write that history down.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Oh, right, yes. OK, I will, I'll write it down, fold it up,
0:12:33 > 0:12:36put it in a matchbox and keep it safe.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42So, when you bought these two plaques, did you turn them over?
0:12:42 > 0:12:46No. No, I didn't. I only bought them for the decorative purpose.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49You bought them because you liked them.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52Yes, and I bought them for me brother and his partner
0:12:52 > 0:12:55because they have Cavalier and King Charles spaniel dogs
0:12:55 > 0:12:57and it made a nice Christmas present.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00I am going to insist on your looking at this mark.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02What can you tell me from the mark?
0:13:02 > 0:13:05Well, I have looked at the mark since,
0:13:05 > 0:13:07- and I know they're Royal Worcester. - OK.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11And I know the dots mean a year, but after that I haven't a clue.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14- OK.- No idea.- You're right, this is the classic Royal Worcester mark.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17- Yes.- Here are the dots you're talking about,
0:13:17 > 0:13:19one, two, three.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23We add three to 1891 and the result is 1894.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26Good grief, I didn't think they would have been that old.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29- Now, let's have a look at the front, shall we?- Yes.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Tell me about dogs cos I don't know, this is...
0:13:32 > 0:13:34That is the King Charles spaniel.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37- That's a King Charles. - Its nose is rather squashed.- OK.
0:13:37 > 0:13:43- This is the Cavalier King Charles and it has a more pointed nose.- OK.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48- So, what we have, what we appear to have is two Worcester plaques.- Mm-hm.
0:13:48 > 0:13:54The marks tell us 1894 and the artist's signature - J Bradley. OK.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56How much did you pay?
0:13:56 > 0:14:01£25 each in a little antique shop in Wolsingham where I come from,
0:14:01 > 0:14:03- which is about half an hour over that way.- OK.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06These are quite heavy
0:14:06 > 0:14:10and if you rub your fingers along the back,
0:14:10 > 0:14:13- this porcelain feels very hard. - Right.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17- Hard-paste porcelain.- Right.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19Royal Worcester didn't make hard-paste porcelain
0:14:19 > 0:14:22- until well into the 20th century.- Oh!
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Are they forgeries?
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Well, let's take it one step at a time.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30Oh, I'm gutted.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33- This signature, J Bradley...- Mm-hmm.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37- That is not how people signed in the late 1890s.- Right.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43Even without that, when I saw these coming across the table,
0:14:43 > 0:14:48I thought, "That's funny, they look Chinese."
0:14:49 > 0:14:51And I think that's what you've got.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54This is getting more and more baffling by the minute!
0:14:54 > 0:14:57So, they are copies, in a sense?
0:14:57 > 0:14:59- Copies would be a nice word.- Right.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03- But you touched on a nasty word, which is forgeries.- Forgeries.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05When is something a fake, when is it a forgery?
0:15:05 > 0:15:07- Do you know the difference?- No.
0:15:07 > 0:15:08A fake is essentially something
0:15:08 > 0:15:12- that has been knocked-up from genuine parts.- Right.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16Genuine old things knocked together to make them look like something old
0:15:16 > 0:15:19- and comprising old bits.- Yes.
0:15:19 > 0:15:20When is it a forgery?
0:15:20 > 0:15:23A forgery is an object which has a mark put on it deliberately.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27- Deliberately to fool.- To make you think it's something it isn't.- Mm-hm.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32So, the warning sign should have been that they were too cheap.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34- Right.- That's always a warning sign.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37If you see something at the wrong price, then it may...
0:15:37 > 0:15:40I thought they were quite expensive about 12, 15 years ago.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42It was a lot of money to me then.
0:15:42 > 0:15:43Now, value.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47- You paid £25 each.- Yes, they were.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49I've been out to China, I've seen these,
0:15:49 > 0:15:51and things like this, being made in China.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53- A fiver! - SHE LAUGHS
0:15:53 > 0:15:56You beat me to it!
0:15:57 > 0:15:58Really?
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Well, there you go. Oh, dear me, you can have them back, Carol!
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Well, thank you very much, it's been very, very interesting.
0:16:07 > 0:16:08It's been my pleasure.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10Yeah... I bet it has!
0:16:10 > 0:16:15I bet it... Here's us thinking we were sitting on a fortune, Joshua,
0:16:15 > 0:16:16but thank you very much, thank you.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25You might have seen a picture of me a while ago in the Radio Times in vintage clothing,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27and I have to say, I've caught the bug.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29Look at this, beautiful '50s frock
0:16:29 > 0:16:32complete with little petticoat underneath,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35lent to me very kindly by Beverley and Zara here.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38And you are vintage clothing collectors, aficionados, aren't you?
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Look at you both! Talk me through what you're wearing, first of all.
0:16:42 > 0:16:43This is gorgeous.
0:16:43 > 0:16:44This is a '40s-inspired,
0:16:44 > 0:16:48wartime, kind of, just little cute dress.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50And you've got the hair and the lipstick going on,
0:16:50 > 0:16:52Bev, Mum, look at that.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57- The New Look from the 1950s, which is my favourite era.- Dior.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00Fabulous! Now you've got a big collection,
0:17:00 > 0:17:01this is some of it here.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03What got you into it?
0:17:03 > 0:17:07Just the era, everything about it, the music, the dancing,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10then the clothes come along with it, don't they?
0:17:10 > 0:17:12Fabulous, how much have you got in your collection?
0:17:12 > 0:17:15- Wardrobes full. - Quite a lot.- Really?
0:17:15 > 0:17:17Yeah, two roomfuls.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Is part of the attraction of the clothes...
0:17:19 > 0:17:23I suppose they're of a more glamorous past, aren't they?
0:17:23 > 0:17:27Oh, definitely, yes, everyone dressed for certain times of the day
0:17:27 > 0:17:31- and it's just the whole thing - the gloves, the hats...- Hats.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34- ..that we can put on.- Shoes. - And even the jewellery,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38- you're not supposed to wear your pearls before 12 o'clock. - Oh, really?
0:17:38 > 0:17:40It's little things that you find out
0:17:40 > 0:17:42that you wouldn't have done these days.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45- No, we're more casual these days, aren't we?- Definitely.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47You look fabulous, I feel fabulous in this dress.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51- Thank you so much for bringing these gorgeous clothes in.- Thank you.
0:18:12 > 0:18:17This is a lovely mahogany sideboard, what can you tell me about it?
0:18:17 > 0:18:19As a family, we think it was made for the house
0:18:19 > 0:18:24which is very, very old, and it was made for an alcove,
0:18:24 > 0:18:28but we would like to know how old you think it is, for starters,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31and who you thought made it.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35Right, I can answer the question of the date relatively easily,
0:18:35 > 0:18:37but nobody could be precise.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39It's typical of the Hepplewhite period,
0:18:39 > 0:18:45from about the 1770, 1780, 1790 period, so let's say circa 1780.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48- Nobody can tell you exactly what year it was made.- Right.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51But it's typical of the mahogany of the period,
0:18:51 > 0:18:53and the shape is typical, but very unusual,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57it's got a very north country feel, very deep,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59much deeper than it would expect to be
0:18:59 > 0:19:01in a smaller London house.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04It was made, clearly, for a big house. As far as the maker,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07I'm afraid nobody in the world knows who made it.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09- Right.- It's absolutely impossible.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12Probably, by the look of it, a local maker.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15We've got all the typical features, we've got the potty cupboard,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18- and I think you've got one at your end as well.- Yes.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22And probably as important, the cellaret for the wine bottles here.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25- Very important, yes.- With the divisions, absolutely typical.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29I want to really examine these chairs very carefully.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33- You've got just two of them?- We've got 12, all identical, all arms.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36- Twelve armchairs, open armchairs. - Yes.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38And they were made for the family.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41- Do you know who by?- No, that's what I want you to tell me,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44I want to know who made them and how old do you think they are.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Well, you've set me a real challenge.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50I can't tell you who made them and I don't think anyone, again, can.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53The problem with furniture, and one of the exciting things,
0:19:53 > 0:19:55is that English furniture was rarely signed.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59However, the design, this shield-shaped back,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02it's typical of George Hepplewhite...the designs.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05- Yes.- The sideboard less so, it's more confused.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08- Right.- It's not quite as clear-cut,
0:20:08 > 0:20:12but the shield back with these lovely acanthus-carved splats here,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16and these elegant, open arms is typical of Hepplewhite,
0:20:16 > 0:20:17as also the leg here.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21I love the wood, it's clearly a very good quality mahogany
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and super carving here, mahogany carves so beautifully
0:20:24 > 0:20:26and it shows in the back of these chairs.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29- I think they're 1790.- Yes.- You know they've been in the house.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32- Yes...- Let's check up on them.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36- Well, there have been a few repairs there.- Yes.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39- These blocks are new.- Are they? - You can see there's no attempt...
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Well, "new"... 10-20 years old.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45But this is the original way of making a chair of this type,
0:20:45 > 0:20:47with this open buttress here, typical.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51I think they're north country, locally made chairs,
0:20:51 > 0:20:56of real quality and I really can't remember if I've ever seen,
0:20:56 > 0:21:01in some 40 years of looking at furniture, a set of 12 chairs.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04Very unusual, I think. Are you going to value them for me?
0:21:04 > 0:21:08I was going to try and wriggle out of it because it's quite difficult.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10Well, let's do the sideboard.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13They've been fluctuating recently, but they're coming back.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16It's a bit deep, but say an auction price,
0:21:16 > 0:21:21to be fair, between about £3,000-5,000 at auction.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25- But the chairs... Have you had these valued recently?- No.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30A set of 12 open armchairs is incredibly rare.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32To add to that, Granny, Great-Granny,
0:21:32 > 0:21:35- is reputed to have given two away as a wedding present.- Ah!
0:21:35 > 0:21:37So, there were probably 14 originally.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39- That is... - We can't vouch for that.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41That's fascinating, the normal set would be 14.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44Most Georgian sets were 14. Oh, Granny!
0:21:44 > 0:21:45- Oh, Granny.- Oh, dear.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52Well, I'll have to value them. A pair of these could be worth up to £5,000,
0:21:53 > 0:21:56so that's six pairs, some £30,000.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59But we obviously have to add more for a set,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02so, I'm going to give an auction price
0:22:02 > 0:22:04of something like £40,000-60,000.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Insurance price?
0:22:07 > 0:22:09I'm going to say 70,000, minimum.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Right, thank you very much. We'll put the insurance up, I think.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Now, what's a man of your calibre doing with a gun like this?
0:22:18 > 0:22:22Well, it was my grandfather's gun and it came with a hotel
0:22:22 > 0:22:25that he bought, so that's how it ended up in the family.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27What about the history before that?
0:22:27 > 0:22:32The history... We know it was cast in 1865 in Birkenhead
0:22:32 > 0:22:35by a company which had strong links with the Confederate Army
0:22:35 > 0:22:37in the American Civil War.
0:22:37 > 0:22:38How do you know it was 1865?
0:22:38 > 0:22:41- It's printed.- Oh, down here.- Yes.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43So, what does that say, here?
0:22:43 > 0:22:46Fawcett, Preston and Co.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49186... What's that?
0:22:49 > 0:22:52- I think it's '65.- 1865, Liverpool.
0:22:52 > 0:22:57Well, Fawcett, Preston and Co made what are called Blakely guns.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59Alexander, Captain Alexander Blakely,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02designed this gun to take quite high pressures,
0:23:02 > 0:23:07and you can see this great lump of steel here, this great lump of metal,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10which was going to take a huge pressure
0:23:10 > 0:23:13and then the barrel tapers off as the pressure goes.
0:23:13 > 0:23:18Now, this gun was not that successful
0:23:18 > 0:23:20because it had a tremendous recoil
0:23:20 > 0:23:23and so it fell out of favour with the Confederates
0:23:23 > 0:23:25and wasn't used very much.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29But I wonder how this got into this country, why is it here?
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Why isn't this in America, as most were sent there?
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Because it was built, well, cast, in the last year of the war,
0:23:35 > 0:23:38so, we don't believe it ever made it across.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41- I see, the war ended before it was shipped.- Yes.- I understand.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43What's the diameter of the...
0:23:43 > 0:23:46- I think it's 2.5.- What's this?
0:23:46 > 0:23:49Oh, I think that might have been me as a child.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52The whole thing's stuffed with them!
0:23:52 > 0:23:54You stuffed a load of pine cones down here?
0:23:54 > 0:23:57- Well, yes.- How funny, and have you ever fired it?
0:23:57 > 0:24:00We tried to, or it was planned, at the Millennium,
0:24:00 > 0:24:04but by about four o'clock, everyone was a bit worse for wear
0:24:04 > 0:24:07- and it didn't happen, so... - You were all too drunk!- Yes.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11Oh, that's a brilliant story. It's a great, great gun,
0:24:11 > 0:24:16it really is super, and it's actually got an interesting history behind it.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18What about value? What do you think?
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Well, we have no idea of the value. None at all.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23Well, it's a really, really collectible item.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27If this was sold in Britain, I think we'd get in the region
0:24:27 > 0:24:29of £5,000-6,000 for it.
0:24:29 > 0:24:30In America...
0:24:30 > 0:24:36- I think it could be worth £8,000-10,000.- Really?
0:24:36 > 0:24:39But think what it would cost to ship this to America.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42It would probably cost a few thousand pounds to do that anyway.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45So it's a dilemma - do you sell it here or do you sell it in America?
0:24:45 > 0:24:49- I guess you'd never sell it.- No, I think we'll keep hold of it, yeah.
0:24:49 > 0:24:55- And do fire it one day, won't you? - We will, acorns and all.- Acorns!
0:24:57 > 0:25:00These two wonderfully vibrant colourful paintings
0:25:00 > 0:25:03depict one of my favourite places, Venice,
0:25:03 > 0:25:07but they're also by an artist who I met in the 1980s
0:25:07 > 0:25:11- and an artist I'm particularly fond of - John Bratby.- John Bratby, yeah.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15Now, tell me, when did you first come across John Bratby's work?
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Well, it's going back a lot of years now.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22Let's see - 1954,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25- that's when he just came out of the Royal College.- Yeah.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27He was having his diploma show
0:25:27 > 0:25:31- and, erm, that was when he was painting through the tube.- Yeah.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Drawing through, with the paint just from the tube
0:25:34 > 0:25:37without any brushes or palette knife, anything.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41So, with him being a really excellent draughtsman,
0:25:41 > 0:25:43he was able to do that fluently.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Well, these just sing with colour, don't they?
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Amazing colour, that's what he was well-known for really,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52- I suppose, the '50s and the Kitchen Sink Group.- Exactly, yeah.
0:25:52 > 0:25:58It was like the Pre-Raphaelites, wasn't it? The Brotherhood,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01- and he was the head man. - Exactly, and he...
0:26:01 > 0:26:04they would use domestic utensils in the kitchen and paint them.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08Where others might be painting nudes, models or traditional subjects,
0:26:08 > 0:26:10- they were painting lavatories and sinks.- Yeah.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14- Cornflake packs and beer bottles. - Exactly,
0:26:14 > 0:26:16- all sorts of different brands.- Yeah.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21I met him when I first started in this business, the art business,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24- probably about 1989, so three years before he dies.- Yes.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28- To be fair, he was pretty, pretty depressed.- Yeah, I think he would be.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32- I met him at his house in Hastings with Patti, his second wife.- Yeah.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35His whole house was covered with photographs, views of Venice,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39views of Patti, all sorts of pictures that he'd taken,
0:26:39 > 0:26:41so I imagine your two pictures of Venice,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44- may have been painted from photographs.- Yes.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47Probably, the hotel is the Hotel Europa, which is on the Piazzetta.
0:26:47 > 0:26:48That's right, yeah.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51And I think what's wonderful about his work is,
0:26:51 > 0:26:55that as much as he seemed very depressed at the time I met him,
0:26:55 > 0:26:58we're standing here looking at two wonderfully vibrant,
0:26:58 > 0:27:04colourful paintings which give us all a great deal of joy,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07and I think in terms of the way he should feel,
0:27:07 > 0:27:08if he were seeing us now,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11enjoying these pictures with their wonderful colour.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14The energy is still there, as he painted it.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19- Absolutely, great blusters of energy, absolutely fabulous.- Yeah.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21These are painted in the 1980s,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24so you decided you wanted to buy two pictures by Bratby.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28- I wanted to buy one, that's all I could afford at the time.- Right.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30It was just when I retired, '85.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33- OK.- And I thought, but I like the two
0:27:33 > 0:27:38and I made a proposition to the gallery -
0:27:38 > 0:27:44if I bought the two, did he think they'd accept £2,000?
0:27:44 > 0:27:46So you did a deal.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49- I got two for the price of one. - Fantastic, a good deal.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53Just after he died there was a resurgence of interest in his work,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57so, you might want to hold onto my hand, I don't know, or my arm,
0:27:57 > 0:28:03because these are worth about £8,000-12,000 each in the present market.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05Are they? Really?
0:28:05 > 0:28:07It's made my day to see them,
0:28:07 > 0:28:12they are two very good and enjoyable paintings.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15Here we are at Bowes Museum, in the middle of the credit crunch,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18when lots of people are losing their jobs,
0:28:18 > 0:28:23and this plate is about a kind of credit crunch from almost 200 years ago.
0:28:23 > 0:28:28We're looking at a thing that was all about the terrible worries people had about steam power
0:28:28 > 0:28:31and steam engines and people losing their jobs,
0:28:31 > 0:28:33so here we have two grave diggers
0:28:33 > 0:28:35who are idling their time playing cards,
0:28:35 > 0:28:41whilst behind them, a steam-powered grave digging machine digs the graves and does their job for them.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44And these were real concerns of people of the Regency period,
0:28:44 > 0:28:49that these terrible steam engines were coming in and replacing people's jobs,
0:28:49 > 0:28:54in the same way as the photocopier got rid of the typing pool, call centres got rid of going to the bank.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57So this is a bit of industrial history on a plate.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01- How did you come to buy it?- Well, I was collecting children's plates,
0:29:01 > 0:29:05and it seemed to fit vaguely in that area, and then we got it home and looked at it,
0:29:05 > 0:29:10and we decided that grave digging was a fairly maudlin subject for a children's nursery,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14so it's had a separate place on the cabinet ever since.
0:29:14 > 0:29:19- A place apart.- Yes.- Kept at a distance from the children. - The children's plates, yeah.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21It IS what you would call a children's plate.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23It's a piece of propaganda, really.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26People are saying there's a whole different series of these,
0:29:26 > 0:29:28all on the symptoms of steam power,
0:29:28 > 0:29:33but it is really people's genuine concerns about losing their jobs,
0:29:33 > 0:29:38and it's as relevant and it's as real today as it was when this was made,
0:29:38 > 0:29:41almost 200 years ago, in about 1800, 1810.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44And as a little piece of industrial history,
0:29:44 > 0:29:49if it was an ordinary plate it would be worth £20 or £30, but a bit of industrial history like this,
0:29:49 > 0:29:53- with this very relevant, rather quirky, as you say, slightly maudlin subject...- Yes.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57- ..it's worth about £150.- Ah! That's good.- A pleasant surprise? - Good return on £3.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01Maybe put it in with the other ones, it won't do it any harm.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04- Thank you very much.- It's a pleasure, thank you.- Thank you.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06I love the pet food aisle in the supermarket
0:30:06 > 0:30:11because you never know which way the person's going to go. Are they a cat person or dog person?
0:30:11 > 0:30:15And it's always fun trying to decide which way they're going to go.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18- Are you a cat person or a dog person? - I'm probably neither.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23I'm not a cat person, but my grandmother was, and this is where I got this from.
0:30:23 > 0:30:24- Did she have a lot of cats?- Yes.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28Well, it's a rather intriguing little bronze, it's very stylish.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30I really like it, I was taken with it immediately
0:30:30 > 0:30:35and it is, in fact, a bronze I have seen before, so I immediately knew who it was by.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38But we can get the answer to that quite simply by looking at the signature.
0:30:38 > 0:30:43We can see this name here, Hamo Thorneycroft. It's dated 1884.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Do you know anything about Thorneycroft at all?
0:30:46 > 0:30:49- Absolutely nothing. - Well, what you've got, in fact, is a little gem,
0:30:49 > 0:30:55because William Thorneycroft, I think, was one of the most eminent sculptors of the 19th century.
0:30:55 > 0:31:01He was born in 1850 and he's famous for some fabulous work.
0:31:01 > 0:31:06- Do you know the statue of Oliver Cromwell outside the Houses of Parliament?- Yes, yes.
0:31:06 > 0:31:07- That's one of his.- Gosh.
0:31:07 > 0:31:12So you can see the stature of the man. He was a very, very skilled sculptor.
0:31:12 > 0:31:17What intrigues me about this little bronze is that there's also an inscription on the bottom.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19- Have you ever noticed this? - No, I haven't.
0:31:19 > 0:31:25Can you see? In pen, there is written "Hamo Thorneycroft 1909".
0:31:25 > 0:31:32- Right.- Now that's a date obviously different to the date on the base. What intrigues me about that is,
0:31:32 > 0:31:39- is that perhaps a personal inscription? Did your - sorry, grandmother?- My grandmother, yes.
0:31:39 > 0:31:40- Was she...- It is possible.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45I never knew my grandmother. She died before I was born, but that would tie in with the dates, yes.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48Right, OK. I mean, did she move in artistic circles?
0:31:48 > 0:31:50- Yes, she was a concert pianist... - Ah!
0:31:50 > 0:31:54..and she had a lot of friends who were artists and things, so it is possible that...
0:31:54 > 0:31:57and also she loved cats. There is a connection, yes.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02Right, OK, so there is a... there is a slight possibility that that may have been inscribed.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06- You're not a cat person, but you like it as an object? - Oh, yes, absolutely.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10The market has been up and down, I have to say.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14Some of his figurative works can make tens of thousands,
0:32:14 > 0:32:19but I'm going to plump for £1,800-2,200 at auction.
0:32:19 > 0:32:24- Oh, right! Well, that's a lot more than... Well, that's lovely. - It's a good little thing.
0:32:24 > 0:32:29- It is, but it's part of the family, so it's...it sits on my mantelpiece. - I'll stroke it.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31- THEY LAUGH - As we do.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34- Thank you. - Thank you very much, thank you.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40How do you come to know such a young beauty as this?
0:32:40 > 0:32:45Um, visiting an old friend,
0:32:45 > 0:32:47sitting down talking and looked across the room
0:32:47 > 0:32:52- and there was piles of boxes and things, after a good clear out of the house.- Yes.
0:32:52 > 0:32:57And I just saw half of this face looking out at me and...
0:32:57 > 0:32:59- Beautiful face at that. - Oh, yes, I know, yeah.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03- And something just fluttered. - Yeah?- That was it.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06- Right. - And I commented, this person said,
0:33:06 > 0:33:12"It's going out of the house, going to be deposited in the tip."
0:33:12 > 0:33:14No! Really?
0:33:14 > 0:33:19Yes, it had a funny sort of reputation with it and I think it was just a case of liking it or...
0:33:19 > 0:33:24- Some people don't like heads in their houses.- I know. What sort of funny reputation?
0:33:24 > 0:33:31Um, well, this one, apparently from a great-great-grandmother, the head was cursed, it was a death mask.
0:33:31 > 0:33:36- Cursed? Have you any...- Absolutely. Have you had any problems since you came to own it?
0:33:36 > 0:33:41No, no, this is from a long time ago, nothing happened up to now.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44- So I keep my fingers crossed. - So it's all poppycock, then.
0:33:44 > 0:33:50- It's made of terracotta. You can see, because some of the paint, which is cold applied, is flaking off.- Aha.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53It's partly painted, partly gilded, of course.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57We don't know who she is, but I do know that this is based on
0:33:57 > 0:34:01a Renaissance original which would have been done in marble.
0:34:01 > 0:34:06- Yeah.- I think there's several copies known around the world and they're all in top museums,
0:34:06 > 0:34:11- I believe the Frick Collection in New York have a copy. - That's a big one, yes.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16- But they're in marble and, of course, marble used to be painted. - Oh, yes, in those days.- Yeah.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20So, what happens in the 19th century when there's a lot of wealthy people
0:34:20 > 0:34:24who want to own a Renaissance work of art but haven't quite got the money,
0:34:24 > 0:34:29- the Italians responded and made lovely terracotta busts in the Renaissance taste.- Yes.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32- And I believe this is exactly what this is.- Lovely.
0:34:32 > 0:34:39I think she does just need a little bit of work, but the sensitivity of the painting is exquisite, isn't it?
0:34:39 > 0:34:40It's totally beautiful.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44Yeah, very lifelike and the wonderful hairpiece, she has this netted effect.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47Oh, yes, with the coil of hair on the back.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49Yeah. Have you ever been offered anything for it?
0:34:49 > 0:34:55- Um...- Do you know what it's worth? - I will show you. I took it... I didn't know at first
0:34:55 > 0:34:59and I took it to see a chap who was dealing in antiques in Richmond,
0:34:59 > 0:35:05and I just said I thought it would have been worth about £280 or something,
0:35:05 > 0:35:07somewhere around there and he said,
0:35:07 > 0:35:09"I'll give you £2.80."
0:35:09 > 0:35:12- £2.80?!- Yes, £2.80.
0:35:12 > 0:35:18- Good Lord. Well...- And he laughed, he said, "It's only a mannequin for a shop window, about 1914."
0:35:18 > 0:35:23- No, it was made in the 1890s, it's much earlier. It's not a hat stand. - No, no, no.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25This is really a proper work of art.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27It wouldn't have a hat on, you know...yeah.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Well, you can't sell it, because it's cursed.
0:35:29 > 0:35:34Something might happen if you sell it. But I think insure it for about £400.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38- So, considering it was going to go on the skip and going to be smashed up...- Yeah.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41- I think you've acquired a real beauty.- Yes, she's gorgeous.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43She is gorgeous.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46Now, there are two types of coins.
0:35:46 > 0:35:53There are collectors' coins - your Roman coins, your groats, your early English and the rest of it -
0:35:53 > 0:35:56and then there are bullion coins, and bullion coins, basically,
0:35:56 > 0:36:00are purely for the value of the pure gold they have in them.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04Sovereigns, half sovereigns, Krugerrands and, notably,
0:36:04 > 0:36:07the American 20 piece,
0:36:07 > 0:36:09of which you have a particularly fine example.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13It's in stunning condition.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17BUT...if I just palm it,
0:36:17 > 0:36:19say the magic word,
0:36:19 > 0:36:25I reckon I can turn it into a serious collectors' coin from a bullion coin.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27Here we go.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32It's a coin watch you've got here. Have you tried that party trick?
0:36:32 > 0:36:35Yes, I have, yes, on a number of occasions, yes.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37I've been waiting to do it.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41I don't have a coin watch, so I've not been able to do it, but I couldn't resist.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44It's actually made out of two coins, of course.
0:36:44 > 0:36:51- Oh.- Well, when you think about it, you've got an original 1904 American 20 front...
0:36:51 > 0:36:55- Yes.- ..and an original 1924, probably, 20 back.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58But, of course, there's no way you can get a coin apart...
0:36:58 > 0:37:02- No.- ..and get the middle out, without destroying one side or the other.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06The coin itself, I think, is about £500-600, these days.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10That's the... because of the high value of gold.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12Do you have any knowledge of its history?
0:37:12 > 0:37:20Not really. It was my father's, and I remember him bringing it home late '60s, maybe 1970,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23certainly wasn't new at that point, I don't think.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26They have been making these, basically, since the war.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29There are one or two that are earlier,
0:37:29 > 0:37:33but curiously enough, it's signed Cartier on the dial,
0:37:33 > 0:37:37and on the back of the movement, which is probably almost impossible to see,
0:37:37 > 0:37:39- it's actually signed Piaget.- Oh.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42Now, Cartier now owns...
0:37:42 > 0:37:46Part of the Cartier group owns the Piaget name.
0:37:46 > 0:37:52They're all one group, but in the '70s they weren't. They were associated.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56So what has happened is that Piaget, who made a very flat movement,
0:37:56 > 0:38:01and it is extraordinarily flat when you think about this is a solid gold frame, hollowed out inside.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03- In there is an actual watch movement. - Yes.
0:38:03 > 0:38:09They made a very flat movement which enabled them to, basically, to produce coin watches.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12Anyway, that just perfectly fits.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Retailed by Cartier,
0:38:14 > 0:38:17movement by Piaget and a brilliant thing.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21And this one is in mint condition, and condition is everything.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23If the cover's been bent...
0:38:23 > 0:38:25- Yes.- ..or the edge has been damaged
0:38:25 > 0:38:31- or in this case, if you look, you just can't see where the opening is. - No, you have to look carefully.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35Really carefully. And if any of that's damaged, it cuts the value quite a bit.
0:38:35 > 0:38:36Do you have a clue on the value?
0:38:36 > 0:38:40I suppose it might depend a bit on gold price, as you were saying.
0:38:40 > 0:38:45- Yes. Well, I told you I'd turn it from a bullion coin into a... - Yes, yes.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49- ..um, a couple of thousand pounds, I think.- Oh, really?
0:38:49 > 0:38:53- Yeah.- Better get it insured, then. - Just don't get it mixed up with the others.- No!
0:38:53 > 0:38:55Good. Thank you very much. Very interesting.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08Ah, it's not often I get the chance to put my feet up on this programme,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11but here I am, sitting in this rather splendid chair.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13But it's not an antique.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16All will be revealed by our very own Christopher Payne.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19Christopher, we're asking our experts in this series
0:39:19 > 0:39:23about the best and the worst bits of their own personal collections.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25This, I'm assuming, is the best bit.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27- Or the worst. - Well, I don't know, you tell me.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30Well, I'm very proud of it, but I made it.
0:39:30 > 0:39:32- You made it?- Myself.- Wow!
0:39:32 > 0:39:37This year in fact, so it's a new, new antique, for the future.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41And what made you decide to embark upon making it?
0:39:41 > 0:39:44I've been a critic and valuer of furniture for almost 40 years now.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47I thought, I've got to put my money where my mouth is.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50I must actually do something and see if I'm even capable of doing it,
0:39:50 > 0:39:56and I love Windsor chairs, and this opportunity came along to make one with a tutor in an old workshop,
0:39:56 > 0:40:01and there we go, I made it. I can't believe it myself, I can tell you.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04Well, I think it's beautiful. How long did it take you?
0:40:04 > 0:40:07Well, we went to the pub quite a few times, but the actual...
0:40:07 > 0:40:10about three o'clock, you get a bit bored
0:40:10 > 0:40:14- and, um, so it took about four days actual work to do it.- Right.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17And these bits here,
0:40:17 > 0:40:18for example, and here,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21do they come already bent? Do you have to bend them?
0:40:21 > 0:40:23- You have to bend them yourself. - What, like this?
0:40:23 > 0:40:28Well, they go in a steamer. It's ash, the light wood is called ash, and it goes in a steamer,
0:40:28 > 0:40:33and you say, "OK, boys," and you pull it out, and with somebody else, you pull it like that,
0:40:33 > 0:40:36- or you can just about do it on your own.- Just with brute strength?
0:40:36 > 0:40:38Brute strength. You have to do it quickly.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42And then somebody else puts a clamp along and you've got it set, hopefully.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45There's quite a lot of work. I was surprised how physical it was,
0:40:45 > 0:40:50and it'll make a huge difference to my admiration of Windsor chairs on the Antiques Roadshow.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54Did you choose it because that's a type of chair you particularly admire?
0:40:54 > 0:40:57- I hoped it was going to be easy to make.- Just pragmatism.
0:40:57 > 0:41:02They're so comfortable. It fits everybody, the form, it's a natural wood, it cocoons the body.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06A wonderful piece of vernacular furniture. Hopefully this will last a few hundred years.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09- Have you put your maker's mark on it?- I did, can I show you?
0:41:09 > 0:41:12- Round here.- Oh, right!
0:41:12 > 0:41:14So, we've got ash here and this is a bit of bog oak,
0:41:14 > 0:41:212,000-year-old oak, just to make it a bit decorative and there's, proudly, my name, initials and date,
0:41:21 > 0:41:26so nobody in the future, on an Antiques Roadshow in 1,000 years' time, can be wrong about who made it.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30How wonderful! So, have you got it pride of place in your home, then?
0:41:30 > 0:41:33- I didn't have anywhere to put it. - After all that!
0:41:33 > 0:41:37Eventually it went in the kitchen, and I sit there reading the newspaper. I love it.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41I think it's lovely. So I am going to assume this has pride of place,
0:41:41 > 0:41:45- so what about the worst or the most disappointing part of your collection?- It's over here.- Right.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48- Do we have to do this?- Yes, we do.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52- I always enjoy this bit particularly.- Thank you very much. Well, here it is.
0:41:52 > 0:41:58- OK, looks all right. - An Adam fruit bowl. The Georgian period, in best quality mahogany.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02- Or so I thought.- What went wrong?
0:42:02 > 0:42:06I bought it when I started as a porter in the London salerooms in 1970
0:42:06 > 0:42:11- and I was going down the New Kings Road...- Hang on a minute, is this you in the picture here?
0:42:11 > 0:42:13Er, yes, not the auctioneer, the porter.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17- Oh, look!- That's me.- What do we think? Very handsome, I'd say.
0:42:17 > 0:42:22- Yes, they've got a thumbs up there. - Same moustache. - So how old were you here?
0:42:22 > 0:42:27- 21.- 21! Gosh, right, OK.- So...
0:42:27 > 0:42:31anyway, after a few weeks I thought I knew everything about antiques,
0:42:31 > 0:42:36went down the New Kings Road in London and saw this in the window, walked in and said,
0:42:36 > 0:42:42"How much is this?" and they said £12, so I bought it immediately.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47- And was that a lot of money to you, at the time?- It was a net week's salary.- Gosh, right.
0:42:47 > 0:42:48So it really hurt to buy it.
0:42:48 > 0:42:54But I knew, I absolutely knew that I'd got a bargain, sale of the century, bargain of the century.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58Well, I got it home and my father just fell out of his chair laughing.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02He was a retired antique dealer and he said, "It's about 1950, I think."
0:43:02 > 0:43:06- Oh.- So here it is, and I really should have known by the weight of this.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09It's just simply not heavy enough to be old mahogany.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11- No, it's very light, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:43:11 > 0:43:16- So that alone should have told you it was a fake.- Yes.- Oooh! - Over-confidence of youth.
0:43:16 > 0:43:18And guess what it's worth today.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20What?
0:43:20 > 0:43:24- About £12.- Oh! No!
0:43:24 > 0:43:27- Christopher, thanks very much. - Thank you.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30Well, it looks almost good enough to eat, doesn't it?
0:43:30 > 0:43:34But tell me a bit more. How did you come to own this lovely glass pear?
0:43:34 > 0:43:36Well, I was given it when I was...
0:43:36 > 0:43:38about 1959, when I was very young.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42- Very young.- And I didn't consider it very lovely then, at that age.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46I was very disparaging about it and called it "the bomb".
0:43:46 > 0:43:52It sat in my mum's china cabinet for years. It was a friend of hers who was very artistic,
0:43:52 > 0:43:56she lectured in fine art at Newcastle University and she gave me that, and...
0:43:56 > 0:43:59very far-seeing, I think. It was when I was in my 20s,
0:43:59 > 0:44:01I sort of gradually came to appreciate it.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03So this was a gift in '59
0:44:03 > 0:44:07from a very stylish lady to you as a little girl.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09- Yes, yes.- I mean, what a gift,
0:44:09 > 0:44:12because, what a gift, I mean, this is a woman who had foresight
0:44:12 > 0:44:16because, if we turn this very unassuming little pear over,
0:44:16 > 0:44:19we have a fantastic name on the bottom, which is Venini.
0:44:19 > 0:44:26Now, Venini are one of the absolute greats of the Italian glass circuit,
0:44:26 > 0:44:31and at this time, we're looking, more than likely, at the work of one of their leading designers,
0:44:31 > 0:44:33Fulvio Bianconi, and of course,
0:44:33 > 0:44:37we've got this lovely cased green body here,
0:44:37 > 0:44:40and then just applied on is this lovely little stem and little leaf,
0:44:40 > 0:44:44that's just been kicked on, in a second. Absolutely superb.
0:44:44 > 0:44:49It just shows the quality and the speed of the Venetian glass-makers on the island of Murano.
0:44:49 > 0:44:55Now, I notice on the label that there is a price there of 32/6.
0:44:55 > 0:44:5732 shillings and sixpence!
0:44:57 > 0:45:01I mean, that was a lot of money for a little gift.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03Well, do you love it?
0:45:03 > 0:45:05I do, I do love it now.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07- But it was "the bomb". - It was "the bomb", yes.
0:45:07 > 0:45:12Well, all I'll say to you is, thank goodness you never threw it around
0:45:12 > 0:45:17because your little Venini bomb, which is now a beautiful pear,
0:45:17 > 0:45:21is worth the best part of £200-250.
0:45:21 > 0:45:22Good Lord!
0:45:25 > 0:45:27Gosh, I am rather stunned.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30- I thought about 30 to 40.- Oh, no.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34I think, er, you know, fruit from Italy's quite valuable.
0:45:34 > 0:45:35Wow!
0:45:39 > 0:45:42We're talking about a British institution -
0:45:42 > 0:45:44the wonderfully revered Queen Mother
0:45:44 > 0:45:50and you've brought a collection along here that is apt because she was a patron of the Bowes Museum,
0:45:50 > 0:45:55and obviously her name, Bowes-Lyon. She was very much connected with both the museum
0:45:55 > 0:45:58and I understand your father met her.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00Yes, it was after the war.
0:46:00 > 0:46:07He joined BOAC and was flying on the Britannia Fleet as a radio operator,
0:46:07 > 0:46:14and he was the radio operator for the royal flight to South Africa
0:46:14 > 0:46:17that took the Queen Mother on a royal visit to South Africa in 1957
0:46:17 > 0:46:21and he kept these various mementos of that trip.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25So, the first item is this BOAC corporation...
0:46:25 > 0:46:32it's what it says on the tin - Royal Flight, London to Salisbury, July '57. And...
0:46:33 > 0:46:39..at the back here, we have a complete map of where they went,
0:46:39 > 0:46:42all the way from London to Salisbury and back.
0:46:42 > 0:46:47Yeah. And it was I think on the flight on the way back, they were flying at night,
0:46:47 > 0:46:51and she got a bit sort of bored sitting there, I guess,
0:46:51 > 0:46:52so she sat down with him
0:46:52 > 0:46:56and chatted to him as they were flying back over Africa.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58And I think on the previous page
0:46:58 > 0:47:02- there's actually a layout of the interior of the Britannia.- Yeah.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06- Or the "VIP interior", as it says here.- Looks nice, doesn't it?
0:47:06 > 0:47:08Very luxurious. I mean, they've got a dining table,
0:47:08 > 0:47:13dining suite, and I think it says here "HM Queen Mother".
0:47:13 > 0:47:16- A bed at one side and a settee at the other.- Yes.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20And she would have had a long walk, going all the way down here,
0:47:20 > 0:47:22to presumably where your dad was,
0:47:22 > 0:47:24which is the radio officer's cabin, which looks tiny.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28Yes, he described it as like a little cupboard there
0:47:28 > 0:47:30and she came up and said,
0:47:30 > 0:47:32"Do you mind if I sit and have a chat with you?"
0:47:32 > 0:47:34She asked him what he was doing
0:47:34 > 0:47:38and he showed her the Morse code he was sending out and she said,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42"Well, can you send messages to the people we're flying over?"
0:47:42 > 0:47:45And as they were flying up, back over Africa,
0:47:45 > 0:47:49he said, "Yes, sure. What would you like me to say?"
0:47:49 > 0:47:53And she said, "I'll write it down". And the nearest thing to hand was the menu.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56I can just imagine, if you were Governor of Northern Nigeria,
0:47:56 > 0:47:58suddenly the Morse code started beeping,
0:47:58 > 0:48:02"My goodness, we're getting a message from up above!" THEY LAUGH
0:48:02 > 0:48:05- Oh, there it is.- Yes. - So she would have said,
0:48:05 > 0:48:09"Send a signal to the Governor of Malta, my good man, my good chap."
0:48:09 > 0:48:12THEY LAUGH "I send you very many sincere thanks
0:48:12 > 0:48:16"for excellent arrangements which were made for my short visit to Malta,
0:48:16 > 0:48:20- "which I enjoyed so greatly, Elizabeth R."- Yes.
0:48:20 > 0:48:22- That's extraordinary, isn't it? - Yes, it's really...
0:48:22 > 0:48:27- I'm so glad he kept it. - But the final thing is also rather extraordinary as well.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31Here we have a gold propelling pencil.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35At the end of the flight, she said she'd enjoyed chatting to him so much,
0:48:35 > 0:48:40she gave him the little pencil as a memory, and I remember him coming home,
0:48:40 > 0:48:45I was about four or five at the time, and he gave it to me to play with,
0:48:45 > 0:48:48and it was my pencil and I used to play with it
0:48:48 > 0:48:54and then it disappeared and turned up later on when we were looking through things in the house
0:48:54 > 0:48:57and I found the little pencil again. Extraordinary.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59Because again, it's got, er,
0:48:59 > 0:49:05"ER" on it and the royal crest and is in absolutely pristine, unused condition.
0:49:05 > 0:49:10- Straight from the hand, via you, at age four.- Yes.- At least you didn't break it or lose it.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12No, it's still got the original lead in it.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16And it must have been an important part of his life as well.
0:49:16 > 0:49:22- Oh, yes, yes. He..- Yeah, he used to talk about how he spent the night with the Queen Mother
0:49:22 > 0:49:26and it was a big thing. It was a big joke.
0:49:26 > 0:49:31- So, a big family joke - the man who spent the night with the Queen Mother.- Yes, that's right.
0:49:31 > 0:49:32Well, it's a joyous collection
0:49:32 > 0:49:35and obviously it's something that will be handed down
0:49:35 > 0:49:40to you and your family for many, many generations, but, um,
0:49:40 > 0:49:43I think something like that is so rare, I mean, personal notes,
0:49:43 > 0:49:48- even though of unofficial basis, in the Queen's hand.- Right. - You never find them.
0:49:48 > 0:49:54So they are very, very collectible, but not worth a huge amount of money. I mean, you're not going to sell it.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58- No.- But an archive like this, with the pencil and the other messages,
0:49:58 > 0:50:01we're probably talking about a figure of up to £1,000.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03Oh, right. Lovely.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07But joyous to see and so apt that we're here at the Bowes Museum.
0:50:07 > 0:50:08- Thank you.- Thank you.
0:50:08 > 0:50:13Do you have a family memento or treasured souvenir from a meeting with royalty?
0:50:13 > 0:50:16My great-great grandmother decided that she was going to crochet
0:50:16 > 0:50:22a huge shawl to present to the Queen and she spent 11 months doing that.
0:50:22 > 0:50:28- She sent it to her in 1903. - That would be Queen Alexandra.- Yes.
0:50:28 > 0:50:33So this box is from Queen Alexandra. Exciting moment.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35Perhaps your great-great grandmother
0:50:35 > 0:50:38was lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41Well, unless I'm very much mistaken we have a piece of royal gold
0:50:41 > 0:50:44in front of us. Tell me about it.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47Maybe your links with royalty stretch further back in time.
0:50:47 > 0:50:53- So this album is completely full of Russian royalty.- Yes.
0:50:53 > 0:50:54If so, then we'd love to hear from you
0:50:54 > 0:50:59because we're recording a special edition of the Antiques Roadshow
0:50:59 > 0:51:02for this summer's Diamond Jubilee.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05If you have a story and an object that helps retell
0:51:05 > 0:51:08that moment in your family history, contact us -
0:51:30 > 0:51:32Isn't he wonderful?
0:51:32 > 0:51:35Well, I've loved him since I was a kid.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39Now, I've got to ask you the all important question.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41Not my age?
0:51:41 > 0:51:43No, not your age.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45Have you tried kissing him?
0:51:45 > 0:51:49No, in fact, no, I haven't. You never know your luck, do you?
0:51:49 > 0:51:52Oh, well, it may turn into a prince.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54You're telling me to do it now?
0:51:56 > 0:51:59- You could try!- Well, I'm a bit ancient for a prince now.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02Oh, my word. So, where did he come from?
0:52:02 > 0:52:05He was my granny and granddad's.
0:52:05 > 0:52:12Um, my granny had him for a long time, she died when she was 84, and I inherited him.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16- Always wanted him. - Do you know any more about him? - Well, I've always been very puzzled,
0:52:16 > 0:52:21- because I've never been able to find whether or not it's silver.- Right.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24He certainly never seemed to have a wife,
0:52:24 > 0:52:26because he's obviously a pepper pot,
0:52:26 > 0:52:30- and I've never found a salt pot that matched and we never had it.- Right.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33So I've always been very puzzled about him.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37- No, you're absolutely right. There's the piercing for the pepper. - Yes.- BUT...
0:52:37 > 0:52:42there, hidden in the base, are the actual hallmarks.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44Oh, blimey!
0:52:45 > 0:52:46I've never seen those before.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49- There they are, very cunningly disguised.- Yes.
0:52:49 > 0:52:52- You wouldn't believe I've cleaned it.- No, and if you look,
0:52:52 > 0:52:56what we've actually got are a set of marks for London in 1881.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58Oh! Right.
0:52:58 > 0:53:04- And the maker's mark is that of James Barclay Hennell.- Is it?
0:53:04 > 0:53:07Yes, and he made some of the most,
0:53:07 > 0:53:12or his firm made some of the most superb models of animals
0:53:12 > 0:53:16and, I have to say, I've fallen in love with him as well.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18- He's beautiful, isn't he?- Yes.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23What is this wonderful frog worth?
0:53:23 > 0:53:27I haven't got an earthly, I genuinely haven't.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31I think if he came up in auction,
0:53:31 > 0:53:37you'd be hard pushed to buy him for under £2,000.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40Crikey!
0:53:40 > 0:53:45Crikey! You shouldn't have said that, I've got all the rest of my family to come.
0:53:45 > 0:53:50- "Mum, we'll just take it over". - He is wonderful.- Oh, thank you. - Absolutely wonderful.
0:53:52 > 0:53:58When I'm not filming the Roadshow, I do lots of different things. I spend a lot of my time giving talks.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01I go around the country giving talks to different groups,
0:54:01 > 0:54:05and inevitably, what happens is that someone will come up and say,
0:54:05 > 0:54:09"What would be your ultimate piece that would be brought in?"
0:54:09 > 0:54:15What I really would like to see is an absolutely super diamond ring,
0:54:15 > 0:54:20made in around about, I don't know, 1905-1910,
0:54:20 > 0:54:24maybe studded with little stones around the mount,
0:54:24 > 0:54:28and a pretty stone which might be a slightly unusual shape,
0:54:28 > 0:54:34and you've brought along a marquise diamond ring,
0:54:34 > 0:54:41made in around about the year 1905-1910,
0:54:41 > 0:54:43mounted up in platinum,
0:54:43 > 0:54:46where the entire setting is studded
0:54:46 > 0:54:49with little diamonds going all the way round.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53Tell me a little bit about it.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57Um, well, my parents got married in the Congo,
0:54:57 > 0:54:59and my grandparents were living in Canada,
0:54:59 > 0:55:04and my father brought his young bride home to meet his parents,
0:55:04 > 0:55:07and my grandmother gave that to my mother,
0:55:07 > 0:55:09who was at that time a young bride.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11- She wore it?- She did.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14- Do you wear it?- I do.
0:55:14 > 0:55:19In this natural light, do you see the extraordinary lack of colour
0:55:19 > 0:55:21- that the diamond has?- I do.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25Now, most of the diamonds that people bring in, and we see and we value,
0:55:25 > 0:55:28have got a little bit of colour.
0:55:28 > 0:55:34They grade diamonds on a letter grading where D is colourless.
0:55:34 > 0:55:39By the time you get to colour K, L, M, it's tinted yellow.
0:55:39 > 0:55:43Now, next feature. We look at it with our lens...
0:55:43 > 0:55:47and I can't see very many marks in it either.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51It's got a little tiny black dot, but very, very small,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54but apart from that, it seems to be pure.
0:55:54 > 0:55:59Now, the marquise shape is this fancy boat shape.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03The next question is, what does it weigh?
0:56:03 > 0:56:05Now, the trouble with marquise diamonds
0:56:05 > 0:56:08is that they're very difficult to weigh exactly.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11The only thing you can do is,
0:56:11 > 0:56:15ultimately, to remove the stone from the mount and weigh it.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18I think it weighs three carats.
0:56:18 > 0:56:26Now, the difference in price between a diamond that weighs two carat 90
0:56:26 > 0:56:29and three carat ten is dramatic.
0:56:29 > 0:56:33On the basis it weighs LESS than three carats
0:56:33 > 0:56:37and the colour is not D, but E to F,
0:56:37 > 0:56:43the worst scenario, your diamond ring in that diamond setting
0:56:43 > 0:56:47is worth £15,000-20,000.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49Really? Wow!
0:56:51 > 0:56:53Haven't finished yet.
0:56:57 > 0:57:03On the basis that the diamond is removed, it's weighed,
0:57:03 > 0:57:05it's more than three carats,
0:57:05 > 0:57:07the colour is up to D,
0:57:07 > 0:57:08and it may be, it...
0:57:09 > 0:57:11And the clarity is up there,
0:57:11 > 0:57:17VVS or VS, your diamond ring is worth more in the region of...
0:57:17 > 0:57:23- £25,000-30,000. - That's not bad.
0:57:25 > 0:57:31So when I make comments such as, "What is it you most want to see brought in on the Antiques Roadshow?"
0:57:31 > 0:57:34it will be a marquise diamond of pure colour and clarity,
0:57:34 > 0:57:38weighing about three carats, in a diamond studded mount.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42In other words, I have died and gone to heaven.
0:57:42 > 0:57:48- Thank you very much. Thank you. - I do hope that that price hasn't left your too dry-mouthed.
0:57:49 > 0:57:54Take it right back and put it straight in the bank, where it belongs.
0:57:54 > 0:57:55I will. Thank you very much.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58- Thank you very much. You've made my day.- Good.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04We've had a lovely day here at the Bowes Museum in Teesdale,
0:58:04 > 0:58:07and I've found the perfect spot at the end of the day,
0:58:07 > 0:58:10this lovely Windsor chair that we saw earlier on,
0:58:10 > 0:58:12made by our very own Christopher Payne.
0:58:12 > 0:58:16Christopher, do you fancy making another one? Can I give you a commission?
0:58:16 > 0:58:20Um, let me get rid of the blisters first, OK? Then I'll think about it.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23I'll have to work on him, because I'd like one,
0:58:23 > 0:58:28and then maybe one each for my children and then I'm sure my mum and dad would like one.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31Then there's my in-laws so that's another two.
0:58:31 > 0:58:35I've got some friends who are looking for some new chairs, so, let's say, another six...
0:58:50 > 0:58:53Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd