Wimbledon 2 Antiques Roadshow

For two weeks every year, the eyes of the world are on the championships here

at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in South London, and even though there are no matches on today,

we've attracted some pretty impressive crowds of our own.

So much so, that we would like to welcome you to

a second service of the Antiques Roadshow at Wimbledon.

The Wimbledon Championships have become almost bigger

than the club itself, but for most of the year,

the All England Lawn Tennis Club is just that - a tennis club,

famous for its distinguished sporting history

and its love of tradition.

So it's a rare privilege to be invited here,

to grounds that are normally reserved for serious sportsmen and women only.

All England Club members use these courts and club house all year round.

And today, instead of having tea and strawberries,

overlooking the tennis, they're getting a grandstand view

of the cream of British antiques specialists,

valuing items for the Roadshow.

I know you're a member of the club here

and you've brought along something to be valued later.

You've also got a family tradition stretching back

-here at Wimbledon, haven't you?

-I certainly have.

My grandmother played at Wimbledon, and this is a picture of her.

Look at her.

She was one of the first ladies to serve overarm in the championships.

-Oh, gosh! So, until then, it was all underarm.

-Yes, yes.

-So she was a bit of a pioneer, then.

-She certainly was.

And you've got other photographs. Who have you got there?

This is my father. He played here for 11 years

and my mother also played, but sadly I haven't got a picture of her.

-Did you play?

-I played Junior Wimbledon, yes.

Well, that's pretty good.

And this is my son, who played here.

-Oh, I should have guessed. Tim Henman.

-Absolutely.

So, you're Tim Henman's mother, Jane. Look at him there.

Well, you must have been a very -

-and still are, I'm sure - a very proud mum.

-I am.

And spent many agonising afternoons here at Wimbledon.

-Lots of nail-biting.

-I bet.

-Well, let's hope... He's got two daughters, hasn't he?

-Three.

Three daughters.

Let's hope they carry on in the Wimbledon tradition.

-And I hope you have a good valuation later on.

-Thank you very much.

Well, let's see

if there are any more surprises awaiting our experts at the tables.

This is a really fabulous quality case.

I always hope, when I see something of this quality,

there's something inside that's going to match the outside.

Have a look inside.

"Phew, what a stunner!" as the tabloids would say.

That's absolutely wonderful. Do you know what it is?

Yes, I understand that it's a coffee cup, which was presented

to a Captain Langlands by the Pasha,

who was the brother of the Khedive of Egypt.

I think he reigned in Egypt around about the 1870s, 1880s -

some time in that period, so, I guess that's what it is.

Right, well, you've got it

absolutely right. The name that it's normally called is a zarf

and it's for holding Turkish coffee.

Right.

But they're nearly always made in one place - not Turkey,

but in Switzerland.

-Ah.

-And this one is absolutely fabulous, it's made in blue enamel.

These are all real, these are diamonds.

And do you know what it's actually made of, underneath the enamel?

Well, I believe it's gold, but I'm not certain of that.

It doesn't look like it, it looks more like copper, but...

It's a coppery-coloured gold. It is gold.

But it's got these beautiful enamel plaques on

and absolutely laden with diamonds, and it's a really fabulous thing.

It does have a little bit of damage on it,

and I notice that one of the panels here has got a chip out of it.

-Yes, right.

-So, you've got, though, a really super thing.

And it dates from a little earlier than you say.

-It dates from about 1830.

-Oh, right.

And it's one of the prettiest ones I've seen in a long, long time.

Oh, right.

So, a gold zarf of about 1830 is quite a valuable thing.

And I think, you know, if it was put into auction,

you would get, comfortably, between £6,000 and £8,000.

-Good heavens!

-Oh, wow!

That is astonishing, I'd never have thought of that. Wow.

-I mean, it would be even more if it wasn't for the damage.

-Really?

-But it's an absolute little gem, I love it.

-Right.

These, to me, are usually piano dolls, they're put on a piano

and when someone plays the piano, they dance, so it's very unusual

to have them in a box like this with a musical movement.

Tell me, have you played with them yourself?

-They originally belonged to my husband's grandmother.

-Yes.

And...she used to play them to her grandchildren

and visitors who came to their house.

Eventually, they went to my mother-in-law

and it was a treat for her grandchildren - our children,

and other visiting children - for her to bring them out and play them.

I think that's absolutely lovely

because that's why they're in such good condition.

-They haven't been allowed to be played with.

-No, definitely.

So, it's like a Sunday toy.

-So, they are French and they're made of papier-mache.

-Are they?

-And they're on little tiny metal rungs, if you like.

-Yes.

-Tiny little... almost like little pins.

-Yes.

And they are attached to a musical movement, and it's a joy to watch.

I particularly like the one that's on the swing at the top.

On the swing at the top, absolutely. They date to the 1820s, so early.

-Oh, really? As early as that?

-Very early, yes, yes.

And absolutely enchanting.

-I hope to bring them out for my grandchildren as a treat.

-Good.

I suppose you don't really want to know what they're worth, do you?

THEY LAUGH

It's interesting, but we're not... I'm not planning to get rid of them.

-No.

-No way.

-So, well, maybe you should insure them,

and I think you should insure them for £2,000.

-For 2,000, really?

-Yes, yes.

-They are lovely.

So, shall we get them going?

So, shall I do it? I think this is the music.

And this is the movement.

GENTLE TUNE PLAYS

Well, a glorious piece of art glass, but do you know where it's from?

No, and I suspect you're probably going to say it's from Woolworths.

But I know where I got it from. I was given it by my husband's aunt,

and I don't know where she got it from.

If only it were Woolworths!

We have to go slightly more highbrow than that,

and actually what I'm going to do is take us back to the early part

of the 20th century, to France, and I'm going to take us to Nancy.

Because what we're looking at is a wonderful example

of French Art Nouveau

into Art Deco glass.

Made by a great factory, made by a great maker,

and what we're looking at is a piece of Schneider -

Le Verre Francais.

Oh, my mother was French, so she'd have been thrilled.

-Oh, this is all tying in beautifully.

-Absolutely.

But Schneider, Charles Schneider, actually learned his craft

very early on, at the beginning of the 20th century,

at the factory of Daum.

But, by 1909, he had spread his wings, he had grown and established

his own factory, but it was 1918 that was a pivotal moment for them.

Because around Nancy there are many, many factories producing

beautiful glass, and a name we often hear - Emile Galle.

-Yes.

-A very famous name.

Well, in 1918, there was a fire - a terrible fire - at Galle's factory,

which suddenly found a whole number of workers out of employment.

So what they did - they upped their tools

and moved across to the Schneider factory, and it was at that point

that Schneider started to learn some of the wonderful techniques

in French cameo glass,

and he literally went rocketing up the scale.

He became such a huge force

and developed a range that we see here, which is the Le Verre Francais.

He was a great experimenter, and if we look at the body,

you see all these lovely powdered colours,

and these would have been picked up on the body of the glass

to then be cut through to give all this wonderful texture.

Now, this is an early one, because if we look to the underside,

all we've got is a little cane there,

a little signature cane that's been let into the base.

Oh, I was looking for a signature.

-I didn't realise the significance of that.

-There it is.

-Great.

Now, later pieces, he did actually engrave his name -

Schneider, Le Verre Francais,

but this is an early piece, and it's going to be 1920-25.

And these pieces were sold in the greatest establishments.

Shall we just say that Les Galeries Lafayette

is maybe a little bit smarter than Woolworths.

LAUGHTER

Yeah, not nowadays, not a lot, but...it used to be, yeah.

-Well, that's where this probably would have come from.

-Right.

So, today, it's a desired piece, it's a beautiful example,

it's quite a famous pattern for Le Verre Francais,

but it sums up everything that they were doing, so nicely.

And as such, at auction,

this would comfortably realise in excess of £800 to £1,200.

Lovely. I'll dust it with greater care on the few occasions when I do!

# Into each life Some rain must fall

# But too much, too much Is fallin' in mine... #

We have a very venerable-looking Victorian gentleman,

we have a bracelet and we have a lady. What's the connection

and, more importantly, what's the connection to you?

With me, well, the pictures were given to me by an old family friend,

and the gentleman was his great grandfather -

Senator of Minnesota, Morton Smith Wilkinson and his wife, Sarah.

So, what sort of time period are we talking about?

-Mid-Victorian, late-Victorian?

-Yes, 1860s.

-1860s.

-Yeah.

What do you know about him?

Well, he was the first senator of Minnesota

and he was responsible for the criminal code,

which I think was 1858,

and these two pictures were painted

when they were invited to Lincoln's inaugural ball.

-So, he was a major player at that particular time.

-Yes.

He would have been a close confidant, friend

and political colleague of Lincoln.

-And his wife - we don't know a great deal more about her.

-Sarah.

-Sarah.

-No.

-So this is... Right.

-There's a slight suggestion there.

-Yes, there is a slight suggestion

and that is a bracelet that he bought her...

-Right.

-..to wear at Lincoln's inaugural ball. And this is it.

So, this is the bracelet that would have been worn at this time,

so from a perspective of the American history...

-Yes.

-..it's really rather significant, isn't it?

-It's really very special.

-Yes, it is.

-OK. Let me talk to you about the bracelet.

It is a gold mesh - very, very fine mesh.

-It has a centre piece set with a line of five natural pearls.

-Yes.

It's in a gold scallop-style frame.

It has black enamel sort of highlights on the frame.

-I hadn't noticed that.

-And we have... Did you see that little black edging there?

-I can see now, yes, indeed, yes.

-You know the feature of this.

-They expand.

-Yes.

They're flexible, they're on slide pieces

and we have a name for jewellery like that, it's called Milanese pattern.

-Milanese.

-And it's typical of the mid-19th century.

-Yes.

Now, on the down side, the condition is very, very worn.

Do you wear it?

-I do. Yes.

-The problem with Milanese is that it often deteriorates.

-Right.

-And you've got the beginnings of little bits of defect...

-Yes.

..to the edges of the bracelet.

If a bracelet like this were to be put into auction,

without the provenance that it's got, then the value of it

would, frankly, not be that dramatic.

-Why? Because it's damaged.

-Right.

Because of the fact that the style is very sturdy and Victorian,

and there is another feature.

-Can you see here at the end of the box?

-Yes.

There's a gap, there's a space.

I think the reason is that originally there would have been a fringe.

-Yes, I understood that.

-And the fringe has gone.

-Yes.

-So, it's less than perfect because of that.

-Yeah.

-But then you run into the fact of provenance.

-Yeah.

-In the AMERICAN market...

-Yes.

..oh, my goodness me,

anything connected with Lincoln, the particular time,

with the man who made laws in Minnesota - going back to that time.

-Yeah.

-In this country, this bracelet's worth £1,500 to £2,000.

-Right.

-In America, how much shall we say?

I have no idea.

-£7,500 to £10,000.

-Really? Wow!

-Or more.

-That is unbelievable.

-Because over there, you're buying a national treasure.

-Gosh.

Wow!

Sicilian cart panels - I've never seen so many.

-There are 14 of them.

-14?

-14.

-Well, these are very close to my heart, these things.

-Why?

Well, I'll tell you, once you've told me

how they came to be in your possession.

I found them in my attic.

They were just floorboards in the attic,

they were turned upside down, and I could see holes in the side,

and I just went up to one of the sides, saw that it was carved,

turned it over and I saw these painted panels.

So, how long had they been in your attic before you discovered them?

-Well, we bought the house in 1986.

-Yeah.

But the house was built in the 1930s.

No idea where these panels came from.

Amazing. So, you don't know how they arrived there

-and you don't know the history of the house?

-No clue, no clue.

Why I said, "Wow!"

is I've never seen so many, and why they're close to my heart

is because one of the first things I ever bought as an antique dealer

was a Sicilian cart panel, and I kept it for years.

-Just one?

-Just one.

I've never seen this number! I mean, it's extraordinary.

They're 19th century, these panels, late-19th century, I would think,

and they're depicting scenes from the history of Sicily

and were painted by local artisans in a sort of naive kind of way.

You know, they're always painted in these very bright colours

and originally they were painted so that illiterate people

could know the history that shaped the island they lived on.

So, they would be confronted daily with these carts passing to and fro,

with historic events on them, and they're amazing, and what a story.

-Do you know how much these things are worth?

-No clue.

They're plentiful, I must be honest.

Well, a small piece is £50, £60, £70,

so, panels of this size...

I mean...

£200 - £300 each.

-Each?

-Times 14.

-£4,200.

I can't do the maths. Oh, you've just done it.

Very expensive floorboards.

Well, with the London Olympics being so much in the news,

it seems entirely appropriate that you've brought along this

wonderful print of the Olympic champions

the first time the Games

were held in London in 1908.

-And it was in the White City, wasn't it?

-It was in the White City, yes.

Yes, and if we look at this print, we can see all the Olympic champions

and one or two sports that we don't have these days,

such as the tug-of-war, and here you have tandem cyclists.

I don't think we have tandems any more these days,

do we, in the velodrome? And look at this, terrific -

a man hurling himself horizontally over the pole vault.

And all the champions displayed, and I believe you're related to one of these people in the photograph.

Yes, the gentleman here with the megaphone

was my great-grandfather, William Knight Smith, and it was his job

to report on what was going on, and to give the results as well.

Of course, no PA system in those days.

-No, no PA system, no.

-No, no.

And here we have the same megaphone that is featured in this print.

-The very one.

-Gosh! So, that's come down through the family.

-It has.

And also, you've brought along something quite incredible -

a gold medal won at these Olympics.

Yes.

And if we have a look at it here, in its original leather case -

"Olympic Games Winner five miles run, London 1908".

Five miles - they don't do that any more cos it's in metres

and I suppose five miles is about between 5,000 and 10,000 metres,

-isn't it? I think.

-Yeah.

-That sort of distance.

And there we have inside, the gold medal. Made of nine-carat gold.

On this side, you can see a picture of St George and the dragon,

and if we turn it over, on the other side we have an athlete

being crowned with a wreath of laurel leaves by two maidens.

-And who won it?

-It was won by this man called Voigt...

-Here we are, number 29, yes.

-..who was British.

-Glad to hear it.

His parents were emigrated from Germany and he lived in Manchester.

So, how did the medal come here today?

It's owned by a friend of mine and he asked me if I'd like to bring it.

Well, I'm delighted that he did.

Well, Olympic memorabilia is enormously sought-after

and there are a lot of collectors and to see these three pieces together are absolutely wonderful.

Now, I think the print - because it's so unusual, that print -

and not many examples of its type come up,

it would probably fetch £400 or £500 at auction.

Brilliant.

Yes. The megaphone, well, that's something entirely different.

It's wonderful, and I believe you've got its original cane case, as well.

-Yes, I have, yes, yes.

-If it did come up at auction,

-I could see that fetching £1,500 - £2,000.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah, yeah.

And then, of course,

we come to the gold medal that belongs to your friend.

Olympic gold medals do not often appear on the market

and there are a lot of collectors.

I suspect if that came up at auction, it would probably fetch

somewhere between £6,000 and £8,000,

and on a good day might even make £10,000.

Absolutely terrific.

Three carriage clocks.

Lots of us have carriage clocks - maybe you've got one at home -

but I bet you haven't got one quite as expensive as one of these.

You know how this works by now - this week, our expert, Ben Wright,

has brought these three carriage clocks along.

The basic one is worth about £1,500.

The better one, worth £3,000.

The best - £30,000.

Now, I'm going to ask our visitors what they think,

but I also thought I'd put some of our experts to the test to see if they know their onions.

I've got no idea about carriage clocks.

-That's why I've asked you.

-That's why you've asked me!

-So one of these clocks is worth 30,000?

-Yes, so be very careful.

-OK.

Now, it's all about movement - watches usually is about movements.

Here we have father and son, Philip Mould, our art expert of course,

-and Oliver.

-That's right.

-Welcome to the Roadshow.

Come on, then, put your money where your mouth is.

-All right, I think I'm going to go for this one.

-OK.

I'm going go to better and then I'm going to go to best.

-And why do you think this is the best one?

-Because it's the simplest.

I think that the most expensive is the one on the right here.

I think a close second is this one over here

and the least expensive - which, curiously, I like the most.

Is the most elaborate and beautiful. Basic? Right.

-That, I think, is too obvious to be the best one, that's the basic.

-OK.

That one has two buttons to the top. Yes - basic, better, best.

I reckon the best is probably this one

-and probably the medium expensive.

-The better one.

-Better one, yes, I reckon probably that one.

-This is the basic?

-That's the complete opposite of me.

Yeah, 'fraid so.

And if I'm really, really wrong, please can I come back and have me job next year?

No.

You are, of course, well known here at Wimbledon

and I gather you've already been speaking with Fiona.

And what you've brought me is not tennis related,

it's a wonderful fruit service. Tell me about it.

Well, it was left me by my grandmother's cousin.

I admired it as a child, and she left it to me

and I really would love to know a little about it.

Yes, it does look so splendid when you set out a full dessert service

like this, as every grand Victorian home did.

They tended to vie with themselves to get the best

and most impressive set

to show off to their guests, and I think in this case,

your family did extremely well in choosing

something that sums up everything about Victorian taste.

What do you think of the design?

Oh, I love it. I've always had a soft spot for butterflies

and every one's different, and they even have butterflies on the back.

-Oh, it's right underneath there, as well, isn't it?

-So, I just love it.

These are three great Victorian obsessions

here, on a plate,

with the collecting of butterflies was such a popular pastime

and these are real specimens

and I suppose the painter at Royal Worcester who made this set

has just copied a collection of butterflies

to make them look as real as possible,

and they do look real on these plates, don't they?

But also, you've got the other Victorian love of ferns,

ferns and grasses.

Do you remember they used to stick specimens of ferns

and plants into albums

and it was a great fad to collect nature from the fields around.

And here, the painters at Worcester

have put a different flower on each piece.

What a background, isn't it?

With these little symbols. They're not tennis balls, are they?

These are Japanese symbols, little emblems.

They're family mons, crests, badges from ancient Japan.

And in 1876, when this was made, that was the taste of the time.

Not only are all the butterflies different, they're all superbly painted.

They might be by James Sheriff,

he was perhaps the best butterfly painter of Royal Worcester then, in the 1870s.

Do you have it on display?

No, sadly, it's been in the attic for many years, wrapped up safely,

but, having got it out for this event,

I've fallen in love with it again,

and I'm going to try and find somewhere

where I can display it at home.

It deserves to be seen, doesn't it?

I mean, you daren't use it because the painting is too delicate.

I mean, a typical full Victorian set were 12 plates,

with six of the comports or cake stands.

But to show off the impact of the whole design together,

you couldn't imagine a better site

and it's not inconsiderable value too.

-I suppose a set like this is today £3,000.

-Really? Thank you.

What an impact it makes.

From what I understand, your great-grandfather,

in the world of magic and illusion, was someone quite special.

-Can you just tell me a bit about him?

-Yes, sure.

From an early age, I think he realised that he could

entertain people by using magic and illusions.

And, after a career in the navy, he started, in the 1860s,

to perform illusions and magic generally, as a living.

Right.

He travelled all over the world,

so he was a globetrotter in the 19th century.

And when he was in America,

somebody came to one of his shows

and was inspired.

-Absolutely right, yes. He was doing a show in Milwaukee...

-Right.

..where one of the illusions was that he seemed to

cut a man into small pieces and then put him together again.

Right.

And in the audience was a young lad of five years old,

who later became Houdini.

And this young boy was found by his parents at the end of the show,

on the stage, at the foot of my great-grandfather...

Right.

..who was producing eggs out of his mouth, and fascinating the young boy.

And it's sort of in the family, isn't it?

Not only was your great-grandfather an illusionist

but also his son was then someone special.

-Yes, he was an illusionist, as well...

-OK.

..who also performed under the title of Dr Lynn.

-You see here, we've got my grandfather with Houdini.

-Right.

And this is the calling card that Houdini produced,

"Harry Handcuffs Houdini", when he visited my grandfather in the UK.

-In 1914, it's dated.

-In 1914.

-Right.

-That's right.

But I suppose that my grandfather never hit the dizzy heights

of my great-grandfather...

-Yes.

-..who, for example, performed for people like Victor Hugo.

Absolutely. We've got a little translation,

a transcript of everything that he says - he's absolutely gushing

with enthusiasm about how wonderful he is at performing

and, you know, wants him to come again and do other tricks as well,

-doesn't he?

-Yes.

It is a fantastic sort of archive of material you've got here,

you know, the fact that he inspired Houdini,

the greatest illusionist that one can think of.

I think if you add up the whole lot - you showed me some other material that you have.

-Yes.

-Letters from your grandfather to Houdini.

-To Houdini.

I think you're looking at a collection that could easily

-be worth £10,000.

-Really?

Absolutely, it's a really, really staggering collection of material.

Well, that's interesting, because I wouldn't have thought

it would have amounted to as much as that.

Ben Wright, you set us

a fiendish task with these three carriage clocks.

One is basic, worth £1,500.

The better one is worth £3,000 and the best one - a whopping £30,000.

Now, I asked our visitors, I also asked some of our experts,

-all of whom came to different conclusions.

-Excellent.

The one conclusion we all came to is, none of us really knew what we were looking for.

So, where should we start?

This is a battle of the French against the English, essentially.

All three carriage clocks signed by the same maker - Charles Frodsham.

-Yes, that didn't help at all.

-No, it doesn't, does it? I'm really sorry about that.

I often come across carriage clocks on the Roadshow

that are signed by an English maker, sometimes a jeweller/retailer, that are, in fact, French.

-And why does that matter?

-That's a very good question.

The French made around - between 1850 and 1900 -

about 50,000 carriage clocks a year.

The English made about 20 a year.

The English carriage clocks were made by two or three main English carriage clockmakers,

and they were predominantly precision clockmakers.

They made marine chronometers and precision clocks for observatories.

And Charles Frodsham was the foremost amongst them, but he also retailed

French carriage clocks because he saw a market for more decorative ones.

What, he bought clocks from France and sold them under his own name?

Yes.

As did a myriad of English clockmakers and English jewellers.

OK, so, it's French versus English. So, which is the more valuable then?

The English is the rarer, and the English is the more valuable,

but the problem we've got is, all of them are signed Charles Frodsham.

So the question is - which one's English?

So, the closest to you - French.

This one - French.

This is your English one - signed on the dial, "London".

These two are signed "Charles Frodsham, Paris" actually.

-You may have missed that.

-I did.

-Yeah.

-And is that all... That's it?

-That's not quite all there is to it, no.

-Right. OK.

This looks as though it's going to be the better one,

-because it's an engraved case.

-I thought it was originally, yes.

It looks the part, beautifully engraved, but the movement's relatively simple,

it has a plain spring barrel on either side, one to tell the time,

one to strike the hours. It's very simple. If this didn't have the porcelain panels,

you'd see inside, the movement exactly the same. On this one, we've got lovely porcelain panels.

-These are lovely, absolutely beautiful.

-Aren't they beautiful?

-Mm.

-And so this is a cut above.

This, on the other hand, is your English carriage clock with extreme complexity inside.

You've got this slightly strange conical-shaped wheel,

and that's called the fusee. Only English carriage clocks used fusees,

and then it has two repeat buttons, which is most unusual, even for Frodsham -

I think it's a one-off. When you press this one, it strikes the hours,

and when you press this one, it repeats the quarter hours back to you.

It's an anomaly - I've no idea why.

The other thing is that this case is beautiful and refined. If you're a carriage clock collector,

this is the ultimate English carriage clock.

Hang on a minute. I thought this was basic,

this was better and this was best, just because it's so beautiful.

-Right.

-But in actual fact... I've got it completely wrong.

-So, this is basic.

-That's the basic.

This is better - these are the two French ones.

-Absolutely right.

-And the best...

-Is the plainest of all.

-..is the plainest.

-Sorry, bit of a swine, that one.

-And £30,000.

-£30,000.

-Why such a high figure?

It's cheap at £30,000.

In my opinion, it's worth £30,000 to £40,000

and it might even make £50,000 at auction for all the complexity,

the size, the maker's name, quality of the movement, everything about it.

-It's delightful.

-And I thought it was basic. What do I know?

At least you might have some tips if you have a carriage clock at home, you know what to look for now.

Or if you want to bring one along to the Roadshow -

to Ben or to our other clock experts - have a look at our locations -

you can check out where we're going to be coming to, on our website.

Vibrant, bold, colourful, modern.

You've brought in three fabulous lino cuts

which must be from the Grosvenor School of Art.

Yes, we think so, but we're not sure, because my elderly maiden aunt -

who lived in a very remote part of North Norfolk -

whose only interests were, as far as we knew as a family,

cats and ornithology.

And it wasn't until she died that we knew that she had this vibrant past.

-Absolutely.

-She didn't want us to know about it.

Well, I see one's signed U Fookes - that must be Ursula Fookes.

Yes, yes.

And, of course, she did go to the Grosvenor School of Art and studied

under Claude Flight in the late 1920s

and these are very rare lino cuts.

Have you got a whole group of them?

Well, I'll tell you how we came to have them,

because she didn't actually leave them to us.

What happened was that we were phoned by the auctioneer,

in Melton Constable - near where she lived -

to say, A, that she'd died, and B, were we interested in anything

that was coming up in a forthcoming auction.

And we said, "Well, if we let you have a ceiling of £200 to spend,

"could you please get some memorabilia,"

so we could remember her, really, because we did like her very much.

And then about a month later in the post, came a bundle.

And in the bundle was a range of these lino cuts

and we suddenly realised that she had this very creative side.

What an interesting life.

The Grosvenor School lasted till about 1939,

and in the last great show of these modern prints at Birmingham,

she was represented. Claude Flight asked her to give him a few pictures

for that show, so he obviously rated her.

And it's rare to see her work, actually,

at auction - she's not that well represented

and I think, from 1939 onwards, she moved into other things.

She moved away from her artist work.

But, you know, this liner is kind of carving

right the way through the water.

It's a great, powerful design, simple in its colour

but particularly powerful. And then the figures with their umbrellas,

you feel they're really fighting against the wind...

-Yes.

-..and the rain, but what I particularly like - and my favourite - is the rugby players,

this great piece of colour and design beneath,

and the figures look very futuristic, almost machine-like.

These are very rare lino cuts, very strong,

and very sought-after in the present market.

The one at the top is signed and it's numbered "6 out of 50"

which means an edition, 6 out of 50.

That's worth at least £1,000 to £1,500 at auction.

Wow. Wow.

The umbrellas beneath is not signed and numbered

but still it's a great, great design, that,

and I think it's worth just as much as the other one - at least £1,000 to £1,500.

The rugby players - my favourite - I think that's really quite special

and I think that could make at least £1,500 to £2,500.

So, collectively, your folio is going to be worth many thousands of pounds.

Right...

What a...

LAUGHTER

What an amazing aunt!

What an amazing aunt.

So, I'm looking at a late-18th century Bohemian beaker.

It's a classic form, there's no question.

But this is a version with a difference,

because there's a wonderful Catholic bishop's armorial on here

and you know all about it, don't you?

It was in the household of Pope Pius VII

and the reason I know that

is because my grandma - who gave it to me -

went to the V&A 40 years ago

to see an expert, see, what is this?

-And they wrote her a letter, so, do you want to...

-OK.

So, it's from a keeper of the library at the V&A and he's saying,

"I've now identified the coats of arms engraved and painted onto

"the glasses belonging to Gregorio Barbara Chiaromonti,

"successively Bishop of Tivoli and Bishop of Imola,

"then Pope Pius VII, 1800-1823".

So, that fits in with the date.

So, this belonged to Pope Pius VII

and there's a great story about Pope Pius, isn't there?

Well, he's well known for the coronation of Napoleon,

because there was controversy over

the fact that the Pope was supposed to put the crown on his head.

Napoleon took the crown, put it on his head.

And what an explosive story that is.

Here is the crown heading towards him, and he grabs it out of the Pope's hands.

And whacks onto his own head, usurping the power of the church,

asserting the power of the state over the church.

And here you have a little artefact that tumbles out of history to us,

and ends up in our hands today - it's brilliant.

Where did it come from? I mean, was this...?

So, my grandmother got it in a junk shop 40 years ago,

and gave it to me, so...

-How fab is that?

-Yeah.

-This all holds water.

-This seems to me to be right.

-Yes.

And that's great documentary evidence,

because you can have a coat of arms which means absolutely nothing.

-Yes.

-Or you have a coat of arms that means a lot.

-Yeah, yeah.

-So... And that's value adjusting.

-Yeah.

Because if you have an enamelled armorial on a glass of this date,

that just came without the story...

-Yes.

-..then you're £250 to £300.

-Right.

But you add the story,

-and you triple the value...

-Right.

..turning your £200-£300 glass into one that,

if it were to sell for less than £1,000, I'd eat a bishop's hat.

SHE LAUGHS Thank you very much.

Well, I hope most people looking at this portrait,

would recognise it as being Admiral Lord Nelson

and I see from looking at the labels near to

the other little objects you've brought along as well,

that they're also supposed to be related to Nelson.

-So, are you a descendant of Nelson's?

-No, I'm not a descendant.

I work at the Royal Hospital School in Suffolk,

which is a school that was founded in 1712.

And how does Nelson relate to the school?

Nelson actually served on the school's committee

from 1801 to 1805 and was essentially a governor of the school.

And all these things, have they been donated to the school?

Well, we believe so.

Certainly, the dirk there at the back,

that was donated, by Vice Admiral Parry, to the school in 1948.

Well, looking at the piece itself, it certainly is of the period of Nelson.

This is a naval dirk that would have been carried by...

perhaps a junior officer, I have to say, at the time.

But let's look at some of the other objects you've brought in, as well.

You've brought in a little tiny heart-shaped pendant

with a letter "N".

Now, I guess that N is supposed to represent Nelson, is it?

On the documentation we've got,

it's referred to as a jewel that Nelson gave to Lady Hamilton.

And this watch movement - we haven't got the whole watch,

the watch case isn't here - but if you look on the movement,

it says,

"Admiral Nelson, Lord of the Nile, August 1798".

Now, that, of course, commemorates the Battle of the Nile.

But just looking further, we've got a pair of little shoe buckles

and a magnifying glass.

-Yes.

-Let's actually take a closer look at one or two of these items.

Looking firstly at the little heart-shaped pendant,

the capital letter N is very much a block capital.

Now, that wasn't the sort of style of N - style of letter -

that was used around 1800-1805,

it wasn't that style.

And, in fact, I can date that to about 1870,

so that could not possibly have been given to Emma Hamilton, I'm afraid.

-What a shame.

-I know, it is!

Looking at the watch,

it's absolutely of that period,

so the watch, there is a possibility that could be genuine.

Move on to the shoe buckles - rather than being shoe buckles,

which is what the label says - I think are breeches buckles,

which went around the bottom of the leg of the breeches.

-Right, just here, then?

-Yeah, exactly, just there.

Certainly, these could date to that period.

Looking at the eyeglass, there are quite a number of eyeglasses

in collections all over the world,

all purporting to have been used by Nelson, and in fact he did have

quite bad eyesight in his remaining eye, so he did use an eyeglass.

But the difficulty is in the provenance,

and unless it can be proved absolutely,

-to go back from present day...

-Yeah.

-..right back to Nelson,

then it's impossible to prove that the item is absolutely genuine.

However, looking at values,

the dirk is going to be worth

£200 to £300 in that condition.

If it can be proven that it belonged to Nelson,

that could be worth £20,000 to £30,000.

The heart-shaped pendant, we know,

could not possibly have been given to Emma Hamilton by Nelson.

And that's worth £100.

Looking at the eyeglass,

and the buckles, £40. £50, perhaps.

Looking at the watch, now...

again, if that can be proved,

that takes the value from a few hundred pounds, which it's worth

without any provenance,

to £30,000-£40,000,

if that can be proved that it belonged to Nelson.

-But you can't prove it!

-We need to get up in the attic.

-And that's the tragedy.

Anyway, look, let's go to the value of the picture now.

This is a wonderful portrait of Nelson. But I can't value it.

But I know a man who can.

Philip Mould is one of our picture experts here today and he happens

to be a specialist in portraits, so I think we should show that to him.

Thank you very much indeed.

Do you know, I rarely get to write a cheque these days.

-The cheque is a dying kind of entity, isn't it?

-Absolutely, yes.

But, had I had £7,350 in 1969,

I would have been writing a pretty meaty cheque.

Now, let's look at the signature,

because that kind of says why it's for such a lot of money.

-It's signed "George Harrison", one of The Beatles.

-Absolutely, yes.

Why have you got one of George Harrison's cancelled cheques?

Well, we were a small family business specialising in high-performance sports cars

and quite a lot of celebrities came in to buy cars from us,

even though we were a small company. George Harrison came in one day

and he wanted to buy two Jensen Interceptors -

I'm not quite sure why he wanted two -

and, at some stage, he must have changed his mind.

And I think it might have been because, at that time,

we were selling De Tomaso sports cars

and I do believe that he bought one of those instead.

He went for the Italian option, obviously. It's a bit of a shame.

But maybe... Was that twice the price? I don't know.

-I think it probably was, yes.

-Yeah, what a fascinating little story.

-So, obviously the cheque was cancelled.

-It was.

-I presume he wrote a new cheque...

-He did.

-..for the De Tomaso.

It's a really, very interesting little collectable item

and how did it survive?

-Was it a conscious decision that was made?

-Not at all, no.

In fact, it was just among my papers,

because I was also company secretary, and I lost it.

I remembered seeing it, and I lost it, and three days ago

my son was clearing out his bedroom -

which is very unusual - and he found it.

I thought, "Well, I'll pop it along and show it to someone

-"at the Antiques Roadshow."

-Well, that's very fortunate because - and very fortunate that you found it -

for the simple reason that it's actually worth £1,000.

-Wow, that's amazing for a piece of paper.

-For a cancelled cheque.

-Yes.

Yes, but, of course, it has a great little history, it's George Harrison.

I just think it's a fabulous little object with a great family history.

-Thank you very much.

-My pleasure.

I know you've been talking to Graham Lay

and I gather you've had some rather sort of bad news,

that your Nelson items are not perhaps exactly what you hoped for.

Well, I'm going to be working very hard on the provenance

over the next few months, so I live in hope.

Right. And head boy and head girl, am I right in thinking?

-How do you feel about that?

-Bit disappointing that we can't prove it.

Yeah, I bet. He was - after all, you know -

the greatest figure associated with your school. But let's go to the face, the body, the portrait.

The delight about dealing with a painting, or, in this case,

a drawing, is you can work out if it does have the characteristics

of an artist who was associated with the great man, in this case, Nelson.

Now, the characteristics of this picture would suggest

the work of an artist called Henry Edridge.

I'm not saying whether it IS by Edridge or not yet,

but Edridge is a really interesting man, because he goes

from a miniature painter - and you can look at the quality of that face

and see that this is the work of someone who's used to working

with tiny tools in a very minute way - to slightly longer portraits.

In fact, he developed his own particular type of Edridge look,

it was a sort of mannequin full length, very much like this.

Now, the next question is,

what do you know about the history of this drawing?

This seems to have been gifted to the school

in 1854 by a Sir Everard Home

who apparently acquired it from Earl St Vincent - or his father did -

in the 1820s.

So, is it something that has sort of grown to be part of the school?

I mean, have you guys come across it? Do you see it regularly?

We have it on the wall as we go into our boarding house

and it's just there every day, we see it and don't take much notice.

You don't show it respect?

Well, ball games have been played around it,

-and, luckily, it hasn't been hit.

-Right.

Well, let's look at the face of the guy you play ball games around, OK.

Because I think this is a peculiarly potent image of the great man.

I mean he is, after all, you know, the greatest naval hero -

probably in many ways the greatest hero in English history.

But the delight about this particular image

is that there's a lot of the individual man.

You know, the date of this is going to be late-18th century,

he's lost his arm. He's lost the sight of one eye.

We know this man was in great pain, but we also know that

he was a man of tremendous valour, huge bravery.

And looking into those eyes, looking into those features,

I think there's a side of the man that we don't normally encounter

in those rather brassy oil paintings.

So, this is about 1798, 1799, 1800.

He's getting famous.

The individual that we know as Nelson was becoming recognised,

but, of course, it's five years away until the Battle of Trafalgar.

So, I'm now going to come to whether or not it is by Edridge,

and I have to say, I know his work pretty well

and there's a very particular type of crosshatching.

In other words, I think this IS by Edridge,

so it's getting a little bit more exciting.

I know that this is just the sort of image of the great Lord Nelson

that many collectors across the world would almost die for.

Why?

Because you have the great man, the hero, the victor of Trafalgar

who tragically died, with ships behind on one level.

You've also got the soul of the man, as well.

You have both aspects of the great hero.

I think this picture is worth about £100,000.

Wow! Wow!

Amazing.

Well, hopefully we'll make sure that the ball games stop

and we put it on show

so that the public can see it, as well as the students, I think.

-Are you going to show a bit more respect to it in the future?

-Of course!

Well, isn't that a fantastic antidote to the disappointment of the other Nelson objects?

And I'm reliably informed now that the school is going to set aside a room as a kind of museum,

and that sketch will take pride of place within it.

We've had such a great day here at Wimbledon.

What a thrill to be at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

Do you know, there are days when I love my job.

Until next time, from the whole Roadshow team, bye-bye.