Lulworth Castle 2 Antiques Roadshow

Welcome back to Lulworth Castle,

a spectacular 17th-century hunting lodge once graced by kings

and famous for its gorgeous interiors and priceless heirlooms.

But now it's an empty shell.

Today, the Antiques Roadshow is back in Dorset,

in a castle with a dramatic tale to tell.

In the 1920s, Lulworth Castle was the home of Herbert Weld,

a true eccentric.

He'd been a naturalist and an explorer,

a correspondent during the Boer War,

and was described as, "Highly intelligent...but cranky."

Herbert threw himself into modernising and restoring the house.

But then, disaster struck.

On 29th August 1929, his castle became headline news.

Fire. It started at the top of the northeast tower but,

as molten lead dripped down into the building, it quickly spread.

A motley team of people arrived to rescue the castle's heirlooms -

villagers, priests, men from the local tank corps,

even 36 Girl Guides who were camping nearby!

Slowly, the priceless antiques began to pile up on the lawn -

furniture, paintings, carpets, curtains -

and in the middle of it all,

Herbert Weld sat, slumped in a chair,

disconsolate, watching his castle burn.

Herbert never realised his ambition of restoring the castle

but now, at least, it has a roof.

It's not quite as good as new,

but the beautiful shell is here for us all to admire.

Today, the lawns of Lulworth Castle

are once again littered with what may turn out to be priceless heirlooms.

Our experts will tell us.

It's got to be one of THE most famous images in the world.

It's got to be in every club, it's got to be

in every far-flung outpost of Commonwealth,

-and wasn't she pretty?

-Undoubtedly.

And when you see a painting like this of the Queen,

the radiance just shines out at you.

It's stunning.

This hangs in our home,

and many people would find that possibly quite intimidating.

But there's something very calm about it and very natural.

And there's a gentle smile on her face.

-You do feel presided over, don't you?

-You do, yes.

-Certainly straightens the tie!

-But it's very natural to you,

because it's by Beatrice Johnson and she was...?

-Yes, she was my great-aunt.

-I see.

She died in...2000, aged 94.

She was a very reclusive character actually,

-and hid her light under a bushel all her life.

-Really?

And it would be with the greatest embarrassment if she saw this today.

But, er, the time has come, really, to reveal her true talent again.

-She was a photographer first. This is her camera, isn't it?

-She was.

She was a society and royal photographer

with the famous Dorothy Wilding studio,

which started in the early 1920s.

Beatrice joined Dorothy Wilding in '23.

So this painting was the result of a photographic sitting -

a formal one - with Dorothy Wilding,

who must have taken a number of photographs.

-Yes, she did.

-This, presumably, is one of them?

-Yes. There we are.

That's the photograph from which this painting is done - is that right?

-Exactly.

-There's something stunningly glamorous about that image.

Yes, it is. Incredible, isn't is?

I mean, it's the extraordinary ubiquity of this image -

you see it absolutely everywhere.

And the palace supplied the sample of material...

That's her dress - that's actually the material from the dress.

Was this given to your great-aunt at the time?

Yes, it was supplied, along with various other bits and pieces,

to assist her with the painting.

Just to give some idea of the colours,

to help her sort of render it right?

-Yes.

-And how many of these do you think she painted, then?

We simply don't know - there are three in the family.

A similar one to this, of this size,

but you can see the chair she's sitting on.

And another one of my aunts has a smaller image - just the bust -

which is more similar to the stamp image.

But there are many others around the world.

We certainly know there's one in Australia.

We've got evidence - letters - to support that.

It's just such a familiar thing -

it is such a symbol of empire and Commonwealth and patronage, and...

-It is.

-It's also something about the colours -

it screams the 1950s, actually, doesn't it?

These lovely, sort of, er, slightly pastel colours here,

and the brilliance of the eyes.

Now, we've got to value it, of course.

Slightly worried by the amount she seems to have done,

and not really sure how many embassies have this image.

And yet, it's such an iconic thing and it does come straight from her -

from your family - so that's got to all help.

I would have thought that it's got to be worth

between £4,000 and £6,000.

Not a HUGE amount, but I wouldn't be at all surprised

if there are monarchists all over the Commonwealth who would like to own this.

-It's such a wonderful image.

-Thank you. We're very proud of her.

We seem to have a miniature garden laid out on the table before us.

What can you tell me about this miniature garden?

-Well, unfortunately, it doesn't belong to me.

-That's a shame.

-I wish!

But I've known of their existence - they belong to a very dear friend,

and I go and have a peer in their cabinet every time I go round.

-So they're behind glass?

-Behind glass.

-And he acquired them from his father.

-Right.

So we know they're quite old. What I do know for certain

is there's two examples in Queen Mary's doll's house.

Well, I can tell you a bit about them.

They're made, unbelievably,

out of a metal alloy,

which is modelled by hand to create these wonderful, intricate

and botanically quite accurate models.

Once they've been made, they're then coloured by hand

using oil paint, and they're made by this lady

called Beatrice Hindley whose name appears just there.

And Beatrice had quite good connections.

She was asked by that goddess of garden design, Gertrude Jekyll,

to design the garden for Queen Mary's doll's house.

-Oh, right, so she had quite a hand in it, then?

-She had quite a hand in it.

I think Gertrude designed the layout

and Beatrice actually made the plants.

She also made the plants for another famous doll's house,

begun in 1922 by Sir Neville Wilkinson, called Titania's Palace.

I also know, in 1927,

Beatrice had an exhibition in Cork Street in London,

where she exhibited these and they were for sale.

It's possible that these ones

were bought around that time from an exhibition.

-Right.

-But the glamour doesn't stop there!

When Beatrice Hindley died,

she had a complete representative selection

of all the flowers that she made,

-and she left that collection to the Queen.

-Wow!

And displayed in cabinets at Sandringham

is the definitive collection

-of these wonderful metal flowers.

-So if I went there, I could...

I'm not sure whether they're on display,

but you could ask Her Majesty if you could have a look!

But these are the domain of royalty -

the best collection belongs to Her Majesty the Queen.

-Wow!

-Some of them are quite common and turn up all the time -

like the tulip there, and like the daffodil.

That's another common one.

But some others, like these wonderful, exuberant lilies...

-And the agapanthus.

-Love that one!

-Which is one of my favourites.

But possibly my most favourite is the standard fuchsia.

You can see from the way it's wobbling, it's got a wire stem.

But you see these so rarely. And this is a jewel for the collector.

Just that one there is worth £500.

Well, yeah.

And then we can go on, and I would say, probably,

the nasturtium is worth 300, 350.

Do a little bit of maths and you can quite easily get to 3,500, £4,000.

-Wow! Well, Ian will be pleased.

-He WILL be pleased, won't he?

I understand this wonderful desk escaped the fire

which was in the castle, and it survived.

Well, fortunately - or unfortunately -

a widow whose husband had been killed in the war,

he made a trench will and left all the chattels in the castle to her.

This was only discovered in 1929,

literally just before the fire in July.

She sued the family and took all the chattels.

But glad to say she put them up for auction in early 1930,

-and this was brought back into the family then.

-So the whole thing's come back?

Whole thing's come back and it's been with us ever since.

It's made of the finest Cuban mahogany.

-Look at the colour of that top - isn't that wonderful?

-Fantastic.

It just sings to you.

It's a remarkable piece of furniture and, er,

obviously you know what it is - an apothecary piece.

Either an apothecary's chest - it's always known in the family as an apothecary's chest -

or a collector's chest, because if you sniff the drawers,

-they don't smell of any chemicals or herbs or anything.

-Right.

So it leads me to believe perhaps it was more likely to be

for a collection of something, rather than medicinal purposes.

-Can we just open the sides?

-Yes, certainly.

I'll open this side and you're going to pull the drawers that side.

-How many drawers are there?

-421, including the one in the middle.

-Right, right. So, who do you think made this piece of furniture?

-We...

It's attributed to William Hallett, but there's no...

Nothing to authenticate it - no bills or anything like that.

Well, I can agree that it's possibly by him,

but there are also other leading cabinet makers of the 18th century,

who were, again, supplying important properties

with important pieces like this.

It's all in the detail. When we look at this brush and slide,

when we look in the centre, it's almost like a little heart there.

-Yep.

-And you've got this wonderful gadrooning, going left and right,

along the brush and slide.

It just works. And you've got locks on these tiny little drawers.

Locks were hugely expensive, so no expense was spared.

I think when this was made, they just said, "Do it. Just do it."

I love the idea that you've got this...

-what we call a shaped ogee bracket foot.

-Yeah.

And this, like, scrollwork underneath. It's unbelievable!

It's beautiful. The colour of the wood there - the mahogany -

is like toffee, isn't it?

-It's a fantastic piece, isn't it?

-It's absolutely beautiful.

-Amazing.

Beautiful. The date - I would date this at around 1740, 1750.

It's oak-lined. Lovely little dovetails.

We've got the original handles.

These bolts have never been disturbed

and with an 18th-century piece,

what we like to see is the drawer linings running from back to front.

And that's it - everything's there.

-It fits perfectly.

-Yeah.

It's absolutely fantastic.

I can't believe how good this is, in the condition.

English furniture of this quality has rocketed.

And I would...

For an insurance valuation, I would be quite comfortable in saying

-this should be insured for at least £200,000.

-Yep.

It is such an important piece of English furniture.

-It takes my breath away. It's absolutely stunning.

-Great.

Well, thank you very much.

What sort of person do you think would have used an enormous watch like this?

Well, I don't have a clue, really,

but I've been told he was an RAF pilot during the war.

-Right.

-Brought it down for a friend so I don't know much, perhaps.

-OK.

Well, it's actually worn by a German aviator.

Very, very much used by the German Luftwaffe,

and you can see it's a massive watch.

And if you can imagine it compared to a normal-sized watch,

why do you think it might have been that big?

-I don't know, I'm sure. You tell me!

-Right, OK.

Well, it would have had a very, very thick strap -

a big leather strap - and it fastened up outside the sleeve

of the flying jacket, so the chap could sit in a cockpit still warm,

and he didn't have to pull his sleeve back to look at his watch.

It was there, on his wrist. So, big, easy-to-read watch.

Wonderful luminous dial, centre seconds. Great object. Lovely thing.

So... let's have a quick look at the inside, and just pop the back open.

And there we have the details that you want to see there.

And here we are - it's Laco.

Now, I'm just going to press that, start the watch...and there we go.

It's a lovely, lovely grade movement,

typically dating from the early 1940s.

-And does anybody wear it now?

-I wouldn't have thought so!

-No?

You see, I would be happy, occasionally, to wear a watch like this.

Slightly ostentatious, but a lot of fun.

A lot of people are very, very keen now on military watches -

and particularly Luftwaffe wristwatches.

-Highly collectable, both here and on the Continent.

-Yeah.

Starting price at auction for something like that would be

-in the region of £1,200.

-No!

-Ooh, yeah.

Really? He'll be pleased.

And say to him, it could happily run up to 1,500 or 1,600.

Could it really? Good. That's good news for somebody - not me.

LAUGHTER

Well, I tell you something - if it had its strap, I'd just wear it

for the rest of the afternoon, just for the sheer pleasure!

Now, it's not often we see stocks at the Antiques Roadshow -

I don't think we've ever seen them before.

What are you doing with this?

Well, we run a charity called Dorset Reclaim, which collects things for people in need.

We had these handed in as part of a collection one day,

about nine months ago.

We've been sat on them, not knowing what to do with them.

Presumably, the idea's to sell them and use the money to buy furniture for people that need it?

The idea is to raise money for Dorset Reclaim, to keep the prices

as low as we can for the stuff

we actually pass on to low-income families.

Well, I can think of one expert who could possibly use this over here.

David Battie. David?

-Yes, Fiona?

-Just turn this way, have a look.

-Oh!

-Now, that's what I'm threatening you with if you become grumpy today.

As long as you're in the other side, Fiona, I'm for it.

-One's tempted to say, "Who's a pretty boy, then?"

-Oh, dear!

Tell me the story about the parrot.

It was a gift from my parents for one Christmas,

and I'd seen them in a shop in Weston and I just fell in love with them.

That's the thing, isn't it? Sometimes you just fall in love.

-Absolutely.

-I can tell exactly why you fell in love with him.

-Made in the island Murano.

-Right.

Very, very famous glass-making.

In the 13th century, the Venetians got all the glass-makers

to move out of the city because of the danger of fire,

so they moved on to the island and stayed there to this day.

And they went into a bit of the doldrums in the early 20th century,

the glass-making factories, but this lovely chap

comes from a period in the '50s and '60s

when they were really using great designers.

He's by somebody called Lucio Zanetti and,

with his father Oscar, they set up a factory in 1956.

And I think he comes from the early '60s.

Lucio was well known for these fabulous glass sculptures

and, you know, when you think about Murano,

there's lots of tourist ware.

-Yes, there is.

-But our dear parrot here is not a piece of tourist ware.

He's a rather fine example. What do you call the parrot?

He's called Louis, because it seems a rather elegant name for a bird.

What's great about him is you really feel as if he's looking at me.

-He's got his beady eye on you, yes!

-Tell me what you love about him.

Well, I love the shape of how he's done the eyes

and the sculpture of that beautiful beak.

-And just that line to him.

-It just flows, very elegantly.

Exactly. That's what he is - simple and elegant lines.

A really beautiful-looking bird.

And he's worth a little bit of money.

I've seen a seal by Lucio Zanetti that sold for 1,000.

-I think our parrot here is rather better than that.

-Oh, my goodness!

So I think he would sell for anywhere between £800 and £1,200.

How absolutely lovely. Thank you so much.

In 20 years of doing the Roadshow,

I can certainly say this is the first time

I've ever seen a set of stocks.

-Yeah.

-Do you know anything about the history of stocks?

Well, only what you see on the TV or in the paper.

Well, of course, stocks have been with us since the medieval times.

Indeed, in the late 14th century, a law was passed saying that

-every village and town had to have a pair of stocks.

-Really?

The people that were put in stocks -

it tended to be for fairly minor offences.

Petty larceny... If you were a drunk or a vagrant,

you used to go in the stocks for anything from a few hours to a few days.

And the passers-by, if they didn't like you,

they used to shout at you or throw vegetables.

-The really unkind ones, apparently, used to tickle the feet of the people that were in there.

-Yes!

But by the Victorian times, they thought they were really antiquated

and not something they should be associated with, so they died out.

Although you do, obviously, still see some on village greens. Have you tried them?

-I haven't, but I'm willing to try.

-Shall we give it a go?

-I think so.

-All right. So the side lifts up here, does it?

-It is, yes.

-Yeah.

My feet...

Feet go through. LAUGHTER

-And the guilty parties are in.

-Gently does it.

-Anybody got any rotten fruit?

-LAUGHTER

-How does it feel in there?

-A bit numb.

-You wait till you've been in there three days!

-Yeah.

Have you had any offers?

One dealer did say, "I'll give you £300 for 'em."

-And did you accept or not?

-No.

-How old do you think they are?

-I'm not sure.

-Maybe 100, 150 years old, maybe.

-OK.

I think the wood is certainly old - that's a good piece of oak,

dating back several hundred years.

But if you look at the iron mounts, definitely date from...

1880s, 1900, that sort of period, and also, if you lift this up,

I notice that the oak here...

There's very little wear there, where you might expect some

if people had been in it for literally hundreds of years.

So I think, probably, these stocks were made as a novelty item in,

-er...1900, something like that.

-OK.

-All right?

Consequently, I think the offer of 300 was very good,

-and if the guy still holds you to it, you should go back and grab it.

-OK, will do.

I'm glad that I'm out of your reach so you can't disagree with me!

Thank you so much for bringing them in.

This is a collection of memorabilia in celebration of John Porter.

I have to say, until you arrived and told me,

I didn't know much about him,

but he was a phenomenal motorcycling engineer and TT racer.

-Yes.

-A relation of yours?

Yes, he was my grandfather and he designed and built his own motorbike,

and he raced it all over the place - the Isle of Man and Germany.

And he won the TT for Scotland in 1923 and '24,

on the same motorbike -

-I think it's the first time it's ever happened.

-Incredible.

-And I seem to recognise this little girl.

-Yes, that was me!

-I think I was two then.

-You haven't changed a bit.

-Thank you!

You've obviously taken trouble to put all this archive -

some of it's on view at the moment - into frames.

And here we can see him building the frame.

And he obviously was an engineer of great repute.

In Scotland, I understand?

Yes, in Edinburgh. Yes, he had his own shop - motorbike garage -

and he built his bikes there and they were called the New Gerrard.

Oh, yes. And in addition to what we've got here is obviously

-the two trophies from the TT, which he won on consecutive years.

-Yes, 1923 and '24, yes.

-And he went to Germany?

-Yes.

And won the motoring Grand Prix over there.

-Yes, he's won several trophies.

-An amazing achievement!

Can I ask you what happened to the actual original motorbikes?

-My father did leave me one and, er, unfortunately, I sold it.

-Oh!

But you kept the memorabilia.

It was cluttering up the garage, unfortunately.

LAUGHTER

-Was that a quick look behind you? Yes, it was.

-We'll leave that point.

And I'm very sad it has gone, but there you are.

You've got the trophies, you've got the memorabilia

and you've got the archive.

Interest in motorcycling over the last ten years has gone up tenfold.

Has it really?

Interest in early motorcycling is stronger than it's ever been,

and prices are according.

And this is just a small sample, what you've brought.

I mean, these individual trophies for TT races,

-you're talking about £2,000 or £3,000 each.

-Goodness me!

So you multiply that by what you've got here, and the photographs.

The archive as a whole,

we're talking about probably £12,000 to £18,000.

Goodness me! SHE GASPS

-Wow!

-But, obviously, they're family pieces.

-Oh, I couldn't sell them.

-No, no.

-I'm delighted to hear it.

-They've lasted this long!

LAUGHTER

As a lover of all things Australian,

of course I'm very excited by a kangaroo.

But this is a kangaroo with a difference,

cos reading the little badge on the front -

boomerang-shaped - I can see the magic name "Amy Johnson".

Now, why is this Amy Johnson's kangaroo?

Well, my grandfather took on Amy Johnson as a secretary.

-Early in her life?

-Early in her life.

She came down to London to work, met Grandfather

and then eventually became his personal assistant.

And then, at the same time, started to learn to fly at Croydon.

She then left to take up flying full-time.

-And the rest, as they say...

-The rest is history, that's right.

She became one of THE great flying aces of that period.

She died in 1941, in rather mysterious circumstances,

as an air transport auxiliary pilot, and no-one really knows -

as one never will - quite what happened.

-And so she went to Australia and brought this back.

-Correct.

-It hopped all the way back.

-That's right.

And I see the little panel says,

"Presented to Miss Amy Johnson

"by the president & committee of the West Brighton Club,

"Middle Brighton, Victoria, 1930." Do you know about that club?

Initially, because of the connections, we thought it was a flying club.

My brother did some research six years ago

only to find it's not a flying club at all.

-It's just a private club.

-And she was just a guest there?

And she was an honorary guest there, so we made contact with them,

and they said, "Yes, she did come here."

They've got, in the cabinet, pictures of her attendance.

And so she brought it back, she said to your granddad,

"Here you are - you have the kangaroo."

She and her husband used to go and visit my grandparents

on a regular basis.

I'm very interested to see that, actually,

the great Amy Johnson started out quite an ordinary life

as a secretary in a solicitor's office,

earning her living and paying, somehow, her flying lessons.

And then, suddenly, you know, it all gets going.

So that's a wonderful insight into how she was.

The other thing, of course, is, this is a kangaroo with two stories.

This is what is called cold-painted bronze.

It was made in Austria in the late 19th century or early 20th century.

It's cast in bronze and it's hand-coloured,

with all the naturalistic details.

That tells us that this is a great object in great condition.

If you just brought me the kangaroo, I would say to you, £1,200,

but you've brought me one which is different. That's the other story.

You've brought me a kangaroo with that bit,

which is the Amy Johnson bit, and at that point

it probably becomes at least double that.

So £1,200, £1,500 becomes £3,000 simply because of the association.

Thank you very much. It's not going anywhere,

-obviously, because it's a family object.

-It can bounce back home.

It certainly can.

Here we are inside the castle.

Stone and brick enclosing us...

and these would've been enclosed in stone and brick,

-so who's the tomb robber?

-My grandfather, I believe,

although I was brought up to believe that my father was the tomb robber,

but I think because of the ages of them, I think it was my granddad.

-He was in China?

-He was.

-What was he doing out there?

He was a businessman.

-In, say, 1910, '20, '30, something like that?

-Yes.

Because it was at that time

that this class of ware began to flow to the West

and that people over in the West began to be interested

in what was coming out. In fact, a lot of it was dug up -

because these are tomb goods -

by the Swedish who were putting railways through China.

They'd do a cutting and there'd be tombs,

and in the tombs were bronzes. In the early 20th century,

there was not the knowledge or interest in China

in conservation that we've got today.

I mean, in those days, it was up for grabs,

they weren't interested. The Chinese do not buy grave goods.

-Even now?

-Even now. If these were sold,

they would not be sold to the Chinese.

Even though the Chinese market is doing that,

these would go to the Western market, particularly America.

-I didn't know that.

-What these are are ritual bronzes.

This is a vessel called a Gu.

It's beautifully moulded with wools and stiff leaves

and, of course, because of burial,

it's become encrusted with metallic oxides,

particularly copper oxide,

because there's a very high copper content in the metal.

And this one...

is a Jue, which is for pouring a libation.

They're always this very curious shape - the single wide lip

and two knobs on, and on three feet.

These both date from the Shang dynasty.

They're about 1,000 BC,

but they have survived in fairly large numbers.

This one is later.

This is the Song Dynasty, 960 to the 13th century.

This is a Hu, with these dragon handles and loose rings,

and this classic, heavy pear shape on a deep foot.

I've got one very similar to this.

I love it, I think it's wonderful stuff.

You probably wouldn't have to pay more than around £500, £600 for this.

-Oh.

-Is that disappointing?

That's not going to buy my daughter's house.

-No, houses are not an option.

-THEY LAUGH

The Jue is going to be around 1,000 to 1,500,

-and same again for that one, 1,000 to 1,500.

-That's brilliant.

-You look disappointed.

-You get a very small house!

-Yeah!

-You'd get a rabbit hutch for that.

-Enjoy them!

Around here we get a beach hut.

The name Lusitania, a Cunard vessel,

is a name that perhaps is not so familiar to people

as the name Titanic, which perhaps everybody knows.

The Titanic is famous for hitting an iceberg

on her maiden voyage and sinking.

The Lusitania, however, is a much more important story

because the Lusitania, this fastest, great liner

that did the transatlantic crossings,

was sunk by a German U-boat. Over 1,000 people were drowned

of which over 100 were American civilians,

and it was not the trigger immediately,

but it was what catapulted America eventually into the First World War.

So it is an incredibly important piece of 20th-century history.

And we have a piece of memorabilia here

which I find incredibly resonant.

First of all, tell me, who is the man in the photograph?

That's my late father, Frank.

And he was on the Lusitania at the time she was torpedoed.

"7th May, ship sunk off Kinsale."

He was obviously discharged on 8th May 1915.

The torpedo struck, I understand, at 12 minutes past two

and his watch was rusted at 2.28.

-The watch stopped when your dad hit the water?

-Yes.

-And the water entered.

-Yes.

He didn't speak about it very much

because he found it a very traumatic incident.

But he was in the water for five hours before he was picked up.

At one stage, he found a young boy swimming

who was obviously in difficulties,

and my father was a very strong swimmer, fortunately.

My father swam for some time with this little lad

with his hands clasped behind his neck.

But as time went on, it became obvious to him

that he had unfortunately passed away

and his own life, he felt... he was getting weaker.

And so, regrettably, he had to release him.

And I think it was that that stayed with him for the rest of his life.

-It was very traumatic, as you can imagine.

-Understandably.

If I may, I would like to just pick it up

because it's not often that

you get to handle an object which opens a door into world history.

Yes, I will always keep it.

What price? What price on a piece of world history?

-It's an absolute rubbish watch, I'm afraid.

-It is!

-I'm really sorry!

-I can't say that your dad had a brilliant watch.

-No, he didn't.

But it is the association that gives the significance.

Some Lusitania artefacts have appeared on the market in the past.

They always create a stir, particularly in the States.

I would see this, certainly,

fetching £1,000 at auction, if not more.

But that's not the point.

-The point is to say that this is an extraordinary object.

-Yes.

Thank you. Well, we, as a family, we are proud of it. Thank you.

You know, some people go all their lives

trying to build up a complete set of the Down-And-Outs

and here you have a complete set. How did you come by them?

They belonged to my husband's great-uncle

and they travelled down through the family from him.

My husband died 14 years ago

and so they are now part of my children's inheritance.

But they've always, in all the time I've known of them,

they've always been a box in the loft.

-Because they're just too precious to leave out.

-Yes, they are, really.

They are, of course, made in the 1880s

as a set of Down-And-Outs.

They're poor old characters who've come down on their luck.

This chap has been in the war. He's lost a leg.

Here, I suppose, a driver of a coach. They're all sorts of people.

Two little boys who are happy to do a job.

Which is carrying sandwich boards on their backs

on the cobbles of London's streets.

And what they're for is for putting menu cards over their backs.

Like a sandwich board. You serve them at the table

and you see what the menu is.

Menus hanging down back and front so you can tell what you've got to eat.

Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, whatever it is. And there they are!

Made as a complete set of six. Marvellous of you to get them.

They're in pretty good condition, aren't they?

This one has got a slight problem

in that it was probably dropped at one stage.

But the rest are in incredible condition. So there you are.

A few years ago, these fetched a considerable amount.

Everybody was trying to get a complete set.

And I suppose they were

going for something around about £1,500 as a set.

But now the price has dropped a little bit.

I think some have built up their complete sets.

But still, I think even nowadays,

a full set of six as good as these

is going to fetch you something like about £1,000.

-Lovely, thank you very much. That's good.

-Not bad for Down-And-Outs!

I usually see individual pieces of jewellery which is fantastic.

But it's very special when you see a collection of jewellery

because it's showing a little insight

into the person that originally owned it.

Who was the original person who owned this collection?

It was passed down to me by my gran and I believe it to be her mum's,

and maybe even her mother's.

-So when you first received this, what did you think?

-Wow!

Obviously, I don't know what it's worth and I'm not really sure

when which pieces were made.

-OK, and have you worn them?

-I haven't worn them all.

-But I have worn a few of them.

-Jewellery should always be worn.

And not just one, lots of it.

-So put it all on!

-Put it all on! Exactly!

What I love about this is because it's telling me

a little bit of history of what was going on at the time as well.

You have here, for instance, a beautiful diamond-hinged bangle,

about 1890 the diamonds were cut.

There are inclusions inside because, at that time,

they were cutting mainly for weight

rather than trying to get the perfect diamond

that we expect today.

But as we can see in the sunlight, it is absolutely gleaming away.

So that's about 1895-1900. We have as well, over here,

we have these pearls.

What is lovely about these

is that they are natural perils. They're not cultured pearls.

I can tell that because of the texture, a slight hammering effect.

Then we have this wonderful brooch.

-Have you worn this one?

-I have.

I'm not sure what stone it is. I'd be interested to find out.

Well, it is an aquamarine.

And during this period, about 1900,

they loved the quieter, sort of pastoral colours of the time.

And this is very much indicative of that sort of period.

But the one I love is this little bird.

It's quite interesting, isn't it?

It is so beautiful.

People often ask me, "What kind of period do you like?"

And I say, "I like all periods, what I love is craftsmanship."

And what is lovely... They are rose-cut diamonds.

This is when a diamond has been cut with a flat back and a faceted top.

But what is beautiful is that, if I turn it around,

you see how the attention to detail,

it's still engraved on the back,

even when you don't see it.

Only you, the wearer will know

that there is that extra detail at the back.

And it has, of course, the little ruby eye for passion.

The red for passion. Diamonds are for ever.

"My passion is with you forever." Possibly.

I think it's just fabulous, I love it.

Collectively, you are looking

in the region of between £7,000-£10,000 for the collection.

I think it's wonderful to see this, such an array of different jewels.

And wear them.

-Thank you so much for bringing it in.

-Thank you.

It's by far the nicest clock I've seen all day.

Are you a bit of a clockie? A bit of an enthusiast?

-I am a little bit, an amateur.

-How many have you got?

-14.

-And is this your nicest?

-This is my nicest.

-How long have you had this?

-Just over 30 years.

It was left to my mother by an old school friend

and then when my mother passed away, I collected it.

It is lovely and most unusual.

Obviously, the case is mahogany.

And the dial is so unusual for a London clock.

For the simple reason that it is painted

with a circular enamel dial.

I'm not familiar with John Pilkington,

-have you done any research?

-No, none at all.

But the main thing is that, up in the arch,

we have wonderful automata.

A slight bit of damage to the dial, but nothing that can't be sorted.

And then, of course, we've got a concentric date.

Now, the one winding square is the giveaway that we've only got

a timepiece movement, not a striker.

I'll just whip it round there and then we can have a look

at the tapered plates, verge escapement,

lovely little movement, little bob pendulum.

There we go.

And as I turn it round,

-the automata should be starting to work, with any luck.

-Hopefully.

And you reckon it will just take us a couple of minutes.

He's coming down.

He's been up, he's now coming down.

Down here, we are going to see the white bird appear, are we?

-He should do.

-He's very small, is he?

-He could be shy.

-How small is he?

-Miniscule.

Well, while we're waiting for him to disappear

and the white bird to appear...

From my angle, he's there.

-Can you see the white bird?

-Yes, I'm trying to lure him out.

-Here he comes.

-The bird's coming out. There he goes! He's been caught!

-I love it.

-And then the man will go back up again.

So this just works off the pendulum and these are continuous automata.

Automatically, yes.

The overall joy is the size.

-It's very small for a clock of this period.

-Really?

-What sort of date do you reckon?

-I've no idea....

-Late 1700s, early 1800s.

-Absolutely spot on.

Lovely handles on each side.

Lovely brass mouldings all the way round, brass feet.

-All original?

-Absolutely original. That's the joy.

This is all in lovely original condition.

Cracking good, in fact. So good that, in this state,

I'm going to quote you £7,000-£10,000.

CROWD GASPS Say that again.

£7,000-£10,000.

I can't believe it. Thank you.

-And so this is now your favourite of the 14?

-It is! It is, bless it.

We so much enjoyed our day here at Lulworth Castle.

And wonderful to see that apothecary chest

back here at the castle, surviving the fire by a stroke of fate

because it wasn't inside at the time.

From all the Antiques Roadshow team, from Lulworth Castle,

until next time, bye-bye.