Charlecote Park 1 Antiques Roadshow

This week we follow the River Avon four miles upstream from Stratford

to visit a home that's been owned by the Lucy family

since the 12th century.

The Victorian owners of Charlecote Park brought treasures from every corner of the world

to decorate their home.

So, I think they'd rather approve of our visitors bringing their own antiques here today.

And with crowds like this, it looks like we're in for a busy day.

Welcome to the Antiques Roadshow from Warwickshire.

You must admit, we choose some exquisite locations

as our Roadshow backdrops!

Just look at this Elizabethan manor,

nestling in a beautiful parkland setting.

What's not to like about a place like this?

When George Hammond Lucy brought his new wife, Mary Elizabeth,

here to Charlecote Park in 1823, she was not impressed.

She confided to her diary that the windowpanes rattled

with every gust of wind and that it was cold, so cold.

So, they set about giving the house a major revamp.

The couple were keen to make their old-fashioned,

draughty house more comfortable.

But instead of giving it a modern makeover, they turned the clock back

300 years and revamped it to look more Elizabethan...

..even adding this fake barrel-vaulted ceiling

in the Great Hall,

which is painted plaster instead of timber.

George and Mary Elizabeth then went off on two Grand Tours in the 1840s

bringing back magnificent furniture

and exotic decorative objects, like this huge alabaster vase -

not exactly the most practical thing to put in your suitcase!

Sitting alongside 500 years of family portraits,

their newly-acquired belongings at last made a home to be proud of.

Today we're welcoming guests,

courtesy of the modern-day Lucy family

who, along with the National Trust, have rolled out the red carpet.

Let's see what other family gems await us we join our experts.

Unless I'm mistaken, we have a piece of Royal gold

in front of us, don't we? Tell me about it.

It belonged to my husband's great-grandfather.

He was a hairdresser

to King Edward VII

when he was Prince of Wales

and he travelled on his journeys abroad.

And one day the Prince had asked his hairdresser to cut his hair

on a Sunday and he refused to do this, on the basis that

he was a very principled man and said that Sundays are sacred

and therefore, "No, I will not cut your hair."

However, he was surprised to be called the following day

and the Prince agreed

that it was a very good thing that he had said what he had said,

and he took the pin out of his lapel

and handed it to his hairdresser.

Fantastic story, isn't it?

And your husband's ancestor had refused to cut,

not only the hair of a Prince of Wales, but also a future Emperor,

so it's rather smart

to turn an Emperor down, isn't it? Absolutely, yes.

And an Emperor of India, which may be a hint of what's going on here

because we can see that this is supplied by a firm in Madras

and it's more than likely that this

was presented during his visit to India.

Yes. We know it's the Prince of Wales,

because here are the three feathers

and the little legend underneath that says "Ich dien",

which means "I serve" - strange, as it should be the hairdresser

serving the Prince of Wales!

The Prince of Wales. "I serve" is the present Prince of Wales' cipher

and it's bound with this mysterious snake.

Have you thought about the snake at all? No idea, no.

I haven't even thought about it. No.

Well, the snake biting its tail, which effectively this is,

is a very ancient symbol called the ouroborus,

the eternally renewing circle,

and it's an emblem of eternal affection, or eternal regard.

Oh, yes. So, it was obviously a very thing to receive from the Prince.

The only issue I'd have about the story

is that it's highly unlikely

that the Prince would be wearing his own cipher on his own pin.

This is a very typical Royal presentation piece,

set with a little emerald in the front.

But, it's a fantastic story, isn't it?

And beautiful in its wonderful fitted case.

Yes. I think Edward VII's a much more popular sovereign

than might at first be imagined.

People are very interested in his history

and something very much from his heart would carry quite a premium.

And I think anybody who had the chance of buying this,

and they don't have any chance... No.

..would be quite pleased to give you

maybe ?800 and maybe ?1,000, why not?

A lovely thing. Thank you very much. Thank you very much indeed.

The first question I'd like to ask is

what is a Polish picture doing in the Midlands?

Well, my great-great-grandfather bought it in the 1920s

in New York and he landed there in the 1880s, 1890s from Poland.

From Poland. Yeah. So, why did he leave Poland in the 19th century?

Polish Jew. Right.

Being Jewish and Polish at that time wasn't particularly a good thing,

so he left for Ellis Island to find a better life.

Poor chap. But he found a better life in America?

Yeah, he ended up being a paper-mill owner. Very good.

I guess he must have done quite well for himself and decided...

He was feeling nostalgic.

Yeah, exactly.

Upset and homesick.

All those tall buildings of New York,

he probably fancied a bit of Poland back on the wall.

So, he bought this rather beautiful picture.

It's interesting because it's by an artist that is quite well known,

Wywiorski. OK.

As it clearly says on this label, but it's beautifully signed here.

And "MG". Do you know what the MG? No. Mikhail Gorstkin. But curiously,

it says underneath that,

"Munchen 85".

Now, all good painters went off to Germany to perhaps hone their skills

and just get a bit slicker

and neater and tidier and they did it beautifully.

And, I suppose, the best schools at the time were in Germany,

so any artist worth his salt, especially from Poland,

went off to Munich to really train up, and so in 1885 this was painted.

Even though it says "Munchen" here, it's not necessarily painted in Munich. We don't know.

But they put that as a sort of a stamp, like a sort of degree almost.

Yes. It showed that he was international

and he was a good artist.

Look at it, it's fantastic quality, isn't it?

Yeah, it's beautiful. Absolutely fantastic.

It seems to me, it sort of portrays a slightly sort of warlike image here

of the mighty Polish army.

Now, the great question is, what about a valuation?

Have you had it valued? No, not at all.

It's got a great, very grand frame.

Yeah. Which is typical of sort of Victoriana.

But I would have thought it was worth between sort of ?5,000 and ?7,000.

Blimey. Wow. Any good? Yeah, I won't tell my dad.

He's over in Vegas at the moment, so he might get a bit excited

and go and blow the money!

I think that's wonderful.

Don't tell him, otherwise he'll spend it all on the slot machines.

He doesn't know we're here, so...

Now, when most people buy a new living room suite,

they tend to buy new these days,

but you've brought Granny's sofa with you.

Thank you. I absolutely adore this.

I'm a huge fan of Art Deco, so as soon as I saw this,

I just had to have it.

It probably didn't arrive in your house. How did you get it there?

It was on an online auction site and the reserve on it

was rather high, and I just loved the look of it,

I just fell in love with it,

I thought, "I've got to get this out of my system, even if I didn't get it." I put a ?15 bid on it.

Two days later I got a rather disgruntled e-mail saying,

"Please collect from me within two days, I'm moving",

and I got it for ?15.

Really? Yeah. That's astonishing,

but it couldn't have gone to a better home, really,

because you are the epitome of sort of vintage elegance.

Thank you. You're dressed in '40s and we're looking at something

10 years earlier, a 1930s suite, but it's gone to a great home,

you're obviously passionate about previous eras.

Hugely passionate. My little cottage is just full of 1930s, a bit of Art Deco, 1940s,

World War II memorabilia and a bit of '50s stuffed in there, as well.

But my passion is the '30s and '40s, so it goes beautifully, yeah.

What I love about this is it is so of its time.

I mean, just sitting back in here you feel like you are...

at an Odeon Cinema, which of course...

It kind of reclines and it's got that elegance of the cruise ships

that I love - this streamlined elegance.

Streamlined, and here, I mean, just underneath you here when we get up,

it's that curve. Oh, it's gorgeous.

It's the curve of every bay window

in a new suburban house in the '30s and it is emulated here.

And, interestingly, I had a little peek earlier and underneath,

it's got this rather darker blue colour.

Yeah, actually, I think it used to be a very dark blue at some point.

And the reason it's faded, of course,

is that those 1930s living rooms were suntraps

and Crittall windows were all about suntrap windows,

they let in the light.

So, out went all the old kind of dark oak, turned Elizabethan style legs,

and in came moderne style,

of which this is the epitome, really.

I adore it, I think it's fabulous. There's a chair we haven't got here.

That's right, it's two chairs and the two-seater sofa.

So you've got a complete suite.

And I think that it's considerably more exciting in terms of value

than the ?15 you paid for it.

I think that anyone who potentially decided to steal it away from you,

if they could get a look in,

I think you're looking at a suite probably worth about nearly ?800.

You're kidding me!

Really?! Yes.

My parents are going to be so angry because they HATE this!

Oh, that's made my day, thank you very much.

It's stunning. It's comfortable.

It's comfortable and cosy. It is. It's just getting up off it.

You need a cup of tea to figure out your way off it again,

because you can flail around a little bit,

but it's nice reclining, isn't it? Yeah.

Let's watch the pictures!

MUSIC: In The Mood by Glenn Miller

It's an unusual watch

and I've a feeling we've got an unusual history behind it.

Who wants to speak first?

Well, I'll let Isabella speak first

because she knows more of the background of the family,

and I will tell you how I came by it.

And this is grandfather's watch.

My father was a pilot in the war

for the Polish Air Force

and finished up in a POW camp in Romania,

just by Constanza, where he met my mother,

who had been taken from her family to be a cook in a POW camp.

So, she was Romanian? Well, she was born in Romania.

Ah, OK. And when the war was over, my parents were displaced persons...

our parents were displaced persons, couldn't go back to their countries

and, very fortunately, England gave them a home.

So you went to Poland about 20-odd years ago.

Yes, 25 years ago I decided I wanted, I needed, to go

and have a look and see what was going on.

There was a far distant relation there and she took me

to see Great-Great-Aunt Anushka,

which was a very lovely old lady who was in charge of this watch.

She had actually rescued it from the house prior to the Germans,

or the Russians,

marching over and taking all the possessions and she'd hid it.

She'd wrapped it up beautifully in some cloth

and then buried it in a deep bucket of yellow flour.

And that's about it, I know nothing more about it.

It's a great story. A lovely story.

Fantastic. We have a photograph

of Grandfather. I have a photograph of my grandfather.

Would you like to see it? Yes.

Let's have a look.

Isn't that great?

And the fob is hidden by his coat.

That's right, and that's my grandmother.

Very beautiful. She is, isn't she? Absolutely beautiful.

Who's that? Our father.

Love the haircut. I know!

What a tremendous story. Yes.

Not sure I can beat that -

telling you about the watch is... Tell us about the watch!

I'll tell you about the watch. Can I hand you that? Of course you can.

The watch is Swiss and it's a hunter watch, a hunter-case watch

so called because it has this cover over the top of the dial.

But what is unusual about the watch is the complexity of the movement

and it shows on the dial,

the day and the date and the month

and also the phases of the moon,

and also the seconds and the hours

and the minutes in an 18-carat case, made around 1920.

It's very beautiful.

At auction, it would fetch between ?600 and ?800.

Good Lord! And possibly more.

Love it and treasure it.

I think it's fairly well known that I'm a glass nutter.

I can't help myself. If I'm driving around the country...

I was driving up here yesterday,

there's not a charity shop I didn't stop in. Screech! Another one!

And whether it be a boot fair, antique shop, antique centre, I can't help myself.

And what I really like about this is your story which is about your dad.

He was a similar, kindred spirit to mine, I think. He was, yes.

He used to travel to work with a briefcase walking past antique shops

and on the way home he often popped into them

and he used to get home with my mum and open the briefcase

and pull something out and she used to say,

"Oh, no, not again", or sometimes, "Oh, wonderful!"

And this is something that he pulled out of the bag one day.

Well, I think that's a jolly nice thing to pull out of the bag. It's a really pretty thing.

It was made not far from here, in Stourbridge, by John Walsh Walsh.

His name was John Walsh, but he didn't think that was wacky enough,

so he changed his name by deed poll to John Walsh Walsh.

And the way you make this is you've got cobalt oxide,

this is pre-Lalique, remember?

Laliquesque, isn't it? But this probably dates from about 1900,

1910, which is way before Lalique.

And you blow this into a mould that is impressed with the pattern.

You then take it out of that mould

and re-blow it in a smooth mould,

then you reheat it and what happens

is that act brings on the opalescence in this.

Right. It's called the brocade pattern

and you can see that that's really logical that it should be.

And I think it's jolly nice. Do you like it? I love it. But the imperfections in it,

would they have been in the manufacture?

Oh, absolutely. I mean, the day this was made,

it looked identical to the way it is now.

It hasn't changed one iota, very pretty. And its value,

?400 to ?500.

That's wonderful!

My father would have been delighted, thank you very much indeed.

Well, I've always believed

that good design is good design.

It doesn't matter whether it's 200 years old or 50 years old.

But this is a wonderful time-line of seating. How do they connect to you?

Well, we've just always collected interesting chairs.

We bought several different houses

and one of them had a very modern interior

and so we then wanted to make it minimal and we bought this Marcel Breuer.

But we had two of them, we've only got the one now.

And then the chair at the end? Well, this was because we had a house that had been Gothicised

by Sanderson Miller and we were looking for things

that would echo the Gothic revival.

And the interior designer who was helping us found it in London.

I don't know where he found it

and I don't know anything about it, really.

I think it's fair to say then,

quite clearly, that you are a chair fetishist.

Yes. Is that correct?

That is right. Well, I'll let you into a little secret, so am I.

Good. I've got a house full of chairs. Have you?

And I find myself being drawn to them in the most peculiar of reasons.

It's about shape and form.

Yes. But what you've got here, as I say, a time-line ranging from...

At this end we have something that we'd class Regency Gothic,

so 1810 to 1820,

running through here in the middle,

as you quite rightly said, Marcel Breuer `

first designed in 1925, the height of the Bauhaus.

Yes. This was a development.

It's everything, this transformed the mass manufacturing of furniture

and became an iconic chair. Yes.

Icons are, it's a big term to use, but, no, an iconic chair.

Yes. Sweeping through to your landmark piece,

your Charles Eames lounge chair and ottoman.

That's right. This chair, of course, created between 1953 and '54,

went into production in 1956. Right.

And has been in continuous production every year

since it was first initiated. Yes.

And, to me, probably one of the most important chairs of the 20th century.

Yes. But the interesting thing is values.

Now, I always think you look at a Roman coin and you think,

"Well, it's Roman, so it must be worth hundreds."

Well, no, Roman coins can be bought for pounds, shillings and pence.

So, by that token, we have a chair here that is in essence

no more than 50 years old in its design,

yet a chair at the other end that is 200 years old. Yes.

But the prices couldn't be further apart.

If I say to you today a lovely...

And it is a beautiful chair with some lovely trompe l'oeil decoration,

I would say probably refreshed at some point in its life,

but the prices actually start here at, say, ?400 or ?500.

We move to Mr Marcel Breuer and we have a chair, a Wassily chair,

a later reproduction,

but worth...?500 to ?600.

Goodness. And we sweep our way round

to a wonderful Charles Eames 670 and 671 lounge chair and ottoman,

beautifully beaten up.

Eames actually said he wanted the chair, when lived in and used,

to look like a fantastic baseball glove.

Well, it does!

It does, doesn't it? It does!

Today a good issue like this, a good early issue,

you're not going to be able to replace for much less than ?3,000.

Oh, no! Wow!

They are all icons of their time.

Their time. So, well done, you. You have a fantastic eye.

Oh, thank you very much indeed, thank you. My pleasure. Well, gosh.

This is an incredibly intense,

and almost sensual portrait, by Val Prinsep.

And very often with these really wonderful portraits by Prinsep,

you get a great connection between the artist and the sitter.

Now, she was obviously a great beauty of her time, but you certainly feel

that either she was in love with him, or he was in love with her.

Now, tell me, do you know who she was? I do know who she was.

She was, in fact, my great-grandmother. What was her name?

Her name was Agnes Bowman.

I think the history of the picture, Agnes Bowman's father

was Sir William Bowman, who was a surgeon at Kings College Hospital,

living in Kensington.

At the time, Val Prinsep was living in Kensington as well

and I think they must have known each other.

And I have a letter, which I could not find before coming here today,

that relates to this, from Val Prinsep, thanking Sir William Bowman very much.

I think he must have treated either Val Prinsep or his wife.

Yes. But thanking him very much for looking after whoever it was

and I feel that this picture, this painting,

is actually a thank you to Sir William from Val Prinsep.

Isn't that lovely? Mmm.

A piece of history and it's stayed with the family, too, which is great.

Well, I found it at the bottom of my mum's chest in her hall

when I cleared her house out after she died, four years ago. She didn't know it was there.

So, it's been tucked away, a little treasure tucked away.

Yes. Val Prinsep is an interesting character.

He was very social, but he was one of the great artists.

He admired Lord Leighton so he was very much a classical painter,

but he also was involved with the Oxford Union decoration,

with Rossetti and some of the Pre-Raphaelites.

He was influenced by Rossetti and you get a Rossetti feel about this picture. Absolutely.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

A highly successful artist. A wonderful life.

He became a Professor at the Royal Academy in 1901. Oh, right, I didn't know that.

But you often see pictures on such a vast scale by him and this is just a little gem, it's just a little jewel

and you almost really feel that you know this sitter.

Absolutely, well, she's very beautiful, isn't she?

It's inscribed lower right.

Just under the mount, there's a little inscription which says, "V Prinsep to W Bowman",

which is a lovely personal touch.

Yes, yes. This is a really rare lovely oil painting,

in totally original condition.

It's been tucked away, it hasn't been touched.

But this is a very desirable picture. Right.

And certainly worth ?8,000 to ?12,000.

Are you joking? Somebody prop me up!

Good heavens! Well, Mum didn't know obviously, did she?

Thank you so much.

I don't know if the team may be trying to tell me something,

but this is the second time

I've found myself discussing toilet roll on the programme!

What can you tell me about this?

It was a toilet roll that was rejected by The Beatles

when they were recording at Abbey Road Studios.

And why did they reject it?

Apparently, because it was too hard and shiny.

So, it does look like there's a piece been torn off,

but I don't think they got very much further with it.

Each sheet's stamped with "EMI Ltd" as well, which I think put them off.

It was the record label. Yeah. And they didn't like that. Do you know what that reminds me of?

It's like that tracing paper loo roll.

It doesn't look very nice. It used to be, like, British Rail?

You thought, "Why did anyone MAKE loo roll like this? It's not comfy, it doesn't work."

Exactly, exactly. And so the Beatles rejected this loo roll.

The Beatles rejected it and

I believe it's the only one in existence. Are you surprised?

Yeah, there are no others!

And how did you come by it?

My father bought it in the 1980 Sale Of The Century at Abbey Road Studios. It came up for auction.

When they were selling... Everything off, yeah.

It was on the original backing plate,

but the glass case has been a later addition to preserve it a little bit.

How amazing! So, I mean,

what level of fame do you have to have reached

where your rejected loo roll

becomes something that is sold at an auction? I mean, my goodness!

Obviously, the Beatles, yeah!

And a letter. "Toilet roll. Most things went very smoothly...

"..they complained was too hard and shiny.

"The paper was immediately withdrawn and things became much smoother

"for the staff after that." Fnar-fnar!

Bit of a wag, this Ken Townsend. So Ken Townsend, General Manager.

He was General Manager of EMI. Yeah.

Right. So, who bought this again? Your father?

My father, yeah. And, I hardly dare ask, how much did he pay for this?

In 1980, he paid ?85 for it.

In an edition of the book about Abbey Road,

Ken Townsend's actually disgusted that it made ?85,

because recording equipment of the time

was making less than he paid for the toilet roll, so... No! Yeah, yeah.

My word! It's a strange old world, the antiques business, isn't it?

Very strange.

At last we have an answer to that age-old riddle,

"Why does a chicken cross the road?"

Now we know why - to get to a brand of chicken food.

And this is wonderful! Look, there is mayhem going on here,

there are dead chickens, there are running chickens,

there are pecking chickens, there's all sorts of gesticulation,

and I don't know what going on here.

Tell me how this wonderful object came to be in your hands.

These were sent out to shops as a form of advertising.

You put them in your window or somewhere in your shop and it advertised the product. Yeah.

When the war came, I don't believe it was ever sent back. Oh, I see.

So, they were given to you really on loan by the manufacturers

and then they'd come and pick them up. Well, I'm very pleased

they didn't come back,

because this is giving us an enormous amount of pleasure.

I have to say that all my early years,

from the time that I was born until the time that I was 18,

was spent in the company of chickens.

Ah, right. It made me the woman I am today.

And, in fact, one of my great confidants,

when I was about four, was a very stately Rhode Island Red cross Light Sussex that had the name Mrs Green.

So, you know, I can empathise exactly

wanting to have the comfort of a good feed at some point.

It's not unusual to have an automated advertising campaign

and these came in all sorts of different shapes and sizes.

This is perhaps one of the most complex ones.

The earlier ones were clockwork and you might have a smoker,

an automaton smoker,

where smoke would blow out from his cigarette holder.

You may have a tea drinker.

There were all sorts of early clockwork types.

But this is one of the most complex.

Has it always been in reasonably good condition?

Have you done any work to it?

My engineer over here has helped me get it back together

so that we could bring it today.

But we've still got work to do here, because this is no longer pecking.

And, of course, this no longer runs.

But what has happened is that

the chickens have been run over by this lorry,

and the lorry driver's come to say,

"I'm terribly sorry, I've run over your chickens", and, hopefully, he'll do it now.

There we are. And the farmer says, "What are you doing?

"I'm going to punch you on the nose."

I wonder how effective it was as a sales technique?!

I'm told that the kids used to stand in the street

and watch these and they loved them,

because, of course, they hadn't got any telly or anything.

So, this was as good as a telly? Yes.

Of course it was. Well, I love it,

and there is a huge interest in early advertising material,

particularly something as complex

as this, with so many different movements.

I could see it very much taking pride of place in a museum,

talking about the times.

I agree absolutely, dating from just before the Second World War.

And value, I would put a value of between...

?400 and ?700, definitely.

And if one can get it back into full working order,

it's going to certainly fetch four figures. Great object.

Well, do you know, I am a firm believer in starting work

right at the bottom and working your way up. And this chap here,

in this army record book, started in the army at the age of 14 years,

one month, and at only four foot,

nine-and-a-half inches tall. That's right.

But quite clearly he went on

to do wonderful things if these are his medals.

He was obviously very, very highly decorated.

And this is him. Yes, that's William Henry Dale, my grandfather.

And he was born in 1869 and he enrolled in the Royal Engineers

when he was only 14 years old

as a boy trumpeter, and from there

he rose through the ranks to be Lieutenant Colonel.

Wow! And he was very, very honoured

in many ways by the end of his career.

You know, getting the Military Cross, getting the OBE

and many, many other medals which you can see there.

He's got an amazing array of medals, hasn't he? Mmm, he has. Quite spectacular.

He must have been... I mean he was obviously a career soldier...

Absolutely. ..spending decades in the army,

dedicated to the service. Yes.

What did he do? Well, a lot of it,

he started off in Africa and that was a continent which he loved.

He spent years in Egypt and his job was

actually to survey and create telegraph links

across the wild parts which had been unsurveyed in Africa.

That's terribly important, of course. It is.

It was very, very dangerous work.

It involved using a lot of native workers who knew the terrain.

When he reached the rank of Major,

his brother officers, because he was moving onto another posting,

wanted to make a silver figurine for him.

And he said, "I don't want an effigy of myself,

"I want one of my workers."

Well, he was quite clearly a distinguished soldier.

There's no doubt about that from these wonderful decorations.

And, you know, they have a considerable value, of course.

I hadn't thought of that.

From an insurance point of view,

passing these things down the family, at the moment,

the medals, the silver trophy,

his army records, the photographs,

and I guess you've got other things,

have you, of his? Yes. OK, I would say that,

from an insurance point of view,

they're worth...

?15,000.

Really? I had no idea.

I've never, ever thought of their monetary value. No, I'm just very, very proud of what he achieved.

Well, we're used to seeing glass

formed into vases and plates and bowls,

but it's not every day that you end up with a glass knife

and it's amazing, because this is really sharp.

I mean, if it were a letter opener

and it blunted its way through an envelope

I could understand this, but this is really sharp

and I've never seen one before!

And the beauty of it is that we've got the blah-blah that goes with it.

"The Nutbrown glass knife

"is manufactured of specially-prepared glass.

"While the makers do not guarantee it is unbreakable..." blah-blah-blah,

"..it's absolutely fantastic for preparing grapefruit and it's ideal for cakes, pies and meats, etc."

I mean, that's just great! What's the story, where did you find it?

Well, my girlfriend was working in a charity shop,

well, she did it voluntary from finishing her job...

Great. ..and I popped in there and I saw it and I bought it for ?5.

Well, I think that's obviously a bargain.

I mean, it is a wacky object. I mean,

how many have survived? There's a little chip up the top.

You paid a fiver. I reckon that's a pretty safe bet.

It's got to be worth at least, what, ?6.

Wow, I've made a profit!

Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thanks for bringing it.

I went to a car-boot sale and I was looking in a glass cabinet

and I saw this ring and thought, "Wow!"

The gentleman said he wanted ?40 for it

and I bought it for my wife to wear on special occasions, really.

You know, it's such a nice ring.

And does she? No.

What do you mean, no?

She thinks the amethyst is a bit too large.

There's something about the colour that made me think,

"Was this really silver?" You're absolutely right.

It is not silver, it is platinum.

It is 1900,

but what I love about this

is the attention to detail,

which you can only get with platinum.

Silver is too soft and it tarnishes

and it's not strong, so, therefore,

you can't make something very delicate-looking with silver,

but you can with platinum.

I love the way that the working carries on underneath,

so even when you're wearing the ring,

you've still got the working...

You should be a jeweller, I reckon!

I reckon you should be a jeweller because you are absolutely right.

What I love is this attention to detail and how soft and smooth it is,

and it curves, so it really fits snugly on your finger.

Yeah. It's very rare you will find rings today

that go to this length for no money, really.

It's an amethyst. It is set with diamonds, not that many diamonds.

On the side here, we've got a baguette-cut diamond

and we have some single cut diamonds.

So you know, intrinsically, you're not talking very much.

You gave ?40 for it, how long ago?

About 10 years ago.

About 10 years ago. What if I said to you today

it would be round about ?800 to ?1,000 instead?

What would you say? What would you think?

Thank you very much!

Very nice.

Good day's work.

Hilary, I know you're a bit of an Archers fan... I am.

..and like a good cup of tea.

Now, someone has brought in this kind of Archers memorabilia.

The cups, the jigsaw puzzle and a game here.

I just wondered if you wanted to give it the once-over.

How would you appraise these?

Well, you know, it's always lovely to see The Bull.

Not how I imagine it.

And, you know, Hollerton Bakeries.

Yes, I feel that I could just walk in there and I could be part of the set. You realise, of course,

that Borsetshire is the one county in the British Isles

that The Antiques Roadshow has never visited.

We should put that right. We want a visit to Borsetshire.

Lower Loxley could definitely...

Couldn't it? Lower Loxley would be perfect to film the Roadshow.

What would these things be worth, do you think? Well, not a huge amount.

I love the cups and saucers.

They would probably be worth, I don't know, ?10 to ?15 each.

These, I suppose, ?20 to ?30.

I suppose you've got ?50 to ?70 worth here.

I can think of a way we could double that value at a stroke. How? Go on.

Do you recognise this lady?

No, you won't. Kathy from the Archers.

Otherwise known as Hedli in real life, and these are hers.

These are my treasures. Oh, Hedli, how wonderful to meet you.

I have more. It's lovely to see you!

Well, you see you want to... I'm going to shut my eyes, speak, speak!

If I said something like, "Kenton, I've had enough, it's about time you left."

The problem is, you weren't having enough with Kenton!

Let's not go into that too much!

That's a bit astute! Now, has anyone got a pen I could borrow?

A pen, a pen? Oh, we need a pen.

Thank you, sir. Right, Kathy.

I have to call you Kathy, would you do the honours and sign this?

Does it actually add to the value or does it detract from it?

I thought this would spoil it. If it's YOU, Kathy.

All right, I'm going to sign it, then. OK, right.

What would you say it's worth now, Hilary?

It was 20 quid two minutes ago.

Now...signed by Kathy?

Do you know, people always say on the Antiques Roadshow that we create markets.

Well, do you know, we just have.

It's definitely double. That's definitely 50 quid's worth now.

Well, there you go. All you Archers collectors out there,

just talk to me and I can double the value of all the memorabilia!

Well, thank you very much.

Thank you, thank you.

ARCHERS THEME PLAYS

Although there's no title on it, auctioneers have a habit

of creating cheesy titles for these things and I can't help feeling that

she ought to be called something like Sweet Reverie or something like that.

You don't know what she's called?

Haven't a clue. No, no. No relation at all. Is she not? No.

Well, she's very beautiful.

But it's obviously been reframed.

Did you buy it, or how did you come by it?

No, well, it came from an aunt in Switzerland and when the box

of all of her effects came over to an aunt's flat

and my brothers went along,

we decided what we'd like to take away with us. Right.

And, rather stupidly, I decided I'd take away a box full of old picture frames.

And when I looked through, fairly rapidly,

I just saw this wooden panel

and I thought it was the back of a picture frame.

So, I just put it back in the box,

and about five years later, my wife wanted a picture frame,

so she went to the box, and she said, "Have you seen this?"

So, I said no, and that's what it was.

And I thought, "Crikey, it's really quite beautiful".

So, she's been languishing in this box. So, she's been languishing.

She had a little chip of paint up in the top here somewhere.

I took it to a dealer in Bristol and they touched it up and cleaned it

and framed it, so this is what I've got.

So, we don't know long she's been lying in this box. No, no.

Your aunt didn't like it, either. How bizarre. I don't think she did.

Why would you not like it? It's absolutely beautiful.

No, well I think it got so dusty, she didn't know what she had.

What a shame. I mean, she missed out, didn't she?

Yes, absolutely. Well, I mean,

it says here clearly E C-A-S-T-R-E-S, Castres,

who was a Swiss artist, Edouard Castres,

born in the 1830s, dies in 1902.

And you mentioned it's on panel, and I think it's quite clear,

looking at the picture that it's on panel,

because it has this jewel-like quality when the paint sits

on the surface like this, rather than is absorbed to a certain extent, so all the colours really look glowing.

And I think it has a fabulous vibrancy to it.

And, of course, it's beautifully observed in every way.

Not only is she very beautiful, but this nice little still life here.

In the middle, yes.

It's just lovely, isn't it? Yes, I love the light on the coffee pot. Do you think it's after a ball or...?

Well, what is she dreaming about?

I know. She's got a spinning wheel here and is this something to do with time, and so on, passing?

Well, you obviously love the picture.

Yes. And it is, I think, absolutely beautifully painted.

So, it arrives in a box of stuff.

Yes, exactly. So, it hasn't cost you anything.

Apart from a splodge of paint and a frame.

Well, he's very desirable. And, actually, it's a very pretty picture.

Right now, these genre pictures are perhaps not as hot as might have been a year or two ago,

but it will come back and it's a good Swiss artist.

I would have thought at auction today you could expect somewhere between ?3,000 and ?5,000 for it.

Right. So...

Oh, that's good. Yes!

Your aunt did you proud.

Yes, absolutely, yes.

I wonder if she knew. Yes.

Well, look at these gold boxes, don't they look fantastic?

They are status symbols

from the 18th and 19th century, but, tell me, how are they yours?

Well, back in about the late 1950s,

my sisters and I had a little bit of money coming in from a trust fund

and instead of reinvesting it in boring old stocks and shares,

my father decided to buy these

and he collected them over the '60s

and possibly '70s and he would also do swaps.

He would try and get better ones

than the ones he'd already bought.

So, that's what we ended up with.

Fantastic. That's a true collector,

advancing the collection.

But it's very rich and spectacular.

But in the front we have the three that I've chosen to talk about

and I think I'll talk about this one first which a very exotic

and sort of almost sugary perfumed box, isn't it?

Have you thought about why it looks like that?

Possibly it's for sweets.

It may well have been for sweets,

but it was made in Geneva,

which was a great centre for enamelling

in the early 19th century,

and they were making these gold boxes for export to the Orient.

And this was almost certainly made for the Turkish market.

Oh. For the Sultanate out there.

And it's lavished with all the skill

and meticulous craftsmanship of Swiss manufacture -

but oddly enough, to be sold abroad.

This is a technique called micro mosaic

and that's something brought back from abroad

for the British market, fundamentally.

And it's made up of tiny tesserae of coloured glass which have been fused together.

And when you take a lens to it, it looks like brickwork,

but you move away and it's for all the world like an oil painting.

It's a miracle of craftsmanship.

This one here looks as if it's 18th century, but it's not, actually.

It's in the Rococo manner and it's a revival of an 18th-century style.

It has a core of Siberian jade, which is the clue to what this object is.

And it's made by a craftsman

who was one of the satellite firms for Faberge.

Faberge was very interested in the entire 18th-century form of decoration,

including gold boxes and so it fits in jolly nicely,

but it's probably made in the very late 19th or early 20th century. Yes.

So, it's a bewildering collection to value.

It not only includes snuff boxes and snuff mulls,

but also cases for sealing wax decorated with four colours of gold,

alloys of gold, decorated with engine turning.

But let's have a stab at valuing

these in the front and then move backwards from there.

This gold box is probably worth

today ?5,000, ?6,000.

Crikey! And this one here in the middle,

the micro mosaic box, it's a very bold one.

I think that that's going to be...

?15,000. Whoa!

And this one,

if we can draw it into the fold of Faberge that would be wonderful,

but as it is, a Russian cigarette case, very exotic, very beautiful

in the 18th-century taste, overlaying a hard stone core,

well,

?20,000 for that.

And so, I suppose, all the gold boxes on this table must be,

when you add them all up, it must be nudging between ?50,000 and ?60,000.

My goodness! So, snuff away, it's wonderful!

Wonderful things to see.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

I hope you've enjoyed our day here in the sunshine at Charlecote Park.

Until next week, bye-bye.