Yorkshire Museum 1 Antiques Roadshow

The Antiques Roadshow travels the length and breadth of Britain

in search of wonderful objects in stunning locations.

And today we've arrived in a city that's

so crammed with historical stories, it's hard to know where to begin.

Welcome to the Antiques Roadshow from York.

BELL RINGS

Our Roadshow experts are always on the lookout for objects

with a local historical flavour,

and they should be spoiled for choice here.

When you're in York,

it seems you're never far from the city's 2,000-year-old history,

starting with the station, which,

when it was built in 1877, was the largest in the world.

And all those trains allowed York to build itself a reputation

as a city of chocolate,

as tons of the stuff was dispatched around the globe.

But long before railways and chocolate even existed,

York was a powerful city.

And as you walk about, you can't help noticing the odd bit

of old stone, drawing you further and further back in time.

York is the perfect stronghold,

placed where the River Ouse meets the River Foss.

A little further on, and the gigantic Minster,

begun in the 13th century,

reflects York's importance as a seat of religious power.

Even before the Normans brought their churches,

York was at the centre of things.

Under the Vikings for 100 years,

Yorvik was the capital of the Danelaw, and the streets still

follow the Viking plan, and some of them still have Viking names.

And before the Vikings, the Romans, who founded Eboracum in 71AD

and made it one of their foremost cities.

Sometimes the Roman Empire was even ruled from here.

This tower was once part of a Roman fortress

and now it sits in the grounds of the Yorkshire Museum.

With a backdrop like this, it's hardly surprising our experts are looking forward

to finding some really terrific finds in the gardens of the museum.

Card cases of course are just so collectable, and it's wonderful

to see it with its original case,

but when did you get it?

1983.

And what did you pay for it?

205 plus premium - bought in auction.

Right. So, at auction.

Looking at it, as we see here, that's more or less what

it would be worth today,

until we look at the other side.

And this makes it a very rare card case.

-Thank you.

-Because the scene is...

-York Minster.

Yeah, and you see very, very few York Minsters.

So wonderful to be in York here

and actually have a York Minster card case.

So that is super.

Most of them were made - as I'm sure you know - in Birmingham,

and this one is no exception.

We've got the maker's mark of Alfred Taylor there,

then the Birmingham marks which in fact are for 1857.

Right.

-The condition couldn't be better.

-No.

But of course that's not only, I think, because you've looked after it properly.

Yes, I wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't in good condition.

Very wise. So what's it worth today?

I'm hoping you're going to tell me.

Well, they have come down a little bit, I have to tell you,

and I think today we're looking at between £1,500 and £2,000.

Ooh, excellent, thank you. Well, that's a good investment, then.

Better than money in the bank.

Such a stylish object, are you a collector of the Arts and Crafts Movement?

Just generally things that catch my eye.

-And why did this catch your eye?

-Car-boot sale about three weeks ago,

I was with my mum, walking round, and she just really liked it.

It was a stall full of brass plates like that,

but not very nice ones, quite mediocre, but this one she really liked.

And was this early on? Were you there first, the crack of dawn?

We were there first thing. This was the first thing we bought and then

we left it with the man at the stall and then went back for it later.

-And how much did you pay?

-£22.

I mean it's great. I mean it's Keswick School, as you know,

it's stamped on the back, and the Keswick School

of Industrial Arts was started in 1884 and it's so stylish.

I mean you can see major influences of the day from artists

like William de Morgan, who was a very famous potter from London,

Charles Passenger, who decorated.

I mean, it's so stylish, with its sort of Viking ship.

You've got this sort of repeating fantastic floral border here,

almost like stylised tulip heads.

William Morris, arguably our most famous ever designer,

who we've all heard of, was a patron.

It's stamped, which is great, you've got it stamped there

Keswick and then KI,

Keswick School Industrial Arts.

-You say you left it there when you bought it at the

-car-boot sale. Yes.

-That was taking a risk, wasn't it?

-Well, we didn't know.

We just liked it and the sun was beating down

and we couldn't see it very well, but when we went back for it,

the man said he could have sold it about five times,

and he'd been offered like a lot more money, £75, which...

-75?

-Yeah, at the time we hadn't seen the mark on the back.

-My mum had turned it over but...

-Sure.

So when you paid 22 for it, who wants a copper charger like that

-on the wall?

-Don't know.

-A lot of people, that's the answer.

I mean, it's easily £800 to £1,200

Wow, that's amazing. My mum won't believe me.

It's stunning.

Of its type, it's the best you'll see and the condition's excellent,

-Well done.

-Oh, thank you.

Beautiful little bowl. Where did it come from?

Pretty sure it came from China because the family were in Canton

-in the 1850s and '60s.

-Right, OK.

There are not many Chinese dragons with three claws like this.

Most Chinese dragons have five or four claws, so a three-clawed

dragon actually tells us straight away it's Japanese.

Um, it's a particularly lovely little bowl, it's very, very,

very well painted.

At first sight it doesn't appear to be very special,

but if you actually think about what's gone into painting this.

You've got this dragon chasing butterflies,

and the butterflies are caught in this net,

intricately painted,

each one of the hexagons very, very daintily painted

and you've got a little dot where the threads of the net intersect.

The butterfly itself is done

just as Japanese lacquer would be done.

It's made of a material that we see a lot of on the Roadshow,

but in this particular instance it's not what we normally see,

because what we normally see is Japanese export ware, Satsuma.

This is Satsuma that would almost certainly have been intended for a Japanese client,

because it is essentially a little tea bowl.

Now, decoration. Very sparse colours, gold, white etc.

and the dragon itself, this... well, what colour is that?

-What colour would you call that?

-I suppose lead more than...

-It's a lead colour.

-Yes.

Incredibly finely worked scales. These are actually silver,

silver oxide, and when it was new,

I'm pretty sure that would have been gleaming silver.

And, as silver does, it's tarnished over the years.

Now the question is, are you a brave man?

I don't know. We're going to find out I think.

Well, only if you permit me. I should say that

whenever you clean silver, be it on a piece of pot or silver itself,

you are technically removing one layer of molecules.

But that is actually quite a thin measure.

Now I do happen to carry about me a silver cloth for eventualities.

-We can just give it a try, see what happens.

-Right.

Ooh!

How about that?

I'm not going to rub too hard

because I think we can get the general idea.

So a really lovely little Japanese tea bowl,

made at the end of the 19th century

and painted with this glorious dragon,

and it looks great, doesn't it, when it's been polished up?

Yes. It's brilliant, yes. Really see the scales on it.

It's quite fantastic.

Value, probably somewhere in the region of, let me say, £300 to £500.

For a little bowl, that's great.

So, it's obviously a factory floor. Do you know where?

I believe it's local. It's in Hull.

-A factory in Hull.

-A factory in Hull,

and it's on the back that it's Fenners and Co.

-Fenners and Co.

-Yeah, Fenners and Co.

and I think they used to manufacture some kind of conveyor belts.

Oh, I see. Conveyor belts for industry or mining or something.

Yeah, I think so, for industry I think, yes.

-It's a very busy factory floor, isn't it?

-It is, yes.

So what drew you to the picture?

I love the movement in it, and the colours,

and just something when I saw it, I thought,

"I'd really like to own this."

It's by James Neal and it's dated 1967.

-And, you know, it's unusual to see pictures of factories.

-It is.

They're usually done as commissions

and I suppose this might have been as well.

Perhaps the factory owner, or the manager,

wanted to have some record of a busy factory floor in its heyday.

And I like it too, because I think the colours in it are very, very...

they chime very, very well

and I like the way it's all laid out in a completely legible way,

with this very open roof, lots and lots of light in this building, isn't there?

You can almost hear the clang and clamour of the manufacturing process.

-Exactly, yes.

-It's really quite fun.

It doesn't look finished to me. Do you? I thought it was...

Oh, well, does it matter? I mean it's sort of finished as it needs to be.

-Right.

-Isn't it, in a way?

-Now, he's a Hull artist, isn't he?

-That's right, yes, local artist.

Yes, I was wondering if he might have known that great Hull poet, Philip Larkin,

who of course is a great hero to me

and he wrote a wonderful poem called Going Going,

about the vanishing English countryside

and the increasing industrialisation

and the tarmac and the concrete everywhere.

And I also thought this might be about the vanishing world,

you know, and then about, well,

you could find beauty in anything, couldn't you?

You could find beauty in the factory floor, as here,

and it's about mass observation, these people all working.

So it's Britain at work and at play. Value...

I paid £100

and I thought that was a bargain for me,

and I loved it and I'm hoping it's going to be a little bit more,

but if not, it doesn't matter.

-I'm going to put £800 to £1,200 on it.

-Wow.

That is a surprise. Great!

-I really think that that's what it would do.

-That's lovely.

-Lot of fun.

-Thank you very much.

Well, usually when I see antique cradles,

they're either filled with logs, next to a fire,

or with dried flower arrangements in them. How has yours been used?

Well, all three of us have actually been in it, as babies,

because our parents bought it.

I'm the eldest, and they bought it before I was born,

and then, one after the other, we've been in it as babies,

so it's been properly used.

That's absolutely extraordinary.

So you've actually slept in this. Whether it'd comply with Health and Safety regulations now...

What year did your parents actually buy this?

We think in late 1941 or early 1942,

because they certainly had it by the time I was born in July 1942.

How absolutely brilliant. Did they just like old items, or...

Well, they were farmers, had little money, but they liked old things.

So we know, then, it dates back to at least 1940.

But the question is, how much further does it go beyond that?

Well, yes. We think considerably further, but we don't know.

I would agree with you, I think it's about 100 years earlier.

I think it dates from around 1840.

It's got this wonderful painted decoration around it.

Have you worked out what the scenes relate to?

Well, we think it's the Prodigal Son.

I would agree with you, definitely.

There's the scene here of one of the sons departing,

here is the son feeding the swine,

so that's certainly the tale it tells.

I think it's from a different area, historically known as Transylvania.

-Oh!

-And so more of that, sort of, Central Eastern Europe,

perhaps what we now know as Slovakia, Hungary, Romania,

-possibly even going closer to Russia.

-Oh.

But there has been so little research done

-into furniture from that region.

-Yes.

It's very difficult to pinpoint where.

And cradles, on the whole,

don't have a particularly high value, unfortunately.

They tend to not be used. I mean, your parents bucked the trend.

-So, three sisters, you're in age order, are you?

-Yes.

Oldest, middle, youngest.

Do you remember seeing either of your younger sisters sleeping in it?

Well, Laura came along a number of years after us two,

so we definitely remember Laura in it,

because she's 15 years younger than me,

so she was in that, and, I mean, both of us remember her in it,

and the occasional cry that woke us up in the night.

Well, as far as value goes, it's worth in the region of £400.

That's really not the point of this object, is it?

No, no, I don't think the value is of any concern.

Obviously, children have been sleeping in this for 100 years

before your parents bought it.

I'm just very pleased to meet the last three people who slept in it.

Well, I'm standing here with...

..Mr York, I think he is, isn't he?

And what a fantastic figure he is. Where does he fit in?

Well, he advertised Rowntree's chocolates, Plain York, York Milk

and York Motoring. And Rowntree's is, of course, very big in York,

this is where we were founded, and he was our advertising mascot.

Amazing. So York really has this relationship with chocolate.

It is extraordinary. And one has to say

that there was Rowntree's here, there's Terry's here

and there are other companies... There's Cadbury's and Fry's

but they were all Quakers, weren't they?

Oh, yes. And because they were all Quakers,

George Cadbury and Lewis Fry were both sent to York

to Joseph Rowntree's father's house

to be apprentices in his grocer's shop.

So Rowntree's, Fry and Cadbury were all working together as teenagers

and growing up together.

That's extraordinary, I didn't know that.

So we've definitely got the roots here of chocolate city.

Fantastic. So Mr York was a sort of advertising figure, I presume.

And what does he do?

Well, he appeared in poster adverts and cinema adverts,

but this particular model, built in 1928,

he used to have a tray of leaflets on his arm

and he would move his arm to pick up a leaflet and hand it out

to whoever was passing.

And where does he reside at the moment?

He lives in the company archive, with me.

So he's your co-worker, is he?

This is my only co-worker!

Can we get him going?

Yes, of course.

And let's see how great, or otherwise, he is.

Now what's he doing? Whoa! Up go those eyebrows.

And I love this, this sort of Dicky Bird, "It's a four."

What we really need is a lip reader.

I'm sure he's actually saying something quite interesting.

He's saying,

"Buy Plain York Motoring."

Wonderful. He's in great, great working order and you can imagine,

at a trade fair, he would actually stop the traffic.

He comes from a tradition of automata.

If one looks back in France in the 19th century,

these automated figures were produced for home entertainment,

and then somebody cottoned onto the idea, "Ah, well, maybe

"if we make them with a big spring, we can have them in shop windows."

But I can imagine that having something like

Mr York at a trade fair... It would stop the traffic,

it would push the product, and I think he still does it.

I think he's wonderful. When it comes to value,

I could easily see him fetching

between £3,000 and £5,000. I mean, he's a great object

and I hope he continues to keep you company in your office for many years to come.

He will.

Here's a very interesting looking pendant.

It's decorated with blue enamel and pearls and diamonds

and the very least of the message here

is that it's one of very strong affection, one of love.

These are pearls for Venus, diamonds forever,

blue ribbons for love. But what's all this love about?

It belonged to my mother. And she passed it on to my wife.

It has a history behind it because there are four names -

well, an inscription on the back,

and I've often wondered what it was

and I spent a bit of time last night reading about it.

Last night! That's not much of a run-up!

We've had it for years.

-You've had it for years and you got a bit exited last night.

-Yes.

It is something personal because if you look carefully

there is an inscription.

What does it say?

"To Mary from Alice, Helena, Louise and Beatrice."

That's the four daughters of Queen Victoria.

It certainly is their names.

Princess Victoria is not on it, because there's a date of

1861 where, by that time, she was married

and I think living in Hanover.

-Exactly, being Empress of Prussia.

-Yes.

It's a fantastic thing, and I think with that combination of names,

the balance of probability is you're exactly on the right track here.

That this is a very personal souvenir,

a very personal British royal souvenir,

and not only does it have the inscription, but it has the hair

-of the four princesses, doesn't it?

-We assume it's the hair of the four.

I don't think there's a shadow of doubt

about the combination of the names, the presence of the hair,

the character of the jewel, which is absolutely in keeping for a jewel

from 1861, and this mania of the British Royal Family

for engraving the provenances of these small

intensely personal souvenirs.

Really, there's no intrinsic value here at all,

it's all emotional value, and the message there

-is one of love - it's a family love really.

-And it says "To Mary".

And who do you think Mary is?

It's not Queen Mary as she wasn't alive in 1861.

That's a good reason for it not to be her.

-It's Queen Mary's mother, I think, Mary of Teck.

-Absolutely.

The Princess Mary that you're talking about -

and it may well be her, I'm not absolutely certain that it is -

-is a granddaughter of King George III, I think.

-Yes.

Which really is - as they say - pushing it a bit.

This is a very, very Royal lady indeed.

but what I can tell you about this jewel

-is that it's given in April 1861, isn't it?

-Yes.

Six months later, the character of this jewel would have changed

in colour, and importance, and focus,

and everything else that you can possibly imagine.

And the reason is that Prince Albert, their father, died

just before Christmas in 1861.

And this is all joy, and all love and all family connections

and an intensely personal souvenir of family affection, which was

to be utterly and completely wrecked just before Christmas in 1861.

-Yes.

-Prince Albert died,

Queen Victoria wrote to King Leopold of Belgium the day after his death.

She said, "My life as a happy one is ended. The world has gone from me."

I believe most definitely that these are the four royal princesses.

They're giving it to a Mary, and we yet have to find out who that is.

With a bit of work, I think we will.

An extraordinarily intimate present from

the four princesses of the United Kingdom of Great Britain

and Ireland. So how to value it?

I think this thing is certainly worth -

I'm going to say £3,000 to £5,000. Closer to five.

Well, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter to me - at all! I've loved it.

With temperatures going way over 80

-today, the thought of going swimming is mega-appealing.

-Absolutely.

And you've very kindly brought us along a collection of swimsuits.

I have. It's part of my collection. I collect costume and textiles

and this is just a very tiny part of my costume collection.

But we rarely ever see bathing costumes. Why is that?

I think they're more and more difficult to come by.

I mean, certainly to find something these days is very difficult.

I've collected this over the last maybe 20 years,

and it's just part of my passion really for social history

and why changes happen in fashion.

Now, one always thinks it's the Victorians who started the fashion

in bathing and the famous resorts - so when did it all start?

I think it probably goes back earlier than that,

certainly to the spa towns of Regency times.

If you think of Scarborough and Brighton, for example,

the Prince Regent brought the seaside into fashion,

so promenade dresses became very prominent,

and then spa therapies which took on board the benefits of water,

then that really came to bring spa resorts such as Scarborough

to the front of fashion. So certainly by the mid 19th century,

-it was becoming popular.

-So, what's the earliest example you have here?

The earliest pieces I would say are the red one over here

and this maroon one, which are late Victorian/Edwardian,

so maybe 1890-1900. And they're quite interesting because they're made of

very thick cotton, which, to wear a dress like this today

would be quite difficult - but also there would be bloomers underneath.

-Fantastic.

-And the ladies would also wear stockings and boots - we have

-some examples here - to go into the sea.

-And then

obviously in the Edwardian times it wasn't quite so conservative,

-they revealed a little bit more?

-That's right. The one down here,

the striped blue one, I think that's a gentleman's costume.

Oh, this is what I would have worn.

Because frequently the gentlemen's costumes would have skirts on them.

-OK.

-Just to protect modesty because

they're very revealing, being knitted,

so even the gentlemen would need to wear a skirt.

What sort of prices do you have to pay for the more important pieces?

It's difficult to know, because it's such a long time that I bought them,

but maybe £100 I probably paid for something like this.

Maybe these were - I don't know - £20, £50.

I think they're glorious and I think they're fabulous

for a spa town to have an exhibition of this. I'm sure from

a museum point of view, they belong in your collection obviously,

but it would be great to see more of these sort of things in museums,

-as they are a social history.

-They are, yes.

It's a very popular pastime. Hundreds of thousands of people

used to go to the seaside to take the waters. This is what they wore.

MUSIC: "I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside"

THEY LAUGH

This is a really pretty glass, so where does it fall into your life?

Given to us about 30 years ago by an elderly lady,

friend of the family, long since deceased.

So, why have you brought it along today?

Well, I wasn't sure whether it was what I would call a reproduction,

being made fairly recently, or whether it was an original.

And how old do you think it would be, if it were original?

Oh, I would think about 1790 or thereabouts.

I think it's just a little bit earlier than that,

and it's absolutely right.

It's a facet stem wine glass,

and isn't it funny that if you were to come round to mine

for dinner tonight, and I were to offer you wine in this glass,

you'd think I was a miser, you'd think, "What a stingy portion."

But, of course, the reason that wine glasses of this period

-are so small is they were for toasting.

-Yes.

So, you would have it refilled at the sideboard,

it would be brought to the table by one of your servants -

one of your many servants, I'm sure, in your case -

and then you would make the toast and then it would be...

-Bottom's up.

-All in one.

All in one. It contains a mouthful.

And that's a way we can date these,

in that that toasting etiquette

really died out by about 1780,

so you're on the right sort of lines, but just a little late.

I think this is about 1770-1775,

and it would be a wheel-engraved cipher.

Now, what we're missing from this cipher

which would really be helpful is the crown -

to work out whether it's a baronet's crown, or a ducal

or a knight.

So... And these are very difficult to work out.

If you could lock this in to a particular owner,

you're going to add -

its value as it stands is

-£400.

-It's one of a pair.

They would be worth £800. I think my maths is right.

-Yeah!

-But if you could add a name, if you work out

who that belonged to, then you've just broken the thousand barrier.

-Uh-huh.

-So I'll leave you with that little job.

-Yeah, thank you.

It's the most glorious summer's day here in York,

and of course the sun is out, the sky's beautifully blue

and we've got lots of lovely white clouds, and you've brought in

an absolute gem, a lovely cloud study which is signed.

If it wasn't signed, one might think that perhaps

it was by Constable or perhaps one of his followers.

But of course it's not -

-it's by the great 20th century artist, Edward Seago.

-That's right.

-So, where did you find it?

-It was on a dealer's website

about five years ago and I really couldn't afford it

and I went horrendously overdrawn for it, but I just couldn't resist it.

I kept looking at it on the website every week

and in the end I thought, "Go for it". Because I like Constable,

which you alluded to, and I thought,

"It might be the next best thing, and I can afford it - just."

It's a little jewel, this picture by Seago, and of course I think

probably it was done - well, it was probably just a picture

that he enjoyed to paint, probably one of those great little studies

that he would do as a painter enjoying paint rather than

having to do it as a commission. You can tell that he's actually

technically very, very good and it gets away from all those wonderful

but rather prolific Norfolk landscapes that he painted

and that we all recognise him through. I just love this

and actually if I'd seen it and had to go overdrawn

I would have probably done the same thing as you.

-Have you dated this picture?

-No, no.

I knew he died in 1974, the year I was born,

but I didn't know when it had been painted.

I think it's probably quite early because I think

prior to him doing these great commissions

and those wonderful landscapes,

we know that he had quite a weak heart

so he was there, certainly in his teens,

painting studies and sketches from his bedroom.

I suspect this was probably done in his 20s or 30s,

so we're looking at 1930-1940.

But it's unusual, it's a total one-off little painting.

So it is worth not as much as some of those great landscapes

-that make thousands and thousands of pounds.

-No.

But I certainly could see someone paying at least £3,000 to £5,000

for it, perhaps even £4,000 to £6,000 for it.

That's great, that's great. That's a little bit more than I paid

and I really love it and I'm happy with that.

-Fantastic.

-Thank you.

Now, this is a very curious looking object, isn't it?

It looks a bit like a pocket watch, doesn't it?

The fact is, it looks a bit like a pocket watch

-but that's a disguise. Do you know what it's a disguise for?

-No.

It's a disguise for a camera.

Now, what makes you think that a camera might be

disguised as a pocket watch? Why would they want to do that?

Because, like, if you thought it was a pocket watch,

you could have it in your pocket,

but if you took it out and it was like... took a picture -

they might not think it was a camera.

Perfect. You've hit the nail right on the head.

Because what this is is a kind of detective camera.

It's a class of camera that's called a subminiature detective camera,

and it was made very specifically for taking photographs secretly.

So you can imagine some spy might have used this camera.

In fact, I'm probably going a little bit too far,

because really I think these cameras were really a bit of fun as well.

This particular camera is called a Ticka camera.

You've probably noticed that it has an inscription on the back

which says "Ticka", and it's called a Ticka because obviously it looks

a little bit like a watch, a pocket watch, and hence the name Ticka.

And this one was made by a company called Houghtons in London.

Now, Houghtons made this Ticka pocket watch camera

between 1905 and 1914.

The person that designed this was a gentleman called Magnus Neill,

and he was a Swedish gentleman.

If we look at it, we see here there's a cap on the end

which looks like the winder for the watch.

If we take that off, in fact,

what it reveals is the lens for the camera.

In fact, if we cock the camera - to get it ready to work - we pull

this lever back here, and to fire the camera, we point it

and we push this button and that's the exposure,

the picture is being taken.

Now, I want to know if there's any family history.

-Do you have any spies in your family?

-No.

No spies in your family. OK.

My nan found this in the drawer

and she thought it might have been good for an antique.

Right. Shall we talk about value?

What do you think, are you interested in how much it's worth?

Yeah.

Thought you might be.

This one is probably going to be worth

around about £200 in this condition.

Yeah.

Quite a lot of money, isn't it? How much pocket money do you get a week?

-£2.50.

-£2.50.

-That's quite a lot of pocket money, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-It's going to take a lot of £2.50s to get to £200.

-Yes.

I think you should ask your nan if you can look after this.

-What do you think?

-Yeah.

Thank you very much for bringing it, it's a really interesting thing.

Now, when I was a boy - oh, longer ago than I care to remember -

I used to collect hand grenades, of all things.

Quite a weird thing to collect, but that got me into militaria

-and that's why I'm doing the job I'm doing today.

-Right.

-Right.

But very interested in Mills bombs in particular,

the standard sort of pineapple-looking grenade.

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

-Yes.

And I see here it says "details of production - Mills grenades,

-"2.2 million Mills bombs made."

-Yeah.

Now, what is this?

My great-grandfather...?

Great-grandfather, yeah.

Yeah, great-grandfather.

..was the general manager of the Falkirk Iron Company

and they went into grenade making and things in the...

-Shells as well.

-Shells and things.

-And bombs.

..in the First World War.

So before the First World War, there were a huge number of factories -

some large, some small - all over the country,

manufacturing all sorts of things from tin baths to kettles.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

An extraordinary range of metal objects

and during the First World War,

because arms were desperately needed,

a huge number of factories were changed over to armament production,

and presumably that's what happened to the Falkirk Iron Company.

Yeah, they were producing baths, I think.

Baths and ovens and things, stoves, things like that before.

-Really?

-Yeah.

Well, here we see, if we turn over some of the pages,

we've got photographs of the manufacturing processes.

Now, here they're manufacturing... What does this say?

Two-inch Howitzer bombs,

and you've got these men working in a factory in the production process.

Yeah.

So this must have been fairly early on in the war.

I would have said so, yeah.

Because later on, of course, the men were all called up to fight.

-Yes.

-And women started to go into the manufacturing process

and into the factories.

Here are two women with Mills bombs, with hand grenades,

-actually making the hand grenades.

-Yeah.

I mean, this is amazing because, you know,

these are very, very unusual photographs, they really are.

And I just can't believe...

Look at the boxes, look at these crates of empty hand grenades,

that's the most extraordinary thing.

-I bet you didn't have that many in your collection!

-I certainly didn't, that's quite true.

I don't have them any more, I sold them.

Now this photograph is titled "assembling"

and you see the whole factory floor is full of women,

-and of course you wouldn't have got that before the First World War.

-No.

So it's a great testament to the power of women

working in munitions factories.

If they were filling these grenades, this would have been pretty dangerous work.

-I should imagine.

-Yeah, mm.

-Very dangerous work.

But, you know, another thing is you have to think of the human cost

of manufacturing these grenades, because many of these munitions

would have been used in France and Belgium and Germany

and would have killed countless soldiers,

so we have to think about the human cost of it.

But, of course, if these weren't manufactured, many of us wouldn't be here today.

-That's also true, yeah.

-You've got a social document here...

-Yeah.

-..to show what happened during the First World War.

A collector would pay you...

-£300 to £500.

-Right. Blimey.

-Right, thank you.

You looked slightly surprised when I opened this

-and I wanted to talk about it.

-Yes.

Why were you surprised?

Well, cos when I was given it, I always thought

it's not the most beautiful piece of jewellery, but it is quite unusual.

So therefore you don't wear it, I assume.

No, no, I've never had occasion to wear it.

-Never had an occasion?

-No.

There's always an occasion to wear jewellery.

-Well, my mission is for you to start wearing it.

-Right.

After I've explained a little bit about it.

What is lovely about this is the craftsmanship.

Now that is the first thing that springs out at me,

and it is in the shape of a Maltese cross, or a Latin cross,

they used to use those motifs a lot

in the late Georgian, early Victorian period.

-It's quite a bold cross, isn't it?

-Yes.

-And it's quite a large cross.

But at the same time, there's that femininity about it,

and so I think they've done this very cleverly,

in that they have used chalcedony

to carve the actual cross,

and yet, inside, there is this wonderful goldsmithing

and craftsmanship going on.

There seems to be different colours of gold -

there's like a silver and a rose and a yellow gold as well -

so there's all different colours.

Exactly, now that is because the goldsmiths at the time,

they weren't happy with just yellow gold,

they wanted to have other colours in the gold as well,

-so they would put copper in with the gold to make it red.

-Right, yes.

They put silver in with the gold to make it of a green tint,

but that's why you've got what looks like green gold,

red gold and you've got silver here as well.

But also they've got this emerald. Now...

-Is that what it is?

-Yes, it's an emerald.

Oh, right, I didn't know that.

And emerald was used for... Green is for hope.

-There was a lot of symbolism during the Victorian period.

-Yeah.

You have the pearls there for purity and honesty,

so you've got the love of Christ,

hope of the love of Christ and its purity.

That emerald...

Even though this looks like it was probably made in England,

But that emerald probably would have come from South America.

Oh, right.

-I mean we're talking, you know, 1840.

-Really?

We're talking a long time ago. Have I convinced you yet?

Well, I'm thinking about it, yeah.

Are you thinking about it? Excellent.

I must admit, the more I look at it, over the time,

because it gets put away and gets pulled out.

The first time I saw it was like, "Oh, God," but now it's actually...

Yeah, you have to look at it and you have to look at the detail.

-The appreciation of it.

-Yeah.

When you appreciate it, and you see the craftsmanship,

-you'll want to wear it.

-Yeah.

-Value.

Well, I would say it's going to be in the region

of around £600 to £800 at auction.

Really?

I think it'll look fabulous on you.

-Brilliant, thank you.

-So go and wear it.

-I think I will.

Now this little bell tells two great stories.

The first one, it's crested to Lancing.

-This was when people started to go on holidays.

-Right.

Just after all the railways, so people went to the seaside

-and they picked up a little souvenir like this bell.

-OK.

-But this is a bit unusual.

-Yeah, yeah.

Because it's also about the suffragettes. Yeah.

What did you think about it? Why did you want it?

Well, it's actually my mum and dad's bell, but I've always loved it.

-This is an incredibly important thing for you and I.

-Yes, yes.

You know, women didn't have the vote,

the Women's National Society For Suffrage started in 1872.

By the time this little bell was made...

-I mean, women over 30 got the vote in 1918.

-OK.

But only if they were a householder,

married to a householder or had a university degree.

Right. OK, right.

-So we didn't get the vote, really, until 1928.

-No.

But this was the period where everybody wanted to,

-you know, support the suffragettes. Certainly women did.

-Yes, exactly.

-So this was bought. It's a very unusual little bell.

-Yes.

-I've seen a lot of crested ware but this is unusual.

-Right.

-But the bad news is that nobody wants crested ware at the moment.

-That's fine.

Completely out of fashion.

Most bits of crested ware I look at, I'm saying two, three pounds.

-Yeah.

-This piece?

-Right.

-It's about suffragettes.

-Yes, yeah.

It's a lovely bell, it's made by Arcadian Company

and I'd say you'd easily get at least £100.

Oh, wow! Oh, fantastic. I wasn't expecting that from that, no.

But that's... For you and I, this was a very important thing.

Yes, exactly, yes and we just love that bell anyway, so... Thank you!

-Motor cycles and mice, a very strange mix.

-Yes.

Who is Harold King?

Harold King was my great uncle.

There's a picture of him,

and he was the president of the Eboracum Motor Cycle Club.

OK, and there is the enamel badge of Eboracum Motor Club.

Eboracum being the old Roman name for York.

Do we know when it was founded?

I'm not sure, no.

-No, because it's still going today.

-Yes, it is.

I think it was founded in the early 20th century,

some time around 1910-1915.

This is made locally by none other than Robert "Mousey" Thompson.

Robert Thompson, he was a Victorian by birth

and he made this in a traditional Arts and Crafts way,

following the sort of William Morris...

No fuss, it's air-dried oak, British oak,

made locally at Kilburn in the Hambleton Hills

-not, what, 10 or 15 miles from here?

-Mm-hm.

I'm familiar with him because I went to school in York

and our school had furniture by the Mouseman.

And of course as a little boy, my eyes were always drawn to the mouse

and I've learned since there's mice all over York - wooden ones.

But this is a really interesting family heirloom.

-Shall we have a look?

-Yes.

Now I know the collective word for a group of mice

is apparently a mischief.

-Oh, right.

-So we have a mischief of mice in the form of napkin rings.

Have you ever used them? They look absolutely...

-They've never been touched.

-No? Each one has a mouse.

Now I know that, today, a mouse costs something like £20 per mouse,

in man time, to carve,

so you've got a lot of mice hours built up in this little group.

Mm-hm.

It was awarded in 1962, he was then secretary.

Where's the mouse, then?

It's on the back, let's have a look, there he is.

And it's an incuse mouse rather than on the napkin rings being in relief,

so just in his own little arch, just the ears, the body in silhouette.

It's absolutely smashing.

Value? Well, the box is very personal to you and to him,

but the napkin rings are, you know, lovely.

I think as a group, £600 to £800

would be my sort of estimate at auction.

Gosh, right. It's more than we thought.

Well, you may know that on this series of the Roadshow,

we've been playing a bit of an interesting game,

where we're presenting people with three similar objects.

One that's basic, one that's better and one that's best,

and I wonder, you know, looking at this...

motley crew of objects you've brought along to the show today,

whether, you know, the viewers would find any one of these pieces

standing out from any of the others.

But could you tell me collectively where they come from,

-what their history is.

-From my mum's side of the family.

-Right.

-Grandparents. These two plates are off my dad's side of the family.

-OK.

The paperweight was my mum's cousin's grandma's.

-Right.

-My mum sort of got that when she was about ten, off her cousin.

But the other one's my grandparents',

they were always on their fireplace.

-Yes.

-Same with these, really.

-So they've all played an important part in family history, really.

-Yes.

I think you might suspect that there's one piece on this table

that's been making my little heart go all of a flutter.

These are nice decorative objects, these ones,

but probably if you add them all together,

they won't make more than a couple of hundred pounds. Modest value.

This is the kind of thing we see on the Roadshow all the time.

-And then there's this one.

-Right.

And it's a paperweight and it's made of glass

and you can see it's got...

..a little pansy there and a pansy bud,

-a rose and a rose bud and two thistles, just there.

-Yeah.

And they're tied together with a little pink ribbon

at the bottom of the stems.

When I first saw that, I could hardly believe my eyes.

-Really?

-Have you any idea where it's from?

-No.

-The best ones are made in France.

Right.

This is a French one.

And there were three famous makers.

There was St Louis...

..there was Baccarat and there was Clichy,

-and this is a Clichy one, but it's not marked, is it?

-No.

But this rose that I pointed to.

-Yeah.

-It's a Clichy rose and we know this is a weight made by Clichy.

You might ask, "Why these three flowers?"

And there are some paperweight collectors

who think there's a significance with the Crimean War.

Because in the Crimean War, England and Scotland were -

-for a change - allied with France, represented by the pansy.

-Yeah.

So there may be that kind of significance.

And we know the Crimean War was 1853-56,

so, really, I'm telling you this is mid-19th century.

There's a huge number of collectors of these paperweights.

-There are lots and lots of rich collectors in America.

-Right.

And they're selling really well

and, you know, they make in salerooms all the time

-£500...

-Gosh.

..or £1,000.

But this one is different.

Right. Thanks(!)

Sorry, I'm being cruel. This one is different.

There are a very, very small number of these weights around.

I sold one recently, so I know exactly what it's worth.

-Right.

-It sold...

for £22,000.

Never!

Oh, Mum!

-22,000?

-22,000.

I used to say to my wife, I used to say,

"That paperweight that's always on the dressing table, shall I move it?

"I'm sick of seeing it."

-Well, I think it's wonderful.

-Wow.

It must be one of the best paperweights we've seen on the Roadshow. It's fantastic.

Thank you.

THEY LAUGH

Gosh, go and tell Mum now.

-Good.

-Thank you very much.

Good. So what's your mother doing today?

She's at home making piccalilli, actually.

Making piccalilli, while you're here getting that kind of news.

Do you think you ought to give her a ring and let her know?

And do you know what?

She did just that, phoning her there and then.

Want to see what happened?

-Hello?

-'Hello, love. Have you just rung?'

I have, yeah. I've got some news for you about your paperweight, Mum.

'What?'

You're on loud speaker. It's worth £22,000.

'No, it isn't! Don't be so daft.'

You're on loud speaker, Mum, it is.

-'No, it isn't.'

-It is!

HER MUM LAUGHS

-Never!

-Yes, it is, Mum. Yeah.

'Good grief.

'I can't believe that sum, I've had that since I was a little girl.'

I know, I know. Well. I'll let you go

and I'll phone you again in a minute. Love you, bye.

Oh, how lovely.

THEY LAUGH

What a terrific way to end our day in York.

Best go and check your paperweights now. Or better still,

bring them along to a Roadshow.

From York and the whole team, bye-bye.