0:00:00 > 0:00:05Manchester Town Hall - the ultimate example of civic pride
0:00:05 > 0:00:08and they say its foundations are built on bales of cotton.
0:00:08 > 0:00:09Hmm.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Welcome back to the second helping of the Antiques Roadshow from Manchester.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59'The official opening of Manchester Town Hall
0:00:59 > 0:01:01'was to be a glamorous affair,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03'so the monarch was invited.'
0:01:03 > 0:01:06But Queen Victoria declined to attend
0:01:06 > 0:01:08when she got wind of the Mayor's radical beliefs.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11He'd wanted to produce a newspaper for the poor called
0:01:11 > 0:01:14The Poor Man's Guardian - outrageous!
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Ironically enough, though, it was the Mayor who stood in for her
0:01:17 > 0:01:22when this magnificent building was opened on the 13th September 1877.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26And here he is, the radical himself, Abel Heywood.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32The architect was a northern lad, Alfred Waterhouse.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35He designed cotton flowers all over the building.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38It became known as King Cotton's Palace -
0:01:38 > 0:01:42a reference to the vast amounts of cotton imported to Manchester
0:01:42 > 0:01:45for the manufacturing of textiles.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47And you can see bees everywhere too,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50as busy Manchester was a hive of industry.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55130 years on and the town hall is just as busy as ever.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58This is still the place you come to register births, marriages and deaths
0:01:58 > 0:02:01and it's a favoured Hollywood location.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05Only recently Meryl Streep was spotted striding down these corridors
0:02:05 > 0:02:09dressed in the familiar attire of Margaret Thatcher.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16The Mayor's staterooms are where the great and the good have been wined and dined
0:02:16 > 0:02:18over the last century or so.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22Benjamin Disraeli, Dr Stanley Livingston - I presume?
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Sorry, couldn't resist that.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26Winston Churchill - he was made a Freeman of the City,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29they've all been entertained here.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Today we are the guests of Manchester City Council
0:02:34 > 0:02:39and what a spectacular place for our experts to weave their magic.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42The story of Manchester's industrial history
0:02:42 > 0:02:44is dominated by a word, which you hear all the time,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48and it's cotton, cotton, cotton, cotton, cotton and cotton.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50It's what you hear all the time.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54There's another part of Manchester's industrial history,
0:02:54 > 0:02:55which is pressed glass.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00And Ancoats was stuffed with pressed glass works.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03That's Manchester,
0:03:03 > 0:03:06that really is a piece of Manchester's genuine past,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09as much as any cotton you could think of - and it's survived!
0:03:09 > 0:03:12I'll tell you what, it's survived a lot more than the cotton, hasn't it?
0:03:12 > 0:03:16- SHE LAUGHS - Yes.- It's in a lot better condition that a shirt you would have bought!
0:03:16 > 0:03:18So, come on, tell us about your bit of it.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Well, it's a piece that was always in Grandma's house
0:03:21 > 0:03:26and when Grandma died 18 years ago, obviously, the house was cleared
0:03:26 > 0:03:30and it was just passed down to myself, as a member of the family,
0:03:30 > 0:03:32and when we had family get-togethers
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Grandma always used to put the celery in it!
0:03:35 > 0:03:40Which is really bizarre, bearing in mind it's a celery vase! THEY LAUGH
0:03:40 > 0:03:42Is it really? Right.
0:03:42 > 0:03:43It's a celery vase.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46It's not really, they've described it as a celery vase
0:03:46 > 0:03:51because the tax on practical glass was less than on fancy glass.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55So, if they called it a flower vase it would have cost more
0:03:55 > 0:04:00but because they called it a celery vase you could sell it cheaper.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03- Right, so...- And as for date, well, we know how old it is
0:04:03 > 0:04:05cos there's a little mark down here.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08It's a design registration lozenge.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10It's about 1865.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13- Oh, REALLY?- Yeah, really.
0:04:13 > 0:04:151865?
0:04:15 > 0:04:19It's not a fantastically valuable thing. What's it worth?
0:04:19 > 0:04:24£30 or £40 quid sort of money but the fact is, it has survived
0:04:24 > 0:04:28- and it's still here...- It is. - ..proudly proclaiming MANCHESTER!
0:04:28 > 0:04:32So we can use it for celery then? Legally!
0:04:32 > 0:04:33THEY LAUGH
0:04:35 > 0:04:41Cock Robin merrily singing his heart out on a Victorian tree branch,
0:04:41 > 0:04:45in a gold frame, in the original fitted box.
0:04:45 > 0:04:46What's the story behind it?
0:04:46 > 0:04:49It was my maternal Grandmother's.
0:04:49 > 0:04:50I know nothing about it
0:04:50 > 0:04:53and I would like to know how the robin got there!
0:04:53 > 0:04:57- Yes, because he's trapped within, isn't he, really?- Yes he is, yes.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00It's in incredibly good condition.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02The reason is, as I do always say,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04if you've got the original box for the item,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07goodness me, that really does help to keep the condition
0:05:07 > 0:05:09absolutely top grade.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14What it is, it's called a reverse crystal painting.
0:05:14 > 0:05:20Take a bubble of rock crystal, engrave it from the back
0:05:20 > 0:05:26- and paint the detail of the robin from the back.- Oh.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30So it's painted on and if you could see, literally, behind it,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34you'd see that there's a sort of engraved hole filled up with paint.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Very high quality gold frame, 18 carat gold frame,
0:05:39 > 0:05:45and at the back, like all the best Victorian pendants,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49- a locket compartment for you to put a photograph or a lock of hair.- Yeah.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Probably given, do you not agree, as a Christmas present? Do you think?
0:05:54 > 0:05:56- Probably, yes. - I would have thought so.
0:05:56 > 0:06:01- All right, been in the family all these years.- Yes.
0:06:01 > 0:06:02Do you wear it?
0:06:02 > 0:06:05I don't now but I have worn it when I was much younger,
0:06:05 > 0:06:09I used to wear it with a black velvet ribbon with an evening dress.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14It's not valueless, they are very collectable
0:06:14 > 0:06:17and this one is a particularly good one, in a Hunt and Roskell box.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22Would you like to hear that it's worth something in the region £2,500?
0:06:23 > 0:06:26That's a very nice surprise, thank you.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28- Would you be pleased then? - I'd be very pleased, yes.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34Just my height, this.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36Oh, God, yeah. It's handy to lean on.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38- It's a big pot!- Good.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40Where did you get it from?
0:06:40 > 0:06:42My mother bought it in 1945...
0:06:43 > 0:06:45..from in a shop in Manchester.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49- Fantastic, and you've had it ever since?- Yes.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52- Do you like it?- I do like it, yes.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Do you know what it all means?
0:06:54 > 0:06:56I don't, not at all.
0:06:56 > 0:06:57I'll tell you something.
0:06:57 > 0:07:03As I approached this pot I knew instantly what it was...
0:07:03 > 0:07:05- Japanese.- Lovely.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08- It isn't!- Oh. - THEY LAUGH
0:07:08 > 0:07:11- Once I got close, I realised I was wrong.- Right.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15It's actually got a fair amount of Japanese influence on it
0:07:15 > 0:07:18- but it's actually Chinese.- Oh, right.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23- And dates from the middle of the 19th century.- Right.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25- So it's 150 years old.- Right.
0:07:27 > 0:07:28Do you know what these are?
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Look like overgrown tulips.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33- They're actually peaches!- Oh, right.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38And a peach in China, is a symbol of longevity.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43Well, it's an omen that she bought it - she lived to be 98!
0:07:43 > 0:07:45It works!
0:07:45 > 0:07:49So, you're going to live to 98 - oh, you're not 98 yet are you?
0:07:49 > 0:07:50I'm 80!
0:07:50 > 0:07:55Er, down here we've got...
0:07:55 > 0:07:59- immortals on different animals...- Yes.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04..and they're the Taoist immortals, not Buddhist but Taoist.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06- Different religion.- Right.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10And I think this would be very saleable
0:08:10 > 0:08:13to the modern Chinese market.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18And I think you would get somewhere between £5,000 and £8,000 for it.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21Do you know how much it cost?
0:08:21 > 0:08:22No, tell me.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24- I'm going to show you.- Yes.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29My Dad bought it, in a shop, a furniture shop in Manchester...
0:08:31 > 0:08:32..in 1945...
0:08:33 > 0:08:36- ..five pounds. - It's gone up 1,000 times.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43The first one I bought about 15 years ago,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47just from a local antiques fair,
0:08:47 > 0:08:52and then the other one I bought about six or eight months later,
0:08:52 > 0:08:54again just at a local antiques fair, so...
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Are you an Art Deco collector?
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Because these obviously do date from the 1930s.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02I do like the Art Deco period.
0:09:02 > 0:09:03- So you're a bit of a magpie, yeah? - Yeah.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06Well, first of all, let's just look at the features,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09cos the features immediately tell you that you're looking at something
0:09:09 > 0:09:12- which is from that, sort of, inter-war period.- Yes.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17Because it's amazing, you can look at fashion plates
0:09:17 > 0:09:19and ladies have got these elongated faces,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22erm, and also it doesn't need much for me to know
0:09:22 > 0:09:27that there's a mark behind there that's going to say Goldscheider,
0:09:27 > 0:09:29although it's a little bit obscured.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31So we know that they're made in Austria,
0:09:31 > 0:09:35and this one, I notice, benefits actually from a label as well.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Yeah, I only noticed that last night when I took them off the wall.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41- And you've been living with them for 15 years!- I know.
0:09:41 > 0:09:42That's incredible.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46I mean, I love this particular one, I've seen this one before
0:09:46 > 0:09:48- because look at that hair!- Mmm.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51- Ringlets of jade green.- Yeah.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55I mean, to be honest with you, it looks like a hairdresser's nightmare
0:09:55 > 0:09:59- where a perm has gone badly wrong in the rinse, or whatever!- It does.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04But this is the sort of object that collectors are very keen to have.
0:10:04 > 0:10:10They made a whole range of wall masks, including THIS one.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Now, this one does set the pulse racing.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15I've got say it's a rare subject.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21Anything to do with skiing these days is always at a premium.
0:10:21 > 0:10:28You even find auctions in London dedicated to skiing posters and skiing memorabilia,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31so she would sit well in two distinct sales.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34- Obviously an Art Deco sale and a skiing sale.- Yes.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36Well, let's just go back to this girl.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39- How much did you pay for that? - 120 for that one.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42- OK.- That was more expensive than the other one.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44All right, well let's take this one.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46120, today...
0:10:46 > 0:10:52the market for that is going to be nearer £300 or thereabouts. OK.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55Now, when you say more expensive for our ski girl.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57That was the cheaper one.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00- Oh, that was the cheaper one?- Yeah. - Oh, right, so how cheap is cheap?
0:11:00 > 0:11:04- Well, it was £100 for that one.- £100.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Erm, I've not seen this before,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09and I've seen a lot of Goldscheider masks,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12so I wouldn't hesitate to quote you somewhere in the region of £800
0:11:12 > 0:11:16to possibly, possibly £1,000.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Wow, that's amazing!
0:11:18 > 0:11:19That is amazing.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24So, the Crystal House or Crystal Palace
0:11:24 > 0:11:27- was built for the Great Exhibition in 1851...- Yes.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32..and it was, you know, the most exciting thing that had happened at that time.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Six million people -
0:11:35 > 0:11:39- a third of the population of Great Britain - came to see it.- Wow.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43It was 990,000 square feet
0:11:43 > 0:11:48and so there were a tremendous number of commemoratives made for this event...
0:11:48 > 0:11:51- and you've brought one.- Yes. - Where did you get?
0:11:51 > 0:11:54- I got it from my great aunt. - And did she go? Do you know?
0:11:54 > 0:11:55I'm not sure
0:11:55 > 0:11:58but I think it must have been passed down through the family.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Well, it was such a spectacular event
0:12:01 > 0:12:06and many, many things were produced...so they're quite common.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08Right.
0:12:08 > 0:12:09But I've never seen this one before.
0:12:09 > 0:12:10Right.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14- So, and I LOVE the verse. - Yes, so do I.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18- Because it's not very good, is it? - It's strange.- It's very strange.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21"These are the soldiers so gay and so bright
0:12:21 > 0:12:23"Who like to play best but are willing to fight
0:12:23 > 0:12:26"In defence of the Police, so active and bold
0:12:26 > 0:12:28"Who mind not the heat and fear not the cold."
0:12:28 > 0:12:31THEY CHUCKLE It's lovely.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33So produced for this -
0:12:33 > 0:12:37I haven't seen this one before, so rarer than most,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41and I think you would have to pay about £500.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Wow! Just for this?
0:12:43 > 0:12:45My goodness.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47Heavens!
0:12:48 > 0:12:51I can't believe that, I really can't.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54So if you don't mind me asking you, sir,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57this is meant to be hanging in Mottram Church,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59what's it doing, today, at Manchester Town Hall?
0:12:59 > 0:13:06Well, we, in 1980, bought a biscuit company in this cotton mill
0:13:06 > 0:13:11and, within a year, we were clearing out store rooms
0:13:11 > 0:13:14and were throwing out all the junk.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17And some of the boys discovered this amongst the junk.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21So, you bought your biscuit factory
0:13:21 > 0:13:24- that happened to be an old cotton mill.- Yes.
0:13:24 > 0:13:25This was found there.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27Yes it was.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31It's been hanging in reception in the biscuit factory ever since.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35- And so its history is incredibly rich, isn't it?- Yes, it is.
0:13:35 > 0:13:36Because it says here,
0:13:36 > 0:13:41"The South Side of Mottram Chancel is Repaired By and Belongs to
0:13:41 > 0:13:46"the Earl of Warrington as Lord of the Manor of Stayly."
0:13:46 > 0:13:49So, Mottram church, where is that?
0:13:49 > 0:13:51Well Mottram church is in Stalybridge,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54which is in the village of Mottram itself.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56And it's between Stalybridge and Glossop,
0:13:56 > 0:14:01about 15 miles east of Manchester.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05This shield actually dates from 1694,
0:14:05 > 0:14:11when the Earl of Warrington placed it in the church at Mottram.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Because this armorial, the sort of focal point of it,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16- is incredibly detailed, isn't it?- Yes.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19- It goes back generations, really.- Yes.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21Explaining, you know, his blood line,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23- it's a bit like a family tree, if you like.- Yes.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27So, presumably, it was hanging in the chancel or...
0:14:27 > 0:14:29actually, looking at it,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33one wonders whether it might even have formed part of the, sort of,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35the panelling within that chancel.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39- There's a curious square just here, isn't there?- Yes.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42- A good repair!- Yes, a good repair, possibly even a door or something.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45We're not sure whether it's a door or a panel
0:14:45 > 0:14:48but it certainly hung in the chancel for about 150 years
0:14:48 > 0:14:53and it was only moved by a guy called Chapman,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56a wealthy mill owner from the area,
0:14:56 > 0:15:01who bought the chancel from the church and decided, in his wisdom,
0:15:01 > 0:15:06that he was wealthy enough to take out all the accoutrements
0:15:06 > 0:15:10that were in the chancel, replacing them with his own.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14So, at that time the armorial shield disappeared,
0:15:14 > 0:15:18that was in 1854 or thereabouts,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22and destroyed everything that was within it for his own goods.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25And this of course disappeared at that time.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29But interesting that it was never actually destroyed or thrown away,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31and not hard to imagine why
0:15:31 > 0:15:35because it STILL has that richness to it, doesn't it?
0:15:35 > 0:15:41And so when you purchased the old cotton mill as your biscuit factory,
0:15:41 > 0:15:43what did you pay for it?
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Oh, we paid well over the odds, we paid £1.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49A pound? SHE LAUGHS
0:15:49 > 0:15:53- A whole pound.- And that was for the factory, machinery and this.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56- One whole pound? - One whole pound, yes.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Well, we bought the debt as well, I have to say,
0:15:59 > 0:16:01but, you know, not a bad deal.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04Well, it is such a visually attractive object
0:16:04 > 0:16:09and a very similar armorial panel to this
0:16:09 > 0:16:13was sold a couple of years ago, at auction,
0:16:13 > 0:16:19- and I think probably surprised everyone by fetching £12,500.- Yes.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24Now the question with this is, where does that sit alongside it?
0:16:24 > 0:16:27I think its provenance is fantastic.
0:16:27 > 0:16:33So, I would think, really, that it's got to be worth at least that much,
0:16:33 > 0:16:34possibly as much as...
0:16:34 > 0:16:36£15,000.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Sounds very nice, yes, I wouldn't argue with that, sounds very good.
0:16:40 > 0:16:41Not for sale!
0:16:44 > 0:16:48- My father used to work for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company...- Right.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51..in the Abadan Oil Refinery.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54And then planned to live out there but unfortunately,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57along with other foreign residents, were thrown out
0:16:57 > 0:16:59after some dispute over the oil company,
0:16:59 > 0:17:04- and he came home and brought these Persian rugs with him.- Right, OK.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06Well, let's talk a bit about exactly where they come from.
0:17:06 > 0:17:12We call them Kashan - Kashan is a city in the Isfahan Province of Iran,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15and rugs, traditionally, were made there
0:17:15 > 0:17:19in the 17th and early 18th century, to this pattern,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23and they were made in royal workshops. Very, very high quality.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Of course rugs from that period are extremely rare
0:17:25 > 0:17:26and extremely valuable.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28I use the term "rugs", as well,
0:17:28 > 0:17:30because people seem to get a little bit confused -
0:17:30 > 0:17:32often people say "carpets",
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Carpets, in my mind, have to be something quite a lot bigger.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37These are very definitely rugs.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41The interesting thing about the business of making these rugs
0:17:41 > 0:17:46is when the Afghans invaded Iran in 1722,
0:17:46 > 0:17:49production of these rugs virtually ceased
0:17:49 > 0:17:54and production didn't really resume until around about the mid 19th century,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58and there's a very interesting little idiosyncrasy
0:17:58 > 0:18:00that ties these in with Manchester.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Would you have any idea what that might be?
0:18:03 > 0:18:09I understand that some of the carpets were made of Manchester wool.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13Ah, well, that's good, because actually you've pretty well hit the nail on the head!
0:18:13 > 0:18:17Because, in fact, there was a shortage of good quality wool in the late 19th century.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Between about 1890 and 1930 they couldn't get enough good quality wool
0:18:21 > 0:18:24to manufacture these rugs in Iran,
0:18:24 > 0:18:28so, effectively, what they did was, they imported merino wool from Manchester,
0:18:28 > 0:18:30which is quite incredible, isn't it?
0:18:30 > 0:18:32So that's the connection.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37But I think dating them is a LITTLE bit difficult.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40They're 20th century.
0:18:40 > 0:18:41When did he pick them up?
0:18:41 > 0:18:431950s?
0:18:43 > 0:18:47I reckon that my father probably left Iran,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50Persia, about 1950, at the latest.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55Right, OK, well, frankly I think they date from pretty close to that period.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59I can see that this one's got some new fringing on the bottom of it,
0:18:59 > 0:19:00a replacement fringing,
0:19:00 > 0:19:02but I think they date from around that period
0:19:02 > 0:19:04or not long before that period,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07so they're early 20th century, perhaps.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10Price wise, a matching pair like this
0:19:10 > 0:19:14are probably going to sell for about £2,000 at auction.
0:19:14 > 0:19:15You're joking!
0:19:19 > 0:19:20That is a surprise.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24I mean, to me the value of the rugs is the sentimental value,
0:19:24 > 0:19:27that my father worked there and brought them back here.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29If there is a connection with Manchester,
0:19:29 > 0:19:31well, that would be fantastic
0:19:31 > 0:19:33thinking that the rugs have come home.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38- Lars, how's it going?- OK, thank you.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41How many items do you think you've seen today, so far?
0:19:41 > 0:19:43- Cos there've been SO many people here.- Items? My goodness...
0:19:43 > 0:19:45- Well, how many people then? - People...
0:19:45 > 0:19:48somewhere between 200 and 300 people on ceramics, just me, yeah.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52Wow, wow. Anything stand out particularly?
0:19:52 > 0:19:54Well, we've seen a HUGE variety of things
0:19:54 > 0:19:58but the thing that, sort of, stands out is a recent report from outside,
0:19:58 > 0:20:00that a gentleman, who has been seen in here,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04with what he says was valued at £5,000,
0:20:04 > 0:20:06has broken it outside.
0:20:06 > 0:20:07Ooh.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10Now, I don't recall seeing anything worth £5,000
0:20:10 > 0:20:13so, it's a bit of a mystery.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Well, at least it broke outside, and not inside.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19I'm hoping he's going to bring the bits in!
0:20:22 > 0:20:25Here we are, standing in Alfred Waterhouse's, in my opinion,
0:20:25 > 0:20:29his masterpiece, the great Town Hall.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31And you might think it's a bit O.T.T.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33and then you look at your clock,
0:20:33 > 0:20:38which is, again, a wonderful example of Victorian...decoration.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Is it something you have at home sitting in pride of place?
0:20:43 > 0:20:45It is, yes. We, erm...
0:20:45 > 0:20:48It's in the hall and people see it and remark on it when they,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52when they visit and it's a conversation piece.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57The clock isn't too accurate but we love it, you know, yeah.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59You've exactly said the words, you, "love it,"
0:20:59 > 0:21:05because some people might say this is something that is SO Victorian
0:21:05 > 0:21:07and it's over-ornate.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10I mean, just starting at this top and this sort of wonderful dome,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14with the finials and the lion's head coming down to the spandrels -
0:21:14 > 0:21:18and what are these strange ears at the side?
0:21:18 > 0:21:22They are so over-the-top Victorian in many ways
0:21:22 > 0:21:24and either you love it, or you hate it,
0:21:24 > 0:21:27and, I have to say, I'm a bit of a 19th century fan, so I love it.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30Now, as a clock, it was made in Germany.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35- Probably around about 1900 somewhere about 1890.- Really?
0:21:35 > 0:21:39So about 110 years old but as a long case clock, not terribly exciting,
0:21:39 > 0:21:44not terribly valuable UNTIL you reveal what's in the front here.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46Yes.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50And we open it up and what do we have? We have a disc musical box
0:21:50 > 0:21:54and that makes it really desirable to a collector.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57And what makes this interesting is that you can have endless discs.
0:21:57 > 0:21:58How many have you got at home?
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Six or seven, similar sort of things.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05That's probably the favourite tune, I think, that we've got on for you.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09Because so often with musical clocks, it has one tune, or maybe two,
0:22:09 > 0:22:10and I should after ten years -
0:22:10 > 0:22:12my goodness you'd be rather bored with those tunes!
0:22:12 > 0:22:15- But you can change the discs and change the tune.- Yes, of course, yes.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19And the whole clock, musical movement, was made in Leipzig
0:22:19 > 0:22:22by the company called Symphonion.
0:22:22 > 0:22:23- Right.- There were two big companies,
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Polyphon and Symphonion, great competitors.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29But this is a Symphonium long case clock,
0:22:29 > 0:22:30it was made for the home -
0:22:30 > 0:22:32some were made for pubs, where you put a penny in the side,
0:22:32 > 0:22:34but this is a home model.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37And therefore, to a collector, a rare piece.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40At auction today...
0:22:41 > 0:22:45..we're probably thinking about a figure of between £7,000 and £9,000.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Really? As much as that? Gosh.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50TUNE TINKLING
0:23:08 > 0:23:12- Now you're a father of how many children?- Four children.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14Four children, OK, and you've brought me
0:23:14 > 0:23:17a book written by a daddy.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20That's right, with two of his children.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24Right, OK. And if we have a quick look at it,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27it's called The Lion Skin.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31If we open it up to the first page,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33we'll see that it's written
0:23:33 > 0:23:35by a Mr Hudson
0:23:35 > 0:23:40- for his children in 1925.- Yes.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43Apart from the name, do we know where, where this came from?
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Well, my daughter bought this property
0:23:46 > 0:23:49with lots of furniture and miscellany.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52- Right. - And this was part and parcel of it.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56There were two very, very elderly people there
0:23:56 > 0:24:01and I would feel that possibly one of those was one of the children.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06And what can you tell me about the story itself?
0:24:06 > 0:24:10Well, it's a story about children pestering their father...
0:24:10 > 0:24:13- Right.- ..for a lion's skin,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16and he goes to Africa to just do that.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Here's the opening page. As you say, The Lion Skin by a daddy.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24Beautifully drawn. The sort of execution is lovely.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27The quality is sort of naive,
0:24:27 > 0:24:29but very, very good as well
0:24:29 > 0:24:34and he heads off to Africa by way of London
0:24:34 > 0:24:37where, in those days, you could go and buy a gun.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40- Certainly something you couldn't do nowadays.- No!
0:24:40 > 0:24:43And then later on, he gets on board a ship,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47travels all the way to Africa,
0:24:47 > 0:24:50where he finds this lion, which rather conveniently...
0:24:50 > 0:24:51Strangely, in the desert.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54In the desert, yes. And what happens to the lion?
0:24:54 > 0:24:58The lion somehow manages to deflect the bullet
0:24:58 > 0:25:02and off comes the tail, which clearly upsets the lion.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05Something that we know
0:25:05 > 0:25:09doesn't happen nowadays, thankfully. The lion's a protected species
0:25:09 > 0:25:12and there are so many. But back in those days, there wasn't quite
0:25:12 > 0:25:15the sort of same attitude towards hunting that there is now.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17That's right.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21And then, towards the end, once the father has managed
0:25:21 > 0:25:25to sort of run away
0:25:25 > 0:25:27from this now enraged lion.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29- Enraged!- Exactly.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32He finally escapes back to England
0:25:32 > 0:25:35and meets up with his children again
0:25:35 > 0:25:39after visiting a taxidermist, essentially,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42where he buys a lion skin.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45So the whole adventure
0:25:45 > 0:25:48has been sort of for nought in a way, but he's ended up
0:25:48 > 0:25:52getting the lion skin to give to his children who then can relax.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56- That's right. - And presumably stop pestering him.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59- Yes.- I think it's beautifully illustrated. He obviously spent time
0:25:59 > 0:26:03with them, actually sitting down composing the whole thing
0:26:03 > 0:26:08- and the result is, as we said, a unique object...- Very nice.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12..that is actually worth a bit of money, funnily enough.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16Well I think this, if it came up at auction, would certainly
0:26:16 > 0:26:18make in the high hundreds, easily over £1,000.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20- Good heavens!- Yeah.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Well, for decades and decades the name Carlton Ware
0:26:23 > 0:26:27has been synonymous with some fantastic ceramic creations,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31from floral embossed wares, to teapots with legs.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34But in the middle of it all, there is a period where they produced
0:26:34 > 0:26:37some of the most opulent and extravagant wares,
0:26:37 > 0:26:39like these in front of me.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43So tell me, how come you are the lucky owner of two fabulous pieces?
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Well, they've been in my family for as long as I can remember,
0:26:46 > 0:26:50they originally were my Grandma's and she's always had them.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52I believe before that,
0:26:52 > 0:26:55I think they were her dad's,
0:26:55 > 0:26:58- possibly back to the 1920s, I think. - OK.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02So give me a bit of a background of you and your family in the 1920s.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06- Were you, shall I say, well-heeled? - I can't say I was.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08What about Grandma and Granddad?
0:27:08 > 0:27:12I think yes, they were. My Grandad started, with his father,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16a building firm back in the 1920s and as far as I know did quite well.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18They were quite wealthy.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21So these would have been bought for Grandma then? Or Great Grandma?
0:27:21 > 0:27:24- Great Grandma as far as I've been told by my dad.- So both of them?
0:27:24 > 0:27:27Both of them. There was a third piece.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29there was another vase exactly like that one
0:27:29 > 0:27:32and there was an accident a few years ago with it
0:27:32 > 0:27:37- and I threw it away.- OK.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39Well, everything you're saying
0:27:39 > 0:27:42in terms of the time, the era, adds up perfectly
0:27:42 > 0:27:45because this is Carlton Ware in the 1920s.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49Specifically, this is Carlton Ware about 1929
0:27:49 > 0:27:52under the artistic directorship of a chap called Enoch Boulton,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55and he was a designer of some serious excellence.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57I mean, he really was the boy.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01He knew what he was doing and he was reacting to everything
0:28:01 > 0:28:05that was coming out of Europe in 1925 at the big Paris Exhibition.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08And in fact a lot of people today now say that this happened.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12These vases, these pieces actually epitomise
0:28:12 > 0:28:14the British interpretation
0:28:14 > 0:28:17- of the Art Deco Movement at this period.- Oh, gosh.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21These are seriously important design items of their time.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25- Right.- So this period, there is good and there is great.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29And is that the zigzag pattern? Am I right in..?
0:28:29 > 0:28:32Well, the pattern is actually, for me, another name
0:28:32 > 0:28:36that just perfectly epitomises the whole era.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40This is known amongst all of us, and from the pattern books, as Jazz.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42Oh, OK.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45And what else is going on in the 1920s and 30s? It was the Jazz Age.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48It was the music, the new creation, the new people.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51These really daring, daring young people
0:28:51 > 0:28:54who were doing everything different to their parents.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57And how much more different could this be
0:28:57 > 0:29:00from a load of Victorian chintz and florals?
0:29:00 > 0:29:05- So with great, comes great interest. - OK.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09With great interest, I have to tell you, comes great prices.
0:29:09 > 0:29:10OK.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12And you threw one of these away.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16Well if I tell you that you've thrown away
0:29:16 > 0:29:20- somewhere in the region of £800 to £1,200.- Wow.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23Oh, gosh. Oh, dear.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26And if we then move up to the bigger piece,
0:29:26 > 0:29:28- and we actually call these the gondola.- Yeah.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30If we actually go up to this,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33you're looking somewhere more like £1,500 to £2,000 for it.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Wow. Oh, dear.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38These epitomise everything
0:29:38 > 0:29:42that was going on in that era at its absolute best.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45The interpretation, the understanding, the idea
0:29:45 > 0:29:47and, more importantly, the execution.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50- They are an absolute joy, so continue to treasure them.- I love them.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52Yeah, fabulous. Thank you.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09Last time the Antiques Roadshow team visited Manchester Town Hall
0:30:09 > 0:30:13was back in 1989 - there were lots of great finds but it was also a
0:30:13 > 0:30:16rather sobering day for a young man who met our art expert Philip Hook.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21So this is just what we wanted to find in Manchester,
0:30:21 > 0:30:25the familiar image of the industrial landscape
0:30:25 > 0:30:29and the magic signature at the bottom here, LS Lowry.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32Can you tell me how you came by these two pictures?
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Well, I've a classic car restoration company.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37And about three years ago I was doing
0:30:37 > 0:30:41a job for a chap in London on an E-type Jaguar and he was short of
0:30:41 > 0:30:46the payment by about £250 and we was casually talking about antiques and
0:30:46 > 0:30:49what not, old cars, and he asked me would I like to take this painting.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52And I took the painting and that's how I acquired it.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55Well, you brought these in earlier and I've had the chance
0:30:55 > 0:31:01to consult with Sandra Martin from the Manchester City Art Gallery
0:31:01 > 0:31:05and I'm afraid she tells us neither of these are actually by Lowry.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Yeah, well...
0:31:08 > 0:31:11Which is not the best news, and apparently there are - even now
0:31:11 > 0:31:17- fakers at work producing Lowrys - it's a big business when a Lowry...
0:31:17 > 0:31:21I mean had this been genuine it could have been £20,000 or £30,000.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27Rupert Maas you're on our art team today -
0:31:27 > 0:31:29any fake Lowrys turned up so far?
0:31:29 > 0:31:31Not as yet, but we're always on the QV for them.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34The thing is that they were faked prodigiously
0:31:34 > 0:31:38particularly by the Greenhalgh family, you know, local boys
0:31:38 > 0:31:42from Bolton, Shaun Greenhalgh now doing time for faking Lowrys
0:31:42 > 0:31:45and they're out there in their thousands perhaps.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48We don't really know but we do see a lot of fake Lowrys.
0:31:48 > 0:31:53And people are increasingly turning to the net to buy paintings these days, aren't they?
0:31:53 > 0:31:55Yes, well it seems easy but you're only looking at a photograph,
0:31:55 > 0:31:57you can't see the actual thing
0:31:57 > 0:32:00and it's a particularly dangerous thing to do.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02What kind of things are being faked these days?
0:32:02 > 0:32:05Well, Lowry has been faked - everyone knows now -
0:32:05 > 0:32:08a lot of people do, that there are fake Lowrys out there,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11so people - the fakers - they move on to pastures new
0:32:11 > 0:32:16and I understand that Greek painting is being faked a bit now
0:32:16 > 0:32:18and also progressive Indian painting.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22They tend to target the areas which are in the sort of twenty
0:32:22 > 0:32:26to thirty thousand pounds maximum range because that is the area
0:32:26 > 0:32:28which is least researched and most remunerative.
0:32:30 > 0:32:31Pays the most!
0:32:31 > 0:32:34Thank you! Pays the most, but anything below that
0:32:34 > 0:32:37is not worth doing and anything higher than that,
0:32:37 > 0:32:42somebody's written a book about it and there's knowledge. Knowledge is the faker's enemy.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44Rupert, thanks very much.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46You have been warned.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49These were inherited by my husband,
0:32:49 > 0:32:51they came down through his mother's side of the family
0:32:51 > 0:32:53and we know very little about them
0:32:53 > 0:32:56other than the fact that we think they may be Italian
0:32:56 > 0:33:00because there's some boxwood packing on the back of them.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04We think they're ivory and we think, or he thinks,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08that they are book ends or book backs from somewhere
0:33:08 > 0:33:10and the reason he thinks that
0:33:10 > 0:33:12is because the two corners here appear to be...
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Like have a small chamfer on them, and that's all we know about them.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19Right, well we can't see that.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21I don't think they're book ends or book backs,
0:33:21 > 0:33:23I think they're almost too delicate,
0:33:23 > 0:33:26even imagining how precious books were at this time,
0:33:26 > 0:33:28so I don't think they're that.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32- The packaging on the back - let's discount that as well.- OK.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34- So these have been in the family a long time?- Yes.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37OK, well they are ivory.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40That's the right fact. And they're beautifully, beautifully carved.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44Have you ever tried to look into the iconography, the story behind them?
0:33:44 > 0:33:48Some years ago my husband photographed them and e-mailed it
0:33:48 > 0:33:52down to the Victoria and Albert in London, who said that they thought
0:33:52 > 0:33:55that the pictures themselves came from a Rubens painting.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58Right, Rubens painting.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00I'm not a painting specialist.
0:34:00 > 0:34:01So I'm going to be brave
0:34:01 > 0:34:05and say I don't think they are from a Rubens painting.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08But the scenes are roughly the time of Rubens, sort of 1600-ish,
0:34:08 > 0:34:11- something like that.- Right.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15I'm pretty sure this is Henry IV of France.
0:34:15 > 0:34:16Right. Yes.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19King of Navarre, King of France
0:34:19 > 0:34:22and this is clearly... All these heavenly maidens up here,
0:34:22 > 0:34:25are clearly bringing him a portrait of his bride-to-be.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27Right, oh right.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30- Marie de' Medici - very important Italian family.- Right.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34And I just wonder if this is his betrothal here, or at least
0:34:34 > 0:34:37he's having a look to see if he wanted the portrait or whatever.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41Great way to get married, isn't it?! "Oh, she looks all right, yeah".
0:34:41 > 0:34:45And then over here, I suspect this is clearly the birth of a child.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48- But I think it's not religious, it's secular.- Right.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51- And that is the birth of their first child, their first son.- Right.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53Who became Louis XIII of France.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57So I think this is celebrating an important event in French history.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00Because without him, that dynasty - the Bourbon dynasty -
0:35:00 > 0:35:03probably wouldn't have survived, so this is very, very important -
0:35:03 > 0:35:07all the 18th century kings we know about, the Louis, are all from him.
0:35:07 > 0:35:08Yes, right.
0:35:08 > 0:35:13Dolphin of course is the son of the king, is a dolphin or the dauphin.
0:35:13 > 0:35:14Dauphin, yes.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18Now, they come from the harbour town of Dieppe in northern France,
0:35:18 > 0:35:19on the Channel.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24Where all of the ivory shipments and a lot of imports into France came.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28- There's a big school of Dieppe ivory carving.- Right.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31They're not - sadly - the same date as Henry IV of Navarre.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34They're not late 16th, early 17th century.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37He died in 1610, but it's great carving
0:35:37 > 0:35:43from a very, very important centre, so date-wise about 18...
0:35:43 > 0:35:47They're quite early - 1850, 1860, something like that.
0:35:47 > 0:35:48Right.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50Well, I think certainly...
0:35:51 > 0:35:54..minimum insurance value of £5,000.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57Right.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03Well, it was bought in 1961,
0:36:03 > 0:36:07that was a present for a belated wedding anniversary.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10Fantastic, so was it just these two pieces, or more?
0:36:10 > 0:36:12No, there's the small one
0:36:12 > 0:36:16and there's the dressing table to go with it and there's a stool as well.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18And a stool as well? My goodness me.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22Yes, there's actually a single wardrobe to go with that as a set.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25- So you've got the whole bedroom suite in one?- Yes, that's right.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27In its day, enormously fashionable as well.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30So doing your hair and make-up,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33you must have looked very much a fashionable person of the moment.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35That's right, yes.
0:36:35 > 0:36:36The story behind these objects -
0:36:36 > 0:36:39there are a number of different things.
0:36:39 > 0:36:40And fashion I'm going to come back to.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44First of all, the fact that it's still a large piece
0:36:44 > 0:36:46and this walnut veneer over here
0:36:46 > 0:36:48and this very sort of architectural shape,
0:36:48 > 0:36:50harks back to the Art Deco movement,
0:36:50 > 0:36:53- so the pre-war fashion for Art Deco, architectural stepped forms.- OK.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56But, of course, things did start to change.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59After the war there was a new style, there was a new fashion,
0:36:59 > 0:37:04so although at first glance it feels very solid and architectural,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07you start to see features like this.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10This almost looks like a chemical model or a chemical structure
0:37:10 > 0:37:13within these little balls here and these lines,
0:37:13 > 0:37:15and of course the 1951 Festival of Britain,
0:37:15 > 0:37:17a lot of that was about - chemical structure,
0:37:17 > 0:37:19the world of tomorrow, the future.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22And have you noticed on here, this wonderful curving form there?
0:37:22 > 0:37:24Yes, exactly, yes, yes.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27But it also looks a little like a car grille,
0:37:27 > 0:37:29and of course all those things
0:37:29 > 0:37:33became really influential in the post-war period.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35Now we know who it was made by, of course,
0:37:35 > 0:37:36because if we open this up...
0:37:38 > 0:37:41- ..it says "Beautility".- Yes.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44Beautility Furniture Limited was founded in 1894 in London.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47Good company, it lasted through into 1950s and '60s,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50and I mentioned fashion and it sold fashionable furniture,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53so you could buy the whole thing and immediately take part
0:37:53 > 0:37:57in a new fashion of the age, the new style of the age.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00But there's a little bit more to it, isn't there?
0:38:00 > 0:38:02There is, there's a secret door.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04There's more to this wardrobe than it looks,
0:38:04 > 0:38:07because if we slide this open here,
0:38:07 > 0:38:09you reveal a full-length mirror,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12just so you can admire yourself before you go out.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14And down here you'd have been able to store hair brushes,
0:38:14 > 0:38:16so if you needed to just...
0:38:16 > 0:38:18That final tweak before you go out on the town -
0:38:18 > 0:38:21there it all is, ready for you.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24Why do you still have it? Do you still like it today?
0:38:24 > 0:38:28Well, actually the main story is me Mum's actually moved in with us now,
0:38:28 > 0:38:29so we have nowhere to store it
0:38:29 > 0:38:32and we need to get rid of it, basically.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34That's why, unfortunately,
0:38:34 > 0:38:35because it is a nice piece of furniture
0:38:35 > 0:38:39and me Mum does love it, she's had it since like 1960
0:38:39 > 0:38:41so...it's unfortunate, really.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43Absolutely.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45Well, returning to fashion again,
0:38:45 > 0:38:48these pieces really have been out of fashion for a very long time
0:38:48 > 0:38:52and if you're looking to sell it, how do you sell these sorts of pieces?
0:38:52 > 0:38:54They're still not wildly fashionable today.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57However, fashions change again, they're changing,
0:38:57 > 0:39:00there are a big number of younger people
0:39:00 > 0:39:03who are really looking for these stylish pieces from the 1950s.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05- Really?- Absolutely. - That surprises me.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08You might get... A good quality vintage or retro shop
0:39:08 > 0:39:12might be asking sort of about £80, £60 to £80 for that
0:39:12 > 0:39:15and maybe around £100 to £150 for that, with the dressing table,
0:39:15 > 0:39:18you're probably nudging over the £200, £250 mark.
0:39:18 > 0:39:19Right, OK.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23My advice to you personally would be to keep it,
0:39:23 > 0:39:25as I think you might get a bit more money in the future.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27Right. OK, we'll bear that in mind.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33My goodness, it's dusty, so it must be old.
0:39:33 > 0:39:34How old?
0:39:34 > 0:39:38I don't know exactly, we've had it just over 20 years
0:39:38 > 0:39:40but I don't know exactly how old it is.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42And where did it come from?
0:39:42 > 0:39:43My father bought it off somebody
0:39:43 > 0:39:47and it's just been sitting in a warehouse ever since.
0:39:47 > 0:39:5020 odd years ago, that would take us to around 1991?
0:39:50 > 0:39:51Yeah, yeah.
0:39:51 > 0:39:55- Which is exactly the date we've got on this lovely colourful sticker.- OK.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58The year of the Ram, 1991.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02But the thing that really interests me is this here.
0:40:02 > 0:40:03Now have you translated this?
0:40:03 > 0:40:06I haven't no, no.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09You ought to have done, because that's going to help you date it.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11In here, we've got a date.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14Those two characters tell us that this was made
0:40:14 > 0:40:18either in 1804 or in 1864.
0:40:18 > 0:40:23- OK.- The Chinese cycle of years goes in 60-year chunks.- OK.
0:40:23 > 0:40:24So we can say that this gong
0:40:24 > 0:40:31almost certainly dates to either 1804 or 1864.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34From the point of view of value, or importance,
0:40:34 > 0:40:36it doesn't make any difference.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38- Right, OK. - We just say it's 19th century,
0:40:38 > 0:40:42and as far as I'm concerned, that fits perfectly with the gong.
0:40:42 > 0:40:43OK.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47Now the stand could be anywhere in the 19th century,
0:40:47 > 0:40:50it's a very, very traditional Chinese stand
0:40:50 > 0:40:53- and it is indeed a stand for a gong such as this.- Yes.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55The only problem with it is,
0:40:55 > 0:40:58you haven't got the little circular cushion
0:40:58 > 0:41:01that usually sits just between the gong itself...
0:41:01 > 0:41:04- Ah right, OK. - ..and the top of the stand.- OK.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06And the reason to have a cushion on there
0:41:06 > 0:41:10is when you actually strike the piece, it allows it to resonate.
0:41:10 > 0:41:11Ah.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14So, I think this dates from the 19th century.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17- Do you use it for anything? - No, like I said,
0:41:17 > 0:41:20it's just been sitting there for the past 20-odd years.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23Not for bringing the children down for early morning breakfast?
0:41:23 > 0:41:25No, no, not even that.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28- You've been to China, I guess. - Yes, I have, yes.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31- And you've seen these in China? - In temples, yes.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33- In temples.- Temples, yes.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35They're usually tucked away
0:41:35 > 0:41:38- either in the corner of a room or right next to the door.- OK.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42And they strike them and they usually bring people to prayer.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45- Right.- Just as bells do all over the world.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47- Right.- Now, without the cushion,
0:41:47 > 0:41:51- I'm afraid we're not going to make a great noise, are we?- OK.
0:41:51 > 0:41:53- Let's have a go, shall we?- Sure.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56THE GONG RESONATES
0:41:58 > 0:42:01Huge resonance, it's still going.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05Get a cushion and your children will have fun with this,
0:42:05 > 0:42:07waking you up on a Sunday morning.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10- It's a purely decorative object. - Yeah.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12It has no collector's value.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16- This is - the value of this lies in what it looks like.- OK.
0:42:16 > 0:42:17To buy one of these,
0:42:17 > 0:42:20I think you would spend...
0:42:20 > 0:42:23- somewhere between £1,000 and maybe £2,000.- OK.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Yeah, interesting to know, yes.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34When I saw this, this morning, the phrase that came to mind was
0:42:34 > 0:42:36"hiding your light under a bushel".
0:42:36 > 0:42:41Because out of this plain box, we have this rather magnificent plaque.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45- And this is just the back side of it, isn't it?- Yes.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52Here it is here, and I don't need to tell you what it is.
0:42:52 > 0:42:53You know what it is - what is it?
0:42:53 > 0:42:57It's a Royal Lancastrian pottery plate.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59It is indeed,
0:42:59 > 0:43:02and this has been in your family or something you've bought?
0:43:02 > 0:43:04It's from my great grandfather.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07He was given it by a member of the Pilkington factory
0:43:07 > 0:43:10who he was friendly with at the time.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12Right, so was he in the pottery business as well?
0:43:12 > 0:43:15No, he was a director of an engineering company in Swinton
0:43:15 > 0:43:19and they became friends and this was given to him as a gift.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23Well, what a gift it is. I mean, it's magnificent.
0:43:23 > 0:43:24I think there's no...
0:43:24 > 0:43:27I think highly appropriate, you know, in the Gothic surroundings
0:43:27 > 0:43:31of Manchester Town Hall, we have here not a Gothic piece,
0:43:31 > 0:43:34but an Arts and Crafts piece, which was a movement
0:43:34 > 0:43:37which ran at the same time, and a little bit beyond
0:43:37 > 0:43:38and, I mean, what a plate -
0:43:38 > 0:43:40we've got St George and the dragon here,
0:43:40 > 0:43:45dragons around the outside and you notice how this side is black,
0:43:45 > 0:43:47this side is much more lustrous.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51These lustre colours were fired at very high temperatures
0:43:51 > 0:43:52to get the red and the lustre,
0:43:52 > 0:43:55they almost had to burn the pattern off
0:43:55 > 0:43:56and if they didn't control the kiln...
0:43:56 > 0:44:00- These were coal-fired kilns - no switching a button on.- Yes.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04Coal-fired kiln, the whole of this design could be destroyed.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06- It is, it's magnificent.- Yeah.
0:44:06 > 0:44:11And look at the back, I mean the back is as beautiful as it is.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14And I mean even the way that the colours have sort of run
0:44:14 > 0:44:16and given this lovely sort of bloom to it.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20Here we've got the mark, here, the P and the bees for Pilkingtons,
0:44:20 > 0:44:21the Royal Lancastrian Pottery.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24And we've also got... Have you noticed here?
0:44:24 > 0:44:26There's another mark there as well.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31- Have you seen that before?- I have, yes, I can't remember what it is.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34Well that's the mark of Richard Joyce,
0:44:34 > 0:44:37- who was one of the artists at the factory.- Right.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39And whether it was a presentation piece
0:44:39 > 0:44:41particularly for your great grandfather...
0:44:41 > 0:44:43I'd like to think it was, because it is...
0:44:43 > 0:44:47- It's not a run-of-the-mill piece, it's a special piece.- Yeah.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50And, you know, as a consequence, it's worth a special price.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53I think if this was to come to auction,
0:44:53 > 0:44:58there would be no problem at it getting £10,000 to £12,000.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02- Right.- So maybe it should go back in its box.- Yes.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06- And back to the bank for your great grandchildren.- Definitely, yeah.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14We've had so many people here today.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17Do you know, by lunchtime, we'd had 3,000 people come along
0:45:17 > 0:45:20to Manchester Town Hall, all queuing, very patiently...
0:45:20 > 0:45:22Thank you.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26..and all their own little boxes and bags and things.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29Hello - pouncing on you - what have you got in there?
0:45:29 > 0:45:30Beatles autographs.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33Beatles autographs? Oh, can I have a look?
0:45:34 > 0:45:36Just a few.
0:45:36 > 0:45:37And how did you come by these?
0:45:37 > 0:45:40I used to work in the fan club in the '60s
0:45:40 > 0:45:42and when I left school we used to just go up there,
0:45:42 > 0:45:45just like for an hour, you know, just after school.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48That is a great Scouse accent, I can tell you!
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Yes, so we just ended up getting friendly
0:45:51 > 0:45:53and in the end we got working there
0:45:53 > 0:45:57just like, you know, school holidays, we got a guinea a week.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00What and you - so you were working at the Beatles' fan club?
0:46:00 > 0:46:04Yeah, just helping out, just cutting labels off the actual letters
0:46:04 > 0:46:07and sending people photographs.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10So show me these autographs, then.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12- John Lennon.- John Lennon.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15Ringo Starr, George Harrison
0:46:15 > 0:46:17and Paul McCartney.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21- "This is from us Beatles" - This is from us Beatles.
0:46:21 > 0:46:22So who's written that then?
0:46:22 > 0:46:25I think that looks like John Lennon's writing, that one.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28Fantastic, and what else have you got in here?
0:46:28 > 0:46:31Just a few - got a Christmas card
0:46:31 > 0:46:35and actually similar type of things.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37- And this is to you?- Yes.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40- So a Christmas card to you from the Beatles?- Yes.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42Hang on, hang on, let's have a look.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45"To June, best wishes, Ringo Starr" with a little star.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48"George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney".
0:46:48 > 0:46:50How fantastic!
0:46:50 > 0:46:53Now, has anyone valued this for you yet?
0:46:53 > 0:46:56No, no, I haven't had it valued yet. I'm just waiting.
0:46:56 > 0:47:00Brilliant, well we might have to go and find someone to have a look.
0:47:00 > 0:47:01Great.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05When I was in Manchester back in the 1970s and an undergraduate,
0:47:05 > 0:47:07certainly we didn't have anything like this
0:47:07 > 0:47:11to get to university and back, it was the boring bus.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14This is what's termed as an apprentice piece,
0:47:14 > 0:47:19but I've seen lots of apprentice pieces but this is the real McCoy.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21Yes, it is, we know that this is the actual model
0:47:21 > 0:47:23that the apprentices at the factory and the works
0:47:23 > 0:47:25where they actually made these trams,
0:47:25 > 0:47:31the apprentices made this just to prove that they could do the job.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33And then having proved that they could do it,
0:47:33 > 0:47:35presumably they were then allowed to go on
0:47:35 > 0:47:38and actually be part of building the full-size ones.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42Yes, and we have the only remaining full-size one left
0:47:42 > 0:47:45out of the 515 that they actually made.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48You personally or...? No, you're the Chairman of the Tramway Museum.
0:47:48 > 0:47:53Yes, the Tramway Museum have it, it took 25 years to restore it,
0:47:53 > 0:47:55but it is in full operating condition,
0:47:55 > 0:47:58we have occasionally run it in Heaton Park
0:47:58 > 0:48:01and we take it to other places to actually operate it
0:48:01 > 0:48:05but it costs a lot of money to hire suitable horses to run it.
0:48:05 > 0:48:07- So we have one full-size.- Mm.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10- And one apprentice model and that's it.- Yes.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13And what makes this one so unusual?
0:48:13 > 0:48:16I see it's got... On the front, it's called something patent.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18It's an Eades patent -
0:48:18 > 0:48:21instead of having two staircases and two driving points,
0:48:21 > 0:48:24this only has one staircase and one driving point,
0:48:24 > 0:48:26and when it got to the terminus,
0:48:26 > 0:48:30the driver could lock the brakes onto the truck on it.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33Unlock the body and then the tram would do this.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39- Wow!- The whole body was designed on a turntable,
0:48:39 > 0:48:40so it could turn round
0:48:40 > 0:48:43and set off back in the direction they'd just come from.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46- So obviously horse-drawn. - Yes.- So one, or two horses.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49Usually two horses side by side and when it came to a hilly area,
0:48:49 > 0:48:52they'd keep extra horses at the bottom of the hill
0:48:52 > 0:48:56and they'd put on a trace horse on the front to pull it up the hill.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59That is amazing. I mean, what a lovely bit of engineering.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02Rather than like a train, you had to build a turntable,
0:49:02 > 0:49:04which would have been huge and very expensive.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07Just a little cunning design like this got round the problem.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11And they also didn't have to lay extra track to build turning circles
0:49:11 > 0:49:13and it just saved an awful lot of money.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16Now these, I understand, were introduced in, what, the 1870s?
0:49:16 > 0:49:20It's mid 1870s and they ran through till the...
0:49:20 > 0:49:22last ones operated early in 1903.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25And that was because they were phased out
0:49:25 > 0:49:26because no more horse-drawn?
0:49:26 > 0:49:30Yes, the electric trams came in and they gradually replaced
0:49:30 > 0:49:32the lighter-weight tracks that these ran on
0:49:32 > 0:49:35with heavier-weight tracks for the electric trams
0:49:35 > 0:49:39and all the overhead wiring that was required for the electric ones.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43And I think you've brought along a picture showing Piccadilly.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47Yes, this picture of Piccadilly shows lots and lots of trams in it,
0:49:47 > 0:49:50and every single one of them is one of these trams.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52And you see congestion, even back then.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55Exactly, definitely, it was quite bad then.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57- And the only one left?- Yeah.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01You can't reproduce it, really historic,
0:50:01 > 0:50:04such an ingenious way of turning it around.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07I really love it and it's part of Manchester's history.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09- Exactly, very much so. - I would have thought...
0:50:09 > 0:50:12well, if Manchester Corporation didn't buy it back,
0:50:12 > 0:50:15any collector would pay £12,000 to £15,000 for it.
0:50:15 > 0:50:17So a fantastic piece.
0:50:17 > 0:50:21Well, we are delighted to own it and we're even more delighted
0:50:21 > 0:50:24because we actually have the full-size version as well.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26Don't ask me to value that!
0:50:26 > 0:50:29This is really nice - I mean I like wheel engraving,
0:50:29 > 0:50:32it's one of the most delicate forms of glass decoration.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36What you do is that the engraver holds the glass
0:50:36 > 0:50:39against rotating copper discs,
0:50:39 > 0:50:44which they put a kind of abrasive slimy stuff on,
0:50:44 > 0:50:47and scratch the decoration onto the glass,
0:50:47 > 0:50:50and I think that works well, don't you?
0:50:50 > 0:50:52Well, it's come out beautifully,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55I think the engraving is absolutely first class.
0:50:55 > 0:51:01So it's Stourbridge, that's where it was made, the glass.
0:51:01 > 0:51:08And it dates from about 1870-1880 so did you have it as a child?
0:51:08 > 0:51:13No, my sister and I were clearing a friend's house out after she died,
0:51:13 > 0:51:17and it was just lying in a box with some glasses
0:51:17 > 0:51:20and it just caught my eye, I thought how beautiful it was.
0:51:20 > 0:51:22So you said, "I'll have that".
0:51:22 > 0:51:24I said, "Oh, can I have it?" and she said, "Yes".
0:51:24 > 0:51:29- So how long ago's that? - About 10 or 15 years ago.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31So it's about 130 years old.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34The downer on it is that this isn't silver.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38- Oh.- If it was silver, it would be worth pots of money,
0:51:38 > 0:51:41but as it is, we're talking about Greek revival,
0:51:41 > 0:51:43Stourbridge made, wheel-engraved claret jug.
0:51:43 > 0:51:49Claret jug that's worth £500, which is not bad value, eh?
0:51:49 > 0:51:53Very good, and how much would it be worth with the claret in it?
0:51:53 > 0:51:55Oh, let's go and find out, shall we?
0:51:55 > 0:51:57Right, we'll meet after the show.
0:52:00 > 0:52:01Ah, here you are.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05- Can I interrupt? I saw this lady earlier on.- Yes.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07Have you spoken about what this is worth yet?
0:52:07 > 0:52:09Not quite, we were just about to do that.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11Well, come on then, put me out of my misery,
0:52:11 > 0:52:14and put you out of your misery, as well.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17It's a wonderfully personal little collection,
0:52:17 > 0:52:19very, very pertinent, I love it
0:52:19 > 0:52:24and I think this is going to make between £3,000 - £5,000 at auction.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27- You're joking.- Absolutely not. - Oh, that's wonderful.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31- Is that a surprise? - Very much so - didn't think...
0:52:31 > 0:52:33Didn't think that much at all.
0:52:33 > 0:52:35Thank you, John, Paul and Ringo.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38It is, yeah, that's lovely.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44It's years since I've seen any of these on a Roadshow,
0:52:44 > 0:52:47they're really sweet little things. Where did you get them?
0:52:47 > 0:52:49My mother left them to me.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51And you know what they are, or...?
0:52:51 > 0:52:54Very little, I think are they Royal Worcester?
0:52:54 > 0:52:56Absolutely, they're Royal Worcester
0:52:56 > 0:52:57and it'll say so on the bottoms.
0:52:57 > 0:52:58Let's have a look.
0:52:58 > 0:53:03This one here, yeah, we've got a Royal Worcester mark just there
0:53:03 > 0:53:05and there's a date code and it will date them
0:53:05 > 0:53:08to around about the end of the 19th century.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10Right.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13They'll be about 1898, somewhere around there,
0:53:13 > 0:53:16but what's important about these ones is the decoration
0:53:16 > 0:53:20and who they're painted by - have you had a look at this closely?
0:53:20 > 0:53:23- Not really, no.- Because if you look at either of them,
0:53:23 > 0:53:27- you see there - the signature? - Oh, yes.
0:53:27 > 0:53:32It says "Baldwin" - Charles Baldwin was the son of a piano tuner
0:53:32 > 0:53:34but he went into painting
0:53:34 > 0:53:37and he painted on Royal Worcester porcelain.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39At the beginning of the 20th century he went into...
0:53:39 > 0:53:42I think he gave up and went into watercolours,
0:53:42 > 0:53:45he exhibited at the RA, but Royal Worcester collectors,
0:53:45 > 0:53:48- when they see things by Baldwin, they get excited.- Oh, right.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51This particular shape of vase comes in two sizes
0:53:51 > 0:53:54because I looked at them and I thought...
0:53:54 > 0:53:56and then I remembered, it's only the large ones
0:53:56 > 0:53:58- which should have covers.- Right.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00These ones are almost exactly the same
0:54:00 > 0:54:02but the large ones came with covers.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05These small ones were made and sold without covers.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08So, all is looking pretty sunny about them.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10Fantastic.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13I don't suppose you know this one's cracked?
0:54:13 > 0:54:17I thought there was a little hairline crack on one of them, yes.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21Yeah, it looks little, but it runs all the way round the outside here.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25- Round up there and up into the rim. - Oh, what a shame.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28So effectively you've got a couple of vases,
0:54:28 > 0:54:30you've got one in really good order, one with a crack,
0:54:30 > 0:54:33- almost invisible but it's still there.- Yeah.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35And that makes a huge difference to the price.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38But if you put them into auction they would make £3,500 or £4,000.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41- Really?- Yeah.- Wow.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44They're that sought after, even in that condition.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47Fantastic, I'll make sure I get them insured now.
0:54:47 > 0:54:52Earlier on, Fiona and Rupert were having a conversation about fakes,
0:54:52 > 0:54:57and fake Lowrys, and here we have a wonderful Lowry
0:54:57 > 0:54:59with a covering letter,
0:54:59 > 0:55:02which gives really good provenance to the picture.
0:55:02 > 0:55:04The picture really speaks for itself
0:55:04 > 0:55:08because it is just typical Lowry and beautifully painted.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11So how come you have the painting and the letter?
0:55:11 > 0:55:13Well, my father was an amateur artist in Manchester,
0:55:13 > 0:55:17something of a junior contemporary of Lowry
0:55:17 > 0:55:21and a very big fan of Lowry, and he collected several scrapbooks
0:55:21 > 0:55:24of art gallery catalogues, newspaper cuttings,
0:55:24 > 0:55:27anything he could lay his hands on, to do with Lowry
0:55:27 > 0:55:30and he did use to meet up with Lowry occasionally
0:55:30 > 0:55:33and at some point told Lowry about the scrapbooks.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36Lowry was interested, wanted to borrow them,
0:55:36 > 0:55:38ended up keeping them far too long, really,
0:55:38 > 0:55:40and so when he returned them,
0:55:40 > 0:55:43he was a bit embarrassed about how long he'd had them,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45and he gave this little picture as a present.
0:55:45 > 0:55:47It's explained in the covering letter.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50And I've got a transcript of the letter here
0:55:50 > 0:55:53and I think it's just absolutely fantastic.
0:55:53 > 0:55:58"Dear Mr Kay, I have this day left your book in Bloom Street
0:55:58 > 0:56:01"and offer you my sincerest apologies for the delay.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03"I do hope you will forgive me.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07"Do try and forgive me, please, yours sincerely, LS Lowry."
0:56:07 > 0:56:08And then we have,
0:56:08 > 0:56:14"PS - I have put inside the parcel a very tiny oil sketch
0:56:14 > 0:56:15"which I hope you will like".
0:56:15 > 0:56:18It's interesting that we have this letter,
0:56:18 > 0:56:24because it's dated 1955 so we can actually put a date on the painting
0:56:24 > 0:56:30and do you know - I have seen big Lowrys, I've seen a lot recently -
0:56:30 > 0:56:33when I look at that, if I wanted a Lowry, that is what I would like.
0:56:33 > 0:56:39Why? We've got here a street scene in Manchester,
0:56:39 > 0:56:42Salford with the factory buildings,
0:56:42 > 0:56:45we've got the smoke coming out of the chimney,
0:56:45 > 0:56:46we've got these children -
0:56:46 > 0:56:49and I do get annoyed when people start talking about
0:56:49 > 0:56:51"matchstick men and matchstick dogs,"
0:56:51 > 0:56:55because, in fact, he was much more than that.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59It was the way the flicks of paint - the legs, the boots
0:56:59 > 0:57:04on the children walking up the street there - it's just fantastic.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07And where are the albums, the scrapbooks?
0:57:07 > 0:57:10The albums are now in the Lowry Centre
0:57:10 > 0:57:11as part of the Lowry Collection.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14They were donated after he died about ten years ago.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17That is fantastic.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19And did Lowry and your father have tea together or...?
0:57:19 > 0:57:22- Well, they used to meet at parties. - Really?
0:57:22 > 0:57:25And my father visited Lowry's house several times.
0:57:25 > 0:57:27So they did know each other, although not well.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30I think he must have really liked him,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33to give something like that, it's so personal.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37And, you know, it's a small picture.
0:57:37 > 0:57:39What would something like that be worth today,
0:57:39 > 0:57:42with this information as well?
0:57:42 > 0:57:45Well, and I'm saying this conservatively,
0:57:45 > 0:57:47I think that that would make
0:57:47 > 0:57:52in the region of £30,000 to £50,000 at auction.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55Quite amazing! Not that we've any intention of getting rid of it.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58No, but I just think it's wonderful.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01It's everything in a big picture, in a small picture,
0:58:01 > 0:58:04and it ticks every box, absolutely beautiful.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10What are the chances of that?
0:58:10 > 0:58:13One minute I'm talking about fake Lowrys with Rupert Maas
0:58:13 > 0:58:16and the next minute, the real deal comes along!
0:58:16 > 0:58:20Mind you, Lowry was a local lad, so maybe we could have expected it.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23Anyway, we had a great day here at Manchester Town Hall.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26I hope you've enjoyed it. Until next time, bye-bye.
0:58:48 > 0:58:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd