Wightwick Manor 1 Antiques Roadshow

You'd never guess it from these surroundings,

but our location is a ten-minute drive from the centre of Wolverhampton.

At first glance it looks Tudor but, in fact, it's a Victorian house

designed deliberately to look like a medieval manor house.

And there are more surprises inside.

Welcome to the Antiques Roadshow from Wightwick Manor.

BELL CHIMES

BIRD TWEETING

We think of stately homes as belonging to the landed gentry -

well, not this one.

This was built in 1887 by Theodore Mander,

the owner of a thriving Wolverhampton paint and varnish business.

But he wasn't your typical self-satisfied,

self-made Dickensian factory owner,

he was a loving father,

a man who cared deeply about the welfare of his workers

and about the finer things in life -

like poetry, literature and the arts.

When Oscar Wilde visited Wolverhampton,

as part of his world tour,

he was talking about the virtues of "The House Beautiful" -

part of his mission to teach the middle classes about good taste.

Now, Theodore was listening to that lecture

and returned home inspired,

determined to implement Wilde's ideas.

So, with his beloved wife Flora by his side,

he set about creating the perfect family home

in the best possible taste.

Fabrics and furnishings by William Morris,

tiles by William De Morgan

and stained glass by one of the foremost Victorian makers, Charles Kemp.

It's full of the most exquisite work from the Arts and Crafts movement...

..but being an industrialist, he also embraced new technology

and insisted on having all the latest mod cons installed,

like central heating and electricity.

In 1900, tragedy struck.

Aged just 47 and shortly after becoming mayor of Wolverhampton,

Theodore Mander became seriously ill.

And at a time where there was only a rudimentary understanding of infection,

many Victorians opted to be operated on in their own homes

and Theodore Mander was operated on for an abscess of the liver

on this kitchen table.

Sadly, he didn't survive.

But luckily for us, Theodore Mander's house remains.

Now looked after by the National Trust,

Wightwick Manor is a shining example of Victorian taste

and the perfect place for our experts to meet the residents of Wolverhampton.

'Gold, sapphires, diamonds - blazing in the sun, here.'

A history from holy Russia, how does it come to Wightwick Manor?

It belongs to my dad's family, who was Czech,

and, well, it's got a nice little story behind it.

It was given to my great-great-grandad,

who was a gamekeeper in Moravia at the time.

And, at the turn-of-the-century, a descendant of the Tsar's family,

Nikolas Nikolayevich Romanov, came into the area

and my great-great-grandad organised a big hunt for him.

And, to show his appreciation, he gave my great-great-granddad this.

Isn't that marvellous?

Well, in a funny way, we have to take ourselves back

to what was a feudal dynasty in a country that was so enormous

that when the sun was coming up on one side,

it was going down on the other. And it was presided over

by a dynasty called the Romanovs, who had an incalculable fortune

and, of course, it led to the Russian Revolution.

And these imperial gifts were not unusual in THEIR lives,

they gave them here, there and everywhere.

When the Tsar of Russia came to Sandringham,

he gave the man at Wolferton station, who opened the train door,

a stick pin such as this. But it doesn't diminish it in any way.

This is a jewel and your ancestor would have worn it with great pride,

a huge distinction,

because these people had a, sort of, almost godlike hold over Russia

and Nikolay Nikolayevich was actually the grandson of Nicholas I of Russia.

So, his dissent was absolutely perfect

and this would be one part of a gift.

And, I had a little look at it earlier,

and I wanted to attribute this

to the greatest of all the court jewellers, Faberge,

but, unfortunately, I can't.

I think the fitted case is untypical of Faberge

but it's certainly made by one of his prime competitors,

perhaps Bolin, Khlebnikov,

and its magic is all the same, without a shadow of doubt.

After the Revolution the White Russians had no Tsar,

their Tsar had been murdered

and a large proportion of the family had been murdered.

And so they had to elect somebody who had survived the Revolution

and Nikolay Nikolayevich was actually accepted as the last Tsar of Russia,

even though the Romanov dynasty had passed.

So, you do, in a sense, have, by default,

a stick pin from the Tsar of Russia, which is very exciting stuff indeed.

-That's a good thing to know, isn't it?

-It is.

But, anyway, here we see it, cabochon sapphires, very soft cut,

pure gold colour and diamonds with this strange,

almost like a portcullis, design below.

But, of course, this is his conjoined initials in Cyrillic.

The two ends, which are like "HH" conjoined together -

for Nikolai Nikolayevich.

And so it's a stunning souvenir of an imperial dynasty

that ended in catastrophe for the Romanovs

-and so it's powerful stuff, isn't it?

-It is, yes.

And how are we going to measure that power, do you think?

-It's hard.

-I've no idea. I honestly didn't even think it was much at all.

No, well, I think it's much! I think it really is much!

I think it's worth... £4,500-5,000.

-Wow.

-Oh, my God.

-Fantastic.

Brilliant.

-I'm shocked.

-It's been sent over from France for today

so I think the relatives in France are going to be very happy as well.

-Well, maybe you'll say it never arrived!

-THEY ALL LAUGH

Well, this plate has really got me scratching my head.

-It's a fascinating thing. It's Dutch Delft.

-Really?!

Now, that's news to me because someone said it was English, so...

It's definitely Dutch, it's Delft, in other words,

it's a tin glazed earthenware.

-It's got a white glaze on it, so it looks blue-and-white.

-Yes.

And it's painted in a really wonderful and spirited way

with a naval engagement, a battle scene.

What do you know about it?

It belonged to my godmother and she actually,

sort of, had a birthday cake for my father's 80th birthday,

which she presented it on the plate

-and after we'd eaten the cake she gave me the plate.

-How sweet.

So, that's how we got it, actually.

Well, let's have a closer look at that painting.

I mean, the detail is incredible.

I've noticed in the foreground, in front of the battle scene,

what appears to be a little whaling boat,

because the figures on the boat have harpooned a very unfortunate

whale here and the whale is spouting water at the top there.

A whaling scene in front of a great battle?!

And all these funny little figures around the outside.

The scene itself reminds me of the famous Dutch artist Van De Velde.

-Yes, I've heard of him.

-The Battle of Solebay,

which took place off the coast of Southwold in 1672.

But they didn't have whales in there.

Well, the thing was, the Battle of Solebay was

part of a war between the Dutch and the English, essentially over trade.

So I think perhaps this isn't a fine work of art,

it's actually a humble piece of painted pottery,

so we can't take it too literally.

But actually what you've got is a battle and you've got, I think,

a bit of symbolism in the whaling because it's a battle over trade.

-It's a battle over the fruits of the sea.

-I never thought of that.

It's giving us a message here.

The things that supply what we have in the border

because in the border, we have a very handsome well-dressed

gentleman, dressed in the fashions of the late 17th century.

I think that's when this plate was made.

And we've got a lady at the bottom who may have some relation to him.

He certainly seems to be giving her a look downwards and

when you look closely, perhaps you can see why he's giving her a look!

-Yes, I can!

-So, you know, this is the pleasures of the flesh,

the pleasures of leisure.

You have two figures from the Commedia dell'arte, the Italian

comedy series, so this might be representing the arts, so it's

a fascinating and extraordinarily rare late 17th century plate.

I think a realistic saleroom estimate for this dish is

going to be in the region of 3-5,000.

Good gosh!

Woo! That's... That's a bit shaky!

Thank you very much anyway.

Who's this handsome guy with the Queen in the photograph here?

That's my late husband.

He was the Queen's personal footman from 1954 until 1962.

-A good long stint.

-Yes.

-And in this photograph, who is he with?

That's Peter with one of his friends, who is Ernie Bennett,

known to the family as Benny.

-He was the Page of the Backstairs.

-Right.

And what are we looking at here?

Well, these are things that came via Benny and also Bobo MacDonald,

the Queen's dresser.

The plates, I'm led to believe,

were given by the King of Denmark to the Queen.

And she passed them on to her dresser,

who then passed them on to Benny, who then, because they've got

little men on them and I had three little boys, passed them on to me.

And I used them and I've broken some, but I do still have this one.

-What about this?

-Well, again, more or less the same route.

-These are Prince Charles' rompers, which were passed to me.

-Wonderful.

For my three sons, but I put my sons in them

and they looked a bit ridiculous!

So I just kept them.

These are so typical of the '50s and late '40s with the smocking.

-They're very difficult things to value.

-I'm sure.

The royal connection has been proved through the way it

arrived in your hands.

I'm sure it's one or two hundred pounds of someone's money

-to buy such a thing.

-I won't part with them.

Now, you say this plate was a gift from...

I'm led to believe it was a gift from the Danish royal family

to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother,

to give to Princess Elizabeth when she was a little girl because the

other plates that go with it have all got the little goblins on them.

-They're all hand-painted.

-They're very worried by that smiling boot.

-They are.

-And of course, on the back, it's got the name of Larsen,

who would have painted the scenes.

The three wave marks of the Royal Copenhagen factory.

Collectors go for Copenhagen. They like things made for children.

And they often pay more for childhood memories than

they would for a grown-up service painted with flowers.

-Yes.

-Because of that,

I think you're looking at £3-400 for this single dish.

Gosh! That's amazing! But I don't intend to part with them.

I hope my children will treasure them as much as I have.

-Cos it's a link to their father.

-I'm delighted to hear you say that.

When a jewellery box comes to my table and it has initials on the

front, it's usually because there's something very special inside.

And I wasn't wrong. But who are the initials?

Adame Holland, who is the lady in the photograph,

who was my mum's great-great-grandmother.

I'm now going to open the box to reveal this beautiful bracelet.

Absolutely stunning. So tell me, what is the story behind this?

Basically, all that was passed down the family was that she had

-a lover at one point, who decided to take her to Paris.

-As lovers do!

-Exactly! And it was made especially for her.

-Was it?

-But that's all I know.

-How romantic is that!

It is just really, really quite fabulous.

This dates from about 1890. When did she go to Paris?

-We don't know at all.

-So possibly during this time.

Well, this is sort of inspired by sort of 18th century designs,

the French designs of that period.

But it is just absolutely gorgeous, the way that you've got this

basket overflowing with these beautiful flowers and butterflies,

-fuchsias, forget-me-nots... It really is a lover's basket.

-Yes.

-But I love this detail at the back. Has it been worn and loved?

-It has.

It's worn infrequently by my mum, she does like to wear it.

You've kept it very, very well. I'm going to open the clasp here

because on the clasp is the tell-tale signs of the French

eagle's head, made in France and in Paris.

But what I love about this and in fact, because I love

quality of craftsmanship and that's what this bracelet oozes, is that

when you actually fit it together,

I want you to listen to the sound of the clasp.

-Yes.

-Solid as a rock.

In fact, you don't need this safety chain cos it's not going to

go anywhere. And that sound, after 1890,

to still have that quality of clasp which so many people

and so many jewellers forget, that clasps are so important,

I just think it's absolutely fabulous. Um...the price...

Well, because of the craftsmanship, because it's so stunning and because

it's in such good condition, I would say it would be in excess of £2,500.

Oh, wow! That's great.

-So continue wearing it and loving it.

-Definitely. Thank you.

At first glance,

the objects on this table look like slightly peculiar bedfellows.

Can you tell me how they're connected and connected to you?

Right, they're connected because in the 1970s,

my mother went to a house sale and of all the items that were there,

-my mother bought these three items.

-Wonderful.

And over the years, my mother's often asked the children,

the grandchildren, if they'd like anything

and I plumped for these two vases.

When my sister, who chose this item, knew I was coming today,

she says, "Well, take the blue lady for me because I know nothing about it."

I've got to ask the question, what made you pick these?

Well, I think it was the paintings more than anything.

Well, they are lovely. And, you know, they are attractive, they're very well painted.

Sadly, though, they are so heavily damaged.

I mean, they are restored from top to bottom. Bits of them missing.

In essence what they once were, were French porcelain,

19th century, more than likely Paris.

But sadly now, they are sort of beyond the pale.

I have to say, I'd be with your sister because the thing that really draws me on the table

is the butterfly girl. As your sister calls her, the blue lady.

Partly because, while these are spectacular if very damaged, she's special.

She's actually designed by a gentleman called Josef Lorenzl.

And if we just spin her round,

there's a little signature just at the back there.

And she was made between 1930, '32 and 1935,

at the factory of Goldscheider in Vienna in Austria,

who at the time were really one of the best makers of art deco figurines that there were.

They attracted the greatest names to come and work for them,

including Josef Lorenzl. I love her. She epitomises that period.

The little sort of coquettish pose, slightly showing her legs,

a little bit risque, the butterfly wings skirt.

I sort of understand why your sister went there and made that choice.

These are probably only going to fetch at best £100, if you're lucky.

And that's for the quality and the decorative value of the panels.

So you've come away with £100. Your sister, however,

has come away with somewhere more in the region of 2000-2,500.

-She chose well, my sister!

-She chose well.

But then at the end of the day, your mum did a pretty good job in the first place.

-Yeah, she always had a good eye.

-They're beautiful things.

-£2,500?

-£2,000-2,500.

-Flipping heck.

Coming up through Stourbridge today,

I reflected on, here I am driving through what was

the centre of the British glass universe for 150 years.

And just seeing it gone, which is so sad.

I knew that I'd get some spectacular piece of Stourbridge come in.

And you've done it. So tell me about your connection with this?

Well really, that, with ourselves, it was in payment of a bad debt.

-OK. What was the value of the debt?

-I think it was £400, if I remember.

-And how long ago?

-About '88, '89.

OK, this is from 1981, it's the marriage of Charles and Di.

And it's made by Stewart. It's signed on the bottom.

And, for me, it epitomises what happened in Stourbridge.

I mean, this is a fabulous piece of glass-making.

Its quality is absolutely out of this world. All hand cut.

Everything on here, it was made by hand, it was cut by hand,

by holding this against abrasive wheels, repeatedly.

And it's hand polished too, all through the process.

Enormously complex, high-end skills.

And you got quite a bargain relative to its value.

When this was made, I think these were going for about £500 to £600.

And today, if you put this into auction,

do you know how fashionable cut crystal is?

I'll tell you, on a scale of things people do not want,

it starts with rabies, then the Black Death, and then cut crystal!

So you wouldn't get 50 quid for it today.

And yet you look at this fabulous, fabulous thing,

what a shame. And there it is, ruins and blocks of flats now.

-Gone.

-It's all gone.

-What a shame.

-It is still a nice piece, though.

-It's a lovely piece of glass.

I haven't chosen it because I don't like it.

We see a huge variety of bronzes here at the Antiques Roadshow.

And today's Basic, Better, Best challenge is going to see if,

after all these years, we know what we're talking about.

We've got three bronzes, brought along by our specialist, Paul Viney.

The basic one is worth £50. The better, £500, and the best, £5,000.

I don't know which is which, but why don't you mull it over at home

and in the meantime I'll ask our visitors what they think.

-So off we go.

-Hi, Fiona.

-Hi.

-Nice meeting you.

-Nice meeting you.

Three bronze statues here. So which do you think is which?

-Is there a prize afterwards as well?

-There's no prize

and you certainly don't get to take one of them home!

The little girl with the muff is the best.

-Is that just cos you like her the best?

-Well, really, yes, cos I don't know much about it!

I think this is a fine figure of a man

and I think that's a nice one as well.

And why do you think this is the best?

It's bigger and the material looks more golder.

I've not much to go on there.

I think that one is £50.

-Now why do you relegate this charming little figure?

-She looks rather sad.

She's looking really sad!

Now, I trained as a carpenter,

so when I see a miniature piece of furniture,

it sets my pulse racing because

the quality is excellent. What do you know about it?

All that I really know is that was made by my mum's cousin

in the 1920s in the Histon area of Cambridge.

And that's all that I really do know.

And then he moved on from there to be cabinet-maker and woodworker

up at Durham Cathedral. I know nothing more than that, really.

This is an apprentice piece.

So you would make this to really show your skill as a woodworker

and a joiner and as a carpenter. Everything is exact.

The rails, the platform, and this lovely turned banister column,

showing that he could actually turn as well as doing moulding.

And so he made this as an apprentice

to then get his job at Durham Cathedral.

He was obviously desperate to get the job

because when you look at the quality of it, in lovely figured mahogany,

I mean, it's all exactly as a breakfast table should be.

And did he have a long career as a carpenter?

I've been told by the family that he was killed during the war,

while he was working up in the northeastern area.

So, again, I know very, very little about him.

That's such a shame because anything you can put to this table,

the provenance, a photograph, all adds to it,

because it builds a story. If someone was an apprentice,

they then got a job working as a carpenter at Durham Cathedral,

and then they were killed in the war, although it's a sad story,

it does really put it in more of a package of historical interest.

And the great thing is that this will be worth as much as a full-size breakfast table,

-because I would put this at £400 to £600.

-You would? Oh!

Wonderful. Thank you for that, sir.

A good portrait painter often gives us, the viewer,

a window into the personality and lifestyle of the sitter.

And in this particular picture, you get a great sense of status.

I'd love to know a little bit more about him.

This is a portrait of my father, John Kirby, known as Jack Kirby.

He was assistant director of a very famous museum and art gallery

in Baltimore called the Walters Art Gallery,

and he patronised Earl Hofmann, who did this picture.

-Earl Hofmann, the portraitist?

-Yes.

A very famous Baltimore, USA painter.

So the house is in Baltimore?

The house you can see in the portrait is actually where I was born.

It's actually in a village called Lutherville,

which is a historic village in Maryland,

the state that Baltimore's in.

And it came with me when I moved to Britain when I was 11 and I've had it ever since.

Of course, Earl Hofmann was quite a respected portraitist in Baltimore.

Can you tell me a little bit more about him?

Well, my very best friend, Jack, was his son.

So Earl was someone who I just saw all the time, I saw his studio,

I saw him painting. He and his wife, Jean, and the other children

always were there, so I didn't think of him being someone famous, he was just Earl.

You know, my best friend's dad.

But I do think you can see from this, the quality of the artist.

He was one of the great realist painters from Baltimore.

In fact, he won an award which was judged by Hopper, Edward Hopper,

the great, well-known American painter, so he was quite well recognised.

I did not know that. That's amazing to think that this is my dad

-and he's painted my dad and he was in that sort of league. How wonderful.

-Very wonderful.

Of course, immediately you look at this picture, you think,

it's not British, just the way he's dressed.

He looks quite American with his slicked-back hair,

the way his collar and tie are pinned, his jacket, his waistcoat.

He looks quite American, doesn't he?

I think that's very interesting you actually said that

because I think he was trying to be European in this.

-He was very much a European in his taste and discriminations.

-Was he?

Very much so. I think in some ways this is his interpretation

of how an English gentleman should look, or at least a European.

He was very much like that.

It's a very grandeur portrait with a wonderful large chair.

He takes up most of the canvas.

So what's the future plan for this portrait?

Well, it will stay with me until I'm off this earth and then afterwards,

I think I will donate it to the Walters Art Gallery.

I think it would be fitting to do so.

And if not, I know the family in the States would be very pleased to have it back.

-I've got to do the horrible commercial thing now.

-You know, I'm not really bothered

but please tell me. I'm sure the viewers would find it interesting.

I think if you were able to go down the commercial route

and sell it to them, I think you could certainly ask a figure close to £5,000.

Really? So much? That's very interesting.

Thank you very much for telling me that but it's priceless to me.

Remember our Basic, Better, Best challenge I was telling you about earlier?

Three bronzes, one worth £50. That's the basic.

The better one worth £500 and the best worth £5,000.

Now, Paul Viner, you are our specialist in this area.

I've been asking our visitors what they think and no-one could really agree.

What should we be looking for when it comes to bronzes?

Well, Fiona, the first thing to decide is whether it's bronze or not.

Bronze is basically a copper alloy and it's heavy, hard-wearing,

and over the years develops a nice patina.

However, there is a zinc alloy which is used as an imitation bronze,

normally called spelta, and that is much lighter, more fragile,

and doesn't have the quality and depth of casting of a bronze.

So that's a good starting point.

Also, see whether the bronze is signed and dated,

and whether it is in good condition or not.

I, in the end, I actually did lift this up,

which I didn't let any of our visitors do,

and I realised it was lighter, so I put this as the basic.

I assume that's right. But then I couldn't decide between these two,

because that's so beautiful and it's signed and dated,

-but then this is of Gordon of Khartoum, is it?

-Correct.

So I thought, well, he's an important figure,

it's beautifully intricate, beautifully moulded,

so I put that as best.

-But where do we begin?

-All right.

Let's begin with the largest figure of a fisherwoman,

and this is spelta. Absolutely correct.

It was made in about 1880 and during that period, 1880s to 1920s,

there was an enormous desire for spelta figures from people

who could not afford bronzes. They got spelta as a substitute.

On a first glance, you can't necessarily tell the difference.

No, you can't. But it's not particularly well cast.

The detail of her basket and her net are not particularly good.

And if you look at her nose, you can see there's a little white dot

at the front, where the zinc is coming through

so that's an indication, and again,

as you say, she's much lighter than the other two.

-So she's the basic? Just £50?

-Yes.

-So which was the better one?

-The better one was Louise.

-Oh, I've got it right! She's so charming.

Isn't she delightful?

I was thinking she would be so commercial, so marketable.

Well, she is because she's a charming girl, as you say,

it's in the winter, she's got her hands in her muff.

We know her name is Louise because it's signed on the base.

It also has the signature of the artist, "Ferd Frick",

Ferdinand Frick, he was an Austrian artist, not particularly well-known.

Dated 1905. So this is a charming bronze by a recorded artist

but not a particularly well-known one. £500 at auction.

So, Gordon of Khartoum, and is it because he is Gordon of Khartoum

that this is the best and therefore worth £5,000 or so?

Yes, basically it has everything going for it.

It's Gordon in a very contemplative mood.

He's carrying a Bible in his hand because he was a very religious man.

Under his left-arm he's got a swagger stick which was known

to his troops as his magic wand, because he always

went into battle holding it and he was never injured in battle.

And when Gordon was at the siege of Khartoum, he held out for a year

and then finally the British Government very reluctantly

sent troops out to relieve him

and the Mahdi massacred Gordon and his troops

two days before the British relief force arrived.

In Victorian England, when the news got back a couple of weeks later,

there was a huge outpouring of grief.

And a famous sculptor called Sir William Hayworth Thorneycroft

was commissioned to do a larger-than-life-size bronze,

which is this model, and you can see it on the Victoria Embankment to this day.

-It's about 8 foot high.

-Gosh, so this is the maquette for that bronze?

This is the maquette. And it's signed by Thorneycroft,

it's dated. So from that point of view,

highly sought after by collectors.

-That is the £5,000 piece.

-Well, there you have it.

If you are lucky enough to have bronzes at home,

this gives you some idea of what to look for.

Or have a look at our website if you want to see any tips on there:

I overheard some conversation as you approached me in the queue

to say that you've actually come quite a long way to be here today.

We came all the way from Oman, the Sultanate of Oman.

I work there, actually, and I watch your programme.

He watches the show weekly, daily sometimes,

even episodes he's seen already.

And it was his birthday in July and before we flew to England, I said,

"Dad, I've got a surprise for you. Come over here."

And I printed a nice letter with nice handwriting.

It said, "You are cordially invited to come and visit the Antiques Roadshow."

-And here you are!

-Absolutely.

And I have seen that you've got a couple of watches.

-Do you have lots of watches at home?

-I do, actually.

I've been collecting pocket watches for the last two years.

These are some of the ones I collect that I have at present,

and I would like to know a little bit more about them, actually.

OK, well, the lovely thing here on this box

I can see in beautiful gold tooling, International Watch Co.

And IWC is a very, very fine factory.

It's one of those extraordinary things,

an American by the name of FA Jones came over from the States

in the 1860s, I think 1869, with a partner, a man called Kidder,

and between the two of them they produced only about 5,000 watches.

And in 1875, he went bankrupt.

And then the Swiss took it over.

And this is a typically 1930s dress watch.

Beautiful gold dial with raised gold numerals, fully signed, of course.

Lovely machine-turned back.

14 carat gold, as a lot of their things were.

And then we've got that superb movement, fully signed - "IWC".

And then just looking in there, there's their little trademark,

which says "Probus".

And that is as right as you could require. It's lovely.

-Is this one of your star pieces?

-Actually, I do like this one, yes.

-Good.

-It's a very nice size.

I have to say, I rather like that as well but let's look at this one.

Wow. I mean, there we have another beautiful case, Ulysse Nardin, and...

I just bought this recently

so I'm more interested to know little bit more about it.

Well, that's quite intriguing. Because in Dutch,

it's got "25 years, Philips",

of course the company, and the presentation, "1944".

So a lovely dress watch.

Also in 14 carat gold,

and also an absolutely top of the range movement by Ulysse Nardin.

-Do you see that little piece there?

-Oh, yes.

This should reveal a little secret because that should pop down.

There we go, and in there, in that little pouch behind,

-there is the certificate.

-Brilliant, brilliant!

That with the original box is a lovely thing to have.

That's beautiful. Thank you.

-So you've come all the way over.

-I know, it's amazing!

-I'm really pleased to be able to show you that.

-I am pleased indeed.

-It's really nice.

-It is lovely.

So, it would be almost rude to discuss price

because they're your pride and joy. I think with this box,

the certificate and that lovely condition Ulysse Nardin watch,

at auction we'd be looking at at least £1,000.

And the IWC, which I love very much,

-great name, and we could be running up towards £2,000 at auction.

-Sure.

The two together at auction

would certainly fetch between £3,000 and £4,000.

Very good.

This is an ordinary looking chest of drawers at first glance,

until you look down here at the handles.

Now that is an Earl's Coronet. I want there to be a story.

-Is there a story?

-The family folklore is that it was commissioned

by Admiral Lord Howe for one of his daughters,

whether it was for her wedding or coming out or whatever,

I don't know. But we've been able to trace our family tree

through my father back to the Howe family.

So this is Earl Howe, First Sea Lord or whatever.

He's the man famous for the Glorious First of June.

So he was the one who won that battle.

And Nelson referred to him as, don't quote me on this,

England's finest tactician. He was a brilliant naval commander.

-And I think he was known as Black Dick Howe.

-Was he?

He had a scowl on his face all the time.

-This is O-Level history - I'm going back to the 1960s.

-Right.

He always had a scowl, he was rather scruffy for an admiral.

One imagines they're always immaculate on the quarterdeck,

with the white lapels and everything and white breeches,

but he was fairly scruffy and always scowled, until he went into battle.

And then he smiled, which I think is the last thing I would do!

Smile when I went into battle!

So I think this dates to the 1780s.

It's a typical piece of Hepplewhite furniture.

Beautiful mahogany. The handles appear to be completely original,

so it might have been made for certainly an Earl's family.

This is an incredibly rare thing. To have something that goes back,

in furniture, that's not named, without a bill,

that can go back possibly to the original family

is almost unheard of in over 40 years of my experience of furniture.

-It's extraordinary.

-Gosh.

So that makes it difficult to value, actually,

because if it was an ordinary chest of drawers,

without the handles, without this potential provenance,

£1,500, £2,000, something like that.

But we don't have slide rules, we don't have a calculator,

there's no chart I can go to to add in provenance.

-But if I said £5,000 or £6,000?

-Gosh, that's amazing.

-And that's the difference.

-Gosh, that's incredible.

Well, it's not leaving the family, I can assure you.

Now it's a very rare and unexpected treat on a Roadshow

to meet a great hero of mine. Ted Dexter, it's a great, great pleasure.

-Nice to meet you too, I watch you often.

-Now we could spend the next two days talking about cricket,

but it wouldn't go down very well with my masters,

but what we've come to talk about

is a different story altogether, isn't it? It's about your father.

I thought I'd like to share

this rather extraordinary story of my dad.

He joined up in 1914

and survived through to 1918.

Survived the Somme and was actually the only serving officer

who joined up at the beginning who survived to the end,

-so I'm pretty lucky to be here.

-You're very lucky to be here,

because obviously the attrition rates amongst officers,

everybody knows it was historic in the First World War.

And we've got here the diary. He was an artillery man, wasn't he?

"The Diary of 'B' Battery, Royal Field Artillery,

"the 84th Army Brigade, '14-18."

And if we turn to 'Retrospect',

there's a very short list there of people who served right through.

"Gathered in Colchester in 1914,

"still serving on November 11th, 1918."

That's the total list, and he's the only officer.

-It is extraordinary, isn't it?

-It certainly is.

You mentioned the Somme and I think I've picked out that particular day,

the 1st July, the greatest day of the British Army,

the greatest disaster of the British Army. 20,000 dead, 60,000 casualties.

But a battle that changed the nature of the First World War.

And, of course, as an artillery man, what was he doing 6:25 to 7:30?

Bombarding the German lines. And the bombardment, in fact,

had gone on for seven days solidly before that.

And when the guns stopped,

the British soldiers rose from the trenches

and assumed that all the Germans would have been killed by the artillery barrage.

They weren't, they were down in deep trenches,

and there was five minutes between the ending of the artillery branch,

the soldiers going forward, and during that time the Germans came up,

mounted their machine guns and mayhem and slaughter followed.

And anybody who came through that was extraordinarily lucky.

He came through, he'd already done two years,

and then he went on to do two years more.

He never, ever talked about it.

I'm not surprised. That's the normal thing.

Almost to the day he died.

-Just before he died he talked to me a bit about it.

-What did he say?

-Mostly about the horses.

-Yes.

He loved the horses, and remembered all their names.

And as an artillery man, that's what he would have been involved in.

Now I can see we've got a metal box there.

I think that's a box that should contain the Military Cross, an MC.

Do you know when that was or when it happened?

I don't know the exact, I think somewhere in here gives the date,

I know what happened. I mean, if you're in the artillery,

you have to have forward spotters to tell you where your shot is landing.

And the communications broke down and apparently he went forward

and renewed the communication and, you know, almost a death sentence,

-but he managed to get back.

-So this is an MC.

-But sadly...

-Except it isn't.

It was stolen and who knows, because it has his name on it, RM Dexter.

Somebody watching might think, hello, I think I've got that.

Well, I hope they are because then they can put it back in the box

with the family who should have it.

-It's a tragedy that it's gone.

-In a way, it's almost more poignant...

Seeing the empty box, yes.

So he had an extraordinary story.

As you say, without these details, you wouldn't be here.

And then I wouldn't have had all the pleasure you've given me.

Thank you very much, and as I say, for fulfilling a childhood dream.

-It's lovely to share this with a few other people.

-Yes, thank you.

What do you think this object actually is?

Well, I was assuming it was a plate of some sort.

-A plate? Right. Plates aren't normally oval.

-Right, no.

It's actually a porcelain plaque

painted with this wonderful landscape.

A plaque is just a large piece of flat porcelain

and you can see how well it's painted.

There is incredible detail there. There's a flock of sheep

and there's a wonderful, misty landscape with hills in the distance.

-It's really quite impressionistic, isn't it?

-It is, actually.

I've never really looked at it before.

So what can you tell me about it?

It's hung on my mum's wall for the last, say about 60 years

and we've never really taken much attention to it.

-Have you any idea who made it?

-Only from looking at the back.

So you've looked at the back? Let's have a look on the back.

And there's a few smart bets.

It's actually the mark of the Royal Worcester factory.

Those little dots there represent the date codes. That's 1912.

Oh, right.

We turn it back...

Noticed anything else about it?

I've noticed a signature, that's about it.

There is a signature just there, isn't there? Know what it says?

I thought it was M Davis, but apparently it's H.

-Harry Davis.

-Harry, OK.

And Harry Davis was without a doubt

the greatest artist at the Royal Worcester factory.

-This plaque is a testament to his skill and creativity.

-Interesting.

-In my opinion, he's unsurpassed.

-Really?

-It's pretty good, isn't it?

-That sounds fantastic.

-Have you ever given any thought to the value of it?

No, as I say, it's been hung on the wall. It's only come down since my mum, she's gone into care

so we've taken all the stuff out of her house.

So it's just a bit of stuff that's been hanging around.

Houses are full of stuff that's hanging around and no-one knows quite what to do with, yes?

Just ignored it, yes.

Well, there are lots of Royal Worcester collectors

and I'm glad to say they've got taste. Because like me,

they realise that Harry Davis is the greatest artist there was.

And I think that this plaque would sell at auction

for between £6,000 and £8,000.

Really?

Really? Well, somebody said it might be worth £800.

£800?

-Rubbish! Much more than that. It's a work of art on porcelain.

-Really?

-Well, this looks like silk, it feels like silk.

-It is silk.

Where did it come from?

Well, during the war, my mother lived in a cottage

near to Tamworth in Arden, and one day this aeroplane came over

and crashed in the field just beyond the cottage.

And then we saw, well, she saw, a parachutist come out

and land in the field. So she shouted to everybody, you know,

"Come and see what's going on in the field",

so they picked up pitchforks, brooms, a pair of scissors,

and then they chased through the field

and he thought they were going to kill him.

But no, they didn't want to kill him, they wanted the parachute

to make some knickers and underwear,

-and they'd got the scissors ready to cut up the pieces.

-And they did?

-Yeah.

-They actually managed to cut it up into bits

-and they all grabbed these pieces?

-They all had a piece.

But my mother was very upset because she had the piece

with all the information on it, which now is very relevant,

but, I mean, she did have enough for a pair of knickers anyway.

I'm sure she did, but I don't think there would have been any harm

if she'd made her underwear,

her knickers out of this piece, with that on.

It wouldn't have mattered, really! This is very interesting.

Because it tells us such a lot about where it was made

and when it was made. It's a German parachute, of course.

Fallschirm, now that is German for parachute.

And underneath that, it says the date - "16th August, 1940".

So we know when this parachute was actually made. 16th August, 1940.

Lots of little stamps under there.

These are inspection stamps, because you know his life,

that pilot's life depended on this parachute working properly.

So it had to be inspected to make sure it was perfect.

Now, I don't know what a pair of silk knickers would have been worth in 1940.

-I don't know but it's lovely material!

-Haha!

But, I tell you, this is, I mean, it's only a part of a parachute.

A complete parachute today would be worth a fair amount of money.

This is only a little, tiny part of it.

It still has a value, but not that great, perhaps £50, £60.

But it's not the money that's interesting,

it's your mother's knickers.

Yes. And they all had silk knickers in the village!

# We're going to hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line. #

It's worth between £2,000 and £2,500.

This was used for fighting. It's designed for slashing.

My goodness, you wouldn't want to get in the way of that.

What if my husband hadn't have chipped it?

-He's cost you £1,000.

-He owes me, yes.

He owes you £1,000.

Where's my money?!

# We're gonna hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line

# If that Siegfried Line's still there. #

Two or three years ago, the "Fiona Moment" on the Roadshow

was "Most Seen, Most Wanted".

And that concerned us as specialists,

describing the piece that we'd most like to see brought into the show

in our wildest dreams. And this is the nearest it's ever got.

Wow. It's wow.

That's what I thought when I saw it. Wow.

So, come on, spill the beans.

I've had that for about 10 years.

And you found it under a gooseberry bush?

I just found it in a cheap little shop for two quid.

Two quid. Let me tell you what it is.

It's an English, lidded goblet

from circa 1730 to 1750.

Now, Ravenscroft is 1670, so this is later.

But what it does is it continues a theme.

Venetian glass dominated Europe for hundreds of years.

And we just see the last influence of the foreign

in this very English piece. London was the great centre

of British glass-making at this time, largely because the money was there.

If you were the Duke of Northumberland or the Duke of Bedford

or whatever, you came into London to do your shopping.

You as Mr Posh, Lord Posh, would have been buying objects like this

to adorn your life.

We know it's English. It can be nothing else because...

GLASS TINGS ..rings like a bell.

There is no doubt what this is at all. And it's an absolute blinder.

These are nipped diamonds. They've double-dipped the glass,

and then they would nip these together to form diamonds.

They are nipped diamonds, is the decorative form.

If this was a stopper, you'd date your decanter at 1735,

and so your £2, I'm absolutely delighted to tell you,

is a £5,000 object.

CROWD GASPS, AMAZED LAUGHTER

Retail - £5,000.

-WOMAN:

-Wow.

Now that's shut you up, didn't it?!

-LAUGHTER

-Yes, Andy, it has.

It's a peach, and that's brilliant. Thanks for bringing it in.

Made my day.

What a great find for Andy McConnell.

But that's not been the biggest surprise of the day.

At last, the sun has shone on us after weeks

and weeks of torrential rain.

I have to say, it has made everything so much nicer.

So from the whole of the Roadshow team,

and the glorious Wightwick Manor,

until next time, bye-bye.