Chatham Historic Dockyard 2 Antiques Roadshow

For 400 years, today's Roadshow location by the River Medway in Kent

helped build Britain into one of the world's mightiest sea powers.

Welcome to The Antiques Roadshow from the Historic Dockyard, Chatham.

In March 1984, amid a storm of protest,

four centuries of shipbuilding and repair came to an end

when the Royal Navy ended its association with the River Medway

and the dockyard at Chatham.

It was a sad day for the 7,000 people who lost their jobs.

During its lifetime, 400 ships,

including submarines like Ocelot, were built at Chatham Royal Dockyard

by the men and women who worked here.

Ocelot was one of the last warships to be built.

Now returned, she sits alongside other ships,

celebrating Britain's naval history.

HMS Cavalier was one of 96 emergency destroyers built for the Royal Navy

during the Second World War

and she's now the only remaining ship of her kind in Britain.

Once the fastest in the fleet,

her main job was to protect convoys from German U-boat attacks.

But Britain's last wartime destroyer was bound for the scrapyard

until a hard-fought campaign by many people,

including some of her own ex-crew, saved her.

She was finally towed to the safety

of Chatham's Historic Dockyard for restoration.

It's like the crew has just stepped ashore and could be back any minute.

Many of these items belong to the men who served on HMS Cavalier

and they donated them when the ship was saved from the breaker's yard.

HMS Cavalier is just one ship

restored at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham,

a perfect backdrop for today's Roadshow.

If you'd like more information

about the programme, please log on to our website:

I really like these things. Do you know what it is?

No, that's exactly why I brought it today.

-But you have a penchant for brown pots?

-I love wood.

-You like it cos it's wood?

-Yes.

-You know what kind of wood it is?

-No.

-It's bamboo.

And I have a little, very fierce Shanghainese adviser

on my pronunciation

and in Chinese it's called a "bee-tohng" -

falling, rising, falling, rising.

Not "be-tong", "bee-tohng".

And it's a brush pot, one of the scholar's objects.

If you were a Chinese scholar in the middle of the 18th century

or even the 19th century, you would have a table

and on it you would have a number of things.

You would have brushes for calligraphy,

you'd have a bitong to put your brushes in.

You would have an ink stone to grind up ink

and you would be writing beautiful calligraphy

or making paintings on scrolls.

-Where did you get it from?

-My mother used to look after an elderly lady.

When she was going into a home, Mum was asked to choose something.

And she chose that because my father was always into wood

and she thought it was worthless.

But it had value to her because she thought it was well done.

She liked it and thought it was something of no value?

She only chose this pot out of all the other things because she felt

she didn't deserve to have anything.

I think it's a really good reason to choose something -

-because you like it.

-Exactly.

They are quite difficult to date accurately,

but judging by the style of carving,

particularly on the daybed where we have these little cell borders,

this suggests it's the first half of the 18th century.

It might date from around 1730, 1740,

but they're very difficult things to put a clear date on.

It really is... It's fabulous.

You see also these huge daybeds

like this where people lay on there, smoked opium,

sat there with their scrolls,

flowers, enjoying themselves.

The mounts on here are another wood.

It's called zitan. It's a very black wood and quite a rare wood now.

It used to be more common.

There was a high point of carving bamboo in the late 17th century.

-This is not one of those.

-No.

But it was considered a very high art form and you get pieces

which are signed by particular artists.

Those are the really valuable ones, but still, it's nice.

I suppose it's worth £6,000 to £8,000.

GASPS

LAUGHTER

I don't believe it!

Well, it nearly went to the charity shop last week.

-Which shop?

-The same place as everything else went.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you.

This is the most extraordinary album.

It's absolutely full of family and family gatherings and family events.

-Yes.

-So tell me about it. Whose is it?

A lady called Mary Jeffrey who was born in 1843 in Swaffham in Norfolk.

She was my great-great-aunt

and the album has come down through the family

by marriage and inheritance.

She moved to Bradford later on and got married

and at the end of her life she was in Whitehaven in Cumbria,

-but the period...

-This period?

This period was round about 1860 to 1875, roughly.

-The Trollope period.

-Absolutely.

And very much a young girl.

She was 18 when she started, yes.

I love this. Obviously, they're coming up to the priest here.

But I love this, giving out the lily of the valley for buttonholes,

-which is what we all do before weddings.

-Oh, yes.

All the little details of Victorian life come out.

-There's a Mary here.

-That almost certainly is her.

-She normally would put "Mary J"...

-Mary J, yes.

..wherever she put herself into one of the pictures.

I love it. It goes all over here as well.

It almost looks as though they're having a car-boot sale over here.

-It does indeed.

-I can't see Mary there.

-I'm not sure that she's in there.

-Wonderful.

The whole album is full of these lovely little sketches.

She hasn't written and doesn't say very much.

We've always regarded it as a pictorial diary,

but that's a misnomer

because there are, as you say, really only captions

and not much narrative.

I love this. Here they all are.

This is the sitting room, I suppose, and they're waiting.

And I love this one. They're on the ice.

They're on the ice and somebody's fallen through.

Absolutely wonderful.

And it's so full!

She kept this going for, what, two years, three years?

Oh, no, I think it covers a period of probably about 15.

This period here, as we get towards the end of the album,

things become rather more, dare I say, sexy.

The earlier pictures seem to be rather more wooden

and rather more sort of...

-Yes.

-But this is almost voluptuous.

And the colours, particularly,

seem to be more varied and brighter in the later years.

-She's growing up, in fact.

-Yes.

-She's becoming more...

Yes, she started at 18 and by this time, she's 32, 33.

Yes, absolutely. So she knows all these sort of things.

This last one here that we're going to have a look at

is a montage of the house,

a little watercolour of the house

with the photos stuck on to the people.

I think this is stunning, absolutely stunning.

We have to think of a value. Have you thought of a value?

No, because it's very much a family heirloom, the value...

It sounds trite, but it really is irrelevant.

40 pages with two or three illustrations per page.

-Yes.

-Four illustrations per page. It's stunning.

£10,000.

I think I need that brandy that I mentioned earlier on.

-Thank you for bringing it in.

-Thank you, Mr Farahar, very much indeed.

A beautiful form, exquisitely decorated.

To me, this is the epitome of 19th-century elegance,

but where does it come from in your life?

It belonged to our grandparents.

As far as we know, they were in service

to a Lady Dalzell in Belgravia. This was a gift from them.

It's one of a pair. They've got the other one at home.

-So you have two of these?

-Yeah.

This is a superb example of its type.

What we're looking at is a classic piece

of late-19th-century Bohemian glass art.

At the end of the 19th century,

the Bohemians really were right up there

in terms of manufacturing beautiful glassware.

A couple of names that spring to mind when I look at this

are the likes of Moser or possibly Neuwelt,

particularly when you look at this outer casing of white glass

which has been applied,

then cut through in these panels in this strawberry diamond pattern,

then of course, this beautiful acanthus collar neck,

really typical detailing and all this lovely final giltwork.

I mean, they just reek of quality.

-And the tale and the provenance sort of echoes that, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

-So something you love yourself today?

-Absolutely.

It's not on display because it doesn't fit in with our decor,

but I do like them and I'm liking them even more.

They're lovely things

and I'd come into this thinking about valuing one.

Obviously, I've got to value two

and a pair of these, in the current market,

-would comfortably realise somewhere in the region of £1,500.

-Wow!

That's a very nice surprise.

Well, bright sunshine on a wonderful day here

and a glorious brooch that we've got in front of us

and a couple of ladies and a baby. How are they related to you?

The lady holding the baby is my mother-in-law

and the lady here is Queen Farida of Egypt.

I think that's Princess Ferial.

-Uh-huh.

-And the brooch was given to my mother-in-law by King Farouk.

Wow, that's fantastic! How did that come about?

My mother-in-law was a nanny

and she was selected to go and be nanny to his children in Egypt

in, I think, about 1936.

-Where was she going from?

-Manchester.

-Manchester. Brilliant.

It is an absolutely gorgeous piece of craftsmanship.

The central section you have here with all those delightful flowers

is actually rock crystal.

And the rock crystal has been carved from behind

to create this lovely bunch of flowers that we see.

Then it's been mounted in this diamond mount around the edge

with these adorable highlights of beautiful bottle-green emeralds,

super sapphires here and lovely, black onyx highlights as well.

And they've all been delicately, almost sunk into the actual mount.

It is just an adorable piece. Do you wear it?

-I haven't.

-You haven't worn it?

-No.

-Gosh!

-Our daughter wore it on her wedding day.

That's a lovely image to have

of somebody wearing such an exquisite piece of jewellery

on their wedding day.

Date-wise, it's slightly earlier to when it was presented

to your mother-in-law.

It dates from about 1925 which was the height of the Art Deco period.

The Decorative Arts Exhibition was taking place in Paris in 1925

and the jewellery section of that was utterly amazing.

So it just coincides with this very beautiful brooch

which is typical of French design of the 1920s,

particularly in the delicate craftsmanship that we see.

So, a super way that it's been put together,

it's also very fashionable at the moment.

It's the type of jewellery that everybody seems to want to collect,

so if it did come up to auction,

it would fetch somewhere between £6,000 and £8,000.

Very nice.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you for bringing it in.

Many years ago in the 1960s when I was first collecting,

my passion was Doulton Lambeth stoneware.

Had I seen this then,

I'd have died to have it. I'm still very pleased to see it,

but I don't collect things any more.

But to see a piece of this quality

suddenly appear out of a bag, so to speak,

is fairly magical.

I mean, this is an amazing piece.

-Do you like it?

-I do.

It's been in the family as long as I can remember.

Why have you got it?

My grandfather worked for the Royal Doulton Pottery at Lambeth.

When he retired, as I understand the story that came through the family,

he was invited to take a piece from the collection.

This was the piece he chose.

He looked around the room thinking, "What shall I have?"

I wonder why he picked that? When did he retire?

I think in the 1920s, '30s.

-Between the wars?

-I think so.

It has to be said, in the 1930s,

this was probably the most unfashionable pot

he could have picked.

This is the Art Deco period. This very elaborate 19th century design

must have seemed out of the ark.

-So why did he do it?

-It is quite special.

It was cast for the visit of the Prince of Wales

to the Lambeth Pottery in 1885.

Whether he had a particular affection for it, I don't know.

-He wasn't there then.

-No.

-Maybe he worked beneath it.

-It's a piece he admired perhaps.

Let's get that point.

On the 21st of December, 1885,

the Prince of Wales visited the Lambeth factory, as you said.

This was made as a demonstration piece

as His Royal Highness looked on. He said, "Carry on, chaps."

They made this and it was then fired and put on the shelves

-and became a very important part of the museum collection.

-Yes.

Two things are interesting - one that he picked it,

and the second that Royal Doulton was prepared to release

such a crucially important piece.

-Do you know who made it?

-I don't.

In here we have simple initials, "MVM, '85."

-'85 is the date.

-Yes.

-This is Mark V Marshall,

-who was one of the top Doulton artists.

-OK.

He was much more adventurous than some of them.

He did this very fluid, Art Nouveau design.

He will have done all the decoration on this piece,

signed it in front of the Prince of Wales.

It will have gone off to the bottle ovens,

to the salt-glaze firing and come out looking like this.

-I'm so glad you like it.

-Yes, I do.

Because quite apart from the family, it's such a thing.

When I saw it coming out of your bag, I couldn't believe it.

It's a piece never been seen. You've had it since that time.

-Great, important, historical piece for Doulton.

-Yes.

And you're looking today at a pot

which is going to be

between £3,000 and £5,000.

That's lovely. Thank you very much.

You get a lot of different items on the militaria side of the Roadshow.

Swords, medals, helmets.

Never, I think, a mandolin,

-let alone a working mandolin.

-Absolutely.

But this is a very unusual mandolin, isn't it?

My grandfather was given it on Christmas Day 1946

by a German POW who had made it from scratch

in a camp in Aliceville, Alabama to which he had been sent

after being captured in North Africa.

When the prisoner-of-war, whose name was Paul, was sent back,

he was sent back to this country

and sent to an internment camp

where a lot of the POWs were kept and they did reparation work,

rebuilding after bombing and some farming and that sort of thing,

but they weren't allowed to fraternise

with any of the inhabitants.

At the end of 1946, the rules were relaxed

and volunteer families were able to host a German POW for Christmas Day

to have lunch in a family environment.

And my grandfather offered to have two.

One of them we don't know much about,

but the other one, Paul, spoke pretty good English.

And he and my grandfather hit it off.

And so Paul presented my grandfather with the mandolin that he had made

as a way of saying thank you

and because he came originally from eastern Germany,

he was repatriated to the eastern part, which was the Russian bloc,

and that was the end of the story.

Nothing further was ever heard of him again.

Unfortunately, a lot of those men who fell back into Russian hands

were worked to death as prisoners-of-war

-and that was probably his fate, but what a legacy this is!

-Brilliant.

It's an absolutely beautiful piece. Its value is entirely personal.

In actual terms, it's probably worth maybe £200,

but it's priceless to you, I know.

It has no value. It's our history.

-One last question. Has anybody ever tuned it and played it?

-Never.

Not since it was given and since it was made in 1945, it is as was then.

Perhaps you should find somebody who could.

I'd love to hear it played.

Thank you very much for bringing it. It's a beautiful piece.

Thank you for the interest.

MANDOLIN MUSIC

It's not until a moment like this

that an everyday, ordinary little object seems to take on more impact.

This is an amazing display of toast racks,

but I sense that this is not a collection, but an obsession.

-How did it start?

-It started because my husband was a collector

of quite a lot of different items.

Then he said to me one day, "Why don't you collect something?"

One day in the Portobello Market, he was doing something on one side

and I saw this little toast rack up on the shelf and I thought,

-"Toast racks!"

-And how long's this been going on?

It started in 1988.

And we've got a lovely selection here, 30-plus.

I daren't ask. How many?

-Just over 400.

-400?!

-Yes.

Wow. Well, it's funny because they are the kind of thing

that every factory began making.

-Yes.

-The history of the toast rack seems to come into being

about the end of the 18th century,

1770s, 1780s,

with a change in how we started to live socially and dine

and do breakfast, basically.

From that point on, most factories would take it upon themselves

to make these a mainstay of their tableware production.

We've got examples from all over. Transfer-printed blue and white,

we've got classic examples like this from Clarice Cliff,

and some lovely early salt-glaze stoneware examples,

probably from Brampton.

They are such a huge array of shape and taste and style, aren't they?

They are, yes.

In terms of buying these over the years, what's the most you've spent?

£500 on this one.

What we've got is a lovely piece of salt-glaze stoneware,

leaning towards Derbyshire, maybe Brampton.

And I see on it we've got Prince Albert and Queen Victoria.

So it's a cross-market appeal. Salt-glaze collectors will love that

and also you've got commemorative appeal

and it's just a very early example. The lowest you've spent?

50p. I don't think that one's here.

Well, in terms of an array, they do vary so dramatically in price.

The better the company, the rarer the object,

the more the value is going to be.

Your £500 spend there for the Brampton is absolutely spot on.

The Clarice Cliff examples here, the Secrets and Crocus patterns,

-today are going to be £200 each.

-Gosh.

-Easily.

-Right.

-Some of the others, like the Shelley, maybe £40 or £50.

-Right.

But as a rough tot up on the table, I've done some very quick maths

-and you're looking upwards of £2,500 of toast racks.

-Gosh, right.

I should treat them more carefully.

You have how many at home?

Well, about 350.

I'll let you do the maths. It's a wonderful collection.

Keep going. Have you ever thought about running a B&B?

No! Definitely not.

-You'd be well placed for breakfast.

-I would indeed.

-There's one more.

-What's this one?

-A plastic one that's collapsible.

Well, what a place to end!

We go from the earliest example at £500 to a modest modern collectable.

The only way is up for you.

-Hopefully, yes.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

I often see on the Roadshow

pictures by 19th-century and early 20th-century artists

and they work to a formula.

They often paint subjects time and time again

and they become particularly good.

I'm lucky enough today to see an array of subjects

by one artist, Moberly. Tell me where they came from.

Well, I think with my grandparents.

They were friends of the Moberly family.

-Do you know much about the artist?

-Well, my father told me

that it was a painting from Ernest Shackleton, the explorer,

and it was one of his favourite dogs,

which he had painted by Moberly.

Shackleton we'll come to because that's fascinating for me.

Mariquita Jenny Moberly has signed the dog picture

and her monogram is on the other two.

Of course, the one in the front is a fantastic self-portrait.

She doesn't look like a poor artist. She's in a very elegant interior

and she's wearing a beautiful green dress.

So we know that she initially lived in Epsom.

She was born 1855 and then she moved to Mitcham.

We know that Sir Ernest Shackleton was incredibly famous,

but he also loved his dogs and had a whole number of dogs. Here is one.

You've also brought along some photographs of her pictures of dogs.

-Yes.

-And at the top it says,

"Sir Ernest Shackleton's dogs from watercolours by MJM."

And then they're numbered below.

So I imagine when he was on expedition or away from the country,

she was probably commissioned

to paint his dogs that were left at home.

And of course dating these pictures, one can't be exactly precise

on all three of them.

The self-portrait is dated 1918.

I imagine the interior and the dog

are painted around a similar time, 1910-1920.

We know that Shackleton dies in '22 and, of course, she dies in 1932.

Yes.

Now values for Victorian, Edwardian watercolours of this type

by an artist who wasn't greatly well known,

they're normally worth a few hundred pounds.

So the self-portrait would probably be £200-£300,

the interior, which I love,

especially with that Arts and Crafts fireplace,

perhaps £200-£300,

but anything to do with Shackleton really raises the value.

I think this particular watercolour is absolutely delightful.

-It'll be worth £2,000-£3,000.

-Oh, OK. Thank you.

A massive difference to the little interiors,

-which are delightful.

-Yes, thank you.

Look at that.

-I mean, that looks like it's been some places, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

-So where has it been in your life?

-Well, it's actually our dad's.

He found it in a skip about five years ago.

-OK. So what do you know about it?

-We don't know anything about it.

We thought it might have been

-something from a chemistry background or...

-No, no, no.

It's wine. It's wine.

-It's a wine bottle.

-Right.

And...

Go on, give us a date. How old?

-I was thinking 1850.

-1850?

-1900s?

-1800?

-1800.

-1750.

-1750.

Go back a century!

-This is...1660.

-Really?

Cromwell's era.

Puritans. And yet the wine bottle comes down from the Puritans.

And these are rare things,

even though they were produced in pretty large numbers.

And they evolved in a very specific way.

"How do you know, Andy, that this is 1650, 1660?"

Well, they just had very subtle changes

as they evolved every five years.

You can knuckle the English bottle down to a five-year period.

So 1660. The earliest one of these is RPM 1657.

And the seal on that bottle is RPM 1657,

-which is the date.

-Oh, I see.

And that is the earliest intact English bottle we know.

And this one is that much later. Like hardly at all.

Oh...

And these are quite sought after, you know.

Without a seal,

plain like this,

this would be... three or four...

..thousand pounds.

But to have a seal, they go for a lot more.

-Oh, OK.

-So the quality of the seal makes a big difference.

If this said,

"BIB 1660",

this would be worth £30,000.

But it doesn't!

LAUGHTER

And if this said, "BIB", intact,

this would be £20,000.

OK.

But as it's, "BIB" broken, I'm really sorry to tell you

it's only worth £10,000-£12,000! Found in a skip!

I've got the shakes! Take it away from me, baby!

-Are you joking?

-Absolutely not.

-No word of a lie.

-Oh, thank you. That's brilliant.

-Most welcome.

What a gas!

Here we are in the county of Kent.

I wasn't expecting to see a copy of the Bayeux Tapestry!

How long is it?

-It's approximately 40 feet.

-Well, we've got some volunteers.

Could we unroll it, please? Heavens.

Presumably, you went to Bayeux, were completely inspired,

-got home and got out your needle and thread.

-No.

-So what happened?!

Sorry to disappoint you. I've never been to Bayeux or seen the original.

I went to a re-enactment show

and I saw that some people had done small excerpts of the tapestry

and I thought, "If they can do it, I can."

I got a piece of material about five feet long,

and I drew it and sewed it with the only two stitches I knew.

I'm incredibly impressed!

You've used - I'm not going to call it stem stitch.

It's more of a sort of running stitch that you've got,

but it's a great bit of work. Now the original embroidery,

there were all sorts of wonderful theories,

that it was stitched by Queen Matilda,

William the Conqueror's sister,

but actually it was a piece of what I'm going to call

opus anglicanum,

which is basically English work.

And English work, meaning stitchery,

was renowned the world over in medieval times.

So you're sort of continuing the tradition, aren't you?

-How long has it taken you so far?

-I started it about 17 years ago,

but I've probably done the best part of 14 years, a couple of hours

-every day.

-Amazing.

Now we don't usually value modern objects,

and this is a modern object.

It's a contemporary object. You're still working on it.

I don't want to set a precedent here,

but it is a remarkable piece of stitchery

and I guess, in time, it will obviously become an antique,

well after you and I have disappeared off the scene.

Chaps did work on the original, so it is thought,

so you're continuing it in the grand scheme of opus anglicanum.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

This is a jolly nice cider mug.

-Do you drink cider?

-No, not at all.

-Well, you want to start drinking it!

Two pints, do you think?

I'd be under the table with two pints of that!

-Especially if it was strong cider. It's through the family?

-Yes.

-A great-great-granny, I think.

-Great-great-granny?

-Yes.

That's pushing three generations back, four. Actually, in date,

it's going to be around about 1780.

-As long as that?

-A long time, yes. And it's made in China.

-No!

-And came over to England as, you know, a present for somebody,

and it's got a wonderful scene of Chinese people on the front.

They're hunting with dogs.

The whole decoration is terrific. Fine border, nice painting outside,

and this super twisted handle.

The handle is based upon an English creamware mug

that must have gone out to China

with this twisted rope handle and they liked it and copied it.

It's a super mug. I love the border, too.

And all the decoration is splendid.

-You like it, do you?

-Yes, I do like it.

The value is going to be around about £300 or £400.

-Right.

-So it's a nice jug for cider.

-Thank you very much.

-Enjoy it.

-I will. Thank you.

Three generations, a collection of jewellery. How did it all happen?

It was my grandma.

Years ago, she used to travel with the fair.

They went place to place.

And they used to go to the public house to have a drink.

And she would buy, as this one was bought, in the pub.

I don't know about that one, where she got that one from.

And also when they came back to their winter quarters,

she was the lady down the road

that people would come and sell bits to her.

-So she was like a pawnbroker in the show community?

-Yes.

And it was a travelling showman community, a travelling fairground.

So they'd turn up with these wonderful things

when they were short of money and come to her.

They'd send the children down with a piece of jewellery

and say Mum wants so much, then she'd give them money for it.

If they came down with a wedding ring,

she would send a big box of food back,

my mother would take it back, and send the wedding ring back.

She'd never take a wedding ring.

-It's a sacred thing.

-It's the last straw, isn't it?

-It is really!

You're desperate to sell your wedding ring.

That's all too true in some places today,

so we're reliving history.

But look at these wonderful things.

-She clearly bought good things as well.

-Oh, yes.

And out of the collection that you showed earlier, I've chosen these.

They're stunning. This is a snake biting its tail.

It's almost sort of slightly aggressive for a piece of jewellery.

It's stroppy, isn't it? Pearls and rubies and turquoise.

But it's a very ancient symbol called the Ouroboros,

the eternally renewing circle,

the snake swallowing its tail. It's an emblem of eternal love.

And the turquoise - something borrowed, something blue -

rubies for eyes, pearls for Venus.

And then diamonds saying this is all forever.

It's wonderful. It dates from about 1860

and it's a very popular decorative scheme,

but here is a suite of jewellery in coral and diamonds

and, oddly enough, it has the same message.

It's odd, but coral is one of the treasures of the sea

and in common with pearls and all precious materials

from the depths of the sea,

it's sacred to Venus, the love goddess. Then you added diamonds.

So here are two pieces of jewellery saying love,

but they have a much stronger resonance for you

-because they're part of your history.

-Definitely.

-Have you worn those?

-Not so much. That one.

That one you really like.

Is it a bit more to do with your personality? It's stronger.

-Have you worn the corals?

-No, I haven't.

-No.

-They're nice, but they're not really...

-They're for wimps.

-Yeah.

-Not our cup of tea.

-Not strong enough!

-They like the bling bit.

They're wonderful. I think these date from 1900, this 1860.

The same message evoked

in a different way through the meaning of the stones.

And two lovely relics from just about Victorian England.

They're enviable, valuable.

Some of the turquoises are a little bit faded and discoloured,

but nonetheless it's all there

and it must be worth £1,000 of anybody's money.

-Lovely.

-A wonderful object.

-Yeah, nice.

That's OK. And then this suite of jewellery,

-that's probably worth £600-£800.

-Nice.

So a total of £1,800. Push it a bit, maybe £2,000.

But two wonderful pieces blazing in the sunlight,

to be worn by the three graces and their lovely daughter.

-Thanks ever so much.

-Thank you.

You've kindly brought along a small selection of what I understand

-is a massive collection of car motoring mascots.

-About 200 in all.

So it's quite difficult to select two or three.

I love them all. It was nearly impossible.

I kept changing my mind.

I've always wanted to know,

is it because you're a frustrated car collector

-or do you have the cars as well?

-I bought a vintage Alvis

and within five minutes of parking it, the mascot got stolen,

so I had to find out where to find another mascot.

That was the beginning.

That's what collecting's all about. The Alvis has the famous hare.

Yes, that's right.

-Did you manage to replace it?

-Yes. It's over here.

So you and I have selected three of the mascots here. Personally,

one of my favourites is this gorgeous Riley Skilady.

Yes, exactly.

One assumes because it's skiing that the Riley Alpine is the model

-it was first made for.

-Yes.

But sculpturally she's wonderful.

The sad thing is you can't really have them on cars now

because of regulations.

-That's right. You wouldn't want impaled by her skis.

-Exactly.

The Robert I really do like. This is the pre-war example, rarer.

-Often the head is damaged.

-Pre-First World War?

-Yeah.

And he's designed by the famous commercial artist John Hassall.

He has this sort of egg-shaped ceramic head.

The thing I like is you can move the head and you can move the hat

to give him different positions. It can be different each time.

He's called Robert because he's based on Robert Peel,

who started the police force.

There's two rare ones,

but also the third one here is unusual because it's mechanical.

This is my latest acquisition, bought at a local auction.

The reason I bought it is because the wings articulate.

The wind blows it up and they twist around and then down again.

So the faster you go...

-If you speed up and slow down, it'll flap.

-What a fantastic idea.

I don't know anything about it.

It didn't come off a particular car.

You could go to the equivalent of a car accessory showroom

and this one, the faster you got, the faster it flapped its wings.

What a lovely idea.

-I'd guess it's 1920s.

-Absolutely. Let's quickly talk about prices.

The Riley Skilady, at auction,

you'd be talking between £550 and £600.

-Robert, again, I would think between £450 and £500.

-Nice.

And the one you've just bought.

-How much did you pay?

-£95.

-It's great.

-Magic.

-A magic buy.

-I'd have bid a lot more at auction.

-That's the joy of collecting.

Sometimes you buy at a low price.

I think that's at least half-price. I would think £200-£300.

So as a group we're talking about £1,200-£1,500.

That's nice to know. Thanks.

I hadn't originally planned to come today.

I sent this along with my friend

who was very kind enough to show it to somebody. I then got the call

to say would I be able to come on to the programme.

My grandmother gave it to me on my 21st

-and she actually died the day after.

-Oh, no!

-So it's very special.

-I'm not surprised.

That's got to be one of the most special things you have.

The history of this, do you know where your grandmother may have...?

Well, my family originate from Italy

and they moved to France and, on the outbreak of war,

they returned to Italy.

They lost most of their possessions, like many people,

but they managed to hold on to certain things

and this used to be my grandmother's.

She always used to let me hold it.

So...it's special.

It was special to her and it was portable as well,

which was very important at that time.

-Have you done much work in looking at it?

-I'm constantly holding it.

It's extremely tactile.

The workmanship on it just blows me away

-every single time I hold it.

-It is a very tactile object.

It was made to be held, handled,

and that's where so much of the pleasure of this piece comes from.

-It's Chinese and it's a Buddhist lion dog.

-Wow.

They were used for protection and as a sort of symbol of harmony.

You often see one sitting up, actually, outside official buildings

or Buddhist temples.

So that's what the animal is. He's got this wonderful mane.

Extraordinary carving there. It's exceptionally good quality.

And who would this have been made for?

It would have been made really for a high official

or somebody in the Imperial family. Had to be.

It's made of nephrite jade. There are different types of jade.

Jadeite mostly comes from Burma. It's harder, brighter green.

This is nephrite jade from, I think, Hotan,

which is in the far, far west of China.

It had to travel huge distances in order to get anywhere near Beijing

where it would be carved.

-It's abraded, rather than carved. Worn down with corundums.

-Wow.

It takes a huge amount of time to make this.

Jade is difficult to date.

I think one of the defining points,

and it's very difficult to do this without comparing with other pieces,

is the actual surface finish. It's all been polished minutely by hand.

-All by hand?

-And they can't really replicate exactly the same surface

on modern pieces.

Dating isn't precise, but I would date this

to somewhere around the end of the 17th century

-or possibly into the first half of the 18th.

-Wow.

It would have taken months and months to carve it.

You can't get Hotan jade any more.

-It's no longer available.

-Really?

-The value is almost unimportant.

-It's the story of how you got it.

-Very unimportant.

-But you have to look after it and keep it somewhere.

-Yeah.

In auction, it's about £25,000.

Whoa.

Unbelievable.

Hopefully, this will stay in my family for a good many years.

It'll be handed down to my daughter.

Hopefully, she'll admire it and love it as much as I do.

You're very lucky.

Oh...

Look at that. A nice cup of tea at the end of a long day

at the Antiques Roadshow.

Just round the corner, I found this original 1941 NAAFI van.

NAAFI stands for Navy, Army and Air Force Institute.

Their ethos was service to the services and they supplied

refreshments, food and drink

and hundreds of thousands of packets of cigarettes during WWII.

They're still working now, out in Afghanistan.

But for now this will do for me - my lovely cup of tea.

From the NAAFI van and Historic Dockyard, Chatham,

until next time, bye-bye.