Port Sunlight 2 Antiques Roadshow

This week we return to a village built on the banks of the Mersey,

created for his workers by the Edwardian soap tycoon

William Hesketh Lever.

Welcome to the Antiques Roadshow from Port Sunlight near Liverpool.

TING TING!

There's a rhythm to life on the Roadshow.

The night before we film the programme,

we all get together - the experts, producers, crew, technicians -

and sometimes we're given a little private tour of our venue.

I have to tell you we all wanted to come and have a look round here.

This is the Lady Lever Art Gallery, built by William Hesketh Lever.

He was one of Britain's finest art collectors

and he was a man with a purpose.

He built this gallery so that his workers could enjoy the benefit

of the paintings, but he also bought specific pictures which he

could use to advertise his beloved and very profitable Sunlight soap.

Look at this portrait of William Hesketh Lever by Augustus John.

Now, Lever hated this picture. He thought it wasn't flattering enough

so he sabotaged it by cutting out his head and shoulders.

Look, you can see here where he cut it, and this prompted a furious row

with Augustus John.

It was in all the papers.

Anyway, the reason we have this painting here today

is because Lever's housekeeper sent the missing part

back to Augustus John, and he had it restored.

Our ceramics team got very excited when they saw

Lever's Wedgwood jasperware, the world's best collection.

And the Chinese porcelain really got them going.

And when Christopher Payne saw the 18th-century furniture collection,

he had to sit down.

Mm, not on that one, though.

By the time Lever died in 1925, he'd amassed some 20,000 works of art,

and at his workers' request, his body was laid here in state,

and thousands of them came to pay their respects.

Lever expressly stated that he wanted his collection to be enjoyed

by everyone, which is why it's open to the public, free of charge.

But time to get under way and join our experts.

If you'd like more information about the programme

and further details on some of the items featured in this episode,

please log on to our website:

It's a pretty miserable day here at Port Sunlight, but I have to say

that these are bringing a little bit of sunshine into the day.

They are such bright, arresting images.

Now, where did you get these from?

I found them on a tip.

Do you know, people always tell me those stories

and I don't actually know if I believe these stories.

Very true, found them on a tip.

Gentleman was throwing them down the tip and I asked could I have them,

and he said, "Well, they're going down the tip so you can have them,"

so I went home, got my dad's wheelbarrow,

back down to the tip and off up the road.

And how long ago was this?

That's 40 years.

Well, I mean, it's very appropriate that we've got two here

relating to Sunlight.

Yes.

Now, this £1,000 guarantee of purity,

was that if you found some impurity in the soap?

I do believe they guaranteed to pay you £1,000.

How on earth they worked or quantified that out I'm not sure.

-Two of them represent Sunlight.

-Yes.

One, the competition, Hudson's, and another which really I suppose

illustrates that we're probably glad to have the Trade Descriptions rule.

Well, exactly.

Here we have Craven A Virginia cigarettes

"Made specially to prevent sore throats."

Doesn't say anything about killing you,

but it does say that it would prevent sore throats.

-Which is quite amusing, really.

-Exactly.

The heyday of the manufacture of enamel signs

was from about 1900 through to the 1920s.

They came up with this amazing system to vitreous enamel

onto sheet steel,

and you can see that here we are probably 100 years on.

Yes, it's a little bit tired and a little bit spotted and a bit rusty,

but basically it has stood the test of time.

And, in fact, if we look down here,

we've actually got the name of one of the big makers -

-Chromo of Wolverhampton.

-That's it.

-There was Jordan's in Bilston.

-Yeah.

So, where did it all go wrong? Why don't we see them today?

-One has to think about the Second World War...

-Yes.

..when steel was used for other, I'm sure more important, purposes

-than enamel signs.

-Yes.

And I think if one looks post-war,

one also sees the demise of the small shop.

-Yes.

-And the rise of the supermarket.

So I think all of those things

-mean that we're looking at little bits of history now.

-Yeah.

So, you've got the four. Is this all of it?

I've got about 200.

All from that junk-yard find?

Not all from that junk-yard find but a good 50 from the junk-yard find.

Amazing.

Well, I sadly can't put a value on all the others you've got at home,

but the four that we've got here,

-I would have said that the Hudson's going to be the most valuable.

-Yes.

-At 500-ish.

-Wow.

The Sunlight, even though it's a bit damaged, it's such a lovely image

and it's one of the oldest, I'd say, I would say that's about 1910, 1912.

I'd put that at perhaps 300 to 400.

The Craven A, probably 100, 150

and this little Sunlight here,

again round about 100 or so.

So, you know, it's adding up and heaven only knows

what the other 196 are going to fetch.

-Probably a retirement package for myself.

-Exactly, exactly.

I love banded agate.

The Romans used to use this material to make precious objects with

and it's just a lovely material.

This piece, it's a casket, as you know,

dates from about 1810 to 1840.

It's a really fine example of lapidary work.

These lovely sheets of agate have been chamfered and cut

so beautifully and there's not one chip, scratch or crack,

and the condition of these things is all-important.

Even the inside of the lock plate is engraved.

It's chased and finished, as are all the mounts.

-How long have you known it?

-Well, I've known it all my life, really.

It was my great-aunt's to start off with

and it was given to her

and then it was passed to my mother, who unfortunately is now deceased,

and it's now mine.

-You lucky thing.

-And I use it regularly.

I have my jewellery in it sitting on my dressing table.

Well, that's what it was made for, to keep jewels in.

It's a precious object to keep precious things in.

The thing about these is, I've seen numerous examples

but I've never seen one as nice as this.

Probably Continental, this. It's probably French.

I mean, it could be Palais Royale or something like that.

It's that kind of quality.

And with that kind of quality comes quite a value

and, you know, there are examples of this that are £50 to £80.

This example is more like

1,750 to 2,000.

Oh, wow!

I never realised that.

Maybe even a bit more than 2,000.

Do you know, for the first time, I'm actually dealing with something

that is not made of silver on this programme.

And the reason is I'm just so excited by this piece.

I've never actually seen one of these

with two spouts.

-Gosh.

-It is English as well.

Continental you sometimes get more than one spout.

But on an English example, two spouts, extraordinary.

-Wow.

-But why?

Well, what is the actual object itself?

It was just something that's been handed down through the family.

I inherited it last year from my mother-in-law

and I've always known it as a samovar, a tea or coffee dispenser.

Right, OK.

I can perfectly understand that, and that's what everyone thinks

when they see one of these, and it's wrong.

-Oh, gosh.

-It's not a samovar, it's an urn.

-Right.

In England we have urns.

In Russia they have samovars

and those have got fittings to hold teapots on the top.

-Yeah.

-Date-wise, we're looking at the late 18th century.

-Goodness, yes.

This beaded edge that we've got points to a date round the 1780s.

Mm.

And quite fascinatingly as well,

we've got the arms of King George III appearing on the front.

Goodness. Wow.

-Actually there, it does say that it's a patented piece.

-Yes.

So it will be in the records.

It's somebody's wonderful invention that clearly nobody else went for,

otherwise we'd have a lot more of them around.

Yes, of course, yes.

Now, we've got on here the first clue to what it's about.

-There it says "coffee".

-Yeah.

-But, of course, what's in the other one?

-Water?

Well, let's just have a little look and see what's going on inside.

Well, first of all, right in the centre, that is to hold a hot iron.

Gosh.

And that would have gone in the range in the kitchen,

been sitting in the fire itself.

That would go in there red hot.

And the tube from the coffee

actually does go through into this container, OK?

And then we've got the external part of it,

but let's just see what's going on in there and...

Ah, did you know you'd got that?

Wow, I didn't know that. I've never actually taken the lid off this.

So, let's see whether you were right.

-What did you say?

-Water.

-There we are, "water".

-Wow.

The principle, of course, would be

you'd have strong coffee in the centre.

The sort of really dark stuff.

-Yeah, the expresso type.

-Expresso, exactly, you've got it.

So you'd pour a little bit of the expresso

and then you'd add hot water to taste.

Wow, gosh.

-That is brilliant.

-Isn't it? I can't believe you found that.

There we go.

So, we've got a patented urn, an extraordinarily rare...

I mean, it might even be...

-It's always dangerous to say something's unique...

-Mm.

-..but there's a good chance of it here.

-Gosh.

-Condition is going to go against it.

-Yes.

I would think that that has got to be worth at least £800.

Goodness!

That's fantastic.

This is an absolute little Deco delight.

Beautiful colour, beautiful shape, beautiful pattern,

but where did it come from?

A second-hand shop.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-How much?

-19 pence.

-One-nine?

-Yes!

-19 pence.

-19 pence, yes.

-I was robbed, wasn't I?

-Absolutely.

Do you know who made it?

Well, I sort of suspected,

because his name's on the box, Lalique. But I didn't think

it was actually Lalique, I thought it was an imitation.

Well, don't doubt yourself, you are absolutely right.

Yay!

This little box was designed in 1923

by the great master Rene Lalique

and actually, just here,

in amongst the design, is that name -

R Lalique - but actually made for him

by a gentleman called Eduard Fornells Marco,

who dealt with all of Lalique's plastics,

and he was a designer working in this period

for some of the major Paris houses like Roger et Gallet, Coty.

And here we have one of his wonderful little boxes.

SHE SQUEALS, PEOPLE LAUGH

The pattern is called cerise,

because we've got cherries,

and what we actually have, though,

is a wonderful little lady's powder box

which would have been used for,

you know, a little powder puff or loose powder,

and it's an absolute little gem.

-Oh, brilliant!

-Now, we see the glass all the time,

-but the plastics are rare.

-Oh, wow!

-So, 19 pence.

-Yep.

Would you be surprised if I told you

it's worth £500?

No, I'd be delighted! Wow.

-Actually, I'm teasing you a little bit.

-Oh! All right.

-It's not worth 500.

-It's not.

It's worth 1,000.

Oh, my goodness!

Excuse me, I'm going to faint...

A thousand pound?

It is a super-rare little thing

that lots of people want to own.

Well, I'm so glad I've got it.

Of course, I'll never sell it. Ahem!

-Next time, can I come shopping with you?

-Yes!

Thank you very much.

Oh, brilliant!

This was in my grandparents' home,

which is called the Royal Hotel in Liverpool,

but it's actually known generally as the Arkles

because it's in Arkles Lane,

and it's right next door to Liverpool Football Club's stadium,

so it's a very well-known pub.

My grandfather was the publican there for 50 years.

What I find very interesting about this dish is

it's about the same date as these buildings all around us.

-Oh, is it?

-About the same date as the village,

it dates from around about 1870, 1880.

It's Japanese porcelain.

It's called Imari porcelain,

called that... It was exported from the port of Imari,

and Imari porcelain - the term now defines a whole range of porcelains

which are decorated in gold, red and underglazed blue, like on this.

It was very, very fashionable

at the end of the 19th century

and if you look at it closely, you've got fans,

flowers - you've got a chrysanthemum flower head here,

we've got prunus sprays,

all sorts of things which are ever-so-typically Japanese.

It is a very large dish

and I wouldn't want to carry it here on a day like this,

but you do get them this big, this big,

and there's one in the Victoria and Albert Museum about this big.

How they fired it I have no idea. Astonishing thing.

Lots of Japanese Imari porcelain was made,

and it was made for export, for us foreigners.

Round about 30 years ago,

these Imari dishes were worth round about £10 an inch,

and we see so many of them, that's really how we valued them.

30 years later

it's about double that now,

it hasn't gone up enormously, it's now about £20 an inch,

so a dish like this, at auction,

-round about £500.

-Oh, well...

I like it, so...

It's an amazing piece of family history.

It is a piece of... That's why I've kept it,

-because it is a piece of family history.

-Yeah.

I'm very excited to be holding this - an Olympic torch.

How did you come by it?

It belongs to my daughter-in-law

and she was running with the torch in Pwllheli, in North Wales.

And how did she come to be chosen?

She is chairwoman of the Women's Aid in Deeside in North Wales

and they nominated her.

So the domestic-violence charity?

-Yes.

-Now, I took this along to our experts on the miscellaneous table.

I have to say, they all wanted their photograph taken with it as well

and I asked Jon Baddeley about this.

Now, he was telling me that the question of how much it's worth

-is a bit like saying how long is a piece of string.

-Yes.

I mean, in 1936, for example, at that Olympics,

torches that were used then are now selling, he said,

for about £3,000 or £4,000.

But it's impossible to value this.

-But I've always wanted to have my moment. Do you mind?

-No.

Make way!

LAUGHTER

OK, here we are outside the Lady Lever Art Gallery

and before me are two of the most beautiful Derby figures

I've ever seen in my life.

Yes, they're fantastic, aren't they?

And they were collected by William Hesketh Lever

when he was still quite a young man in the 1870s

and he would have just been in his 20s then

and when, 50 years later,

he opened the Lady Lever Art Gallery,

he made sure these two wonderful pieces were on display,

and we actually have a photograph...

-How wonderful.

-..of Lever here,

when the gallery opened in 1922,

admiring these wonderful figures.

And there they are, yeah.

I must say, he showed incredible discernment for one so young,

but in view of what he achieved subsequently,

-I don't suppose we should be too surprised.

-No, he turned out

to be a fantastic collector.

Absolutely, but I mean, they're Derby, they're biscuit porcelain.

Biscuit porcelain is simply porcelain that's unglazed.

I expect there is an interesting mark underneath the bottom of them,

there often is. Let's have a look on this one.

Doesn't give us a lot to go on

but it simply says "No 395"

and if you check the records,

that is Derby's model number for this figure.

They are amongst the most important Derby figures

because of the correspondence in the 18th century

between a man called Joseph Lygo,

who was the Derby factory's agent in London,

and William Dewsbury, who owned the factory and was back in Derby.

And the letters tell us that these figures

were modelled after 1793

by a man called Jean-Jacques Spangler.

And Spangler was a bit of a rogue, a bit of a crook.

He went to Derby in 1790,

his work at Derby was interrupted by a short spell in prison.

-Oh.

-So he really was a bit of a Jack-the-lad

but clearly a very talented sculptor.

What the letters also tell us, most particularly relating to the lady,

is who she's meant to be

and she's meant to be someone called Rosina.

Rosina was the heroine in a novel published in 1785,

written by someone called Frances Brooke,

obviously a popular cultural figure at the time.

So there's a lot of information about these particular figures

that one doesn't normally find

when talking about most 18th-century Derby figures,

where we have so little information to go on.

Well, they are obviously an integral part of this museum,

a very important part, and as such,

it's probably inappropriate to start talking about value,

but I'm an auctioneer and I can't resist it, I'm afraid.

So I'm sorry, I'm going to have a go.

One of these, the shepherd,

without his girlfriend here,

sold in a London auction in 2007

for £5,000

but it was quite restored.

The Lever example is in generally much better condition

therefore worth more.

The lady, Rosina,

I can't find any record of an example being sold anywhere,

so I have to use my judgment on that

but I think, in view of their importance

and their extraordinary provenance,

we're looking at £18,000 to £20,000 for them.

Bearing in mind most Derby figures just make a few hundred pounds,

-that is a very high price for them.

-Yes, yes. I think...

-These are fabulous.

-..Lever chose a beautiful pair of figures, didn't he?

He did. I think these are a testament to his taste

and discernment, I really do.

It's a great collection of chairs here.

I mean, are you a chair fetishist?

I wouldn't say so, no. Chairs have got a practical application,

needless to say - that's sitting in them - but also aesthetic value,

so as far as my choice are concerned, I've always chosen chairs -

"Would you have them in your lounge?"

Right. We can't talk about all of them, sadly.

There's simply not time, much as I'd like to.

But let's choose... Well, I've chosen two in my mind.

You tell me which two you'd like to pick out of the six.

Well, my first acquisition was this French chair,

of which there is a set of four...

-Right.

-..at a very provincial house auction in Cheshire.

And I've always admired them but I don't know anything

about the pedigree of these chairs, shall we call it?

OK. What's the other one you want to talk about?

Well, this one I do like the style of,

in terms that it's got that late-1700s look to them,

but I'd like that to be verified as being what they are.

Well, let's do a deal. We can only talk about two.

-You've chosen one that I want to talk about.

-Excellent.

And you chose one I'm happy to talk about.

One thing which might interest you

and might, when you work it out, disappoint you

-is that they are arranged in a certain order.

-Ah.

Can you guess? It's not supposed to be a trick question, but...

I think it could... Could it be...?

Not age?

-It is age.

-It is age?

When they were actually made.

-How interesting.

-The trouble is,

we start on the right,

-on that side...

-That's the oldest one?

..the 17th-century chair

-and we end up with your choice...

-Right.

-..which is a reproduction French chair.

-Indeed.

One of a set of four.

Indeed, yes, yes.

But the upholstery is 18th century.

Ah, right.

It's a very nice 18th-century upholstery here

but the frame is absolutely typical

of a Louis XV chair

about 1735-1755.

Very nice-quality walnut, they're sometimes beech,

there's a tiny bit of gilding

-which you can hardly see.

-Yes, more prominent on the legs.

Which you never really get in an 18th-century chair.

Sometimes they were painted, sometimes they were just waxed up.

Right. So the year of production?

20th century.

Oh, as recent as that?

-Yeah, 1910, 1920.

-Right.

-I still like them.

-OK.

-Thank you.

-Let's go back.

We're going to Arts and Crafts here,

we've got sort of Flemish 17th-century style here,

lovely Edwardian Sheraton chair here

and now this one. This is the other one you picked

and the one I'd like to talk about.

-They are incredibly difficult to date.

-Really?

It's an Irish chair.

-Oh, an Irish chair?

-Irish chair,

-Irish Georgian.

-Really?

So when the English settled there

and they made furniture in the English style, the Georgian style.

So it is, to all intents and purposes, in quotes,

"a Chippendale chair". The most typical thing is the feet.

I won't reach down there, but the paw feet

is very typical of southern Ireland,

-probably the Cork area.

-How interesting.

The most obvious thing, you can just see

-that lovely piece of mahogany veneer there.

-Yes.

-It's typical

as they couldn't afford solid mahogany as we'd have in England.

It was very expensive to import.

A reproduction chair would almost certainly be solid mahogany.

-Oh.

-That's one of the giveaways.

Right, so this is genuine?

Genuine Irish chair.

-Very old chairs.

-Yeah, very nice.

Did they cost you a lot of money?

These were bought about ten years ago.

These were about... about £1,000 for those two.

Irish furniture was very expensive about ten years ago.

I'm afraid today they're only worth, the pair,

£1,000 each.

Oh. That's an improvement, isn't it?

-That's an improvement.

-It's not too bad.

-No, definitely.

-You've doubled your money.

-There we are.

Now, these we now know

-are 20th-century chairs with lovely upholstery.

-Yes.

-Harder to value. Do you remember what you paid for those?

-I would say

it was something around £700, £800,

-it wouldn't be much more than that.

-Not each?

-No, the set.

Anyway, value of those today.

I would say you'd have a job to get those now

for under about £2,500 for the set.

Oh, really?

Yes, yeah. £2,500 for the set.

-That's still a healthy sum of money, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is.

This brightly coloured oil painting of St Michael's Mount

is clearly signed "S J Lamorna Birch"

and it really feels that the artist

is giving us

a pictorial advert.

We're invited to this landscape.

In fact, I want to be

in this particular place.

The colour's exaggerated but it's very, very beautiful.

What do you know about the picture?

It belonged to my grandmother's family.

She was apparently a friend of the artist, Lamorna Birch,

and part of the sort of Liverpool artistic circle.

We have bits and pieces from other artists as well.

Of course, he was a local man initially.

He was born in Wallasey, wasn't he?

In Egremont, Wallasey, that's right.

Yes, and he was self-taught

and he went down to Cornwall at the age of 20

trying to make a living as an artist.

He was one of ten children so he had to make the money, too.

But people like Samuel John Lamorna Birch

were artists who really popularised Cornwall,

places like Lamorna, they became great tourist attractions.

So, he arrived there about 1890,

he went off to Paris for a little period of time

but he came back and lived at Lamorna,

hence the name Samuel John "Lamorna" Birch.

Very often, painters like Birch would create these pictures

for mass-produced machine prints,

which then every household could own, as they'd be relatively cheap,

and it would encourage people to come to Cornwall.

So many places like Mousehole, Lamorna,

-were popularised through artists like "Lamorna" Birch.

-I see.

Of course, this is a rather extensive landscape painting,

predominantly a landscape painting.

We're looking right across to St Michael's Mount.

It's sun-drenched. And there's a little human element to it.

If you look right in the foreground, to the right,

there's a little cottage door open

and to the left, just by the watermill,

there's a little figure collecting water,

so just only a few steps to gather your own water

and take it back to the cottage.

It's rather nice, he's added that human element.

So this is a really lovely picture you've inherited,

-it's in brilliant condition.

-Thank you.

I mean, this is certainly going to be worth £7,000 to £10,000.

Oh, that's very gratifying.

And with a really beautiful frame on it,

it could be £8,000 to £12,000.

-Oh, worth investing in a good frame, then.

-Absolutely.

Well, thank you very much. Thanks for your interest in it.

Port Sunlight is just three miles from Liverpool - over the water -

so of course we were hoping we'd get some Beatles memorabilia,

and some has turned up, courtesy of you two.

-You're sisters, is that right?

-Yes.

-Yes.

Now, there's a story about an autograph on an arm.

I had John Lennon's autograph on my arm.

We all went to the Assembly Hall in Mold to see the Beatles

and after the show, we went for autographs

and as we all queued up, the Beatles were sat,

John Lennon was giving everyone an autograph on their arm.

And did you go along as well,

-to the concert, to see the Beatles?

-No, I wasn't allowed to go.

My mum said I was too young to go.

That's why I claimed the autographs.

So you got some autographs the same night, did you?

I've got all the Beatles' autographs at home, but, yes,

the whole set, the same night, yes.

So you got an autograph on your arm from John Lennon.

You weren't able to go, because you were too small,

so you got for your dear sister these autographs here.

-Well, so she says.

-Correct!

But I got them for myself at the time!

They were my autographs.

So hang on, let's get this clear,

because one of our experts has looked at these autographs

and given them a value. So before I tell you...

-We're going to share it.

-Are you?

Yes, we promised we'd share it.

This one here, which has all four Beatles

and it's written so clearly, look -

"Ringo, John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney" -

Jon Baddeley's had a look at these and reckons this one

is probably worth £1,500 to £2,000.

GASPS, LAUGHTER

So now who do they belong to?

-Me!

-I've always said we'll share it.

So, whose house are they in now?

Mine.

Well, that's handy, isn't it?

Yes. I keep saying nine-tenths of the law.

This may be the last time you see these autographs.

I know, it might be. I've got a key to the house, though.

I have to ask you - are you a budgie fancier?

-Not really, no.

-So why have this enormous vase with budgies on?

It was given to my mum

about 40 years ago by a neighbour.

There were two of them and they gave us this one

and it sat on the porch of our house

for about ten years, outdoors, in all weathers.

-Outdoors?

-Yes.

Well, I have to say... I think the best word,

it's a monumental vase.

It's dated 1885 just inside the lip

and I think it's probably safe to say it was almost certainly

made for an exhibition. There were a number of exhibitions in 1885,

one in New Zealand, for instance,

and this is very much the sort of thing Doulton would have made

to go on their stand at exhibition

to say, "Look, this is the sort of thing we can make."

Because this is bigger than your average vase.

It's by two artists,

Florence Barlow and Fred Butler,

who've both signed at the top, very typical for Doulton.

I think what's interesting

is that Florence Barlow and her sister Hannah,

who were quite well known at the factory, they were unusual

because at that time, most artists on ceramics were men.

And it's interesting that here is Florence Barlow,

if you like, the main star of the piece,

the main artist as a woman,

and Fred Butler has done the subsidiary decoration.

So this is an early example of women's lib in pottery.

But I think it's a great thing.

This decoration is done painting with liquid clay, with slip,

called pate sur pate,

which is a French term just meaning, basically, "layer upon layer,"

and it's very difficult. She's got these birds beautifully.

The Barlows were both from the country.

I think the Barlows always seemed to capture the essence of nature.

-So there was two of them at one time?

-Yes, there were.

I suppose they're always worth more together

but you have one on its own. And something's gone on here.

I don't know how that happened.

-It's always been there?

-It's always been there.

Well, it's been damaged, there's nothing you can do about that,

but it is a good vase by two good artists,

it's a very good size

-and it's worth a reasonable amount of money.

-Really?

At auction today, this would sell

-for £2,000.

-Really?

Wow. Fantastic.

MUSIC: "A Little Rain Must Fall" by Al Bowlly

# To bring the rainbow back to you

# A little rain must fall. #

Tattooing used to be associated

with soldiers, sailors, bikers

and what used to be called

"the lower classes".

I think that is a bit of a misconception with our industry

and in fact, at the period of the poster,

75% of nobility were tattooed.

Gosh.

So us lowly commoners couldn't actually afford to be tattooed.

Let's look at this poster, which is our backdrop. "Don Manuelo" -

he is a muscle man,

"the best-tattooed muscle man

"in the world".

He's covered head to foot, body, back, neck.

Don Manuelo was late 1800s

but during this era,

he made a very handsome living from working at a carnival.

I mean, I see some of these motifs on scrimshaw

and other forms of carving,

and, I mean, this is a rare thing.

I mean, for a poster of sort of the 1880s, 1890s to survive

depicting a very rare subject

is really quite breathtaking.

I was really excited when you turned up with it. Look,

-can we open this box?

-Certainly.

-Because these are the tools

involved in really making tattoos of this type.

-Yes.

-And I mean,

I guess this is contemporary with the poster,

sort of late 19th century.

-Correct, yeah.

-Now, we've got a sort of business card

with "George Burchett".

George Burchett was known as

the king of tattoo artists,

because he tattooed King George,

he had the King of Denmark flying over to be tattooed.

So what have we got in here?

Run us through it.

When we look through, we have...

As you can see, these would have been the needles

that George would have been using,

could have even been the needles he used on the king.

Look at the size of those.

I must say, I'm slightly grimacing!

Yeah, they'd be old sewing needles.

This would have been a design,

very patriotic, with the British...

There's a girl's name,

obviously, perhaps somebody he was betrothed to,

perhaps a sailor? "1916, Sarah."

-And this looks like it's been used.

-This would have been a transfer.

They would have carboned the ink onto the reverse of the transfer.

And what we do have here

is a very beautiful hand-drawn piece.

A picture of a lady.

She wouldn't have a tattoo, would she?

Oh, in these days,

you'd be absolutely amazed,

because I have a friend who's a mortician

and he said he's amazed with the amount of the old girls

that are sadly passing away at the moment, how many of them...

-He sees what nobody else does.

-..have got back pieces.

Because in this era, people didn't show any flesh,

didn't show the tattoos,

so people were more tattooed than what we thought.

Of course today, the very opposite,

we show a lot more flesh,

we go on holiday and people like to show off a little ankle tattoo

or just a little subtle tattoo somewhere. I must say,

I rather like it. I haven't got any tattoos myself...

We can soon sort that out!

I'll see you later!

That's fascinating. Look, I mean,

very, very rare. I can't think the Roadshow has ever featured items

to do with the art of tattooing,

so it's a very exciting moment

and we've got to basically boil down to values.

If this came up for auction,

I would anticipate it would make

somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000

and probably a figure not far off for the box

with the right audience and the right sale,

certainly 2,000 or 3,000, maybe a little bit more.

I think that at that price, I would buy them every single day.

You would say that, wouldn't you?

Standing in front of this luminescent work of art,

it feels as though we've just

walked into a Sienese chapel.

Is this where it's come from?

Not really, or at least, not where we got it from.

We found it in Kent

in a church in Deal.

In a church?

So how did you get it out of the church?

It was in a very exposed position

in a porch with an open entranceway,

so the weather was getting at it.

We mentioned this to the priest, and the upshot was

we were given the painting.

And that was how long ago?

35, 40 years ago.

So you've had this time to contemplate it.

What do you think you have found here, in your church, that is

now in your possession?

One of two things.

It could either be a genuine Sienese painting,

or it could be a much, much later forgery.

Have you canvassed views on whether it's one or the other?

We have, and we've had conflicting opinions. Both opinions.

Obviously the image before us is quite clear.

This is the Virgin -

rather beautifully presented.

Next to her is the Christ Child.

There's a figure in the back left which looks like Joseph

and this slightly John the Baptist- looking figure.

Yes, indeed.

OK, we are talking about a Sienese painting -

or what purports to be Sienese art.

This was one of the cradles of the Renaissance.

Some of the greatest artists who ever lived - people like

Duccio, Lorenzetti, Simone Martini - were all at work producing

a whole new way of seeing and feeling in art in the 14th century.

And then this continued into the 15th century, where the style of

this picture suggests that this may rest somewhere in the 15th century.

Now, the question is -

is it a 19th-century fake or is it a Renaissance original?

I agree.

Well, the thing that really puts one off -

although there are some marvellous facial expressions -

is this sort of dragged and rolled, this sponged background.

I mean, have you contemplated what that might be?

I thought it had gold on it and the gold had been stripped off.

No idea.

Well, with the benefit of this slightly rainy light that is

pouring upon us, I've been having a really good look at it,

and what to me is the clinching, the deciding element

is just to the left of the head of what looks like John the Baptist.

And there - small, fragmentary - is a remaining bit of gold,

and that to me indicates unequivocally that the whole

-background was actually covered in gold.

-Good heavens.

And this is just the remaining fingerprint of its history.

So with the benefit of considering that gold and then

looking at the rest of the picture and the gnarled, ancient paint -

there's a real crusty quality to it which I find convincing.

And also I'm looking at the frame itself, which has been restored,

but it's integral, it's part of the panel, it's all made in one piece.

I'm convinced this is a Renaissance work of art.

No!

I think you have here - and you found it in your local church,

which I find so poignant - you have here a very significant painting.

As to valuation, well, I think on the basis of its appearance now -

yes, it's a little bit damaged, but it's still a beautiful object

and it carries extremely well -

I would think about £25,000.

Wow.

Now, if it were in good condition,

we'd be talking a tremendous amount more.

Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you very much, I'm much more pleased that you think it's genuine

than that it's worth x thousand pounds.

Thank you very much indeed.

Now, this folio volume has seen better days, it has to be said.

Can you give me any sort of explanation for its condition?

I can, yes.

It was housed in a building in Liverpool that was

bombed during the Second World War and went on fire,

and the resultant covering has been charred.

Yes, it's been in a fire, certainly.

-It would have had a flap that went over there originally...

-Yes.

..and fastened into there. Let's have a look inside.

It's a folio volume, it's hand written on vellum and the title page says,

"Deed of Settlement of the Liverpool Race Course Proprietary, 1838."

Now, that is really early for Liverpool Race Course.

Got anything you can tell me about it?

Not a great deal, unfortunately.

It was given to me last year - unfortunately my mum passed away,

and it was in a box with lots of items.

My sister tells me that my dad had it.

He worked in a solicitor's office in Liverpool and after it was...

the building it was housed in was bombed, he took care of it,

basically.

Right, well, I'm glad he did.

I see this as a very important foundation document for Aintree.

Before this date, 1838, there is still controversy as to the races

and where they were held and whether they were actually

the Liverpool races, so this settled the race course in one place, and in

1839 - the following year - it's now seen as the very first Aintree race.

Now if that isn't important, I don't know what is.

Let's have a further look at this document.

So, there's the title page, here are the details saying

an agreement has been drawn up between these various people

here, and there's about half a dozen names there.

It then goes on - all the minutiae -

and right at the end we've

got a list of the people who bought shares.

Someone's helpfully marked in 57 shares -

that's a very small number, I would have thought, by today's standards.

And we've got some - I've counted them up -

some 40 names there who had those 57 shares.

I see this as the beginning of history as far as

Liverpool Race Course is concerned and it is very important therefore.

And it has a value.

I think it would be very desirable - obviously particularly to some racehorse museum

or to Liverpool - and I think if this came up in auction,

we'd be looking at a price between £7,000 and £10,000.

Wow. Gosh.

-What a find.

-Isn't it? Wow.

Some of the strangest things do turn up at the Antiques Roadshow.

I think you're going to need to tell me what this is.

Yes, it's a reaction control system engine, or RCS thruster,

to the man in the street, and it was used for the Apollo moon landing.

So this is the little device that sits on the lunar module?

Yeah, they're kind of clustered in groups of four,

there are 16 in total, and they use these to make minor changes on the

approach to land on the moon or when they're coming back up into lunar orbit.

So every little boy of that era - although I have to say

I can't imagine you were ever a LITTLE boy, but...

Even in those days I was slightly taller than average, yes,

but, no, I think I was one of many, many children who wrote to NASA in

those days, and they sent me various pictures and brochures back and then

over the following 15 years I wrote about 500 letters to every man

that would read it, and out of the blue I got a letter from a chap in

California saying, "We're going to send you an Apollo rocket engine."

-"And don't ever send us another letter"!

-Yeah, well, basically.

And I kind of thought, "I'll believe it when I see it."

Three weeks later it turned up in a brown box.

Fantastic. And obviously this didn't go to the moon because they didn't come back.

No, this one was built in 1965, it was part of the development programme.

All the ones that went to the moon stayed in space.

And we can actually see in these photos how they're positioned on the lunar module.

There's a great shot here of one with the stars and stripes beyond.

Yes, that's the view out of the lunar module pilot's window.

And who took this photo?

It was by one of two chaps - either Gene Cernan,

the last man to walk on the moon, or Harrison Schmitt, the second-to-last man.

-So there can't be many of these about.

-I think there's a few in exhibitions in the States,

various museums and probably a handful in private ownership.

And so was this used in any kind of way, this particular one?

I think it was used for testing in 1965.

It was probably test-fired as part of the programme.

I have to tell you, I have no idea what it's worth.

So this is a rare moment, you're going to have to tell ME

what it's worth and I'm going to look surprised.

OK. Well, a complete kind of flight-ready version I think

sold about two or three years ago for around 30,000.

This one, in this condition, is worth around about 8,000.

Which is somewhere around £5,000, £6,000, I suppose.

Yeah, in the current exchange rate.

Gosh. Well, next time one turns up, I think I'll know.

-OK. Just give me a call.

-OK, thank you very much, thanks.

What I want to know is when is the last time you visited the Lady Lever Art Gallery?

-Last Monday.

-Last Monday?!

-I come once a week.

-Really?

-I live in the village.

-Fantastic.

First time I went there was yesterday evening,

and we were given a fabulous tour.

I always knew there was a great collection there, but the cloisonne enamels,

the Chinese cloisonne enamels in the gallery there, are astonishing.

-I know.

-So you've looked at them,

and so that must mean you have some idea about what these might be.

Well, I know where they come from, so I know they come from China.

Yeah, they're Chinese.

But never really thought of

going into the history of the ones in the gallery.

Well, I am so pleased you brought these along.

What is in the gallery are some of the finest Imperial

cloisonnes you're ever likely to find,

but these two pieces are really

fabulous things to see on a Roadshow.

Cloisonne's been made in China for a very, very long period of time.

Dating it isn't always very easy, and these are different dates.

-Any idea which might be the earlier?

-I think that that is earlier,

because when I was given them 30 years ago

I actually did some reading about them.

The colours that were used in that period,

there wasn't much white, and there's white in this one,

so I think that one must be earlier, I don't know.

Well, you're quite right in a way. It is down to the colours.

You see, this one has got some pink enamel in it.

You don't see pink enamel being used in China

before round about 1720, so we know it's after that.

You are right, this is the earlier piece,

and if we have a look at it,

this also has the marks on the bottom.

I have no idea what that means.

OK, well, I'll tell you,

but you tell me how you got them first.

Oh, my father-in-law gave them to me.

We were living then in South Africa, and when he found out

I was pregnant, he gave them to me as a gift because he said that I was

the only one interested in broken goods, and they were both damaged.

Well, they are pretty bust.

This one looks like you've been hammering in nails with it.

-No, that was like that when I got it.

-Really?

So they've travelled with you ever since.

Yes, they've been in six different countries, yes.

Fabulous. Back to this mark on the bottom.

-You've never tried to look this one up?

-No.

I'll just - so you can see... Four-character mark there.

-You can read it, can't you?

-SHE RESPONDS

Exactly, Chien Lung. It's a Chien Lung four-character mark.

Chien Lung was the Emperor of China and arguably one of the most

important emperors of China there ever has been.

He reigned from 1736 to 1795.

We can date that pretty accurately to the middle of the 18th century.

Wow. No, I didn't know that it was that old, no.

This one, the colours are slightly different.

We've got this very bright blue enamel you can see in the border here.

This one dates probably to the next reign,

the Jiaqing reign, which was from 1796 to 1820 or '21.

Both are cloisonne enamel, which means they've soldered wires

onto a copper base, and then they've floated in different colours

of what effectively is glass, then it's been fired and ground off.

But the quality of the work here is astonishing.

It's really very, very good, it's Imperial quality,

and so from a collector's point of view, they are really quite important things.

Having said that, they're very damaged,

-but I assume you want to know what they're worth.

-Well, yes.

I hope never to sell them, but, you know, I would like to know.

Yeah. I mean, this one, I suppose, if you put that in a specialist Chinese auction,

would fetch between maybe £5,000 and £8,000.

This one, I think somewhere between maybe £20,000 and £25,000.

GASPS FROM CROWD

They're very good things.

OK...!

It has hardly stopped raining here at Port Sunlight all day,

but how fitting to close a programme with this lovely

umbrella - and not just any old umbrella - but this umbrella

which commemorates the Coronation of Queen Victoria.

Gold, blue enamel, a beautiful hand-painted portrait of her

on the handle.

We know how to do things here on the Antiques Roadshow!

From Port Sunlight and all the team

and all the very wet people of Port Sunlight...

..until next time, bye-bye.

Subtitles by Ericsson