RAF Marham 1 Antiques Roadshow

We're at a very unusual location - a first for the Antiques Roadshow.

We've been to our fair share

of stately homes, elite sporting institutions,

we've even visited some of the country's best industrial heritage.

But we've never come to a venue like this before -

an RAF base with squadrons currently on active duties overseas.

But, hey - we thought we'd surprise you.

So it's lift off from RAF Marham,

near King's Lynn in Norfolk.

RAF Marham is home to three front-line squadrons -

2, 9 and 31.

And these Tornados have recently been flying

over the skies of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

So, you may ask,

why is the Antiques Roadshow at an RAF base with squadrons

and servicemen and women currently on classified operations?

Well, this is the centenary year of the Royal Flying Corps -

the forerunner of the RAF - and of No. 2 Squadron.

And there it goes.

This tail fin commemorates their 100 years of service,

which began less than ten years after the Wright brothers'

first powered flight in the United States.

In 1912, No. 2 formed as Army Co-operation Squadron -

which it still is.

And, of course, back in those days

they weren't flying things like Tornados.

In the First World War, their pilots flew over enemy lines

in spluttering biplanes,

dodging bullets and taking photographs of enemy positions.

It was a risky business.

And exploits like these won the squadron

the first air Victoria Cross in 1915.

And here in the home of the RAF's most historic squadron

you find some pretty interesting things - like this -

the squadron's first diary, dating from 1912 -

a fantastic record of illustrious men and their magnificent machines.

And here...

these must be the first reconnaissance images

taken during wartime, here, over France during the First World War.

September 1915.

The diary's such an important piece of RAF history

that we'll be seeing it later in the programme.

The squadron has since upgraded from 70mph biplanes

to 1,000mph Tornados

and it's among the hangers and aircraft of RAF Marham

that we're privileged to be holding today's show.

I actually find this rather an intriguing clock.

Is it something you love or hate?

Oh, I like it, I love it, yes, mm.

Just looking round here, it's not been cleaned for a few years.

Well, it's been in the bottom of the wardrobe.

-Are you being serious?

-Deadly serious.

In between two suitcases and a bottle of whisky.

And how long's it been there for?

About 15 years.

Right, well, what a shame!

-Well, the glass dome got broken...

-Yeah.

..and we couldn't afford a new one,

so we've got a Perspex-y sort of looking one,

and it looks awful, so it's gone in the bottom of the wardrobe.

The bottom of the wardrobe. Well, the reason it needed

a glass dome is because it's not actually ormolu -

it's not gilt-bronze - it's gilt-spelter,

which is a soft metal. If you scratched it with a knife,

-it would be a sort of whitey colour, like lead.

-Yes.

But it's a great size and there's one thing, which you probably know,

which is different from most clocks.

Well, it's the pendulum in the middle,

-it swings the opposite way doesn't it?

-Absolutely.

-Yes.

-A pendulum normally goes from side to side.

-Backwards - that's it.

-But this one -

just start it going - goes to and fro.

That's right, yes.

So this is quite an important patent

that was devised by a Frenchman called Farcot.

And we'll whip the clock round and...

There we go. I'll just...

take the bell off and we might - with any luck - see his signature.

Have you ever done this? You've never had a look?

No, no, I've never looked.

OK, bell coming off now...

and actually, yes, it is,

it's signed just behind the pendulum, "Farcot".

Oh.

So, great man, great maker, very interesting patent.

And again, you've got a double-wheeled escapement there,

which has to be that way,

to make the pendulum swing fore and aft instead of side to side.

The date is mid-1880s.

Oh, goodness me!

Most of Farcot's work is small and they're in alabaster cases,

and most of them are timepieces - in other words they don't strike -

but this is striking, this is big, it's impressive.

Shame you've smashed the dome.

I didn't do it, my mother done it!

Well, I'll tell you something - it's worth getting another one,

-but it'll cost you a lot of money.

-I know, yes.

It'll cost you a good 300 quid to find a dome to fit this.

Yes. Mm.

BUT it might be worthwhile,

because when you've had that movement cleaned,

it'll cost you another 300 quid,

you've got a clock that in this condition,

being in this size, by Farcot, would be nudging

£3,000 at auction.

Good Lord!

So just think - just think about this.

That's been in the bottom of the wardrobe!

Well. You could have a suitcase

-full of three grand in the bottom instead, couldn't you?

-Yeah.

Oh!

I discovered it, after I'd nursed an aunt, who sadly died...

She had a trunk in her bedroom - was full of fascinating things -

and I came across this and I hadn't got a clue what it was for,

she'd never told me before either, what it was for.

But investigating it, I think it's something to do with sewing or...

I mean, it has a place for needles there

and then a little threading, where thread can go in.

But I can't remove that and I'm not quite sure...

Well, it is. It's a lovely sewing clamp.

And so you put this on the side of your table,

it had everything you needed for doing your sewing.

-This would have come off - I don't want to force it.

-No.

Of course, your thread would also come out of there

as well as being round here,

and this is a little tape measure.

-That's a...

-In here, in the side.

And it's beautifully decorated.

Now, when we think of Tunbridge ware,

we think of something with lots of little pieces of wood in it,

but actually this is early Tunbridge ware.

So this was made not far from where it was intended to go,

-which is "A present from Brighton".

-Brighton.

So it was made in Tunbridge Wells

and this was made in the Regency period, so 1810-1815,

and, of course, where was the height of Regency society?

-In Brighton.

-In Brighton, the Royal Pavilion.

The Royal Pavilion, and so something like this

would have been a lovely gift.

It would have been an expensive gift at that period,

beautifully made, rare.

I've never seen one before.

Well, I've seen a few, but not that many,

and this is beautifully decorated.

This is what people that collect Tunbridge ware really look for,

and so Regency, rare, made for Brighton in Tunbridge,

and worth...?

Easily £1,000.

Oh! Goodness me, I'm glad that wasn't put in the charity shop then,

cos it nearly did!

THEY LAUGH

My first reaction when I saw this lovely fellow was,

"I wonder what you call him?"

Actually, he hasn't got a name,

but he has been in my house for as long as I can remember.

Tell me how long.

Well, he's probably been in the house for 100 years.

My grandfather came back from South America with it in about 1912.

He's in very good condition, lovely brass carapace and his -

the rest of his body is actually cast iron.

But what fascinates me is -

are you going to show me what he does?

Yes, I probably can.

You've got to go back several years

because you don't use them a lot these days,

but if you're in the saloon and you're feeling like having a spit -

you put your foot on the head, spit into the pot, and relieve it.

That's quite nice, isn't it?

-I'm not sure!

-THEY LAUGH

Well, you know what I would use it for?

And it could be used today - for wine tasting.

The only trouble is,

that by the time you've tasted quite a few wines,

you swallow a little bit, and if you stood on it with one foot,

you might sort of overbalance and then you can't sort of aim so well.

That's true.

So I would have thought it's better if you did it with your hand,

rather than your foot, like that.

Very good.

But I think it's... such a lovely thing,

-and children would love it too, wouldn't they?

-Indeed.

-And have you used it?

-I have, yes.

-You have?!

-For the children,

but I haven't actually demonstrated exactly how it's used.

What a clever idea! And I have never seen one before.

Jolly good.

And value wise, I'm not sure one can value it,

because it's such a fun item.

I mean, I can see it making maybe £300, £400, £500.

-Right.

-But does that really matter?

No, not at all. No, it's been in the house for 100 years

and I expect I shall pass it on in due course.

-Wonderful. And use it in the meantime.

-Thank you!

THEY LAUGH

Now, a very simple question - do you like this clock?

Very much, yes.

Tell me about it.

It was...

My mother used to work for this lady and she gave it to my mother,

and the lady was my son Andrew's godmother.

-Right.

-When Mother passed away, the clock was handed down to Andrew.

-And what does he feel about it?

-He likes it, yes.

-Yes, it's pretty, isn't it?

-Yes, very.

-Do you know anything about it?

-No, somebody told me that's Liberty...

-Right.

-..but that's as much as we know.

What we're looking at is a Liberty Tudric clock.

Now Liberty, of course, is a very famous designer name,

particularly in the early part of the 20th century

when this was made -

we're looking at about 1905, 1906.

And Tudric was their brand name for things made out of pewter,

so this is pewter with a copper face.

-Right.

-Now, the key thing about these are that they're seen to be

sort of Art Nouveau type things.

They're very much of that period.

And Liberty were a very avant-garde company at that time.

-Right.

-And they employed - as a designer -

a very exciting man called Archibald Knox.

Knox made lots and lots of metalwork designs for Liberty's -

all kinds - and he's particularly famous for his clocks.

Now, some have enamel, some are silver,

some - like this - are pewter.

And because... What people thought highly of at the time

was his amazingly advanced use of modern design.

It's a very stylish, very contemporary object.

The details of the face, the case,

it doesn't go back to the past at all, you know,

it's a completely new object.

-Right.

-When this was new, it was very shiny,

because pewter when it's new is shiny,

so it would have looked spectacular

-as a shiny, silver-like object with a bright copper face.

-Right.

And would have looked wonderful.

Whether you put it back to that is entirely up to you.

If you had this clock professionally cleaned -

don't just polish it with something, it's worth being done properly -

-It would look fantastic.

-Right.

And I'll take it further.

This is an Archibald Knox design for Liberty, about 1906,

and the value is, in this state,

-about £3,000.

-Cor!

Now, if you spent a few hundred having it restored -

don't worry about the clock inside, that's not important.

-No.

-The case - it could easily be £4,000.

Oh, right.

Being on the Roadshow is a great privilege,

and it's a great privilege to handle such an amazing object as this.

Oh.

Because the inscription on it says an awful lot about it.

It says, "This cup was made from the ingot of gold

"offered at the altar by Queen Victoria

"on her coronation in Westminster Abbey, Tuesday 28th June, 1838."

And there is a ceremony -

it's absolutely true what it says on here -

during the Coronations of, I think, George III, IV,

William IV and Queen Victoria -

an ingot of gold was presented.

And your cup was made out of that block of gold.

So I've got in my hand here a real piece of history, and I'm dying

to know where it came from, or if you know anything about its history.

Well, we don't know a lot about it.

We bought it at auction, in a local auction house, and it just...

Mainly because it was an interesting and quirky sort of thing, I suppose.

Not a bad reason for buying something!

It's got all the decoration you might expect.

The national emblems of Scotland - the thistle,

the rose for England, and the shamrock for Ireland.

And this beautifully chased sort of tree trunk stem

and really lovely textured base.

But what is so astounding, is that I'm holding in my hand

a piece of what is probably absolutely pure gold.

And on the other side, it has a coat of arms.

Yes, yes.

Do you know anything about who those arms belong to?

Not really.

The auction house suggested it possibly, it could be,

something to do with the City of London,

but more than that we don't know.

Well, I've been able to find out that it did belong

-to a Lord Mayor of London.

-Ah, I see.

His name was Evans and he was made Lord Mayor quite a lot later,

in 1891.

-Mm-hm.

-But that really only adds to its provenance, you know,

this is almost as good as it gets.

But I just love being able to hold a piece of gold of this size.

-Now, you say you bought it at a local auction.

-Yes.

-What did you pay for it?

-£6,000.

Well, if I tell you that it melts for over £10,000

-at today's price of gold...

-That's quite an increase.

..I think we're probably looking at something that's got to be worth

£25,000 - £30,000.

Oh, dear!

Oh, dear, OK!

It's a wonderful thing, and beautifully done as well.

Nick, you're Commanding Officer, No. 2 Squadron,

and I was looking at the squadron diary a little bit earlier

and there are some amazing stories of courage in here, aren't there?

Absolutely. This is the first diary of No. 2 Squadron

from when it was formed in 1912.

And I think one of the most poignant pictures in the diary is this -

a photograph of Second Lieutenant William Rhodes-Moorhouse,

who was the first winner of the Victoria Cross in the air.

-Which is a medal for extreme courage under fire.

-Absolutely.

I mean, very rarely awarded.

And his tale is testament to those that have earned the VC

over so many, many years.

He was tasked in April 1915 to go and attack a re-supply column.

Such was the importance of the mission

that he didn't fly with his observer

because he couldn't carry the size of bomb and an observer,

so he flew alone with this single 100lb bomb,

right on the maximum capability of the aircraft.

He achieved a direct hit on the target

but was raked by machine gun fire on the way in,

which raked through the aircraft and wounded him.

He then had a choice - either to ditch the aircraft there,

be captured and probably have his wounds dressed,

or try and get the aircraft back home

so it could be re-armed, re-loaded and used again.

And he elected to return home.

And presumably very badly wounded - what - covered in blood?

He... The aircraft had 91 bullet holes in it

and he was only semi-conscious when he landed.

Covered in blood, nevertheless he refused hospital treatment

until he had completed his post-mission report.

Tragically, he died of his wounds the next afternoon.

Goodness me.

Standing next to a Tornado here with a piece of furniture like this,

doesn't make a great deal of sense,

but do you usually have ceramics in this, china and so on?

Well, some glassware and a bit of...

Well, I bet that would have a bit of a wobble

-if a plane like this goes over.

-Absolutely.

And do you know, the aircraft that we're standing next to,

has got "Second to none" on it, and I think that's a pretty good

description for this piece of furniture.

-It's an amazing piece of furniture.

-Well, thank you.

Tell me about it in relation to your history.

Well, it was my mother's sister's sister-in-law

who lived in Battersea,

and her husband was an antique dealer,

and she offered it to me and I didn't say no,

and I brought it home about 31 years ago.

Right, so what was it that particularly took your fancy?

Well, I just thought it was lovely.

I mean, just so different from anything else I'd ever seen, so...

It almost takes my breath away because it's got

so much going on that is of such good quality.

The lower part of it here is almost like a sort of traditional

19th-century credenza with this curved cabinet in the middle

and platforms where you can put ceramic pots or decorative objects.

Then more cabinets up here for display,

so I think this is a drawing room piece

rather than a dining room piece,

cos it's a little bit in the sort of style of the French buffet.

But it's clearly got so much work in it that it's a display piece.

If you look at these columns here, beautiful capitals, fluted,

and then acanthus leaves here,

beautiful carving, such fine carving.

And very pale wood, so one feels that with the mirror in the middle

and the lightness of the timber,

it would have made a really, sort of light, bright feature

-in a 19th-century room.

-Yes, yeah.

And very unusual, I think, is this, this sort of mad figuring of ash.

-This is very characteristic of ash.

-It is ash, is it?

-This nice light timber, yes.

-Yes.

And the top there, inlaid with ebonised stringing,

gives it a real architectural feature.

But also, I think that tends to make it look a little bit later

than if we just look at the bottom.

So this could have been done any time from the 1850s onwards,

but this coving at the top is much more later 19th century,

so I think you're looking at something from the 1880s,

that sort of period.

And of really lovely quality,

and one of the aspects of quality is these cupboards,

cos when you look at them straight on, you think,

"Well, how does it open?"

Well, there's a key round the side,

and then when you open, it's not just the front that comes away,

the whole thing comes away and it has a piano hinge on the inside

so that it's so neat, it's so beautifully made.

If we could give this a maker's name,

it would put up the value at least once, if not twice,

-which is silly, but that's the way it goes.

-Yeah.

But at the moment, can't find a maker's name.

No, we couldn't. Where was it actually made, do you think?

-I've got no idea.

-Right.

-But it's of such quality,

that it could well have been London or Manchester, somewhere like that,

which had a tradition of very fine quality making.

-Yeah.

-So it's very difficult to know.

Now this piece of furniture - which is almost exhibition quality -

in the current market isn't going to get a great deal of money.

-No.

-And by that, I'm talking about £1,500...

-Yeah.

-..which is CRAZY for a piece of this quality.

Well, I can understand that, really, cos I was saying to my husband -

they'd be special people with special houses

that'd want to buy it, wouldn't it, like stately homes or whatever?

You're absolutely right. It needs a particular place to go

-and it needs the fashion to be right.

-Yeah.

And it will come back.

-People will start realising the quality.

-In my lifetime?

-Well, not sure even in my lifetime, but it will come back.

-Yes.

And something of this quality is going to really stand out.

Well, that was nice.

I said I wanted you to tell me about it, didn't I?

So that's very good. Yeah, I'm really pleased.

A man with very bushy eyebrows - where does he come from?

He came from my great aunt via my grandmother,

to my mother and then to me,

and he has worried about three generations of young family.

Worried because?

Because of his look, they are frightened by him.

He's got a roaring dragon next to him as well.

Yes, that's also...

I think he's being fed some pearls of fire from the bowl.

But I'd like to know a lot about him.

OK, well, first, when this came out of your bag, I thought,

"Ah-ha, we've got a piece of Satsuma ware here,"

but actually this is... This is actually cold painted.

In other words, it isn't a glazed object,

you can just see part of his scalp here reveals

the pottery underneath has no glaze on,

so this is cold painted, almost like a gesso or a piece of lacquer.

The man we're looking at is a monk and this is his begging bowl...

and very often you see monks depicted with a begging bowl

and from the begging bowl, suddenly a vaporous cloud appears,

and from the cloud condenses a dragon.

The dragon is actually a very friendly animal

both in Chinese and in Japanese art,

so this shouldn't be a frightening group for a small child,

certainly not in the Far East,

but to a Westerner, I can see it would be frightening.

As for date, I would say anywhere between 1870 and 1890.

And what have you found out about him in the meantime?

Well, I took him to the V&A who said he was really just a model,

probably from the Grand Tour

and would have been given to someone

just as a replica of some Chinese art or Japanese art.

Ah-ha, there's the rub, Japanese OR Chinese.

Well, let's just have a look at him.

There's the dragon emerging from the rock

and there is the salient point about the dragon, he's got three claws.

Chinese dragons usually have four or five claws.

Three-clawed dragons are Japanese and yet...

the monk is a Chinese monk.

-Confused?

-Very.

The fact is there's a lot of interplay

between Chinese and Japanese.

The Japanese have taken on many of the Chinese Buddhistic gods,

and so here you have a Japanese model of a Chinese monk

seated next to a dragon.

I think it's more than just a tourist piece.

I think he's beautifully sculptured.

Japanese works of art have NOT performed very well

in the last 20 years, so I'm going to do it

as a straightforward one-off decorative item

and say that this is probably worth

somewhere in the region of between £300 and £500.

That is more than I thought he was worth.

Now, if I say "costume jewellery" to you,

you might think, "Well, that's not going to be worth very much,"

but these three pieces from Judith Miller tell a different story,

because one is worth £200,

one is worth £900

and the best of the bunch

is worth £2,000!

So here we are - this week's Basic, Better, Best Challenge.

Can you tell which is which?

And Nick, you're Commanding Officer, No. 2 Squadron.

I've been told by your subordinates you have a bit of a private thing

for costume jewellery, is that right?

They may well have said that.

Although, I'd say my advantages and my strengths

are fighting in the air, but I'll certainly give it a go.

Yeah, you would say that, Nick, now come on.

Basic, better, best.

That would be the lower end.

OK, that's the basic. Which is better?

In my humble opinion, I would probably say this one

and that one being at the top end.

That's best?

Yeah, it looks very nice, actually, wouldn't mind that.

I think that is the basic one...

That one is the better one... and that one's the best one.

-Why do you think this is the best one?

-More aesthetically pleasing.

-More aesthetically pleasing? It is fake, you know?

-Yeah!

With bold shapes, fins, abstract lines

but beautiful molten melted colours,

have you ever thought where this was from?

We're not sure whether it's Clarice Cliff or not

because it doesn't have an obvious name on it,

which most of it does seem to have, so that's my query.

Well, I'm glad that I can answer and to be honest, for me,

there was no other person it could have been, when this appeared.

Right.

Everything about it just reeks of that lady.

But to many watching, of course, it's so different

from what we automatically know.

Missing are the bold zigzags, the bright oranges, the little cottages.

That's why I like it.

Well, and that's part of the reason, I think,

that it was so popular in its day.

What you're actually looking at is quite a rare object.

It's called a conical rose bowl and cover

and it was designed circa around 1930

and it forms part of the Inspiration range.

And she was doing things that no other ceramic artist

was doing in Stoke-on-Trent at that time.

She had a belief in her designs that she pushed through,

much to the consternation of many of her workforce.

In fact, she had a senior mould maker, a chap called Bill Lunt,

who basically was in charge of coming up with all of the moulds

to make her work,

and they often came to loggerheads over her designs.

So much so, that he was often to call her, "That bloody woman!"

SHE LAUGHS

But the fact that she had the belief to push through,

means that we have creations like this.

And actually, the process itself was using a very experimental glaze

that Clarice developed, that was the same glaze used on tiles.

Obviously, used in things like swimming pools, and what have you.

But she developed this, and it reacted in the kiln,

so what you've got is this fabulous combination

in a pattern called Inspiration Lily.

And even when you take this cover off -

which is a cover at one point,

but then also can be a bowl in its own right -

it's just so clever,

she was so talented.

A fantastic thing. Do you love it?

I do. I don't like the oranges, but I love this.

I think it's... You know, when my mother-in-law lived with me

and then left it to me, that was just lovely.

It is a lovely piece,

and there are those collectors out there who just love Inspiration.

And because it's in such lovely condition,

-someone's going to be happy to give you £2,000 to £2,500 for it.

-(God!)

I really... I thought you were going to say £200 to £300.

Well, if you're willing to accept that, we can have a little chat,

-it's not a problem.

-No, no, no, I want it to stay in the family!

-It's a fabulous piece of Clarice.

-Right, that's lovely.

And we see a lot of her work, but for me, this is just something

a little bit more extraordinary that doesn't come up that often.

-Thank you very much, lovely.

-My pleasure.

-Thank you.

Take one - I've always wanted to do that!

And particularly with this film, I mean, it's a great film, isn't it?

-Amazing film, absolutely, yeah.

-What, 1968, was it?

Er, '69 actually released.

Yeah, now a clapper board from The Battle of Britain -

how have you got it?

I got it a long while ago when I was young lad.

I had an interest in aviation and films and I watched them

-filming part of this scene at Duxford.

-Right.

Which I was interested in,

and an AD passed it to me as he left the film unit.

-You were given it there and then?

-I was given it there and then.

-Off the set?

-Yes.

-What a fantastic thing.

I mean, it was a great film because it was, in a sense,

one of the last films where they were filming with real aeroplanes,

because they still had them.

633 Squadron, Dam Busters, Battle of Britain -

they were using the real thing,

and, of course, since then it's all changed.

So this was a touch of the real world, really.

So you went home with this, excited, and what happened next?

Excited. What happened next?

Well, years went by and... I kept it in the loft for a little while

and then suddenly I had an interest in film memorabilia

so I started to collect other items from different films, some old,

some contemporary, and I've built up a collection ever since.

Obviously you know what you've spent on your collection over the years

and I know it can be very expensive for key things,

but this is the start and although it cost you nothing,

I think this is very important.

It's a very good piece from a very good film, quite rare,

and I would expect it to be £300 to £500 for this

because it's such a key thing.

-Wow. That's very interesting.

-So it was a good investment in one way,

-but it was a drain in another way.

-Absolutely.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much, thank you.

This is the bicentenary of Charles Dickens' birth this year

and you've brought me in a first edition of a Charles Dickens work.

First edition of Pickwick Papers.

Right, and how did you come by it?

My father bought it about 1969 in a book shop in Bury St Edmunds...

-Right.

-..which Dickens also visited -

not the book shop, but the town.

It's not REALLY the Dickens side of things that we want to focus on,

there's something about the book that is significant as well,

and if we open it up to the page here,

we see that there's an inscription.

It says, "To L.E.G Oates of the Enniskillen Dragoons,"

who is, of course, Captain Oates.

The companion of Captain Scott.

Captain Scott, on the trip to Antarctica.

Right. This was given to him, and the inscription reads further on,

"With sincere wishes for a successful voyage

"and speedy return," and is dated...?

31st May 1910, which was the day before the Terra Nova

sailed from London to South Wales to stock up with best Welsh coal.

Right. And did your father...?

When he bought the book, did he know that the inscription was there?

I'm pretty sure he was aware who Oates was in this context

because he spoke to the bookseller afterwards

pointing out the inscription,

and the bookseller said

he wouldn't have sold it for 20 quid had he realised.

Well, what I can't decipher is who actually presented it to Oates.

Not quite sure if that says "Church" or not, it's a strange name,

but whoever that is, the fact is that it belonged to Oates

and something like this is a real one-off.

Used to belong to, you know, one of the great heroes.

I would say at auction an estimate of something like £600 to £800,

but it could make more, one just wouldn't know.

Right, that's surprising. Thank you.

Judith, you brought in

these three beautiful pieces of costume jewellery

for our visitors to have a look at,

and work out which was the basic at £200?

The better, £900, and the best at £2,000.

It was pretty difficult, no-one could really agree.

This is my stab at it and I think -

you know, you are the queen of costume jewellery -

we see you wearing so much of it

and it looks so tremendous.

Costume jewellery is just fake jewellery, isn't it?

Well, it is. I mean, there's always been costume jewellery.

The Egyptians wore costume jewellery,

the Georgians were particularly keen on their paste jewellery,

so a lot of it is fake jewellery but some of it is more humorous,

some of it is not taking itself too seriously,

and often it's just the design and the maker that makes it valuable.

What's the strict definition of costume jewellery?

Costume jewellery - there are no precious stones

and no precious metal.

And clearly, even though we just call it fake jewellery,

I mean, it's very valuable - £2,000!

Well, if somebody had come along with some of these pins

ten years ago to the Antiques Roadshow,

we would have said actually of not much commercial value

because they weren't precious stones, but in the last

ten years people are really appreciating

the design quality of costume.

So what should we be looking at here?

What, how can you tell a piece of pretty, you know,

common or garden costume jewellery from something really splendid?

Well, all of these are marked.

They all have their designer's name on the back,

so the first thing you look at with a piece of costume jewellery is -

has it got a signature?

You then look at the way it's made.

You know, how specially is it made?

And sometimes you try and work out the date,

because very often the golden period

is really the '30s into the '40s.

OK, well look,

I've had a bit of a go here, but as I said,

most of our visitors couldn't really agree, so take us through it.

Right, well...

they're all wrong.

Oh, no!

-THEY LAUGH

-Sorry!

You know, but...

Because this is the most basic.

-OK.

-This is 1960s Stanley Hagler.

He was a designer, he designed for the Duchess of Windsor

so he had very good clients, but it's just...

It's not as interesting.

It's actually also - because these are mine -

it's actually very difficult to wear, it's very heavy.

-Oh, these are all actually yours?

-They are actually all mine.

And so this is Stanley Hagler and would be about £200.

Right, so this is the basic, then.

That's the basic, that's £200.

And this is the better,

that's Joseff of Hollywood.

This was designed for the movie stars,

worn on movies

and then he kept the copyright of the pieces

and actually had some limited edition made.

This is the piece - when I wear it -

I get more comments on than anything else,

because people love it, because the eyes move.

-I've seen you wear the earrings for this, Judith.

-Yes.

So I was thinking I was being rather clever thinking,

"She's forgotten I've seen the earrings,

"this must be the best one." But anyway.

Too much thinking, Fiona, too much thinking.

-Yeah, yeah, over-analysing it.

-And this is by far the best.

This is by Trifari, which is a major company,

but it's designed by somebody called Alfred Philippe

and he actually designed real jewellery

for Van Cleef & Arpels in the '30s

and so this - when he went to work for Trifari,

this is a design that he actually made

in rubies and diamonds,

but it was just then done in rhinestone

and it's actually incredibly well made.

-And so that's £2,000.

-£2,000!

I still can't quite get my head around the fact that it's £2,000

for something that isn't precious stones.

But it's the two seriously important things when we think about antiques

and we think about collectables, it's rarity and desirability.

-And that has both.

-It has both.

Well, there you have it.

If you have costume jewellery, Judith would love to see it.

She loves it, she wears it, she knows all about it.

Bring it along to one of our roadshows

and you can check out where we're going to be

by going onto our website...

I was wondering if you might be able to shed any light on this.

I've looked on the internet and I've looked through it

to give me some clues,

and I really don't understand what it's about, why it was made.

I wondered if it might have been a gift, but I really don't know.

-So you've done a certain amount of your own research.

-A little bit.

I've put in about orphanages in Ireland

and it just sends me to sites

that talk about girls being shipped out to Australia,

but nothing as early on as this seems to be from.

Well, let's have a look together and we'll see what we can come up with.

Well, that's something I've never ever seen before, ever.

Extraordinary.

The front page here has the words,

"Female Orphan House,

"December 25th 1832, Ireland".

Well, I mean that in itself is completely evocative.

I mean, I've gone, you know, I've gone straight there.

Wow, look at this.

So here we have a book

containing tiny objects of clothing,

beautifully sewn.

I mean, sewn with such attention to detail,

exactly replicating what you would expect

as an adult piece of clothing.

Look at this perfect little bonnet

and this chemise with the ruffles,

absolutely incredible.

And this lovely Irish linen.

This is a work of a fairly mature girl.

I would think we're talking about a 15, 16-year-old

and this, I think, was her ticket to freedom from the orphanage.

If she could sew, she could go into a local country house.

She would start at the bottom, in the laundry room

and that is where her needlework would need to come in -

turning the hems, mending the shirts -

and she was what we might be able to say,

you know, she was able to make clothes,

not just for herself, but these are country house clothes.

Here's the layette for the baby.

So her skill has been honed,

she has been asked to put it into some sort of presentation booklet

and this is what I think we've got here.

But I mean, her ability to sew is quite astonishing,

this makes me want to weep.

"A token of grateful respect,"

and that is respect for her position in the community

and here at the end page it says,

"Orphan House," so she's finishing her work,

"December 25th," which is quite extraordinary - Christmas Day.

-I hadn't thought of that. Yes.

-It's such a moving book.

I have never seen anything like it

and I'm truly delighted that you've brought this today.

Rare as hen's teeth.

This would appeal very much to the American market.

The Irish in America are huge collectors of this sort of thing

and it would fetch a lot of money,

and I would conservatively put a figure of £3,000 on it.

Wow, gosh!

-Mm.

-Very touching.

Yes, yes.

It was my late mother's and I can remember it from a child.

-Yes.

-And I always loved it and eventually persuaded her...

We were making wills one day and I said,

"Can I have," as I called it then, "the swan brooch?"

So I inherited the duck brooch

and that's roughly all I know about it,

cos when you can ask you always forget to ask.

I know. Well, there's a certain amount of documentary evidence here,

it's in a box by one of the most famous jewellers

in the United Kingdom - Garrard.

And they were the Crown Jewellers

and they had some very interesting royal commissions

and continue to do so.

And their history is a very noble one,

so we know that it's retailed by Garrards,

but my feeling is that it might have been a very special commission

because it's highly unusual to find a duck,

I've never seen a duck in the middle of a brooch and I think this is

a visual rebus for somebody who is called quite simply, well, Ducky.

And that sounds utterly absurd,

but actually Ducky was quite a common nickname for the princesses

of the United Kingdom and the princesses of Europe

and so this is probably a little love token

from somebody to somebody who was called Ducky.

And it's made of gold and the settings are raised up

and then they're fronted with silver for the rose diamonds.

These are rose cut diamonds, but when a coloured stone appears,

it's held in a little square collet of gold round the sapphires,

and the duckling has gold legs so it's a mixture of gold and silver,

which is absolutely of the moment.

It's only later on that we find these jewels made of platinum,

but it's a very, very shrill pitch of perfection.

A tiny little sculpture, sculpted from a piece of moonstone,

-a piece of lapidary work.

-It's amazing that can be done by hand.

I couldn't imagine anyone doing that by hand, but it has to be.

Most definitely done by hand and the funny thing about my world

is it's a tiny world, jewellery, and sometimes you see these objects

which are so perfect, they're made by hand,

-but there isn't any evidence of human activity on them at all.

-No.

And that's the great charm of them, really.

But in a funny way, you thought it was a swan

and now we know it's a duck,

so this is an ugly duckling story in reverse,

but there's nothing ugly about it at all.

It's a wonderful thing, I've never ever seen that model before.

In fact, I've never really seen anything like it before,

so I think that that must be worth £2,000 of anybody's money.

Yes. Wow.

Art, as we know, takes many forms

but this is a Roadshow first to consider somebody's forearms.

So how did these works of art happen?

Well, Peter Blake came to a shop that I work at, it's a fashion shop.

-We're talking about Peter Blake?

-Peter Blake the artist.

The famous celebrated pop artist of the '60s and '70s?

-Yes, Sergeant Pepper's.

-And living today, right?

-Yeah.

So he walks in, right...

He came in, he had an exhibition on in Norwich

and upon him coming in the shop, we sort of...we talked to him.

I'd made a doll that was in the window

of him holding himself and he really liked that,

so he signed the doll

and then we all sort of got chatting about a few things.

Then we asked him to sign our arms.

-So you're brothers, right?

-Yeah, we're twins.

-Twins.

Oh, you're twins?

And I work in a tattoo studio round the corner,

so we asked him to sign us

and then we were then going to go after meeting him

and get them tattooed, so...

OK, so as soon as he'd written them on your arms,

you banged them permanently down...

-Yeah, straightaway.

-Pretty much.

-..in ink with a tattoo?

That was my lunch break!

And, of course, he must love you two,

because you're heavily into tattoos

and he, in the '60s, particularly in 1961,

when he sort of teams up or is exhibited with David Hockney,

he becomes the absolute centre of pop art in Britain.

And goes on to do all sorts of things, including record covers.

As we know, we've got Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band,

-like one of the great icons of the '60s and '70s.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And you can imagine a pop artist like that,

who is just so famous, who's just known for so much contemporary,

sharp-edged contemporary culture, he must LOVE you two.

-He was quite...

-Yeah, he was pretty impressed, I think, yeah.

I think it was a bit of a shocker to start with,

but he really liked it, so, yeah,

and his wife was really into it as well, which was good, so...

And as a result of that connection you developed with him,

you've ended up with...

Yeah, well, we basically had a couple of ciggie packets

and just got him to sign them.

And Rich went out and bought that in the morning,

cos that's one of our favourite singles from back in the day, so,

and cos that's by him.

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" oh, yeah, the Band Aid song.

Yeah, that's right, and then we received this one

which is number one and number two of four, through the post.

-We've got a postcard as well.

-Yeah.

-Oh, so these are tokens of affection?

-Yeah, yeah.

Tokens of esteem, you know...

Yeah, he must have liked something about us, I reckon.

-..for you as living works of art.

-Yeah, so it's quite a nice thing.

-What a cracking story.

-Bit of a shocker, yeah.

If I can start with the cigarette packet.

So you just gave it to him?

-Yeah, pretty much.

-We had two of them, we've given one to a friend.

He's done a cigarette packet before.

-Right.

-So we just sort of followed,

-another cigarette packet to sign, yeah.

-OK.

Well, I'm going to put 300 quid on that.

Mental.

Mental? Well, quite possibly, but that's the art world we live in.

I think I'm going to put on the signed record cover -

which, a bit like the fag packet, you know -

it looks like something appealing, it's beautifully presented.

Presentation is all and having glass in front of these things,

you have to stand back. 300 quid.

About three and half quid from a charity shop.

That was three and a half quid from a charity shop?

-Yeah, on the morning, actually, yeah.

-Nice.

-But that was before it was blessed by Saint Peter.

-Exactly, yeah, yeah.

And this, not everyone's taste - Brick Layne -

but nonetheless, a very powerful image,

which I notice is an artist's proof, one of four,

should be worth around about £500, £600.

Yes.

And that finally brings me to the subject of your forearms,

which I think are both fine examples of their kind.

-Thank you.

-How much are they worth?

They are genuine Peter Blake's - he's signed them.

Yeah.

And you've gone off, worked on top so they've got provenance,

they've got form, as we say in the art world,

and when it comes to a valuation...

Well, I think some things you need to keep in the family.

THEY LAUGH

-So I'm not going to hazard one.

-OK.

-But thanks so much for coming along.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you, mate, pleasure.

We've so enjoyed our day here at RAF Marham

and since we've been surrounded by Tornado jets all day,

I couldn't resist the chance to get in one,

and I'm still hoping I might persuade somebody to take me up.

But until then, from all the Antiques Roadshow team

and all the RAF personnel here - until next time - bye-bye.

Right. Where do we start?