Retrospective Antiques Roadshow

Time and time again, Roadshow fans ask us the same thing -

"Whatever happened to those much talked about items?

"Did anyone get rich from their family heirloom?"

Well, do we have a story or two for you, including a jaw-dropping

discovery that's beaten every record in the programme's long history.

Let's find out in this special episode of the Antiques Roadshow.

From spooky Cawdor Castle in Scotland

right down to the shingle shores of Southsea, we've been on another

sweep of Britain in search of treasure over this last year.

Well, I'm delighted. This is a proper mystery object.

Right.

I think you know what it might be for.

Yes, I think so.

But - any ideas, any ideas?

Bowling ball.

Bowling ball, not a bowling ball.

Now I'm not entirely sure

whether we've ever done a tiara on the Antiques Roadshow.

You're looking around about £20,000.

What?!

£10,000.

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

This is a rat deterrent.

Three to five thousand pounds.

What? Oh, my God.

You wouldn't get any change from £2,000.

Oh, my!

Who's a lucky lady?

Well, if we just take the 500

and we say an average of £200.

OK, you'd better do the maths.

That adds up to maybe £100,000.

Oh, my goodness.

Well, they're great diamonds, they're great turquoises,

it's a big, splendid look.

What do I think that would fetch?

£25,000 to £30,000.

Oh, my God, really?

It's worth - I don't know - £4,000 to £6,000.

Ooh, it's not.

It's a good doorstop!

That's amazing, isn't it? It's ugly as well.

And our journey ends here, in a place we could not have predicted.

So often we find surprising stories behind the objects we show.

Who could know that one of them would bring us to a royal palace?

This is Hampton Court Palace.

And we've been brought here because of this item.

Was furniture expert Christopher Payne right,

in thinking that this chest, which we saw earlier this year

in the north of Scotland, was once owned by a Queen of England?

This is one of the most extraordinary things I've ever seen.

It has always been known in the family as the Queen Anne chest.

I mean she was queen, let's say circa 1700,

-so that's a long time ago.

-Yes.

300 years ago.

Researchers here at Hampton Court Palace were watching that programme

and believe that the chest may have begun its life here,

and possibly once belonged to a queen of England.

Can that really be right? We'll find out.

Also in this special edition, could this be the most valuable

object to be sold after appearing on the Roadshow?

Now hold your breath, because one of those,

some years ago, sold for £30,000 at auction.

A standard Leica II has a black body, and I have to be quite

frank with you, I've never seen one with a gilded body like this.

-Oh.

-That's what makes this a particularly interesting camera.

And we'll also find out how the prestigious Victoria and Albert

Museum just had to acquire this curious piece from the Roadshow.

Well, when it comes to wacky objects,

this definitely wins the prize.

I think it is the strangest,

most over-the-top glass that I have seen in a very long time.

Now, even I don't know the outcome of our first story.

Remember the vicar's van Dyck?

Father Jamie McCloud, who runs a religious retreat in Derbyshire.

He brought along a painting to our show in Cirencester.

And so where did you get it from?

I bought it originally in Nantwich.

In an antique shop there, and knew nothing about it.

And how much did you pay for it?

I spent 400 for it, and I bought it,

not because of the picture as such, but I liked the frame.

There was something about his ruffle, something about him telling a story.

My work is in a Retreat House and we are an Ecumenical Community

and we have it hanging, it's hanging there, for people to see.

I mean it says here, "Sir Anthony van Dyck"

-which obviously is a name to quicken the pulse.

-Yes.

As it happens, by coincidence,

I was making a programme with our paintings expert,

Philip Mould, about van Dyck and have spent nothing but weeks

looking at van Dyck paintings and when I saw this, something about

the eyes, and the way you can almost see the bone under the nose here,

it just looked similar to the kind of paintings I've been looking at.

But clearly I am no paintings expert and no van Dyck expert,

and that's why we need Philip Mould to look at it.

Philip, meet Father Jamie.

Hello.

And Father Jamie brought this painting along.

I thought there could be something in it,

but I want you to have a look at it.

I've now had time to acquaint myself with it.

At first this looks like an Old Master, it looks like a 17th century

picture, it looks like something that you might think of as van Dyck.

As you get closer though, second glance, there are some muddy areas.

I don't like the way the beard is done.

There are certain aspects of the background

that look a bit sort of misty, not properly defined.

And if we're looking for the work of van Dyck,

it's all about clarity and lucidity.

The third glance though is the most exciting,

because as you move in to the features,

look at that phenomenally bold highlight

just to the left of his eye,

and look at the sort of bony anatomy, the confidence

with which the nose is done, and then as you work down,

just have a look at those lips.

It's done with shorthand,

it's done with absolute certainty.

But if this is to be by van Dyck, there's only one way of finding out,

and this is the art world equivalent of excavation.

The question is,

are you prepared to commission a process of cleaning and restoration?

By which paint is radically removed, but later paint,

to reveal what I hope could be an original work beneath.

And it's a harrowing experience, and you're going to need

-to keep the faith, if you don't mind me saying.

-Yes.

What do you think?

I think, yes, it would be a wonderful experience to go through that,

and to see what happens.

That was six months ago.

Since then the painting has undergone extensive restoration

in the hands of specialist Simon Gillespie.

The painstaking process involved the use of solvents to gradually

remove over-paint, added in the 18th century.

It took the equivalent of three weeks' solid work

to finish the clean.

Simon had to be careful not to remove any

of the original 17th century brush strokes, that would be so important

in identifying the original artist.

As the restoration reached a critical moment,

Philip Mould decided to visit Simon in his studio to see how the process

of removing the over-paint and centuries of dirt was progressing.

In Cirencester, we just had to guess, really, didn't we,

that there was evidence to suggest

that there might be something exciting beneath.

But what you have just done, what you have taken off, has really begun

to show that our instincts perhaps are right,

that there is something brilliant beneath.

Something hidden and really vital and exciting.

It is, it's a very exciting picture to be dealing with and revealing

what is coming up and so evidently, so obviously of top quality.

I'd be very interested to see what the experts are going to say.

I'm really pleased that Father Jamie took the risk,

because there is risk in restoration.

I mean, just the process of taking off varnish and later paint

can sometimes damage the layer beneath.

And there's also the danger that you can reveal an area that is damaged.

The picture would be better off not having been cleaned!

But so far, the risk is paying off.

What we've seen dramatically revealed today

are the strokes of a great hand.

Philip, there isn't much that you don't know about van Dyck

and you've nursed this painting through restoration,

through cleaning, how's it looking?

-Well, shall we have a look?

-Yes.

Let us unveil it.

Wow, it's completely different.

All the dark gloominess round here has vanished

and so now this is a preparatory sketch, is it?

It's the beginning of a painting rather than the completed painting?

Yeah, it would seem to be a first idea by an artist.

When you first saw the painting, you thought there was a chance

that it could be by van Dyck. Do you still think that now?

Well, personally, I do. I mean, I've been following it through.

I still think it is by the master, but as you know so well,

we have to get the academic authority to say "yes"

before in market terms it properly becomes a van Dyck.

And have you found anyone to look at it?

We have found the national expert, the great scholar

on the subject of van Dyck and he has seen it and considered it.

And?

Well, at the risk of toying with your emotions, do you mind

if we wait for Father Jamie?

I really do mind, but I suspect I'm not going to win this argument.

How frustrating.

Father Jamie's coming along later, and if this painting really

is by van Dyck, it could be seriously valuable.

And we've witnessed some jaw-dropping valuations

on this show, but, perhaps surprisingly,

few people go on to sell their items.

But recently we heard about a camera that first came along

to the Roadshow 12 years ago and it was finally coming up for sale.

-I've had it about 45 years.

-Yes.

And I acquired it then and I used to use it in my younger days.

Yes.

But haven't used it for years and years,

I just left it in the drawer.

The story began back in Wales in 2001 when Mostyn,

the owner of this camera, brought it in to show expert Marc Allum.

It was a typically busy day, really.

It was one of those kind of days that I didn't feel

was rather fateful, but suddenly this gentleman arrived at my table

and put this thing in front of me and I looked at it

and I could see that it was a crocodile case.

I knew that it was going to be a camera.

I wasn't quite sure what was going to come out,

but when this camera did come out, then my whole world sort of changed.

Essentially, I was faced with something that

I kind of felt didn't really exist.

Leica made a camera called the Leica I in 1931

and they produced very, very few,

and in fact they were called the Luxus range.

'I saw that it was a Leica, and not just an ordinary Leica,'

it was a Leica Luxus - a gold Leica.

I looked at the serial number.

88840 - now that to me

is a Leica II.

That is 1932 for this particular model.

'I used to carry round a list of Leica serial numbers'

so I looked it up, saw that it was a Leica II.

In fact, I didn't know that they'd made a Leica II Luxus

and that's when it started to get really interesting.

'I rang up an authority, basically, on cameras, and he was able

'to say to me, "This is one of only four that was ever made."'

Upon her father's death,

his daughter, Sue, decided to get in touch with Marc.

My father passed away in early 2012 and there was quite a lot

to sort out with the house etc.

You know, we knew that he had the camera, and at that time we knew it

was valuable, but we didn't really appreciate how special it was.

My father said if ever I should want to sell the camera

to contact Marc Allum.

'Out of the blue came an e-mail from his daughter and I was able'

to give her impartial advice on where she might potentially

sell the camera, and in doing that she was able to make her own choice.

This is potentially one of the most valuable items

to come to sale from the Antiques Roadshow.

Now, the camera is worth a huge amount of money

and it's like many areas of the market that have been fuelled

by the Eastern market and Eastern buyers, particularly the Chinese.

Mostyn and myself,

we had no idea what could possibly happen to the value.

With the auction house estimating the camera could

sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds, it could break our

highest record for an object sold after appearing on the Roadshow.

That's currently held by a painting by William Orpen that sold

five years ago for £300,000.

I mean, it's history making as well as breaking other records too.

That's the incredible, you know, thing about it.

It's absolutely tremendous.

I think it's terribly exciting and I'm sure my husband and my son,

and probably my daughter, will be around the computer

with our dressing gowns on, looking at the auction and hoping,

fingers crossed, that it goes well for everybody.

Of course, the anticipation is almost killing me.

I've kept quiet about this for months and months,

and, um, I'm obviously looking forward to the sale.

I can't go to Hong Kong,

but, of course, I'm going to watch it on the live feed.

I feel as if Marc and I have been pen pals for the past five months

because I initially sent him an e-mail back in June.

When his reply did come back,

he was so friendly and willing to help

that I almost felt as if I'd already met him

and so it's going to be a great thrill to meet him.

I feel as if we're pals in a way.

The owner's daughter, Sue, felt she wanted to express her thanks

to Marc and arranged to meet him in London,

where the camera was on show prior to its sale in November

in Hong Kong.

Hello, Sue.

Hello. I'm going to give you a hug.

I'm not going to shake hands after five months.

No, it's really good to finally meet you.

I know, exactly, oh, my goodness.

And here she is, in all her majesty.

I know, can you believe it? It looks absolutely beautiful.

Is she a she?

Of course, of course.

Well, this is the culmination of it all, isn't it?

Yes, it is. Indeed, it is.

And I have to say it's been quite a long journey actually.

So, it looks like we're both going to be watching this

-from different parts of the world.

-Indeed.

And, you know, I wish you every success with it.

I really do.

Thank you.

Lot number 1681.

A Leica Luxus number II, 1932,

with its extraordinary original pretty box, and already

I seem to have three million Hong Kong dollars bid for it.

Three million dollars to me. Three million two.

Three million five.

Three million eight. Three million eight down here.

3,800,000.

Three million nine against that.

3,900,000. Over here?

Four million dollars.

What's yours on the main line, telephone bidder?

Yours in the room, sir, four million. Anyone going on?

I'm going to sell it. Here we are.

You're all quite sure. Your bid, sir, four million dollars.

That is sold to you,

thanks very much. Four million.

Sue was watching the auction online at home in America,

and I caught up with her after the auction at the end of our day.

Susan, hi, it's Fiona Bruce.

Hi, nice to meet you.

Very nice to meet you, since I haven't met you in person,

to meet you, albeit over the internet, and congratulations.

Thank you very much.

Who would have known it would have ended like this?

It's been tremendous and the help we've received from everybody,

from Marc Allum on the Antiques Roadshow,

has just been absolutely superb.

And what did you think, as you saw the value creeping up?

We were all kind of quite anxious. We didn't have any audio feed

and we didn't have any visual feed, so we were just watching the numbers

at the bottom of our screen, and then suddenly it's, what,

over 350,000, so it's just staggering, really.

Yeah, 350,000, or, in your money,

half a million dollars.

Yes, that's right.

So it's a heck of a result, isn't it?

Yes, I mean, it's quite staggering, I don't know many...

many objects or whatever

that you could get that sort of return in 12 years.

And now you've sold it,

do you have any idea what you're going to do with the money?

Have you got any projects planned?

Um, well our youngest son is going off to college

and college here is really quite expensive,

so I'm sure some of it will be used towards that.

But, you know, we just intend to look after it

and make sure that it's a nice legacy for our children.

And what do you think your father would have made of it all?

I think he would have been delighted.

I mean, I'm just so thankful that I was able to, you know,

fulfil his wish.

So, still emotional, even now.

Yeah. He would have been delighted, I'm sure.

I'm sure he would have been thrilled, as you say.

Susan, thank you so much, it's been so lovely to talk to you in person.

And enjoy it, and thank you for letting us share the journey.

Oh, you're very welcome.

Thank you for all the help that the Antiques Roadshow has given

and Marc Allum too, it's been wonderful.

What incredibly good news for Sue and her family.

And, you know, that's not the only item that's recently gone on to sell

after first coming to light at a Roadshow.

Remember this bamboo pot, once used by Chinese scholars

we first saw at our Chatham show early this year?

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.

-OK, so, you like it because it's wood.

-Yes.

-Do you know what kind of wood it is?

-No.

-It's bamboo, and in Chinese it's called a bitong,

and it's a brush pot.

The owner was astonished by its value.

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

I don't believe it.

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

Imagine how she felt when it went on to sell for a cool £20,000.

We understand it went back to China.

You've got a print here signed with some very celebrated initials.

Yes. Of Durer, yes.

-Albrecht Durer.

-Yes.

We were all agog when a print,

brought into our Roadshow from Stowe, shown earlier this year,

was valued for a considerable amount.

And I have to say, from what I can see,

this is an original Albrecht Durer print.

-So it comes to value.

-Yes.

Well, I have to say, subject to just a few checks,

-given that prints are a complex area...

-Yes.

..and Durer in particular, I think this could be worth

-up to about £20,000.

-That's really good news.

Was Philip Mould right?

Well, his valuation was tested when that print by Durer,

produced in the early 16th century,

went on to sell for £19,000.

We were delighted to be able to tell the owner, Mary, that after

she sold it, the print was taken to the other side of the world, to

an art gallery in New Zealand where it is now proudly on display.

And if you've ever wondered what people spend their money on

after selling their objects, here's a great example.

If this were a copy of the Kangxi period,

then £2,500 is an extremely generous offer.

-Oh, really.

-Yeah. However, it is actually of the period it says,

so it's probably worth between £5,000 and £10,000.

The owner here, Iona, tells us that she's very happy

with the new car sitting on her drive.

Her vase sold for an impressive £22,000

following its visit to the show.

Iona now has what she calls "a nippy little number"

parked on her drive, all down to an old pot.

Now, some objects arriving at a Roadshow defy even our experts.

One mystery, which was recently solved, arose when our glass expert,

Andy McConnell, found an object at Chepstow Racecourse.

Well, when it comes to wacky objects,

this definitely wins the prize.

I think it is the strangest, most over-the-top glass that

I have seen in a very long time, I'm delighted to say.

One of the things about the Roadshow,

one of the great buzzes, really, one of the dangers,

is, of course, you've never seen this stuff before.

You open for business, as it were,

and the owners turn up bearing their stuff, and, well,

95% of it, you take in your stride, but there's always going

to be 5%, that, you know, leaves you scratching your head.

And this one fell into this category.

What you have is a hybrid, but they are a lamp.

What you'd do is, you'd fill them, these two reservoirs,

which are separated within, with lamp oil,

and then you had tapers that were pushed in through the mouth.

-They're obviously flexible - and down into the body here.

-Yes.

I was about one inch out of the gig

when I started having misgivings about my recording.

I got home and I think, "Who's going to know about this?"

Well, Reino Liefkes, senior curator of glass and ceramics

at the Victoria and Albert Museum, is a kind of glass mate.

You know, we know each other, and he knows... And he's Dutch,

so he's European, you see, and his knowledge of Central European glass

is way in excess of mine, and he was the man I chose to defer to.

Yes, I was extremely excited when Andy rang,

and they also sent me some footage,

and he did that because he was a bit worried that he'd actually

maybe given it a wrong attribution. It's such a difficult object.

In literature, they're invariably described as either an oil lamp,

and that's actually what Andy thought on the Antiques Roadshow

that it might be, or it's a perfumed sprinkler.

When we look at the object, I think neither of those theories

are really very strong.

But he also added that the owner of the object might be

interested in actually donating the object to our museum,

which was a very exciting prospect.

The owner, John Desmond, was true to his word

and arranged for the piece to join the glass collection at the V&A,

much to expert Andy McConnell's delight.

I'll tell you what. See that?

That's my hair standing on end.

It really is, because, I mean, you know, how good does life get?

You know, to be able to... It's just the complete package.

We have pleased owners, they're delighted where it is.

We've got a pleased museum, the whole thing is the complete package.

It just ends up where it should be.

And I've played a role in it.

I think the object is unique as far as I know. It's not really...

I don't know of any parallel of that period.

I think if you look at the way it's made and the material,

it's probably made in Bohemia, probably around 1700 to 1750.

Bohemia is in the Czech Republic and there's nothing from that period

which really compares to this very complex object.

So that solved part of the mystery -

when it was made and where it was produced. But Reino recognised it

as an important object, a rare 18th century drinking vessel.

Almost certainly is.

It's a trick glass and so it's two bottles that will be filled up

with liquid and I think in this case it would be water and wine.

Wine wasn't drunk straight in that time, so you actually want

to mix them to make it palatable, and so if you tip the glass

towards you, you can actually cover the two spouts,

on the back of the two animals,

with your thumbs and you can actually regulate the flow.

And then that would be very exciting to do that today,

for the first time in maybe 250 years.

Andy recently went along to the Victoria and Albert Museum

to meet up with Reino and to play a vital part

in learning how this trick glass works.

So, hello, Andy.

-Hi.

-Very nice to see you and at a very special occasion.

I mean, we normally don't fill up our historic glasses

and actually try them out in this museum, but as we wanted

to do this from the start,

to find out the proper function of this object,

we're going to do this in a controlled environment.

We also are so excited, because this is probably the first time since

250 years that this object is used correctly.

And you're going to be the guinea pig.

-So, how exciting is that?

-Oh, I'm blessed.

Oh, this is a perk of the job, to have the freedom

to make a complete idiot of yourself.

It's not often you get this chance, so clearly what I'm going to try

and do is get the liquid up into the kind of schweinhund's mouths

and then into the plate and see how we go.

Ahh!

We would have made a mess of the Archduke's table, wouldn't we?

But I think there could be an additional trick.

I think if you tried to cover the both spouts with your thumbs

-then you actually might be able to control the liquid flow.

-OK.

So try that and see if it goes a bit more subtly.

Yes!

-There we go.

-Here we go, let's try it like this.

Let's just see it coming up.

Oh, look! A gentle sip.

-Another gentle sip.

-Fantastic.

I think it's a superior method, I have to admit it.

Well, it's so exciting to see it actually working, it's wonderful.

-This makes a huge difference.

-Oh, really?

-Having the fingers, it's like having a tap, it really is.

-Oh, good.

And it's clearly what the owner would have known, wouldn't he?

The owner of the original would have practised this.

He would have got it down to a fine art.

Absolutely, yes.

And then passed it to his neighbour at dinner and said, "You have a go".

Absolutely, and they would have completely failed.

And they would have...

Messed everything up. Fantastic.

So, does the V&A have a laundry?

And if you want to see the trick glass,

it will be on display in the Glass Gallery

at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London from New Year's Day onwards.

Earlier, we saw that remarkable chest that was first seen

on the programme in Scotland by our furniture expert, Christopher Payne.

It's thought to have started life here, at Hampton Court Palace.

Christopher will be joining us in a moment to find out.

It was bought by two spinster great aunts of my mother

and they, we think, bought it in about 1880 through a friend

who was a Quaker in Birmingham.

It's always been known in the family as the Queen Anne chest.

Now, I have no idea whether it genuinely is or not,

but I have known it all my life.

I mean, she was Queen let's say circa 1700,

-so that's a long time ago.

-Yes.

-300 years ago.

It is the most extraordinary thing.

I've never seen one.

The next stage is to try and research this.

Christopher, earlier on this year, you saw at Cawdor Castle

-a piece of furniture that you described as "the ultimate research project."

-Yes.

-Rachel, this is your chest, in a manner of speaking.

-It is indeed.

-And you've come all the way down from Scotland...

-Yes.

-..to Hampton Court Palace.

-Potentially rather exciting.

-It is indeed.

I might finally find out the reality of it, so I'm very excited.

And Christopher, what is it that you'd really like to know, then?

Well, I think the most important thing is, was it actually used or made for Queen Anne?

I'm sure it must have been, but can we prove it?

We know so little about her. We know that this was one of her palaces,

Hampton Court, so she came here, she lived here, she went on the royal progress here.

Was this trunk used for that purpose?

She's extraordinary. She was the last of the Stuart monarchs,

had 17 children in 17 years, but none survived,

so the end of the line.

And we'd love to know more about this.

Was it used for her on her royal progress?

There's questions just coming out all the time.

Well, I think today you're going to find out,

because we've arranged for Dr Olivia Fryman,

of Historic Royal Palaces, to be here to meet you both.

The chest is here, as well, and she's waiting for you

on the King's Staircase, no less,

-which is that way. So, go and find out.

-Let's go and have a look.

Hello. So lovely to see you at Hampton Court.

We're here in the King's Great Staircase,

painted for William III, so it's a room that Queen Anne herself would have known.

So, Rachel, you said you'd always known this as the Queen Anne chest

and I think absolutely we can associate this with Queen Anne.

-That's wonderful news.

-Anne reigned from 1702 to 1714.

She was the last of a long line of Stuart monarchs

and Anne regularly travelled between her palaces.

We know that she stayed here at Hampton Court.

She also stayed at Kensington, St James's and Windsor.

She also went on progresses where she would visit

the towns and cities, the provinces

or the households of noble courtiers.

And on occasions like this, this kind of chest would have been used

to transport the Queen's possessions.

Well, I can imagine it being manhandled, literally.

These two big handles on the side being carried in by porters,

dumped in the main hall possibly, and, you know, Queen Anne wanting

her night shift or gloves or something because she's cold, or changing garments.

It's extraordinary. It would have been wheeled into this house somewhere,

if not the Great Hall, perhaps.

Absolutely. When the court moved, all of her belongings were packed up

and put on wagons and taken with her.

So I've also been able to identify some potential makers

-for this piece.

-Right.

-At the national archives,

we have all of the bills relating to the furniture that was provided

for the royal household and I think it's very likely that this piece

was made by one of the coffer makers to the great wardrobe.

Now, there are two coffer makers during Anne's reign,

Richard Peak and William Johnson.

We know from their bills that they were providing

leather-covered furniture that was very similar to this piece.

Now, I've brought one of Johnson's bills along to show you today.

This one dates from 1713 and as you can see here,

Johnson is providing a large cabinet,

a large trunk, and a trunk with drawers.

And these are all covered in Russia leather

and garnished with gilt nails, the brass studs.

So, in terms of their description,

they're very, very similar to this piece.

We know from the accounts that they were intended for storing

the Queen's body linen. So, her bed sheets, her pillowcases

and her undergarments.

I've also been able to identify some other examples.

This particular piece is perhaps the closest match we can find.

This is now at Scotney Castle in Kent.

So, in terms of the design, you can see here, the tulip design

in the brass studding which is very similar

and also the lock plate is very similar to the one in your piece.

And on the top here, there's also "AR",

so we can certainly say that this one was also made

during the reign of Queen Anne.

And is it right that one opens at the top and then has two drawers

-at the bottom?

-Yes, absolutely.

What we've not been able to find is an exact match for your piece.

Yours has four drawers, whereas this one has two drawers

-and a trunk top. This seems to be the more typical arrangement.

-Right.

But in terms of the design and everything, of course,

-very, very similar.

-Yes.

-I think it makes yours much rarer.

I've just never heard or seen of one as a chest of drawers.

It just is simply drawers. Yes, yes.

So, Rachel, that's amazing. It's so exciting.

You keep this in the hall or the landing somewhere?

-It lives on my landing, yes.

-Doing nothing in particular?

I mean, what was just a piece of household furniture,

as far as we was concerned, one that I'd known all my life

and I loved, but nothing to me particularly considered to be

particularly special. I just wanted to know if there was a connection to Queen Anne

and I seem to have found out a great deal more than I expected.

-And me. And I think it's come home, don't you?

-Absolutely.

It feels rather like it. I certainly never thought,

when it went to the Roadshow 18 months ago,

no way did I think that I was going to be, 18 months later,

standing in Hampton Court with experts looking at it

and telling me so much about it.

I just rather wish my mother was still alive to know that

because I think she'd have been thrilled as well.

Following filming, Rachel decided that she would like to leave

the chest at Hampton Court Palace

where further research by their team can now be undertaken.

And that chest isn't the only object we've learnt more about

following its appearance on the Antiques Roadshow this year.

So, what do you know about HM Young?

-HM Young was in the Dam Busters.

-Exactly.

This oar, apparently from the 1938 Boat Race,

appeared at our show in Stowe recently.

The theory being that it was owned by a man who famously went on to play

a vital role in the Dam Busters raid in World War II.

Henry Melville Young, born 1915.

He was recruited to join 617, the Dam Busters' Squadron.

He was one of the crack pilots brought in, with his crew,

to join that elite squadron to do that very particular thing.

And in May, 1943, they all set off on Operation Chastise,

-which, of course, was the famous dams raid.

-Yes.

Well, sharp-eyed viewers contacted us after the broadcast

to point out that the oar, which had been found in a skip,

looked remarkably similar to a prop

featured in the 1955 Dam Busters film.

But even though it's not the original,

it still has value as a piece of movie memorabilia.

It's 50 years since the notorious Great Train Robbery

and this Monopoly board was brought into our show

with a remarkable link to the event.

It's a very important board because it forms part of history.

-In 1963, a Royal Mail train was held up in Buckinghamshire.

-Indeed.

£2.5 million was stolen and the train robbers went to a farmhouse

and whilst they were there, to bide their time away,

they played Monopoly and this is the actual Monopoly board

of the Great Train Robbery. Well, it's reputed that

-they actually played with real money as opposed to Monopoly money.

-Right.

-But eventually, they discovered where they'd been hiding out...

-Yes.

..so they had to make a quick get away.

I understand that somebody was paid a great deal of money

to rid the farmhouse of evidence,

and the man took the money, but he didn't get rid of the evidence.

The money which we have on display was also treated for fingerprints,

and on this particular one here,

we've got fingerprints from one of the train robbers.

Ken, who looks after the board on behalf of the Thames Valley Police Museum,

tells us that after the Roadshow, they were offered

thousands of pounds for the game,

offers they've refused, especially after seeing the queues

that lined up to see it when they put it on show after its TV appearance.

That piece has the honour of being

the most infamous object we've screened.

Meanwhile, at our Chatham show, Hilary Kay met a man who was

inspired by a very different historical event.

Well, here we are in the County of Kent.

I didn't know what I'd see today, but I wasn't expecting to see

a copy of the Bayeux Tapestry. How long is it?

It's approximately 40 ft.

Presumably, you went to Bayeux where you were completely inspired

-and got home and got out your needle and thread.

-No.

-Oh. So, what happened?

-Sorry to disappoint you!

I've never been to Bayeux. I've never seen the original.

I started it about 17 years ago, but I've actually done

probably the best part of 14 years, a couple of hours every day.

This replica of the Bayeux Tapestry created by a visitor, Andy,

caused quite a stir after appearing on the show.

He's had offers to display it in exhibitions across the UK

and was even invited out to the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Normandy

where he tells us he enjoyed comparing it to the original.

And finally, our programme from Newstead Abbey,

which is looked after by Nottingham City Council,

saw this rare medal arrive, won by a racing pigeon called Cologne

that had played a valuable role in World War II.

Since showing the item, the owner, Sarah, tells us

she's received new information from family members

who recall the brave bird returning from his mission

exhausted and wounded. Dramatically, they had to perform

an operation to remove shrapnel from his chest.

Cologne was my grandfather's pigeon.

My grandfather was the pigeon service officer

during the Second World War for the East Midlands

and he was in charge of the pigeons that went up on the bombers

during the war. Cologne had been on over 100 sorties

and he was on a flight in June, 1943,

and the plane crashed over Cologne,

hence why the pigeon was named Cologne.

The plane and the crew were lost,

but Cologne managed to arrive back at my grandfather's house

a fortnight later, very badly injured

with his breast bone completely broken

and the feathers had started to grow over it

and he was awarded the Dickin Medal, the animals' VC, for his bravery.

After appearing on the Roadshow, Sarah and her brother were invited

to attend the Remembrance Day commemorations.

There, they marched past the Cenotaph,

proudly holding Cologne's medal

as part of the tributes to animals in war.

Next year marks the anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War.

You may recall our appeal for your family stories

connected to those years between 1914 and 1918.

We received over 3,000 responses

and earlier this year, we selected a small group of visitors

to join us at the Somme battlefields in Northern France

to record a special programme which will be shown next year.

Here's a flavour of that visit.

The name Edith Cavell resonates

and for what reason?

She was a British nurse in Belgium

during the time of the First World War who was executed by the Germans

-and your grandmother worked alongside her.

-She did.

-Edith Cavell knowingly broke some of the rules.

-Yes.

But, as she said, patriotism is not enough

-and she paid the ultimate price for that.

-She did.

We're looking at Alec here.

-Now, this is his father grieving for his son...

-Yeah.

..painting him as he saw him...

-Oh, yes. There's a lot of feeling in that.

-..having been through that loss,

every brush stroke, thinking about that lost son.

Well, this is a tin whistle

and it's perfectly ordinary except that it tells a story

and the story it tells is of Joe.

And this is Joe, our Joe, Joseph Thomas Clucas, a corporal

in the Royal Field Artillery, 57th Ammunition Column,

who joined as a boy soldier,

joined the Territorial Army, at the age of 14...

..and was enlisted at the start of the war,

as many Territorials were,

was killed at Passchendaele on 21st October, 1917.

But between the start of the war, through to 1917,

this whistle, at some point, saved his life

because the trace of the bullet that hit it when he was wearing it

is still in the whistle.

And while it's worthless, while it means nothing to anybody else,

to our family, it's priceless

because it tells the story of a time in our history

when boys like Joe gave everything they had for us,

so it's precious to us.

We've got a picture of three chaps here.

-I'm guessing he's one of them.

-Yes, that's my

-dad. Yeah?

-That's his brother, Tom.

-Aye.

Presumably this was taken before he joined up?

-Yes. Tom got killed at the Somme.

-Sorry to hear that.

-Now, this is a picture of your dad with his medal.

-Yeah, yeah.

He was thin when he came home cos he was a stocky man.

-Yes. We can see his medal there.

-That's right, yeah.

-Where's that?

-Oh, it's in the family.

-Good.

-Oh, yes.

-You haven't brought it today?

-No.

-That's very wise because safety...

As you haven't got the medal with you,

we thought that you might like that.

Oh, wow. Oh, thank you.

-We've had his name put on the back of it as well.

-Oh!

And I hope that you will display that

with that cracking good picture

and that will become a bit of an heirloom.

-Oh, thank you so much.

-It's our pleasure.

There's another reason why we've brought you here today,

to this particular place. You talked about the men in the photo here

-and your father and also your Uncle Tom...

-Yes.

..and he fought here at the Somme and he died here at the Somme.

This is his cemetery...

-..and this is where he's buried.

-Is it? Oh!

So I wondered if you'd like to come and see his grave.

Look. Here he is.

-That's a lovely thing to see, that, isn't it?

-It is.

And the first of two special programmes will be shown

in the spring of next year.

Perhaps the biggest reaction we've had to any war-related pieces

was to the heartbreaking story of newlywed Teddy Burrell,

who kept the truth about his role in the Second World War from his wife

to keep her from worrying. Rather than working as ground crew,

he'd actually enlisted as an air gunner,

going out on dangerous bombing raids.

Teddy's plane was shot down, killing all the crew in 1942.

He left his wife, Maisie, a letter to be sent in the event of his death

and only then did his true contribution to the war

come to light, in a tender confession that was recounted

in our Remembrance Special

when Hilary Kaye met Maisie's granddaughter, Rachel.

"When you read this letter, one of two things would probably happened.

"Either I shall be home, off operations, or I shall be missing.

"That is why I want to write this letter, dearest.

"Understand, darling, I was to fly over Germany of a night

"and also sometimes of a day.

"It was the one thing you dreaded, wasn't it?

"That was the reason I didn't tell you.

"I hadn't the heart, darling, I love you too much.

"At the moment, there are only two months to go before our baby

"comes into this world.

"If you do happen to get this letter in unhappy circumstances...

"..which I pray to God you won't, remember, darling,

"unhappy moments often turn into happy ones."

That single letter prompted so many people to get in touch with us

to tell us how moved they were by Teddy's story.

And it made Rachel curious to know more.

A few months ago I met her at the Exeter Roadshow, where

she was clutching a box full of letters that she's recently found.

Look at all these letters. Rachel, we've met before, haven't we,

-at our Remembrance programme just a few years back.

-Yes.

Since then, all these letters have emerged, also written by Teddy.

Tell me about them.

Well, I didn't know anything of them,

and my Auntie Jill went to help my Nan Maisie, to sort some

things out and suddenly came to visit me with this box of letters

saying, "This is your inheritance", sort of thing, this is for you.

And since then I've been trying to look through them

and finding out what they were about,

but they're basically love letters, and he wrote every day.

-Every day?

-Yes.

-To Maisie.

-Yes.

Now there's a letter here you wanted us to have a look at.

Now tell me about this one.

Well, that seems to be the last letter he wrote,

the day before he was shot down.

So it was posted I think the day that he...

-10th May 1942.

-He died on the 11th.

-This was the day before he died.

-Yes.

"My dearest beloved Maisie,

"thank you so much for your letter, darling.

"I was getting a bit worried at not hearing from you,

"but your letter arrived today, and my worries are over.

"I meant to write to you last night,

"but was very busy 'doing my duty to my country'.

"It was a wonderful leave, wasn't it, dearest?

"I didn't want to come back here.

"I'd like to come home and stay for good.

"We'd be wonderfully happy in our own little home.

"It's hellish coming back here.

"I miss you so very, very much, darling."

-Oh, and then he's put, "I'd go crazy without you."

-I know.

Gosh! "I miss Valerie, too."

Oh, my goodness me.

I think also the fact that he was so young, he was just 21,

-he had a three-week-old baby.

-Yes.

-Obviously adored Maisie.

-Yes, definitely, yes.

-And that was it, and the day after he wrote this letter, he was killed.

-He was killed.

-They're also a testament to what happened to so many people.

-Exactly.

And so many families and relationships and passions,

you know, that were just irrevocably torn apart by the war.

And then Maisie, and then Valerie - your mum - you know,

-had to live and pick up the pieces.

-Yes.

We began this look back on what's proved to be an historic

year for the Antiques Roadshow with an update on the portrait

brought along to our show in Cirencester by Father Jamie MacLeod.

Now he's about to arrive any moment

here at Hampton Court Palace to find out the answer to his

all-important question -

is his painting by the great master, van Dyck?

Philip Mould, who's overseen the restoration process, is here,

and Philip, looking at this now, it strikes me that the painting that

Father Jamie first bought and fell in love with, was very different

to this, so there's a chance he might not like it so much now.

I think you're right.

It is definitely different, in fact, two thirds of the picture

has pretty well disappeared, but let's not forget that with

these highly sensitive sketches, often less is more.

If it is by van Dyck, what are we talking in value terms?

A sketch of this startling impact - if it is by van Dyck -

is worth three, perhaps four hundred thousand pounds.

Wow!

So that would make this the most valuable painting

ever to come on the Roadshow.

'As Father Jamie makes his way to join us,

'we can only guess how he'll react to the news about his painting.'

-Hi, Father Jamie, how are you doing?

-Quite well, thank you.

-Very good to see you.

-And you.

Your painting is under here. It has now been cleaned and restored and you've not seen it, have you?

-I haven't yet, no.

-Do you want to see it?

-Please...

-Wow!

-What do you think?

-Absolutely beautiful, isn't it?

-It's very different.

It is, completely different, yes, made a very nice job of it.

I was slightly worried you might not like it so much now,

-because it's so different from the painting that you bought.

-It is very different, yes.

You look a little bit shocked.

Yes, I think it's completely different,

it's something which is, you know, you remember how it was and

then there is the period when you've not seen it for such a long time

that you miss it in a way and it's something that which, you know,

you don't realise how much you actually love the portrait itself.

It's a very, very special portrait.

The character of it tells you something about him,

-which in a sense is a mystery.

-That mystery is about to be revealed,

because Philip has been doing a lot of work on this painting.

I have a theory about this picture.

Now, in 1634, van Dyck did a huge painting,

it was called The Magistrates Of Brussels, it was a group

portrait, but tragically 60 years later it was destroyed

and it is only known - it's only recorded through a few sketches.

In fact, I have one of them here in my hand - this is from

the Ashmolean Museum - and this is, I think, rather similar to yours.

If you notice the background,

we've got the same red ground coming through, giving it a warm appearance.

How the complexion is handled.

-Mmm.

-That rather choppy, fresh, red and pink look.

Mmm.

Now, the other thing that survives,

apart from, in fact, three of these sketches, is the first idea,

the preparatory thought by van Dyck, for this picture.

This is the plan, as it were, as to how it would turn out.

And if you cast your eye along this composition you will see

a figure in the right hand corner.

Do you think there's a possibility,

looking at that, that it could be the same man?

Yes, I think, you know, looking at him, there is

the similarity of the ruffle and, of course, you know,

looking at the angle it's been taken.

So, through these art historical scraps,

we've put together an argument and we've presented it to

Christopher Brown, who is the Director of the Ashmolean Museum,

the museum indeed that has two of these sketches.

And he's also the national expert on van Dyck and we asked him

whether he was prepared to be quoted - one way or another - saying

whether this was a work by the great master.

Well, come on Philip, what did he say?

Well, Jamie, I'm delighted to be able to tell you that you

do have a work by Sir Anthony van Dyck.

And a really interesting one, in as much that it relates to this great

lost picture that was destroyed in the 1690s, and you have... Your

sketch joins another two, together with this preparatory work, which are

testament to this epic painting that is sadly no longer with us.

So, what do you think?

You are the owner of a van Dyck.

I'm just completely shocked, yes, it's just a...

-A van Dyck!

-It's just amazing, isn't it?

It's, you know, if only he could speak, he'd be jumping up for joy.

I remember you told me that if you were to sell this painting,

you wanted to buy some new bells for your chapel. Is that still the plan?

Yes, it is still the plan.

Um, I would like this country to be able to commemorate the 100th

anniversary of the First World War, and I think that, as a nation,

we owe that to the people who gave their lives for the world today.

So, Philip, it's so exciting.

Now that we know this is by the great master,

will Father Jamie be able to afford his bells?

I don't know, Jamie, what the going price for bells is, these days.

But I can tell you that this will almost certainly assist you.

It's a wonderfully intimate sketch by the great master.

The value of this painting is £300,000 to £400,000.

Gosh, amazing. Very good.

You just look - you look a bit shocked by it all.

Yes, I think I am shocked.

It's... I remember, Philip, you said that it was going to be

a very harrowing experience, and I think it has,

and this last few weeks has been rather stressful to say the least.

And not knowing or, you know, the years it's hung on the wall,

looking at it, thinking - who are you?

And the very first time it fell off the wall

and smashed up my CD player, it was, you know, was it meant to be?

And, you know, it's just so wonderful, you know, to remember how

it was and, you know, that it's been restored and equally as nice.

And can I just say, Jamie, it was harrowing for us as well.

I mean, this three or four months of watching it change,

and not only change but largely disappear in the process.

I mean, two thirds of this painting has simply gone onto

swabs of cotton wool.

And to see it now, in this radically different way,

well, it's amongst the very few examples I can think of,

of a picture changing quite so much.

-Your painting.

-Yes.

Well, if it does sell for the price that Philip's talking about, it

will be the most valuable painting ever to have come on the Roadshow.

Can we follow this journey now, with this painting,

-where it goes from here?

-Be delighted to.

How exciting!

I hope you've enjoyed this special episode of the Antiques Roadshow.

And who knows, it could happen to you.

So, dust down those treasures and join us in 2014.

Here are all the different places we'll be visiting,

and we'll be ready to meet you

And, by the way, if you enjoyed the story of our van Dyck discovery,

join Philip Mould and me for a new series of Fake Or Fortune,

starting on Sunday January 19th.

In the meantime, on behalf of all our team,

may I wish you a happy and prosperous New Year.