Sainsbury Centre Norwich 1 Antiques Roadshow

Today's venue for the Antiques Roadshow doesn't give away

many clues as to what lies inside. What do you think?

Aircraft hangar perhaps? When it was built in the '70s,

it's said the KGB was concerned the UK might be building

a new missile silo so made a few discrete enquiries.

It is in fact the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich

which is hosting us for the Antiques Roadshow.

Tucked away on the leafy campus of the University of East Anglia

in Norwich, the striking Sainsbury Centre is home to an eclectic

collection of artworks from around the world.

The centre gets its name from the couple who donated the collection

and provided the funds for the building, Robert and Lisa Sainsbury.

As grandson to John James Sainsbury,

the founder of the supermarket chain,

Robert entered the family business after qualifying as an accountant.

Although he was very successful,

what really motivated Robert was a love of art, particularly sculpture.

In the 1930s, together with his wife Lisa,

he embarked on what he called a journey of unplanned discovery

into the art world, buying up all kinds of treasures.

Despite their wealth, they limited their budget to £1,000 a year

and only bought pieces they really fell in love with,

and if they wanted something that was outside their budget,

they either sold something or just had to forgo the pleasure.

By the time Robert retired in 1969,

they had over 400 works all squeezed along with their four children

into a modest four-bedroomed terraced house in London.

The Sainsburys didn't want to split up or sell off

a lifetime of collecting, so they donated their entire collection

to the University of East Anglia where their youngest daughter had studied,

but as there wasn't space for it here,

they funded a new building which would double up as a gallery

and also as an art department for the college.

Completed in 1978, it was the first public building

designed by a young and then relatively unknown architect,

Norman Foster, now Lord Foster of course,

architect of the Gherkin in the city of London.

Since then, the gallery's been expanded and items added

but Robert and Lisa's personal collection is still very much the star attraction.

And it's against this very modern backdrop that our experts

are taking centre stage getting ready for a busy day ahead.

And if you'd like to play along with our valuation game, visit...

..for a link to download the Roadshow app.

You're here today on something of a mission, aren't you?

Yes, this belonged to my father

and as far as I know, it's a cruet and I think it's German.

My mum says it's cut glass but I'd like to know why there are

so many bottles, what it would have held.

First off, I have to say that I think this is just

a really beautiful thing.

English cut crystal from the Regency period,

coming up to 1800 and a bit beyond, is for me the most beautiful glass.

Such an expression of Englishness.

It really, really is.

We were the richest people in the world at this point.

We had the Empire and Britannia ruled the waves

and there was a surge of confidence

that living in a country like that gives you.

Instead of being, "Oh, sorry," you become Superman in a way,

and for me an object like this absolutely sums that up.

It is just beamed in from the Regency.

This is what their life was about.

This is to be placed in the centre of the table and to provide you,

as my guest, at my Baronial banquet,

with salt and pepper and condiments.

There are dozens of types of garlic paste, soy, anchovy and so on.

Remember, this is before fridges

and the food was generally bland,

and what you wanted to do was fire it up a bit,

and here is your firing up equipment.

And as such, I think it's a fantastic object

and the way we lived became the envy of the world.

To a point where it was widely copied.

-You think this is German?

-Yes.

It's Dutch.

I know this because there's a hallmark just there

and that is a Dutch hallmark for 1819.

Its facon d'Angleterre, English style but made in Holland,

quite feasibly for the German market, so bearing in mind

that it's made of cut glass which is as fashionable as nothing,

nobody wants it, and it's an object

that is almost entirely useless by modern standards,

I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised if I told you it was worth £50.

But I'd be misleading you,

because actually it's a relatively valuable object,

and that if you put this into auction,

the price it would fetch could be reasonably expected to be

between £800 and £1,000!

Oh, is it? A lot more than I thought.

I probably would have believed you when you said 50 quid.

You really couldn't get a more Art Deco piece of jewellery

than this bracelet, where all the gems are set

in geometric linear formation.

They're diamonds, as I'm sure you know.

A combination of brilliant cut stones,

baguette cut stones.

In fact, I couldn't think of a more quintessential Art Deco

diamond bracelet if I tried than this particular one.

I'm assuming this is a piece that goes back through the family

to 1930, 1935. Would that be about right?

I think so. It was a surprise, really.

It was inherited from a distant cousin of mine

and when she died about 15 years ago,

-we happened to find it in the safe deposit box in the bank.

-Lying there?

With some other pieces but even going through photographic records,

we never saw any photograph of anybody ever wearing this.

I do think it probably was bought around the '30s?

-Was it a shock to find it just lying there?

-It was.

What did you do when you saw it? What was your first reaction?

Astoundment, really, because I think the settings are so beautiful.

Aren't they?

It's the slight greyness that one sees in old stones

that you probably don't see I think in modern-day jewellery today.

-Do you wear it?

-I do, from time to time.

-And do people admire it?

-They do, yes.

Would it come as a nice surprise if I tell you it's signed

"Cartier London?"

I'm not totally surprised but I'm delighted you confirm that.

Signed "Cartier London" means

it's not just a very nice Art Deco diamond bracelet smothered

with these wonderful brilliant baguette cut diamonds,

but it's got the ultimate pedigree for it as well.

-That's nice.

-Particularly for a bracelet that's lying

in a safety deposit box that no-one even knows about,

I would say that's very, very nice.

Value, well, with Art Deco jewellery like that,

if it were not by Cartier,

it would still be a very desirable bracelet because of its width,

because of the quality

and because of the quality of the individual stones

which are uniform throughout, but with the Cartier moniker on it,

that is another different kettle of fish.

-You mentioned it was probated?

-It was.

-How much?

-£8,000.

No. I don't think so. Not for me anyway.

15.

What a thing! Lying in a safe deposit box.

-I wish it was me.

-Thank you very much!

I've filmed just about everything on the Antiques Roadshow

other than a kitchen sink. Now it's my opportunity to do it! Absolutely.

This is incredible. It looks amazing, doesn't it?

Before I go into a little bit of detail about it,

I want to know how we have a kitchen here today?

About ten years ago,

we took it out of the house we moved into and it went into the garage.

"We'll sell that", we say.

It could be valuable. It's retro, it's '60s, it is in vogue.

That was 10-12 years ago.

I don't know if it's still in vogue now,

and then we moved house, and as you would,

you'd sell the kitchen that's taking up space in the garage.

We didn't. We moved it with us to the new house.

I take it you didn't like it?

No, not at all. It's not going back in the new house!

I think you're fast becoming one of the minority

in not liking something like this,

because you're a little bit out on the date.

It's 1950s, it was made by a company

called Constant Speed Airscrews Industries.

They were part of a whole range of aviation companies

that post-war had to diversify their production.

All of a sudden, they weren't producing aircraft for the war effort.

What did they do? They made all sorts of things.

This company made kitchen units

and they made this kitchen the English Rose kitchen.

This has become a fabled retro kitchen.

It was the first real modular kitchen in Europe.

In the 1950s, most people's kitchens were a mishmash of cabinets, tables,

and here we had something that was quite revolutionary.

It's very American looking.

Manufactured from aluminium, which of course

is one of the products used in building aircraft.

The company that made these I believe made Spitfire parts,

the nice romantic notion that your kitchen unit may have a bit of Spitfire in it.

That always helps, I think.

It is very stylish indeed and if we look at the way it's formed,

it's actually very well made.

We have a lot of double skins which have noise insulation inside them.

Very well constructed.

If we think about the quality of this, quality came with a price.

The average wage was about £8 a week in the 1950s.

A double unit like this at the top would cost you £18.

Are there any old bags of sugar inside?

There's a big crowd in this one!

Very well constructed. You can see it's all bolted together.

It looks like aircraft construction.

These are very sought-after.

People are enjoying installing them.

There's a finite supply of them

and they're also in very poor condition sometimes.

Value?

I suppose if you were to go and buy this on the internet,

rather than a retail environment,

you would pay about £1,000-£1,500

-for what's here.

-OK.

If you were to buy at retail from a specialist that sells this material,

it could be as much as £3,000-£4,000 worth here

in restored condition.

Would you still not consider reinstalling it?

I'm not sure I've got the say-so on that. Probably not.

Maybe have a word with your wife.

Funnily enough, when I first saw this,

my hope was I was going to find a nice set of Norwich marks on it.

-That would be good.

-That would have been extremely good.

Unfortunately I can't find a single mark.

Have you been able to find one?

I'm sorry, I haven't and other people have looked at it.

It's very frustrating but nobody has found a mark on it.

I wondered whether it was where the coin had been let in whether it might have been on the bottom.

That is quite original to it.

It is not that they have cut out any marks there.

Delightful coin set in.

Quite usual for where it would have been produced. The low countries.

Beakers were very important things in the low countries,

so a lot of movement across the North Sea.

A lot of trading and so it's not surprising to find

low countries pieces in East Anglia.

What we've got here as well, rather nice, is this coat of arms.

With the initials appearing there, "PV and DB."

The "V" is going to be a Van somebody or other.

It's probably a husband and wife

and if you could crack that, it would be rather nice.

The anno, 1636.

I think that is going to be the date of it.

The decoration could go back to an earlier period

and this wonderful Renaissance decoration, you will find back

into the earlier part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, mid-16th century.

It does have a bit of a problem.

-Crack there.

-I never noticed that!

That, if you ever decide to do anything about it,

you'd need an absolutely top restorer.

How far back does it go in your family?

I inherited it from my father about 40 years ago when he died

and I guess it's been in the family since Victorian times,

-but I am guessing.

-Right, right.

A tricky one for value without any marks on it.

I think even so we are looking at

between £2,000 and £3,000.

Really as much as that?

It's a lovely beaker. It really is.

I live on a nature reserve with lots of rare birds and geese and ducks

and so I'm pretty bowled overseeing this amazing collection of canaries.

You must be a canary fancier?

Yeah. I've been breeding canaries since the '70s.

-You've been breeding them?

-Yeah. And when I finished breeding them,

-I started collecting them.

-And just out of interest, why canaries?

We're Norwich, is that something to do with the Canaries football club?

Not particularly football. Just the canary connection with Norwich -

-breeding the canaries.

-Tell me, please.

When the Flemish weavers came after the persecution in Europe...

-When was that?

-I think that was 1565.

-Yes.

Towards the end of the 16th century.

-And they brought the canaries with them.

-As pets?

As pets, caged birds and they were breeding them and it built up.

From that sort of day to late 1890s,

-there were over 1,000 breeders in Norwich.

-Were there really?

-Breeding canaries, yeah.

It's the most amazing collection. Where did you start?

The first two I bought was in the Theatre Royal in Norwich,

at an antiques fair in there.

I bought two there and it got a little bit addictive after that.

SHE LAUGHS

Which were the ones you bought first?

-A little pair of these Samson ones there in the middle.

-Oh, yes.

-Samson from Paris.

-Yeah, that's right,

-which were a copy of the Bow ones from years ago.

-Yes.

Well, you've got Bow ones here, haven't you, which are pretty nice?

I mean, all I can say is I'm thrilled to bits to see

so many canaries and the fact that some of them are not yellow!

-Could you do that when you were breeding?

-No.

You can breed a white one, but generally, these are just souvenirs.

So, what were you trying to breed?

-Gloster canaries...

-Yes?

-..which had a crown or crest on.

-And you went in for competitions?

-Yeah, competitions, shows.

You could go in for competitions with porcelain ones, couldn't you?

-That would be nice, wouldn't it?!

-I think it's absolutely splendid.

And presumably, you bought this wonderful cabinet to go with them?

Yeah, that was bought especially for the canaries.

And looking at all those, what have you got? 80 or something in there?

-138.

-Ooh, 138!

Well, if we sort of multiply by an average of, say, £50,

you're sitting on a wonderful collection worth about £7,000.

-I'm very pleased with that. Thank you very much.

-Good. Good. Wonderful.

Word after word after word, all hand-sewn.

I seem to be looking here at the world's biggest sampler.

-Tell me about it.

-Yes. It's a sampler,

but not as you might recognise. In fact, a lot of people might think,

-"I've got a sampler at home, but it doesn't look like that..."

-Exactly.

"..it's got an alphabet and a nice picture of a cottage

"and some animals and flowers."

But technically, yes, we think of this as a sampler.

-I bought this from the Norfolk Museum collections.

-So, you don't own it?

I don't own it. I wish I owned it. I think...

As a curator, you're not really supposed to have favourite objects,

but this is just absolutely my favourite object

in the Norfolk Museum Service collections.

Now, I'm just going to explain.

This is why we've got umbrellas because we're very aware

of the danger to an object like this of too much sun.

But who is it and who was she?

Well, very helpfully, she tells us all the way through.

What we do know is that it was made by a lady called Lorina Bulwer

and we actually know quite a bit about Lorina

from doing bits of research. We know that when she stitched this,

she was in Great Yarmouth Workhouse and it was around 1900.

So although it looks very modern, it is quite old.

She was in the female lunatic ward.

So, suddenly, that makes this piece really special and unusual.

Now, why was she there? Did her family put here there? Do we know?

We don't really know and that's one of the reasons I love this item

because there are so many questions

and there's quite a lot of mystery around it.

There are not very many surviving workhouse records

from Great Yarmouth Workhouse at this time.

People only ever really ended up in the workhouse

-if they couldn't cope any more on their own.

-It was the bottom line in society.

-It was.

We can assume that was probably the situation for Lorina.

She's a very cross woman, isn't she?

She is. I would say this takes the form of a very long, angry rant.

She's not happy about being in the workhouse.

She's angry with her family.

She is angry at the situation she's found herself in.

-Is there a good bit to read out?

-There's lots of good bits.

-Well, they're all good bits!

-They are!

-But they're all rather rude.

-They are.

We have to be a bit careful which bits we read out.

But I think one of my favourites is about her neighbour, Mrs Gooch.

"She walks with the aid of a black walking stick.

"Her hands are crippled with dramatic.

"She wears long, drab Lindsey draws because of using oils,

"Ellimans embrocation."

Now, what we do know is that Mrs Gooch was real. She was a neighbour.

-And we now have a very clear image of her.

-We have a very clear image!

And actually, if you look at the top,

you'll see it's addressed to several people.

So, she starts off to the "Maharajah of Kelvedon."

So, she is writing a letter.

In some ways, it's easier to think of it as sort of an embroidered letter.

At first, you think, "What a wonderful, decorative thing."

And then you look beyond that and you have this amazing insight

into the attitudes of that day,

-the changing treatment in mental health issues.

-Yep.

Now, we wouldn't dream of treating somebody like that.

In those days, it was quite commonplace, even as late as 1906,

for people to be randomly locked up for no good reason.

And I think she's very aware of that.

She doesn't believe that she should be in there

and she's really angry with her family,

and some very specific members of her family as well,

for her ending up in there. So I think she's well aware

that this isn't the right place for her to be.

But of course, it's very difficult for us to tell whether or not it was.

Presumably, the story is buried in here somewhere,

but what did she do then?

Do you think they came out of the workhouse?

Did she publish them, in effect?

We don't know for definite.

But my instinct is that she did get them out somehow.

And I say "they" because there's another very similar sampler

that had come up for auction in 1995.

Last year, we were able to track it down

and sure enough, she produced another one

and it was done about three years after this

-and she's even angrier by this point.

-Cos nothing has happened?

-Nothing has happened.

-She's published her first proclamation

to no response, so she does another one. It makes sense, doesn't it?

-Yep.

-Until somebody listens. But nobody ever does listen.

-No.

-It's a tragedy, really, isn't it?

-It is.

I think in museums we often talk about

whether or not objects speak to us.

We're interested in what they can tell us about the past,

but it is so unusual to have an object that really is

speaking to you and is shouting at you from 100 years ago,

telling you, "This is how I feel. This is how I feel."

That's why it is so special.

It's immensely creative. This is an amazing and exciting object.

But of course, you're a museum and out of respect to museums,

we don't value museum objects.

But it's just priceless in all sorts of other ways.

-Your job is to bring it to life, isn't it?

-Yes. Thank you.

That's all right! Thank you very much.

Well, this interesting musical instrument,

-I gather you discovered it in rather unusual circumstances.

-Yes, I did.

-Tell me about it.

-Well, I was on patrol in Afghanistan.

-You were in the Army?

-Yes.

-In which regiment?

-The Royal Anglian Regiment.

-Oh, indeed. Yes. Go ahead.

-So, on patrol in 2007,

I'm just walking through the desert

and it's a pretty quiet day and I saw something glistening.

You get suspicions going at those sorts of stages.

About an hour and a half of working out exactly what we've got in front of us.

Put a bit of string tied to the end of it.

Went back 300m and hid behind a big hill and then slowly...

-LAUGHTER

-As you do!

And then slowly pulled it towards me, hoping it didn't go bang at that stage.

When I pulled it towards me, realising, "Hang on, I might have found..."

A nice little souvenir came out of there.

Emptied out the sand, shook it off a little bit, gave it a little

bit of a brush off and found this nice little horn,

-just sitting there.

-What an extra ordinary story.

-And you brought it back with you?

-Yes, brought it back this year.

I think it probably dates from the 1920s, so I think it's about

100 years old, give or take.

Made of brass and copper with this interesting head on the end

with a tongue coming out. So, the hole for the music to come through.

Add the nice brass boss in the middle section here.

It's difficult to say whether or not it's actually ceremonial

or whether it would have been used for playing.

It's not of great commercial value.

But it would properly fetch £100, £150.

But it's wonderful that you should own it

and find it in the desert out in Afghanistan.

-You're not a musician yourself, are you?

-I play trumpet.

-Oh, do you?!

-So, you're a brass player?

-Yeah.

-Gosh. What a remarkable coincidence.

-Have you tried playing this?

-I have tried playing it.

It is slightly dented on the mouthpiece.

-But if you want, I can give it a go now.

-Well, nobody's listening.

-Go on. Give it a go!

-I apologise for the bad sound.

SPLUTTERING NOISE

LAUGHTER

I did warn you!

It worked better earlier on.

They're just crackers! But I guess...

LAUGHTER

Here we have the wood block that actually produced this print

and that's what's so wonderful about this. It's very tangible.

It's a bit like me. No visible means of support.

Now, word's got round you've got some items here

that might have some rather exciting Russian provenance,

a word we rather like to hear on the Roadshow.

What can you tell me about them?

They were our mother's.

-She lived in Syria.

-In Syria? Was she doing there?

At the time, they were with the Foreign Office, both working there.

So, how did Russian items come into their possession in Syria?

Mum saw them in a jeweller's in Syria, one of them, first of all,

and she brought it cos she liked.

Then I think she went back and bought the others.

The jeweller said he bought them from a Russian family.

-A Russian family?

-Yeah.

So, were they expensive at the time?

We think, one of them, she may have paid about £400,

-but she wouldn't have paid much more than that.

-This was how long ago?

-About 13 years ago.

-Yeah, I think she just really liked them.

She really liked them rather than specifically...

-just that they're beautiful items.

-On the back...

..is the Cyrillic writing,

which I guess your mum and dad were able to read?

After she bought one, I think she bought some others

and she started to look at the different markings on the back

-and it was always a case of, "Is it or isn't it?"

-Is it or is it not...?

-Faberge.

-Faberge.

We get very excited about Faberge on the Roadshow.

And have you ever tried to ascertain whether they're Faberge or not before now?

-We think my mum might have.

-Yes, we think she might have done,

but we haven't got much paperwork left to go on, so we don't know the real results of what happened.

-No-one will say, "Yes, no."

-Well, we will...

I can confidently predict.

You've come to the right place. Kids, what do you make of them?

They're exquisite and quite colourful as well.

They're exquisite and colourful?

That's quite a combination, isn't it?

Well, they may be, they may not be Faberge,

but we'll certainly be able to give you an answer.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

We're forever prising things done from life,

but it's very refreshing, every now and then,

to get something done from the death.

And this death mask

of the prime minister William Gladstone...

is yours and you're Vice Chancellor of UEA and a historian.

So, where does this image of the prime minister come from?

It comes from my great-grandfather, the first Lord Acton.

And was he the historian who coined "absolute power"?

-"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

-Yes.

So, a very interesting association.

Gladstone had him made a peer,

he was in need of additional liberal peers

and they became very close political allies and friends.

-And the date of it?

-It was May, 1898, when Gladstone died.

Now, what do you know about the process of making a death mask?

There are a variety of ways.

Often used for villains, to keep an impression of them

before photography kicked in.

I think, as a way of memorialising the dead,

it stayed longer on the Continent than in Britain.

My great-grandfather was very continental.

The idea of commemorating death really goes back a long way

to medieval kings, the idea of showing their face upon the coffin.

And they have to be propped up, do they not, in a chair,

-in order for the plaster cast to work?

-I think they do.

-It's all a bit grim.

-And if we look at it in detail,

it is, unlike portraiture of the period,

it is an undiluted expression of death

-and possibly of pain as well.

-Yes, I know.

I'm not sure that we, in our generation, handle death

with the sort of confidence and sense of continuity that they did then.

So I don't think it was thought of as a gloomy thing.

I think it was thought of as somebody who's gone on a bit ahead.

And clearly, Lord Acton, if we look at the box,

saw this relic of his friend

as a hugely important and significant object.

It seems to be made of wood with plaster

and then impressed with designs from Byzantine

and possibly pre-Reformation Catholic images,

almost as if Lord Acton was trying to turn him

into a Catholic after death.

Gladstone did lie in state in Westminster

and the words written around him were in Latin,

getting about as close to Catholicism as an Anglican would.

There was no tension between them over that.

What is interesting to know is that there are people out there

who collect death masks...

you know, normal people.

But there are also people who collect historical images

and what we're dealing with here is

an image of one of the most charismatic prime ministers

of all time and with that wonderful provenance

that goes back to your great-grandfather

and that association.

I mean, I suppose we're talking around about

£5,000 or £6,000.

Well, it's not for sale.

-Now, I understand you've had a word already with Fiona about this?

-Yes.

We had a chat to her earlier, yes, about the boxes

and a little bit of their heritage.

My late mother-in-law, she found the first box in a jeweller's shop

-in Damascus in Syria.

-Right.

She bought it because she liked it, very pretty box,

and then realised there were one or two marks on the bottom.

Now, she believed that she knew what they were

-because she'd spent three years in Moscow...

-Right.

..so she'd seen a lot of Russian boxes.

Fair enough because, in fact, they all bear Russian marks.

This, actually, is a very good example.

We've got underneath there Faberge marks.

Now, looking at these,

visually, they're absolutely super.

But when you start to look at this enamel work close-up,

you start to notice one or two things.

For example, can you see that tiny little black dot there?

-Oh, right. Yes.

-And as you go around in this enamel,

there are a lot of even finer black dots.

Similarly, if you look with a magnifying glass

at the soldiers' faces and so on,

-they sort of disappear into a sort of blob.

-Oh, OK.

And it applies, actually, to all of these.

So, when you look at this enamel, there are very fine little dots

and again, when you magnify it,

the enamel starts to look a little bit treacly.

So, what's going on?

Well, sometimes we do have to impart bad news.

-I can see that coming!

-Really?

And I'm afraid this is one of those occasions.

Had these been Faberge, that would have been superb enamel.

If there'd been a black dot there, believe me,

-Faberge would probably have sacked the guy who did it.

-I see. Right.

And the marks, that's a bit more tricky

because that needs experience.

They have the visual impression of a set of Faberge marks.

You've got the Imperial warrant, all this sort of thing.

But those are not genuine marks.

There has been an enormous amount of forgery of Russian work,

in particular Russian enamel work, over the last 20 years or so.

The market's been flooded. So many people are being caught by this.

-So, I'm afraid this does have a huge difference...

-I can imagine.

..in value.

-We're not in the tens of thousands...

-No.

..which would have been the case

if we'd been looking at Faberge boxes.

Your late mother-in-law, if she didn't pay more than about

£200, £250 each, she got value for money...

-what she didn't get was Faberge.

-Well, I think she bought it

originally because she liked the box. That was the original thing.

And that's a very good reason for buying and good for her.

There is just over £1,000 worth there.

-Much better than a kick in the teeth.

-Indeed.

-Not the Bahamas, this year, I'm afraid.

-I'm afraid not.

I think Clacton-on-Sea might be it.

Lovely. Thank you very much.

I have to say, I think this is the campest piece of China

I've ever seen and I'm hoping you'll say it belonged to Liberace.

No, unfortunately not. It belonged to my mother.

She inherited it from her aunt who was in service for a bishop

on the south coast. We believe he gave it to her as a leaving present.

I can see why he was tempted to get rid of it! Does your mother like it?

-Yes, I think she does, actually.

-I mean, it is...

I mean, does anybody in the background like it, perhaps?

You love it? I think it's a love-hate thing.

I think it's enormous fun. It is a coffee and liqueur set.

But what a coffee and liqueur set!

I mean, I don't think you'd be trundling this

onto the dining table... Maybe you did. Maybe that was the idea.

You cleared away the flowers, you put this on the table,

you got the burner up. The coffee would be made here.

This is obviously broken. This should have gone over like that

so that the coffee would come up here, down the funnel

and you'd get your little china teacup

and take a couple of coffee. "Would you like a liqueur?" "Yes, please."

Maybe in here you'd have some after-dinner mints as well.

-This, I have to say, is a replacement.

-Right.

He is a different type of porcelain.

So, I think probably there would have been another box like this.

But he does sort of work.

Maybe they've had two many liqueurs and not enough coffee

and he got broken.

I think, basically, it's French. 1870 or so.

These were things which are often created by retailers.

Somebody's had the mad idea,

"Let's make a train with coffee at the front, liqueurs at the back.

"Everybody will buy one." I don't think many people did buy one.

But it's the whole post-dinner experience as a train.

And in an auction, it's going to make anywhere between £500 and £800.

-Oh, right.

-Because where would you find another one?

It's a shame Liberace's no longer with us

-cos he would definitely buy it.

-Lovely. Thank you very much.

Initially, when you brought these in, I thought,

"That's an interesting collection of portrait miniatures."

And certainly, these ones here on the card

are hand-painted portrait miniatures,

-very delicately done and painted on ivory.

-On ivory?

-On ivory.

But very expensive to have done.

And they were popular throughout the 18th and 19th century,

really until the invention of photography.

And then suddenly it became much cheaper to have your portrait taken

-and one didn't have to employ an artist to do that for you.

-Of course.

This all started in the 1830s, 1840s.

This is where a relation of yours comes into it.

Well, this gentleman here is Alexander Lamont Henderson

He's my great, great, great grandfather

and he patented the process for enamelling photos onto these metal plates.

-And he could do this both in black and white or in colour.

-Yep.

-And I think he properly made a bit of a fortune.

-Yeah.

Apparently, he had a very large shop on one of the main streets in London at the time.

-And he also became Queen Victoria's personal photographer.

-He did.

Now, she was fascinated by photography.

She was a very keen photographer herself,

but obviously needed to have him just as a personal assistant as well.

I think they're fascinating. And so who have we got here?

-We've got Albert...

-Yeah.

-John Brown.

-John Brown.

We all know about John Brown and the stories that went on at the time

until today, who he was and why was he such a favourite.

-Interestingly, also we've got the famous...

-Dr Livingstone.

Dr Livingstone, I presume. There he is. A famous person of the day.

-A wonderful collection.

-Thank you.

-What are they worth?

-In photography terms, they very rarely turn up.

-Mm-hm.

But you've got four or five here.... I really believe...

something like Livingstone is going to be worth

-£600, £700, £800.

-Really?

-John Brown, probably the same.

Not so much for Albert, I would have thought.

-But I really love the one you're never, ever go to get rid of, which is...

-Of course not...

..your great-great-great-grandfather, so the collection here, we're talking about £2,500-£3,000.

-Really? Thank you.

-Thank YOU.

I think these are really, really charming

and really quite old-fashioned... antiques.

And, strangely, I've just found out this lady behind me

-has got one as well.

-Yes.

My grandfather gave me one.

It has more colours on it. It's not blue and white. It has deer on it.

It's green and yellow, and has more colours on it.

So I moved across and asked you, "What on earth is this thing?"

I usually put my pencils in it,

-so I'm not too sure what it is.

-I think you might know what they are.

Well, the family story is that these are Dutch, Delft planters

for baby, baby tulips, but I have no idea

if they're the real deal or whether they're complete fakes.

-Because my father was an antique dealer...

-And did he deal in a lot of fakes(?)

LAUGHTER

When they were fake, he brought them home for us for private consumption,

because he was a really reputable antique dealer in Chicago

and then, latterly, in New Mexico.

-Are they Dutch?

-No. Go on, put it down.

Um, they're called flower bricks, and so you're absolutely right.

They're not for pencils or crayons - they are for flowers.

I mean, nowadays, you get that horrible green oasis stuff that people jam flowers in.

Back in the middle of the 18th century, you have a flower brick.

And they are so charming. Can you imagine that full of flowers?

-So mid-1700s?

-Mid-1700s.

And curiously, it's always been very, very popular in North America.

-Where are you from?

-Born in Chicago.

-Stop. And you're from?

-Toronto.

You see, isn't that curious? It all holds together really well.

But here we are in Norfolk,

and my great-grandparents were born in Ludham, up the road from here.

So I'm definitely part local. And my father was English.

These are local too. These are English delftware, they're not Dutch.

-Ah.

-Delftware is tin-glazed pottery.

It's pottery with a glaze which contains tin oxide to make it whiter,

to try to make it look like Chinese porcelain.

But the term delftware has become used, first in Holland, but then also for the English factories,

and these are mid-18th century English delftware.

They're very charming things. Old-fashioned.

-Today, in the auction, the pair may be £1,600, something like that.

-Wow!

-I guess they're not fakes, then.

-They're not fakes.

-That's lovely!

How lovely! Well, thank you,

because I really genuinely didn't know what they were.

I'd love to own these. I think they're gorgeous.

When did you last have a proper look through the contents of this box?

-Years ago!

-Years ago?

-Yeah.

-Literally. And they're just family goodies.

-Yeah.

-And where do they live?

-In a bottom drawer of a chest of drawers, yeah.

Oh, it's such a shame. It's such a waste!

I'm going to seize that one and just pop that there,

because that stands out to me amongst all these fabulous seals and goodies.

And I'm going to lose the box.

So what do you think of that?

Do you think that looks interesting or not really?

I'm hoping it looks interesting.

Well, I'll tell you something.

Collectors love things in mint condition.

And bar one fault, this looks to be in tiptop condition.

Good.

Well, let us start by looking at the name.

It is a silver champleve dial.

Perfect.

And it's signed Windmills & Bennet.

-A fantastic pair of makers.

-OK.

In partnership for only a short time in the late 1720s.

-So this thing is nearly 300 years old.

-Gosh.

-That's older than the two of us put together!

-Quite a bit!

The hands are lovely. Beetle and poker hands in blued steel.

I'm hoping we'll see the most magnificent movement inside.

And I'm not wrong. Look at that. It's wonderful.

It signed T Windmills & Bennet, London.

And then there's a number there.

Just things to look for on the movement.

These fantastic Egyptian pillars, quite lovely.

Just what you'd expect to see for that sort of date.

And...when did you last look inside this thing?

Yesterday, before I brought it here.

-Had you noticed that lovely little grotesque face in there?

-No.

Well, he's there looking absolutely superb.

Good set of London marks.

Little bit of rubbing just on the top of the date letter,

-but that's K of 1725.

-OK.

So it's just quite gorgeous.

Now, I said there's one thing wrong,

and the thing that's wrong is that that bow has been changed.

It would have been a little stirrup bow much smaller than that

-and rather more delicate.

-OK.

But other than that, the watch is in quite lovely condition.

Now, inside the outer case,

we have a lovely watch paper from Priest of Norwich.

That has obviously been put in there round about

the early part of the 19th century, by the watchmaker that would have

-given it a quick clean and overhaul.

-OK.

Just a lovely, lovely thing. And I know it's going to be so sad.

-You're going to put it back in that drawer, aren't you?

-Probably!

Well, I'm going to tell you what you'd have to pay to replace it.

And then, hopefully, it'll just have a bit more pride of place.

If you went to a decent watch dealer,

you'd have to pay, for that little silver thing,

between £3,000 and £4,000.

Mm! That's good!

That's great! Thank you.

-Please don't put it away in a drawer for another 50 years.

-No, no,

I'll have to put it in pride of place somewhere.

Holding it here, it's very simple and crude, almost,

-and yet, this bird's so full of character, isn't it?

-Mm.

I mean, it's got to be a real person. Do you know who he is?

I think I know he's a Martin bird.

I don't know who he is, but I like his face.

The Martin Brothers, the great potters in London...

Wallace Martin was the modeller of famous birds.

And he's said to have modelled them all on real people he knew -

clergyman or judges.

I mean, I don't know, I think he's got a bald head

and a little bit of hair at the back there, but it must be a real person.

-Where did he come from?

-Well, it came...

passed down to my husband from his mother, and she knew an old lady

who actually knew the Martin Brothers, I gather...

-lived near them in London.

-Oh, right.

-And that's how it came to us.

That's probably back in the 1920s or '30s, when the factory

was struggling, but the birds were made during the peak of their skills.

-They made such individual pottery.

-Right.

-Signed there Martin, London.

-Yeah.

-Made in salt-glazed stoneware.

The glaze fills in every little crevice, back in the potting,

and that, I think, helps to bring out the character.

But, simple modelling, just the human head...

I think he's losing his hair on top, but it's curling out at the back,

like mine does. It's a real character.

-It's only a little one.

-It's only a little one.

That is really the crucial thing.

You get models of birds with detachable heads,

-sometimes groups of the big Wally Birds.

-Yes, yes.

-Those are fabulous.

A little one is actually quite a rarity in many ways, and so,

almost, the smaller the better. And he's had a little chip on his nose.

That may be why they didn't sell it to begin with.

It's just chipped off and been polished smooth.

-That was probably done by the brothers themselves.

-Yeah.

It's going to make a difference.

That's probably knocked a couple of thousand off it.

What's left? 5,000?

Good heavens! That's amazing! Amazing.

Well, that's for the next generation. They'll be very pleased!

There are several things I like about your pendant,

and let me tell you what they are.

Its colour, the quality of the gems, and the third thing is

I love the harmony and the balance between the drop stone and the top.

Now, they would have produced something like that,

with that kind of balance,

in around about the year 1910.

So question number one...

Is it a family piece that goes back as far as 1910?

It came to me through my mother, who is Australian.

And it was given to her by her godmother in Adelaide,

-I suspect, in about the 1930s.

-I think it goes back before the '30s.

I think, by the '30s, things had got more angular and geometric,

so I think this is with the delicacy...

its platinum, its diamonds, but the key components -

and you mentioned it, you said Australia -

these are exquisitely observed and polished black opals,

-probably from somewhere like Coober Pedy...

-Yes.

-..in Australia.

And they have been polished to show the harlequin colours

of the opals themselves, so if you look at the main one,

the black one at the bottom, let me explain.

-The best opals are black opals.

-Yes.

And this black opal here has been very carefully polished

to show the harlequin play of colour

from the surface at the base.

A diamond top stone,

a diamond communicating stone,

a diamond above,

and then another further black opal top stone

in a diamond hoop frame on a platinum chain.

So, it's a very, very smart piece of jewellery,

which, incidentally, are called in the trade

-negligee pendants.

-Oh!

The idea was that they would...

How can I put this?

They would sit in the swell of

the embonpoint, if that's one way of putting it.

They just lodge themselves rather beautifully.

And, before I get too bogged down in detail here,

the word negligee pendant is a very apposite one

-for something like that.

-You told me that!

Now, I have to point out one rather nasty defect to it.

When we turn it over,

and that's the best way of looking at it,

can you see there?

There is a very nasty chip at the top.

How did that happen?

-Do you know?

-I've no idea.

Well, it doesn't help it, because

the people that buy gems like this want something that's

absolutely perfect. And, I think someone would probably,

if it ever appeared on the market,

they would remove the opal drop

and they would cut off that top bit

and then re-peg it on.

It's not going to be quite the same,

but I don't like that chip,

because it does detract from it somewhat

and it will worry people.

As it stands at the moment,

even though it's got the damage,

£5,000-£6,000.

Amazing.

Anyone's going to want it because of the sheer individuality,

beauty and harmony

of your lovely little bit of jewellery.

-Thank you very much!

-You're welcome. Thank you.

Your table is covered in marquetry

and the base has got lots of shamrocks on it.

So, do I presume that one of you is from Ireland?

-I'm from Ireland, yes.

-And it's from your side of the family?

It's actually not. It actually comes from my wife's side of the family.

The table belonged to my stepgrandfather

and when my grandmother passed away, I inherited the table.

Oh, right.

So, where do you hail from?

-I come from Cape Town in South Africa.

-OK.

So, this table somehow made a journey out to South Africa

and then ended up in your grandparents' possession?

That's correct.

But, unfortunately, I didn't know my stepgrandfather's

side of the family, so how they acquired it, I really don't know.

-One of life's great mysteries.

-Absolutely!

Well, the table itself was made

in Killarney in County Kerry.

And a lot of people used to visit Killarney through

the 19th century to see the beautiful lakes and mountains.

-Have you ever been?

-That's right, yes. We have been.

And the table is littered with hints

and signs that that's where it's from.

The first is Muckross Abbey,

which is one of the local sites.

And, in the 1820s, people began visiting

and were presumably looking for souvenirs.

And so the locals in Killarney

would make small toys and small objects out of wood.

And, have you ever heard of arbutus wood?

Strawberry tree wood?

-Yes, yes.

-Strawberry tree, yes.

-Arbutus is its botanical name.

But it grows there.

And, some of the marquetry is actually arbutus wood,

combined with yew.

And a lot of these leaves look quite

like leaves from the arbutus tree.

Then, of course, the shamrocks to the base.

They started by making small souvenirs, but then, when the

railways arrived in Killarney,

more and more tourists were able to come.

And so I presume that the people of Killarney recognise this

ready marketplace.

And so this would have been made in the 1850s and, of course,

the great thing about a table like this is that it's not only

decorated on the outside,

but inside it's a feast for the eyes, isn't it?

It's a games table,

not just a plain tea table.

With backgammon,

cribbage and a chequerboard.

And then another couple of local views to Killarney.

And, of course, the meandering shamrock is ever present.

It's a great table.

Yes, it is. Brilliant!

-Do you ever use it as a games table?

-No.

-We never have.

-You really should.

Cos, the whole thing about antiques is they're not

just to sit there and look beautiful, and that's why

I love furniture, because

you actually get to use them, too.

It's completely practical

and, you know, should get an airing every so often.

Now, you've probably heard that,

since the turn of the millennium, brown furniture

has been performing pretty poorly

at auction and on the open market.

However, this perhaps is something that's slightly

bucking the trend,

because its value now is around £6,000.

-Hmm.

-6,000.

HE WHISTLES

It's considerably more than

any other mid-19th century games or tea table.

Good. It'll definitely be in our family for a long time.

It will do. We won't be selling it!

I'm in doll heaven here. We've got three different eras of dolls.

So, how did you come to have them?

Fidelity, over this side, and these wooden dolls here came down through

the generations in my mother's side of the family.

-Right.

-The wax doll was given to my mother by a friend.

My mother used to go around with some of the dolls that we had

-and talk to Women's Institutes and that kind of thing.

-Did she?

And a friend of hers said, "Oh, I've got a doll. You can have her."

This was many years ago, now.

And produced this doll.

-That's pretty fantastic.

-She didn't want it.

Yes, she gave it to her.

It's funny. A lot of people with wax

find it's almost too like the real thing

and they find it a bit macabre.

But this particular wax doll is made by one of the best makers,

the Montanari family.

And they came over from Italy in the early part of the 19th century.

And they started making wax dolls.

Pure, poured wax. Beeswax.

And then coloured.

And she's absolutely splendid.

And in wonderful condition.

Original hair.

She is something the wax doll collectors go mad for.

Especially in this condition.

Now, she is about 1850.

We go further back now, tell me about these.

Well, they used to belong as a family group in a dolls' house.

They've been given a fictional name.

But, they stayed together

and represented the members of the family.

I love it! Wonderful.

These are all early 19th century.

They date back to something like

1815, 1825.

They are from what we call the

Grodnertal region of Germany,

which was southern Germany.

And they made many, many of these

dolls without clothes,

and they'd send them all over the world.

So, we'd get a lot in this country.

And then we'd - or the Americans, or any country -

would put their clothing on them.

-Right.

-But what's so lovely about these,

they look as though they've got British clothing on them,

rather than German clothing.

You know what I mean? They don't have

dirndls and things.

They are very, very special, because they're in such good condition.

Most of these I see have either got

an arm missing or the paint on their heads has been worn off,

because basically it's like an Old Master painting.

They're a base of wood painted with oil paint

and that is what you see, like an oil painting.

And then we come to the big girl.

Fidelity. She's really early.

She's early 18th century.

She's probably about 1730.

-She's George I.

-Right.

All right, she's had the odd broken finger and things,

but my goodness, she's in good condition.

It is so rare to have a doll

of 1730 anyway existing today.

She's splendid.

The same thing as the Grodnertal dolls,

she would have had this thin layer of gesso

put over the wood,

and then a thin layer of oil paint over the gesso.

So, it gives that translucent effect,

with rosy cheeks.

These are inserted glass eyes and then you take this off.

This is real hair

put in with nails

-and it's literally a wig.

-Painful!

Put in with nails. Painful, exactly.

But it's stayed on, even though the hair's a bit thinner.

She's getting on!

She's getting on a bit. Absolutely.

Wonderful little bonnet.

We now have to talk about price.

The Montanari wax doll at auction would probably

make in the region of £800-£1,200,

possibly as much as 1,500.

Each of these Grodnertals vary.

The ladies here are worth about £300 each.

And the men about £400 each.

-Wow.

-Oh, gosh. Expensive family.

Expensive family.

So, we come to Fidelity.

If she were to come up in the right auction,

we'd be talking about

£10,000-£15,000.

CROWD GASP

Grief!

-Surprised?

-Very.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Very. Thank you.

-Thank you.

APPLAUSE

Oh!

LAUGHTER

I've been watching that all the way through waiting for it to go!

Oh, my goodness!

-Di, it's a bit of an important week for you, this one.

-Yes, it is.

-It's my last week here.

-Last week.

And you've been working at the University of East Anglia for how long?

22 years, for the Student Union.

Now, there's been a few parties, I imagine,

and concerts over those 22 years?

Yes, there's been loads. Absolutely loads.

And we're trying to actually portray them in our backstage area.

So this is one of those.

So, this is... You show this backstage at the Student Union?

-Yes.

-Robbie Williams.

Now, this is when he left Take That, presumably?

That's right. This is the first solo show

after he left Take That.

1997. So, you must have seen a few things backstage, then?

-Yeah, some I can't talk about, but, yeah.

-Oh, can't you?

-Do tell.

-But I do see an awful lot of guys in their pants. So...

Any names we might have heard of?

I daren't! I daren't tell you.

Now, there's a few pants here.

These are ones that we retrieved from the stage,

where people threw them over.

-And they've got their addresses and little messages.

-No!

So, from Robbie Williams in his pants, your final week.

Yeah, so you're my final gig. So it's exciting.

And this is my final gig of the day here.

From the Antiques Roadshow, from Di, Robbie Williams

and the knickers and the whole Roadshow team, bye-bye.