Polesden Lacey 2 Antiques Roadshow

Today, we're making a return visit to Polesden Lacey,

near Dorking in Surrey,

the home of Margaret Greville,

a high society lady who wasn't all that she seemed.

Three British monarchs were entertained here.

Not bad for a woman who was born illegitimate,

was raised in a modest Scottish boarding house

and who went to enormous lengths to reinvent herself.

Welcome to the Antiques Roadshow.

Margaret Greville's mother was a domestic servant.

On Margaret's birth certificate,

the father is just a man who happens to share

the same surname as Margaret's mother, for respectability.

They weren't married and he wasn't Margaret's father.

Margaret was the illegitimate daughter of this man,

William McEwan, the millionaire Scottish brewer.

And when she grew up, she inherited his fortune,

worth £65 million in today's money.

It really is a rags to riches story.

And this Edwardian house, gifted to Margaret by her father,

is home to some of the finest collections

you can find anywhere in Britain today.

And they were amassed over a short period of time

in a series of shopping sprees.

Mrs Greville used art historians to help her amass her collections.

They were effectively her personal shoppers.

Mag, as she was known, had an open cheque book.

She cut a swathe through 2,000 years of cultural history,

buying it up wholesale,

filling her new build home with the most beautiful art and antiques.

Many of the Dutch old masters she inherited from her father.

Other items she bought,

like the Romans sarcophagus dating from 3 AD,

marooned here in the middle of an Edwardian corridor.

It's difficult to describe her personal taste.

Certainly it was eclectic and she hoovered up

whatever she thought her many society guests would love

and that would create the right kind of atmosphere

for her many parties.

And Italian art was a favourite.

Margaret Greville collected beautiful and celebrated objects

rather like she collected people, the cream of society.

Today, Polesden Lacey and its incredible collections

are looked after by The National Trust

so the perfect place for our experts to look at your treasures.

And don't forget,

if you want to play along with our valuation game at home,

just press red on your remote control or go to...

..on your computer or on your smartphone.

What's more appropriate for a punchbowl

than to be supported by a figure of Mr Punch himself?!

But I must say, by the amount of dust on it,

-I don't think it's had a lot of tender loving care.

-No.

-Where do you keep it?

-On the floor behind the sofa!

Where do you display something like this in a modern home?

-How did you come to have it?

-It's my mother-in-law's.

I'm not too sure if she bought it or swapped it.

She died eight years ago and my father-in-law,

just before he died, recently, gave it to me.

Oh, right.

-So it's really your inheritance?

-Yes.

When he gave it to me, he said, "This is your inheritance."

Well, I mean, what we have is a piece of majolica,

this great Victorian glazed pottery.

-OK.

-And it really is just meant to amuse

and I think it certainly does that.

-Right.

-The...

Majolica is a great Staffordshire Victorian invention.

Several factories produced the best majolica, Minton and Wedgwood

and another one - George Jones.

And we always look to see whether there are any markings, here.

This is by the great factory George Jones.

They've got the registration mark.

-That's when they copyrighted and patented the design.

-OK.

That tells us it was made 1873-1875.

-So this goes back quite a long way.

-Wow.

And at the time, of course,

it was used for festive celebration, in enjoyment.

-You can imagine it filled with punch.

-Yes.

At the time... It would have been a pricey object

in Victorian times because George Jones was a good maker.

Good majolica was costly.

It went into grand homes and was much to be admired.

And it went out of fashion and then back into fashion over the years.

It's gone up and down.

In a way, you've probably missed the boat a little bit

because it used to be more valuable than it is now.

While it's been stuck behind the sofa,

-it's been going down in value.

-Aw-w!

-But...

But the good news is it's still worth a fair old bit.

Say five years ago, when it went down there,

it would have been worth probably...

£10,000.

GASPS

-It's only half that, now.

-Oh!

That's amazing. Oh, dear!

I do like a picture being presented to me

with all the details on it

so I don't have to think!

And on here you've got the name of the artist...

-Yes.

-Fantastic.

And I can see that it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1852.

Turner died in December 1851.

I just think it's fantastic to have all that information

-and a picture of his house painted so soon after he died.

-Yes.

Turner is the most important artist, to me, of the 19th century.

-Is he? Yes.

-Why? Because of the impressionism.

-So how did you get it?

-We bought it through our family.

We are connected with Turner but...

-Turner wasn't married but his uncle, John, we come down that line.

-OK.

And so my father had it and my grandfather had it.

Alexander McInnes,

I've hardly ever seen any work by him

-and there's very little known about him.

-Yes.

And we know he was exhibiting from 1848 until the 1860s.

-So quite a short period of time.

-Yes, definitely.

And you know, he could have been a friend of Turner's

-at the end of his life.

-Yes.

-Maybe painting in tribute. He wanted to paint him, I think.

-Yeah.

With him in the front!

Well, I think it's so interesting because what I can tell you,

this hung in the Royal Academy and it was number 349 in the line.

-How interesting! Good gracious.

-Yeah.

-Yes!

-And I'm wondering whether your ancestor bought it at the RA,

maybe as a memory of Turner's house.

That could be, couldn't it? Yes.

-There's a lot of inscriptions on the back.

-Yes.

And I see there's a translation here,

"The lodging house situated on the banks of the Thames

"betwixt Battersea Bridge and Cremorne Gardens, Chelsea,

"in which the late JMW Turner RA died on 19 December 1851."

He lived incognito there with...

-Under the name of Mr Booth...

-Yes.

-..because his helper was Mrs Booth.

The caretaker was Mrs Booth, wasn't she?

-The housekeeper.

-That's right. That's right, yes.

So we've got Turner with the housekeeper in the picture.

-And there's Turner with his folio...

-Yes.

-..and Mrs Booth

-busying herself in the garden.

-Oh, I didn't realise that was Mrs Booth!

Well, I'm guessing that it is.

-I think you're right, yes.

-I would like to add to the story

-cos I think it is and he's probably put it in.

-Yes, I'm sure.

And he lived near Cremorne Gardens and that was a pleasure garden

where they had these fantastic firework displays.

-That's right.

-And I can just see him up there,

-painting away and doing it.

-He loved it, that's right.

-It's just fantastic.

-So happy.

You know, he was living under a pseudonym with his housekeeper.

-That's right, yes.

-And did they have a relationship or not?

-I think they did.

-I think they did!

And it's so real because it's only the year after that it was painted.

-That's right, yes.

-So what do we put on it?

-I mean, you look at that, it's historic.

-Yes.

-It's so historic.

-Yes.

-Because he's just died, it's been painted,

-it's been exhibited at the Royal Academy.

-I see that.

I love all the advertising.

-Yes, it's nice.

-It's just fantastic.

So I'm going to say...

if this came up,

it would make somewhere in the region of, certainly,

4,000-6,000.

-Very good.

-Because of the history and because of the labels on the back.

-Lovely.

-Right, thank you.

Now, Madame, the minute you speak to me,

it will be evident to our viewers

that you hail originally from la belle France.

-Well, yes, I can't hide it. Can I?!

-You can't.

But which city do you come from?

-Nancy.

-That is my favourite city.

And if you want to see great Art Nouveau

that is the place to go.

Anyway, before people are thinking

that we're doing our bit for the Nancy tourist board,

I think it's fair to say that we should be looking at

three pieces of glass that originally were made in that city.

And made by a man whose name is synonymous

with the best in Art Nouveau design.

And that man, of course, was Emile Galle.

-Ah, Emile! I didn't know that.

-Emile Galle.

You've brought along three pieces of glass

that were probably made no more than a few miles away

from where you lived.

And so you've brought them over to the UK

and I just want to know a little bit more

about how you came by them.

Well, they were all the time in my grandparents' house,

in the kitchen - on the windowsill, a big windowsill.

They had a big chimney and there was a windowsill above

and they were there.

I thought they were a bit ugly.

And they had sprigs of thyme or stuff, all herbs, in them.

And that's what they were used for.

-OK.

-And they looked very dark actually.

-And I never thought much about them.

-Never thought much about them?

-No.

What's the French word for decadence?

-La decadence!

-La decadence.

Because the idea of using Galle vases to stick your herbs in

is a total anathema!

And you French are supposed to have a monopoly on good taste?!

Anyway, these are interesting pieces of Galle glass.

Let me just explain that he does all manner of glassware.

He does glass in the studio, which are really glass sculptures.

But certainly around about 1900,

he is producing this type of glassware

on, believe it or not, an industrial scale.

Because there are well over, you know,

-200 people employed at the Galle glassworks.

-Yeah.

Let's start with this one

because the glass in question is cameo glass.

So you've got one layer of glass blown over another

and then cut through using an acid cutter, hydrofluoric acid.

-OK.

-You've got the Galle signature, there.

And this tells me this dates to

around about 1900, 1902.

And I love the design. It's a lovely shape.

Very pretty.

So this one,

the colours are more autumnal.

And these designs are very much,

you know, florals

or in this case they are sort of, like, a tree-type design.

But the one I like best

-is this one.

-I thought it looked like...

Well, believe it or not,

when it's sold in the salerooms,

they call it Lake Como.

So I would say on a valuation scale...

This one, an auction estimate would probably be

-around about £800 to 1,000.

-Oh!

This one would probably be in the region of

around about £700-900.

And as for this one,

I tell you now that you wouldn't get any change,

certainly if you wanted to buy it from a dealer,

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

-Oh, my!

Who's a lucky lady?!

My lucky day.

Just promise me one thing,

that you're never going to stick a flower or a herb in these again!

-Merci beaucoup.

-Oh, merci a vous.

-Merci. Je suis tres, tres contente!

-OK.

Do you know, I have an admission to make,

-I used to go to bed with a Mickey Mouse.

-Right!

-But not quite as old as these two.

-Right.

Where did they come from?

We found them when we were clearing my mother's house.

She died last year, she was 92.

These were in an oak chest

at the bottom of a great pile of family photographs.

They were in a plastic bag.

I had never seen them before in my life.

She'd never shown them to us as children.

I know nothing about them.

I mean, it's not surprising, then, they're in such good condition.

-Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse in 1928.

-Right.

And he was in a film called Steamboat Willie...

-Oh, right!

-..in 1928.

-Right.

And he just completely took off.

Everybody wanted a Mickey Mouse.

And these were made by a firm called Dean's, in the UK.

-Oh, right!

-So they're actually British...

-They are British!

-..Mickey Mice.

-Right.

It's really funny cos this one looks as if he's actually looking at me.

Yes!

And this one looks as if he's praying for help!

-They're original from the 1930s.

-Right.

So would that fit in with your mum getting them?

Well, she was born in 1920 so I guess so.

Would they have been toys or souvenirs?

Well, they were toys but your mum

obviously didn't play with them much at all

because they are, for this age, they're in remarkable condition.

However there is one problem.

There's no Minnie?

That's a big problem!

We thought that might be Minnie because it's different.

No, I'm afraid Minnie had a little skirt!

-And of course Minnie is much more valuable than Mickey.

-Right, right.

The other little problem

is they've actually lost their little tail.

-Oh, really?!

-They had tails

and they were very rat-like and they changed.

People didn't like them being quite so rat-like,

-so they made them softer.

-Right.

So that's how we know, with the big hands,

-these are early examples.

-Oh, right.

And because the condition is good,

I would still value them at

at least £600.

I don't know who's more surprised, the mice or me!

That is incredible.

Wow!

So how are two sisters going to share this?

Well, there are two birds!

Tell me how they came to belong to you both.

Well, it goes back to childhood.

I won't say how long ago but we used to be dragged around flea markets.

It was on the first Sunday of every month

that they used to have these sort of events that we got...

-In England or...?

-No.

-In France, mainly in France.

-We went on holiday in France.

-Yes, our mother's French

and so we used to spend our summer holidays in France.

So yes, this was lying on the pavement.

It's about the only thing we actually got excited about

-cos most of the rest of it is all dusty and...

-It was our height!

And we saw this and we thought, "This is worth coming for."

-It was about our eye level, as well!

-Yes.

-So what did you do?

-We made a lot of fuss.

-"Maman, maman!"

-"Maman, maman!" Yes.

-"I want, I want."

-Well, we thought they were real birds

because they do look extremely realistic.

And I bet they move pretty well.

And then somebody wound it

and the little beaks were yapping away

-and it was tweeting beautifully but now...

-It doesn't?

-Not so much. It's erratic.

-Well, since our brother...

-He's over there.

-Yes, our brother.

-He actually tweaked the tails and things.

-We blame him!

-So he's blamed for life, is he?

-He is!

-Yes, yes, yes!

He's not allowed to touch it anymore.

But maybe it just needs a little bit of oiling.

This dates back to the late 19th-century

and Roullet et Decamps...

I'm sure you speak better French than me

but it was a very well-known factory in Paris

and they made all sorts of things

-from prancing bears to birds to smoking monkeys.

-Oh, right!

All sorts of things.

And it's quite unusual to have two birds and to have it so big

because it is a very nice size.

Cos you get the little tiny ones that sit on the table

but this is a serious one, if you like.

The even more serious ones had ormolu all round them

and this is painted to look like ormolu.

And of course it was made to hang.

You've got the hanging loop, there.

And they were taken out on high days and holidays to entertain guests.

-And the children, yes!

-And probably to entertain the children!

It kept us quiet for a long time, anyway.

-We used to play with it for hours.

-It would have a stop-starter.

I have to say, I'm holding my hand on it.

-It's starting to hurt actually!

-That's evidence!

Because if I let go, they are going to start moving

-but I don't think they're going to start making a noise.

-Who knows?!

-Shall we try?

-Yes.

-Oh, yes, fingers crossed.

VERY FAINT TWEETING

-A tiny tweet!

-Come on, tweet.

-Very good movement.

-Yes.

And the sound was so realistic, as well.

Do you know, I don't think it would take much to get it going again.

-To bring its tweet back.

-It could well be

that it just needs a bit of TLC.

I think partly probably because our mother put it away,

-out of harm's way.

-Could have got a bit damp?

-It might have.

-Yes.

-It could have got a bit damp.

-It perhaps hasn't been used as...

The feathers are pretty good.

These in particular are wonderful colours

and they very often came from Amazon parrots

and that sort of thing.

If you could get this going,

and I don't think it would be too big a job,

assuming that can be done, we're talking probably around

£3,000 to 4,000.

-Oh, gosh.

-Oh, well, from something off the pavement!

Just as well we did spot it and bring it home!

Well, that's a nice number because there are three of us.

Yeah!

You've brought along what looks like

the instrument panel from a Lancaster.

Why have you got it?

Well, my father was with 625 Squadron during the war, in Lincolnshire,

and he flew Lancasters.

And I bought this from a museum in Essex,

who were closing down,

really as a tribute to him.

And I took it home and said to the wife,

"Wouldn't it make a lovely headboard above the bed?"

You're kidding!

I take it from the fact that it's here and not on your bed

-that your wife didn't agree!

-She put her foot down and said,

"No. Emphatically not."

Funny that!

-So he flew Lancasters?

-He did.

Where did he fly? What happened to him?

He was shot down on his 14th mission,

-flying on a raid to Leipzig.

-Right.

And we've got his logbook here, as well.

-This is the logbook?

-This is the logbook, yeah.

And on the 14th mission, all it says is,

"Missing, nothing heard after take-off."

And there we are, there's the entry.

-That's pretty final, isn't it?

-It is, it is.

It really is. And you've got some photographs?

Yes, I have. Yes.

That's my father coming out of the rear door of the plane.

-That's marvellous.

-Him in the cockpit.

That's his crew and unfortunately

they were all killed on that raid.

-He was the only survivor.

-Gosh.

So how did he get out?

Well, the plane caught fire and as the pilot,

he tried to retain control of the aircraft,

keeping it level so his crew could bail out.

It then unfortunately flipped over on its back

and he fell through the Perspex canopy above the pilot seat.

And his story goes that he was plummeting to ground,

reached for his parachute,

-it wasn't there.

-Oh, my goodness.

He went through a search light beam

and saw it was on a strap about ten foot above him.

So there he was reaching terminal velocity,

he managed to pull it down, strap it on

and pull the D-ring at the last minute,

landed in a plough field and just broke his shoulder.

And I say just... He survived, in other words!

-That's an astonishing story actually.

-Yeah.

How old was he then?

-About 21. Yeah, very young.

-Gosh, very young.

So were a lot of them.

It's incredible that men of so young an age

-should be in such a responsible position.

-Yeah.

I think they looked upon it as a bit of an adventure. You know?

It's the boys' own thing, in charge of an aircraft with seven men in it

-and everything else.

-Yes.

And when did your father's aircraft crash?

It was in 1944. February 1944.

And he subsequently ended up in Stalag Luft III.

-The Great Escape!

-That's the one.

Yes, he was there six weeks before it took place.

And he remembers the build-up

and the secrecy involved in setting it up.

He was also there when they came in to announce

that they'd all been shot.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

Did you ever talk to your father when you were growing up

about his time in the Second World War?

I did but he was very reluctant to talk about it

until the latter part of his life,

when I made him write down his experiences.

So we have that on record.

I think he probably just felt a degree of guilt

-about the loss of his crew.

-Really?

And I think that affected him throughout his life.

But let's just take a look at the instrument panel for a minute.

It's incredible, isn't it?

Look, all these individual instruments.

The altimeter, the airspeed indicator,

the artificial horizon.

All of the instruments you would need to fly

this giant four-engine bomber.

What is puzzling me,

and this is a big puzzle to me,

is why the instruments are in this board.

Because every single instrument panel from a Lancaster

I've ever seen

is aluminium...

with a black finish.

It's been made very professionally

but nonetheless,

I suspect it's probably never actually been in a Lancaster.

Doesn't detract from the fact that it's a great object.

So let's look at values.

I think the value of the instrument panel,

the value of the logbook,

the documents... Have you got other documents, too?

-I have, yes.

-Lots of other documents?

-Yes, I have.

OK. I think we'd be looking in terms of

-£3,000 to 4,000.

-Really?

Fantastic.

It's a family peace so, as everybody says,

it won't leave the family.

But thank you, that's very interesting.

When the sun comes out,

I'm glad to say people turn out in their thousands

to come and see our experts on the Roadshow.

And we have such a huge queue today. I want to show it to you.

This is the beginning of the queue, back there.

-Are you ready for your wait in the queue, there?

-ALL: Yes!

How long have you been told you'll have to wait?

ALL: Three hours!

Three hours!

-Well, they seem quite happy about it.

-If we're lucky!

If you're lucky!

And then the queue goes all the way along here,

as far as the eye can see,

and then it doubles back round here

and then round again

and somewhere down there is the end of it.

Shall we go and find it?

# Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun

# The Japanese don't care to

# The Chinese wouldn't dare to... #

This is about halfway.

# In the Philippines they have lovely screens

# To protect you from the glare

# In the Malay states there are hats like plates

# Which the British won't wear... #

And then the queue comes all the way down the hill,

all the way along here.

You are so nearly at the front!

Because this is the front.

And then all these good people will see our experts,

who are all waiting here.

# But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday

# Out in the midday

# Out in the midday Out in the midday sun! #

Interesting paintings, these.

-Yes, they are.

-Do you like them?

I've had the pleasure of having them in the family home

-for the last 35 years.

-Ah, wonderful.

Did you buy them?

No, they were bought by

my stepchildren's maternal grandfather.

I think around about 1948

or the early '50s.

Yeah, and where was he buying?

I think he bought them in London.

Oh, in London? Right, OK.

We have here a mother

and she's by...

a table with a vase on it.

And there's a peony in the vase.

Now, the peony is a symbol of beauty.

Yes.

So a Chinaman would read this

as a beautiful lady.

This one's even more redolent with meaning.

Is it?

I mean, you can't look at a Chinese painting

and see it as we would,

as a landscape.

There's something else going on in there.

This beautiful lady

is in a garden.

She's looking at herself in a mirror.

And this painting is not just a painting of a girl in a garden,

-it's symbolic.

-Is it?

And it's symbolic of the Three Friends Of Winter

who survive winter.

And we've got the pine,

which is very subtly just shown as a gnarled trunk...

The pine, plum blossom

and the bamboo.

It's signed.

I can't read that, I don't know the signature

but it's probably findable.

Typically for Chinese paintings they're on silk.

Some are on paper but mostly silk.

But what about the frames?

Once you start looking at these...

..the thing becomes utterly fascinating.

-Yes, I love the frames especially.

-You do?

-Yes.

-OK, so you have looked at them?

-Oh, yes. Yes.

So what are these?

-I don't really know, perhaps you could tell me!

-Ah!

It's like all owners. They've never looked at their objects.

Perhaps not too closely!

-They're mushrooms.

-Mushrooms? Good heavens!

I've never ever seen mushrooms

on a Chinese-style frame.

I mean, extraordinary.

The mushroom, or the toadstool,

is symbolic in China.

It symbolises long life.

And I think that these frames are jolly nearly

-contemporary with the painting.

-Are they?

I think actually they're Regency.

I think they're late 18th, early 19th century.

And that's more or less what we're talking about for the paintings.

So what are they worth?

Well, you know the Chinese

-are going crazy for anything that's theirs.

-I know.

Probably cos they're different sizes

and they don't relate to one another,

one would split them.

And they would probably make...

£3,000 to 5,000 each.

Oh, that's very good.

-I'm delighted.

-Thank you so much.

Well, this is a lovely mahogany table

and I can kind of date it by these legs.

The sort of Victorian heavily-turned leg,

rather like the aesthetic movement of the 1880s, 1890s.

And I notice here we've got a maker's brass label.

Ferrabee and Rucks of Gloucester.

So it's not a London-made peace

but it's a magnificent piece of timber, here.

These three big mahogany boards pleated together.

But clearly it does more than...

Well, is it a dining table and what does it turn into?

Well, it's obviously a lovely dining table.

You can get about eight people round it.

And you can see these brass plates at the end,

which are locators.

The top turns right over and gives you a skittle table.

Right, I've seen billiard tables but they're bit more rectangular.

-Yeah.

-This is a skittle table, that makes sense.

-Can you show me how it works?

-OK!

-You better lead me through this.

-OK.

-Lift together.

-Yeah.

-Turn.

-Swap hands.

-Right.

-And again.

Oh, I see.

Well, there we go.

Well...

That is unexpected!

-So now presumably this comes up, does it?

-Yeah.

Up we go, right.

-Oh, I see so we've got...

-And I have...

Out of the cupboard, here, comes...

..nine skittles and a ball.

You can imagine the idea of being in some Victorian parlour,

can't you, in the late 19th century?

Gaslight or possibly if the house was wealthy enough

the beginning of the electric light

just beginning to come into the houses,

probably with their own power plant.

These are ebony, I guess. So what do we do now?

Well, I'll just take you through it, first.

-There's a release handle here.

-Yes.

Which pushes a pin up, there,

and pushes the ball down.

And it also operates the shoot.

-Put your thumb on there.

-Oh, I see, and you shoot it.

Yeah, a big stiff pull.

-And then...

-Whoa!

Eh, not bad! Three!

-How many goes do I get?

-Three.

OK, here we go again.

You're going to tell me you can do it in one go!

When you release it, do it slowly

and you can sight it through further across.

Oh, I see, that moves!

Oh, I see!

Oh! Not bad, eh?!

-Well done.

-Right, now the challenge.

-OK?

-Yes, third ball, ninth skittle.

Oh, no!

Well done anyway!

Wow, that is amazing.

And I suppose you want me to value it or something like that, do you?

Well, possibly! As you can see also on the top, here,

there's a maker's plate also.

but I've no idea how old it is either. Late 1800s?

I think 1880, something like that, from the furniture point of view.

-OK.

-From the style of the legs, etc, that Japanese influence.

-Yeah.

I mean, at auction,

2,000 to 3,000?

That's good, yeah.

-It's a question!

-OK, well...

More?!

That's sounds all right to me.

-I mean, it's difficult to place but it's a...

-Yeah.

I think the point is it'd be jolly hard to find another one.

Indeed. I've never ever come across any one, at all.

I want another go now!

They were left to me by my grandmother.

We actually just found them in a jewellery box

in the back of the cupboard

when she passed away, like, three years ago.

-So definitely a surprise, there.

-It certainly is.

-And she hadn't worn them or anything?

-Not really, no.

I've never seen her wear them at all

so it was just like a hidden treasure.

Oh, that's wonderful, isn't it?

The last thing that you thought you were going to find!

And two really very pretty rings, as well,

-and very different in design.

-Yeah.

Is there one that you prefer?

-I would probably wear one more than the other.

-Yeah.

I'd probably wear this one more,

purely cos I want it as my own ring when I get married.

-So...

-Anybody lined up?

No, not yet! I have the ring, just waiting for the guy, so...

Well, you never know, he might just be around the corner,

-you don't know.

-Hopefully, yeah.

Well, diamond rings, as I say, everybody loves them.

Girl's best friend.

And they've been popular throughout the centuries.

But more so since, really, the 1920s, 1930s

when diamond cutting developed to the modern brilliant cut,

-as we know it today...

-Yeah.

-..which these two rings are.

This one in a cluster formation

and this one of course as a single-stone ring.

Now, it was Chanel who said that you can show the greatest of worth

-in the smallest of volumes.

-Yeah.

And you certainly can when it comes to a diamond ring.

We value diamonds through a number of different elements.

There's colour, clarity, carat size.

And all these come together

to form the main value of the actual diamond.

And naturally cut comes into it too

but that's mainly down to, a lot of the time,

-people's taste and fashion at the time.

-Yeah.

Now, as far as carat size is concerned,

which is what a lot of us are really concerned with,

the size of the stone,

the single-stone that we have there

-is estimated at about 1.5 carats.

-Yeah?

So good weight, good-looking ring

-and perfect for an engagement ring, yeah!

-Yeah!

And then the cluster ring, here,

surprisingly we've got more than the single-stone.

-We've got, in total, about 2.5 carats.

-Yeah?

Yeah, so you're not changing your mind? No?

-No, not just yet.

-No? Well, quite right as well.

Because when we come down to valuing them,

we're looking also at the colour and the clarity.

Now, these are very equal in those two areas.

They're bright, they're lively stones.

There are a few flaws in each of the diamonds

but nothing too much to worry about, really.

So, as far as fashion's concerned,

today the most popular cut of stone - the brilliant cut -

is the most fashionable in the single stone, as we have here.

And although this one weighs less, really,

than the 2½ carats that we've got in this ring here,

this one's going to be worth just that little bit more

than the cluster ring.

So the cluster ring, we're looking at a value, at auction,

-of round about £2,000 to £2,500.

-Wow!

I wasn't expecting that at all, no.

And then the single-stone ring,

you'd probably expect to reach about £3,000 to £4,000 for that.

Wow! Definitely keep hold of that one, then!

-Wow!

-Well, I hope you find the young man

who you'd like to present it to you.

-Definitely! Thank you.

-Pleasure.

Now, I come to this from a very personal point of view.

Seeing this, I thought, "Gosh!"

I've got a really...

wonderful personal connection to it,

because here we have a thing advertising...

An enamel sign advertising Turkish baths.

But the key thing is here, "92 Jermyn Street."

Now, when I was at school in London, in my last year,

a friend and I used to skive off

when we should have been doing sport

and we used to come and go to the Turkish baths.

And it was a wonderful, sort of secret thing to do -

an escape from reality.

And, of course, I also liked it because, in a sense,

it was taking us into what was then - even then -

becoming quite a rare experience.

What took you into Turkish baths?

Well, as someone about the same age as you,

I went to the one in the Imperial Hotel in London

-and then put it aside.

-That was one of the best, wasn't it?

-It was one of the best, definitely.

-It was really Turkish in its layout.

Yes, there's only Harrogate now that can match it at all.

-With all those tiles and everything?

-Yeah.

Let's just think a bit about the Turkish bath.

I mean, it was something that was there

through Victorian, Edwardian Britain. It was in our life.

Where does it come from and why did it stop?

Well, it actually came because David Urquhart, the politician,

visited... He was a diplomat. He went to Turkey.

He wrote a book called The Pillars Of Hercules

and described the bath

and an Irish doctor, Dr Barter,

who ran a hydropathic establishment, said, "This is just what I need.

"The dry heat of the Turkish baths cures people.

-"They can stand a higher temperature than in steam."

-Right.

And then David Urquhart

and his working-class political groups

built them all the way round England, about 35 of them.

-When was the first one?

-1856.

And from then on, many big hotels had them.

They were at stations.

They were all over the place, weren't they?

And I think they were just a way of life, for both men and women.

It's important that there were women's days and men's days.

And then why do you think it died out?

It died out mainly because they were very expensive to run.

You had to keep all the three rooms -

the different hot rooms that people pass through -

hot all day long, even if there was no-one there.

So it's really part of our social history and that's why I like this.

Tell me its history.

-Well, it belonged to a chain of Turkish baths in London.

-Yes.

One of the few chains.

And a friend in the Ephemera Society

tipped me off that she knew someone who had one,

and I'd never seen a Turkish bath sign before,

let alone an enamel one, and I just couldn't resist it, I'm afraid.

You couldn't resist it because it's your subject?

-It is my subject, yes.

-Does he have a name?

-He has a name, yes.

-Deborah called him Alphonse.

-Oh, I think that's quite suitable, really.

-It is.

-You bought him because you were addicted to the subject,

and I understand it. I think I would have done the same.

-Was he expensive?

-About £500.

-HE INHALES

-Gosh!

-More than many baths would have cost.

-Yes, yes.

Well, actually, I think, even though it's a bit battered,

I think it's such an exceptional thing.

I could imagine today

you could double that. Because...

-on the usual principle, "Find me another."

-Yes.

It's a wonderfully rare thing but, above all else,

it's brought back all my memories of that skiving off

-when I should've been doing other things.

-Yes.

I should have been doing school things, and there I was,

enjoying the hot room.

-Yes.

-Thank you very much.

-I'm glad. Thank you.

Now, we wouldn't normally start something to do with ceramics

on a book with a drawing of men on penny-farthings.

But there's a connection, isn't there? What is the connection?

The connection is

because the sketch

is of Doulton factory workers

all going to work on their penny-farthings.

My grandfather used to work at Doulton in Lambeth

and the ceramic is... I think it would have been a leaving gift,

in the form of a tig,

where all the ceramists... Ceramicists?

-Potters. Potters is easy!

-Potters - that's easy.

I like "potters". All the potters signed their names all around it

and they also, er,

illustrated and wrote articles

in the studio notes,

which came out every year.

But I've been given to understand that there's only about...

I don't know, a handful.

It's almost like the handwritten, in-house magazine

-of what they were up to.

-Absolutely.

-What sort of things did they do?

They wrote about their holidays,

how they went down to Devon for their...

Cos they all used to take their holidays at the same time.

Exactly. It was called the potters' fortnight,

which was the last week of June and the first week of July.

Everybody thinks of, you know, dark, satanic mills of smoke and chimneys

but these were really amazing places,

where raw clay came in one end and, through a lot of people's work,

a lot of people's talent, amazing products came out the other end.

So, obviously, because it was a factory

and the factory had to shut down, they had the potters' fortnight

and they all went away on holiday together. I think that's so...

Because ceramics is a team effort.

You know, the person who made the clay, who put the handles on,

who did the glazing, the decor...

Every department all relied on the previous person,

so, obviously, they built a close bond

and what often happened as well,

is the son would follow the father, mother, daughter -

all the skills were passed down the generations.

But here we have, you know...

What a wonderful example for a Doulton collector.

All these names -

George Tinworth, Frank Butler,

and the rest of their colleagues who worked at the Lambeth factory.

It's something which would be

a centrepiece for any Doulton collector.

And here, you know,

an original, handwritten, in-house magazine, if you like.

If it was ever to come on the market, which I know it wouldn't,

this would be - two pieces together - £2,000.

-Really?

-Yes.

Look after it, Claire.

Well, it's good that it's going to stay in the family

because, you know, this is passed down in the family

and it's part of your family history.

-But it's part of British pottery history as well.

-Yeah.

And it's been a pleasure to see you today.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you.

-Glad I brought it.

Who is this rather soigne-looking young woman with the pipe?

Well, that's my mother, and her name was Gertie Halton

and she was Mrs Greville's lady's maid.

And she worked for her from 1928 until 1931,

and then Mrs Greville asked her to go with her to South America.

-On a cruise?

-On a cruise.

-And was she very discreet, your mother,

-about working for Mrs Greville?

-Very, yes.

Because she must have seen amazing people come and go here -

politicians, royalty, movie stars.

Yes, she used to stand at the top of the staircase

and watch all the visitors arriving.

And this is her on deck here, it says.

Yes, on the Cap Arcona. I think that was the name of the boat.

-Those were the days of travel! Look at that.

-Beautiful.

The pot plants and the tables there.

Everything.

-And my mother looking quite, er, flirty, I think, too.

-Flirty Gertie.

Yes, flirty Gertie.

Have we got any pictures of Mrs Greville in here?

Yes, we have. This is her here.

She's sitting there

with the captain and two friends.

I mean, these wonderful photographs tell us so much

about a particular time of life

and about your mother's involvement in the fascinating history

of the woman who owned this house, Mrs Greville.

-Yes, yes.

-She was quite a character.

-Yes, she was.

It's hard to imagine that this picture is this picture.

So why on earth did anybody in the family

decide to keep it when it looked like that?

-You're not my husband!

-No!

-Well, why did he choose it?

-Er, he... His father knew of it.

It had always been in the family house. The aunt died.

The house was emptied of all the furniture.

That was just left in this attic room.

He just knew that that was the picture that his father knew,

that he'd always described - this big marine picture.

-The family had been bombed out during the war.

-Right.

They lived in Balham. And the house was actually set alight,

so whether it's smoke damage or not, we don't know.

My husband's father was a child.

-Him and his brothers and sisters used to...

-Throw darts at it?

-Throw darts at it.

-As you do.

-And it had a great big split with the dart.

But, in fact, he's then obviously moved it from that house.

-Yes.

-Here we see a slightly cleaner version of it.

-But it's just the flash?

-Well, no, nothing had been done to it.

That's taken at my own house.

It was so fragile, so thin, when we moved it.

It was in the back of the car and, literally,

the paint was beginning to sort of literally flake off over every bump

and it was like an eggshell. It really was.

Why, I don't know, but he decided to approach a local artist

to see if we could get it restored.

-At that point, you couldn't even see what was going on in it.

-No.

No, when I first saw it, all we could see was the flags.

We literally couldn't see the ship or the...

And the rock - that wasn't even...

I don't think we could even really see that until, actually,

-after the restorer had actually cleaned it.

-I assume it's Gibraltar.

-Certainly, it looks to be Gibraltar.

-Yes, I think it is.

So we've got a British man at a morning salute, I suppose.

Does anybody know what the ship is?

Yes, I've been in touch with the National Maritime Museum

and they say that the detail here

and the gold round here, er,

is identical to the first Britannia,

which was built, I think, in somewhere 1682.

-Well, how nice to actually have Britannia in the house, too.

-Yes.

It's amazing what has come out of it all, isn't it?

We now know that the scene is of about 1710-20, that sort of period.

I'm sure the picture is of that period, too.

-Do you think it is as old as that?

-Absolutely, yes.

-How long ago did you restore it?

-It was restored...

-Yes, just ten years ago.

-Ten years ago?

-Yes, ten years ago.

And what did you pay for the restoration?

Er, I think it was about...

-I think it was about £1,200.

-Right.

You know, early 18th-century marine subjects like this are,

you know, quite collectable. Condition is everything, though.

-Yeah.

-There is still a commercial value to it

and your £1,200 investment in it, as it were,

I think was a very good investment.

In this condition, it's probably now worth £2,000, £3,000 -

that sort of level.

Well done for your husband spotting there was something worth keeping.

Oh, yes, he'd never sell it. Never sell it.

This is one antique that a child CAN play with.

-Please tell me that it's had an active life.

-A very active life.

-Good.

-It was given to my husband,

I suppose in about 1941-42, by his grandfather.

And he used it, his brother and sister used it.

My children used it, my nieces and nephews used it.

So it's had a very active life.

When I tried to put my granddaughter in it,

the son who wants to inherit it said, "Get her out of there!"

Well, I think he's wrong.

I'm so pleased to know that it's been at every meal time

that your children have had.

If I look closely, will I find bits of custard and apple crumble

-hidden amongst it?

-I think porridge, up in here.

Well, it is the most perfect little chair.

It's like a miniature version of a Regency dining chair.

It's made of mahogany.

It dates from around 1830,

so, late Regency, George IV.

And, er, the detail and the carving on it

is normally overlooked on these small chairs,

so they haven't stinted on anything.

The carved back rail, the crest rail, the scroll arms,

the reeded arm supports, and then, of course, the sabre legs.

So much nicer than just a standard turned leg.

Rather curiously,

-the one thing I really love about it is the drop-in seat.

-Right.

Now, you've probably heard

people talking about horsehair-filled sofas.

And sometimes people say, "It's got horsehair seat."

And, of course, the actual stuffing can be horsehair.

But did you know that the fabric that's on here is woven horsehair?

-I wondered. I wondered. It's incredible.

-It is very durable.

-Yes.

And this, I have no doubt,

is the original upholstery for the drop-in seat.

I must say, once it starts getting holes in it,

it can be really itchy for legs.

The problem with a lot of these chairs,

because they're in two sections -

you can unscrew them in the central area there -

is that very often the base,

which can also serve almost as a small table

if you take the top off, so often gets...

You know, parts company with the chair.

And you end up either with the base and no chair

or the chair and no base.

-This has even got its original footrest.

-Yes.

So it's a very sort of complete example.

So, your son who wants to inherit -

does he have any idea of the value, do you think?

Absolutely none whatsoever.

It's just that it's been in the family for so long

and, you know, he rather fancies having it.

I think it's worth around £800,

-maybe £1,000.

-Oh, right, OK. Excellent.

The value doesn't matter, as I'm sure everybody says.

It's fascinating to know, though. Thank you.

Well, these are in appalling condition,

but these are the original designs - watercolour designs -

for parlour games, for board games.

Carpet croquet here.

This one is a board game, obviously with dice to throw.

Some more lawn bowls here.

And these, what I suppose we now call objects of virtue.

These little thermometers on ivory towers and all that sort of thing.

-Your company did these and your company started when?

-In 1795.

-1795?

Well, these all date from about the 1840s,

1830s-40s, I would say.

But they are all in the most appalling condition.

Tell me about them.

Er, they were all in our family company safe in Hatton Garden,

-up on the fifth floor...

-Yeah?

..when we sadly took a direct hit in the Blitz

-and the building was absolutely flattened.

-How did you survive?

-How did we survive?

-You look extremely well on it!

Fortunately, all... Yes, moisturiser, etc!

Very fortunately, we were working with MI9,

making small prisoner-of-war escape kits hidden within chess boards,

within all sorts of funny, unusual things -

buttons, all sorts of things, with compasses.

I didn't know there was an MI9.

Yes, MI9 helped prisoners of war escape during the war.

I have to say, those sound awfully complicated

and rather espionageful!

These seem to be very ordinary and rather lovely things

that we get on the Roadshow -

the original objects come through all the time.

Your family made all these games?

Yes, these designs are all, effectively, life-size scale designs

that the salesman would take around and meet people

and then take an order and go back and make it actual sizes

exactly as they are, so everything's life-size.

And, of course, all these appear to have dates on them -

1877, 1878 - but, of course, they're not that date,

they are the pattern numbers, aren't they?

They're the pattern numbers, the number you'd write in the order book

-when somebody wanted to order one.

-That's as simple as that.

So we're showing three pages here

but you've got hundreds more inside here of these wonderful games.

-Now, who invents them? Who makes these designs?

-All the family.

It was all...from eight generations of creativeness.

This is all my grandfather, my great-great-grandfather and so on.

Now, why are they kept in such horrible folders like this?

They were put in this folder by my grandfather after the war

-and they've been locked in a bank safe ever since.

-Yes.

So they've never really seen the light of day.

-They've not been photographed?

-No, no, no.

-Or anything like that at all?

Well, to start with, they really need proper protection.

They need, probably, going to a restorer -

somebody who's going to make sure that the oxidisation,

which is obviously happening to them,

and the brittleness of the edges of the pages is stopped.

They then need putting in proper acid-free folders -

Mylar folders, which are acid-free - and stored in that way.

And this wonderful archive needs photographing, above all,

so that others can enjoy it.

I'm sure there's a grand history that can go with it.

But we love to see these things

and it is rare for an 18th-century company,

established in the 18th century,

to have anything like this now.

And a direct bomb hit - well, that adds to their flavour, as it were.

How can I value it? It's impossible.

I mean, if I put £10,000 on them, is that enough?

People have tried to...

Or report that there's a picture of the original chess-set design,

-people have tried to buy it for silly amounts of money.

-Yes.

I would imagine more than that.

So they need archiving properly,

they need photographing properly, we need a book on them.

We need to see them properly written up.

-We want to see it coming out in time for Christmas.

-Absolutely!

I've got to tell you

that this is by far the most beautiful piece of silver

I have seen all day.

And I've seen some pretty good things. It is breathtakingly lovely.

It's got these wonderful enamelled wisteria here.

We turn it round,

we've got Narcissus,

we've got birds,

all done in applied silver

and lovely enamel - shaded enamel,

so it gives it that softness.

And then we come round,

lovely clumps of irises here

and then, most interestingly,

we come to these three carp.

But before we talk about those, have you any idea where it comes from?

Well, I know it's been in our family for 40 years.

My parents inherited it from a lady who was quite well travelled

in the early part of the 1900s.

But any more than that, no, we don't know.

Well, if we turn it upside down...

-..it's got some marks that look eastern.

-Yes.

And a lot of people might think that they were Chinese

but it's not - it's Japanese.

And it's made about 1880, 1885.

I've spoken to my colleague David Battie

and he's looked at this mark

and told me it's made by a company called Magayoshi.

And I must admit, I'd never heard of them.

But he was telling me that the carp...

They are actually trying to jump up a waterfall

-and they symbolise the struggle for improving yourself.

-OK.

So all very symbolic.

So I presume, if you've inherited it,

-you haven't the faintest idea what it's worth.

-No.

-It's worth £4,000 to £5,000.

-Right!

OK.

Very good. Lovely. Not sure what I'm going to do with it now!

THEY CHUCKLE

No, it is just the top, top-quality work

coming out of Japan at that period.

And I think it is a sublime piece of silver

and just something I really covet.

Do you know that with jewellery,

we can often tell the age of something

not necessarily from the contents but from the box itself?

That's something I didn't realise.

I love jewellery boxes and this red leather box,

which is a kind of kidney shape,

-to me, looks Georgian.

-Really?

Yeah, looks Georgian.

And, indeed, when you look inside it,

it really just confirms for me

what the contents are because, within the box...

we have a garnet set.

Now, this is a very comprehensive collection of jewellery.

There is nothing missing at all.

The quality and condition are A1.

How on earth have you managed to keep it so impeccable?

I've only worn it twice since I was given it,

when I was still a teenager.

And I wore it to a couple of dances

and since then, having got married

to a gentleman who doesn't enjoy dancing much,

I haven't worn it since!

Disappointing! Do you think it's a bit restrictive because of...

-Oh, no!

-No, so...

-It's gorgeous to wear.

It's so pretty on, it really is.

But very floral and, I think, for a young girl

-rather than an older person.

-I love garnets.

-January's birthstone, of course.

-Oh, right.

And the thing about the set is to see the beautiful way

that the box displays it.

Now, the garnets here are what is termed Pyrope.

You have as follows...

A garnet necklace of floriate clusters - little floral clusters.

A garnet cruciform brooch.

A circular garnet brooch.

A pair of drops for the ears - drop earrings.

And even a pair of bracelets.

It is a totally complete set of garnet jewellery,

mounted in gold, made in around about 1810, 1815.

-So this is Georgian.

-As early as that?

As early as that.

Georgian jewellery is very hot at the moment.

Georgian pieces, whatever they are, everybody loves.

There's a reappraisal of jewellery from the Georgian times

because it's recognised for its purity

and its sheer sense of beauty.

Because of the fact you've got the set,

because of the fact you've kept it in such fantastic condition,

in the original box,

with all the condition that it's in, it's worth...

around £10,000.

SHE GASPS I don't believe it!

It's nothing like that on my household insurance!

Don't forget, that's just what it will be to sell it.

If you lost a set like that and went to a smart shop in London

and replaced it, at least -

at least - £15,000 to £20,000.

-Good heavens above! I'm astounded! I am truly astounded.

-It's wonderful.

We've been so lucky here today -

bathed in sunshine in the beautiful grounds of Polesden Lacey.

And it would be about this time that the owner, Mrs Greville,

would be getting ready to greet her guests

who would have arrived for some fabulous party.

Picture the scene - the guests would be gathered in the central hall

with a drink in their hand, given to them by the butler,

and Mrs Greville would be about to walk down the stairs.

Just before that happened...

the gramophone would be wound.

And the latest tunes would be played. Noel Coward.

And Mrs Greville would walk down the stairs and pause halfway down.

That was a woman who knew how to make an entrance.

From the Antiques Roadshow in Polesden Lacey, and Noel Coward,

until next time, bye-bye.