Southsea - Royal Marines Museum 2 Antiques Roadshow

Today the Antiques Roadshow is back in Portsmouth -

a town steeped in naval history

and home to Britain's most famous battleship, the Victory.

Some 18,000 men made up the British Fleet

at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805

and 3,000 of those were Royal Marines, the sea soldiers,

fully trained to handle the artillery.

And their casualties were high, as they were up on the top deck,

facing musket balls and the cannons.

It was a defining moment in the history of the Corps,

which this year celebrates its 350th anniversary.

Welcome to the Antiques Roadshow from Portsmouth.

Just along the coast from Portsmouth Harbour

is the suburb of Southsea

and the former Royal Marines Eastney Barracks,

and this is where we're holding our Roadshow today.

The barracks were opened in the 1860s

and this rather grand building used to house the officers' mess.

Since the 1970s, it's been home to the Royal Marines Museum

and is packed with artefacts

from the service's history on land and at sea.

The Marines date back to 1664, a time of nonstop disputes

between kings and countries,

and many of those battles were fought at sea,

so those with the strongest navies were the victors.

So Charles II ordered 1,200 land soldiers to be forthwith raised,

to be in readiness to be distributed amongst His Majesty's Fleet

and prepared for sea service.

Marines are nicknamed "bootnecks".

In the 18th century, they would wear a splendid uniform like this

- thank you - and the nickname comes from this leather stock,

or tongue, they would wear under their collar like this.

Imagine! It must have been so uncomfortable,

to keep their neck upright and proud.

Thank you.

These days, their uniforms are a little more practical.

7,000 officers and men make up the Royal Marine Corps,

all commandos, all wearing the coveted green beret.

Their last appointment was to Afghanistan,

where they served nine tours of duty.

And Eastney Barracks closed in 1991

but the museum is still very much operational

and makes a great backdrop for us today.

And don't forget, if you want to play along at home,

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

..on your computer or your smartphone,

to play along with our valuation game.

Well, I have to admit that,

when I knew I was coming to Southsea, I didn't actually assume

that I would come across a couple of sea sprites of sorts,

so my question is, how did these two arrive

in this part of the world?

Well, they belong to my mother

and prior to that, they were my grandmother's,

and she brought them back from China, from when they lived there.

They came back in about 1938.

OK, well, that would make a certain amount of sense,

because this is a design on a box by the great Rene Lalique,

and what do you think it was used for?

We believe it was a sweetie dish.

It sat on the sideboard in my grandmother's house.

-That's a lovely idea, but I'm not quite sure.

-It's not?

-No.

I think it would be the height of decadence

to take a jelly baby out of something like this.

-It's actually a powder box.

-Oh, right.

This is, without question, my favourite Lalique design

because let's have a look at the box itself.

First of all, you've got a glass base.

Sometimes you get these with a card base,

but when you've got a glass base, it's all the better.

Now the design. Excuse me, can I bring you forward, Mademoiselle?

Because the reason I've got this lady is to show - for the benefit

of the people at home - it's just a magical, magical design,

because the actual decoration - this is all polished smooth, isn't it?

-Yes.

-So the decoration is behind, look.

So it's moulded in relief.

And this is an opalescent technique. It's very clever,

because he mixes - thank you very much - he mixes into the glass

a couple of fluorites which act as a pacifying agent.

And a little bit of blue cobalt to give it a bluish tinge,

-and that glass actually becomes very cloudy.

-Oh, right.

So, date-wise, well, this appears in their 1932 catalogue,

so 1938 works out quite nicely.

Um, well, it's quite a nice item to own,

because I don't think I could easily go out and buy one of these

for less than £3,500 to £4,000.

Oh, goodness!

Well, it's still my mother's, and she'll be very pleased with that!

Can I ask you a leading question?

-What's that?

-Do you have a sister?

I do! Unfortunately, maybe!

Yeah, my lips are sealed. So remember, not a word, OK?

-You have children?

-I do.

Did you - when they were little - put them in these caps?

I've only owned them for a few years.

Oh. Where did you get them from?

-My husband found them for me at a car-boot sale.

-Really?

He knows I always have an interest in anything Oriental

and I am a keen embroiderer, although very amateurish at it,

and he just felt that the two interests were combined

-in these beautiful items.

-Absolutely.

Do you know what he had to pay for them?

I think it was about £15 for the two.

I see.

Do you know what they are?

I assume they're from China, or that part of the world.

I'd assume one is for children,

-the other maybe children or small adults.

-Right.

And that's it, that's the extent of my knowledge!

OK. Well, you're perfectly right.

They are the work, probably, of the mother of the children.

-Non-professional, but highly skilled.

-Yes.

This one, I think, is probably for a boy

and that one, I think, is probably for a girl.

And the interesting thing is that these,

which date from probably the middle of the 19th century,

-so they've got a lot of age to them...

-Oh, wow!

..of course kept the baby's head warm, but more importantly,

it protected the child from evil spirits.

Hence the symbols on it.

The symbols. It's absolutely dense with symbolism.

What you've got here is a tiger,

and if you turn it round,

you can see the tiger's stripes.

And the face has got whiskers, it's got ears - which in this case,

and I've never seen this,

-we've got mice in his ears, which is a brilliant idea.

-They are amazing.

Yeah. I think that's terrific.

This one is even better, really.

We've got on the back, up here,

this, which just looks like a sort of scrollery stuff,

is actually lingzhi fungus

and that's the symbol of long life,

so that's wishing the child long life.

And here we've got the character "shou" in seal form,

and that means "happiness".

So the whole thing makes sense.

You can read it like a book, really.

Er...

I think your husband's £15 were well spent.

They're unusual, they're in perfect condition,

there are collectors of these.

I think this one would probably sell for around £100-£150

and that one, perhaps,

£150 to £250.

-Oh, my goodness!

-So well done, hubby!

-Yes!

Thank you very much for bringing them in.

Not at all, thank you.

This must be one of the smallest table desks I've ever seen.

Sweet little thing. Now, you tell me a little bit about it.

When I first came down here, this was sort of 30 or 40 years ago,

I used to love auctions, and I found this, and I love walnut

and because I don't know what it is, it fascinates me.

Oh, lots of things,

the sort of secret drawer and the religious motif

and no-one can quite tell me what it is, so I hope you can do that.

Ah, right, well, we'll look at all those things gradually.

You mention walnut, and there is indeed

some lovely burr walnut here, more walnut there,

in fact, most of it is walnut.

It's got the shape, as I said, of a little table desk

with the slant front and of a sort

that sometimes people used to call Bible boxes.

But Bible boxes were never necessarily for bibles.

They were little desks, little reading desks.

But what I find extremely interesting about this

is that it has the ripple moulding that you've got all round the edges.

-Yes.

-Which is very much a 17th-century feature.

And if I turn it round and we look at the back,

what I immediately thought about was 17th-century cabinets,

17th-century Dutch cabinets in particular,

these twisted columns which are supposed to have come

from the Temple of Solomon originally, a very Baroque feature.

You don't often get the backs of these little desks decorated.

And then it gets even more interesting.

So if you turn it round, and open it up,

if I can do this, there we go,

it's even prettier inside.

They're lovely hinges, aren't they?

Delightful, cut-out hinges, more ripple moulding,

fretwork here.

-Oh, look, that's interesting, so you can close the mirror.

-Yes.

A little mirror, a little sort of dressing mirror

and drawers that you can put all sorts of little treasures in.

And you said it had a secret drawer, so now where is that?

You have to take the key out, and then the front lifts up,

usually fairly easily, and then it has a...

Oh, I see. It's quite secret, isn't it?

-And another part there.

-Well, that's excellent.

Now, just slot that one in again.

I have to say that, looking at all these things together,

it doesn't quite all add up to me.

All the bits are wonderful.

All the bits, I think, are from a 17th-century cabinet.

But I think it's been put together in the 19th century.

-How interesting.

-When the whole antiquities or antiques trade

was beginning to kick off, and I think this could very well have been

made in the 19th century, to deceive.

How very interesting. Where would this have been done?

This was certainly done in London, in England,

and it was done all over Europe.

This could well have been done in England.

Is this a surprise to you?

I've honestly known so little, and I've asked quite a lot of people

of various degrees of expertise, and some said it's early German.

Nothing surprises me, I'm just fascinated.

Well, there's one other interesting thing at the back.

There is a medallion with St John the Baptist on,

and I think that's been added to make it even more special,

so it's fascinating!

I'm not sure what you paid for it.

I mean, not a lot, I mean probably

in the order of £20 or something like this.

Right, quite a lot of money 30 years ago.

Now, because it slightly falls between two schools,

I would think that I'd have to put a fairly broad valuation on it,

and so, between £500 and £1,000.

It's a lovely, pretty little thing.

If it was all 17th-century,

it would be worth a great deal more than that, but it's lovely as it is.

Well, I think there's nowhere it's going, and it's small enough,

-and the children will love to have it in due course.

-Excellent.

Well, I have to say I've never seen anything like it before in my life.

It has to be a unique piece of silver.

I mean, how on earth did that end up here with the Royal Marines?

Now, you - as the curator of the Royal Marines Museum -

I hope will be able to help me with that.

Well, this was presented to William Wood in 1868.

He actually took command of the 36 Middlesex Rifle Volunteers in 1860

and commanded them for their first eight years of existence,

and they were obviously quite impressed with what he'd done

for them, so they presented him with this very elaborate piece.

This has been in the museum collection for about 50 years

and before that it was regimental property,

so Wood, on his death, presumably presented this back to the Corps.

From a historical point of view, it's absolutely fascinating.

I mean, extraordinary, with them doing target practice

here on this rifle range.

Yes, I mean, the figures shown here are typical

of rifle volunteers of the 1860s.

Marksmanship was very, very important.

They were part-time soldiers, they were established in the early 1860s

as a result of a French threat, and this does reflect that quite well.

Great, and of course wonderful with these stylised oak trees

on either side, which just lends a certain something to it.

The scale seems to me a little odd,

but, especially the size of the leaves, when you take an oak leaf

and look at the size of that chap's head, but an amazing piece.

So what is it you'd like to know from me about this piece?

Well, obviously we know a little bit of the background,

the person it was presented to, and everything else,

but one of the things that's been exercising us is

who made it and what's it made from?

Right. Well, I can answer both those questions.

First, it is made of silver.

It's not electroplated.

Of course, that does make quite a difference

and we do know the name of the maker.

In fact, if you look onto the leg of the soldier there, we can see that

it was made in Birmingham in 1867

and William Gough was the maker.

We do of course have to consider things like value.

I would think, conservatively,

if it came on the market,

with its extraordinary nature,

£15,000 - £20,000.

Right, yeah. We'll be sure to tell our insurers, I think!

Not a bad idea. Mind you, I should imagine

that the Royal Marines' security is probably pretty good!

I don't think I'd like to mess with them!

LAUGHTER

Now, I know I'm looking at an engine room telegraph,

-the message from the bridge to the engine room.

-That's right, yeah.

You've got "Ahead, astern" and so on,

every ship obviously has one or two of these.

But this is a particular one, because it's from a submarine.

It looks different, it's a different style, it's not on a stand,

you know, all the usual things.

But I can go so far. You need to fill me in with the rest.

It's from the port engine of the submarine, Artemis.

There was a bit of a disaster with the Artemis.

It came back from the dockyard,

it had been in the dry dock

and was being refuelled

and from a series of incompetent events, it sank at its moorings.

There were cables run through hatches

to supply power to the submarine. When it was being refuelled,

obviously the boat got lower in the water,

and water started coming in the hatches,

and of course the hatches couldn't be shut.

-Because of the cables.

-Because of the cables.

-Now, where do you come into it?

-I was a member of the crew.

-Yeah.

But I was on leave at the time,

so the first I heard about the accident was,

somebody came in the pub

and said, "Your submarine's on television! It's sunk!"

So the ship sank at her moorings, everybody got off,

there were no deaths, so it was really about red faces all round.

Oh, very much so, yes.

I think, in fact, we've got a photograph here, haven't we?

-Yeah, yes.

-This shows the conning tower, bubbles still coming out.

-Yes.

-And these people have presumably been trying to do

-various things to stop it happening.

-Yeah. An unstoppable event.

Now, why have we got this?

I've been looking for a souvenir from it,

but I've never been able to find one.

The submarine was moored out in the harbour for several years,

waiting to be broken up for scrap.

So she was abandoned, in effect, after the accident.

Yes, unrepairable.

After it was scrapped, I went to the scrap yard and said,

"have you got anything left from the Artemis?"

And they said, "Well, yes, we've got this telegraph. Would you like it?"

-But this is a prime object, isn't it?

-Absolutely!

I was amazed it was still there.

I mean, it's the top of anybody's list, I'd have thought.

Yeah, well, it came from the engine room

which was where I used to work, as well.

What I do like about it is the mark on the dial there,

-which was the water level.

-That's the water line.

-That's the water level inside.

-That's where it reached. Yeah.

Yeah, which was the fumes from the battery acid,

just etched it very slightly above it, and left the mark.

Well, I think it's a great story because it's the sort of story

that never gets told because it's about bungles,

-it's not the great heroics we normally expect.

-No.

But you've got this great treasure, and it is a very important piece.

It's also quite valuable.

We're looking at £500, possibly £800,

-so I don't know what you paid for it, but...

-£30.

-Oh, well, you did all right.

-Oh, I did. Oh, yes.

We see these on the Roadshow, not very often,

-just occasionally.

-Right.

And they're plaques, and sometimes plates, by Picasso.

And we know that because it says on the back "Picasso" here.

So how did you come to own a plaque

designed by perhaps the greatest artist of the 20th century?

My brother-in-law's headmaster, Mr Mount,

was a neighbour of Picasso in France,

and he bought up some of Picasso's pottery throughout his lifetime.

-Right.

-And he was prepared to sell one of them to me.

And it's typical of his designs of the period.

Some have sort of influence by some of the prehistoric art

discovered around that time in the caves of Lascaux,

and also sort of simplified, and I believe an art critic said about

his work afterwards, that it was "indicative of a genius on holiday."

-Oh, really? Oh.

-And I rather like that,

because you sort of have picked up on the whole a sort of seaside,

beach-side scene, and that's what's going on here. He's applied that.

-It's got a sort of great holiday, warm feel to it, hasn't it?

-Yes.

You can almost imagine the bathers sitting in the sun,

and then diving off the top there.

"The plongeur" I, believe would be the correct title for this piece.

-Right.

-And this piece was designed by Picasso in 1956.

-'56?

-1956.

-OK.

He started working at the Madoura Pottery near Vallauris

in the south of France in the late 1940s,

and this was a period of great happiness for him,

and I think that shows in his work again.

And he worked all the way through until the 1970s.

When you think of Picasso's plates and Picasso's plaques,

you hope to see something like a bull or a goat

or a stylised face, that really collectors are looking for.

You've got divers.

It's a charming piece, but not quite the sort of prime Picasso

that one would hope, from one of these editions.

And although he designed it, he didn't produce these.

The editions were produced by other people,

so it's a Picasso design, and the marks on the back bear that out.

So although not sort of prime Picasso stuff, I still think

you'd be looking, if you were to put it into auction, at, I suppose,

somewhere in the region of, well,

maybe sort of £2,000 to £3,000.

Really? I'm amazed!

-I thought it would be hundreds!

-Really?

-Yes.

It's not often that I come across what is, to me,

almost a completely new art form.

But these certainly take the biscuit.

I think they're extraordinary.

-Can I open one of these out?

-Please do.

It just looks like a roll of paper at first,

and then you hold it up to the light, and it's a watermark,

with the most amazing image on it.

1872, TH Saunders. Presumably they're the paper maker, are they?

Yes, he was a paper maker in Darenth, in Kent,

-and he married my husband's great aunt.

-Yes.

And that's about all we know about it, really.

And it came down through my husband's family, to us.

Well, I confess, I've got a friend who's a paper historian,

and I phoned him very quickly and I've learned all about them.

Oh, really? Tell me!

Well, I'm fascinated by them, completely fascinated.

They're paper samples, he took them to art fairs...

Art exhibitions.

..and the Great Exhibition - and look at that one -

and he'd show these,

and he won a prize for them in the Great Exhibition of 1851,

as early as that.

And he would take orders for paper from people, as a result,

-sold an awful lot of paper.

-Oh, yes. How interesting.

And the way they're made is very clever.

What he did is, he got a wax mould, made the image

and then you'd get a brass mesh, and you'd put it between

the two halves of the sculpture and press it together,

and the brass, the shape of the sculpture

would be transferred to the brass mesh,

and as you know, with laid paper,

the paper pulp is in a vat and you pull the mesh up through it

and the paper lies on top of the mesh.

That dries and becomes laid paper.

Now, if you're doing that with a shaped brass mesh,

then you're going to get some thin areas and some thick areas,

and the thin areas of course allow more light through,

and the thick areas less, and thus

the image is transferred to the paper.

Very intricate.

Well, I didn't know that, until you showed me these.

They're extraordinary.

And that one is of course the Silver Jubilee, 1935.

-That's George, isn't it?

-Yes, it is.

Absolutely marvellous. And then the last one is Queen Mary, 1935.

Quite extraordinary, and I've never seen anything so exciting

and interesting, or at least I haven't for quite a while.

I'm so glad, thank you.

I don't think they're worth a huge amount of money.

I can't find any being sold.

I think they've got to be worth, nonetheless,

something in the region of £50 or £60 each,

so the whole value here, probably about £300.

Yes, thank you.

-Maximum.

-Yes.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

You know, I've always thought that the skull and crossbones flag

was something to do with pirates,

but you know something different

-about this particular flag, don't you?

-Yes.

-Tell me about it.

It's a Second World War submarine Jolly Roger flag.

It shows the symbols of what the submarine sunk.

Top ones are torpedoes fired,

some Japanese ships.

The guns and stars was when the deck gun was used.

And each one of these stars represents

a Japanese ship that they have sunk?

Yeah. And this is cloak-and-dagger operations.

And I believe every British submarine

-had a skull and crossbones - a Jolly Roger flag.

-Yes.

Who would have made it?

This was made by a sail maker.

-Possibly on board?

-On board, yes.

So which submarine does this Jolly Roger relate to?

-The HMS Tantalus, my late father's submarine.

-Right.

He was a telegraphist on board,

and they had two jobs to do.

-One was - the main one - was telegraphist.

-Yes.

And second one, he had to fire the deck gun.

So he was responsible for some of these ships that were sunk,

-Japanese enemy ships that were sunk.

-Yes.

And where did HMS Tantalus serve most of her life?

In South China Seas, they were based in Perth, Western Australia.

-Now you've got some photographs as well.

-Yes.

You've brought these two photographs, for example.

Now, this first one amazes me because it shows a Jolly Roger flag.

-That.

-That is this flag?

That's this, and my father is standing directly underneath.

-This chap here?

-Yeah.

-That's your father?

-In the ratings uniform, all the others are officers.

-Yes.

-Captain.

The other photograph shows a group of sailors,

-presumably sub-mariners.

-Oh, they're all submariners.

-In this old car.

-Yeah, Austin.

-An Austin Seven, is it?

-Seven.

-And is your father here? Is he one of those?

-That is...

-This one here in the middle?

-Yeah.

So when he was allowed on shore,

he must have had a pretty good time, I guess. The weather was great.

All the crew had girlfriends,

and as this submarine was sailing out of Fremantle Harbour,

which is next to Perth, the captain was on the conning tower

with his binoculars, looking around

and he shouted out to his next in command.

He said, "Is that Brown on the pier with that girl?"

He said, "Get a boat and pick him up, now!"

So - I didn't know this - his best man at his wedding,

who's still alive, told me the story.

He said, "Your dad was going to jump ship for his girlfriend

and stay in Australia".

And I wouldn't have been here now if he'd stayed there.

-So he was going to elope?

-Yeah.

-Good grief!

-Because a lot of them did.

Well, do you know - gosh -

I have to say that I don't think I've ever seen

a Jolly Roger submarine flag come up for auction ever before.

I think, from a commercial point of view, if ever this was sold,

-I think the flag, together with, you've got other photographs?

-Yes.

And documents and things?

His service record.

You see, that's important.

I think it's going to be worth

something in the region of...

..£5,000 or £6,000.

Yeah, yes.

My father died when he was 46, so it's what's left of his life,

you know.

I'm quite proud.

Now, this album has the initials IB on the front cover.

Can you tell me who that stands for?

IB stands for Ivy Bale, who was my great aunt.

And is this Ivy?

This is Ivy and this is a photograph of Ivy in her later years,

in amongst the family with her three sisters.

Very nice, very nice indeed.

Now, we have an album full of original pencil drawings,

celebrities of the day. All signed, I think.

And how did she get them signed?

She sent each and every one of them off to the recipient,

who duly returned, some with simple comments, some with actual letters.

Do you know how she started, why she started this album?

Don't particularly know why she started, but she was interested

in the idea of fame and I think the idea of celebrity in days gone by

was somewhat different from the idea of celebrity now.

Indeed, indeed.

Well, I think you'd have trouble sending a picture

to the Prime Minister now, and getting it signed and sent back,

which is exactly what we have over here.

This is Winston Churchill, it's a pencil drawing,

an original pencil drawing signed by Ivy.

And Churchill has also signed it along the bottom in ink.

That's a great picture. Very nice indeed.

If we go back to the album for a moment,

well, we've got a lot of good names in here.

Turning the page, we've got two of Madam Pavlova.

Now, she's a good autograph. People will pay money for those.

Condition's a little bit difficult, but could be restored

and they're period signatures from about the '30s, which is nice.

A very strong portrait of Maria Callas dated 1967,

it's quite difficult to believe that that's a pencil drawing,

it's so dramatic and has such a photographic quality,

signed clearly. That's a collector's item, definitely.

And moving on, Monty. Very typical portrait of Monty,

signed again as Field Marshall.

And right towards the end, we end up with Neil Armstrong,

the first man to walk on the moon.

Pencil drawing again of the moon's surface signed boldly

in blue ink by Neil Armstrong, so that's very nice.

Value-wise, you've got to tot up all the various people you've got

in here and that's a good one, that's potentially about £1,000

at auction.

Mr Churchill over here is certainly £500, £600, £700.

Most of them in here will be £20, £30 at least.

And there are others which will be a few hundred.

I've been through and done a rough tot up and I think

we're looking at an auction value of between £4,000 and £6,000.

-Ah.

-Gosh!

-So thank you, Ivy, your work is much appreciated!

Am I right in thinking that this is a bit of a homecoming for you?

Yes, indeed.

I was here in 1980 when I retired from the Marines.

And I was hauled out of this very spot on a gun carriage,

which is customary when you retire.

You were hauled out on a gun carriage?!

Well, yes.

And am I right in thinking you were the Commanding Officer here?

Yes, I was, yes.

-Well, it's lovely to have you back.

-A pleasure.

But you've brought with you a very unusual English table clock

which was made right at the end of the 18th century, around 1790 or so,

but what we all find interesting is when we come across objects

that have a relationship to the location that we're shooting in.

Does this have any relationship at all?

-Not with the barracks here, no.

-Right.

It's an heirloom.

It belonged to my great great great grandfather

who lived in a house in Kent.

And there's a painting that I've seen of the drawing room of that house,

in which this clock appears, and that was early 19th century.

It must have been in the family for 200 plus years,

and I just get a lot of satisfaction out of that when I wind it.

And it still tells me the time pretty accurately.

-Does it?

-Mmm.

It should do, it should keep accurate time,

because it's an interesting combination of a domestic clock,

and it has a slightly sort of academic,

almost scientific purpose to it as well.

The maker is Thomas Walder of Southampton,

but we don't know a great deal about him.

It's the sort of clock that a collector,

or someone that's very interested in timekeeping,

would commission a clockmaker to make for them.

And certainly, stylistically, the whole thing looks like

it's a one-off because it doesn't comply with a normal clock dial.

So, very briefly, let's just run through what it does.

In the arch, we've got a strike-and-silent lever.

And next to that we've got what we call an up-and-down dial,

which regulates the height of the pendulum,

-which therefore regulates the speed at which the clock runs.

-Yes, yes.

Then we've got these two curious, subsidiary,

rather lovely painted dials.

This one is the phase of the moon, which goes to 29 and a half days,

which is the age of the moon, the full cycle.

And this one shows the date.

And then we have a seconds ring, an hour ring and an outer minute ring.

And that format of dial, where you have the seconds,

hours and minutes split up, is called a regulator dial

and that stems back, way back into the late 17th century,

where, when you wanted to keep precision time,

you divided the hours, minutes and seconds up.

But it isn't a precision movement,

it's a very domestic-quality movement.

-So it's a...

-Yes, a compromise.

But it's a compromise.

It's a good word, it's the right word to use.

But it is a true collector's clock, let's make no bones about it.

At auction, it has to be worth

between £15,000 and £20,000.

It's absolutely super.

It's probably the nicest domestic table clock

-I have ever seen on a Roadshow.

-Really?

Thank you very much for bringing it along.

Great pleasure, thank you.

See this leather collar here?

Do you remember I was telling you at the beginning of the programme,

it's what earned the Royal Marines the nickname "bootnecks"

because they wore that very uncomfortable piece of leather

under the collar of their uniform.

Now, Robert Bruce, you run the Royal Marines Museum here.

I should say, Robert Bruce, no relation.

More's the shame!

Well, what a shame. Who is this fine chap?

This fine chap is Captain James Kettel,

who joined the Royal Marines in 1798 aged 17 and served for 36 years.

And he was an artist, wasn't he?

He was an artist indeed, and we believe that this

is a self-portrait that he painted in around about 1810.

And in the book here?

This is a book of sketches which has come to us only recently,

in the last six months or so.

And these are done by James Kettel?

These are all painted by him, and depict the service

that he carried out in different parts of the country.

And there are some beautifully descriptive paintings here.

So he did time at sea, serving both at Trafalgar

where he served on HMS Tonnant, but then he did land service,

like many Royal Marines did, both then and indeed today.

And was he an official artist,

or was he just doing this for his own pleasure?

No, no, he was doing it for his own pleasure.

Did he live a long and happy life? Did he die in a battle?

He didn't live a very long and happy life.

He was actually flung out of the Royal Marines.

-No!

-Because he went bankrupt.

And because he'd been put into debtors' prison,

he didn't turn up for parade, so he was dismissed from the Royal Marines.

Gosh, that seems a bit harsh.

It was a bit harsh, but I think life was quite harsh

for those in those days.

So that was the end of his service in the Royal Marines?

And that was the end of his service.

-He'd done 36 years, which is a long time.

-Goodness me.

And these paintings, which is the loveliest thing about this story,

these paintings have been in his family ever since they were done.

And his great great grandson, Michael Kettel,

came to us only about six months ago and revealed these paintings to us

and it was the first we knew of them.

Well, James Kettel, you may have been chucked out

of the Royal Marines, but we salute you today.

Absolutely!

Well, what a calm scene.

Sleeping baby, quiet surroundings.

Wait a minute, though!

Wait a minute, it's waking up!

Ah! And yawning and ready for the day.

What happens next? "Oh, what's happening now?

"This looks very exciting, am I at the Antiques Roadshow?

"I've always wanted to be there."

"Oh, no, I hate the Antiques Roadshow!"

SHE LAUGHS

It's the most disturbing doll. I can't even look at that face.

Would you mind if I turn this face round so that we've got

-the sleepy doll again?

-Absolutely not.

I think that's probably OK. Do you like it?

I hate it. I hate it, I don't like dolls.

Four faces and a swinging head is too much.

It's like something out of The Exorcist in a way, isn't it?

Absolutely, absolutely, yeah.

Bizarre, but I have to say, creepy and rather sort of unattractive

as it might be, these dolls are sought after, and I think they were

probably quite creepy at the time, because not many of them were made.

This is almost certainly made by a company called Karl Berger,

based in Sonnenberg in Germany. And the company started in the 1890s

and went right the way through the 1920s.

I mean, I would say that the doll could be as late as 1925.

This company was famous for making multi-headed dolls.

And this is an unusual one, first of all because it's made of -

not porcelain - it's made out of a kind of composition.

But I would have said the most extraordinary thing is that

it's four faces, and he's made two faces and three faces,

but four faces are really particularly unusual.

They cover every emotion, don't they, really?

Um, in pretty good condition.

I've had a little look underneath, and the body's not bad.

And very often, these papier-mache fingers get damaged,

and they're not.

So whose was it? How has it got down to you?

Well, it was given to my auntie who was born in the early 1920s,

that's all I know.

She had it all her life and then she gave it to my mother

a few years before she died, so my mother's had it for five years.

-And did they both love it?

-They both love it.

-It's an age thing.

-Mmm, must be.

Maybe when you get older, you'll grow to like it.

No, no, it will not happen, that won't happen!

As far as value's concerned,

I'm finding it slightly tricky to value it, because I know

that the ceramic-headed dolls are sought after.

The composition ones don't come up that often.

But I'm going to stick my neck out

and say that it's going to be something between £1,000 and £1,500.

But it's just its quirkiness that I think will make some people

really want it, so thanks very much for bringing it along.

No, thank you very much, it's very interesting, thank you.

You know, our working day is composed of thousands of people

bringing along jewellery, gold, beads, rings and brooches.

You have brought along something rather special.

A dark blue velvet box. Contained within, a gold bangle

painted in the centre with a miniature of Queen Victoria,

in a diamond frame on a gold wirework bangle back.

Now, is this a family piece, or what's the story behind it?

My late wife, she was very interested in Victoria generally

and we were living up in the Cotswolds at the time

and I got to know a local jeweller there very well.

And we bought one or two bits and pieces from him,

and he phoned me up one day and said,

"I've got something you really must come along and have a look at."

-I should think so.

-And that was how we acquired it.

And when your wife saw it, did she fall in love with it?

Oh, very much so, yes, very much so.

She wouldn't take it off for the first week!

Really? I'm not surprised, I'm not surprised.

You know, there are several puzzles about this bangle.

I should say that at the back of the bangle itself,

and you know this, but it's worth pointing out,

there is a royal crown, "VR" engraved there.

Yes, yes.

Victoria Regina on the back with a crown motif.

Now, what does that suggest to you?

That it was commissioned by the Queen for presents,

or appreciation to friends of hers.

Well, or even perhaps something like a lady-in-waiting...

-Yes, indeed.

-..At her wedding in around about 1840.

-Yes.

-But I've got a problem with that.

Really?

And that is that the bangle is in a box by a jeweller

called Frazer and Haws and they didn't really get started

till around about 1869-1870.

-I see, yes, yes.

-So here's my possible solution.

I think that the centre piece, which incidentally,

when you look at the back of it, can be taken apart,

-because there's a little tiny wing nut there.

-Yes, yes.

..May have come from a piece of jewellery such as a ring,

or brooch, coinciding with her wedding, 1840.

Yes.

Then at some point 25, 30 years down the line,

this piece was then remounted as a diamond-set bangle.

So I think there's a possibility that this is a marriage,

-literally a marriage...

-Yes, yes.

..Of different components. Let's move on to the value.

Anything with an enamel miniature of Queen Victoria in a diamond frame

has got to be highly desirable, would you not agree?

Well, it was for us, yes.

-I mean, your wife loved it, you loved it.

-Yes, yes.

Everybody loves it, it's a wonderful piece of jewellery.

I think that if one were to put this bangle into an auction

with the right amount of research that's been done on it,

my feeling is it's worth something like £5,000 to £7,000.

Right, thank you. Best news I've had today!

Well, this looks like a real one-off. Do you know who made it?

Well, all I know is that my grandmother was given it

about 15-20 years ago, by a lady from Birmingham,

who she believed had made it in the 1940s during the Second World War.

And it was sewn on blackout blind,

and that's all that I'm aware of, really.

And she kind of gave to me with the premise,

"I don't want it, you do with it what you will."

To me it feels like it's a real sort of make-do-and-mend.

But actually, it's even better than that, isn't it?

It's kind of make-do-and-be-creative in the midst of the war.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, just the attention to detail

of all of the flowers and the butterflies.

It's very cleverly done,

even the leaves have sort of got all the colours of green in them.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That variation of green, yeah.

-She knew what she was doing.

-She sure did.

-It's a real... it's a real work of art.

-Yeah.

-But it's also a real one-off.

-Yeah.

In fact, when it was made then, with this blackout blind material

in the 1940s, it would have been quite old hat,

because this is more the kind of decoration that you expect to see

on 1920s and 1930s fire screens or printed on tea services.

It's actually... the bulk of it's pretty good condition,

there's a touch of moth just here and some brilliant sticky tape.

-Black duct tape!

-Yes, black gaffer.

In any event, I completely agree with you, it's a real work of art

-and really a very accomplished piece of sewing.

-Yeah.

So I think top marks to whoever made it.

Absolutely, yeah.

And at the moment I think it would be worth around £400.

Yeah, yeah.

Now, when you brought this out of your bag this morning,

I thought, this is just the most terrific piece.

I love bronzes. OK, I'm a man, you know, so I'm bound to respond to it

in a particular way, but I just think the sense of movement,

the life it captures, it's just terrific.

I must admit the sculptor, Yuriovich,

-wasn't very familiar to me.

-No.

But you know all about him, don't you?

I know quite a lot about him.

I met him in the '50s when he came to the pottery for clay,

and he asked if he could do a bust of me, which is this one.

-And you were how old?

-I was eight years old then.

-Yeah.

-My parents were very worried about having it done at all,

because he'd never met me before!

So they insisted that he came once a week, and I sat for him

with them watching.

What was it like, sitting for a sculptor?

My father said I'd never sit still, but he told me so many

captivating stories that I did sit still.

Working for the Tsar, moving to France, he had a Legion d'Honneur

little badge as well, which he was very proud of also.

-Wonderful stories.

-Yeah.

And he could make them up as he went along as well.

-I'm sure it didn't matter!

-It didn't matter.

He first exhibited in Paris in about 1909,

so he was obviously within that sort of Paris ambience.

-Yes.

-And I think that's very important,

-because this amazing figure actually goes back to Degas.

-Ah.

If you think of those Degas ballet dancer bronzes of the 1870s-80s.

Right.

That was a real revolution. It was carrying on from Rodin.

-Ah, yes.

-It was presenting the human figure

in ways it had never been seen before.

And dancers appealed to sculptors

because they were flexible, they could achieve amazing positions.

-Yes.

-He may have ended up in Britain,

-but his whole sort of sense and training...

-Yes, yes.

..is Paris-driven.

I think the point is that with these pieces,

which are to do with the Russians' rediscovery of their history,

in a sense, the sky's the limit.

Within a European context, this piece - because it's so terrific -

-is probably worth £3,000 to £5,000, possibly £6,000.

-Right.

-But I love the idea of you sitting there talking to him.

-Sitting still.

And him engrossing you with amazing stories.

And he did, all the stories that he had.

"N.A.Finch Esq. VC".

Now, I saw that name when I was walking round

the Royal Marines Museum. Just remind me how he won the VC?

He was awarded the Victoria Cross at the sea battle at Zeebrugge.

First World War, about 1918.

And he was one of the few survivors at that battle.

It says here, "The Queen's Bodyguard",

so when was he performing that role?

When he was decommissioned,

he was appointed Sergeant Major of Queen's Bodyguard.

He stood by the King's coffin when it was lying in state.

-King George VI?

-King George VI.

He also walked by the gun carriage for the King's funeral

and also walked by the Queen's Coronation coach for her Coronation.

When he came out of the military, he joined Lloyds Bank as a messenger.

My father worked for Lloyds Bank and I was given this from Finch

for my stamp collection, as a nine-year-old.

As a nine-year-old! Now, that's quite a stamp, isn't it?

Well, that's dated March 1952, so that's a month after the King died.

Now, let's just look at it a minute,

because this is an envelope with the mark of Buckingham Palace here.

You must have been rather chuffed with this?

Well, not very many other kids of nine, at school,

had an envelope like this, so it was rather special.

-So you've had this sat in a drawer, what, for 60 years or so?

-Yes.

What are you planning to do with it now?

Well, I thought it should go to the museum here.

They've got his VC, they've got some of his personal effects,

and it seems appropriate that this should go with it.

Well, that's incredibly kind of you.

So if you're talking to them, can you pass it over to them?

Well, I'd be honoured. I'd be delighted to do that.

That's so generous of you.

It's a pleasure, it's a pleasure.

Now, this self-portrait is by, and of, George Richmond,

who, at the age of 16 in 1827, closed the eyes of William Blake,

the great painter/poet. That's ten years before Queen Victoria

comes to the throne. And this painting was done in 1886.

It must be one of the very last things he ever painted.

Tell me about it.

Well, there is an inscription on the back, written in his own handwriting.

Oh, is there? Yeah.

And it says that, "This is the last picture that I will ever paint."

-Yes.

-"My eyes are failing me,

"the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Amen."

Written on the back.

That's marvellous. That's really quite moving,

because he was one of England's great painters, I think.

You know, when he was a disciple of William Blake,

he was a member of the Shoreham Ancients.

His great friends were Samuel Palmer

and they met at the house of John Linnell.

Palmer said of Blake that he held the keys to the English imagination.

And there's that dimension, the romantic imagination of the English,

that comes flooding into English art at about that time.

And George Richmond is a vehicle for it.

I mean, later, there's not a single important person

in the land of England who doesn't have his portrait done

by George Richmond, but always in the most human way.

A man so interested in humanity and the psychology of people

and such a fluid painter.

This is a very emotional thing, it seems to me,

with his glasses and his failing eyesight.

All his life, he painted himself, didn't he?

Yes, there are probably about nine or ten self-portraits,

a lot of them in the National Portrait Gallery

and other galleries around the world.

But this came down through the family,

-presumably because it was his last.

-You're related to the artist?

Yes, he was my great great grandfather, so a direct descendant.

-Direct descent.

-Through his daughter.

Now, is that his daughter?

-That is his daughter.

-So that's Laura?

-Laura, yes.

-What a pretty girl.

And presumably this is a great deal earlier than that, then?

-This must be about. what, 18...

-That's 1850-odd.

-50, yes.

-Well, she was born in 1841.

-Right.

So if you assume she's about ten...

It's quite a quick sketch for him, isn't it?

I mean, he's normally more finished. But nonetheless, it shows him

at the height of his fluency and the powers that I was talking about.

And it was around about this time that he started developing into oils

-from watercolours, which was...

-And miniatures.

And miniatures, yes, and I have one here.

Ah. That is so pretty, and who's that?

That is of his wife, painted for their marriage in 1830.

They eloped to Gretna Green.

What, because her father didn't approve?

Father wouldn't give his permission for them to be married.

That's terrifically romantic.

And they had a lifelong love affair, and when she died,

he was absolutely devastated.

Oh, dear, a very romantic story. I'll give you that back safely.

Thank you.

So, in terms of dates, we're talking about 1830, 1850

and of course 1886.

And really. these three pictures

tell the whole story of Victorian art,

or at least portraiture.

Now, presumably, because they're family pictures,

you've never valued them, or anything like that?

But I've got to do that. Shall we start with the miniature?

-Yes.

-Well, you know, they're historically important,

so there's that dimension.

Slightly faded, unfortunately, but not very much.

Very alive, such a pretty thing, and so personal.

I think I've probably got to put £10,000 on that.

On this very pretty picture of Laura, well, it's heaven.

I think probably £18,000.

And then for the self-portrait, to me,

that's a very, very powerful thing, it tells such a big story,

which we've only been able to skim today.

I think probably about £30,000, something like that.

Good heavens!

Well, it's not for sale, at the moment anyway!

You know, sometimes you look at a piece of silver and you think,

"Oh, if only it had this, or if only it was by so-and-so",

but that doesn't apply here.

This is a piece that has everything it should have, in spades.

It is a most wonderful piece of silver,

which has been gilded, of course, so it's silver-gilt.

Now, here we've got - which adds a certain something to it -

the arms of King George III. But how has it ended up with you?

A relation of mine was a friend of a lady

called Lady Hester Stanhope, who was actually the niece

of William Pitt and was William Pitt's housekeeper.

And William Pitt gave it to Lady Hester Stanhope

and my relation was one of her closest friends.

-He inherited it from her.

-Wonderful.

And it has trickled down my family.

-And I now own it.

-Right.

So, we're right at the beginning of the Regency here

and, in fact, if we look at the dating,

we've got the London hallmark there for 1805.

Now the makers, Digby Scott and Benjamin Smith.

-Yes.

-Two of the greatest goldsmiths that have ever lived.

-Yes.

-And the important thing here is that they worked...

..in fact they were in partnership, with Rundell, Bridge and Rundell.

-Rundell, Bridge and Rundell were the Royal goldsmiths.

-Yes.

So, this shell, which you might imagine

to have been chased out of the body,

in fact is cast and applied to the body.

All of these sections are casting,

and, in fact, if you look on the inside there,

-you can actually see it's perfectly smooth there.

-Yes.

-Because of the application.

-Yes.

Everything made in the very finest possible way.

And, of course, we've got an ivory handle there,

it wouldn't be anything else but ivory with this firm.

And the triangular base again, so typical of the period.

-Mm-hmm.

-But wherever you look, Greek elements coming in,

all these things, so important at this time.

But, of course, one thing we haven't considered is value.

You've got a Royal piece. Now, that does make a bit of a difference.

In fact, a very big difference.

I've been mulling it over

and I think you'd be hard pushed

to be able to get that today

under £50,000.

< GASPS NEARBY

Yes.

And if it went on significantly beyond that,

it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

-Right, well, thank you very much.

-Thank you.

I knew it was worth a few pounds, but I didn't know quite how much.

Well, there's a very good reason that you have brought this along,

isn't there?

There is. This has caused arguments at home.

Love it.

I tend to pick up things that I like if I see them around

and I can afford them and my son thinks

I should get rid of my clutter.

And I did kind of promise that I wouldn't buy any more.

Then I came home with some glass.

And this one, I got because I could see myself having a spritzer

out of it, and I thought it was old, and I thought it was fine,

and he doesn't and he wants me to bin it.

So, I said I was going to bring it here today

and find out if it was old or not.

If I'm right, my stuff stays, and if I'm wrong,

-I've got to get rid of some.

-Wow, oh, brilliant!

And what's actually really good fun about this

is the fact that...

-..you're absolutely right.

-Oh, yes! Yes, oh, yes!

-You're right, the junk stays!

-It stays!

And good on you, because this glass

is 250 years old!

You're joking.

Would I joke?

Oh, this is the best news!

-I would joke, but...

-I can't wait.

I'm absolutely right.

Because this is a really unusual English wine glass from 1750.

So, how do we know this?

Well, that's a very good question, so, first of all,

that's English, Scottish possibly, but it's really English,

made in London, it's...and it's quite unusual in that it's big!

Big and heavy.

It's really big because most mid-18th century wine glasses

look like, you know, if you sipped out of them, you know,

you'd get your tongue wet and it's empty, because they were designed

to take a toasting mouthful, bottoms up, down the hatch.

Well, that's clearly a mid-18th century wine glass

-that's got good size.

-Right. I never realised.

And then you look underneath the foot, which we've got to do,

and it's a good old mess!

Like a hand-made glass from 250 years ago, and you can't fake it.

So, go on, how much did you pay?

-I paid 50 pence.

-50 pence, cor!

I'll give you a profit here, hold on a minute!

-Um, 400 or 500 quid?

-Honestly?

Oh, God, I cannot wait to see him, thank you.

-Thank you. Thank you very much.

-Give him hell!

-I will.

Robert, we met you earlier on,

and you're in charge of the Royal Marines Museum here.

Thank you very much for putting on the sunshine.

-It's been glorious.

-It's lovely to take credit for that.

It's been absolutely wonderful.

You're celebrating your 350th anniversary

and a visitor has come along to see us today

and gave me something that he would like to donate to the museum,

which is a letter that belonged to N.A. Finch,

who won the VC, who you commemorate here in the museum.

Absolutely we do, absolutely we do.

Of course, and this is a letter from Buckingham Palace,

it has the mourning, to commemorate the death of George VI at the time.

It's been in his family since he was nine,

for about 60 years or so, and he now thinks it should go to the museum

and asked me to pass it over.

This is absolutely wonderful. Finch is one of our heroes.

-Yes.

-Finch is a First World War VC,

wounded, fired his machine gun at the Germans,

despite everybody around him being killed,

and he's a great, great hero of ours.

Unusually awarded the Victoria Cross by ballot,

which meant that his mates actually thought a lot of him.

Because his mates voted for him.

Absolutely, so to have this to add to the collection,

-it's just stupendous.

-Good, oh well, I'm...

-This is so exciting.

-I'm so glad you're pleased.

Well, I shall do him a very good shake by the hand

and buy him a very good pint of beer, too.

You can buy me one as well.

From the Antiques Roadshow, on the 350th anniversary

of the Royal Marines, until next time, bye bye.