The Royal Ballet School, Richmond 2 Antiques Roadshow


The Royal Ballet School, Richmond 2

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Today we're making a return visit to White Lodge,

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a former royal residence.

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Amongst those who've lived here, our current Queen.

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It's listed on her birth certificate as her home address

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as her parents were living here when she was born.

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So it's a royal welcome to the Antiques Roadshow

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from Richmond in Surrey.

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White Lodge in Richmond Park

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was commissioned as a hunting lodge for George I in 1727,

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and became a firm favourite with the royals for generations after.

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It's only 12 miles from the centre of London,

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but it's tucked away discreetly, with some stories to tell.

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Queen Victoria despatched the party-loving Prince of Wales here

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to study, away from the distractions of the capital,

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and then years later he realised that its low profile was just what

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he needed when he was looking for somewhere to install his mistress,

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Emma Harper.

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And during the Second World War, an American widow leased the lodge

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and it was used by her son and other US military officers.

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In fact, there's still a room here called Billiards from that time.

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But it's believed that all that was actually a front

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for undercover American Intelligence Operations.

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For the last 60 years, White Lodge has been filled with the sound

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of children and music as it's home to the Royal Ballet Lower School.

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The ballet school, originally founded in the 1920s,

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was the inspiration of Dame Ninette de Valois,

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an Irish-born ballerina who danced with the Ballet Russe.

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She also created The Royal Ballet

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and Birmingham Royal Ballet Companies.

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When she was young, there was no real British ballet tradition,

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and the only performing ballet was by French or Russian troupes.

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Establishing British ballet became her life's work and legacy.

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The Royal Ballet went on to forge its national

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and international reputation thanks to one of its pupils.

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Peggy Hookham joined the Ballet School seven years after it opened.

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It was immediately apparent there was something special about her.

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She changed her name to Margot Fonteyn, and the rest is history.

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She became the most famous British ballerina of all time.

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And these are her tiny ballet shoes.

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You can see where she's rubbed away the end from dancing on pointes.

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And this is her costume from Swan Lake.

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Today it's our Roadshow experts who will be kept on their toes,

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as our visitors arrive.

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Don't forget, to play along with our valuation game,

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just press red on your remote control,

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or go to the Roadshow app on your computer or on your smartphone.

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Good luck.

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Ooh now, what have we got here?

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-Oh, how pretty. A lovely pair of cuff links.

-Mm-hm.

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How did you get hold of these?

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-These actually belonged to my husband.

-Mm-hm.

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He was given them by his American godmother when he was a little boy.

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-Ah.

-And he thought, "Ugh, I'm not going to wear those",

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so his mother wore it for many, many years and then his mum passed away,

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came back to him and he said, again, "I'm not going to wear those",

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but from my mother-in-law's notes we knew that they were Tiffany,

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so she said.

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And also they were supposed to be sapphires of four different colours,

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which is intriguing to us, so we thought we might see what they are.

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-They have got the signature of Tiffany & Co on them.

-OK.

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So they are by Tiffany,

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and yes, you're absolutely right,

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they are four different colours of sapphire.

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-Oh, are they? Oh good, yes.

-Yes, they are.

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Of course, the most times we think of sapphire, it's blue.

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-One colour, yes.

-One colour blue, there it is.

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They are also the same family, of course, as rubies,

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-so you end up getting pink sapphires as well.

-Ah, OK.

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-And we've got a little pink sapphire in there too.

-Yes, yes.

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-We've also got a white sapphire.

-That's right, yes.

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Which I have to say is sometimes used in jewellery to try

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-and imitate diamond.

-Ah, OK, right.

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-And then we've got a green sapphire, all the way over there.

-Yes, yes.

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Now they're all chemical compositions of aluminium oxide,

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but it's all down to trace elements that help to colour the sapphire

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in different ways.

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So that's basically how you end up with the different colours.

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They date from the late 19th century under the Art Nouveau

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style of jewellery, which started around 1890

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-and lasted into the early part of the 20th century.

-Yes.

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Tiffany & Co were really important at the end of the 19th century

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-because, of course, they are American.

-That's right.

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American jewellers, and we were getting so used to

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- in England and obviously on the Continent - of the French

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leading the way, and suddenly there was a bit of competition going on.

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And there were a number of exhibitions at the end

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of the 19th century where Tiffany got involved,

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and Louis Comfort Tiffany started to show jewellery,

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and that's how we end up with the Tiffany we know today.

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They show all the signs of typical Art Nouveau style

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with the chasing of the decoration. They're very delicate,

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and I can understand why your mother-in-law

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-wanted to wear them, they're really fantastic in many ways.

-Yes.

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Of course, with them being Tiffany & Co,

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it's a name that, as I mentioned earlier,

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is very important in the development of the history of jewellery,

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and these at auction would be worth between £2,000 and £3,000.

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Right. Thank you. That's nice!

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I think I'll wear them from now on.

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These are East India Company paintings.

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Do you know where they represent?

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Yes, I believe this one is Canton,

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-and this one is Macau.

-Yep.

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They could have been ordered by any of the East India Companies,

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of which there were a lot.

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You can see the number of different flags there were, here in Canton.

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And each country had its own...what they called factory, or building.

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That view is very well known.

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You get it on fans, you get it on porcelain.

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You don't often see it painted on copper, as we have here.

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The oil on copper technique is purely European,

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it didn't exist before the Europeans got into China.

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And, in fact, it was probably introduced by the Jesuits,

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who were a great influence in the 18th century, and they introduced

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a lot of things, like the rose pink for example, famille rose.

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But these are fantastically well painted.

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Painted by a Chinese who's been taught to paint by a European.

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Macau is much rarer. You don't see that many views of Macau

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because the traders had much less reason to go there.

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This strip of land was only 100 yards wide

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-and beyond that, the Europeans were not allowed to penetrate.

-Yes.

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There was a fire, and most of the factories were burned down,

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which I think happened about 1840,

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but I think these are pre-that. Just from the style of the painting,

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they look to me probably 1810-1820, somewhere around there.

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Presumably you didn't buy them out there at the time.

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-No, no.

-So where did they come from?

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We lived in Hong Kong, but they were actually given to me

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by an elderly friend of my mother's.

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She died about 30 years ago and she'd had them

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from her father and her grandfather,

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who were in the Navy.

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Well, they're the sort of thing

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which has enormously risen in value recently

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because of the interest from the Chinese themselves.

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It wouldn't be difficult to see those making...

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-£5,000 - £8,000 for the pair.

-Good lord!

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Maybe even a bit more.

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It seems crazy for a couple of postcards.

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It must be a world record.

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-Well, The Kiss of a Cossack, a wonderful Russian subject.

-Indeed.

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What's your connection with Russia?

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Well, it's actually not my connection.

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The bronze came into my possession as a gift

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from my father, who was a doctor, and he had some patients which I believe

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were from Russian descent, and my father looked after the husband

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for quite some time, and then unfortunately when he died,

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the wife said to my father, "Would you please let us give you this bronze?"

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Because every time he used to go and visit them in their house,

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-and so on, he always used to admire the bronze.

-Yes.

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So that's how basically it came into our family.

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-Yes, as a token of gratitude.

-Yeah, yeah, indeed so.

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-It dates from the sort of late 1870s.

-OK.

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When the art market was really looking back several centuries

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to these iconic images of Russia, the troikas,

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the saints, the Tsars, the hunting, the shooting.

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And this is a wonderful depiction of a Cossack,

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he's obviously in... I think a farewell embrace.

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Yes, you could say that.

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It's funny, a lot of men say farewell to their loved ones,

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-never to be seen again.

-In those times,

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I should imagine that was probably more prevalent than anything else.

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Absolutely. Traditionally, of course, the Cossacks were

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the bodyguards of the Tsar.

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-This was actually made under the Tsar Alexander II.

-Right.

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And, of course, it's signed by a very well-known

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Russian bronze sculptor.

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I mean, I did try and look it up on the internet,

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-but I'm afraid my Russian wasn't very good!

-Well, don't worry.

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Trying to put in the characters was even harder.

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-Well, it's in Cyrillic, and it's Vassili Grachev.

-Right.

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-And he was St Petersburg-based.

-OK.

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-And produced a huge range of very exquisite cast bronzes.

-Right.

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We also have the name of the foundry.

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Oh, yeah, I did wonder what that was.

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Well, that actually says "fab", F-A-B for fabrique.

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-So, that would be fabrique, yeah.

-So "made",

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and the foundry is Woerffel, a very well-respected foundry,

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and you can see how crisply it's been done. You know,

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I just love all the detail, the traditional fur hat.

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Yeah, I mean what tickles me

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is that the girl's feet are off the ground in the embrace.

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It's absolutely lovely.

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As he's about to gallop away into the snowy regions.

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There is a big demand now from wealthy Russians to repatriate

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-some of their great...

-The oligarchs.

-That's right.

-Oh, right.

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So, you know, it has a value that's much higher

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than it would have been this time ten years ago.

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Today at auction you'd be looking at about £3,500 at auction.

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Really?

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That's quite nice, considering it didn't cost me anything at all.

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Well, exactly. It was a gift of gratitude.

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Yes, absolutely, yeah. And it's something that I think

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we will probably try and keep in the family.

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What at first looks like

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a really rather charming little Regency table,

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a little drum table, it's got an inset top

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and it's obviously got an interesting story to go with it,

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so tell me about it.

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Who is this chap in the middle, and why is he there?

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He is Sir Edward Banks, and he and Mr Joliffe

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were the constructors and surveyors who built Old London Bridge.

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This purports to be timber from underneath Old London Bridge.

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In fact, that is what the plaque on the side says.

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So this timber could be a thousand years old?

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Yes, yes. In as much that London Bridge, Old London Bridge,

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-was started off with the Romans, and then of course it...

-Yeah.

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And William the Conqueror actually rebuilt it, and it may well be

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the timbers that were underneath when he rebuilt it.

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-Could be, could be.

-Well, well.

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A couple of things from my point of view. I love this period

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because you can date with reasonable accuracy things made after about

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1810, because they were publishing books of fashion and design.

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And in 1827, a chap called George Smith, a very well-known

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cabinet maker and funeral arranger, he drew the designs that were most

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popular, which became the standard practice for about 15 years,

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and if we start at the bottom, you see this marvellous sort of petal.

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-Yes.

-And then this leaf here, formalised leaf,

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he drew that in 1827,

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so we know within ten years of that, that this would have been made,

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just from that alone.

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Because after that, it went out of fashion,

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and the Victorians added their own sort of idea and interpretation.

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The other interesting thing about it is that, first of all,

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it's a little drum table, but here, see that little knob thing there?

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-Yes.

-That is the hinge of a ring which sat inside there,

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off a chest of drawers or off of a piece of furniture,

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-which indicates immediately that you pulled it and lifted it.

-Really?

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-Do you see what I mean?

-Yes, yes, I do, yes, yes.

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So that tells me that the top is either hinged,

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or it lifts up from the middle, and in fact it lifts up from the middle.

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I'm going to take it right out, OK.

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-Now, you see these dents here?

-Yes.

-Right?

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Those are caused by... There's a screw under here, isn't there?

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-Yes, there is, I've often wondered what it was for.

-OK.

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You can tighten that screw

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and you can lift the top and use it. This has been cut off at some time.

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You could raise it to there and then you could get to

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all your little bits and pieces in this work table, and it was

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full of silks and needlework and satins, wonderful.

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So it looked like a little treasure box when you opened it.

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But it is fantastic.

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Now, the interesting thing is, that this isn't oak, this is rosewood.

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-Really?

-So it's veneered.

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That's a bit of very early oak veneer, which they've put

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onto a solid rosewood base. There.

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I mean, apart from the history, which is without doubt correct,

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because there were a lot of the early timbers, and there are lots

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of pieces of furniture made from this oak

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under the Old London Bridge. How is it yours?

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-Well, my grandmother had it and she was very keen on auctions.

-Oh, I see!

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She doubtless picked it up somewhere.

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Oh, good for her. Well, as an attractive

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and really pretty little piece of furniture, with that added history,

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I have no question about putting £2,500 on it, as a valuation for it.

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I think it's just charming.

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This is an undeniably good-looking casket. Where did it come from?

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I was in the Merchant Navy

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and I went down to Australia in the early '60s

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and I saw it in a junk shop there and I thought, "Oh, this is lovely".

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-Junk shop?

-Yes, yes.

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But it was hidden away, and at that time

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I earned about 14 pounds, 16 and eight pence a month

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and it cost me a fiver, so it was quite a large outlay at that time.

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Had you any thoughts

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when you first spied it in Australia as to where it might have come from?

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-No, no idea.

-It doesn't look particularly Australian, does it?

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-IN AUSTRALIAN ACCENT: Nah, mate!

-And it's certainly European.

-Mmm.

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-But actually it's from, it's from two countries.

-Yes?

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The panels themselves are pietra dura panels,

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-almost like semi-precious stone marquetry.

-Yes.

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-There were workshops in Italy, in Rome and Florence.

-Mmm.

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And these five panels, because there's even a panel to the back,

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-were made in the mid-19th century in Italy.

-Mm-hm.

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And they then would have been exported from Italy to be laid

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on a casket like this.

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But the actual gilt metal, the ormolu, was not made in Italy.

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-Uh-huh.

-The quality of the gilt metal, the ormolu, is so good.

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Now, when I first looked at it, I sort of had this thing -

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-is it France, or is it England?

-Yes.

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-Because the French are so well-known for producing ormolu.

-Yes.

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But looking at some of these features,

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and I think almost the most revealing feature

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is this beautifully plain, high-quality, chamfered border

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-to the inside.

-Yes.

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-I think it's English.

-Oh!

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And what it reminds me of is the cases for carriage clocks

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-that were made in England in the mid 19th century.

-Yes.

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I think this was made around 1860, and the carriage clocks

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that were made in cases that had these features, were the top ones

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-made by Dent, McCabe, Cole, and we don't know who made this.

-No.

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-But that is why I think it's an English case.

-Yes.

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I think you chose well.

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I think it's a very good choice

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because your five pounds is now £3,000.

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Great Scott!

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Maybe £3,500.

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Good lord, I think I'll faint.

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Well, thank you.

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This is a really lovely thing you've brought in here.

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I'm kind of almost surprised to see it here,

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although some lovely things have been brought to the show today.

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I never thought I'd ever see one of these.

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-You know what it is, don't you?

-I do indeed.

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-I've been told it's a Maori feather box.

-Yeah, it is.

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Called a waka huia

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because it contained the black and white feathers of a huia bird,

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which they used to put in their hair.

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They were considered as treasure. Have you had this a long time?

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It's been in the family a long time.

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It was originally owned by Thomas Armstrong,

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who was the art director of what was then the South Kensington Museum.

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-The V&A?

-The V&A as it is today.

-Wow.

0:18:350:18:38

And it gradually it descended then through our family

0:18:380:18:42

and it's ended up with me, so I've known it for quite a few years.

0:18:420:18:47

I wonder how it got into his hands.

0:18:470:18:49

I suppose you don't know that, do you?

0:18:490:18:50

-Well, I think he was a great networker.

-I see.

0:18:500:18:54

And he had a lot of connections in the art world,

0:18:540:18:58

and a lot of things came his way, shall we say.

0:18:580:19:01

When did he work there as the art director?

0:19:010:19:03

In the sort of last half of the 19th century.

0:19:050:19:09

That's extraordinary, because this comes a long, long way, you know,

0:19:090:19:12

from the Southern Hemisphere, in the Pacific, you know,

0:19:120:19:15

the Maori were Polynesian people.

0:19:150:19:18

He had a large personal collection of ark work which...

0:19:180:19:22

How he got it, we don't really know.

0:19:220:19:24

That's extraordinary. It's a beautiful colour.

0:19:240:19:26

They didn't just keep feathers in them,

0:19:260:19:28

they kept jewels or things that they wore, anything precious.

0:19:280:19:33

I mean, the carving is curvilinear

0:19:330:19:35

and it's very beautiful with these teaky-like heads at the end.

0:19:350:19:39

I would put it into about 1810-1820.

0:19:390:19:42

I think it's got a reasonable value.

0:19:440:19:48

With good provenance, these can make £15,000 - £20,000.

0:19:480:19:51

That's fantastic.

0:19:510:19:53

But I think this one, without provenance,

0:19:530:19:56

I would value at something like £7,000 - £9,000.

0:19:560:20:00

Even so, that's fantastic.

0:20:000:20:03

I really think it is quite stunning.

0:20:030:20:07

Hitler's face at the bottom of a patriotic potty.

0:20:100:20:13

How did you come by this fine, fine piece of china?

0:20:140:20:18

It belonged to a very old friend of mine who died a couple of years ago

0:20:180:20:22

and I had to clear out his house, and I was given the pot

0:20:220:20:25

by the executors, because I requested it,

0:20:250:20:28

and it sits in our bathroom at home.

0:20:280:20:31

-And you requested it, you particularly liked it?

-Yes.

0:20:310:20:34

Let's have a look. It's a marvellous thing, isn't it?

0:20:340:20:37

So you've got the swastika here, "Have this on old nasty..."

0:20:370:20:41

Clearly depositing on Hitler's face here,

0:20:410:20:44

"...yet another violation of Poland"

0:20:440:20:46

so obviously his annexation of Poland, or his moving into Poland.

0:20:460:20:49

-And it plays a tune as well, doesn't it?

-It plays a tune.

0:20:490:20:52

I thought it played two tunes,

0:20:520:20:54

but I think it just plays Rule Britannia.

0:20:540:20:57

So when you lift it up and you've had a tinkle,

0:20:570:20:59

followed by another tinkle, you go...

0:20:590:21:02

POTTY PLAYS RULE BRITANNIA LIKE A MUSIC BOX

0:21:020:21:04

Recognise that? Very patriotic, how brilliant.

0:21:040:21:10

Do you know anything about it, and its value at all?

0:21:110:21:13

No, nothing at all.

0:21:130:21:15

I do know that the gentleman who it belonged to,

0:21:150:21:18

his father was a music hall entertainer in the 1930s.

0:21:180:21:22

But other than that...

0:21:220:21:23

Other than that, it was just in the house and I loved it.

0:21:230:21:26

Now the thing about this is, clearly it's a kind of,

0:21:260:21:30

a bit of a comedy item,

0:21:300:21:32

and you could think it's just another "fancy that",

0:21:320:21:35

but actually I've spoken to our experts about it and it's very rare.

0:21:350:21:38

-Really?

-It's very rare.

0:21:380:21:41

Because of its date, the Second World War,

0:21:410:21:44

this particular period when Hitler... Hitler's storm-troops

0:21:440:21:49

rode into Poland, and it has quite a significant value.

0:21:490:21:53

-£300.

-It'll still sit in our bathroom.

0:21:560:22:02

-It's actually £3,000.

-Oh, it's not? No, it isn't, is it?

0:22:020:22:07

Wow. It'll still sit in our bathroom!

0:22:070:22:11

But I will tell my daughter, who will inherit everything,

0:22:110:22:14

she's got to keep it rather than throw it in the tip.

0:22:140:22:16

And not to use it.

0:22:160:22:18

No, no, my husband doesn't use it, I promise you he doesn't.

0:22:180:22:21

Microscopes and wedding cakes,

0:22:280:22:32

they seem slightly at odds with each other. What on Earth is the link?

0:22:320:22:36

Well, they were both made by my grandfather, David Martin,

0:22:360:22:41

but he was a very meticulous man,

0:22:410:22:43

and you can see from the marvellous decoration on the cakes

0:22:430:22:47

and all the lovely twiddly bits here, that he loved ornamental things.

0:22:470:22:52

I can see. So his profession was as a what?

0:22:520:22:55

What would we call it? A confectioner, or a pat...

0:22:550:22:58

Yes, the family ran a bakery in Kerrymuir.

0:22:580:23:02

His brother Ratray was the bread baker

0:23:020:23:05

and my grandfather was the confectioner.

0:23:050:23:08

Fantastic, and you're telling me that he actually

0:23:080:23:10

made these microscopes?

0:23:100:23:12

Yes, he did, yes, but I think he must have bought the lenses

0:23:120:23:16

and the objectives, but he made everything else

0:23:160:23:19

and carved everything else, yes.

0:23:190:23:21

At first glance,

0:23:210:23:23

these look like early microscopes

0:23:230:23:28

from the 17th century.

0:23:280:23:31

The great names in microscopes, and the invention

0:23:310:23:36

and perfection of microscopy

0:23:360:23:39

are Robert Hook and John Marshall.

0:23:390:23:41

Both of them used this system, which is basically

0:23:410:23:45

-a system of cardboard tubes.

-Yes.

0:23:450:23:49

Which go in and out on the barrel to cause the coarse focusing.

0:23:490:23:55

Here you've got the reflecting mirror,

0:23:550:23:58

and that you could tilt then, to line it up with the sun

0:23:580:24:02

-to focus the beam directly onto the slide.

-Yes.

0:24:020:24:06

And they used this method to create those early microscopes

0:24:060:24:10

in the 17th century,

0:24:100:24:12

so your grandfather was following on from a very good tradition.

0:24:120:24:16

Now, when do you think your grandfather made these?

0:24:160:24:19

Did he, did he give a date?

0:24:190:24:22

Well, on the sides it says 1887, so I think that would have been about...

0:24:220:24:27

-He would have been a young man, in his 20s.

-Yes.

0:24:270:24:32

And I suppose what I like particularly is the fact that,

0:24:320:24:36

being a Scottish microscope maker,

0:24:360:24:39

he covered this particular barrel in tartan!

0:24:390:24:42

THEY LAUGH It's sweet, isn't it? Yes.

0:24:420:24:43

It's absolutely fantastic.

0:24:430:24:46

And I like these scrolling supports here.

0:24:460:24:50

They're wonderful.

0:24:500:24:52

Yes, he was a very good wood carver.

0:24:520:24:53

In here there's a commercial thing, the Lord's Prayer on the head

0:24:530:24:59

of a pin, and you can actually read it with this microscope.

0:24:590:25:04

-It has got damaged.

-There we go.

-But that's the head of a pin.

0:25:040:25:08

And it is absolutely...tiny.

0:25:080:25:11

-It takes a bit of fiddling.

-I'm sure.

0:25:110:25:14

But I've certainly read it myself.

0:25:140:25:16

What a wonderful party piece that would have been,

0:25:160:25:19

to have looked at that.

0:25:190:25:20

The very touching thing was that I became a bacteriologist

0:25:200:25:24

and my granny sent these down in a big box on the train,

0:25:240:25:28

saying that she thought it would be useful.

0:25:280:25:31

-So do you think the time that you spent with your grandfather...

-Yes.

0:25:310:25:37

-..looking at these...

-Well, maybe!

0:25:370:25:40

-..propelled you on to your future career?

-I wonder, yes!

0:25:400:25:43

Well, thank you, grandfather.

0:25:430:25:45

To me, they're absolutely charming.

0:25:450:25:47

I don't care if they're not optically the most sophisticated.

0:25:470:25:50

Because to me there's been so much enthusiasm and love put into it.

0:25:500:25:55

I would have said that the collection that we have here

0:25:550:25:58

would probably fetch something around £1,000 to perhaps £1,200.

0:25:580:26:03

-Goodness! Yes, well, that's...

-They're lovely.

0:26:030:26:06

Well, thank you very much indeed, thank you.

0:26:060:26:08

Does she have a name?

0:26:100:26:12

The Green Lady or The Little Dutch Girl. I think The Little Dutch Girl

0:26:120:26:15

is probably what she's been known as for longer than I can remember.

0:26:150:26:19

And where does she come from?

0:26:190:26:21

I believe she came from my great grandfather, who acquired her,

0:26:210:26:26

I think, from new, though I'm not sure. Family history

0:26:260:26:29

says 1851, the Great Exhibition, though I suspect she might be

0:26:290:26:33

a bit later than that, and she's been in the family ever since.

0:26:330:26:38

Yeah. One of the ways in which you can date a pottery figure

0:26:380:26:41

is through the face.

0:26:410:26:42

Our interest in human faces changes from decade to decade.

0:26:420:26:48

You can almost date her to the decade just by looking at her face.

0:26:480:26:52

This face is a face, not of 1851, The Great Exhibition,

0:26:520:26:56

but of some time around the year 1900.

0:26:560:26:58

Does that still square?

0:26:590:27:01

No, that absolutely squares, yes, that would make perfect sense.

0:27:010:27:05

My great grandfather was about 1890, 1900,

0:27:050:27:09

acquiring a number of pretty objects.

0:27:090:27:12

-So the story about

-The

-Great Exhibition

0:27:120:27:14

-could be a story about

-a

-great exhibition.

0:27:140:27:16

Far more likely, which is what I've suspected for some time,

0:27:160:27:19

because the date didn't quite tie in

0:27:190:27:21

with what the family history had said.

0:27:210:27:23

-Because exhibitions carried on from 1851.

-Exactly.

0:27:230:27:26

There was the first Great Exhibition

0:27:260:27:27

and then they carried on well into the early 20th century.

0:27:270:27:30

I'm not too good on national costumes,

0:27:300:27:33

so I don't know whether she's Dutch or whether she could be Breton.

0:27:330:27:36

But what I do know is it is an exceptional piece of modelling.

0:27:360:27:40

She's carrying panniers, and I wonder whether that's a clue to how

0:27:400:27:44

she was originally intended.

0:27:440:27:46

If she had been bought at an exhibition,

0:27:460:27:49

it's quite possible that these panniers contained, what,

0:27:490:27:52

flowers or cards or something.

0:27:520:27:55

But these go beyond a mere decorative function.

0:27:550:27:59

I think she was intended to carry something.

0:27:590:28:02

Very often when you see figures like this,

0:28:020:28:04

they were even intended in shop windows, which is, after all,

0:28:040:28:07

what an exhibition is, it's the shop window for the various potteries.

0:28:070:28:12

Let's just turn her around a little bit and look at the back,

0:28:120:28:15

and the sculptor has really understood human anatomy

0:28:150:28:19

beautifully, and...I think she's lovely, and down here...

0:28:190:28:23

She has the most beautiful ankle.

0:28:230:28:25

Yes, and there's this lovely contrast between the glaze,

0:28:250:28:27

the glazed part of her clothes

0:28:270:28:29

and then the matt enamel of her arms and her legs and her torso.

0:28:290:28:35

Depose, that means copyright,

0:28:350:28:38

and then down here we have a very Germanic-looking signature.

0:28:380:28:41

It says Borsdorf. I've looked him up in the book

0:28:410:28:45

and I just cannot find that name

0:28:450:28:48

and I'm really, really surprised, because a sculptor of this calibre

0:28:480:28:51

really you would expect to be recorded.

0:28:510:28:54

So Continental, early 20th century.

0:28:540:28:58

This to me is a show-off piece.

0:28:580:29:00

Oh, I love her, I must say. I absolutely adore her.

0:29:000:29:02

-You're not going to sell her.

-No.

0:29:020:29:04

But if I were to see something like this is an auction of late 19th,

0:29:040:29:09

early 20th century objects, I would be very surprised

0:29:090:29:13

-if you could buy her for much less than £2,000.

-Gosh, yes.

0:29:130:29:18

She is absolutely...

0:29:180:29:21

No, she is absolutely lovely,

0:29:210:29:22

and thank you very much, that's most interesting.

0:29:220:29:25

The word salver is derived from the Latin salvo, to serve, and in

0:29:260:29:31

the 18th century salvers like this were carried by a footman,

0:29:310:29:35

usually carrying glasses or a decanter,

0:29:350:29:37

and served to the assembled company.

0:29:370:29:40

But this isn't just an ordinary salver, there's something

0:29:400:29:44

special about it. So how did it first come into your possession?

0:29:440:29:47

Well, it comes from my great-great grandmother's family,

0:29:470:29:50

and it was probably in her family for quite a bit of time

0:29:500:29:53

before that, and she would have been born in the early 1830s.

0:29:530:29:57

And in the family it was known as the Princess Augusta plate,

0:29:570:30:01

and that's all I know about it really.

0:30:010:30:03

-Right, so the A here is not for Alastair, it's for Princess Augusta.

-THEY LAUGH

0:30:030:30:09

OK, well, historically

0:30:090:30:12

and from students of silvers' point of view, this is really interesting

0:30:120:30:17

because it's like the crossover from Baroque decoration

0:30:170:30:21

of the early 18th century, into the Rococo decoration,

0:30:210:30:25

which really came in in about 1730.

0:30:250:30:27

We've got these wonderful lions confronting serpents

0:30:270:30:31

on either side, but see how this bit is generally,

0:30:310:30:35

the engraving is symmetrical,

0:30:350:30:37

you've got these equal scrolls coming up here.

0:30:370:30:40

But if we look round the edge, we've got these asymmetrical scrolls

0:30:400:30:43

all round here, which are much more a feature

0:30:430:30:46

of the Rococo period, which lasted from about 1730 to 1760.

0:30:460:30:51

-Now, you think this initial is for Princess Augusta.

-Yes.

0:30:510:30:57

The problem lies in that

0:30:580:31:01

she was born in 1768,

0:31:010:31:05

and if we turn it over and look at the marks at the bottom here,

0:31:050:31:12

we've got a date letter for 1736.

0:31:120:31:14

The maker's mark is RA for Robert Abercrombie,

0:31:160:31:19

and he was a specialist salver maker.

0:31:190:31:22

So it would appear that this initial here was put on at a later date.

0:31:220:31:29

Normally, that would be a bit of a down point,

0:31:290:31:33

but the fact that she was the second daughter

0:31:330:31:35

of George III makes it a little bit more special.

0:31:350:31:41

The fact that it is made in silver gilt, which is silver covered

0:31:410:31:44

in a thin coating of gold, also makes it a little bit special.

0:31:440:31:49

So it's a lot better than just the average salver,

0:31:490:31:54

and trying to put a price on fabulous things is never easy,

0:31:540:31:58

but I think that we're probably getting somewhere close

0:31:580:32:04

-to £15,000.

-Gosh. Interesting.

0:32:040:32:08

I'm particularly drawn to your 1960s oil painting by Barbara Tate.

0:32:110:32:16

There's a really uncanny resemblance

0:32:160:32:19

between the little girl in your oil painting

0:32:190:32:22

and my daughter, who is blonde, seven years old,

0:32:220:32:25

has just got freckles from a summer holiday and has wonderful

0:32:250:32:28

blue eyes. And this painting is just exquisitely painted.

0:32:280:32:32

The face in particular is like a photo-realist painting.

0:32:320:32:36

I'd love to know a little bit more about how you've come across it.

0:32:360:32:39

Basically, my aunt left it to me about 15 years ago

0:32:390:32:43

and I was seven when it was... When I was dressing up, it was a hamper,

0:32:430:32:48

I had to put on a dress. I don't really remember too much about it.

0:32:480:32:51

But I think it was called The Hamper.

0:32:510:32:54

I was living at my grandmother's at the time, and she always said that

0:32:540:32:58

my face had got good bone structure and various different features,

0:32:580:33:02

and that she always wanted to capture that on canvas. And here it is.

0:33:020:33:06

-So hang on a second. This portrait is of you?

-Yes.

0:33:060:33:09

And it's painted by your aunt, who was Barbara Tate.

0:33:090:33:12

-That's right, yes.

-Oh, this is very fascinating.

0:33:120:33:14

Of course, there isn't a great deal known about Barbara Tate.

0:33:140:33:17

She wrote that rather wonderful book about the 1950s, didn't she?

0:33:170:33:21

Yes, yes. She wrote a book called The West End Girls

0:33:210:33:23

and it was published just before she died,

0:33:230:33:25

and it was a bit of an eye opener, I must say.

0:33:250:33:29

The book was very interesting, she lived a very interesting life

0:33:290:33:33

and the book was about various different characters in there,

0:33:330:33:36

with regards judges and lawyers, and rather seedy times

0:33:360:33:43

in the 1950s, which was when she...

0:33:430:33:47

The book related to the 1950s.

0:33:470:33:50

-So this was when she was a maid in the 1950s.

-Yes.

0:33:500:33:55

Living in Soho, obviously lots of prostitutes.

0:33:550:33:58

-She was a maid for a prostitute, wasn't she?

-Yes, she was, yes.

0:33:580:34:00

So she had the most extraordinary life.

0:34:000:34:02

She did. And she was a very eccentric lady, had lots of cats

0:34:020:34:07

-and very interesting, but a very good painter.

-Absolutely.

0:34:070:34:10

Now what I know about her, apart from she was a member

0:34:100:34:14

-of the Society of Women Artists and a president for 15 years...

-Yeah.

0:34:140:34:19

..is that during my 27 years in the art world,

0:34:190:34:22

I don't think I've come across many of her pictures.

0:34:220:34:24

No, she didn't really sell many paintings.

0:34:240:34:26

I think she had a few commissions

0:34:260:34:28

but she didn't actually sell them, she tended to keep them.

0:34:280:34:31

I think I saw about 100 in her house at any one time.

0:34:310:34:34

-I think this is a truly gorgeous portrait.

-Thank you.

0:34:340:34:37

Really, really beautiful, and that face,

0:34:370:34:39

it really pulls you into the painting.

0:34:390:34:41

If this picture came up at auction, I think lots of people

0:34:410:34:44

would fall in love with it,

0:34:440:34:46

-so in terms of value, £1,000 - £1,500.

-OK, yeah.

0:34:460:34:49

But I absolutely love it, I think it's a great 1960s portrait.

0:34:490:34:52

Thank you.

0:34:520:34:53

Diamonds and pearls have been associated with love for centuries

0:35:050:35:10

and it's beautiful to see so many items here today.

0:35:100:35:12

I understand that each of these pieces has a personal connection

0:35:120:35:16

regarding your children. How has that come about?

0:35:160:35:19

It certainly does.

0:35:190:35:21

When I had my son, my darling husband said,

0:35:210:35:24

"I will find you something you absolutely adore,"

0:35:240:35:28

-and with all his love he gave me this one.

-Lovely.

0:35:280:35:32

Which was absolutely beyond my imagination. And then,

0:35:320:35:38

when Hayley came along, another darling brooch arrived.

0:35:380:35:42

Super.

0:35:420:35:44

And then ten years after my first baby, Tiffany came along,

0:35:440:35:49

-and that's what he gave me for having her.

-The pearls.

0:35:490:35:53

-And the diamonds.

-And the diamonds.

-Fantastic.

0:35:530:35:56

So I've been thoroughly, thoroughly spoilt.

0:35:560:35:58

What about these two, the earrings and the ring?

0:35:580:36:00

How did you acquire those?

0:36:000:36:02

When my grandfather died, about, gosh, 46 years ago,

0:36:020:36:08

he left me £1,250,

0:36:080:36:12

which in those days was quite a lot of money for a newly wed,

0:36:120:36:16

and so a relative said, "Put the money into a diamond ring".

0:36:160:36:21

What a brilliant idea.

0:36:210:36:22

We were able to acquire a pair of diamond earrings as well.

0:36:220:36:27

Well, just a little bit of history about the pieces,

0:36:270:36:29

because although we know your personal history regarding them,

0:36:290:36:32

they are all antique pieces of jewellery, effectively,

0:36:320:36:36

and we've got this beautiful clasp on the pearls,

0:36:360:36:40

which dates from the late 19th century, which is set with old

0:36:400:36:43

-brilliant cut diamonds and also oval old cut diamonds as well.

-Really?

0:36:430:36:48

Which have got a lovely softness to them

0:36:480:36:50

-and they create that very delicate, almost star cluster, effect.

-Yes.

0:36:500:36:55

Which was popular in the Victorian period, but all the way through

0:36:550:36:59

into the '30s and '40s, and then the two brooches,

0:36:590:37:02

the one that you got for your son Ashley,

0:37:020:37:04

which is superb, this one is again from the late 1940s,

0:37:040:37:10

early 1950s period, when spray brooches

0:37:100:37:12

were at the height of fashion

0:37:120:37:15

and the larger the better, as we see here.

0:37:150:37:18

-Then of course your other daughter, and her name was...

-Hayley.

0:37:180:37:21

Hayley, with her beautiful spray brooch as well,

0:37:210:37:25

-slightly later in date, well into the '50s for this one.

-Right.

0:37:250:37:28

But the elegance is again being reflected in how fashion

0:37:280:37:31

was changing during that time too.

0:37:310:37:33

The single stone ring weighs approximately 2.8 carats

0:37:330:37:38

so we've got a lovely - again - old brilliant cut diamond,

0:37:380:37:42

slightly cushion shaped, but very well cut.

0:37:420:37:45

It's not got much colour to it, which is good when you're

0:37:450:37:48

-looking at diamonds. You want them to be as white as possible.

-Right.

0:37:480:37:51

Having looked at it with a jeweller's loupe,

0:37:510:37:53

-there are some flaws in there.

-Yes.

0:37:530:37:55

But it doesn't matter really, does it?

0:37:550:37:57

-Because you enjoy wearing it anyway.

-Oh, yes.

0:37:570:37:59

And it's a beautiful mount that it's set in as well, dating from the late

0:37:590:38:04

19th, early 20th century as well, so nice and delicate, set in platinum.

0:38:040:38:08

-Yes.

-Ticks all the right boxes for many ladies out there.

0:38:080:38:12

And then the earrings,

0:38:120:38:14

-slightly later in date, probably into the 1930s.

-Right.

0:38:140:38:17

Total weight of diamonds on each earring is about a carat,

0:38:170:38:21

so again good quality of stones in there too,

0:38:210:38:24

so overall a fantastic collection of jewellery. And I'm sure that

0:38:240:38:29

values are important, but it's the sentimental side, really, isn't it,

0:38:290:38:32

-that really does do it for you, definitely.

-Oh, absolutely.

0:38:320:38:37

But going through,

0:38:370:38:39

the antique Victorian clasp on the pearls,

0:38:390:38:42

which of course are later cultured pearls,

0:38:420:38:44

-you're looking at a total of about £3,000 at auction for those.

-OK.

0:38:440:38:50

And then Ashley's brooch here, again, round about £4,500, £5,000

0:38:500:38:56

for that at auction. And the smaller brooch here,

0:38:560:38:59

we're looking at about £1,500 at auction for that.

0:38:590:39:03

For the initial £1,250 that you spent,

0:39:030:39:07

the ring will now be worth around about £6,000 at auction,

0:39:070:39:12

and the earrings about £3,000.

0:39:120:39:15

Goodness, that's amazing.

0:39:150:39:18

My dear grandfather, bless his soul.

0:39:180:39:22

So a superb collection of jewellery

0:39:220:39:25

which I know you love wearing, with a total value of £18,500.

0:39:250:39:29

Oh, quickly into the bank, Frank, I think.

0:39:290:39:32

Oh, bless you, but it's not the value,

0:39:340:39:37

it's just the beauty that I love.

0:39:370:39:40

-Tell me, do you live in a Gothic mansion?

-No, sadly.

0:39:400:39:44

So how come you have these most magnificent

0:39:440:39:47

Gothic bat wall sconces?

0:39:470:39:49

Well, I found them at a local car boot sale,

0:39:490:39:52

and I collect animal sculptures, so I wanted to get them straightaway.

0:39:520:39:57

What did you actually pay for these at a car boot sale?

0:39:570:40:00

I paid £42.

0:40:000:40:02

You're joking! As you've probably spotted, they are stamped Liberty.

0:40:020:40:06

Yes, I saw that.

0:40:060:40:07

They weren't actually manufactured by Liberty.

0:40:070:40:10

Liberty, of course, have a very long history of retailing very small

0:40:100:40:14

sort of artisan-produced goods.

0:40:140:40:16

My feeling is they were probably manufactured by a company

0:40:160:40:19

called William Tonks in Birmingham,

0:40:190:40:21

who were metal workers in the latter part of the 19th century.

0:40:210:40:26

There's not an awful lot known about them, but I do know their work was

0:40:260:40:30

retailed at Liberty, and this is very typical

0:40:300:40:32

of the sort of work they did.

0:40:320:40:34

They do actually have a number stamped on the back of them,

0:40:340:40:36

which I'm not sure if you would have ever noticed, it's quite difficult

0:40:360:40:40

to discern, but that actually gives us a date for between 1890 and 1891.

0:40:400:40:45

The department store on Regent Street opened in 1875

0:40:450:40:48

and he was a great purveyor of selling small artisan works,

0:40:480:40:53

and we commonly more know him for the Art and Crafts Movement,

0:40:530:40:57

after about 1900-1910, but of course he was actually in operation

0:40:570:41:02

from the 1870s.

0:41:020:41:03

These, I think, are absolutely magnificent. They're fabulous.

0:41:030:41:09

They're actually... They're cast brass, and this sort of gold

0:41:090:41:13

highlighting on them, that's just a patination that's done on them,

0:41:130:41:16

-it's not that they've particularly dulled down to that.

-Ah.

0:41:160:41:20

It is actually a patination that they're meant to have.

0:41:200:41:24

I supposed it's to make them look rather kind of Gothic.

0:41:240:41:27

So you obviously love them.

0:41:270:41:29

Do you have them on display in your house?

0:41:290:41:31

No, they've been in the attic, actually.

0:41:310:41:33

You're joking? The bats are actually literally living in the attic?!

0:41:330:41:37

Because I didn't know how to organise the lighting for them,

0:41:370:41:41

whether to get candles or something else.

0:41:410:41:45

Well, obviously when they were manufactured they would have been

0:41:450:41:48

for candle light, and obviously people do electrify these,

0:41:480:41:52

but my feeling is that they probably should be

0:41:520:41:55

left as they are.

0:41:550:41:57

With regards to value, I think they're fantastic.

0:41:570:42:00

I have seen them come up for sale before,

0:42:000:42:04

but they are relatively rare,

0:42:040:42:06

and an auction estimate would be sort of £800 to £1,200 on them.

0:42:060:42:10

Pardon?

0:42:100:42:11

£800 to £1,200.

0:42:110:42:13

Excellent.

0:42:130:42:15

I wasn't expecting that.

0:42:150:42:17

I'll have to get a different house to put them in.

0:42:170:42:21

I'm passionate about Victorian architecture

0:42:320:42:35

and Victorian design, but also, what really excites me is,

0:42:350:42:39

in a sense, what the Victorians did for us.

0:42:390:42:43

You know, we turn on the tap, and water comes out, which we can drink.

0:42:430:42:46

We flush the loo and it all goes somewhere and gets dealt with.

0:42:460:42:50

That's right.

0:42:500:42:51

And that's one of the great legacies of the Victorian period.

0:42:510:42:54

So when I saw these drawings, I thought,

0:42:540:42:56

"This is exactly what I'm really excited about."

0:42:560:42:59

Because this is that whole process in operation, you know,

0:42:590:43:02

these are the great waterworks, the great pumping houses,

0:43:020:43:05

that made Victorian Britain a safer place.

0:43:050:43:09

Now, you've got lots of these, of which I'm very envious.

0:43:090:43:13

Where did they come from? What's the story?

0:43:130:43:16

I picked them up near some dustbins.

0:43:160:43:19

They belonged to the firm that I worked for,

0:43:190:43:23

I'm a chartered civil engineer.

0:43:230:43:25

-The firm I worked for was called Hawksley's.

-Yes.

0:43:250:43:28

-And...

-They were in this business.

0:43:280:43:30

And they were in this business. And these drawings were made

0:43:300:43:33

actually by the firm of Hawksley, and apparently what happened

0:43:330:43:37

was that they microfilmed them, and then, because they were short

0:43:370:43:40

of storage space, they decided to get rid of them.

0:43:400:43:43

And I spotted them before the dustbin men took them away.

0:43:430:43:46

How many did you get?

0:43:460:43:48

Oh, I don't know, maybe twice as much as I've got here,

0:43:480:43:51

but half were sold at an auction some time ago

0:43:510:43:54

and I kept the rest, and the rest are here today.

0:43:540:43:58

When you look at this, these are all watercolours. They're all drawings.

0:43:580:44:01

Every detail, somebody has worked out. And look

0:44:010:44:04

at the way the windows are painted, look at the way the land is painted.

0:44:040:44:09

Architectural drawings of the 19th century are just fantastic art work.

0:44:090:44:12

They are, I don't think they could be done nowadays that well.

0:44:120:44:15

Let's just lift this up and look at it.

0:44:150:44:17

It's just... Look, you've got the pumping engine,

0:44:170:44:19

all the boilers, you've got the whole detail.

0:44:190:44:22

This tells you how to build it. Let's move on.

0:44:220:44:25

This one is nice and simple,

0:44:250:44:27

but this is all about architecture. You know,

0:44:270:44:29

what excited the Victorians, it was architecture that drew from history.

0:44:290:44:34

This is the chimney for the steam engine.

0:44:340:44:36

It's actually straight into Venice.

0:44:360:44:38

-Yeah.

-This is a Venetian campanile or something out of Italy,

0:44:380:44:42

inspired by Ruskin.

0:44:420:44:44

These are functional buildings. But look how exciting they are,

0:44:440:44:47

look at all the iron trim.

0:44:470:44:49

These are a wonderful vision of a lost world to us.

0:44:490:44:52

And here are details for the same pumping house.

0:44:520:44:57

Look at the details of the architecture,

0:44:570:44:59

the wonderful way the doors have been configured.

0:44:590:45:02

Everything is just meticulous in the way it's drawn,

0:45:020:45:05

and with great imagination.

0:45:050:45:07

They're lovely to look at, and of course the other thing

0:45:070:45:10

that starts in the 19th century is long-distance water supply.

0:45:100:45:14

This is Liverpool Corporation Waterworks, but this is

0:45:140:45:16

-actually part of the supply chain from the centre of Wales.

-Yeah.

0:45:160:45:20

And that vast reservoir built with freshwater which can constantly

0:45:200:45:24

be drifting down to Liverpool, and Liverpool can grow

0:45:240:45:28

as a modern city, because it's got a water supply.

0:45:280:45:31

The only thing I can add to that perhaps it there used to be,

0:45:310:45:33

and I think it still is today, a ton of water delivered to

0:45:330:45:37

your door from the middle of Wales is the price of one pint of milk.

0:45:370:45:40

Yeah. One pint of milk and you get a ton.

0:45:400:45:43

A ton of water for it, yes.

0:45:430:45:45

And that's because we have this enormous network

0:45:450:45:47

-set up in the 19th century.

-Yeah.

0:45:470:45:50

So you rescued them.

0:45:500:45:51

I think, just going through the piles,

0:45:510:45:54

I mean, obviously this is a very small selection of what you've got.

0:45:540:45:57

Going through them, it was almost impossible to choose what to show

0:45:570:46:01

because every drawing is wonderful.

0:46:010:46:03

You've rescued something that takes us deep into

0:46:030:46:06

the great achievements of the 19th century,

0:46:060:46:08

but actually you've rescued something quite valuable.

0:46:080:46:11

The great drawings are going to be... That I've seen,

0:46:110:46:14

are going to be £500 each.

0:46:140:46:16

-Let us say I've seen 30 great drawings, which I have.

-Yeah.

0:46:160:46:20

So it's £15,000 for the best ones,

0:46:200:46:23

£20,000 for the lot. And you may have more, I don't know.

0:46:230:46:26

No, that's it, yes.

0:46:260:46:28

So you rescued something that is very valuable in every sense.

0:46:280:46:32

Valuable as history, and as it turns out now, many years on,

0:46:320:46:36

-valuable in money.

-Yes, thank you.

-Thank you.

0:46:360:46:39

I've seen some wedding cake decorations in my time,

0:46:410:46:43

never one like this. What is it?

0:46:430:46:46

Well, it's actually an icing sugar replica

0:46:460:46:49

-of a model of a gully emptier.

-A gully emptier?

0:46:490:46:51

A gully emptier, which is a tanker vehicle

0:46:510:46:54

-used for liquid waste removal.

-So removing stuff from drains?

0:46:540:46:57

Yeah, that type of thing, that's exactly it, yeah.

0:46:570:47:00

So this was on whose wedding cake?

0:47:000:47:02

It was on my parents' wedding cake, and they got married in July 1937.

0:47:020:47:07

-So this is...

-75 years old now.

0:47:070:47:08

Why did they choose to have one of those?

0:47:080:47:10

Because generally, you just have the man and wife on top.

0:47:100:47:13

-So why did they go for a vehicle...

-They wanted something different.

0:47:130:47:16

It's not exactly romantic, a vehicle used to empty drains.

0:47:160:47:19

I would have thought drainage clearance is romantic, isn't it?!

0:47:190:47:22

You're unusual.

0:47:220:47:24

But actually, no, the family business was running a fleet of vehicles

0:47:240:47:27

for this purpose, and my mum and dad actually met at the company.

0:47:270:47:31

My father was the accountant there,

0:47:310:47:33

my grandfather owned the company, my mother worked there as a

0:47:330:47:36

secretary. So when they got married in '37, that was it.

0:47:360:47:39

They owed their romance, and your existence, of course,

0:47:390:47:42

-to the gully emptier.

-In one way or another, yes.

0:47:420:47:45

You're never tempted to try a bit of it and see what it tastes like?

0:47:450:47:48

No, I'm not sure whether 75-year-old icing sugar would be that tasty.

0:47:480:47:52

It's a family heirloom, really.

0:47:520:47:55

And an icon of romance for your family.

0:47:550:47:58

In one way or another, yes.

0:47:580:48:00

We've got two French carriage clocks here.

0:48:020:48:05

This one was made around 1860-1870, this one a bit later, 1870-1880.

0:48:050:48:10

And they're both slightly unusual in their way.

0:48:120:48:14

Why did you buy them?

0:48:140:48:16

I liked the front of it. It reminded me of Breguet,

0:48:160:48:20

and the hands looked Breguet-like,

0:48:200:48:22

and this was the closest I'm ever going to get

0:48:220:48:25

to owning a Breguet. I just thought it looked quite pretty.

0:48:250:48:28

-I remember an old expert called Arthur Negus who said...

-Of course!

0:48:280:48:34

He said, "Always try and buy the best antiques you can".

0:48:340:48:36

And when I was a young man, I'd just started work,

0:48:360:48:39

I liked clocks, and I bought these clocks, and I spent

0:48:390:48:43

all my money on these. It wasn't much, but what I had, I spent.

0:48:430:48:46

Can we just briefly take through what they are?

0:48:460:48:48

Let's go for the smaller one first.

0:48:480:48:50

Here is a carriage clock by Drocourt,

0:48:500:48:53

famous carriage clock makers,

0:48:530:48:55

in a lovely gorge case. And we know it's called a gorge case

0:48:550:48:58

because the mouldings start at the top

0:48:580:49:01

and run all the way through to the bottom, and it's first quality.

0:49:010:49:04

Enamel dial with an alarm, day of the week and the date,

0:49:040:49:08

and on top of that, as you I'm sure know,

0:49:080:49:11

is that it's a grande sonnerie carriage clock,

0:49:110:49:13

so on the bottom here we have a lever

0:49:130:49:15

that allows us to have it on silent, to have it striking the quarters,

0:49:150:49:18

-or the hours

-and

-the quarters. And this we call grande sonnerie.

0:49:180:49:21

-Yep.

-And that is a great rarity.

0:49:210:49:24

But when you combine it with a beautiful case,

0:49:240:49:27

a lovely dial with calendar, grande sonnerie and Drocourt the maker,

0:49:270:49:32

it's just a bit special. And carriage clock collectors love them.

0:49:320:49:36

-Normally, small is beautiful.

-Right.

0:49:360:49:40

Large, in this case, is better.

0:49:400:49:43

What this has, as you rightly say, it has slight overtone qualities

0:49:430:49:47

to Abraham Louis Breguet's work, but Breguet died in 1823.

0:49:470:49:51

This carriage clock was made in 1880 or so

0:49:510:49:54

and it isn't in any way a direct copy of Breguet's work.

0:49:540:49:58

It is quite complicated and it is highly desirable,

0:49:580:50:01

just like the little one.

0:50:010:50:04

Like this one, it has grande sonnerie,

0:50:040:50:07

so it has the three position selection lever, which we know.

0:50:070:50:11

Like this one, it has the day of the week and it has the calendar,

0:50:110:50:15

but most of all, which is just what everybody adores,

0:50:150:50:19

at least I do, is we've got the moon face. And when the moon face sits

0:50:190:50:23

with this rather beautiful blue against this silvered engine-turned

0:50:230:50:28

dial, it stands out. And that's what gives this carriage clock

0:50:280:50:32

character, and that doesn't have any, in the same way that this has.

0:50:320:50:39

French carriage clock, 1850-1870, grande sonnerie with calendar,

0:50:390:50:43

-it has to be worth between £4,000 and £6,000.

-Wow.

0:50:430:50:47

Giant carriage clock, enamel moon face, grand sonnerie,

0:50:490:50:54

oversized platform, and it has to be worth between £10,000 and £15,000.

0:50:540:50:59

Wow! That's amazing.

0:50:590:51:03

So it looks like Arthur Negus did you a favour, then.

0:51:030:51:06

-He certainly did.

-Good old Arthur.

-Thank you very much.

0:51:060:51:09

-Nicky Henson, it's a pleasure to meet you.

-Thank you very much.

0:51:100:51:13

Well-known actor from an acting family.

0:51:130:51:17

Well, yes. My father was a very famous actor-manager

0:51:170:51:21

in musical comedy between the wars,

0:51:210:51:23

between the World Wars, and his name was Leslie Henson.

0:51:230:51:26

Not many people remember him now,

0:51:260:51:27

but he was a huge star between the wars.

0:51:270:51:30

If you went to Kent, London, for ten days,

0:51:300:51:32

you'd see the Noel Coward show,

0:51:320:51:34

the Jack Buchanan show and the Leslie Henson show.

0:51:340:51:36

But he actually started in the family business, a butcher.

0:51:360:51:39

He was a butcher in Charterhouse Street in Smithfield,

0:51:390:51:42

JL Henson & Son, which still exists, apparently.

0:51:420:51:45

And he wanted to be an actor, but he was fascinated by actors

0:51:450:51:50

and he used to go to the stage door, particularly places

0:51:500:51:53

like Sadler's Wells, and buy those postcards that you used to buy.

0:51:530:51:57

-We're talking about late Victorian, early Edwardian period.

-Right.

0:51:570:52:03

Buy the postcards, sit outside

0:52:030:52:05

and ask the actors to autograph them, which they did. And he kept

0:52:050:52:10

them in a book, the book starts with Henry Irving and goes on from there.

0:52:100:52:13

-Right.

-But then, when he becomes an actor, a lot of the people

0:52:130:52:18

-he's asked for autographs, he starts to work with.

-Yes.

0:52:180:52:22

-And become friends.

-Right.

0:52:220:52:23

And this went on from the late 1900s up to his death in 1957.

0:52:240:52:30

So we've got his friends and his colleagues working,

0:52:300:52:33

and he put them all in this book.

0:52:330:52:34

-So we start off, as you say, with Henry Irving.

-In the 1880s, 1890s.

0:52:340:52:38

Right, all of them...

0:52:380:52:40

-All of these ones are signed by the various actors and actresses.

-Yes.

0:52:400:52:43

Here's Ellen Terry.

0:52:430:52:45

The first of the Terrys, and Gielgud was a relation to the Terrys,

0:52:450:52:50

the great Terry dynasty that went through theatrical history.

0:52:500:52:53

We've got a nice shot of Noel Coward.

0:52:530:52:55

Who, again, was a friend of Dad's, so "Dear Leslie".

0:52:550:52:59

And here's a typical one, this is nice, we've got the two photographs.

0:52:590:53:04

-Yes. This is Gladys Cooper.

-Yeah.

0:53:040:53:06

When Dad met her and worked with her and knew her.

0:53:060:53:09

And he says actually, "When I was younger, I got your autograph,"

0:53:090:53:12

and she finds the younger photograph and writes in a different pen

0:53:120:53:16

"years ago" underneath Gladys, underneath her signature,

0:53:160:53:20

-Gladys Cooper.

-Yes, exclamation marks.

-Yeah.

0:53:200:53:22

And then it ends with two nice shots of your dad here.

0:53:220:53:27

Yes, that's Dad in 1917. I don't know what the play is,

0:53:270:53:31

that he's in.

0:53:310:53:34

He only keeps two pictures and they both make him look

0:53:340:53:37

very, very good looking. It's just a lovely thing that

0:53:370:53:40

I love to share with people, and when guests come and stay

0:53:400:53:42

-I'll get it out at dinner parties and stuff like that.

-Yes.

0:53:420:53:45

And a lot of old actors, because we're all dying off now,

0:53:450:53:48

will remember all of those people from when they were young.

0:53:480:53:50

Well, if something like this comes up at auction, and it's obviously

0:53:500:53:54

personal to you and their inscriptions,

0:53:540:53:57

some of which are personal to your father as well,

0:53:570:53:59

and I would say certainly £1,000 to £1,500.

0:53:590:54:03

-Golly. Thank you very much.

-Pleasure.

-Terrific.

0:54:030:54:08

This is really nice.

0:54:090:54:10

Daoist scholars in a mountainous landscape.

0:54:110:54:15

Sages, all of them.

0:54:150:54:19

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

0:54:190:54:25

It's my brush pot. It's been with me for over 50 years.

0:54:250:54:30

-You're a painter?

-I am, yes.

-And what sort of things do you paint?

0:54:300:54:34

Watercolours, oils, bathroom ceilings, anything.

0:54:340:54:39

Well, the person that used this as a brush pot,

0:54:390:54:42

probably painted Chinese scrolls and things.

0:54:420:54:44

-I suppose you know that, don't you?

-Yes, he did. I do, yes.

0:54:440:54:47

I was told when I bought it that it was Chinese.

0:54:470:54:50

-In England?

-Oh, yes. In Lewes in Sussex.

-Lewes in Sussex, I know, yes.

0:54:500:54:54

I was there with my wife Neta on holiday, and it had lots

0:54:540:54:58

of brushes in it at the time. It was the brushes that attracted me.

0:54:580:55:01

-Oh, it had brushes in it?

-It had brushes.

-Amazing.

0:55:010:55:04

Well, it was outside a junk shop, on a table outside a junk shop.

0:55:040:55:09

So can I venture to ask how much it was?

0:55:090:55:11

-Ten shillings.

-Ten shillings in old money.

0:55:110:55:14

-Including the brushes.

-50p. I'm so glad you're still using it...

0:55:140:55:18

-I am.

-..for the function, the purpose it was made for.

0:55:180:55:21

-It's very beautifully carved.

-It is.

0:55:210:55:24

Very deep carving. The figures in 3D.

0:55:240:55:28

I mean, it's extraordinary.

0:55:280:55:29

You've got pine, you've got creepers actually wrapped round the pine

0:55:290:55:36

just here.

0:55:360:55:38

It's cut out of a huge block of a Chinese wood

0:55:380:55:41

called a Huanghuali wood,

0:55:410:55:44

-which is a wood that they make their best objects from.

-Yes.

0:55:440:55:47

I mean, you've got a stream running through here,

0:55:470:55:50

going under a bridge and going in and out of the landscape,

0:55:500:55:53

disappearing and reappearing again.

0:55:530:55:56

The scholars would have gone up the mountain to meet and drink

0:55:560:55:58

and write poetry. I mean, it really is a joy.

0:55:580:56:03

It's about from the mid 1800s, 1860. I mean, you know,

0:56:030:56:08

generally known as Qing, the Qing Dynasty,

0:56:080:56:11

And have you never had anybody look at it, or tell you what it is?

0:56:110:56:14

Well, my wife has looked at it from time to time

0:56:140:56:17

and said it needs dusting.

0:56:170:56:19

Well, I can see that, there's dust all settling in the ivory.

0:56:190:56:21

It's never been dusted.

0:56:210:56:24

Ten shillings you say it cost you? 50 pence?

0:56:240:56:27

50 pence.

0:56:270:56:28

Well, your 50 pence today,

0:56:280:56:31

in a sale, in the right place, would be £5,000.

0:56:310:56:37

-Really?

-Really.

-Gosh.

0:56:370:56:41

I could buy a lot of sable brushes for £5,000.

0:56:410:56:44

You certainly could. Thanks for bringing it.

0:56:440:56:47

You're most welcome.

0:56:470:56:49

This is Margot Fonteyn, the most famous British ballerina ever.

0:56:520:56:56

This is you, and this is the tiara that Margot Fonteyn was wearing.

0:56:560:57:02

-Yes.

-And this is a production of The Nutcracker, isn't it?

0:57:020:57:05

It was, yes, on television, I think it was in 1957-58.

0:57:050:57:10

-And you bought this at a sale at an auction room.

-Yes.

0:57:100:57:13

So you were at The Royal Ballet School

0:57:130:57:15

-and then progressed to become a fully-fledged ballet dancer.

-Yes.

0:57:150:57:18

And you danced with Fonteyn. What was that like?

0:57:180:57:20

Wonderful. She was the most charming person, she used to chat

0:57:200:57:25

to the cameramen, she'd chat to everybody,

0:57:250:57:28

whether you were the back row of the corps de ballet or whatever.

0:57:280:57:31

-She was just... Everybody adored her.

-What made her so special?

0:57:310:57:35

You know, she'd just come on the stage,

0:57:350:57:37

rather, I suppose, like Rudolf Nureyev, and you would go,

0:57:370:57:41

"Oh, my goodness" and when she first came on all our knees

0:57:410:57:44

were shaking, and she just looked so calm.

0:57:440:57:47

She did a lot for us, because we all felt so calm, because she was calm.

0:57:470:57:52

It's been remarkable to hear those memories,

0:57:520:57:54

and hear about your experience with Margot Fonteyn.

0:57:540:57:57

From White Lodge, the Ballet School, and all the Antiques Roadshow team,

0:57:570:58:00

bye-bye.

0:58:000:58:01

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