Walmer Castle 2 Antiques Roadshow

This week, the Antiques Roadshow makes a return visit

to Walmer Castle near Deal in Kent.

In the 38 years since the first Antiques Roadshow,

we've visited more than 550 locations

around the British Isles,

so you might think we're running out of places to see.

But then we keep finding new ones, like this Tudor fort.

It takes quite a mixture to make a perfect Roadshow venue.

First of all, it helps

if the location has a rich and fascinating history.

Well, Walmer Castle was built in the reign of Henry VIII

to defend our shores from possible Spanish invasion.

It's now looked after by English Heritage

and it's been home to such figures as the Duke of Wellington,

William Pitt the Younger, Sir Winston Churchill

and even the famous publisher WH Smith.

It's quite a roll call and what do they all have in common?

Each was a Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports,

a post associated with Walmer Castle since 1736

and it's a prestigious role,

usually awarded to a figure who has distinguished himself

on behalf of his country.

A Roadshow venue probably ought to have plenty of art and antiques too

and here, at Walmer Castle, there's certainly no shortage.

This is the desk of William Pitt.

He took the job as Lord Warden in 1792,

while he was also serving as Prime Minister.

He was heavily in debt and, rather handily,

the job came with a salary of £3,000

and it's believed that while he was at this very desk,

he was working on plans to introduce income tax for the first time.

So, this desk has a lot to answer for.

3,000 or more people can turn up to an Antiques Roadshow,

so a venue needs to have space, plus we're usually outdoors,

so stunning gardens are an added advantage.

This is the Queen Mother's Garden

and she was the first and only female Lord Warden until her death in 2002

and she would come here every year.

This garden was created in her honour in 1995,

to mark her 95th birthday and it's as pretty now as it was then.

It looks as though we have all the ingredients for a perfect day,

so let's see what our visitors have brought along

to today's Antiques Roadshow.

What can I say? This vase is just magnificent. It's grand.

It's a bold, wonderful statement of the Empire style.

It's dripping with gold, it's got wonderful decoration.

Where did you get it from?

It came as an extra piece with another bit of art deco work

in an auction lot and I didn't really want this,

but then I saw it on the telly on the background shot of a prop

for one of Victor Meldrew's One Foot In The Grave episodes,

-so I know it's at least one of a pair.

-Wow!

-I notice there's a mark on the bottom. Did you notice that?

-No.

Oof, let's... Ooh, what a big lump it is. Look at that.

The mark is just lurking in the base there

-and it's what we call an interlaced Ls mark.

-Oh, right.

And that's the mark of the Sevres factory in France.

-Really? Ah.

-Um...

-That was quite a big factory.

Yes, it was a royal factory of France.

It had royal patronage and it made...

The very, very best pieces of French porcelain

-come from the Sevres factory.

-Right.

So, you're going to tell me this isn't one of them.

Do you think it could possibly be that your magnificent vase

actually came from the Sevres factory

and was made at the time of Napoleon?

I think it was a different Napoleon.

I think it was Napoleon III

cos I think this is much later in the 19th century.

When you look at it, the colour of the gold

-and the style of the decoration tell me various things.

-Mmm-hmm.

Firstly, the figures here... Look at the image carefully.

-It's printed.

-Ah.

-So, it's printed in outline

-and you can just see the outline of this guy's hat here.

-Ah.

-That's slightly alarming.

-Uh-huh.

-The gilding is great.

It's flashy, it's showy, it's exuberant.

But it's also a liar, it's a fibber.

-Ah.

-It's a fake.

-Is it?

I'm sorry. It's telling us...

It's giving us messages which we had better not believe.

-The porcelain is too white.

-Mmm-hmm.

-The gilding is too bright.

-Yes.

The piece is almost too good to be true.

-I think it might just be five or ten years old.

-Really?

THEY LAUGH

-Fabulous!

-I'm sorry. I'm so embarrassed.

-Fabulous.

The Roadshow should be giving people spectacular prices

and I'm just telling you this is a fantastic piece of rich,

kitsch, exuberant decoration and it was made by a faker in the Far East

about ten years ago and he put a fake mark on it

and we shouldn't love it any the less for that.

So, I suppose we'd better go to the valuation.

-20 quid?

-Oh!

-LAUGHTER

-15.

-Why not?!

-LAUGHTER

Standing here, in this beautiful garden

with the herbaceous border behind us, we're looking at a picture

which I attach this woman to painting gardens

and not actually portraits.

And the artist is Helen Allingham.

And it's an absolute stunner. So, how have you got this?

The painting's my mother's.

It came from her grandfather

and when they lived in Altrincham in Cheshire,

he had retired and he wanted to take up watercolours

and he knew that Helen Allingham sometimes came up

to that part of the country.

And he was taught watercolour by her

and during that process, he bought one of her paintings.

Obviously, he saw quite a few of them and this was the one

he fell in love with and it's been with our family ever since.

What a lucky man your great-grandfather was,

to have lessons from Helen Allingham,

cos I think that she is certainly the finest painter of gardens,

watercolours, in the late 19th century.

She was born in 1848, died in the 1920s.

She was also married to a poet called William Allingham.

She used to spend time on the Isle of Wight

cos they knew Tennyson quite well and I know her very well

cos she used to live in Surrey, not far from me, at Sandhills.

We see a lot of garden scenes by her, not that many portraits.

I have seen some, but this is exceptional.

The thing about her work, it is so detailed,

when you see the garden scenes and the cottage scenes,

but you look at this portrait, when she gets to painting children,

she can really depict children well.

I always find that women painting children do it

so much better than men, and here is a case

and it is the best portrait of a child

I've seen her paint, it really is.

And it's still very, very colourful. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing.

It's great it's still in your family.

So, we have to put a value on it

-and it's not something you're ever going to sell, I'm sure.

-No.

-But that is worth £6,000 to £8,000.

-That's... That's really good.

That's fabulous.

But it's worth very much more to the whole family, I think.

I'm sure it is.

Here we have one of the most distinctive handwritings

I think that anybody could ever know

and, of course, "Victory, January 16th, 1805",

so we all know that it's Nelson,

this wonderful letter of Nelson.

So, tell me about it. Where does it come from?

Well, my late husband was always looking for interesting letters

from the Duke of Wellington and from Lord Nelson

and he got it from a reputable dealer.

-Did he pay a lot of money for it?

-Um, well...yes.

-He paid £7,500.

-£7,500?

-So, what sort of person was Michael?

-Um, he could be a little difficult.

He was nothing if not passionate about whatever took his interest

but, after he retired and he moved down to this area,

he became passionate about all the people

who were important nationally and locally here.

-Wellington...

-With the Duke and with Lord Nelson

cos he realised the importance of maritime history in this area.

So, we have one room of the house which is the Wellington room

and another room which is the Nelson room,

in which he put all his love and passion for decorating the rooms

in the style of and ornamenting with anything he could find.

And it has this wonderful phrase in it -

well, phrase - this paragraph here.

"I ought to take myself off as soon as possible,

"for this fleet will send them to hell.

"Let who will command it and I'm not so arrogant

"to suppose that its success depends on my presence."

Fighting words. And then, of course, he went to Trafalgar.

So, tell me about this little box. This is not a Nelson item?

No, it isn't. I don't know in detail what its history is.

It's beautifully made and since I lost my husband very suddenly,

in 2008, it's where I keep our rings and his ashes.

I think he would be well pleased.

Are you in communication with your husband?

Did you ask his permission to bring him along?

He would have approved, I know he would approve.

He'd love to have been on television?

Well, I'm not sure about that, no, I'm not sure abut that.

There are so many fakes around with these letters,

but you bought it from a good place,

so one would have to assume that it was good.

I think this letter, now, would be worth £15,000, at least.

The box, probably worth no more than about £150, £200.

But the contents, of course, how do we value that? Priceless?

-It's a lovely story. Thank you so much for bringing it in.

-Thank you.

-Do you like pink?

-I do, actually.

It's been passed down in the family and I like to have it on display.

-Where do you have it?

-I have it on a shelf

over the top of the television.

Oh, right, so you can move from the television, visually, up...

Upwards to look at it, yes.

Well, upwards is sensible, because it's called a moon flask.

-A moon flask?

-Yeah, obviously because it's moon-shaped.

-Yes.

It's enamelled, hand-enamelled as, indeed,

is this central plaque of a pheasant and other birds.

-Gilt dragon handles.

-Yes.

That is the mark of the Emperor Xianfeng

and he reigned from 1851 to '61.

Right, so only for ten years.

-The problem with Chinese marks is you can't trust them.

-Ah!

They put on the mark of earlier emperors

but, having said that, I think this probably is of that period.

-Of that period?

-If we go round the other side...

..we've got a panel, Canton-style, of warriors on horseback

and soldiers with spears.

One here is spearing a spotted deer.

In fact, two of them are.

And I love the horses' faces.

They're great fun. Good quality.

-Ah, this is your way of ensuring...

-I don't lose it.

..an odd piece of tail is not lost.

So, if we take it down from the top of the television

and put it into auction, what do we expect to get for it?

I haven't got a foggiest.

Er, suppose I offered you

the price of the licence fee for it the following year?

-THEY LAUGH

-I'll probably keep it!

So, you'd keep it at that price, would you?

-Oh, yes, definitely.

-Right. I'd go to £600.

-Would you?

-Mmm, would YOU?

-No.

I tell you what. I'll make you an offer you can't refuse.

£1,000.

-Not really.

-OK.

-At £1,000, it would probably make that.

-Mmm-hmm.

It's a style of vase which the Chinese are very keen on,

-so I would have no qualms about quoting £700 to £1,000 on it.

-Right.

-Thank you very much for bringing it in.

-You're welcome.

-Back on the television, really.

-Yes, it is.

THEY LAUGH

-What have we got in this?

-It's a bit of a curio.

It's something that I've had for some while.

If you look at it, it's a gentleman drinking,

-but if you watch the bottle, the sand...

-He's drinking away.

Yeah, he drinks away, but then, when you turn it over...

-..it's rather a bit strange.

-EXPERT LAUGHS

-So, we've got the real cycle of life going on there.

-Absolutely.

-She's got her full outfit, hasn't she, and even the shoes?

-Yes.

It's actually a boy, it's not a girl, which is even weirder.

-Do we know this?

-It's got bits, yeah.

-Oh, good heavens!

-THEY LAUGH

-So I know it's a boy!

A car mascot. Why do you have it?

Well, I collect car mascots and I've got around 100.

-And they're all bulldogs?

-Only bulldogs, French or English.

-How much did you pay for it?

-£130 at auction.

-Ooh, yeah, that's good, isn't it?

-Well, I thought so at the time,

but I'm hoping it's worth a lot more than that.

Shall we just say, after three,

-we both say how much we think it's worth?

-OK.

One, two, three.

-TOGETHER:

-500.

It's gut instinct, isn't it?

This is an unusual signet ring you've got. Where did it come from?

It came from my father's belongings.

When I asked him who Cuffley was, thinking it was a relation,

he said, "No, that's where the wreckage of an airship went down,"

and he was watching the airship alight from out the bedroom window.

Oh, your father saw it!

My father saw it, saw the airship actually alight

and Cuffley is the place where it actually ditched and was found.

You're absolutely right. Now, this is actually a very famous event.

The airship was known as SL 11 -

-Schutte-Lanz, the company that made it and the number 11.

-Uh-huh.

Now, this was the airship that was terrorising London

in September, 1916, and it came on a bombing mission to bomb London.

-Right.

-People were watching from the streets

and this tremendous battle between this giant airship,

this huge monster of the air,

and these little aircraft buzzing around it like wasps around a giant.

And Captain Leefe Robinson from the Royal Flying Corps,

who won a VC for this, a Victoria Cross for this,

shot incendiary bullets into the airship and it exploded,

caught alight and came down in Cuffley, which is in Hertfordshire.

And here we have the inscription -

"Cuffley, 3.9.16".

That's the date. 3rd September, 1916.

-Now, what are the initials there?

-DCD.

-DCD?

I don't know, I have no idea.

This must have been an object made from a little bit of the airship

and somebody who saw that airship come down

grabbed a few bits of materials from it, grabbed some metal from it,

and they made this ring out of it, fashioned this ring out of it.

And I reckon DCD were his initials.

-This is absolutely lovely.

-I was going to throw it in the bin.

I thought, "A bit of old metal. I don't want that."

-This is quite a collectable object today.

-Oh, right.

Anything to do with First World War airships are very, very collectible.

Would it surprise you if I told you that could be worth up to £500?

What, a bit of old metal?!

-SHE LAUGHS

-Wow.

Here's a really exquisite little book.

Fits in the palm of my hand

and it's got this lovely cover. But what's the book inside?

Let's have a look.

-I'm going to read the title, if you don't mind.

-Yes, that's fine.

"The World Turned Upside-Down Or The Comical Metamorphoses -

"a work entirely calculated to excite laughter in grown persons

"and promote morality in younger ones of both sexes."

And to emphasize the idea of the world turned upside down,

here we have a harlequin standing on its head and on this page,

we've got some fashionable Londoners wondering around

and then you turn it upside down

and there are people on the far side of the world,

in the Far Indies, over here. Tell me about it.

-Is it yours?

-Well, it belonged to my parents.

They inherited it, we think, from our grandparents

and they, in turn, inherited it from a relative

who had worked in service to a wealthy family.

And you're now the lucky owner.

-Well, with my sister and brother, yes.

-Beautiful.

Let's just have a look a little bit further.

It's clearly a children's book. Although it tells us

it's calculated to excite laughter in grown persons,

I think it's really aimed at children.

-There's no date on it at all.

-No.

But the binding, coupled with the style of the printing here,

-I think it's London in the 1790s.

-1790s?

There are little verses on the right-hand side

and then an illustration on the left.

Here we've got some horses riding on top of their own riders,

so horses turned jockeys.

On another page - I love this one - a deer shooting at a gamekeeper.

So, here's the deer with a rifle or a musket,

shooting this poor chap behind the trees.

This is a kind of humour

which I think is a typically British kind of humour

and it goes way, way back into history.

What really first caught my eye about this,

-it's not so much the subject itself, but it's the condition.

-Yes.

It's either never been near a child

or it's been with a very careful child.

In the scheme of 18th-century children's books,

this is quite extraordinary.

I've almost never seen better condition on this kind of book.

I would bet that this probably survives

-in two or three copies in the world.

-My goodness.

And you've got one of them.

I think, at auction, that would certainly make

-£1,500 to £2,000.

-Would it?

-Thank you.

-I'm glad you're pleased.

It's a real treat to see it. Thank you so much.

This is the most lovely little singing bird box.

It's not singing very loudly, I have to say.

I'm going to put him away, cos I want to know why, particularly,

-you brought it in today.

-Well, it was about five years ago,

I was watching the Antiques Roadshow with my mum,

which is quite a family tradition in our house,

and one of these boxes came on with a beautiful bird inside

and I was saying how wonderful it was

and how it was one of my favourite things

and it was so intricate and detailed and then mum said,

"Oh, I've actually got one of those somewhere."

I'd never seen it before and she went off to one of her cupboards

and pulled out this little box and brought it through

and I loved it so much that she very kindly said

I could be the custodian of it and look after it.

But I know nothing about it, so I wanted to come, I came today

just to find out some more about where it came from and what it is.

It's a wonderful story. Let's just have a look here.

There's a retailer's name in this lovely little red leather box,

which says Desoutter of 4, Hanover Street.

Now, Desoutter was a watchmaker and a watch restorer in London

and I know that he was working from about 1890

through to about 1930-ish.

So that gives us a little bit of a clue.

Now, I'm going to take the box out

and the first thing I'm going to do, actually, is look at the underneath.

What am I looking for?

Wouldn't it be lovely to have a great label here saying,

"I was made by..."? But I wasn't expecting to see that.

I wanted to see where the keyhole was for winding.

Because if it was anywhere but there,

it would probably be a mechanism which is a fusee wound,

whereas this is a standard clockwork which indicates to me

that it's not French, which would have been fusee,

it's almost certainly German. And if it's German,

it's going to almost certainly be by a man called Karl Griesbaum.

He was working from about 1905 to about 1940, so there we go.

We've got it almost pinpointed.

We know when this company was operating,

we know when that company was operating

-and the two together, I'd put it at around 1920.

-OK.

I mean, it's interesting

cos these are often described as musical snuffboxes

and in the back here, there is a little compartment

which has got the key in it.

Would you keep snuff in there? No, of course you wouldn't.

So, I think that's an erroneous description.

But it's a tortoiseshell box

with a little hand-painted plaque on the top. It's just lovely.

And I would put the value at between £3,000 and £5,000.

So, let's see what it's made of, let it sing us out,

although what it loses in its volume in singing terms,

it is very flappy, so let's give it a go.

BIRDS SINGS QUIETLY AND MECHANISM WHIRRS

What we've got is a really good little collection

of post-war design items. Are you a collector?

-What's the story behind all of this?

-Yes, I'm very much a collector.

When I first bought my house in 1999, it was an empty house,

so I needed to furnish it and so I started scouring boot fairs

and markets to try and acquire a collection

that's really trying to be eye-catching

and kind of retro to the spirit of the 1960s.

So, what we're looking at, represented on this table,

is a brilliant post-war period of Italian design, essentially,

a very playful period in which major designers -

people like Vico Magistretti, who did some of these lamps here,

and Joe Colombo - were experimenting with new materials,

new ways of moulding, new visions really.

These are, in some ways, a triumph of form over function.

-Yes, very much so.

-And yet, some of them don't work

-very well at all, do they?

-No.

You've probably noticed this lamp here.

It's warped because when the light is on too much,

-it will warp the plastic.

-So tell me who that lamp's by.

-This is Joe Colombo.

-He's a great designer, a really great designer,

but what he didn't anticipate

was that people would leave the light turned on and folded up.

-That's right.

-That was the problem with it, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

So, it's almost impossible to get one of those

-that doesn't have that bubble on the back of it.

-Yeah.

-So was that a boot fair purchase?

-It wasn't.

I got that on a secondary website,

but the typewriter, for instance, that was a boot fair find.

-That was a very local boot fair to here.

-Right.

And I paid a very small amount of money for it.

That's the Valentine typewriter.

This is an absolute design classic, Ettore Sottsass.

-1969, I believe that was designed.

-Yeah.

And that fits into its case.

It's all integral. The design - everything is very compact.

It's a great, great looking thing.

Would you say that collecting this sort of material

-has become a little bit obsessional for you?

-Yes.

-Are you overfilling your home with this?

-Yes.

-You are?

-Absolutely.

I've never sold a piece.

I'm still a collector, 100%, and my wife hates me for it.

Well, what I like about these,

technically, they all kind of tend to do something,

so we're able to vary the amount of light that's let out.

-They're all quite tactile, aren't they, in many ways?

-Yes.

They all operate and close and open.

-What kind of money did you pay for the typewriter?

-This was £6.

-£6?!

-£6.

-OK. They're not enormously expensive to buy, I have to say.

-They did produce an awful lot of them.

-Mass-produced.

-Absolutely.

So, you can buy a really nice one for about £100 or so,

but it was still a bit of a bargain.

What about this Magistretti lamp, for instance?

That one was probably around £20.

-It might be worth about £40, do you think?

-£40?

No, I think it's worth a bit more than that.

-I think it's worth about £70 to £100.

-Right, OK.

I think it's a great piece of design. What about the Colombo lamp?

Because of the damage, no-one wanted to buy it,

so I think I paid about £12 for that one.

I think that that, again, is worth around £70 to £100,

-in that condition.

-Yeah.

But if we add up what you've got on the table,

there's probably £400 to £600-worth here, collectively.

But it's all about the style, it's all about the design

and I can see, for you, that you really, really enjoy collecting.

Yeah, it's an absolute dedication. It's a pursuit

and yeah, I never tire of traipsing around at six in the morning,

because the reward is sometimes there, that you see.

-Yeah, your wife might tire of that eventually.

-Yes, yeah.

You passed this ring in its box to me and said,

"This is my mother's engagement ring,"

but when I looked at you, there seemed to be more to it than that.

Yes, there was. It was given to my mother by a man

that she was deeply in love with

-and he jilted her at the altar.

-JOANNA GASPS

-She had her full wedding dress on and she was pregnant...

-No!

..which made it worse

and it's something that is never spoken about in our house.

I knew the man existed because of a photograph by my mother's bed.

-She kept it with her always.

-When was this?

Must have been about 1944. '43, '44.

-She worked in the NAAFI and he was an RAF pilot...

-Gosh.

-..who was already married...

-JOANNA GASPS

-..and did not tell her, obviously.

-Oh, my...

But they went together to buy this ring.

They went together to buy it?

Yes, it's all noted in her letters

and I have the receipt for it as well, at home, for the ring,

so it's an extremely sad story.

I mean, what this ring represents is huge.

It's just... That's what jewellery...

This is the most emotive jewel I think I've ever, ever had

on the Antiques Roadshow, because of the emotional strain

-and the love and the passion that's gone into this ring.

-It is.

It's just sad that it was the opals, which is a very bad sign.

Well, they are in a heart shape

and you have got a ruby in the centre, which is for passion,

and you've got the diamonds, the stalk of the clover,

-for love forever.

-Yes.

-It's a beautiful story.

-Maybe it's a beautiful story.

He probably did really, really love your mum.

You can't put a value on something like this.

But if one is to sell it at auction,

it would be around £300 to £500, something like that.

-But, quite frankly...

-It will stay in my family with the letters.

Thank you so much for sharing

-that very sad story with us.

-Thank you very much.

Well, here's a very beautiful box

-that promises so much. Shall we have a look inside?

-Yeah.

I expect they're miniatures and here they are.

-They're very beautiful miniatures, actually. Look at that.

-Ah.

-Absolutely lovely.

-Isn't that kind?

-Are they relatives of yours?

Well, they probably are but, I'm afraid, lost in time.

But they've been in the family, presumably since they were done.

Yes, good. But if I told you the date

and if I told you what I thought the regiment of him was -

because he's obviously an army officer -

would that help you find him in your family tree?

That would be absolutely fantastic.

We think - cos I showed it to the militaria chaps, you know -

that he's a guards officer, possibly a Scottish guards officer,

so that might help you some way towards that.

-It immediately helps me.

-Does it?

-Yes.

-You get closer in your mind...

It immediately helps me because I suspect the name Douglas

might suddenly come up, if it's a Scottish regiment.

Oh, right, well, there you go.

You're off on your researches now to try and find out who they are,

but the point is that they are extremely beautiful.

They're very much in the manner

of a famous miniaturist called Engleheart.

George Engleheart was probably the most influential miniature painter

of about 1800 and his style was copied by many pupils.

After Richard Cosway, he was the best.

In fact, he painted the king 25 times or something,

so he was very fashionable as well.

All the sort of good families of England and much of Europe

flocked to his studio to have their miniatures done.

Her features are so beautifully observed

and it is amazing in miniature how they could do that.

-Isn't it extraordinary?

-And, actually,

if I very gently and gingerly remove her from the box,

you can see a lock of her hair there,

which is very typical of miniatures of this age.

Then this one, it's got both his hair

and his military braiding, which is fascinating.

It would be nice to think he might have fought

at the Battle of Waterloo, since we're here at Walmer.

Wouldn't that be a lovely thought?

Has your family got anything to do with Walmer?

My four great-grandfathers, four times back,

-were the apothecaries for the Duke of Wellington.

-Oh.

They were a family who'd been here,

in this part of the world, since the 16th century.

Now, they're absolutely stunning.

-You'll never sell them, they're family things.

-Yes.

-Have you ever had them valued?

-No.

Well, I think, of that quality - I can't say they're by Engleheart,

but they're certainly from his school

and a very talented hand indeed,

-because they are so fine and so very period.

-Ah, how kind.

-They're really lovely. £2,000 or £3,000.

-Nice to know.

-Nice to pass on to the next generation.

-Exactly.

If jackets could talk,

I think this one would have an amazing story to tell.

Who did it belong to?

This jacket belonged to JFK, the President of the United States.

-How do we know that?

-There was a Swedish aristocrat,

who had a daughter called Gunilla von Post,

and he sent her to finishing school in France

and she lived in the south of France and then in Paris, I believe,

and she was JFK's lover before he got married to Jacqueline Bouvier.

I believe the relationship ended in 1955, 1956.

She then, obviously, kept it, never gave it back,

so what was the history following then?

Well, some of her belongings and some of her love letters from JFK

were sold recently in America

and some of his goods were left in the apartment

and she had three children and a nephew.

The nephew was given some of the items

and his best friend is my father, and gave it to him.

-A lot of information there. Let's take it one step at a time.

-OK.

-Cos I'm slightly confused.

-OK.

-So, this beautiful young girl, aged 21, 22...

-Yes.

-..down in the south of France on holiday...

-Yes.

-..happens to bump into JFK.

-Yes.

-They fall in love.

-Yes.

He then disappears back to the States.

-Two or three weeks later, he marries Jacqueline.

-Yes.

-Without the provenance, you're not going to get the dollar signs.

-No.

And that seems a very strong link, although quite a long one,

from JFK's back to MY back,

-if I can take it home with me now.

-THEY LAUGH

The other thing is, when I did the research on it,

I thought, "Well, let's look at some of the details."

And if it wasn't the right size, I would have said, "Hang on a minute",

-but it is a 44. And he was a 44.

-He was a 44, yeah.

Yeah, in America or anywhere worldwide, it is an iconic piece.

-He was a cool dude, wasn't he?

-He was.

Um, what's it worth?

I think probably at auction, should you decide to sell,

somewhere along of the line of between, maybe,

-£200,000 and £300,000.

-Blimey!

-HE LAUGHS

-Oh, God.

That is a lot of money! That is...

-The story is everything.

-Yes.

-Please write it down.

-Yes.

-Put it in the pocket.

-Yes.

-I feel confident the market will pay that price.

-Fantastic.

Thank you very much. Glad I brought it. I'm never going to sell it!

LAUGHTER

-Yes, I am!

-LAUGHTER

I want you to imagine Paris in 1925.

It was a city that was at a turning point -

a turning point in design, in style, in fashion,

all pivotal around the 1925 Paris Exhibition.

It was the most wonderful event that transformed how people made,

consumed and decorated their homes.

And this, for me,

is one of the purest sort of interpretations of that.

This is classic French, classic 1925 to 1930.

So, how does it end up here, at Walmer Castle?

Well, it was bought by my grandparents,

in and around the '30s, as I understand.

They used to holiday in Paris and in Europe

and they liked the good things in life and it came back

and it hung in the hall of their house that they lived in

until many years later and it used to frighten the life out of me

as a little boy, coming down the stairs.

It's now come down the line to me.

It hangs on the wall in MY hall

and frightens the life out of MY kids when it's on.

Oh, these things always get passed down the generations, don't they?

-Exactly.

-And you mentioned one thing which isn't instantly apparent.

-But if I just flip that round, it's a light fitting.

-Exactly.

It's a wall-mounted light fitting

and it's just the most fantastically glorious example of art deco.

It's a Limoges porcelain mask, mounted in this wrought-iron frame.

This just screams of one of their great metal workers, Edgar Brandt.

I'm not saying it's BY him,

but the influence and the inspiration is there.

-Is it a one-off?

-No. These were manufactured in all manner of masks.

I've seen Egyptian faces,

I've seen sort of Spanish dancers with hairpieces and combs.

They're all stylised interpretations of the female face.

But, of course, as it typical with deco,

everything gets pared down to the absolute bare minimum.

But the whole thing about it is, it's drama.

And imagine this, when you were a child, held up to the light,

I mean, it just must have been so effective.

So, when your grandparents bought it,

it would have been a considered purchase.

This wasn't a kiss-me-quick hat from a Paris trip

and that's the same today.

I think, if you had to go and replace this in a smart shop,

a smart art deco retailer,

you're going to have to go in with £800 to £1,200.

Wow, that's a surprise. But it won't go.

It's got to frighten the children a little bit more.

And in years to come, hopefully,

they will continue to frighten THEIR grandchildren with it as well.

Exactly, exactly.

So, a very interesting collection of items you brought us today.

I'm going to ask, did you pick these up on your travels

-and bring them back, maybe in your hand luggage?

-No!

No, they're inherited from my parents.

They were collected by my mother and father in the '40s and '50s.

They collected quite a lot of Asian furniture which, unfortunately,

my mother had bleached because she didn't like the black furniture.

-Bleached?

-Yeah, it's now blond furniture.

-And these came along with it.

-And what's the history of the family?

Was there links between Asia and...?

No, no, I come from a travelling fairground family.

We've been travelling showmen for 200 years

-and just before the war, settled in Dreamland in Margate.

-Oh, wow.

Then that, of course, went away during the war

and resettled in 1945, which is when this collection started.

-And what do you know of them?

-Nothing.

-Nothing, OK.

That's been an umbrella and walking stick stand for the last 50 years.

I think that makes a perfect umbrella and walking stick stand.

It's certainly pretty robust. It's not going to go anywhere.

So, this one is Japanese and dates from the, sort of, Meiji period,

around the latter part of the 19th century.

It would have been made for export. There was a great appetite,

here in Europe and elsewhere in the world,

for all things Asian, in the latter part of the 19th century.

Chinoiserie was flavour of the day.

What I particularly like about this is this amazing raised decoration.

So, this is cast bronze.

I love this wonderful dragon that we see coming,

and he's coiled all the way around the neck of the vase.

And what I particularly like about this one is the colour.

Very, very nice colour, and that's important with bronze.

This is also Japanese.

Similar period, so latter part of the 19th century.

And, again, it would have been something

that was made for export for the European market.

And what I like about that one, again, is it has lovely colour.

-It just has a wonderful colour to it.

-Glad I didn't dust them then.

I'm glad you didn't too.

So, if we turn our attention to this Chinese figure -

what we would call a root wood carving.

What I really like here is the little carved foot

coming out at the bottom.

Again, this one is 19th century,

-so you're seeing a bit of a pattern here.

-Mmm.

I think the quality of the carving is very good.

He's made in a hardwood.

I've had a good look and I think it's probably a wood called zitan.

-Zitan.

-Zitan, which, actually, if you try and pick him up...

-Yeah.

..he is incredibly heavy.

And, if you turn this around, you can just see how the sculptor,

the artist, has used that sort of natural form of the wood

to create this wonderful sort of cloak that we see him wearing,

and just this beautiful gnarled roots that are coming out.

So, that's part of the original tree,

-rather than a carving?

-Absolutely.

This was carved out of one piece. There are no additions,.

The carving's been done beautifully.

So, value.

I think size does matter in this case,

and I think that this one, if it came up for auction,

would carry a pre-sale estimate

of between £1,500 and £2,500.

I think this one would fetch between £400 to £600.

But this one, for me...

..I think is the standout and I think that would fetch

-between £2,000 to £3,000, if it came up for auction.

-Really?

-It's a lovely thing. They're lovely things.

-Thank you.

Well, this is an extraordinarily exuberant object.

It actually brings some joy into my heart.

-Oh, that's brilliant news.

-THEY LAUGH

What I love about it, is I love these bright colours,

I love the fact that the person who made this

has pierced the porcelain to pick out these lovely flowers on the top.

-Oh, yes.

-It's absolutely gorgeous.

It's a bit bashed, isn't it?

-I notice the top's missing and there's a...

-It's seen better days.

It's seen better days. It's a bit bashed. What do you know about it?

-The lady in the picture here owned it.

-The photograph.

-The photograph.

And she is our great-grandmother

and the item has been in our family ever since,

so it's over 100 years old and that's really all we know about it.

-That's all you know.

-Yeah.

Well, the photograph shows a very grand drawing room,

which is full of wonderful, rich things -

paintings and knick-knacks all over every surface,

typically Victorian. And your ancestor is sitting there.

She looks very pleased with herself, doesn't she?

-She does, doesn't she?

-"Look at me! I've got all these lovely things!"

So, this tureen is actually pictured there,

-in the centre of the mantelpiece, isn't it?

-It is, yes.

The very same one. But do you know what this is, as an object?

I've got no idea at all. If you could tell me a bit of information,

-I'd be really grateful, actually.

-I can date it quite accurately,

cos these were only made for a couple of years,

-between 1770 and 1772.

-Gosh!

-So, it's a lot more than 100 years old.

-Gosh, it is, isn't it? Wow!

And it was made at the Worcester factory

and the Worcester factory records list these

-as tureens for cream and sugar.

-Oh, right.

So, imagine a table laid out with all this fabulous stuff,

in the 18th century, and maybe you're having strawberries or fruit

and the cream is in one of these, the sugar is in another.

Although the pot was made in Worcester, it was sent to London

with absolutely no decoration on it at all.

It was totally white and there was a workshop in London,

run by a man called James Giles

and he was the one who applied this decoration.

-Wow.

-Do you think that such a wrecked old pot

-could have any value at all?

-No.

To be perfectly honest, no, I don't.

-No, no, it's just been in the cupboard.

-Well, I do.

I think it's worth £1,500 to £2,000.

No! £1,500 to £2,000?

-Wow! You've made my day!

-SHE LAUGHS

Now, you've brought along a couple of bracelets here

which, when I looked at them in the boxes to start off with,

I thought to myself, "Well, they're quite straightforward.

"There's nothing TOO spectacular about them."

In the box, here in front of me, is a typical Victorian gold bangle,

in the form of a snake with turquoise in the head.

They're very common. We see quite a lot of these sort of things.

The other one, in the original box,

which is by a firm called Phillips of Cockspur Street,

quite a well-known jewellers of the 19th century,

-is a carved bracelet - not ivory, interestingly. They're bone.

-Yeah.

Chinese bone carvings. Five plaques, mounted up in gold.

May I say, in the normal way of things, not super special.

But then there's something about these

that makes them EXTREMELY special.

Would you like to tell us what that might be?

Well, they came from a collection of Charles Dickens memorabilia

which my fa...my brother had.

Well, he bought it 25 years ago from the family connection.

Now, can I say something which is absolutely crucial?

Because you know this -

the provenance has to be absolutely unwavering.

Are you absolutely happy that the provenance

-is absolutely going back to Dickens himself?

-Yes, it seems so.

Definitely, from all the bits that he's got.

Because you've shown me a couple of bits of jewellery, true.

-But also, you have a whole feast of memorabilia, don't you?

-Yes.

-You have a cheque that's signed by Dickens himself.

-Yes.

You have all sorts of memorabilia

that he would have used in his working life.

You have artefacts that make it quite an extraordinary hoard.

Also, is it true to say that the snake bracelet itself

was put on show in London in the 1970s,

as part of an exhibition of Charles Dickens memorabilia?

So, that's a direct connection going right the way...

-Yes, that's for sure.

-Because I don't need to tell you

-that if anyone has a scintilla of doubt...

-They'll, yes.

-..it affects it dramatically.

-Yes.

Now, I understand that these were given

-to his wife, Catherine, weren't they?

-Yes.

So, Kate Dickens and Charles Dickens didn't have an altogether

-joyful relationship in their married life, did they?

-No.

And it's true to say it wasn't a marriage made in heaven.

-They had several children.

-Yes...true.

-LAUGHTER

-So, what I'm going to do is this.

I'm going to tell you what I think they're worth

if they weren't Dickens and then I'm going to tell you

what I think they could be worth,

subject to what might happen next.

That's worth, in my opinion, £300 or £400, with no provenance.

This is worth maybe £600 to £800, with no provenance.

With the Charles Dickens provenance, let us hope

that that bracelet is worth £800 to £1,200.

And let us hope that this snake bangle...

£2,000 to £3,000.

But that, I think, gives us a basis, a grounding,

a starting point with what these might be worth.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

At this time of day, I'm rather sorry that this is empty.

-LAUGHTER

-Claret jugs always look

so much better when they're full of a red liquid.

Oh, I'm sorry. I would have put something in if I'd known.

-It would have spilt though.

-Next show, eh?

Usually, the glass on a claret jug in the least exciting thing,

but this is a glorious piece of glass.

It's a beautiful thing, a real treasure. Where did you find it?

I can go back as far as childhood that it was in my parents' home,

but it might have come from my grandmother

who was seamstress to a reasonably wealthy family.

The other thing she did as a seamstress was she helped to make,

-it was either Queen Alexandra's or Queen Mary's coronation robe.

-Ooh.

I think, from the dates, it might have been Queen Mary,

-but I'm not sure on that.

-So she knew her seamstressing.

-She knew her seamstressing.

-And this was the product of that.

-I'm not nearly as good as she was.

-This is a beautiful thing.

The glass is Thomas Webb & Sons who are a Stourbridge firm,

who are masters of this kind of glasswork.

-This is hallmarked for 1885, which was the height of their powers.

-Yes.

And they've done a beautiful job.

The glass is so beautiful that somebody has gone off

to see a fellow called Walter Thornhill in West London,

who was famous among the great and the good,

for very fashionable knick-knacks - gold and silver knick-knacks

for the wealthy and the powerful of London.

And he's gone to a huge amount of trouble

and he's mounted this glass jug beautifully

-with all this aesthetic silverware.

-Mmm-hmm.

-The hallmark on it is 1885.

-Yes.

So, it was a very fashionable object at the time.

Claret jugs, because of their function

-and because of their great aesthetic beauty, are collected.

-Mmm-hmm.

It's hard to know exactly what it would make if it came up for sale,

because I haven't seen one before.

I'll be honest, I've never seen one before. It's a very lovely thing.

It should make a minimum of about...

-..£10,000, £12,000.

-Oh, my life!

Well, I think it deserves to be filled up with something

-quite expensive from the Bordeaux region, perhaps.

-Are you offering?

No, I'm hoping I'm going to be offered!

In its rich gilded frame, this looks like an old master paining.

But, of course, it excites me because it's made of pottery.

-What do you know about it?

-Well, I don't know a great deal.

My mother bought it, I think, in Suffolk

in the '50s maybe or early '60s.

I inherited it when she died and it's now hanging over my bed.

-So it's come to you that way.

-Yes.

But I feel sure there must be a story behind it.

Yes, well, the image here is St Joseph with the infant Jesus.

It's terribly difficult

to paint on majolica. That's the Italian name for pottery.

And the detail there is really quite incredible.

This painter really knew what he was doing.

So, it is exciting to notice at the side there, that it's signed.

-Yes, yes.

-And we've got the initials and signature.

So, it seems to be Dr Grue P

and then a date beneath that, 1735.

-And do you think that's genuine?

-Well, it all fits in

because Dr Grue would be Francesco Antonio Grue

who was a great painter working in Italy at that time,

at Castelli, just north of Naples and Rome there.

And famous for painting pottery plaques.

The Grue family had the best workshop there.

And Dr Grue, Francesco, was the senior painter.

1735 was when he was doing some of his best plaques.

Oh, good! Getting better!

If I can just tip it from the back there

and you look inside the frame there, we can just see,

hidden there, is a little yellow band which it should have.

-Oh, right.

-It's tucked away but it's not cut down.

It's all there under the frame.

-So, it worried me that this was just the middle of something.

-Yes.

But instead, it's the whole plaque that he's painted there. So, 1735.

In a way, that's late for Italian majolica.

The great pieces are centuries older.

But this is by a master and it's signed,

so that all adds up quite a bit.

-How exciting.

-So, what shall we say?

-£4,000?

-No! No!

-Oh, whoopee!

-LAUGHTER

So, tell me, how did you get this?

Um, it belonged to an old lady

who, unfortunately, died and it was left to her niece

and when her niece was clearing out everything in the house,

she said that she didn't want it, so she gave it to me.

And you were in the house at the time?

-You knew this old lady?

-Yes, I'd known her for a number of years.

And what did you think when the niece said,

"I don't want this. You can have it"?

I thought, "Wow, thank you very much."

SHE LAUGHS

I think I would go, "Wow," as well!

What first sprang out at me was the design of it

because the oval with the diamonds...

They're circular-cut diamonds,

but the rubies have been set like they're a shadow.

It's making the whole oval like a 3-D effect.

Do you know, to cut one of those rubies

would take at least half a day to get it right,

-to put it into that mount.

-I didn't know that.

It is so intricate and the skill...

The lapidary has to sit next to the mounter

because they have to work together, in tandem,

to be able to put the piece together.

It's French. It's about 1920.

It's absolutely charming.

And I would say, in the right auction,

you'd be looking at around about...

-..£3,000.

-My goodness.

-You are very surprised.

-Yeah, I am! I am very surprised!

LAUGHTER

Well, it's a stunning jewel and I'm sure you'll go home tonight

and I think your wife should wear it tonight

and you both have a glass of champagne to celebrate.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you so much. Thank you.

-Well, what a fantastic image.

-Thank you.

-What have we got here?

It really sort of epitomises everything of the age of speed.

Here we are. He's belting past...

He's belting as fast as he can to get past the finish line.

It really does convey the age of speed.

We see the driver here has got a little racing helmet on,

there he is, changing gear

and he's just desperately trying to get past the finish line.

-This sign is actually known as the winner sign.

-Oh, right.

And if you are a collector of automobilia and enamel signs,

this is the creme de la creme of signs.

This is the one that you want. Tell me, how did you come to have this?

I went to a junk shop to buy some militaria,

as I was interested in that.

I couldn't buy nothing I wanted and as I turned round and walked out,

I noticed this on the wall and I just said, "That's for me."

And that's what I did. I bought it on the spot

and I've loved it ever since.

It's my epitome of what speed and those ages were.

-And when was that?

-I bought that just over 20 years ago.

-Right, so you've had it a little while.

-Yeah.

Obviously, these enamel signs were made to advertise various products.

They were put outside garages, petrol stations

and car dealerships, as we know them today.

Consequently, they're not in terribly good condition.

As you can see, very often they have the screw holes in the corners,

where they were attached to the wall

and we see a lot of them and they're terribly badly rusted.

This one, actually, is not too bad at all.

Datewise, we're looking at probably the mid-1920s on it.

So many people would love to have this -

not only your enamel sign collectors,

but also classic car enthusiasts.

Do you have it on the wall at home?

No, it's been in the garage for 20-odd years.

I know it's there. I'd look at it when I used to go into the garage

-and that's where it stayed.

-Really?

I'm afraid the wife really wouldn't appreciate it on the wall

with some of the other bits and pieces I've got,

-so in the garage it stayed.

-How much did you pay for it at the time?

-£10.

-£10. So, £10 about 20 years ago.

If you saw it now, what would you pay for it now?

-Er...

-LAUGHTER

£5, if I really had my way.

No, something in the region of maybe £200, £250?

Anybody else, good guesses?

What would you be prepared to pay for a sign like this?

-£400.

-£400. Any more takers on that?

-£500.

-£500. OK, we're going up. We're going in the right direction.

I think, if this were to come up for sale,

in a really good motoring or classic car auction,

I think it would make £10,000 to £15,000.

CROWD MEMBERS GASP

LAUGHTER

No! No!

-Yeah.

-That's been in the garage. It's been a sleeper.

Darling, I love you!

LAUGHTER

Oh! Oh, strewth!

Who'd have believed it?

A motoring sign worth £10,000 to £15,000

and he only paid a tenner and it's been in the garage!

What a great moment.

Do you remember, at the beginning of the programme,

I told you about the Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports

who live here at Walmer Castle?

Well, I'm joined by the latest Lord Warden, Lord Boyce.

-And I'd like to talk to you about your winkle.

-My winkle?

Well, that's very special and here it is.

-I'm so glad it wasn't a euphemism.

-It's not.

And the winkle derives from the fact that about 115 years ago,

in Hastings, which is one of the Cinque Ports,

one of the original Cinque Ports, the local fishermen set up a club

called the Winkle Club and the idea is that, if you're a club member

and you have your winkle and you go to another club member and say,

"Winkle up," and he can't provide his winkle or show his winkle,

then he has to pay a fine of £1

and if he can, then I pay a fine of £1.

And this money goes to local charities, mainly children,

and they raise a lot of money each year -

in the thousands rather than hundreds.

What can I add to that? From Walmer Castle and the Antiques Roadshow

and the Lord Warden's winkle, bye-bye.