The Royal Hall Harrogate 2 Antiques Roadshow

Welcome to the citadel famed for its springs.

You could read that motto in Latin, couldn't you?

This was once the most popular spa town in the land.

With so many guests paying for expensive treatment,

they needed somewhere to be entertained,

and in 1903 they got it -

The Kursaal.

Welcome back to Harrogate, in North Yorkshire.

Kursaal, originally a German word, means "Cure Hall",

and in Edwardian England it became a byword for healthy amusements.

And this is where they happened -

in this grand hall designed by Robert Beale and Frank Matcham,

who also created one of our former venues, Blackpool Tower Ballroom.

Rather less flamboyant,

but still gilded within an inch of its life,

this reflects the refinement demanded by its well-heeled patrons.

And the entertainment never stopped.

From 7:45 in the morning till late at night,

there were operatic productions, orchestras, tea dances,

and stars of stage and screen.

Now known as the Royal Hall,

over the years it's hosted many star-filled nights

with bands such as the Beatles and Duke Ellington,

various figures like Ernest Shackleton,

and diverse political opinion was represented here,

with meetings held by the suffragettes

and Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts...

..and if you were lucky enough to be able to afford a box seat,

there was one rather wonderful design feature.

So that nothing could prevent you from mingling freely

with the guests up and down the promenade here

and then just popping in to see the entertainment

down there on the floor,

you could literally lift up this entire wall.

The Royal Hall underwent a major renovation in 2008

and is now as splendid as it ever was.

Owned by Harrogate Council,

it's been home to lots of crowd-pleasers.

Today our own stars are seated in these elegant niches.

Let's see how they're entertaining our visitors from Harrogate.

So we're in a very, very ornate hall,

and we look at this, which is a very, very ornate clock.

-Yes, indeed. Yes.

-Now, before I tell you about it,

can you enlighten me as to who Mr Johnson was?

PC John Johnson retired from the West Auckland police force in 1902.

This was a memento given to him by the local community

of St Helen's in West Auckland.

It was passed to my grandfather, passed to my father,

and now it's in my possession.

Well, it was a very generous present,

and that is when it would have been made -

-it was new in 1902.

-Right.

-It's French.

-Yep.

-Have you looked at the back?

Do you know if there's any maker's marks or anything?

It's Japy Freres - if that's the correct pronunciation?

Japy Freres, yes, the Japy brothers, produced...

Very, very prolific makers of movements in Paris.

Very prolific, along with various other factory makers.

And another...

Let me just show you...

the Japy stamp,

which is just hidden behind the pendulum.

And the giveaway that it is a 20th-century clock

-is the stamp "made in France".

-OK.

That is something that came in at around that date.

But what I love about this is you've got the dial centre,

you've got the bezel, you've got the columns,

you've got the mercury pendulum,

you've got everything done in this wonderful multicoloured enamel.

-Right.

-This is typical of the French champleve enamel.

You get a bit of metal

and, if you like, you scoop it out

-and then you put in the enamel and fire it.

-Right.

Now, at the moment...

the Chinese particularly like enamel.

So these sort of clocks

have done very, very well - A, in the saleroom,

-and, B, retail.

-OK.

And this is about as good as it gets,

because we would normally expect to see these

in a normal square-section case with glass.

This is a cut above the average.

It would walk £3,000 at auction,

no problem at all.

And retail...

some people would be asking closer to 6,000.

-Good grief.

-So don't drop it on the way home.

Well, yeah! Thank you.

We absolutely love it in the family, we really do,

because it's so clever,

and it shows that the craftsman was so imaginative

to be able to create it like this.

-I mean, it's a family piece? You just bought it...?

-It is, it is.

My husband's grandfather bought it in the '60s.

He had an interest in antiques

and, I think, spotted this and thought, actually,

I'll take another look at that and see how interesting it is.

My first reaction is, is it Salvador Dali?

-SHE LAUGHS

-No, I think it's the work

of someone very creative who likes a challenge.

What is extraordinary about it

is that it hasn't warped since it was made.

No, which means it presumably was made out of warped wood.

-Yes.

-Which is why it's so special.

Let's imagine some little carpenter in some very provincial place,

possibly up here in Harrogate,

-in about

-1800. Oh, really?

The late 18th, early... Turn of the century, 1800.

Right, OK. Gosh, how interesting.

Found this wood and thought to himself,

well, I can't afford a table for home.

-Maybe.

-Remember how poor these people were, carpenters.

-Yes, of course.

-Basic carpenter.

-Yes, yes.

You know, window-maker, door-maker at best,

not a veneerer anything like that.

-Yes.

-In a country place.

-I suspect he just had this wood.

-Really?

And thought, well, I CAN do something with that -

-I'm not going to throw it away or burn it.

-No, no.

It's a great spirit, isn't it?

Do something with everything you've got.

-It's just so clever.

-It is.

-I mean, to make it like this.

-I just want to have a look.

-Yep.

-Where do we start? Well, we start with the top.

-Yes.

This wonderful undulation here,

I mean, that alone, you know, as a tray,

you would have a queue at an antique shop trying to buy it.

And then we go to the legs.

I mean, at first, when I first saw it,

I thought the legs were all the same and carefully cut, but they're not.

No, they're all different.

They're all square, but they're all actually different.

The handles are later,

but the handles are probably 18th-century handles.

I suspect, again, at the time, he couldn't afford handles,

they'd have been quite expensive handles.

Probably made in Birmingham, even in the 18th century.

And it would have probably, at the very best,

had a lock with a little key.

-Yep.

-And that's been lost,

and very typically and very commonly, had handles put on it.

But that's part of its charm.

But the whole thing... You know.

And when you look at it, you've got the detail here,

the pegs coming through here at the front,

the easiest ones to see.

If that had warped since it was made,

it would have all cracked open.

-It would have cracked.

-But it hasn't. It's just...

-It's the cleverest thing.

-Beautiful, isn't it?

And I'd like to go and challenge someone today

to go and make a table like this now.

To actually try and think of it like that, it's just...

It's wonderful.

But, you know, it's an impossible thing to value

because, you know, in theory it's a piece of 18th-century junk.

-No! No, it's not junk.

-Sorry, sorry.

But in reality, it's the most wonderful table.

It's got to be, in a shop...

-I'd pay anything for it.

-Ooh!

-But £1,250?

Really? Gosh. Well, yes.

We love it, and we love it for the craftsmanship

and the artistry and the imagination.

Now, you've brought in this magnificent model

of a 1/48 scale HMS Royal William.

Very important ship at the end of 18th century,

and a ship of the line,

so, a very serious ship and a very serious model.

Did you make it?

No, my father made it.

He researched the ship,

went down on his bicycle from Yorkshire

to go to the Greenwich Maritime Museum

to see which ship would test his skills.

So he chose this ship.

It's made out of a lime tree which was felled and the hull...

That was used for the main bit.

He also used ivory piano keys for the window frames

and, when he ran out of those,

he got some bone from a butcher

and cut that into the windows.

How many...? I mean, it must have been thousands of hours

but how many years did it take?

Well, he started it in the 1950s,

and it took him probably about 30 years to do it.

And his last thing that he wanted to do

was actually to do the rigging

but, unfortunately, he passed away

before he could realise that ambition.

So, a lifetime's work but, to appreciate it,

-you just have to look at the detailing.

-Yes.

Wonderful stern-carving.

You walk down here, it's got companion ways.

All these cannons, all cast by him?

Yes, everything.

And belaying pins, belaying rails,

capstan, even the ship's bell.

Yes, that's brass.

And then this magnificent figurehead of the double horse.

So, you know, I can understand it was a lifetime's work.

Yes, and he didn't have a lathe to do it on. It was...

All made by hand.

-Because here, also, is a figure of Wellington.

-Yes.

-So he would have made this by hand?

-Yes.

He used lead for that, which he heated up on the fire.

What a wonderful story. Was he a professional engineer, or...?

He was a fitter in a woollen mill.

So this was his passion.

It was, yes. Yes.

-Now, he spent 30 years making this.

-Yes.

I'm sure it's the last thing in the world you'd ever want to sell.

-Exactly.

-Because it's really a testament to him,

and he was your dad, you know.

But if you had to commission somebody to build this,

you would be talking about tens of thousands of pounds.

At auction, we would be talking a figure between £4,000 and £6,000.

Thank you.

What's your involvement with this poster?

Well, I went straight from modelling

more or less into the world of film.

I was cast in about four or five of these Carry On films in my youth.

So you are a Carry On girl?

-You bet!

-THEY LAUGH

And you were in Carry On... Up The Khyber.

I was in Carry On... Up The Khyber.

I have to say, there is a lady lounging across this cannon who...

-It could be me.

-It could be you.

Well, of course, looking at these posters,

they have become as iconic as the films themselves.

-Yes.

-And I think there's this huge amount of nostalgia,

which is, of course, something you were part of.

You were working with all these great names of British comedy.

And the posters now seems to be a bit of a nostalgia trip

for anybody who has such a passion for these.

And what you've got here is a UK one-sheet.

Now, when any film was issued,

there were various sizes and formats of movie poster

that would be used in different parts of the theatre.

But this one, in portrait, is what we call a one-sheet.

-The artist of this was a chap called Renato Fratini.

-Mm.

And he was known for doing these really fantastic

sort of comic characterisations of the whole team.

There was a lovely story attached to this,

because it was gifted to me by the late Jeremy Lloyd,

that wrote all those marvellous, marvellous films,

including 'Allo 'Allo,

and that makes it even more special.

So you had real happy times of working on these films?

Oh, I had a marvellous time, yes.

It was like being on holiday for six weeks

each time we shot one of the films, absolutely.

-Carry On... Up The Khyber is one of the popular ones.

-Yes.

And a one-sheet Carry On... Up The Khyber today

-is going to be worth around £300.

-Aw.

But, for me - someone who loves Carry Ons -

well, you know what, you can keep all your Bond girls,

I've met a Carry On girl!

SHE LAUGHS

Well, this is a wonderful collection of Russian playing cards.

And each of the cards, which are not only numbered,

but they have little maps in the centre.

These cards actually represent

82 provinces of the Russian Empire

which had been existing, I think, it's 1856.

After the Crimean War,

but it's the great period of Russian imperialism.

Buffalo Bill brought the image

of what people thought the Wild West was meant to look like,

and did all these tours

all around America, all around Europe.

So you've had it hanging in your pub?

In one pub for 20 years, and the second pub for 10.

I just love it. And when I had the pub, it was fine.

Now I don't have the pubs any more -

I wouldn't say it's irrelevant, but it's under the bed.

And so how much did you pay for it?

-£25.

-OK.

This is one of Moscow,

with what people wear in Moscow here.

And, as you say, on the back,

the major cities.

Yes, the major cities.

Which are listed down here. I can't see the Kremlin.

That's because the Kremlin...

At this time, the Kremlin had been made from wood.

-Yes.

-Before the fire, you remember?

-Oh, I see.

I think that's the Kremlin, you see?

They are incredibly rare.

I've only ever seen them individually before,

but to see such a large collection...

You've got somewhere between £3,000 and £4,000.

Wow.

They're not that uncommon, to find a signed photograph.

It's nice that it's signed with his real name, Cody,

and then Buffalo Bill.

At auction, easily £1,000.

Very good. Very nice.

Well, this is like the beguiling of Eve, isn't it?

Here is a serpent in front of us.

Now, what's the story of the serpent?

Erm, it belongs to my mother.

She was left it in a will about 55 years ago.

-Yes.

-And she wore it as a young lady.

-Yes.

-Went dancing in it and it fell off,

so that's why it's been left in its box in the safe.

Yes. Well, it's in remarkably good condition for a serpent,

and it's almost hissing with emblematic meaning, this.

The snake biting its tail

is a very ancient emblem of eternity,

it's called the ouroboros - the eternally renewing circle.

And the fact it's gold, it's incorruptible.

And these are all metaphors for love.

And the colour blue - something borrowed, something blue -

says the same thing.

Combine it with diamonds, it's forever love.

Very conveniently, yours is dated 1845,

but it may be more significant,

because I've gone out of my way to say that it's an emblem of love,

but it's more than that, actually.

It's probably a very sophisticated piece of mourning jewellery.

So, mourning is love beyond the grave,

and here, very tragically,

-we see four little windows with human hair in the back.

-Yes.

And every one has an initial in front of it

with the same initial at the end

and I don't think there can be a shadow of doubt

that these are references to infant mortality.

-Really?

-Which was absolutely rife in 1845.

-Mm.

It's all about art, all about symbolism.

And, with a tinge of tragedy,

we'll probably never, ever know who these people are.

-No.

-And so it's jewellery saying everything

and saying nothing at the same time.

It's awe-inspiring, really.

So how would they get the little windows in there?

I think possibly the jewellers were incredibly competent at that time

-and they would saw out with a file and make a little window.

-Right.

What you couldn't do is go near the enamel, because that would break it.

-Yes.

-It's completely articulated, to allow it onto a woman's wrist

and it's in superb condition.

And also, significantly,

there's some very substantial diamonds in the head of the snake.

And this points towards a very high-status family, really,

who could afford such a thing -

and I'm sure your mother values that enormously

and everybody else would value it enormously,

and so I think it's worth £8,000 to £10,000.

Really? As much as that? Ooh! Goodness.

Well, that's a lot.

-It has beguiled us all, not just you.

-Yes!

Absolutely. But not with mammon, but with sentiment,

and that's really marvellous.

Some First World War cartridges. What can you tell me about them?

Well, they're not cartridges,

they're bullet punchers.

-They're bullet punchers?

-Yes.

OK, so when we open them,

inside we have...

a little fork...

..in there...

..A knife.

And not only a knife,

we also have...

a little spoon.

So tell me, what's the history of these?

My grandfather made musical instruments

before the First World War.

And then during the war he was in munitions,

he was based at Armley in Leeds,

so he didn't fight.

And because he made musical instruments,

my guess is that he was using his skills

in order to hand-file these,

so he made them himself.

These are actually Russian shells

and they were made...

Basically, the Russians were unable to pack them themselves,

so they were actually filled in the UK and in France

for the Russian army.

And, obviously, as he worked in the munitions factory,

he would just have obviously took a few of them

and just fashioned a little cutlery out of them.

Commonly we see things that were made in the trenches

in the First World War by the soldiers

out of the big shells, you know,

engraved with various scenes and things.

But I must admit I've never seen anything

so precisely engineered as these,

and they're absolutely gorgeous.

So presumably you feel a really strong connection with these

as they were made by your grandfather?

Yeah, yes. You just feel that, erm...

Well, you can see the skill in them

and you've got something physical, even though he's no longer around,

you've got somebody who has made something themselves,

and they'll stay in the family.

-Yes, so he's left a legacy, basically.

-Yes.

He was obviously incredibly skilled.

I think they're gorgeous, I love them.

If they were to come up for auction,

you'd be looking at probably somewhere in the region

of £300 to £400 for them.

That's lovely, thank you.

Do you know how old this is?

-Quite old.

-How do you know that?

Well, it looks old, doesn't it?

Yeah, but, you know...

It's been in the family for about 60 years,

but I should think it's older than that.

Yeah. Have you tried to find out?

I have and I've forgotten.

It was a long time ago!

It's about 17th century,

something like that?

It has got some clues on it.

-If we turn it upside down...

-Yes.

-We've got these marks on the base here.

-Yeah.

Which, if you look them up, it'll say Da Ming,

-which means "great Ming", as in Ming Dynasty.

-Yeah.

Jiajing, which is the name of the Emperor,

and Nian Zhi, which means "made in".

So, made in the Jiajing Reign of the great Ming Dynasty.

Right.

I love this type of vase.

-Of course, what you need to know is when was that chap on the...

-Yes.

..throne. He reigned from 1522 to 1566.

-Wow, really?

-So, actually, it wasn't 17th-century,

it's 16th century.

The time of Henry VIII.

But is it a real one?

Well, we've got these wonderful Ming-style scrolls

and they're a bit blurred.

Everything about it, looking closely,

is what you would expect to find

on a genuine Ming vase.

I think it's a lovely thing, I love this sort of porcelain,

it's the first bits of blue-and-white

which made their way into Europe.

-Yeah.

-The Medicis had porcelain of this reign in their collections,

and so did some of the kings and princes of Europe.

So, a wonderful thing to see.

So, you've got a Ming vase.

-You want to know what it's worth?

-Yes, I do.

-That's why you came, isn't it?

-Yes!

Not altogether, no.

Well, you have got a Ming vase,

it's perfectly genuine, it's a lovely piece.

-Here's the problem.

-No.

We've got a crack running round the centre.

It's been made in sections,

and that is where the two bits were joined together.

So, at the luting line, there's a crack.

Because of that, we're looking at £800.

Not £4,000.

-Oh!

-I'm sorry.

Oh!

Never mind, I love it anyway.

No-one's ever offered me a pair of stockings

on the Roadshow before today, so this is a first.

So, this is your marvellous

stocking- and sock-making contraption.

Show me how it works, first of all.

Well, it's deceptively simple once it's threaded up.

It has 80 latch needles,

they were invented in 1849,

and it takes the yarn and creates loops and knits.

So even today knitting machines use this principle.

So each stitch is laid

as it goes round.

Into the open mouth of the hook.

It's ingeniously simple,

-but at the same time fiendishly complicated, isn't it?

-It is, yes.

And how long does it take to run up a sock or a stocking, then?

In the hands of an expert - and I'm not an expert -

someone who can close the heel

and turn the heel,

probably five or ten minutes to make each sock.

And this dates from about, what, 1910, something like that?

Yes, around 1910.

They are quite collectable, particularly in the States,

where they have a conference every year for sock-knitters.

That is a conference I'd like to attend!

This is a sampler, it happens to be a rather nice one.

An early one, 18th-century, I'm sure, by its style.

Silk on linen, but it employs a technique

that I've rarely seen used before in samplers.

But you know a bit about its history, don't you?

Yes, this particular sampler

was sewn by my great-great-grandmother...

-Yes.

-Marion Black.

She was born in 1776

and, I believe, she may have stitched this

when she was about 16 years old.

That's interesting, because the word "sampler"

comes from the French "essamplaire",

which means to copy or to imitate,

and young girls stitched these things

to show their proficiency in needlework

to make them ready to run households.

So I think, if she was born in '76,

this is properly done no later than 1786.

-Right.

-And, erm...

what's unusual about this

is that it's got raised and cut silk work

to emulate a mown lawn, here in the front there.

And I've never seen that before, and I think that's really remarkable,

and it gives it a three-dimensional effect.

And the way it's arranged is really charming.

The colours are so fresh, you know,

the blue of the roof and the red of the door,

and the berries and flowers on the tree there.

But it has a reasonable value, for all those reasons.

And something like this, from this date and this fresh

and this condition, would be in the region

of £1,000 to £1,300, £1,400.

Well, that's very nice.

I shall continue to treasure it.

It's as charming as it gets.

-I mean, it's proper folk art, isn't it?

-It is, it is.

It's a real tribute to the maker and the skills of little girls and...

-Exactly.

-..what young girls could be expected to do.

Exactly. A little girl like this age could have done something like this.

-They were as young as five and six.

-Yes.

-How old are you?

You're eight. So you could easily have done this

if you lived back in Georgian times.

That's quite a thought.

Well, the world is full of love and sentiment,

and this was really true during the Victorian period as well,

which is where this necklace dates from.

How has it ended up in your collection?

My father-in-law gave it to me.

What a lovely gift. He obviously adored you.

-I hope so.

-Yeah, definitely, definitely.

-It's something that you wear a lot?

-A lot, all the time.

Good, that's brilliant.

Well, it's a Victorian necklace,

round about the 1840s,

when jewellery really was the height of fashion

and this whole idea of interpreting love messages through jewellery

was extremely important as well.

And with the hearts,

that's an obvious symbol of sentiment.

But what we also have on these lovely little hearts

are various colours.

So we've got turquoise,

which is seen as the true colour of the forget-me-not flower,

and then you can associate that

with the hidden message of "don't forget me",

which is absolutely gorgeous.

The necklace is gold

and it's what we call a snake link,

and when you move it, it slithers along like a little snake.

That lovely sort of tactile feel to the Victorian jewellery

which really sums it up, it's fantastic.

And what's that stone?

The pink one there is either a pink sapphire or a tourmaline,

it's a little bit difficult to tell in the heavy setting of the mount.

Now, as far as value's concerned,

collectors love this sort of look.

At auction, somebody would pay in excess of £2,000 for this.

Right. Thank you very much.

My pleasure. Keep on wearing it.

-I will.

-Good.

-Don't you worry.

Our impostor this week is based around our national pastime -

drinking tea, of course.

John Axford, you set us this challenge,

you are our ceramics specialist - and an Orientalist, as well.

So we have four tea bowls, I must call them.

-That's correct.

-They're not tea cups, they don't have handles.

Cups have handles, yes.

Three of which are 18th-century Chinese...

-Yes.

-And the impostor is?

English. So they all date from round about 1750.

1740, 1750. But one is an English one.

Now, the thing about drinking tea at that time

was it was a very refined activity,

-because tea was so expensive and so precious.

-Yes.

You've got to remember, in 1740, the time of Hogarth,

both porcelain and tea were extremely expensive.

I mean, tea was so expensive that it was locked away in caddies.

It's not until you get to the 19th century,

you start getting these great big teapots

and great big teacups,

and people start sloshing it around a bit.

So, four tea bowls, three Chinese - which is the English one?

Here are some hints from John.

This porcelain tea bowl was made for an Irishman called Nicholas Langton,

and depicts his coat of arms.

But would he have commissioned a Chinese maker to produce this,

or would he have relied on a English maker?

This tea bowl dates from around 1750

and features a beautifully enamelled image of lovers in a garden.

Is it the work of a Chinese craftsman with years of experience,

or has an English painter managed to replicate the technique?

Could this tea bowl, from around 1755,

represent an Englishman's view of a Chinese scene,

complete with a water buffalo?

Or is it a genuine piece

that was made in China and shipped over

for tea-drinking aficionados?

This elegant tea bowl

depicting a European gentleman

dates from around 1740.

But is it the work of a Chinese or an English potter?

The history of porcelain is a fascinating one,

and my understanding of Chinese porcelain in particular

is that what made it so special

is its fineness and its transparency.

So is that what I should be looking for?

It's certainly one of the things.

Some Chinese porcelain is extremely fine, if it's very thinly potted.

Other times it can be more thickly potted

and, if it's fired at a lower temperature,

it will be less translucent.

So it is one of the features, but it doesn't necessarily help you.

18th-century Chinese porcelain,

compared with 18th-century English porcelains,

tends to be a more glassy material.

It's harder, it's known as hard-paste porcelain,

and when it breaks, you get a sort of colloidal fracture,

like glass breaks.

There was great demand, wasn't there, for porcelain in Britain?

In the first half of the 18th century, it was a craze

and, of course, tea drinking was so fashionable

Chinese tea wares poured into the country and, of course,

factories set up in England, in London, in Worcester,

in Derby and in Staffordshire,

to compete with these markets.

It's a very tricky one, because as far as I was concerned,

transparency was the name of the game -

you've now told me now it's not necessarily

about their transparency.

Folks, any ideas?

-You've had a look.

-Second from the left for me.

You think this is the impostor?

You think that's the impostor?

You think THAT'S the impostor?

-Yes.

-Well, you are no help at all.

And at the back there, you think it's this one?

Oh, brilliant. Well, that's a whole heap of help.

I mean, I had a quick look and I held them up to the light.

This is beautifully fine, I think, this one.

The crosshatching and the design on here

is just so...

beautifully done.

I wonder if this is English.

This is the plainest. But compared...

Oh, I'm tying myself up in knots here.

-I'm going to go... Who thought it was this one?

-Me.

-Right.

Loving you, madam.

I'm going for this one being the impostor,

because it's less transparent and it has less detail on it.

Therefore, I think that is the English impostor.

You're entirely wrong.

ALL: Aw!

The impostor, in this case...

-is this one.

-Oh!

But when you hold this up, it's so fine and delicate.

It's lighter than all the others.

This was made at the Worcester factory in about 1755,

only a few years after the factory opened,

and it is trying to look like Chinese porcelain

and it's doing a really very, very good job.

It's doing an excellent job.

So, which of these is the most valuable, John?

This is the most valuable piece.

-Erm...

-What, because of rarity?

Because of rarity.

Chinese porcelain was made for the export market

in very, very large numbers.

Shiploads arrived back here.

Worcester porcelain, which is copying it, is far rarer,

and Worcester collectors,

particularly in the UK and in America,

what they want is the pieces from the very earliest years

of the factory.

It's worth maybe £600.

I've got it wrong again. You were a fat lot of help!

Oh, you were right, were you? Oh, right, madam.

I'm going to go have a cup of tea, I reckon.

This reminds me so much of my childhood,

and I'm sure there are plenty of viewers, too,

who will look at this lot

and say, yeah, I used to play with one of those.

But there's something very, very different

about this collection of Corgi die-casts

on the table here.

Tell me a bit about them.

Well, Corgi toys had...

Their main plant was in Swansea...

-Yep.

-But also in Northampton.

That factory was where we made most of the components

to go to the Swansea factory.

Well, sometimes there was perhaps something wrong with them.

There were 3,000 women putting toys together

and maybe they would send a message -

well, we can't fit the wheel on that particular model,

have a look at it.

Well, the idea was

to have that model -

as this one is - held together with...

-It's been assembled...

-Yes.

But it's not been completed by spinning over these things here.

-The rivets have not been sealed off.

-The rivets have not been made.

-And you call that spinning over?

-Spinning it over, yes.

-Right, OK.

The idea was, that, well, we'd looked for the component

and check it for assembly.

What was your position at the plant up in Northampton?

I was the general manager

You were the general manager? OK.

So what you're saying to me is that all these examples

with elastic bands around them were basically unique reference models.

-Absolutely.

-But, also, we've got a selection here at the front

that have got some very unusual finishes on them.

These are Huskies, most of these.

-They are.

-I've never seen these with these finishes.

When they were deciding what colour to make this,

mainly for the American market,

the director would say to me, "Right, I want ten in that colour,

"I want ten in that colour, I want ten in that colour."

And we would just send them to him.

-Yes.

-It was always a big nuisance, really,

-to upset a big paint plant to do ten of...

-Yes.

He said he wanted them, so we made them.

And we put them out and he said, "No, no, no."

And, "Right, this is the one we're going for."

So, how to choose the colour for the model.

So what you're saying is

that just maybe six, eight, ten of these were made?

-That's right.

-And what happened to the ones they didn't want?

Well, I have two girls at home,

but I had a lot of children who used to live nearby

and I used to take them home.

They would never go into boxes, they would never be assembled,

so I used to give them to local kids.

Do you realise what you're sitting on here?

Yes, they're...

unique, aren't they?

-Well, they're rare.

-One-offs.

Absolutely. You've got one-offs, rare editions.

Of course, these reference ones were one-offs,

and actually I'm totally flummoxed,

because I never expected to be shown such rare Corgis.

Have you got any more?

I've got 200 or 300, probably, of all sorts.

200 or 300?

Yes, probably, yes.

I'm meant to surprise you, you're not meant to surprise me.

I think there's probably -

and I'm just going to globally value this lot on the table for you -

I think there's probably around about

£1,500 to £2,000 worth of cars on this table.

-Yes.

-But if you've got 200-300 more...

-There's quite a few of them.

-I can't really do the maths.

So what you have got is something quite important.

-Yes, they are.

-And very important to collectors.

Well, my grandchildren have got their names on many of them already.

-THEY LAUGH

-Oh, well, that's lovely.

You've brought me in a little book

which is, sort of, over 350 years old

and it's a sort of very early guide

that travellers could take with them

to understand how to behave, what to appreciate,

all that sort of stuff.

It's a lovely little thing. Do you look after it?

-Yes, indeed.

-I do.

-Where do you keep it?

-With my other books, actually.

-OK.

-But it's all protected, obviously,

because it's quite old. I've just treasured it.

If we just open it up here to the title page,

Instructions And Directions For Foreign Travel,

-and it's written by a chap called James Howell.

-OK.

Who was born at the end of the 16th century

and died in the, sort of, later 17th century.

-OK.

-You've got a second edition, this is actually a second edition...

-Ah, OK.

-It was first published in 1642.

-OK.

-And this is dated 1650.

And Howell worked in a glass factory

and he did a lot of travelling, mostly throughout Europe.

He was a great linguist,

who wrote other books on grammar and language and things like that.

And in this little book,

he's sort of trying to tell would-be travellers

how the best way to go about things is.

You haven't used it?

-No.

-So how did you get it?

Actually it's from my father,

and I think it's been handed down in the family, to my father

and, of course, he's not with us now, so hence I've inherited it.

-OK.

-Yes, I think it's been in the family a long time.

On this page here, this is a portrait of King Charles II.

-Yeah.

-With his date of birth.

29th of May, 1630.

It was quite a risky thing. At that time, that particular time,

the interregnum,

between 1649 when Charles' father King Charles I had been executed,

and 1651 when Cromwell defeated Charles II and then took over.

To pin your sort of colours to the mast, as Howell is doing here,

bigging up the monarchy, was quite a risky thing to do.

But what I think is the loveliest bit about it

is the fact that he has a bit here at the end

when he says that when an Englishman comes back after travelling abroad,

"When he hath observed all this, at his return home,

"he will bless God and love England better ever after."

And I think that still holds true today.

It does.

-It's rare.

-Yes.

-Doesn't come up on the market very often.

-OK.

-And if it came up for sale,

I think it would make certainly £1,000-£1,500.

Wow.

-Might even do more.

-Really?!

-Yes.

-It's such a tiny little book.

-I know. It's a super little thing.

-Thank you.

-Yeah.

-Great.

Rarely on the Antiques Roadshow do we actually feature tools,

and I think that when you consider

these potentially made some of the furniture that we've featured,

I think it's time we had some tool time.

I think it's a good idea as well!

-You clearly love them.

-Oh, I do.

-Why?

To me, they represent the pinnacle of English furniture-making

and, without tools like this,

we wouldn't have the Chippendales and the Hepplewhites,

they wouldn't have been built to as good a standard

had these not existed at that time.

People look at these tools that may have been their grandad's

and they've found in the shed,

and they'll go in the skip or they might go to a sale room,

but, really, they're artefacts of our history

of the great furniture that we've got now.

Because they are works of art in themselves.

You're quite young - why tools, for you?

I actually makes saws.

-Oh, OK.

-Yeah, I actually reproduce saws from this era...

-Wow!

-For special commissions for people.

I use the same tools,

the same techniques that would have been used

250 years ago to make these.

How long would it take you to make a saw like this?

Between 25 and 30 hours, depending on the design.

It's the quality of them,

and you just don't get that... any more.

You don't get something...

A tool which was made for a craftsman of the mid-18th century

which would be used throughout his life.

This is my favourite one.

When you see the blade on this one,

you can see, this would have - correct me if I'm wrong -

this would have been out there

and then they've re-sharpened it over years

where they've actually now had to go round a little bend.

And that to me just sums up how important these were to that person,

how expensive they were,

and it then creates a beautiful object in itself.

They've got maker's marks on them -

have you researched the makers into the these?

I have, yeah, with quite some depth.

Most of the saws that are on the table

actually were made in Sheffield.

And this one in particular

is probably one of the early examples of a Sheffield saw.

And the maker, John Kenyon,

was the first Sheffield saw-maker outside of London,

and this dates from about 1760.

And that would make these pretty rare as tools?

They do, especially saws of this size.

They're very rare survivors.

There's now sales, or auctions,

purely of tools.

I think on the table here

you've got between £3,000 and £3,500 worth of saws.

Crikey!

That's quite unbelievable, yeah.

Well, what appears to be a very harmless little watercolour

of a ship at sea

hides some deeper meanings.

Where did you get it?

I actually bought it online.

I'd noticed it and was interested, like you say,

because of the hidden... Hidden story in it.

That was what amazed me when you pulled it out of your carrier bag.

Because there are thousands of little cut lines

which allow the picture itself

to actually dome out

in a beehive form.

In fact, we often call them beehives -

and underneath,

there is a little watercolour.

And it's quite hard to reveal.

You have to bring it up, and then, as you tip it,

you can see how the paper sort of concertinas

in a very much a sort of a beehive way.

And look at that.

The kneeling slave, chained,

with a quote from Isaiah,

"Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away."

It does date to probably the 1820s

and, of course, it was 1833

that slavery was fully abolished in Britain.

-Would it be the sympathetic person doing this?

-Yes.

Yes. People whose consciences were constantly being pricked

by the continuation of, obviously, an appalling trade.

So it makes this really

quite an important piece.

And on the Roadshow we see a lot of Valentine cards

in this style -

I've never seen a slavery one,

and neither have any of my colleagues.

So, you paid...?

I paid £15.

£15.

That's very good.

Well, it's worth £500-£800.

No! Really? Oh, my goodness.

That has totally surprised me.

Thank you.

If I had a time machine,

I'd think, let's go to Harrogate in the 1930s, or the 1920s.

It must have been a fantastic place. Are you a Harrogate person?

No, I've lived in the area since the 1960s but, funnily enough,

my grandfather was offered the job as stationmaster

in Harrogate in the 1930s and he turned it down for Ipswich.

We're looking at a railway poster.

He was handling posters on a daily basis,

but he didn't keep any.

They had no value. They'd been stuck up,

there was spares kept in the attic, and whenever he wanted scrap paper

they'd be torn up into foolscap sheets

and he'd use them for his homework.

-Think of what he tore up.

-Exactly.

-It doesn't bear thinking about.

-It's frightening.

-Yeah.

The great era of the railway posters was the 1930s.

There was a mass of railway posters about Harrogate

because it was such an important place.

There were Pullman trains coming daily in and out of the town,

there were great hotels, there was the royal baths,

you know, it was a fantastic place at that time.

I'm not saying it isn't now, but it was very different.

Do you know the background to this poster?

I don't. I've been told that it's quite significant that it should say

London and North Eastern Railway of England and Scotland.

Yep. Because I think it's an export one.

We were saying to people, "Come to Harrogate".

We were also saying to people in Europe,

and in particularly North America, "Come to Britain".

And therefore this was for the North American market.

And so it's focusing on Britishness,

Englishness, the baths, the riding,

the style, the elegance.

There'd be no point at all in saying England and Scotland

if it was being used in England and Scotland.

This would have been on display

in some office in Manhattan, some travel company,

seducing people to come and find the best of Britain.

Because it's a very rare one.

-Yes?

-I don't know that I've ever seen it,

and I have seen lots of Harrogate posters.

So, it's unusual. It's an export model, which makes it more unusual.

It's a wonderfully evocative image of where we are.

-I would think it would be about 2,000.

-Oh!

But we'll be keeping it, won't we?

-Great image.

-Yes. Thank you.

-Thank you.

This clock has been on the Roadshow before, hasn't it, in 19...?

-1982.

-And we've got the ticket to prove it.

-Look at that.

-Uh-huh, yes.

My father actually made this clock

and he brought it in to get some advice

about how we could perhaps get it to work with a pendulum.

And he showed it to Arthur Negus, who was very impressed,

he thought it was a lot older, didn't realise my dad had made it,

set it down on the table

and then accidentally knocked it off and it fell on the floor.

-The cover came off and...

-So he damaged it?

-Yes, he did.

It's been restored since, but he was very apologetic.

-I'm sure he was!

-He said, "I'm very sorry."

My dad said, "Well, don't worry,

"at least I can tell the grandchildren

"that Arthur Negus dropped my clock."

And here they are today,

these are the grandchildren.

So, girls, now you can tell your grandchildren

-that Arthur Negus dropped this clock.

-Wow.

Look what's turned up at the same time -

two Austrian cold-painted bronzes.

-Brilliant, eh?

-A dachshund.

-Yeah.

-And a carpet-seller.

A North African carpet-seller.

We know who they're by, don't we?

I'm sure it's Bergman.

I wasn't expecting to see such an explosion of colour.

It's actually an oil painting on board,

and the signature reads Angelito Antonio, 1963.

I know nothing about it.

It's the only antique I've got, that's why I've brought it.

OK. Well, it's a lovely little thing.

Very desirable, it's a dachshund,

people love dogs, they love dachshunds.

This one dates from around about 1900, 1910.

-What about yours, Ronnie?

-Same.

Exactly the same sort of date.

Great polychrome on this. Great cold-painting.

The colours are still quite fresh and nice.

Where did you get yours?

It was given to my husband and I when we got married,

by my mother-in-law.

Antonio is an artist who's still working today in the Philippines,

so this is a long, long, long way from home.

Can I ask, what drew you to the picture?

It just looks very Picasso-esque

and modernist, cubist-type. I love it.

The whole ethos of Cubism was to portray three-dimensional forms

using lots of facets and planes on a two-dimensional surface,

which is exactly what Antonio has been inspired to do here.

Well, I'm going to go first on value, OK?

-OK.

-How does £400 to £600 at auction grab you?

Wow!

I thought you were going to say about £40.

No. It's a lovely little thing.

Certainly worth in that sort of ballpark.

-Your turn, Ronnie.

-This one's not a dog,

but it's still a popular subject,

and this one is £600 to £800 in value.

Wow. That's fantastic.

So, as an early work

by one of the Philippines' most well-known artists today,

it's probably worth around between £1,000 to £2,000.

Wow. I didn't think it would be that much.

I found it when I was clearing out my late sister's house.

This, and a few dress rings,

where in a bin liner in a box in the bottom of one of the drawers.

And I just thought it was a very attractive thing,

and I saw the maker's name,

was able to look at that on the internet.

-Mm-hm.

-Someone has since told me

that they think the hallmark is 1826...

So you've done a little research?

A little bit, yes.

But I know very little, other than that.

-And you haven't had it running?

-No.

No, I don't have a key to make it run.

And I'm a bit wary of...

That's a good reason for not running it - "I have no key."

I'm a bit wary of over-handling it.

Fair enough. Well, you're right about the name.

It's a magic name. Parkinson & Frodsham.

London, of course. And it's numbered 1230.

-Yes.

-Let me see if you're right about the hallmark...

which certainly should be

inside the back of the case.

And you're absolutely right.

The London marks with the big I of 1826.

-Wow.

-So, those two bits of research have paid off.

Did you discover much about Parkinson & Frodsham?

I saw that they had been responsible for ships' chronometers.

-Mm-hm.

-And that they supplied the ship's chronometer

for Darwin's Beagle expedition.

So, do you think that this could be a pocket chronometer?

Have you looked inside?

Only to the extent that I've looked at the workings,

but as a non-expert, that doesn't mean a great deal to me.

Let's just flip open the top.

There we go. And you can see there...

..a wonderful signature.

And I can tell you straightaway it is a pocket chronometer.

Wow.

-Wow!

-A very, very accurate movement indeed.

-I can also tell you, just looking here...

-I wonder why.

..that this spring detent,

that's the bit under there, is lacking,

and your balance has got a broken pivot.

-Right.

-So I'm really glad you didn't have the key

and I'm really glad you didn't try to make it run.

Now, the 24-hour dial

is one of the things

that Parkinson & Frodsham did for chronometers

that were sidereally rated.

Now, sidereal time is more accurate,

if you like, than solar time.

I won't explain any more than that,

because it will go on for far too long.

You've mentioned the Beagle.

I would put it to you

that this was a chronometer of importance.

-Oh.

-And it would be well worthwhile

finding out from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich

if there are any details of this particular chronometer,

and whether it went on expeditions,

or whether it was used for naval use.

-Wow.

-This is a very good item.

That's amazing. That's incredible.

Thank you. I had no idea.

It's a great object. I love the dial.

OK, there's a little bit of hairline cracking down there

but, fundamentally, it's got a lot of potential.

-Wow.

-At the moment, in its current condition,

which is a little bit iffy,

we would be talking about £3,000 to £4,000.

-Right.

-If the detent and the balance and everything had been perfect,

and the dial hadn't been cracked,

we'd be talking 6,000 to 8,000.

-Gosh.

-Now, if we can find evidence

that it's been on superb expeditions,

it just goes on and on and on.

Because it's to do with the provenance.

But all that matters is,

I'm really glad you rescued it from the bag of rubbish.

From the bin liner. Yeah, absolutely!

Thank you. That's wonderful.

I've heard about you.

People have been telling me all day,

"There's a lady walking round with a really nice vase

"that she's wrapped really badly in a bag

"and telling everybody she can't stand it."

-Is this you?

-Yes.

Go on, then, spill the beans. What are you on about?

Well, it's been sitting on my bedroom windowsill

for about 20 years.

-OK.

-I was given it by my great-aunt. And, yeah, that's about it.

I don't really like it!

Have you ever noticed any writing on it?

-Erm...

-Just there, for instance.

Can you read that?

"R Lalique, France."

"R Lalique, France."

Have you ever heard of Rene Lalique?

I've heard of Lalique.

So, Rene Lalique is the greatest glass designer of the 20th century,

and his work falls into several categories,

but the principal ones are

the "R" pieces - R Lalique, which predate his death in 1945 -

and the "not R" - just the "Lalique" pieces -

which post-date his death in 1945.

So, this is R Lalique,

so it's a Rene piece, it's called Marguerite,

which is a form of daisy.

-Right.

-It was designed in 1923,

and it's mould-blown,

by blowing in a pipe

into a pattern mould,

and then the centres of the flowers

are then stained,

in order to give it greater depth and its greater quality.

It's not only a vase.

It also works as a lamp.

You could put a clamp on here

and have a...

So, it's a lamp or a vase, depending on what you like.

So, this old bit of rubbish

that has really seen better days...

Because somebody hasn't really been looking after it very well.

That's probably because they don't like it.

But to somebody who appreciates it...

..it would be worth

between £1,000 and £1,500!

-Oh, my gosh.

-So you can chuck it back in your old bag,

and continue treating it like a load of old filth if you like.

But, on the other hand, you might consider it,

at 1,500 quid, to be worth looking after, you big nitwit!

Wow. That's amazing.

-That's incredible. Thank you.

-You're most welcome.

It's been a real pleasure telling you!

We have one of these famous cliches in the art world, which goes,

"I met this bloke the other day

"who says he bought a genuine Picasso

"in a house-clearance sale."

Where did you buy this?

A house-clearance sale.

And who do you think it's by?

Picasso.

OK. So, am I right in thinking you're from Germany?

Yes, we are. We came especially to see you here in Harrogate.

Well, we're deeply flattered.

Let's see if we can help.

Now, how did you come across this drawing?

My wife and I, we don't really get the chance

to do the big summer holidays any more

because we're both very busy people.

But we love to drive,

so we take two, three days' drive,

you know, different countries.

And we were to the south of Paris,

and my wife spotted a large estate,

they were looking like there were loads of people,

loads of things going on,

and we stopped, and we bought a beautiful 1930s Lalique plate,

a little oil painting

and a box of, I suppose, miscellaneous frames,

and paid about 50 euro for the box.

I suppose you can tell where this story's going.

So the box contains...

-Yes.

-This.

-When we came home,

I just went through the frames and everything

and I thought, "Hmm, this looks interesting."

And I thought, I'll give my husband a call and I say,

"I've seen this painting and it's got a signature, Picasso.

So, is it or not? I don't know.

So the first thing is, then, you set eyes upon this,

this object from a box which you paid 50 euros for,

and you see the Picasso signature

and, of course, looking at the drawing itself,

you can understand how it could be a Picasso.

-Yes.

-I mean, it's got that wonderfully spare line.

It looks like a work of the, perhaps, 1920s.

-They look like ballerinas, don't they?

-Yes.

And there's a lovely simplicity in the line.

You know, he manages, whoever the artist is,

to achieve a lot by saying very little.

-Yes.

-And that, of course, is a characteristic of Picasso.

Have you done some research?

Because he is, of course, working in the mid-1920s with the ballet.

Yes, this is a picture of him that we found,

with his wife, arriving in Monte Carlo

in March 1925.

Following the ballet?

Following the Ballets Russes

before they went to Paris for the summer season.

Excellent. So, we're getting Picasso into the scene of the crime,

so he's around 1925,

and you have a photograph to prove it.

Now, you've got, with it,

a photocopy from a book on Picasso drawings.

Yes, this is a book from 1956, Balletzeichnungen.

A friend of a friend found this for us,

and it details all of the drawings

that Picasso did, in the 1920s, of ballet.

And lo and behold, ours appears.

So this is... So this is rather astonishing.

So, in that box, that magic box

that you've bought for 50 euros,

you have found a drawing

that relates to what Picasso was doing in the mid-'20s,

you now find a book with what appears to be your very drawing

illustrated as a work by Picasso.

Yes. Obviously, it would almost be too good to be true,

so we have another friend of a friend in Berlin,

and we showed it to them to say, "We have this,

"could you please give us an indication of what this might be?"

And they are saying it is a 1920s paper

with 1920s India ink.

I mean, that's the crucial thing - that it's not a print,

but then it could well be an Indian ink drawing

of the type that he used.