Hanbury Hall 1 Antiques Roadshow

Today's location for the Antiques Roadshow has a history that wouldn't

feel out of place in a soap opera.

Fabulous wealth, crippling debts,

romance, illicit affairs,

a love-struck curate, even a ghost.

Welcome to Hanbury Hall near Droitwich in Worcestershire.

THE ARCHERS THEME PLAYS And talking soaps,

it's thought the creator of The Archers may have based

his fictional village of Ambridge on Hanbury.

And it's believed that Hanbury Hall

could be the inspiration for Ambridge's Lower Loxsley.

Before being taken over by The National Trust in 1953,

Hanbury Hall had been owned by

the Vernon family for more than 300 years.

It was built for Thomas Vernon, a fabulously wealthy lawyer.

He employed some of the best designers

and artisans of the day to construct

this elegant mansion in the style of William and Mary.

So what about the romance,

the curate and the ghost?

Well, that came courtesy of Emma Vernon, who was born in 1755,

and she spent much of her childhood here at Hanbury Hall.

As heiress to the impressive Hanbury Hall estate,

Emma was a fine catch for Henry Cecil,

the Earl of Exeter in waiting.

But the path of true love did not run smoothly.

The pair fell heavily into debt, their only son and heir died -

aged just six months -

they grew apart and, eventually,

Emma ran off to Portugal with the local curate.

But there are a few more twists and turns in the plot yet.

Henry fell in love with a local farmer's daughter - a teenager,

she was just 18 - and he married her.

But, because he hadn't divorced Emma, the marriage was illegal,

so then he had to divorce Emma and marry his teenager a second time,

and that left Emma free to marry her curate.

Wouldn't happen in Ambridge.

Maybe it would.

The emotional impact of events long ago at Hanbury Hall is said to

linger on with the ghost of Emma, dressed in black,

wandering along this route from the house to the church,

where she enjoyed secret trysts with her lover.

Who knows? She may be looking on as our experts get the day underway.

On a chilly, misty Worcestershire morning,

I like nothing better than to get my

teeth into something really wonderful like this.

It's such a beautiful picture.

The artist - William Strang. The date - about 1910,

I think.

And the subject -

one of the most extraordinarily beautiful nudes I've ever seen.

HE LAUGHS

It's lovely, isn't it?

Well, I'm very fond of her, I must say.

We've had it in the family for a long, long time.

Have you? How many generations?

Well, I think it was bought by my great-grandfather,

who was a fellow called Lawrence Hodson,

and it's passed down to my grandmother, then my mother.

And, when my mother passed away, I think my sisters and I

not quite tossed up for it, but I got the first choice.

She sits in our drawing room on the wall.

It's... Everybody says, "Ooh, look at that painting."

Men and women, I'm sure.

Yes, they rather think she's a bit large in the rear.

-No, but magnificent.

-It is still a beautiful painting, yes.

It really is. Why is it so beautiful?

It's almost because of its simplicity, really, isn't it?

The light and shadow are treated very, very well - delicately.

It seems to me that it's an incredibly complicated picture,

but simply done.

So this background, first of all, is just a yumptious colour,

and that colour here as well is brilliantly done.

And then this colour... It's just bands of colour going along,

and the shade around here is beautifully modulated.

You can read her body perfectly.

William Strang was one of the very early peoples

of the Slade art school,

which was incredibly influential, and he was a great draughtsman.

He was very open to influence.

He was a very curious man. He was an intellectual, really.

And he loved to look at the work of other artists.

And, with William Strang, it's always worth looking to see

what his influence is in any particular picture.

I think in this one, perhaps, Degas.

You see this black, the way that it's just very briefly done -

that's exactly what Degas would have done.

Also she's very tight in the picture plane, isn't she?

Very pushed in, which kind of dramatically emphasises her shape.

Now, it's actually an oil painting but it's never been varnished,

I don't think. And what that means is

it's got this lovely matte finish, no gloss on it at all.

It's got a real studio feel about it as a result.

It looks as though he's just left his brush off

after three generations.

So the value won't really bother you one way or another.

I've no idea what the value is, really.

Well, I'm going to put £10,000 to £15,000 on it.

-Really?

-I've pushed the boat out a little bit for a picture this size

because it is just so incredibly beautiful.

It's also that perfect sort of cabinet size

that would go anywhere -

in any house, any collection, anywhere.

It's absolutely lovely.

This is such a lovely colour, the top.

What have you been using it for?

Well, originally I can remember it was near an open fire

and we stored logs in it. That's my first recollection of it.

And I've always wondered what it is.

Then when we moved, it was used for storing papers into it,

but now my husband uses it for

something else more modern, don't you?

We now use it as an entertainment unit.

I put a stereo on the top of it

and the inside is used to store CDs and videos.

But haven't things moved on a bit since videos and CDs now?

Well, it has an MP3 player now on top instead.

What I love about this, and attracts me to it immediately,

is the simplicity of it.

It's made by a carpenter.

Not a cabinet-maker, because this was before the era

of cabinet-makers.

Not a joiner, because there are no joints.

It's nailed together.

So it's a really early piece of furniture.

-It's a 17th-century one.

-Oh!

But it's just so simple.

There are six planks - one, two, three, four, five,

and then six underneath. Absolutely glorious.

So just open it up.

It's just so lovely inside.

Dry as a bone, untouched.

The grain on this is relatively even.

Now, I'm going to stick my neck out here.

I think that that means that it's probably

imported oak from the Baltic area.

-Gosh.

-And, of course, it would have been used for linen.

But it's just so beautiful.

It's quiet, understated but not underused,

that's what I love about it. It's just great.

£1,000.

-Gosh.

-That's better than we thought.

Much more than I thought it was going to be.

That's amazing.

-£1,000?

-Yeah.

-Really?

-Absolutely.

A much-needed burst of bright colour on this sort of

rather misty and grey day.

And I'd like to think that, perhaps in the mists of time

in the 1970s, you wore this, bright and colourful, too.

Yes, I did. In those days,

if you liked someone's clothes and somebody's said they liked it,

you gave it to the person. That's how I got it.

So this is sort of free and easy hippy living?

I had just gone down to London to visit the galleries.

I was at college, up in Stourbridge, fine-art student.

Used to go down to town. And we just wore this sort of thing then.

It was designed by Peter Blake,

who's probably Britain's most famous and most influential pop artist.

He's very well known for designing the cover of a Beatles album which

you might have heard of. And it was produced for the ICA,

so the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

And it was produced in a relatively small edition size.

We don't know quite how many were produced but it is a scarce thing,

it's not at all easy to find.

And I suppose it sort of maps in with pop art in the way it was

the whole idea of commercialism and disposability.

It looks like it's made of paper

but it's actually made of polyethylene.

And it comes sort of ten years after that whole sort of paper clothing

thing. All of those things like paper dresses.

-The pants?

-Pants, yes.

I think paper pants. I've never quite understood the logic behind

that, and we should leave that one there!

But you would buy for 5p or something, wear once,

maybe twice if it survived.

So it is, it's all connected to the sort of themes behind pop art.

And on the side here you've got names of the artists,

from Stanley Spencer to Brancusi,

all the way down to The Beatles and Balthus

and the Pre-Raphaelites.

But I notice there are little bits of wear as well around here.

What happened here? Was this over-vigorous wearing?

It's relatively recent. I rescue ferrets

and, unfortunately, they got inside the bag and damaged it.

-So this is a ferret nibble?

-I'm afraid so.

Well, you do need to keep this away from the ferrets in the future,

I'm afraid. They're sought-after pieces.

In perfect condition,

on a retail basis, I've seen them offered for around £2,000.

I think, with the wear and the damage here,

it's not going to really fetch that.

I have a feeling that, even still, in this condition,

you're looking at around £400 to £600.

That's good to know. That's lovely.

Now, typical Victorian box with little bits of gold around the edge

and within it is something that, for me,

gets to the very core of my being

because this is one of the best examples

of a cameo brooch that I've seen on the Roadshow for years.

Now, first question, where did it come from?

It was given to my Great-great-aunt Zilla, when she got married.

It was given to her by John Corbett,

who was locally known as the salt king.

He made his fortune from salt in Droitwich.

And he was an admirer and gave it to her as a wedding present,

but that's really all I know.

So the name Corbett is very significant round Droitwich?

-It is, yes.

-Round here.

Most of the cameos that we see on the Antiques Roadshow

are really rather modest and they are not very valuable.

This is a very different thing.

Why it is so exciting is because of

the sheer detail that appears in this carving.

Do you know what it's carved out of?

I don't, to be honest, no.

Well, it's carved out of volcanic lava.

-Oh, really?

-And what happened was,

particularly in the mid-Victorian period,

a lot of people went across to places like Mount Vesuvius.

And you'd have the volcanic lava, and it's quite a tough material,

and it was found in lots of different colours.

Caramel brown - like this one - black, white and grey.

And the Italians were very, very good at carving profiles.

So why is this so good?

Well, it's worth marvelling at the sheer intricacy of the carving.

This is a Classical head in profile.

First of all, you have a winged horse, which I'm assuming

is probably Pegasus.

The symbol of the winged horse is often, if you like,

associated with Minerva.

Now, I would have to confirm it, I'd have to do a bit of checking,

but I think this is supposed to represent Minerva.

Even behind Pegasus you've got another female form there.

-So the definition just goes on and on.

-Yes.

It's in a very high-quality gold frame.

You can even hinge the pendant loop, so you can fold it down

under the frame.

-So that's hinged.

-Oh, right. Gosh, I didn't know that.

-Did you not see that?

-No.

-Look at that. That's a nice touch.

All right, so there it is, fitting snugly in its box. So next question,

what's it worth? What do you pay for a cameo like this?

I have never seen a volcanic-lava cameo of this quality before.

£1,500 to £2,000.

Never. Oh, gosh.

That's just amazing, isn't it?

It was worth the queue in the fog.

I like to think so. Thank you.

Well, my aunt gave them to me.

Her husband, Guy Granet, shot in the Olympics in London 1948.

And there's lots of memorabilia.

The most attractive, I think, is this lovely poster,

which I'm gently opening, for the Olympic Games.

In 29th of July to 14th of August in London.

You've really got a very charming oil painting here

that is presented as a tray.

-It's oil.

-I didn't realise that.

Basically, what we've got is a papier-mache tray

produced by a firm called Jennens And Bettridge,

who were working in Birmingham.

And here we are, full gallop, just entering the woodland there.

But I love this stencilled surround as well, with the vine leaves here.

It's pristine, isn't it?

-It is pristine.

-It's mint. Where has it been all these years?

It's been in a box in the cupboard.

I'm so grateful for your cupboard.

Yes, it's a lovely poster, isn't it?

Indicative of the time.

So, do we value it as a tray or as an oil painting or both?

I think it is a great thing.

What would it make if it came up for auction?

400, 500.

-That bracket. Mid-hundreds.

-Fantastic. That is unbelievable.

That's wonderful.

Bright, bold and beautiful...

and worth £600 to £800.

Never!

You've brought me a piece from the other side of the world,

something from a pre-Christian society.

Where did you get it?

I was passing a gentleman's house with two friends

and he was clearing his garage out.

And he said, "Do you boys want anything out of this pile of rubbish?"

And on top of this pile of rubbish there was two fencing foils

and one facemask.

And suddenly there was a great rush.

The one lad had got the facemask on and the foil,

the other lad picked the foil up

and they were bashing seven bells

out of each other across this chap's garden,

leaving me with a pile of rubbish.

And I noticed this sticking out.

-The end was...

-It was there

and I pulled it out and it was absolutely filthy and black.

I said to the gentleman, "Can I have this?"

And he said, "If you don't have it, it is going to be burnt."

And I've had it now for about 57 years.

Fantastic. Well, you lucky thing.

We are looking at a piece from Polynesia, from French Polynesia,

and specifically the islands of the Austral Archipelago,

the Austral Islands.

And these pieces,

they come mysteriously and quietly down the ages.

Yet we don't fully understand them,

and that's something exciting because it is lovely to look at,

it's lovely to hold, isn't it?

Yes. Surprisingly light.

It is fabulous. And as you say, the carving,

this chip carving is absolutely crisp.

And have you noticed, the shaft is oval section, not just circular?

It tapers from the top.

The top of the paddle has a number.

These little facemasks...

The lips, the eyes, yet they've got what look like sunglasses on,

with, like, a sunburst effect.

Now, these must be little spirits, little deity faces,

that must have meant something to the Austral Islanders.

Even the rosette from the top, full-on,

-is just a little work of art, isn't it?

-It is, it's amazing.

Now, I've said it's a paddle, but, you know,

it would be useless as a paddle.

It would never have seen watercraft.

-No, it would break.

-It is too weak.

So, we are looking at a ceremonial piece.

It is hard to date, because we don't know who brought it back.

It is a pity the gentleman who gave it to you didn't have a story.

It might have come from a missionary.

We think of the early explorers, Captain Cook,

but there's no evidence.

I would predict this to be the first half of the 19th century,

so we're looking at a piece of certainly 150, 180 years old.

They are not especially rare,

but they are especially appreciated on the market.

And I think, with the colour and the condition of this,

you would be looking at realising a price at auction

of around £10,000.

Wow! That was...

That surprises me.

So, tell me, how does an Indian temple come to Hanbury Hall?

We had an elderly friend of the family

that sadly passed away in June,

and when we were clearing the house, this was buried in one of the rooms.

We genuinely don't know any of the history,

it wasn't something he mentioned whilst alive,

so all we know is what is signed at the bottom of it,

but we genuinely don't know the history.

Well, yes, very conveniently, obviously,

it's got a little label here,

which says, "Indian Temple - W Parker."

And it is dated 1881.

Obviously, we don't know who W Parker is.

Did he ever go to India?

Or was this something that he perhaps copied

from a lithographic print of the time, maybe in a magazine?

Or maybe it is a complete fantasy.

I suspect that it probably is a fantasy,

I think had it been an actual replica of a temple,

he probably would have taken the trouble

to have written on the front of it where it was.

What do you think of it, do you like it?

I think it is absolutely stunning.

I've never seen anything like it, it is just beautiful.

Are you both of that opinion?

Yes, especially the attention to detail. It is unbelievable.

Well, I actually really like dioramas

and I've actually got a number of them at home.

They are often made out of all sorts of different things.

It is a three-dimensional picture that's made in this box frame.

He's actually made it out of...

A lot of these things would have been commercially available.

Like the buildings are actually...

appear to be made of an artist's card,

and then these little lithographic scraps, again,

probably made in Germany.

And you cannot imagine the amount of work

that has obviously gone into making this.

He obviously spent several nights at it.

He's got all these little palm trees here,

made from little natural plants and moss.

It has got a little bit of damage, you can see over here, for instance,

some of the pillars have fallen down.

So I think it perhaps needs somebody with a little bit of patience,

perhaps to just try and put that back together.

But it is a lovely thing.

Very desirable.

If it were to come up for auction,

I think you would be looking at a figure,

somewhere in the region of £400-£600.

-Wow!

-Gosh!

Hanbury Hall, where we are today,

was built, or completed, in 1708,

which is a reasonable time ago now.

You have brought me in a book that was published in 1546,

so it is quite an antique piece.

Well, it belonged to my grandfather, who was a doctor.

My father was a doctor, I'm a doctor,

and now my daughter is just in the early part of her training,

so we are all doctors in the family,

so this feels like a special thing for us.

It's a general book on anatomy, from 1546,

written by a chap called Charles Estienne.

He came from a family of French printers,

publishers and authors as well.

He was around in about 1504 to 1560-odd, something like that.

He became the royal printer

and this is his work on "La dissection des parties du corps",

so "on dissection of the parts of the body".

Are you a surgeon, or what are you?

-I'm a GP.

-OK.

I don't do much dissection these days.

You don't, OK. The key part about this book is that it is illustrated

with wonderful woodcut illustrations.

And if we just turn to one here, for example.

So this is a beautiful skeleton of, you know,

showing the body with a lovely background,

with all the different key points to it.

You know them all, I wouldn't know one end of a body from another,

frankly. So that's the skeletal side of things.

And then here we have the body, again,

with a sort of rather flamboyant background.

And then opening it up again to another example

of where we've got the skeleton counterposed

with the sort of, what's this, the musculature.

Yes, all the muscles, isn't it?

It almost looks like a Michelangelo, doesn't it?

All the muscles delineated.

I think they are mostly accurate.

Again, you can tell me whether they are accurate enough.

-It is pretty good.

-It's in lovely condition

and it's got some value to collectors,

probably most of whom would be medical people, but not necessarily.

If it came up for auction,

I think you'd be looking at certainly £8,000-£12,000.

Oh, my gosh.

Really? I had no idea.

-Oh, right.

-Really nice, thank you so much.

Thank you very much, it is really interesting, thank you.

First and most important, I see from the badge there,

I've got to wish you a happy birthday.

-Yes, you have.

-Very happy birthday.

-Thank you very much.

-So,

what induced you to bring this tankard along on your birthday?

We've had this in the family for ten years.

My mum bought it at auction

and she was bidding against the dealer,

and she bidded up to £8,000 for it.

And then afterwards, a dealer came up to her and said,

"You know you have just bought a fake?"

She thinks it is Charles II.

She's got a lot of silver

and she thought she recognised the hallmarks on it.

But she's done some research since and she's found that, actually,

I think in the late Victorians,

they actually copied the Charles II stamp

to make the silverware look like it was from Charles II's era.

-Right.

-So, now there's this mystery over the tankard.

Is it Charles II or is it a fake?

OK. Well, it's actually quite an intriguing one,

and it has taken me a little while thinking about it

-to work out just what has happened here.

-OK.

It started off, in my opinion, as a Charles II tankard.

Then, in the Victorian period,

the owner at that stage decided that they didn't want a tankard,

-they wanted a jug.

-OK.

So, what they would have done

would have been to slice a V shape out of there

and literally solder on a spout.

More recently, somebody must have acquired it,

decided that it wasn't much good being a jug, it wasn't right.

What they did at that stage was to remove the spout

and put in a plate of silver to cover where that had been.

So what they would have done would have been

to actually remove the handle and move it around.

To cover up the mark.

To cover up. And we've got the evidence for that in here.

If you look there, you can see this V-shape section.

-Oh, yes.

-So...

your mother paid?

£8,000 for it.

Right. I mean, it is probably outside the law.

What do you mean, it's outside the law?

Because it has been...

Because so much has been done to it.

-Oh, OK.

-There are certain provisions for repair,

-but this actually does go beyond ordinary repair.

-Oh.

Because you have new silver over there, new silver there,

new silver there, where that sort of V section was added.

And these sections are all new, and so on.

So, today, assuming it could be sold,

with everything that has gone on there,

I think we would be hard pushed to reach £1,000.

So we were right, then.

It was a fake.

It is a heavily altered piece.

Right, OK.

So, it is not that somebody

-has started from scratch to make one today.

-Right, OK.

They've started with a Charles II tankard

-and you can pick out the remains of it.

-OK.

And then they've got a bit carried away.

We think it's lovely and we love it.

We think it is very beautiful.

-That's great.

-At least we now know the story,

and I've got to try and remember

everything you've just said about what's wrong with it.

Well, an autograph album.

Is it... Oh, Hilda Everett.

Now, Hilda Everett was a painter at the Worcester factory,

so this must be an autograph album for all the painters who were there

when she retired or some special occasion.

And how did you come by it?

I just found it when my grandad passed away.

I just thought it was very nice.

And your grandfather was...?

Brian Clark, which was Hilda's son.

Hilda's son. So, you are her great-grandson.

So I'm her great-grandson.

Great.

She was a wonderful painter and this is her album.

When painters left the factory,

the painters used to gather together and do an autograph book.

I've got my own. It is not as fine as this one.

This is beautiful. And there are autographs in here, too.

This is the Australian cricket team in 1934

with Don Bradman.

The Australian cricket team used to tour the factory.

I took them round one year.

They used to sign their names for everybody in the factory.

Here they are. That's a rather valuable little signature.

But it is these paintings.

This is by Ted Townsend

with a gorgeous little dog carrying a duck.

They are all there, good Lord.

And that's Kitty Blake.

And they are wonderful.

Aren't they gorgeous things?

Is it going to go through the family?

Yes, I think so. It will go to my daughter.

Oh, yes. This is yours.

How lovely! So, she is going to be the prize inheritor of this?

-Yes.

-I think it is absolutely wonderful.

Some of these autograph books have fetched a lot of money.

One went, a couple years ago,

to £10,000 with very fine paintings in them.

In value, I suppose you've got to think in terms

of two or three or more thousand pounds.

I think it is absolutely beautiful. Look after it.

Our impostor this week is not some modern piece of repro, oh, no.

Take a look at these four Greek vessels,

which conjure up Greek antiquity.

In actual fact, our impostor is the only one that is 2,000 years old.

Three of them are much more recent.

All of these belong to

our miscellaneous specialist, Mark Allum.

Mark, this is just a small part of your collection.

-How many have you got?

-I have probably got about 30,

but I haven't counted them recently, Fiona.

Right. Must be quite crowded in your house.

-Yes, it is.

-So, one is the genuine article, about 2,000 years old.

Over 2,000 years old, in fact.

2,500 years old almost, perhaps.

And then the other three?

The other three range from the late 18th-century

through to the 19th-century.

So you've got a bit of a spread there.

Here are some clues to help you decide.

This encaustic-painted black basalt vase

bears a striking resemblance to Wedgwood's famous First Day vases.

So, is it a Georgian piece

or is it the kind of truly ancient object

that would have inspired such a copy?

This black and red figure wine jug show signs of age,

but is this the result of thousands of years of handling?

Or has a Staffordshire potter just added some clever touches

to make it appear old?

This vase looks to be a great age,

but perhaps it's just trying too hard.

Is it is a work of fantasy, made to fool a Grand Tour tourist?

This elegant vase, depicting the classical myth of Leda and the Swan,

looks as though it came from ancient Greece.

But could it have been designed to capture the imagination

of the 19th-century British market?

Now, I had a chat to our visitors here beforehand.

Got differing views. But you are my partner in crime, I've decided.

-And you think this one?

-Yeah.

This one. And so do I.

So we are going to go with this.

I'll tell you why.

Also, I've picked your brains ruthlessly.

This surely is far too pristine.

This - ditto.

This has clearly had quite a lot of damage,

because it looks like it's all been put back together again.

All I was thinking was, the faces on this and this are so similar.

This could be a double bluff,

because this obviously looks the most distressed.

Yes?

-We are going for this one.

-You're going for the double bluff.

So?

-You are wrong.

-Oh, no! LAUGHTER

We thought it was, didn't we?

This is the one that is 2,500 years old.

This has got so much damage, hasn't it?

-Yes.

-It's got all sorts of cracks,

where it has been put back together again.

Whereas with this one, they've just gone to far too much trouble.

There is actually no damage to this at all,

but there's so much patination and ageing

and kind of overpainting.

and bits and bobs that actually to get an ancient vase in this state,

it's really had to go through the mill.

This, obviously, is the most valuable.

So, what makes you think it's the most valuable?

Oh, crikey. Well, it has got to be, hasn't it?

-Because it's the oldest?

-Yes.

And the rarest.

That's where you're totally wrong.

On this table is one vase that is worth so much more

than all of the others, and it is that one.

It is beautifully made, isn't it?

And the reason it's worth so much more

is because, despite this being 2,500 years old,

this one is made by Wedgwood

and this one was made in about 1780.

That's one of my most treasured possessions, that vase.

The one that I'd just dissed!

So, what value does this have?

It's got some damage, the top is all nibbled around,

and the lid has actually been broken.

I've never worried about having it restored,

it doesn't worry me, it is as it is.

But that's probably worth about £3,000-£5,000.

Whereas this, 2,500 years old?

£1,200-£1,800.

Really? I find that astonishing.

But that's so much rarer than this.

So, even though this is the piece from ancient Greece,

-this is the star of the collection.

-Absolutely.

So we've got this amazing house behind us

and what you've brought... We expect to see lovely things

and you've brought something

which looks like it's come out of the garden shed.

-That's cos it has, pretty much.

-Has it?

-Yes, yes.

It belonged to my grandparents and they had a farm out towards Malvern

and they had to downsize for a number of reasons,

and it basically got put in storage in a lean-to next to the house.

Basically, left to rot for a significant amount of time,

-and my dad took a shine to it.

-Do you know where they got it from?

I've no idea. No, I have no idea where it came from.

I think it's been in the family for a long time,

but, as to where it came from, I really don't know.

And so why did you bring it here today?

People comment on it when they come into the house

and we just wanted to know more about it

so we've got more of a story to explain about it

because we enjoy looking at it, but we don't know much about it, really.

Have you done research on what it is, what you think it is?

On the internet, yes. We think it is from Dutch East India.

I think it is late 17th century, maybe early 18th century.

But it could, at the same time, be Victorian as well,

because I think the style

sort of came back into fashion at that point.

It is one of those weird things,

you know, when you get close, but you can't quite work it out.

And I was looking at this earlier and it is a tricky one to work out.

This style was originally thought to be an Elizabethan chair.

Horace Walpole, the son of Robert Walpole, lived at Strawberry Hill

and loved this sort of furniture.

And they all thought, because basically he collected it,

that it was what we call the Elizabethan chair.

Not correct. That pretty much lasted up until the mid-19th-century.

So, then it became hugely fashionable.

Then what happens when something becomes hugely fashionable?

-People make copies.

-Exactly.

-Yeah.

This style of chair is from Ceylon or sort of Batavia/Coromandel Coast.

And on here, you can see imagery of sort of bursting pomegranates

and then stylised tulips, so I think your Dutch connection

is actually brilliant

-because I think this was potentially made for the Dutch market.

-Sure.

The downside is I think it is a 19th-century copy.

-OK.

-Which does make a big difference in what people collect.

So, your piece of furniture, which you dragged out of the shed,

which obviously has the cat sleeping on it,

I think is worth £2,000-£3000.

-Wow!

-That's still significant for a copy, isn't it?

It's so collectable, this furniture,

and I think this market is only going one way.

Have you ever been to the railway station at Braintree in Essex?

No, I haven't. Never.

Never. And did you know that this was Braintree?

-I didn't actually, no.

-This is just

the most extraordinary, brilliant design.

You really feel the railway station has just been placed

in this very simple green landscape.

And of course, it's by a real sort of powerhouse, an amazing artist,

Edward Bawden, who was one of the great designers,

illustrators and artists from the 20th century.

Tell me, where did it come from?

It was actually given to my parents as a wedding present in 1961,

which is the same date on the actual label

on the reverse of the painting.

There is a Zwemmer Galleries label on the back,

and what's interesting about that

is that the Zwemmer Galleries had a great relationship with Bawden

and gave him his first major show in 1934.

So, here we have what seems to be a very simple design,

but, of course, it is very, very sophisticated

and he's really focused on the architecture of the railway station.

This is a very modern image from 1961

and, of course, you are looking at a diesel train.

Hardly any human element to this print at all,

apart from the rather humorous driver in the front.

And the diesel train would be replacing steam, of course,

so it would be very much a modern statement from Bawden.

He would have known this railway station,

because when he was a student

going down to Liverpool Street train station

from Braintree as a student,

he would use the station a great deal.

So, have you done your own research?

Do you know anything about Edward Bawden?

I did actually look it up on the internet,

where I actually found a picture exactly like this.

I took the picture down and had a look on the back

and it actually said number one, as the first purchaser,

and that is when I found out it was by Edward Bawden.

So, apart from being a great designer, watercolourist, painter,

he was also a great printer,

and this is a linocut print

and these sort of prints have become very, very popular.

And the artist would carve out the design with a sharp implement

and, on the surfaces that haven't been carved out,

ink would be applied

and then the paper would be pressed against that.

And, in some instances,

artists would use several pieces of linoleum to make this design.

Of course, you are only really looking at three or four colours.

We come to value.

Now, value is quite complicated with this print

because a print like this should be signed.

Now, we're not going to take this print out of its frame,

purely cos the paper is touching the glass.

-So, there's a further journey with this picture.

-Yes.

Without a signature, it is certainly worth £2,000-£3,000.

-Nice.

-Now,

if a conservator can put that right

and not damage the surface of the print and take it out easily,

and on the lower right hand corner,

or lower left, there is a signature by Bawden,

then it's worth three or four times that.

It is worth 6,000-8,000, possibly even £7,000-£10,000.

You know, you've got the Zwemmer Gallery's provenance,

you've got a fantastic image

by a great British designer from the 20th century.

I hope that we can prove that there is a signature under there,

there should be, and that it's not trimmed,

and that it can be conserved and then it will be a perfect story.

It's nice to know, thank you very much.

So, we have two sets of medals here

and two portrait photographs.

Who do these medals belong to?

Well, the medals at the top belong to my father.

The medals underneath belong to my mother.

And my father was a submarine captain,

HMS Tribune, and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, DSC,

for skill and bravery in the Mediterranean

which included sinking ships

designed to supply Rommel in North Africa

during the North African campaign.

He told me that it was extremely dangerous.

Only one in five of his friends and colleagues

who started the war survived. And he had his fortune told twice,

once in Egypt and once in Singapore,

and they both told him the same thing.

They told him that he would survive the war and live to a ripe old age,

and he did.

He had a particularly interesting career, as it were,

because he wasn't just in a submarine in the Mediterranean,

he had another job with his submarine.

What did he do with his submarine?

Well, in early, very early 1943,

he transported from SOE - the Special Operations Executive -

Algiers' French section, three agents,

and he dropped them off on the beach of occupied Corsica at night

and these three agents were designated

to co-ordinate all the French Resistance efforts in Corsica.

Sadly, though, a double agent in SOE HQ had betrayed them

and two out of three of them never came back.

So, we are really in that clandestine world

of the dark side of World War II,

where we are landing people on beaches from rubber dinghies

and going off, sabotage and infiltrating the German area

behind the lines, as it were, so an incredibly dangerous job.

Well, my mother was...

At the beginning of the war,

she was actually commissioned into the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry,

the FANYs - F-A-N-Y.

And somebody in military intelligence

discovered that she spoke fluent French.

So she was then transferred to the Special Operations Executive,

the SOE, where she spent most of the war

commissioning, despatching and operating agents,

SOE agents and French Resistance fighters, in occupied Corsica.

That was her station.

A couple of months later, they met in Algiers

when Dad's submarine, HMS Tribune, was restocking and refuelling

and fell for each other,

and, within five days, they were engaged to be married.

And it's incredible to think

that they celebrated their engagement by having a picnic

on a beach just outside Algiers,

watching SOE agents training to blow up railway lines.

Your father, he has a beautiful set of campaign medals,

the 39-45 Star,

Atlantic Star,

Africa, with North Africa bar.

And then Burma, as well,

and with a Pacific bar, showing that he moved on to the Far East as well.

And a mention in dispatches

and then Her Majesty's Coronation Medal from 1953.

But Mum has a superb set of medals as well, doesn't she?

The one on the right here

is the French La Medaille De La Reconnaissance,

the medal of recognition,

also known as the medal of gratitude,

and this was awarded by the provisional French government

and presented to her by General Charles de Gaulle himself,

and that's actually on the citation.

We have two sets of medals, therefore,

which are very interesting from a World War II perspective,

because they take us to that dark side of World War II,

to that shadow world of secret agents.

And, because of that, they have an amount of value.

I could certainly see these making somewhere between £4,000-£6,000.

-Oh, goodness.

-So, they are quite a good set of medals.

Well, the most important point is that we in the family

are extremely proud of what they did for us

and for the country during the war.

Well, this is a proper box of joy.

There are so many little interesting things in here.

I don't know where to start. How did you come by all this lot?

Well, most of them I bought in the 1970s,

and I always sort of try to buy unusual things,

like these two here.

Things I've never seen before and things I like, basically.

Well, I think you've done a great job.

I wish I had opened a box like that

when I was mooching around looking for antiques.

I won't go through every single item,

but there's a few great favourites here.

That's gorgeous, there's a little mid-18th-century needle case,

or bodkin case, which is agate and gold.

That's worth about £400-£500.

Little Russian box - again, in perfect condition.

That's gone up and up and up since the 1970s.

£400-£500 comfortably.

Do you know what these are?

I presume they are commemorative medallions.

Yes, you're right. That's quite a scarce one, that's Charles II,

showing your royalist sympathy.

That's Charles I.

That one is worth about 200-300.

-That one is worth about 700-800.

-Gosh!

Yeah. And then you've got a group of gold seals.

My favourite, by a country mile, is that one.

-Why is that?

-That's 17th century.

-About 1670, 1680.

-Wow!

These are worth sort of £300-£400 each.

That's worth all of that. If it belongs to somebody interesting,

comfortably £1,000.

-That's amazing.

-It's better than the gold ones, isn't it?

Yes, the gold ones can go.

THEY LAUGH

And then you've got a Marius Hammer Norwegian enamelled salt cellar,

which is glorious.

Beautiful little treasure of a thing.

That's £200-£300 again.

I congratulate you on your hunting skills, sir,

I wish I had found all this lot mooching around antique fairs.

I would be very pleased with myself.

I've enjoyed owning them. I really have.

You know, I seem to both live and work in a very small world,

because we have one person

who is very much a person we have in common, is that right?

Yes, we do indeed.

And would you like to name that man?

-It's Henry Sandon.

-Henry Sandon.

When you think of Worcester porcelain,

-you think of Henry Sandon.

-Yes.

But you also have a very strong affinity

with the Worcester porcelain works because you were...

I was a paintress for 30 years.

Now, you said "paintress".

So, you're happy to be called a paintress?

That's what they used to call us in the old days.

Right. Here you are, decorating.

You are hand-painting.

Yes, everything was hand-painted.

I mean, this is your album,

and this is all hand-decorated, and then it is fired on porcelain.

And if we look inside, I think, if I can do this,

there's the man himself.

He hasn't changed a bit, has he?

He was born looking 90.

-Aww!

-That's why.

-LAUGHTER

Bless him. So, you've brought along another example of your work

and I love your dish.

How long would it take you to paint something like that?

Oh, quite a few hours.

It is three fires.

You do a first fire and then you do your second and your third,

so you don't just put it all on in one go.

I mean, you also were painting birds as well, I can see.

That's what you started off on, you know, when you were an apprentice.

You did the Dorothy Doughty birds and the days of the week

and things like that, you see,

and then you gradually worked your way up

and then I started on the Victorian figurines there.

And the book, dare I say, by the man himself.

And has he signed that for you?

-Yes.

-I'm not surprised.

-He signed it a long time ago.

Yes, I've yet to find a copy he hasn't signed.

That's why I say that.

I notice also you've got this big white figure here.

Bless me, I mean, she's been through the wars.

I've noticed actually that your birds have been a bit bashed.

Do you live with a cat or something?

They are rejects, they were rejects when I had them.

-Oh, they were rejects.

-So they're not exactly stable to begin with.

You know, things can drop off them.

I don't necessarily break them myself.

Oh, you don't. It's not really for me to say

what these things are worth because this is your lifetime's archive.

It's testament to the skill

and the pride that was taken in Worcester porcelain.

Just one more question - are you a Taurus?

I'm Sagittarius.

It would have suited me for you to be a bull in a china shop.

LAUGHTER

When you came to my table with this box

and when I opened it to reveal

this elegant jewel, it was a real, real pleasure.

How did you first come to have this?

Well, let's think. Many, many years, 40-odd years plus...

We had a very bad car accident

and Anita looked after the property we were in wonderfully

and I just bought it for her

as a thank-you for looking after everything.

The first thing you thought was a jewel because you love jewellery?

-Yes.

-Yes, a lovely lady deserves lovely jewellery.

Quite right. So, then you bought it.

You took it home and you thought, "How am I going to give this or...?"

It was coming up to Easter

so I put it in a chocolate Easter egg, wrapped it all back up again...

You put this in a chocolate Easter egg?

Yes. Re-wrapped it.

With the foil over the top as well?

-Yes, gold foil.

-And back in the box?

And back in the box. I gave it to my wife, and what did you say?

Well, I had decided to go on a diet, yet another diet.

We always go on diets at Easter time.

So I said, "Oh, it's lovely of you,"

but really I didn't want to have any more Easter eggs

or chocolate because of the diet.

He said, "Well, just try one."

So I did try one.

And then out tumbled this and it was...

It really just took me back for a while.

I couldn't quite believe it. I thought, "Gosh,

"what giveaways they give with Easter eggs nowadays!"

You probably thought it wasn't real,

-to start with.

-I was very lucky indeed.

I just think that is such a splendid, splendid story.

And, not only that, it is a splendid jewel and an elegant jewel.

It's quintessentially English.

It's round about 1895-1900.

It's 15 carat gold.

What you're looking for in an opal is a lovely splash of colour.

It's like an artist with a palette

and brush strokes of different colours

and the reds and the oranges and the blues and the greens.

These really do have that magical look to them.

-They're delicate.

-Yes. It is, that's why it's so elegant.

-Isn't it?

-You've got here the cushion-shaped diamonds.

-Right.

-They are on these very fine wire little links there.

It really is making the stone stand out and not the gold.

The gold is there to facilitate the stones.

I mean, the value...

In an auction, you're probably going to be looking

in the region of £3,000-£5,000.

Lovely.

I don't think I'll be parting with it, though.

I should hope not! I should hope not and I hope you're going to wear it

-and enjoy it.

-Yes, indeed.

-And well done, sir.

-Thank you.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Napoleon.

I'll put my cards on the table.

I'm more of a Wellington man, I'm afraid.

He abandoned armies across the world.

The flower of French youth -

not a fan, despite what modern historians say,

and they're saying it a lot.

This sketch purports to have been done

-of Napoleon on his deathbed on 6th May 18...

-21.

-21.

Thank you very much. This was done on the island of St Helena.

-It was.

-By whom?

It was done by Ensign Ward of the 66th Regiment.

He was out there guarding the Emperor and guarding St Helena.

-Or guarding the Emperor from going back to France.

-Yes, indeed.

That was the thing the English were absolutely terrified of,

-wasn't it?

-They were.

-How did you get it?

Are you related to Ensign Ward?

No, I'm not. I got it from my grandfather,

who was a doctor of divinity at Oxford.

My guess is that he acquired it in the 19th century,

not terribly long, maybe 40 or 50 years after the letter was written.

As with many things, it's a bit like relics of saints.

There are several St Peter's fingers

and however many other body parts there are of various saints.

There is so much to do with Napoleon that is apocryphal

and we're not absolutely sure if it is right.

So everything depends on the provenance of this.

Now, I rather like this letter that's with it.

We'll just read a little bit out.

"The face had a remarkably placid expression

"and indicated mildness and sweetness of disposition."

He got that wrong, didn't he?

Absolutely! He was a villain.

I think so, too. I'm so glad you agree.

"Those who gazed upon the features

"as they lay in the still repose of death

"could not help exclaiming, 'How beautiful!' "

-I don't think so.

-I think it might have been written by a Frenchman.

Well, I think when he died, there was this sense

that Napoleon had been a great man

and people forgave him his sins in death.

Do you think that he actually sat down

and did exactly that drawing in front of Napoleon?

I'm pretty hopeful that he did.

I'm confident in the paper because the paper has little blotches on it

that you get from paper at that time.

I have some other drawings in my family of that period

and I know that's what happens to the paper.

The letter itself would seem to be genuine.

He had this very interesting little perspective

that he made a drawing of Napoleon within 24 hours of Napoleon dying.

Well, I quite like your case, actually.

I don't see any reason to doubt it.

-Good, thank you.

-Of course, these things

are usually guilty until proven innocent.

-Yes.

-That's the only thing we've got to remember.

That is about as good a case as I've ever heard

for anything to do with Napoleon. So, what is this worth?

I'm going to put a tentative £2,000-£3,000 on it.

That's very generous of you.

I'll sell it to you for that!

LAUGHTER

I don't want it!

There are lots of people out there who do, though.

If people agree with you that it is actually real

and that Ensign Ward sat down and did that from his corpse,

then that picture is the sort of thing

that has the cache to make a really big sum.

Right, ladies and gentlemen, before I get going,

I want to ask you a question.

What happened at the British Museum in 1972?

What was at the British Museum in 1972?

-Tutankhamen. Tutankhamen.

-Tutankhamen!

This is almost as old.

It is 2,500 years old and by miles the earliest piece of glass

I have ever handled in my life.

Well, tell us about it in your life.

Well, I was at this auction and I saw the item.

It took my interest.

I was very interested in the patterns.

It was described as possibly being Roman

so I ventured to buy it.

Subsequently, here it is!

OK, so this is Greek, so it's pre-Roman.

It's Hellenistic.

The most remarkable thing about this

is that every piece of glass in everybody's home is blown.

This is pre-blowing.

Glass-blowing was created, was invented

about 50 years before the birth of Christ.

50 BC is glass-blowing.

This is 1,000 years earlier than the first blown glass.

-Wow!

-The way they made these is they core-formed them.

What you did - and you won't believe this, but it's completely true -

what they did was they went out and collected donkey poo...

They did! They collected donkey and camel poo

and they formed it into a core.

The core would be exactly the shape of the inside of this.

Then they put the core on a stick

and wrapped the glass around the core.

And when it was fully formed,

they allowed it to cool and then you put this in water

and the water was taken in by this friable material,

which then you could pick out the poo with...

It was one of the big jobs of the time!

LAUGHTER

Then you would get a stylus.

The glass was still malleable and you drag it down here

to create this herringbone. This is a very beautiful, pretty example.

It has, actually, at one time in its life,

been hit by a missile and somebody has very carefully restored it.

There must be ten pieces of this, but it has been expertly restored.

You need to find out where it has been.

Do you not know the previous owner?

Have you not done any research on this?

Yes, I had the auctioneer send the owner a letter.

She got in touch with me and said it belonged in her collection

with her husband in the 1960s, early '60s.

That's very, very good news for you.

Do you know why?

There are incredibly strict criminal laws

that apply to objects that could have been nicked out of tombs.

These were burial objects.

This is an amphora that would have been placed

in order to accompany the deceased into the next life.

If you can't prove that it has a certified provenance,

you know what?

It's a criminal offence to sell it.

It's totally an illegal object,

but the fact that you wrote to that owner

meant that your 150 quid purchase...

-2,000 quid.

-No!

That's... That's a bit of money in the bank, isn't it?

I tell you what, people say at the end of recordings,

"Thanks for bringing it in." But, boy, do I mean it!

This is just so brilliant of you to bring it in!

This is... What a gem!

-A total gem.

-Lovely.

Well, how about that?

The oldest glass that Andy McConnell has ever seen.

Do you remember how, at the beginning of the programme,

we were talking about the link

between Hanbury Hall and The Archers -

how Hanbury Hall might have been the basis for Lower Loxley?

Well, we thought some Archers memorabilia might come along

and, sure enough, it has. Have a look at this.

Meet The Archers -

the original cast, lots of photographs and all signed.

As we go along, Doris Archer

and, look, Grace Fairbrother, who was, of course, Ysanne Churchman.

It caused a right old hoo-ha when she died.

It lists here, "Likes - sea and bathing, sun, sand,

"cats and iced coffee."

Fantastic!

From Hanbury Hall - or Lower Loxley -

and all the Antiques Roadshow team, bye-bye.