Trentham Gardens 1 Antiques Roadshow

This is a relaxing way to start the roadshow.

Rolling hills, woodland, the lake.

You'd think I was miles away from the noise

and crowds of a city.

But in fact, Stoke-on-Trent, is just over there.

The industrial metropolis, home of the Potteries.

And I'm in Trentham Gardens for this week's Antiques Roadshow.

Trentham has always been the perfect place to get away from it all.

In the mid-19th-century it was a playground for the

rich and powerful.

It's owner, the Duke of Sutherland spared no expense improving

the great house, Trentham Hall, and the expansive gardens.

He loved inviting influential and celebrated people

to come and appreciate it.

The lake was designed by Capability Brown

as the centrepiece of Trentham.

The River Trent was dammed to supply water to the lake

and the gardens and at the time it seemed ingenious,

but it proved to have disastrous consequences.

By the 1850s, the gardens were among

the most celebrated in the country.

But just 20 years later,

this paradise was lost.

In the latter half of the 19th century,

the potteries of Stoke-on-Trent were booming.

There were around 2,000 bottle kilns creating a permanent

fog of smoke over the city. The population was also growing.

The area's waterways, including the River Trent,

became heavily polluted.

And the lake, like the river, was a virtual cesspit.

The shine had well and truly gone off this once impressive estate.

Unable to find a solution, the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland

moved away to a more fragrant environment, no doubt.

And as for Trentham Hall, it was demolished in 1911.

And this...

..is all that's left.

Thankfully, the good times have returned.

The lake has been restored to its former glory

and the gardens which, for years, were lost beneath weeds

and overgrowth have, over a decade, been redesigned and look at them!

They're glorious.

Let's hope our experts are just as good at uncovering great

finds at today's Antiques Roadshow.

I gather you've come a long way to be here today?

-I have, I've come all the way from New Zealand.

-Oh, right.

-And you brought this in your hand luggage then?

-I did.

-Where did it come from?

-I got it from a charity shop in Taupo,

-which is central North Island, about two years ago.

-And how much for?

-50 cents. 50 New Zealand cents which is about 22 pence.

-OK.

So what do you think you've got?

I think I might have got a little French pot,

-which may or may not be a fake.

-Right.

It is a problem with these

because fakes absolutely abound

of this type of porcelain.

A little pot from the Sevres.

Or is it? Let's have a look.

-A toilet pot, from a cosmetics and dressing table.

-Right.

And a little lid,

you lift the top off with a pretty flower and underneath

there is the maker's mark and that is really quite a famous sign

and that's what, you spotted that in the shop, did you?

-No, no, I didn't.

-Well, the mark is the Sevres factory mark,

the monogram of the King Louis XV cipher with

a letter in the middle which is a date code.

-And letter R should be 1770.

-Right.

-So that's when this should have been made.

-Should've been, right.

If it's the real thing and, well, it's got lots of clues.

And that's the useful thing because all the workmen who made it

put their signs on it.

When it was being produced,

the potter who made the basic shape on the wheel scratched

in some little initials, you can just see a little scribble there,

-that's the potter's mark.

-Right.

And then when it was hung up in the kiln,

they drilled a little hole in the foot rim

and hung it up in the kiln

and then you've got the painter.

The little shape above the mark,

that's the sign of Noel,

a painter who specialised in copies

-of textile patterns.

-Oh, right.

And that's what you've got here.

So, it all adds up and what you found is the real thing.

SHE GASPS

So, made at the Sevres Factory

in France in 1770, a special piece of porcelain, probably

there was a little set of these on a dressing table in a very grand home

or palace and for 50 cents.

Great, isn't it?

So, this is enough to pay for your flight over here, wonders.

It could be because that little pot's worth £1,000.

SHE LAUGHS

That is wonderful.

I didn't want to pay for 50 to have a valuation

but I thought I'd pay for a plane ticket and come to the roadshow.

It's wonderful, wonderful news!

Now, you've brought along a brooch,

fashioned as two wings

with a bit of blue, and a couple of letters in the middle.

And before we get on to the brooch itself, I'd like you to tell me

when you got it and where you got it.

It was bought in Wales when I was on holiday in 2006 at a car boot.

And what drew you to it particularly, do you think?

Well, I thought at first, cos I never had my glasses on,

it was an RAF brooch of silver and marcasite.

Yes, which were made in quite large numbers.

-You buy the thing for how much?

-£20.

-£20.

Took it home with you, then what did you do with it?

Well, I noticed it had got the England

and Australia on it, plus the initials in the middle, CCW.

And I thought it was unusual and that it might be something to

do with the flight Australia to England with Amy Johnson.

Now, you, then, I think,

-did a little bit of homework, didn't you?

-Yes.

And you've actually come up with a photograph of one of the most

famous British women of her day.

There she is dressed wearing

a brooch which is

remarkably similar to that

particular one.

All right, well let me tell you as much as I can about it.

First of all, silver and marcasite, no.

Platinum and diamond.

The brooch is fashioned in the form of two outstretched wings

with a little wreath of diamonds in the centre

and then, very crucially, you have

this monogram in the middle

because the monogram is actually

a man who was called

Charles Chippers Wakefield and he

sponsored this extraordinary woman

when she decided that she was going to fly Gypsy Moth

between this country and Australia as a solo voyage.

People didn't do that in those days.

So that's why I can feel confident that,

not only have we got the photograph

of her wearing it,

but you've also got the brooch

with the CCW monogram

in the middle and then to augment it,

to really ram the point home,

you've got the countries as well.

Question - how on earth did this brooch finish up

in a car boot in Wales?

Well, she used to fly in Wales on the beach, practise to fly.

Oh, so was it possible then that she lost it

and it was picked up by someone?

Well, she did pawn some of her jewellery up in Wales to

sponsor her yachting lessons.

So she may have pawned that brooch

-to pay for her...

-Lessons.

-Right, OK.

-She wasn't a wealthy woman.

-OK.

£20 brooch, car-boot sale...

..£3,000.

-CROWD GASPS

-Oh, right.

What an absolutely fantastic

piece of jewellery to bring onto

the roadshow. I'm absolutely thrilled. Thank you very much.

-Thank you very much.

-You're welcome.

-Thank you.

I love a leather box and a leather box that actually says,

"Lady Armstrong, Cragside."

Cragside, that fantastic house in

the middle of Northumberland,

one of the great stately homes.

What is your relationship with

-Cragside?

-Absolutely none, directly.

-OK.

My interest is in collecting old maps of the canals

and the canal system but when I saw this in a shop for sale,

I just took a fancy to it and thought, "I've got to have that."

Wow!

Isn't that amazing?

OK, well, let me just try and work out

what it is that we've got here.

There are knobs.

What does that...? Oh, OK,

-so that rolls the map...

-That's right.

-..backwards and forwards.

This is absolutely remarkable.

Oh, and actually, here we've got Northumberland,

there's Cragside here.

Yes, we've got Rothbury and Cragside.

And Cragside is actually there, that's the site of the house.

And moving across into the middle of the North Sea then,

you've got this fabulous key to the maps.

The red ones, "first-class roads."

The red and white dotted are "secondary"

and the one down from that is "indifferent but still passable."

-LAUGHS:

-That's great, isn't it?

-Brilliant.

So, I'm picturing the scene of Lady Armstrong

on some wonderful journey through England with her driver,

perhaps in her Rolls-Royce,

and as they go through the country,

so the map scrolls down.

I mean, it is an early form of Sat Nav.

Turn it over...

-..and there's a compartment here.

-Two little clips.

-Two clips.

And look at that!

Here you have these rolls then,

that fit into the machine that covers the whole of

England and Wales,

made by Bartholomew's, who are perhaps

the best makers of maps.

Date-wise, we're talking about the 1920s.

I mean, the only thing that I suppose I'm surprised about is

that actually it's a painted case and I would have assumed

actually it would be a mahogany case rather than painted.

-How long ago did you buy it?

-Getting on for ten years ago now.

-And you paid what for it then?

-I paid £150.

-Which was a reasonable sum.

-I thought so at the time.

-Yes, sure.

I think the market has moved on since then, over the last ten years.

And a quirky object like this to the right buyer,

that is the owner of a 1920s Rolls-Royce or Bentley,

they would pay between £800 and £1,200 for it.

Really? Oh, very good.

Do you have a prized object from the golden age of travel?

Glamorous luggage? Beautifully crafted car mascots?

Perhaps a menu from the maiden voyage of a famous ship?

Antiques Roadshow is planning a special edition

and we're looking for outstanding stories that celebrate

the era of luxury ocean-going liners,

the early days of air travel,

classic cars and of course the steam age.

TRAIN WHISTLES

We'll be recording an episode on board the magnificent

Flying Scotsman later this year.

To book your seat,

tell us your story by contacting...

When I first saw this, I thought, "What the heck is it?"

We've got what looks like a diary in nice Morocco leather,

solid silver, but then when we come to flip it over,

magically it turns into a golf scoring card,

which as far as silver items go, I've never seen one.

So that says, "The North Staffs Colliery Owners Rescue Team."

And so, I imagine that that is on the end of that watch chain.

Well, I hope so, yes.

I said, "Was this Granny's?"

She said, "No, she didn't play golf, but Grandpa did."

-Is it feminine or masculine?

-Well, I thought it was a bit girlie.

Yes, that's what I thought too.

-Because I thought that might hang on a belt...

-Yeah, like a chatelaine.

Yes, rather like a chatelaine.

He was a member of the Colliery Rescue Team and there was a fire

within the colliery stables and my grandfather went in,

rescued these horses,

and by undoing the chains to rescue the horses,

he had severe burns on his hands.

And he was a bit of a hero at the time.

Someone has specially commissioned that.

You've got the golf club holder here,

there's crossed golf clubs with a little golf ball

and then date, partner, played at,

so you're keeping a record of your score and who you played with.

A great story of bravery like that attached to it,

and you've got the documentation,

and you've even got a photograph of the original recipient of the medal.

It's got to be worth 150 quid

rather than the £20 or £30 that it otherwise would be.

That's very nice. Very nice for you.

THEY LAUGH

I would happily say, comfortably,

£600 to £800.

-Really?

-Oh, yeah, really.

Oh, wow.

I know the golfers are mad about memorabilia

but I didn't know they were that mad.

They're mad, and they're mad about memorabilia.

BELL CLANGS

-Well, that sounded great, didn't it?

-Yes, fantastic.

You know there's a well-known newsreel that shows

a bell like this,

and written on it,

written across it, it says,

"Don't come and tell,

"ring this like hell."

-And that's a Battle of Britain period newsreel.

-Oh, right.

And that's where it comes from, but where did you get it from?

-Well, I purchased it with a deal that I did.

-So you're a collector?

Yeah.

And this is what people mostly know as a scramble bell,

a Royal Air Force or RAF scramble bell.

And if we look at it, it has this crown,

that's George VI's crown and the letter AM,

that's Air Ministry and the year, 1940.

Now, of course, 1940 was the time of the Battle of Britain

and this brings back those images and those

black-and-white films of someone

ringing the bell, clang, clang, clang, clang,

and those RAF fighter pilots leaping out of their armchairs,

out of their deckchairs,

racing for their Spitfires and their Hurricanes.

But which RAF station did this come from?

I don't know exactly which one it was.

I think it was somewhere in Lincolnshire,

one of the airfields over there but I wish I did know

because it would make it much more interesting,

if we knew which one it had come from.

You know these were found at the guardroom...

..they were found at the station headquarters,

they were found at the fire section, so there are a lot of bells

like this on every single RAF station at that period.

That means there are a lot of bells.

-So, to be truthful, they're not uncommon objects.

-Right.

However, having said that, they're actually quite desirable objects.

Something like this at auction today would certainly

make between £800 and £1,200.

Oh, right. Good deal.

HE LAUGHS

Yeah, I'm chuffed about that.

Well, I must say that you're below the average age of an

Antiques Roadshow visitor.

So, tell us, why have you come along here today?

Well, I started collecting

silver when I was seven

and then I've branched out to glass

and I think it's absolutely wonderful,

the colours and how it's made and the history behind it.

Well, you're clearly a nutter, even at this fledgling age,

so where do you get it from? Where's the spark that led you here?

Well, when I was seven, I was in an antique shop with my mother

and I just fell in love with antiques at that very moment

-and I kept going back and it's just taken off.

-I did the same.

My parents were part-time dealers and at the age of 12 I was going

out with my parents buying.

And it was a question,

you could sit in the car or you could go into the shop.

And I got it big time, bad, you know and it's been with me ever since,

that's 60 years I've been doing it. You know, welcome to the club.

So tell us why you bought them.

Well, I inherited those two pieces from my grandfather.

This piece here reminded me of Loetz And Tiffany.

These, I'm very keen on 18th-century design and the grapes, that's why...

-Fruiting vine, yeah.

-Fruiting vine.

-So what's the objective?

What do you want to learn from this exercise?

Well, I really want to know more about the glass.

I want to expand my knowledge.

Well, I think that is

the cornerstone of what I'm going to tell you.

You've basically come for advice, haven't you?

And my immediate reaction is you need to bone up a bit more.

You've got to do some swotting. I think you've got to do more.

This is disparate. There's no theme here.

Now, of course, the ones you inherited,

1930s kind of little bonbon dishes,

they would have had sugared almonds or mint imperials,

it's that sort of thing, they're sort of a bit old fogey.

Then we have vine engraving. Now, these are historic revival.

They're '30s, 1920s, '30s so they're not 18th-century,

they're made in the manner of the 18th-century.

So, you've got the two themes, you've got retro

and this sort of iridescent stuff which is...but it's generic.

So I've kind of beaten you up a bit, but this is tough love.

You know, I'm just willing you to succeed.

From my way of thinking, this is your prettiest piece.

I think that's exactly where the market is, iridescence.

It's nice, identifiably handmade stuff,

that's, I think, your best buy.

So look, we've heard where you've come from

so the point is really, the great point is,

where does it go from here?

What are you going to do with this?

Well, with this I'm looking to add to it

and maybe sell some pieces and buy better.

-So you're a dealer in the making, really.

-Yes, definitely.

OK, so what sort of money are you parting for these?

Ah, not very much.

OK, well, how much did this pair cost you?

-Around £20.

-20 quid.

How much are you in for on this table?

50 quid is what you're in for, is it?

-A bit more than that.

-How much?

-100?

-100 quid. I think you're going 50% too expensive.

I want you to do well, please do well, please learn,

but in the end you get there.

-I tell you to know it is a fantastic pleasure, OK?

-Yes.

So look, boy, go get them,

come back and see us again and shake it, and good luck on your hunt.

APPLAUSE

-Thank you.

-You're most welcome.

We've got a painting of a vase.

Please tell me

you've got the vase as well.

You have. And they match.

-Yes, they do, indeed.

-So what's going on?

In 2006, the Burslem Festival had a competition

to design a vase, which Moorcroft would then make for the winners

and my daughter Caroline, I said she should enter

and the night before the deadline

finally she got round to designing, doing a few designs

and painting that picture.

She was 17, she won the 17+ category

and they made the vase, which is a one-off.

I think they've made a pretty good job of it, haven't they?

-Yes, it is lovely.

-What does your daughter do now?

She's a graphic designer.

She went to Glasgow School of Art

and did an exchange while she was there

to the Pratt Institute in New York

and met someone who is now her husband.

So, hence, as soon as she graduated, she went to New York.

It's a fairytale in clay, isn't it?

It is sort of all her dreams have come true.

-So do you know who the artists are?

-No, no.

Well, they've put their mark on the bottom.

We've got HM there for Hayley Moore,

who did the painting,

and then MP for Marie Penkethman,

and she did the tubelining

and Marie is one of the pre-eminent tubeliners at Moorcroft.

You see how beautifully it is done.

It's a great piece of Moorcroft.

It's modern, as you say, it's 2006, and people might be saying,

"What are we doing with a vase from 2006 on Antiques Roadshow?"

But I think it tells an amazing story,

not just about the fact your daughter clearly has talent,

but I think it tells the stories of the Potteries

and we are here in Stoke-on-Trent today and potteries have

always survived or not survived by the quality of their design.

And even though this is a modern piece, if that and the

original drawing came to the market,

it's going to make £1,000 to £1,500 at auction.

-But, actually...

-No, it's not really relevant.

-It's not worth it, is it?

-Mother's determination.

-THEY LAUGH

-I'll give you that back.

-Thank you very much.

-I think you're very proud of that, aren't you?

-Oh, yes, very.

-I would be too. Thank you very much.

-Thank you, thank you.

This is a very striking picture of four people

and they've got such expressions on their faces.

I see it's signed A Berry,

which I know is Arthur Berry, the local artist here

and it's a lovely mixed media, actually.

It looks like watercolour and gouache.

-And he's well known locally, isn't he?

-Oh, absolutely.

There are fans, passionate fans of Arthur Berry in the district.

And he trained locally, didn't he?

Absolutely, he went to Burslem School of Art, where all

the young people went who were going to go into the

pottery industry as painters and designers

and he was offered then a place at the Royal College of Art.

This is in the Second World War and developed from then on.

And he really did, and you look at this

and he's developed his very distinctive style.

And what does it mean to you? Is it nice to own?

It's wonderful to own because it brings back

so much of Arthur's character,

the humour that he saw around him

but also the grime, the poverty,

the difficult lives people had.

You certainly have it in this picture.

And I think it's really interesting

cos I travel around with this programme and we were

up in Durham last year and we saw

the pit artists painting up there.

You go to Salford, you've got Lowry

and it's amazingly industrial regions and here we are

in Stoke-on-Trent and you have an artist who is

recording life as it is for the poor

and also for the fading industrial town of Stoke,

you know the old factories etc, which is what Arthur did

and, you know, he's not a well-known artist outside this area,

really as far as coming up in auction.

But that's not the point because

I think people will love this

and he's someone for the future, definitely.

I mean, if I was asked to put a value on this, I would certainly

put £1,000 to £1,500 on it.

Yes, yes.

And if I was a collector, I would certainly go after his work

because these artists are getting rediscovered

because they were painting a disappearing life, really.

-It's Gandalf's staff.

-It is, isn't it?

-It's parted the Red Sea!

It's a leg from a Salvador Dali horse on a painting.

It's the most wonderful sort of abstract,

it looks like it's growing out of the ground.

Yeah, I agree.

-What do you use it for?

-It just hangs on the wall.

When people come and say, "What is it?"

I say, "I haven't a clue, you tell me!"

When I first saw it, I thought it might be some sort of tribal weapon.

You sometimes find tribal weapons with these

large knobs on the top that were thrown or used to hit people.

But I don't think it's that at all.

But rather curiously,

it sort of doesn't seem to perform its function very well.

-It bends and it sort of wobbles.

-Hmm.

-It's a rather curious object.

-It is.

-Do you like it?

-Yes, I love it.

-I can see that it's had care.

It's also got this sort of fantastic pattern.

It's nice and shiny, it's got a good grain

-and it's got a lovely colour.

-Yes.

And I would do exactly what you do with it.

I would probably mount it on a plinth

and I would display it in the corner of the room, dramatically lit.

Oh, crikey!

-Dramatically lit?

-SHE LAUGHS

I don't think so!

-That's taking it a bit far, is it?

-Just a bit.

So, what do you think of this? If you're going to inherit this.

THEY LAUGH

-Is this something you would display in your home?

-Yes!

Dramatically lit and cool, isn't it?

Now, that's just copying, that's plagiarism!

We may not know exactly what it is, I think it's just effectively

-a late 19th-century carved, perhaps holly staff.

-Yes.

But I think it would do incredibly well in an auction.

I think if you put that in,

it might be estimated to fetch somewhere between £100 and £150.

Get off! Really?

-It's just a lovely thing.

-You do surprise me!

It's not going anywhere except on my wall.

You know, I'm jolly relieved to hear that.

Because I thought quite frankly, after that valuation,

-you might me giving me some stick.

-THEY LAUGH

Our challenge this week concerns

four pieces of early 19th-century jewellery.

One is an impostor.

Now, three are 18-carat gold, one is pinchbeck, and that's a cheap alloy.

So, all that glistens here is most definitely not gold.

But which is which?

Susan Rumfitt, you're our jewellery expert.

You brought these along. First of all, pinchbeck.

-Because I did a quick survey here. Who's heard of pinchbeck?

-No.

Nobody. So, tell us more about it?

Pinchbeck was an 18th-century invention

by Christopher Pinchbeck, who was actually a clockmaker.

And he decided that there needed to be a metal

that was more affordable than the standardised 18-carat gold,

which was the main gold in existence at the time.

So, he produced this alloy, which is mainly zinc and copper

and he put this out into the market and well, we have the effects.

Very difficult to tell the difference

between 18-carat gold and pinchbeck.

So, if it's got a lot of copper in it,

-does it have a slightly rosy tinge to it?

-It can do, yes.

But of course, gold can show a bit of a coppery look to it as well.

Well, if you want to have a guess at home,

Susan's got some clues for you.

'This gorgeous bracelet finished with enamel was made in the 1820s.

'But does it bear the telltale signs of discolouration

'you'd see in pinchbeck?

'This bracelet, decorated with garnets,

'was made in the 1820s or '30s.

'But are signs of wear and tear due to its age

'or evidence of a metal that doesn't endure as well as real gold?

'Is this aquamarine brooch dating from around 1820

'the work of a high society goldsmith or a jeweller

'using highly versatile pinchbeck metal

'to imitate the finest craftsmanship?

'And this elegant turquoise necklace produced in the early 19th century

'is as bright as it was in 1820.

'But was this because it was looked after well

'or because pinchbeck retains its bright gold colour?'

Well, I suppose the first thing I need to do is pick these up, then.

-Yes.

-And see. So this is gossamer light.

But then, you know, it's a very fine little piece. This...

Well, it's got the stone in it, obviously.

So that doesn't help me enormously. So this... That's heavy.

You think this could be the pinchbeck? That's heavier.

What makes you think that's pinchbeck? You just don't like it.

-It looks a bit cheaper, yes.

-Cheaper? Right, OK.

I'm not sure that's the criteria for deciding. And then...

Well, the thing is they're all light, Susan.

OK, I'm really stumped.

Let's have a show of hands here

because I have to say, I have no idea.

So, who thinks it's the necklace?

Nobody.

The brooch? The brooch?

-The brooch is not going down well, Susan.

-No, it isn't, is it?

The bracelet?

-Hmm.

-And what about this bracelet at the end?

You think it's this one? Yeah?

-Right? OK.

-It's pretty split.

OK, I'm going for the brooch. Do you know why I'm going for the brooch?

-I just don't like it very much. I know.

-That's a shame.

-It is but you know, got to go for something.

-Poor brooch!

So put us out of our misery then, Susan. Which is it?

-Well, the brooch is saved. It was the bracelet.

-Oh, it's that! Oh!

THEY LAUGH

-Right.

-Oh, no!

Right, come on, talk us through it then.

OK, so the bracelet itself is really bright

and so, that would be my first gut instinct that it wasn't right.

But when you pick it up and look at the links and the way

that they're formed, there are the signs of wear between the links.

So, show me, for example?

Just, well, if you look inside, it's all a bit black and grey

and creates that blackness.

If it was gold, it wouldn't be like that.

It wouldn't be like that, no.

The aquamarine brooch, it does look too good to be true,

doesn't it, really?

But again, the quality of the flowers on there

is just exceptional.

What is interesting is, though, the values of them.

The fact that pinchbeck has become so rare over time,

now something like this will cost, in a good antique shop,

about £1,800 to buy.

-Really?

-Which is extraordinary.

Which is more than basically, certainly the aquamarine brooch,

which is gold and that's around about £1,200.

Well, I hope you do better than I just have.

If you've got 18-carat gold at home

-and you want to know if it's pinchbeck, look inside.

-Look inside.

Feel the weight and look inside.

And if you've got some you're not sure, bring it along to a roadshow.

This is an extraordinary plaque. Where did you get it from?

I've had it for 28 years

-and it was left in a will from my great aunt who lived in London.

-Hmm.

I've seen plenty of these in my time.

They're usually English.

And they were painted by women

who went to classes.

It was a done thing for women to paint plaques

or teapots or whatever came to hand.

This was unusual because it's continental. In fact, it's German.

It dates from about 1875, something around there.

Most are pretty awful but this one's spectacular.

The person that painted this really knew what they were doing.

Um, this lace work in white enamel is superb.

These cabochons in turquoise are made in slight relief

but they're painted in a way that suggests that they're standing out.

Now, very often with these portraits,

there is iconography,

which tells you something about who the person was.

And we have got it in spades all over here.

We've got round her neck...

..the locket with a gentleman's face on it.

So, who is he?

She's wearing a collar which says "Deo Gloria",

to the glory of God. Why?

Is she going to go into a nunnery?

What's happened to him?

Has he died and she's decided to go into a nunnery?

She is staring into the distance.

She's dreaming about what has happened

or what is about to happen.

What's it worth?

£2,500.

It's a great, great thing.

-Right.

-Thank you very much.

-OK, no, thank you very much.

Do you know what this is called?

I believe it's a marriage cup or a wager cup.

A wager cup is exactly what it is.

Do you know why they're called wager cups?

Erm, presumably they put wine in

and then try and drink from it without spilling it.

You're absolutely right, that's exactly what it is.

-You gamble on it.

-Yes.

The idea is you fill up that cup with liquid,

with some wine presumably.

-Then you turn it over.

-Oh.

And you fill up that end with more wine or spirit.

And the idea is that

-you drink out of it.

-Oh.

-And you do it without spilling a drop from the bottom part.

-Oh.

And if you do it right, you win your wager.

And the idea of them,

it actually comes from Holland in the 17th century.

It's made in London in 1909, the hallmark's 1909,

and it's made by a firm called D & J Welby.

They're always good quality,

nothing that they made is ever shoddy.

How did you happen on it?

I bought it from a friend.

But he bought it originally from a car-boot sale.

-Oh, go on.

-For 50 pence.

-Did he?

-Hmm.

And he asked, he showed it me and was, "Do you want to sell it?"

And we settled on £50.

I liked it and I like silver.

Well, I think you were quite shrewd to buy that.

Because it would make

somewhere in the order of £300 to £350 at auction.

-Brilliant!

-So that was quite a good wager for you, then, wasn't it?

Yes, it was! Brilliant wager.

As someone who's lived in Stoke-on-Trent, albeit briefly,

I have a huge attachment to the city and its history.

I think it's a marvellous place.

Erm, and it's a great centre of craftsmanship.

But of course, pottery, we all know about pottery,

it's the great city of pots.

But that craftsmanship to me is much wider.

Here we're looking at ironwork. So what's the story here?

Well, it started in 1873.

My great-grandfather did an apprenticeship

to be a coach-builder.

And when he finished the apprenticeship in 1880,

he started a wrought iron company in Tunstall called William Durose.

Right.

And then his sons continued the business

and eventually, my father was the last person in the business.

And they made wrought ironwork not only locally

but throughout the country and throughout the world.

-So, a famous name. I mean, I've heard that name.

-Right, yeah.

-Because it's part of the history of the city, isn't it?

-That's it, yes.

But it all fits into that period.

You know, this is the Arts and Crafts movement.

I mean, a piece like this, who made that?

That was made by the original William Durose.

It's classic Arts and Crafts - it's wonderful craftsmanship,

it's full of that sort of sense of integrity and creativity

of the late 19th century.

And so, these gates are the sort of thing the company did.

-That's it. These are iconic Tunstall Park gates.

-Are they still there?

-They're still there.

-So they're a lasting memorial.

That's it, they were made in 1904.

But having said we're not talking about pottery, of course we are.

Because who's that?

Well, that's my father. And the business was 100 years old in 1980.

And my mother knew Peggy Davies,

who was a sculptress at the Royal Doulton's.

And she made this as a unique one-off piece.

What, to mark that centenary?

To mark the centenary, used my father's photograph, which is here.

What did your father think when he saw it?

Well, it was a total surprise and he thought it was fantastic

and obviously, it's a family heirloom now

so it can be passed down to my children.

You throw out the name Peggy Davies quite casually.

She was totally local,

Burslem School of Art at the age of 12, came through the ranks.

You know, she is the greatest modeller in that amazing story.

So, what happened to the factory?

Unfortunately, I had to close the business

and it was knocked down and now it's a superstore.

That's... That's the fate of historic industry today.

That's right, yes.

Values? God knows.

I mean, the ironwork is what it is, it's part of our history.

Erm, that figure I think to a collector,

-we're looking at £1,500, £2,000, something like that.

-Right.

-But it doesn't really matter, does it?

-No, no. No, it won't be sold.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much, thank you.

Well, of all the local Staffordshire potters,

the best known and most successful was Wedgwood.

And of course Wedgwood doesn't come any better than these!

-Tell me about the caps.

-Well, this front cap here is my

third-generation great-granddad.

That's his England cap when he played for England

in 1886 against Ireland.

Because jasperware was Wedgwood's great invention,

it's what he's best known for.

His method was to stain the background colour

wonderful rich blues or greens and then to apply

a decoration in the beautifully modelled white relief.

And in the kiln, they're fired together

and the quality doesn't change.

They're sealed forever.

This is interesting because 1888, I think,

was the inaugural year of the Football League.

And this is obviously a year later.

Stoke City were one of the teams in the first league.

-The first league.

-And they finished last, I think.

-I think I'm right!

-THEY LAUGH

-These were made in 1775.

-As early as that?

I suppose a pair like these are worth today, well, just over £2,000.

To me, they're just perfection.

If you were to offer them all as one lot in an auction sale,

you could probably expect an estimate of

something like £1,000-£1,500.

It's all right, hey?

Cheers for that. Cheers.

The problem with furniture is it doesn't like sun

and it doesn't like rain.

And today we've got a bit of both

so we're under this precautionary umbrella,

so I hope it'll look after us well.

Now, one of the reasons we don't want to get this wet is it would

not help this very pretty painted decoration on the top of this.

But I gather that's not how you found

this little piece of furniture.

Yes, I've got memories of when I was a little boy

seeing this in the attic painted a lurid pink.

My goodness, and how did you find that it was not pink?

Well, I decided I liked the shape of it. And so, I sent it to be dipped.

I thought it was probably pine.

But that would have ruined it,

it would have taken all the decoration off.

So, how do we get left with this?

Well, the restorer rang me up and he said he must have tried

a little bit or noticed there was a design, possibly.

He said he was going to strip it by hand.

Well, you were very lucky to find a sensitive restorer

who didn't just plunge the whole thing into an acid bath.

-So, it's a very recognisable shape.

-Hmm.

-And you know and I know that, in fact, it is a wash stand.

-Yes.

So, this lifts up.

And that folds out.

So, here you have the en-suite of the day.

Ah, yes.

Tucked into the corner, very handy.

So, it hasn't got its basins any more.

And I'm a little bit doubtful actually about the colour here.

I think this might have gone with the psychedelic pink.

It is a very Regency shape, it's got a slightly splayed legs,

this bowed front.

It's the kind of thing you'll find in design books by Hepplewhite

at the end of the 18th century.

-I think it could be American.

-Oh, gosh!

Well, I don't know but there is a great tradition in America

of stencilled and painted decoration

of very much this kind coming from what they call the federal period,

which is the equivalent of our Regency.

So, I would put this at around 1820.

It's really delightful, I think stencilled

and then hand-painted on top of that to give the detail.

As it is, it's very much in the decorator market.

And I would like to say that you can expect between £500 and £800.

-That would be a nice surprise, yes.

-Nice. Really good.

Thank you very much, that's interesting. Very interesting.

Thanks.

On the face of it, this looks like a bit of a conundrum,

I have to confess. OK,

so top right-hand corner of this scroll, if you like.

-Malta.

-That's right.

-And a Maltese cross.

-In the middle, this is a white Russian flag.

-Oh!

So, the flag of the Imperial side during the Russian Revolution.

And the whole of the rest of the sheet is covered with signatures,

which even I can see are pretty well all Russian names.

The date, 1919 here.

You're going to have to help me a little bit.

Do you know what this is?

Can you tell me something about its background?

I just know it's passed down through the family.

It belonged to my father, who had it off his father

and it was his grandfather's brother's originally,

that's who the Major Smith is.

-So, you're from the Smith family?

-That's right, yeah.

-Right.

So, "Major Smith, we Russian refugees beg you to accept

"this humble gift with our best wishes and thanks.

"Malta, 9th September 1919."

-Yeah.

-And then we see all of these Russian names.

Here, look, the Prince and Princess Obolensky.

Nicolas Stroganoff.

I keep seeing the word count,

I see the word prince and princess several times.

I can even make out here...

-I think this says the Empress of Russia.

-Yeah!

So, I think what we have here is a certificate, if you like,

put together as a token of thanks by the Russian refugees

-from the Russian Revolution.

-Yeah.

Those who had escaped Russia.

We think that the Tsar himself Nicholas II and his family

had been shot and executed in 1918, this is the following year.

This is, I suppose, what was left of the Imperial government.

And they were evacuated with the help of the British Navy and Army

and this is where I think Major Smith comes in.

-They were evacuated to Malta.

-Yeah.

So, this is a really extraordinary piece!

It's full of important names,

full of names of people who will have descendants today

who will be fascinated to find that their forebears

were named on here in this historical occasion.

Being Russian of course, some of those descendants may be wealthy

and certainly would be people enthusiastic about buying

items of their history back, I suppose.

So I'd be very confident in putting a figure

of £3,000 to £4,000 on this.

Wow!

-Worth the journey!

-SHE LAUGHS

-I'm very glad you brought it. Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Here we are in the heart of the Potteries

and I wonder how many people watching the roadshow

and eating their supper

have ever thought about the plates that they're eating off.

We tend to take pottery for granted, it's something which is part of

our lives and we tend not to think about the people

who actually made them.

But you know all about one aspect of making, which is engraving.

How's that?

Well, my grandfather was a copper plate engraver at Wedgwood's

for many, many years.

And he didn't retire until he was about 73, 74.

Because of the War, the lack of skilled people.

There'd be no young apprentices coming through, exactly.

And the most bizarre thing is that as you arrived this morning

with these tissue pools from the copper plates,

-somebody else in the queue arrived with copper plates.

-Yes.

And it was like they both came together

and we've got the whole story.

And I think we just don't appreciate the skill.

These are hand-engraved, little taps of a hammer individually.

The deeper the hammer goes, the darker the colour is.

And then from this plate, it would all be inked up,

it's then scraped off with a knife and then rubbed down with corduroy.

And then the tissue is laid on, it transfers the ink to the tissue,

the tissue then goes on to the ware.

These were some of the most valuable things a pottery owned

because the amount of time and skill that went into them.

Often the engravers and the modellers

were the most well-paid people at the pottery.

So your grandfather would have been...

Well, not a wealthy man but comparatively wealthy.

Yes, I suppose.

But what amazing skill and you can see on this one here,

not only did they have to have the skills to engrave

but you have to get the curvature right to fit around the plate.

And when you look at this one here,

particularly you can see where the join is there.

-And also, if you see, notice this green spot?

-Yes, yes.

-That's because this is a second.

-Yes.

-So, even though he engraved this...

-That's right.

..he's probably seen this one's been rejected, thought,

-"Right, I'll have that and keep that."

-Yes, that's right.

Because people who worked in properties were very proud

but in a very modest way.

They knew the skill they had but they didn't really celebrate it.

I think what's fascinating about meeting people like yourself

is that often this is unsung work, this was just a job they were doing.

A very skilled job, admittedly.

-We should celebrate it more.

-Yes.

Because behind every ordinary plate are many, many hands

-that made the final product and we never talk about them.

-No.

-The awful thing is there's not a lot of value here.

-No, I know that.

The copper plates themselves, maybe with the exception of this one -

this is actually a plate for a pot lid.

Pot lids with bear-baiting scenes

are the most desirable pot lids there are.

So, to a pot lid collector, they would want to have this

-and they might well pay £500 to £800 for this one.

-Gosh.

The other ones are probably frankly worth a little bit more

than what the scrap value is.

-Your collection, the tissue sample, this is one of many.

-Hmm.

And the associated plates.

To a ceramic geek like myself...

-£400, £500, £600 perhaps.

-Oh, OK.

-But to you, priceless memories.

They're just priceless, yes.

And as I say, a celebration of what was made here.

-And what's still made here today.

-That's right.

-Thank you very much.

Thank you, thank you, it's very interesting.

So, what do we have here? A little miniature carriage clock.

Yeah, my grandfather was the manager of a local jewellery shop

and people used to bring things in that they wanted to sell.

And if he liked something, he'd buy it himself.

-That's where I think it comes from.

-Do you know who made it?

-No, no.

All it says on the back is Paris, so I've no idea.

-Well, that's a pretty good start, isn't it?

-Yeah.

So we know that it's French-made and in France,

they made them in the hundreds of thousands but in England,

they made them more in the tens of thousands in the 19th century.

So, French carriage clocks, much more numerous

and therefore worth less.

However, what I particularly like about this are two things.

-Firstly, that it has the original gilding.

-Yes.

And secondly, that it is

-such a small and pretty size.

-Lovely.

-Yeah.

We've got other carriage clocks, bigger ones

but that one has always been my favourite.

So, taking into account that it is

what we call a sub-miniature carriage timepiece,

we're talking at auction between £700 and £1,000.

Wow!

-Wow, it's not going anywhere anyway.

-Oh, don't say that.

Say, "Yippee, I'm going to flog it!" Fantastic!

No, it won't go anywhere. That's lovely to know, yeah.

Wow, this is bright.

Someone's been busy with the polish and the cleaner.

Er, not exactly.

It would be polished maybe once every five years

but seeing this week, I had the idea of bringing it here,

needed something quick.

So I took it down the garden, put it on the patio table,

laid it out flat.

Got some cola, a couple of litres.

Poured the cola over it, left it 12 hours.

-Come back to it the next day, it had lifted all that tarnish off.

-Wow.

Well, it's as bright as a new pin, isn't it now?

It probably would have been silver-plated in the first place.

Erm, the reason I suggest this is

because it's inscribed down here for Elkington & Co,

who were a very famous Victorian firm based in Birmingham.

Metalware but largely silver-plated metalware.

The casting is very sharp. The lettering is wonderful.

Sir Joseph Whitworth, Baronet.

Do you know anything about the individual who is portrayed here?

So, Joseph Whitworth, erm, world-famous engineer.

Originated the screw thread.

He had the idea that in the 1870s, 1890s, he wanted to try

to make it universal in the railways.

-Everyone used the same thread.

-I see, I see.

So, if it was in India or South America,

they would have the Whitworth thread.

-So, it's a specific railway interest.

-Yes.

And it's a local thing, you found it locally?

A builder took it off a building from Crewe Railway Works.

I saw it a few months later because I used to do contract work for him.

And I said, "Would you like to part with it, Mike?" "No, no."

Saw him 12 months later, "Would you like...?" "No, no."

He said, "I tell you what I do want."

He said, "I'd like a key old desk."

I said, "All right, leave it with me."

So a friend of mine was selling a desk, £5.

HE CHUCKLES

Yeah, I'll give you £5 for it, Pete, no problem.

Saw the builder later. "You want to do a swap?"

-"Yeah, I'll do it, yeah, definitely."

-Fantastic.

So, of course it wasn't in this condition, it was very, very dark.

Because it'd been on the building wall for over 100 years.

I think you've done well out of the deal for that five quid desk.

I think that if you entered this into an auction sale now,

you could probably expect somewhere in the region of £500 to £800.

Very good, shall we start the bidding today?

OTHERS CHUCKLE

This is just sublime, it's a fabulous, fabulous vase.

-Of which you have a pair.

-Mm-hm.

So, tell us about them in your life.

Well, I've always known them.

Er, my understanding is that my grandfather

was a travelling salesman for the Irish Linen Company.

And...

..best of my knowledge, he visited Czechoslovakia in the 1930s

and these have been in the family since.

-OK. And do you like them?

-Found their way down to me. I love them.

Oh, I can't say I blame you.

Over the centuries, certain European glassworks have emerged as greats.

And there are not many of them.

There's Baccarat in France.

And the other one that really comes to mind is Moser.

Leo Moser founded this firm in the 19th century.

And quality was always paramount.

There has never been rubbish Moser.

What you have here is an acid etching, a resist.

A rubbery-type material is laid over all the areas

which are to remain on the original surface.

And then the vase is immersed in an extremely aggressive acid.

So, all the areas which are now blue, cobalt blue,

have been eaten back by the acid,

leaving the elephants and the palm trees.

It is without doubt Moser

because we have a very clear signature on the base here.

But it's not the best signature. There's a superior signature.

Oh, right.

-Which is just there.

-Really?

-You ever seen it?

-No, I have not noticed that.

-It says "Moser, Karlsbad".

-Just there, hidden in the vegetation.

-Yes.

So, you've got a heap of work here.

Quality is the word that comes to mind.

This is hours and hours of expert labour.

Designed in 1925.

-What do you reckon the pair of these is worth?

-Maybe £1,000.

These as a pair at auction are five times greater than you imagined.

They're either £4,000 to £5,000, the pair.

-Oh, wow!

-Very, very good things.

Surprising!

That's my job. And it's one of the best parts of my job.

This is one of the most extraordinary watercolours

I've ever seen on the Antiques Roadshow.

And before I talk about why I think it is extraordinary,

I want to look right.

And we see here a clear signature, Lindner, and date, Paris '35.

So this is the artist Richard Lindner, who is associated

with the New York Pop Art scene in the 1950s and '60s.

And here we have a conductor surrounded rather claustrophobically

with a whole number of figures.

-Do you know who the conductor is?

-The conductor's Offenbach.

So how are you connected to this picture?

This picture was painted by my uncle, who was my father's brother,

who grew up in Nuremberg and lived in Paris in the '30s.

Sadly was in a concentration camp but escaped

and got to New York, where he became quite famous.

He was befriended by Andy Warhol

and John Lennon really liked my uncle's painting.

And when they designed the Sgt Pepper LP,

I think John Lennon asked for my uncle's picture to be on that.

See, this is amazing.

Because if we look at the lower right of this picture and we look at

that figure in a red costume on his breastplate and yellow lapels,

you think of that album cover

and you think of John on the left-hand side in his yellow

and George in his red.

Um, and with Richard being in the picture himself, you wonder whether

he had the influence on Peter Blake, the album cover, and John.

So, here's someone in the '30s

almost anticipating the Pop Art scene in the '50s

which pretty much started in Britain

and later on, became very famous in New York with Andy Warhol

and all his contemporaries.

And that's the extraordinary thing about this picture.

So, I have to say, the provenance and your story is unbelievable.

I mean, he must have had the most extraordinary life.

What did you like about him?

The last time I saw him was 1968

and he got off the train in double denim,

smoking a little clay pipe, which was amazing for us at that time.

And he was just a great person to have in the house

and meet and talk to.

So, I'm using the word extraordinary because this is all extraordinary.

We have an amazing family provenance, we have a picture

that almost anticipates the Pop Art scene in the '50s and '60s.

And as such, I think this is a real rarity.

It's actually a very difficult picture to value.

But I'm just going to put it there.

-I think it's worth at least £40,000 to £60,000.

-Really!

That's amazing, thank you!

-Thank you so much, a truly brilliant picture.

-Thank you.

So there you have it, the painting that might have inspired

one of the most iconic album covers of all time.

The Beatles' Sgt Pepper.

Of all the tickets I've ever been given, this is the most exciting.

A ticket to the moon!

One of our visitors brought this along today.

It was given to her mum in the 1970s by an airline,

Trans International Airlines, an American company.

Ceased trading in the 1980s.

And if you think about it, 1969, the first man on the moon.

Everything seemed possible.

Look, there's even a travel guide, Charters To The Moon.

And this is my favourite bit.

"Moon Charter Series, one reservation.

"Departures, to be announced."

And 40 years on, we're still waiting!

From Trentham Gardens and the Antiques Roadshow team, bye-bye.