Tewkesbury Abbey 2 Antiques Roadshow


Tewkesbury Abbey 2

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Today, the Antiques Roadshow makes a return visit to a location

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that's been witness to a battle on more than one occasion,

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a bloody conflict and a war of words.

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Welcome to Tewkesbury Abbey in Gloucestershire.

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On 4th May 1471, the Abbot was celebrating Mass here as usual.

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Inside, all was calm, but outside,

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the Battle of Tewkesbury was raging -

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one of the most decisive of the Wars of the Roses.

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And then suddenly, without warning, the doors of the abbey burst open

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and Lancastrian troops rushed in seeking sanctuary.

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Hot on their heels, the Yorkist victors and Edward IV,

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baying for their blood.

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The Abbot was all that stood between them.

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With masterful diplomacy,

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he managed to restore calm and avoid bloodshed within the abbey.

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But it was only a temporary reprieve for the Lancastrian soldiers.

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They were executed a couple of days later.

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Here in the sacristy, where the abbey would have stored

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its treasures, is a memento from the Battle of Tewkesbury

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that our military experts would love to get their hands on.

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And here it is.

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These strips here on the back of the door are strips of metal

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believed to be from the horses' armour during the battle.

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And it's all covered in little holes.

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Look, there are a couple here, which are most likely arrow holes

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caused by the arrow piercing the horses' armour.

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It's a wonderful old door, isn't it?

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A case of medieval recycling, if you like.

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And security was clearly a concern in those days.

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The monks even had a spy hole built,

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so they could look in on the room and make sure that no-one

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was coming in and stealing the church silver.

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Not all the abbey's treasures were so easily protected, though.

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Until the mid-19th century,

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the abbey still retained its precious medieval features.

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All it took was a Victorian architect to literally wipe away

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centuries of history.

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In 1874, Sir Gilbert Scott, the English Gothic revival architect,

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took charge of a plan to supposedly restore Tewkesbury Abbey

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to what he thought it ought to look like.

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There were some positive changes,

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but they were overshadowed by some real howlers.

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For instance, the Norman pillars were scrubbed clean

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to remove images from the Bible.

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It was thought that they were unsightly and a later addition.

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In fact, they were original artworks dating from the 13th century.

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The restoration provoked a high-profile war of words.

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William Morris, the textile designer and social activist,

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was outraged and publicly rubbished the project.

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He went on to found the Society For The Protection Of Ancient Buildings

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as a result of what he saw as the desecration of historic sites.

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Fortunately for us,

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the abbey is still a beautiful place to visit today.

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Rather ironically there's a William Morris textile

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kept here at the abbey,

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though no-one knows where it came from.

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Maybe our experts can shed some light on it.

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Let's join them and our visitors for today's Antiques Roadshow,

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outside in the abbey's Pageant Meadow.

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So, we're dealing here with an art mystery,

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a picture that is just referred to

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in your family as "The Impressionist".

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Yes.

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How did it come into your family?

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Well, I don't know, maybe my father bought it.

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He collected paintings.

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I've had it hanging up in my bedroom and it doesn't look very interesting

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there at all. It's the first time I've ever seen it

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with the sun shining straight on it, and it looks so beautiful.

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Isn't that astonishing?

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And it's the sunlight upon snow,

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because this is a snow scene, I think.

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So it seems to be a French village or the outskirts of the village.

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Date-wise it seems to be early 20th century.

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OK, you're getting close, because you called it The Impressionist,

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and Impressionism is what this is really all about.

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And when it was introduced in 1870 as a style,

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as an approach to art,

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it was revolutionary.

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It was the artistic equivalent of splitting the atom.

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Suddenly people looked at form, looked at shape, colour, nature,

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approached subject matter in a completely different way.

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The thing that one can really enjoy are these conspicuous brushstrokes,

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and as your eye burrows into the bottom right-hand corner,

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you can see these curly strokes.

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The strokes themselves become an animated part

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of the overall composition.

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It's as if, it's as if they border on sculpture,

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and this is something that Monet was so good at.

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He reinvented the brushstroke, and this artist, whoever he may be,

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has clearly looked at Monet.

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Now, I know that it's signed bottom right

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and you've tried to work out what it says.

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Artists don't often make it easy for you to read the signature,

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but this one is a little bit more readable than one might imagine.

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The artist is Gustave Loiseau.

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-Oh, right.

-Now, who was he?

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-Yes.

-Well, he was an Impressionist,

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but if you were to rank Impressionism

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you would put the top figures,

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people like Monet, people like Pissarro,

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all of whose influence can be seen beaming down on this,

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just as the sun is now.

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The artist is clearly aware, he's in thrall of it all,

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but he's not quite learnt to have the same vision and clarity

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as those artists. But nonetheless, he's learnt the language.

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This is what we're dealing with,

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an artist who is a second-rate Impressionist.

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Oh!

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What a shame!

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But this is what we're dealing with,

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a second-rank Impressionist.

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LAUGHTER

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We know, for example, this artist was born in the late 19th century.

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We know that he got a legacy from his grandmother,

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and as a result of that he was able to leave his job as a decorator

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and become an Impressionist.

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-Oh, he was a decorator?

-He was a decorator to start with.

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-How fascinating.

-And perhaps one can see a bit of that, do you think?

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A bit of dragging and rolling?

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-Yes!

-LAUGHTER

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And perhaps he thought that house there

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was in need of a lick of paint.

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Well, why not? Let's just say that if it were by Monet, Pissarro,

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you could add a few noughts here.

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Yes.

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But even though it's not,

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it's still worth between about £10,000-£15,000.

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Oh, goodness!

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Well, that's very good news, thank you.

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These mountains were used by the literati,

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the scholars in China...

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Right, OK.

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..as objects of contemplation.

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Oh, OK.

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So they would have that on their table

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and they would get inspiration from it,

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and they were often in the form of mountains like this,

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a mountain range.

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You would have pines, symbolic of long life, or resistance to winter.

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-Right, OK.

-You'd normally have a couple of figures on a bridge,

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or scattered about in here.

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Do you have any history with this?

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All I know, really,

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was that my parents bought it when they were out in Singapore,

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late '50s, early '60s.

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-OK.

-My mum, she came out of London,

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she was brought up by Sally's Army

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and effectively escaped after the war.

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-Gosh.

-Met my dad out in Singapore,

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and they were as poor as church mice.

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I mean, they wouldn't have spent any money on this.

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This was the piece that she loved and...

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-More than any of the others?

-More than any of the others, yeah,

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and they collected bits and bobs.

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Do you know what she liked about it?

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She loved the detail. And, in fact, that's exactly what I love about it.

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I can look at this and look continuously

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and find another little scene and think, "It's so pretty."

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I can't get my head around how they can create a scene

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as detailed as this,

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and so refined as this,

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where you're just using some little tools and eyesight.

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-It is Chinese.

-Right, OK.

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The date is actually fairly difficult.

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It could have been as late as when your mother bought it,

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-but I don't think it is.

-Right, OK.

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I think it's further back into the 20th century,

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or even the late 19th century, probably about 1880, 1910,

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somewhere round there,

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and it would have come onto the secondary market when she bought it.

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-Right.

-Do you know what it's made of?

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No idea, and this is one of the reasons we came today.

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OK, what it looks like is jade.

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Right, OK. Now, Mum used to call it The Jade...

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-Right.

-..but I felt it was too soft for that.

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-And it is in fact soapstone, not jade.

-Yeah.

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The colour of the stone can vary enormously,

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-and this one is very jade-like.

-Mm.

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I've never seen a better soapstone mountain.

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-Really?

-No, no.

-Oh, it's lovely to hear.

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It's a fantastic object.

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It could do with a bit of cleaning.

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-Fair enough. Yes, it does...

-Who's in charge of that?

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Erm, me!

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DAVID LAUGHS

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-I think it's a lovely thing.

-Thank you.

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The Chinese, at the moment, are buying...

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I think one would probably put £1,500-£2,000.

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Fantastic, yeah, lovely.

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I mean, it's a treat to hear that.

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For me, it just gives me a massive amount of pleasure.

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And it's quite nice to hear that it was designed for contemplation,

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because I look at it and I think it's just beautiful,

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as my mum did as well.

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-Thank you very much for bringing it in.

-No, thank you.

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On the back of this piece we've got a plaque that's inscribed

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that it was given to Princess Beatrice on her wedding day in 1885,

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given by the town of West Cowes.

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When we look at the front, this is possibly the best, largest,

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loveliest silver mirror I've ever seen on the Roadshow.

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Where on earth did you get it from?

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I actually purchased it from an auction

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between five and six years ago.

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I went to buy an item of militaria

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and saw this mirror in there and it just caught my eye

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and I thought, "I've got to get it."

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And actually, in the auction sale,

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it never sold and I purchased it after the auction.

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-It didn't sell?

-It didn't sell, no.

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-What did you pay for it?

-I paid 3,000.

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Right, OK. Well, let's look at the mirror in general.

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We've got the Royal Arms at the top.

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We've got the English Royal Crown here,

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we've got the Crown here for Henry Battenberg,

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who was her husband when they got married in 1885.

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She was 28 years old when she got married.

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And for years she had a number of suitors,

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but Queen Victoria refused to let her get married.

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Eventually she relented and allowed

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Battenberg to marry her daughter,

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and Beatrice was her youngest daughter,

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on one condition -

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that they stayed with Queen Victoria

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for the rest of Victoria's life.

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So, if we look at the hallmarks at the bottom,

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it's got a date letter for 1885.

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That's the very unusual makers of

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Judah Rosenthal and Samuel Jacob.

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Now, I don't think I've had a piece by those makers ever before.

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So I'm sure this, well, it had to be a special commission.

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And going back to certainly the 17th century,

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it was tradition for the bride to be given a dressing table service

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on her wedding day.

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And part of that dressing table service would have been a mirror.

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-Right.

-So this would have stood on Beatrice's dressing table,

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but the thing that I love about this is,

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can you imagine the faces that have looked into this?

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-Yes.

-Queen Victoria herself probably looked in this very mirror.

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And can you imagine all the lovely silk and satin gowns

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-that faced this mirror?

-Beautiful.

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I mean, it conjures up wonderful imagery.

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But we need to now go back to what you paid for it.

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I'm confident this now...

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..if it came up at auction, would make £8,000-£10,000.

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Wow.

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Crikey! I never expected that.

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Should I call them boring or not?

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Really, they're just graduation photographs, aren't they?

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-They are graduation photos.

-And, you know...

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Actually, you've got an American twang,

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so did you bring these from the States with you?

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No, no. I bought them at a car-boot sale, of all places, in Cheltenham.

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And what drew you to them?

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Well, I saw these two old photos just sitting there.

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-Yes.

-I thought about it for a minute,

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so I took a closer look and they were signed by Dorothy Alexander.

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They are indeed signed by Dorothy Alexander,

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and I suspect that obviously meant something to you, didn't it?

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Absolutely, because I studied her in high school in my art class,

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-as a matter of fact.

-That is amazing,

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because she is in fact an incredibly famous photographer, isn't she?

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-Yes, she is.

-And so what you have here, essentially,

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are two very early examples of her portraiture.

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And, I mean, to be honest with you, she's often referred to

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as the doyen of the British photography scene.

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I mean, she's quite old now, but she was a very, very interesting lady.

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Her surname is Bohm, and I believe she was born in Prussia,

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and she was Jewish, basically, and she escaped from Prussia

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and came over to the UK and became a post-war photographer, didn't she?

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-So, how much did you pay for them?

-Honestly?

-Yeah.

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£1 apiece.

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-The frames are worth more than that, aren't they?!

-Probably so.

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Now, listen, I don't think they're worth absolute fortunes,

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but I think historically they're interesting,

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because they show kind of a very early evolution of a very,

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very good photographer.

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I think they're probably worth maybe £100 for the pair of them,

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but I think there's a lot of history in these and I think you did

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extremely well to spot them, well done.

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-All right, then, thank you.

-No, my pleasure.

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I got it from a charity shop.

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There were four of them that the man was putting up.

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-A charity shop?

-Yeah.

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And I was working out how much I could afford to pay,

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cos I thought they were going to be more than I could afford to pay.

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-And?

-And so I said, "How much are they?"

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and the woman said, "20 quid?"

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Now, when I see pictures by this artist, Henry Rushbury,

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they're usually signed etchings.

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-Oh.

-And here we've got an original watercolour.

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Well, I'm going to tell you that, because of the occasion,

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and it's the Coronation, and these are the original drawings, well,

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the original watercolours, they're historical,

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and I think they're worth £4,000-£6,000.

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Each or together?

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-No, together.

-Together.

-Don't be greedy!

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SHE LAUGHS

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We're looking at a fabulous William Morris textile,

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a pair of textile hangings.

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And I think I'm right in saying, Philippa,

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that William Morris had a relationship with Tewkesbury Abbey.

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Now, you are the Executive Officer of Tewkesbury Abbey,

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so if anybody knows you should know, so please tell me.

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William Morris didn't like the plans that were put forward

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by Gilbert Scott for the restoration of the abbey.

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We think it's therefore unlikely that he actually was commissioned

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to make these or gave these to the abbey,

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but they've been here for quite a long time.

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We have a photograph that shows them in situ

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some time between 1893 and 1899.

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Now, saying that, this presumably is that image.

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-Yes, that's it.

-So it's behind the high altar.

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Behind the high altar.

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And these are the hangings either side of the crucifix, correct?

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Yes, that's correct.

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So, let's talk a little bit about this design.

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I mean, the bird pattern started in 1877.

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He liked it so much, William Morris,

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that he actually used it to decorate his country house, Kelmscott Manor.

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One has to think that in that period in 1877,

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he was running Morris & Co, which was a commercial interior designers.

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So this was one of his popular designs.

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He took a lot of time perfecting indigo,

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and there are wonderful reports of him walking around the works

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with his arms died indigo from the top of his arm all the way down

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to the tips of his fingers, trying to get the exact, correct colour.

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Now, the passion for Morris designs goes on unabated.

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I mean, the company itself, Morris & Company, survived him -

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they went on until the 1940s.

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And I think you're absolutely right -

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bearing in mind there was no love lost between Tewkesbury Abbey

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and Morris, he would neither have donated these,

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nor would they have gone out of their way to buy them,

0:18:080:18:11

so it must have been a benefactor...

0:18:110:18:13

-I think so, yes, yes.

-..at some point.

0:18:130:18:16

With this type of textile in this type of condition

0:18:160:18:21

and this size,

0:18:210:18:23

I would have no hesitation in putting an auction value of between

0:18:230:18:26

£10,000-£15,000 on the pair.

0:18:260:18:29

Wow.

0:18:290:18:30

Thank you! That's great.

0:18:300:18:33

Everybody will be very pleased to hear that.

0:18:330:18:36

We've got a sketch here that looks really very interesting,

0:18:360:18:39

and I can see these two chaps

0:18:390:18:41

listening very intensely to the wireless.

0:18:410:18:44

They're from the RAF, because they've got little badges

0:18:440:18:47

-on their shoulders.

-Yeah.

-More than that I can't say,

0:18:470:18:49

other than the fact that there's some rather unpleasant blue pencil

0:18:490:18:53

has been...

0:18:530:18:54

And we've got written on there, "Not passed, adjutant general."

0:18:550:19:00

-Yes.

-Tell us about it.

0:19:000:19:01

Well, I got this from my uncle who passed away a number of years ago.

0:19:010:19:05

He was a radio operator in the war. Wanted to be a pilot,

0:19:050:19:09

his eyesight wasn't good enough, so he became a radio operator.

0:19:090:19:13

He never said a great deal about what he did,

0:19:130:19:14

he said during the war he did an awful lot of listening

0:19:140:19:17

all over Europe. When I was clearing out, I found this sketch.

0:19:170:19:20

There's an inscription on the back - it was done by a guy called Grimes,

0:19:200:19:23

who worked for the London Evening Star,

0:19:230:19:26

and he was sent over to France to document

0:19:260:19:29

what the listeners were listening in at in the '40s,

0:19:290:19:32

under the instruction that he shouldn't take any photographs

0:19:320:19:35

or do any sketches.

0:19:350:19:37

Obviously he did a sketch, and as you can see by the front of it,

0:19:370:19:41

there's a big blue cross on there, "Not passed", so it was confiscated.

0:19:410:19:46

Now, how my uncle got hold of it, I don't know.

0:19:460:19:49

I'm somewhat puzzled as to why a sketch of two chaps sitting,

0:19:490:19:55

listening carefully at their radios...

0:19:550:19:57

There's a civvy one there as well, probably for a bit of light music.

0:19:570:20:00

-They properly had the Light Programme on.

-Yes, probably.

0:20:000:20:04

If a German intelligence officer saw that, you'd think,

0:20:040:20:07

"Well, there are two RAF chaps listening to the radio,

0:20:070:20:10

"more than that I can't say," so I wonder why they were so secretive.

0:20:100:20:14

I don't know. I mean, back in...

0:20:150:20:17

I think early... 1940 this was done,

0:20:170:20:20

in Metz in France.

0:20:200:20:22

It says with the transcript I got they actually hid these guys

0:20:220:20:25

in fake hay bunkers, lofts.

0:20:250:20:27

-Oh, yes.

-All over the place, like.

0:20:270:20:30

-What do you think it's worth?

-I really have no idea,

0:20:300:20:33

because I've never seen anything like it.

0:20:330:20:35

I think because it's so, so evocative,

0:20:350:20:38

and obviously unique and has that sort of back story with it

0:20:380:20:43

that builds up the human bits of it

0:20:430:20:45

and shows the importance of counterintelligence

0:20:450:20:49

and gathering information,

0:20:490:20:51

I think if that was in an auction catalogue, you'd be paying...

0:20:510:20:56

..at least £250 for it, and probably more,

0:20:580:21:00

if you've got two or three people who wanted to fight you over it.

0:21:000:21:03

-Yeah.

-It's a good thing.

0:21:030:21:04

I think it's just great that you've saved it.

0:21:040:21:07

Very happy.

0:21:070:21:08

Well, on a day like today,

0:21:100:21:11

there's nothing better than an absolute injection of colour

0:21:110:21:15

with one of my favourite factories, Poole Pottery.

0:21:150:21:18

But also, not only do we have these fantastic pots,

0:21:180:21:21

to my left we've got a wonderful painting featuring one of these

0:21:210:21:25

very same pots. So, what's the connection here?

0:21:250:21:28

-My mother worked for Poole Pottery as a paintress.

-Oh!

0:21:290:21:33

She painted from 1926 to 1936.

0:21:330:21:38

She had been to art school and at the age of 14 she left art school

0:21:380:21:44

and took her first job, which was at Poole Pottery.

0:21:440:21:47

What we have here are three of her pots

0:21:470:21:50

and one painted by a colleague of hers.

0:21:500:21:53

So, what was your mum's artist's name

0:21:530:21:56

-when she was a painter at Poole?

-Doris Marshall.

0:21:560:21:58

Doris Marshall, I know it, yes, of course!

0:21:580:22:01

But here we've got a painting signed D Atkins,

0:22:010:22:04

-but this is your mum's work, then?

-Yes, that is my mother's work,

0:22:040:22:08

and Doris Atkins was her married name.

0:22:080:22:11

My earliest days I can remember the picture,

0:22:110:22:14

and I can remember the pot here, and this one,

0:22:140:22:16

which is probably the best of the very many pieces I have of hers.

0:22:160:22:20

Within the family we have a significant number of other pieces.

0:22:200:22:24

My daughter and my son and my brother all have pieces.

0:22:240:22:29

Well, the nice thing about Poole is the fact that

0:22:290:22:31

they are all very easily identifiable.

0:22:310:22:34

If we look to the base of this, you've now answered for me

0:22:340:22:37

and I know that that is your mum's paintress cipher, then.

0:22:370:22:40

That's her little moniker on the bottom of every piece.

0:22:400:22:43

And actually, this one has, of course, a different series of marks.

0:22:430:22:47

You mentioned painted by a colleague,

0:22:470:22:49

well, that mark is by a lady called Norah Preston...

0:22:490:22:52

-OK.

-..who worked for the factory from 1934-1941,

0:22:520:22:55

so there's a very brief overlap.

0:22:550:22:57

-There was.

-This piece will have been made,

0:22:570:22:59

and I can tell from the mark that's impressed here, this piece,

0:22:590:23:02

because of the combination of marks, paintress pattern, is a 1934 piece.

0:23:020:23:07

It may have been something your mum loved, wanted to buy herself,

0:23:070:23:10

was given as a gift, maybe a late leaving present.

0:23:100:23:13

-Could've been.

-But she loved enough to feature it in a painting,

0:23:130:23:16

and obviously a career in art and decorating and painting

0:23:160:23:20

that ran on long after she laid down her painting brushes

0:23:200:23:22

at the ceramics firm.

0:23:220:23:23

So, we must look at values,

0:23:240:23:26

and can I really put a value on your mum's work?

0:23:260:23:30

Well, please, please try.

0:23:300:23:32

These are very much sort of nice entry-level pieces,

0:23:320:23:34

and today the market will pay you per piece

0:23:340:23:38

between £80 and £120, £150 for these.

0:23:380:23:42

This piece is a bit more of a show stopper.

0:23:420:23:44

It's a bigger piece, it's a slightly more piece that

0:23:440:23:47

a shop would have had as a centre display,

0:23:470:23:50

to show off the work that the factory were producing.

0:23:500:23:52

It's a great pattern, good artist, good date, good period.

0:23:520:23:56

It's got all those nice box-tickers that you want.

0:23:560:23:59

And as such, a vase at this size is going to be more in the region,

0:23:590:24:03

for me, of £400, maybe £500.

0:24:030:24:06

But the painting, I just love that.

0:24:070:24:11

This, for me, steps away into a different market.

0:24:110:24:14

I think if you put that up for auction, a good,

0:24:140:24:17

dedicated Poole collector will probably give you in the region of

0:24:170:24:20

maybe £500, even £800 for that painting.

0:24:200:24:23

But the exciting thing is, by meeting you,

0:24:230:24:25

I am just one step away from a lady who painted the work I love.

0:24:250:24:30

-Good.

-Thank You. Thank you.

0:24:300:24:31

This is a very distinctive image for me, and it can only be by one man,

0:24:360:24:41

Andy Warhol, and it's Chairman Mao.

0:24:410:24:44

Andy Warhol of course being the major pop artist in the '60s

0:24:440:24:49

in New York, and, you know, he was the top of his tree.

0:24:490:24:54

I see on it it's 1974,

0:24:540:24:55

it's got Andy Warhol and Mao

0:24:550:24:57

on the right-hand side.

0:24:570:24:59

But at the bottom I see it's signed and inscribed

0:24:590:25:03

by Andy Warhol to Caroline.

0:25:030:25:05

-Who's Caroline?

-That's me.

0:25:050:25:07

-That's you?

-That's me.

0:25:070:25:09

So tell me about it. How did you get this?

0:25:090:25:12

My sister was au pairing in New York for a family from about '77-'79,

0:25:120:25:18

and the name of that woman was Amy Sullivan.

0:25:180:25:21

She was the cousin to Stan Lee,

0:25:210:25:23

and I think her dad also was involved somewhere

0:25:230:25:26

amongst the Marvel Comics empire.

0:25:260:25:28

-OK.

-And hence they all hung out, really, they were friends,

0:25:280:25:32

and Amy and her friends would go down to The Factory

0:25:320:25:34

and hang out with Andy Warhol.

0:25:340:25:35

When my sister was coming up to leaving and returning to England

0:25:350:25:39

they said, "We're going to see Andy tonight,

0:25:390:25:41

"shall we bring you something back?"

0:25:410:25:43

And this was one that was signed to me.

0:25:430:25:45

There was another one signed to my other sister, Annabel,

0:25:450:25:47

and my sister Sue has one, which is the blue and yellow cow.

0:25:470:25:51

She did meet him once at one of his exhibitions in New York,

0:25:510:25:54

which was an exhibition about fruit, and she had a signed apple from him,

0:25:540:25:58

which has since obviously disappeared and gone its own way.

0:25:580:26:01

What?!

0:26:010:26:02

Well, I think this is all pretty cool.

0:26:020:26:04

I think it's fantastic.

0:26:040:26:07

But it is in a bit of a state.

0:26:070:26:09

-Oh, yes.

-I mean, we've got roll marks here.

0:26:090:26:11

Where has this been?

0:26:110:26:13

It's been on a wall,

0:26:130:26:15

and then it spent about five or six years in a garage,

0:26:150:26:18

where it was thrown amongst some other stuff

0:26:180:26:20

that my sister didn't want.

0:26:200:26:22

Then when she realised it said "to Caroline"

0:26:220:26:24

and she'd have to give it back to me, I got it back,

0:26:240:26:26

and since then it's been knocking around on the top of a wardrobe,

0:26:260:26:31

or down the side of a wardrobe and it's never really, as you can tell,

0:26:310:26:34

-been very loved.

-I think it's fantastic.

0:26:340:26:36

I mean, when you think about The Factory, Nico,

0:26:360:26:39

Velvet Underground, that whole scene...

0:26:390:26:42

And I think it's amazing to have got this back from that period.

0:26:420:26:45

And as a present for you, it's wonderful.

0:26:450:26:48

Taking a walk on the wild side, as Lou Reed sang,

0:26:480:26:51

I can take a guess that it's worth £3,000 to £5,000.

0:26:510:26:55

Blimey.

0:26:550:26:56

# Said, hey, babe take a walk on the wild side

0:26:580:27:02

# And the coloured girls go

0:27:020:27:04

# Doo, doo-doo, doo-doo Doo, doo-doo

0:27:040:27:06

# Doo, doo-doo, doo-doo Doo, doo-doo

0:27:060:27:08

# Doo, doo-doo, doo-doo Doo, doo-doo

0:27:080:27:11

# Doo, doo-doo, doo-doo Doo, doo-doo

0:27:110:27:13

# Doo... #

0:27:130:27:14

You've brought along an absolutely cracking Arts and Crafts bowl.

0:27:180:27:23

Very good weight, lovely condition.

0:27:230:27:26

I suspect you might have an idea who made it.

0:27:260:27:29

It was made by Omar Ramsden.

0:27:290:27:32

-Quite right.

-And it was given to my grandfather,

0:27:320:27:35

who was an accountant in the city and joined...

0:27:350:27:38

and volunteered to join the Artists Rifles.

0:27:380:27:41

So your grandfather was Captain RF Turnbull...

0:27:410:27:44

-Yes.

-..that's inscribed in the centre here?

0:27:440:27:47

-Yes, yes.

-OK, let's turn it over and we can have a look at the marks.

0:27:470:27:51

We can see that it was made...

0:27:520:27:54

..by Ramsden and his original partner, Alwyn Carr.

0:27:550:27:59

They were at the Sheffield School Of Art together in the 1890s

0:27:590:28:03

and then came to London and set up business.

0:28:030:28:07

This is actually dated for 1916,

0:28:070:28:10

and it says "Omar Ramsden et Alwyn Carr me fecerunt" -

0:28:100:28:15

Omar Ramsden and Alwyn Carr made me.

0:28:150:28:18

Typically with Ramsden,

0:28:180:28:20

instead of making it on four feet or even three feet,

0:28:200:28:24

he's made it on seven feet.

0:28:240:28:27

Odd number - normally a bowl would be octagonal -

0:28:270:28:30

but Ramsden liked to do things differently.

0:28:300:28:32

The interesting thing about this bowl, however,

0:28:340:28:37

is the badge in the middle.

0:28:370:28:38

And you referred to the Artists Rifles.

0:28:380:28:41

The Artists Rifles were founded in 1859

0:28:410:28:45

because of the threat of invasion by Napoleon III.

0:28:450:28:49

A young chap called Edward Sterling, he was an art student,

0:28:490:28:52

went round all his artist friends and said,

0:28:520:28:54

"Come on, let's form a volunteer company,"

0:28:540:28:58

and it took off and became really popular.

0:28:580:29:01

And during the First World War they had a very distinguished record.

0:29:010:29:07

Now, the most interesting thing about this is that Alwyn Carr,

0:29:070:29:13

one of the makers with Ramsden, signed up for the Artists Rifles.

0:29:130:29:18

So he would have been possibly in the same regimen as your great...

0:29:180:29:23

-As my grandfather.

-As your grandfather.

0:29:230:29:25

So here we have a piece...

0:29:250:29:27

Very rarely do you get a connection

0:29:270:29:30

between the maker and the recipient like that.

0:29:300:29:33

And especially, you know, they were both lucky enough

0:29:330:29:36

to survive the First World War.

0:29:360:29:38

So, lovely piece of silver.

0:29:380:29:40

Inscriptions generally don't do...

0:29:420:29:45

..the commercial world of silver any favours.

0:29:470:29:49

You're not going to sell this, I'm sure,

0:29:490:29:51

because this is a priceless family piece,

0:29:510:29:54

but if something like this came up on the market,

0:29:540:29:57

I think it would make easily between £2,000 and £3,000.

0:29:570:30:02

Well, I mean, it's lovely.

0:30:020:30:04

And the quality of the engraving, you know, it's so deep and...

0:30:040:30:08

-It's wonderful.

-It's lovely.

0:30:080:30:10

-Thank you. Thank you so much.

-Thank you very much.

0:30:100:30:12

I saw the boys bringing this in, big, hefty lads.

0:30:140:30:17

This is a piece of furniture which carries some weight.

0:30:170:30:21

So, where do you keep this?

0:30:210:30:23

So, this is kept in the entrance hall to a local hotel pub.

0:30:230:30:28

It's been there forever and a day, we think.

0:30:280:30:31

The building itself is an amalgamation of historic buildings,

0:30:310:30:35

some dating back to 1380,

0:30:350:30:37

and we've got Tudor parts as well, Georgian parts.

0:30:370:30:40

We don't really know what part it came with

0:30:400:30:43

or if it actually is from there originally,

0:30:430:30:45

or anything about it, really.

0:30:450:30:47

So, how do you use it in the pub, then?

0:30:470:30:49

So, this is in the main entrance.

0:30:490:30:51

We've usually got menus, condiments stored on the bottom,

0:30:510:30:55

table talkers in the drawers, so it's still very much used.

0:30:550:30:59

It's just there for everyone to enjoy, really.

0:30:590:31:01

-And how do you clean it?

-We don't really know how to look after it,

0:31:010:31:04

and that's something we were hoping you could probably tell us.

0:31:040:31:07

Is that a very polite way of saying you've never cleaned it?

0:31:070:31:09

Yeah. It gets dusted, but other than that,

0:31:090:31:12

yeah, not much goes on with the table.

0:31:120:31:15

What I suggest, if you look at your end there,

0:31:150:31:18

-you've got this wonderful what I call toffee colour.

-Yeah.

0:31:180:31:21

That can be enhanced by literally using some wool...

0:31:210:31:25

-Yeah.

-..and just, you buff it up.

0:31:250:31:28

And the lanolin in the wool

0:31:280:31:30

will literally make this whole table sing.

0:31:300:31:33

When you stand back and you look at it as a whole

0:31:330:31:36

you see these baluster carved legs,

0:31:360:31:40

and we see those on what we call a court cupboard...

0:31:400:31:43

..or a short cupboard.

0:31:440:31:46

So we've got these wonderful Tudor legs.

0:31:460:31:50

Then we look at these three long drawers, beautifully carved,

0:31:500:31:55

all the original carving.

0:31:550:31:57

And they say something to me as well,

0:31:570:31:59

that, you know, this is a really good thing.

0:31:590:32:02

The wood. Any idea, what do you think the wood may be?

0:32:030:32:06

-I've no idea.

-Cos it looks really heavy.

0:32:060:32:07

It's very, very heavy.

0:32:070:32:09

I've got no idea.

0:32:090:32:11

Is it oak? Is it, no?

0:32:110:32:13

-It's actually better than oak.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

0:32:130:32:15

It's walnut.

0:32:150:32:16

-Walnut, oh! There we go.

-Walnut.

0:32:160:32:18

I personally think this would have been adorned with silver

0:32:180:32:22

and all your foodstuffs.

0:32:220:32:25

And so this is like a very important, like,

0:32:250:32:27

-serving table.

-Right, yeah.

0:32:270:32:29

When it comes to the date,

0:32:300:32:31

this is a Tudor-period piece of furniture,

0:32:310:32:34

-so it is very, very old.

-Yeah.

0:32:340:32:37

And being made of walnut, it makes it even more exciting.

0:32:370:32:41

I may have had an e-mail from a general manager today saying

0:32:410:32:45

under no circumstances am I to sell the table, so...

0:32:450:32:49

Yes, yeah, we thought it may be quite valuable.

0:32:490:32:52

-I can see this in a very modern environment.

-Yes.

0:32:520:32:55

And it could look so sharp, so sharp.

0:32:550:32:59

Well, I think this is a great piece of English furniture.

0:33:000:33:04

I love the condition. I would leave it alone.

0:33:040:33:07

I'd quite happily, seeing this piece of furniture...

0:33:070:33:10

Well, I'd put a value on it between £15,000 and £20,000.

0:33:100:33:14

-Wow. There we go!

-It is serious.

0:33:140:33:16

-That's serious, isn't it?

-It is so rare.

0:33:160:33:18

Going to lock it to the wall now so it doesn't go anywhere!

0:33:180:33:21

It's brilliant, it's lovely.

0:33:210:33:23

So, here we are in the back of your dad's milk van.

0:33:260:33:29

-That's right.

-Tell me about it.

0:33:290:33:31

Well, he started the dairy in 1938 with a little Morris Eight van

0:33:310:33:35

delivering 30 gallons a day of milk round the Tewkesbury area,

0:33:350:33:38

and most of it was delivered with a ladle from a churn

0:33:380:33:42

into the customer's jug.

0:33:420:33:43

You'd see them twice a day, knock on the door...

0:33:430:33:45

And they would come out with a jug to be filled by your dad.

0:33:450:33:48

That's right, yes, yeah.

0:33:480:33:49

And it's been put to more unusual use, this van,

0:33:490:33:51

-hasn't it?

-It has, yes.

0:33:510:33:53

In late 1939 he was delivering milk to one of his customers,

0:33:530:33:57

a Mrs Belcher, and there was great excitement -

0:33:570:34:00

her daughter, Doreen, was getting married that day at the abbey.

0:34:000:34:03

And it was pouring with rain.

0:34:030:34:05

So he jokingly said, "Would you like me to take you to the abbey?"

0:34:060:34:09

Was she going to walk, otherwise?

0:34:090:34:10

She was going to walk, yes, of course, and get wet.

0:34:100:34:13

And so he quickly finished the milk round,

0:34:130:34:15

polished the van, went to pick her up,

0:34:150:34:17

and she sat in the front of the van and he took her to the abbey.

0:34:170:34:20

And because it was so wet he drove all the way down the abbey drive,

0:34:200:34:24

straight into the abbey porch, which is quite large,

0:34:240:34:27

and then he accompanied her to meet the bridegroom in the abbey.

0:34:270:34:31

-He took her down the aisle?

-He took her down the aisle as well.

0:34:310:34:33

Whoa! Was he still in his milkman's uniform?

0:34:330:34:35

No, I assume he dressed up!

0:34:350:34:38

And then afterwards, of course, he put the bride on the front seat

0:34:390:34:43

and the bridegroom sat in the back on a milk crate

0:34:430:34:46

to go to the reception.

0:34:460:34:47

Oh, brilliant!

0:34:470:34:48

And then he got invited to the reception as well.

0:34:480:34:50

Well, he had a starring role! I should hope so, too.

0:34:500:34:53

But he was a lovely man, my dad.

0:34:530:34:55

I've had a brilliant day here today, I've seen some lovely things,

0:34:590:35:02

and just when you think it can't get any better,

0:35:020:35:06

you bring along this collection.

0:35:060:35:07

Now, tell me about it.

0:35:070:35:09

When my husband retired he wanted an interest,

0:35:090:35:13

and he brought a lot of Maundy money and then built up the set.

0:35:130:35:18

OK, and Maundy money...

0:35:180:35:21

..is one of the things I collect, along with other coins,

0:35:230:35:26

and it's actually one of the things which I love.

0:35:260:35:28

Do you know much about the history of Maundy money?

0:35:280:35:31

I do know that it was given by the monarch to poor people

0:35:310:35:35

-on Maundy Thursday.

-Exactly.

0:35:350:35:37

Not to waffle on too much about the history,

0:35:370:35:39

but it basically started when Jesus was preaching to the disciples

0:35:390:35:43

and he was washing their feet. It was all about giving,

0:35:430:35:46

and giving of oneself to another.

0:35:460:35:49

And that's where the term Maundy comes from,

0:35:490:35:51

it's basically showing love to someone else.

0:35:510:35:53

It's derived from that.

0:35:530:35:55

I think, basically, in the Middle Ages it was

0:35:550:35:58

still up to washing people's feet and at some point someone thought,

0:35:580:36:02

"No, I've had enough of washing stinky people's feet.

0:36:020:36:04

"I'm going to change it." And that was the monarch,

0:36:040:36:06

and it was around Charles II period

0:36:060:36:09

when they changed that into giving of coins.

0:36:090:36:11

The cases are in pretty good condition.

0:36:110:36:14

This doesn't help - when you have a little bit of sticky tape

0:36:140:36:16

put on there, it's really not good.

0:36:160:36:18

There's a family story behind that.

0:36:180:36:20

My daughter, who was five when he died and is now coming up to 17,

0:36:200:36:25

she used to go into his office, rip bits of tape off

0:36:250:36:28

and stick them all over his office so he would know where she'd been.

0:36:280:36:31

And we found that and we thought,

0:36:310:36:33

"Well, we can't really take that off

0:36:330:36:35

"because she put it on there for him to find."

0:36:350:36:37

So you've never tried to remove it?

0:36:370:36:40

-Nope!

-I was going to tell you off,

0:36:400:36:41

because it looks like someone's tried to stick it down.

0:36:410:36:44

But now, never move that.

0:36:440:36:46

No, no, it's staying!

0:36:460:36:47

That's all right. It's forgiven.

0:36:470:36:50

Now, what made him go for Maundy money?

0:36:500:36:53

We're not really sure,

0:36:540:36:55

but he developed it and it became a real passion of his.

0:36:550:36:59

He started with the one set,

0:36:590:37:01

and started collecting a second set and was...

0:37:010:37:05

Over how many years?

0:37:050:37:07

Over about seven or eight years.

0:37:070:37:09

That's quite quick to build up a collection like this.

0:37:090:37:13

Have you been through...?

0:37:130:37:14

Because basically they start in, well, 1676.

0:37:140:37:18

I mean, you've got a couple that are earlier,

0:37:180:37:21

but they're in the 17th century and that's really at the height

0:37:210:37:24

of when they sort of started.

0:37:240:37:25

And you go through to the last date of...?

0:37:250:37:27

We continued collect... He died in 2005

0:37:280:37:32

and we continued collecting for a couple of years after that.

0:37:320:37:34

OK, so we've got varying grades and we have got...

0:37:340:37:41

I sort of counted out 63 odd coins in that tray.

0:37:410:37:45

Some had three or four coins, but there's a lot in there.

0:37:450:37:49

And, well, it's really all I can say.

0:37:490:37:51

It's just, I've never seen a collection

0:37:510:37:54

-of Maundy money like it.

-Wow.

0:37:540:37:55

These could be worth sort of £30 to £40 to £50 each.

0:37:550:38:00

Which isn't a lot,

0:38:000:38:02

but when you think that you've got over 2,000 of them...

0:38:020:38:05

..in these two cabinets, that comes out at between

0:38:060:38:10

£60,000-£80,000.

0:38:100:38:12

AUDIENCE EXCLAIM

0:38:120:38:15

-Gosh!

-Yes, thank you very much.

0:38:170:38:20

-That's really great, thank you.

-That's really interesting.

0:38:200:38:22

Well, these are a really beautiful pair of English art pottery vases,

0:38:250:38:29

their glaze just glinting in the sunlight here.

0:38:290:38:32

Do you know anything about them?

0:38:320:38:34

Well, I know they're

0:38:340:38:36

made by Doulton and that's about as much as I know,

0:38:360:38:40

about the turn of the century, and they're as large as I've ever seen.

0:38:400:38:43

Yes, the size is certainly amazing, isn't it? They're incredibly big.

0:38:430:38:47

Yes, they're Doulton and we know that because on the bottom

0:38:470:38:50

there's the impressed Doulton mark.

0:38:500:38:52

And they were made in Lambeth and they were made about 1900.

0:38:520:38:55

-I agree with all that.

-Right.

0:38:550:38:56

But what's really lovely is the decoration,

0:38:560:38:58

-which is what we call impasto decoration.

-Mm-hmm.

0:38:580:39:01

And it's decoration using raised slips to build up

0:39:010:39:05

a kind of leaf design which here

0:39:050:39:07

is incredibly detailed and beautiful.

0:39:070:39:10

I've got so much admiration for that work, I want to know who did it.

0:39:100:39:14

And unusually, pointing at the bottom of the vase there,

0:39:140:39:18

-is a monogram.

-That's it, yes.

0:39:180:39:20

I have looked it up in the book...

0:39:200:39:22

You've looked it up? Oh, thank goodness!

0:39:220:39:24

Yes, and it says that it's by an artist called Frances Linnell.

0:39:240:39:28

-Frances Linnell.

-I don't know anything about her, but...

0:39:280:39:31

Well, she was very talented,

0:39:310:39:33

and the results of her work were absolutely stunning.

0:39:330:39:36

So, can you tell me how you got them?

0:39:360:39:38

Yes. About four or five years ago I spotted them

0:39:380:39:42

in an online auction catalogue in the general antiques sale

0:39:420:39:45

and I put in a bid, or left a bid with them,

0:39:450:39:50

and I was very surprised when I got them.

0:39:500:39:53

I rang up, actually, to have them delivered and to pay for them,

0:39:540:39:57

and I was shocked when the price to send them to me

0:39:570:40:00

was more than I'd actually paid for them.

0:40:000:40:03

And I nearly put them back in the sale and said,

0:40:030:40:06

"Well, it's too expensive to have them,

0:40:060:40:10

"put them back through the next sale,"

0:40:100:40:12

but luckily a work colleague happened to be in the area

0:40:120:40:15

and she very kindly collected them for me,

0:40:150:40:17

and so I got them.

0:40:170:40:19

But when they arrived they were a good deal more than twice the size

0:40:190:40:23

that I had expected,

0:40:230:40:24

because I'd actually not looked at the picture very closely

0:40:240:40:27

and not read the description very well, either.

0:40:270:40:30

And I'd read it as being 18cm and, as you can see,

0:40:300:40:33

-they're more like 18 inches.

-No! Extraordinary.

0:40:330:40:38

So you haven't told me, I'm itching to know -

0:40:380:40:40

how much did they cost?

0:40:400:40:42

From memory, I think I paid about £100 or £110

0:40:420:40:46

-plus the auction house's costs.

-Right.

0:40:460:40:49

And you were quibbling about the cost

0:40:490:40:52

of having them shipped to you, as well.

0:40:520:40:54

Because that was going to be over another £100, yes.

0:40:540:40:56

Oh, so they were going to cost you 250 quid.

0:40:560:40:59

That's it, yes, and I very nearly...

0:40:590:41:02

Well, I think you're extremely mean, because you were quibbling 250 quid

0:41:020:41:06

over a pair of vases worth £1,000.

0:41:060:41:08

Heavens!

0:41:110:41:12

That's amazing. Great!

0:41:130:41:15

Diamonds and pearls, fabulous combination,

0:41:180:41:21

beautifully-executed pendant.

0:41:210:41:24

How have you come to get hold of it?

0:41:240:41:26

I saw it in a jeweller's a few years ago

0:41:260:41:29

and it had been in the jeweller's for a good couple of years

0:41:290:41:31

and nobody bought it, and I'd fallen in love with it

0:41:310:41:33

the first time I saw it.

0:41:330:41:35

And eventually I plucked up the courage and went and bought it.

0:41:350:41:38

Good for you. So it was obviously meant to be.

0:41:380:41:41

-Date-wise, it dates from the 1860s.

-Right.

0:41:410:41:43

And we've got natural pearl in the centre surrounded by

0:41:430:41:48

diamonds in the mount, which, of course,

0:41:480:41:50

has got this fabulously intricate star incorporated into the design,

0:41:500:41:55

which is a very typical image of the Victorian period

0:41:550:41:58

around the 1860s.

0:41:580:42:00

Because of the way that it's put together we can be sure that it was

0:42:000:42:03

by a very good maker, although of course it isn't signed

0:42:030:42:06

or hallmarked as Victorian jewellery didn't have to be during that time.

0:42:060:42:10

What's also fascinating about it,

0:42:100:42:12

it's not just a pendant with the hoop that we've got here,

0:42:120:42:15

but if we turn it over,

0:42:150:42:17

we have a brooch pin which probably would have been fitted later.

0:42:170:42:21

And then this disguises two other fittings underneath,

0:42:210:42:26

which would have been for a bracelet fitting.

0:42:260:42:29

Oh, I did wonder whether it was part of something else.

0:42:290:42:31

Yes. And the bracelet, believe it or not,

0:42:310:42:33

would have been made of human hair,

0:42:330:42:36

more than likely.

0:42:360:42:37

Right. I'm glad I didn't have the bracelet!

0:42:370:42:40

THEY LAUGH

0:42:400:42:42

Well, yes, I'd kind of agree. I think human hair is very personal.

0:42:420:42:47

It's about the memory of somebody that you might have lost and loved.

0:42:470:42:51

And the ability to be able to combine the two

0:42:510:42:54

in the Victorian period was really important.

0:42:540:42:57

So, having fallen in love with it, do you wear it?

0:42:570:42:59

If I can, I do.

0:42:590:43:01

But it's not something you can wear every day.

0:43:010:43:03

-Well, I don't know about that!

-I wouldn't wear it to work.

-No!

0:43:030:43:06

Oh, but it is extraordinary,

0:43:060:43:08

and I think it's absolutely adorable.

0:43:080:43:11

Should you ever decide to part with it

0:43:110:43:12

because something else comes along

0:43:120:43:14

that you've fallen in love with equally, I think auction, obviously,

0:43:140:43:17

is always a good way forward and an auction estimate on

0:43:170:43:20

a brooch like this would be between £5,000 and £7,000.

0:43:200:43:24

AUDIENCE GASPS

0:43:240:43:26

Gosh!

0:43:260:43:28

I didn't realise it was that...

0:43:280:43:29

Right, thank you very much.

0:43:310:43:32

Well, I'm happy that you're happy.

0:43:320:43:34

-Thank you.

-That's the main thing.

-That's lovely.

0:43:340:43:36

-Pleasure. Thank you for bringing it in.

-Thank you.

0:43:360:43:39

We have oil paintings on the Roadshow, we have watercolours,

0:43:420:43:45

but it's lovely to have an in-between medium, pastel.

0:43:450:43:49

Where does she come from?

0:43:490:43:50

Well, I found her in an antique dealer's paint shop,

0:43:520:43:58

basically, and I had just begun working with some pastels and I had

0:43:580:44:02

a book on the French pastellers.

0:44:020:44:05

In it, there was a picture of her...

0:44:050:44:08

..almost identical and I thought, "Oh, a lady," but with a monkey,

0:44:090:44:12

holding a monkey in her arms. It's in the Louvre.

0:44:120:44:15

So, this sort of excited me, and I looked up Rosalba Carriera,

0:44:150:44:19

who possibly was the artist,

0:44:190:44:21

and realised that she was in Paris in 1721

0:44:210:44:25

and that she had brought pastels, really,

0:44:250:44:28

to introduce to the French artists of the time.

0:44:280:44:31

And how much did you pay for her?

0:44:310:44:33

About £1,000, I think.

0:44:330:44:35

-Yes.

-So, the question is...

0:44:350:44:37

..is it by Rosalba Carriera,

0:44:380:44:40

the famous pastellist and portrait painter,

0:44:400:44:43

as you hope, but have yet to prove?

0:44:430:44:46

-Indeed.

-And wouldn't it be wonderful if we could?

0:44:460:44:48

Because Rosalba is the most exciting of painters,

0:44:480:44:52

or we should perhaps say pastellists,

0:44:520:44:54

because she's in the vanguard of female art

0:44:540:44:58

in the late 17th and early 18th century.

0:44:580:45:00

Born to a lowly family in Venice,

0:45:000:45:03

she started with miniatures and then made her way upwards

0:45:030:45:07

towards doing pastels, went to France.

0:45:070:45:10

She was patronised by all the aristocracy -

0:45:100:45:12

even Louis XV himself.

0:45:120:45:14

I mean, she was a woman who turned heads, and so did her portraits.

0:45:140:45:18

I have to say, I do love the way that her eyes,

0:45:180:45:22

lips and nose are done. There's a real sensitivity to them.

0:45:220:45:24

Yes, yes.

0:45:240:45:26

And it's also worth bearing in mind that

0:45:260:45:28

if we're going to try and work out whether this is by Rosalba,

0:45:280:45:31

we have to factor in the condition, and pastel is one of those things

0:45:310:45:34

-that is enormously fragile.

-Sure, sure.

0:45:340:45:37

If you touch the surface, you end up with it on your finger.

0:45:370:45:40

-I would say this was slightly faded and I would say that...

-Oh, it is.

0:45:400:45:44

Look at the blue round the shoulders.

0:45:440:45:46

I mean, that has undoubtedly faded.

0:45:460:45:49

Well, you've asked for an opinion

0:45:490:45:50

and I'm going to give you an opinion.

0:45:500:45:53

So I do think, on reflection,

0:45:530:45:55

you DID buy a work by Rosalba Carriera.

0:45:550:45:59

Thank you. That is good to know.

0:45:590:46:01

And, as to value, well...

0:46:010:46:04

You know, it's a...

0:46:040:46:05

It's good-looking portrait,

0:46:050:46:08

and pretty images, when you can

0:46:080:46:10

combine them with a good name,

0:46:100:46:12

are the sort of things that people want.

0:46:120:46:14

And despite the slight misgivings I've got about certain aspects

0:46:140:46:18

of its condition, I would say this is worth £10,000-£15,000.

0:46:180:46:22

Really?

0:46:220:46:24

Well, that confirms, I think, my hope that it was by Rosalba.

0:46:250:46:29

-Thank you.

-For it is her.

0:46:310:46:33

Indeed. Thank you very much.

0:46:340:46:35

What I noticed, that whoever made this chair,

0:46:380:46:41

you look at it and it's, to me, so Heath Robinson.

0:46:410:46:44

It's just been kind of cobbled together, putting the sides on,

0:46:440:46:48

we can see these lovely big clout nails,

0:46:480:46:50

then putting the top on, what we call the hood.

0:46:500:46:53

But I'm sure you must have noticed this...

0:46:530:46:55

..the chair maker.

0:46:570:46:58

Well, we noticed it's inscribed on both sides.

0:47:000:47:03

-WC!

-WC, yeah.

0:47:030:47:04

LAUGHTER

0:47:040:47:06

Of all the initials in the world on a commode, we've got WC!

0:47:060:47:11

But I think someone's put that there.

0:47:110:47:13

No, the calligraphy on that is what you'd expect

0:47:130:47:17

on late 18th century.

0:47:170:47:21

It's the way it's been executed.

0:47:210:47:24

So, tell me your story about it.

0:47:240:47:26

Well, my story is that, when we bought my grandparents' house,

0:47:260:47:31

the commode was in the house and it had to be part of the house,

0:47:310:47:34

and my auntie said it had to stay within the house.

0:47:340:47:36

And... So obviously we bought it.

0:47:360:47:39

But I, as a young child, grew up seeing the commode in the corner

0:47:390:47:43

in the sitting room and obviously appreciated it

0:47:430:47:46

as a part of the house.

0:47:460:47:47

It's made of oak and elm.

0:47:480:47:50

I just love the colour that, as it's been near a fire,

0:47:500:47:54

it's got all the soot and everything from the fire.

0:47:540:47:56

So you've got this really, really dark dirt,

0:47:560:48:00

for want of a better word, and where people have been touching it,

0:48:000:48:04

it's what we call bleeding,

0:48:040:48:06

so you can see the natural colour of the wood itself.

0:48:060:48:09

And this, this is obviously to help get the little potty out.

0:48:090:48:13

That's right.

0:48:130:48:14

I would date this around...

0:48:140:48:16

..1800s, 1790s, 1800.

0:48:170:48:20

But it looks much, much older.

0:48:210:48:24

I could quite easily see somebody getting very, very excited

0:48:240:48:28

if this ever did come on the market.

0:48:280:48:30

I could see a collector being happy to pay

0:48:300:48:35

at least £1,500, possibly £2,000 for this.

0:48:350:48:39

It's different.

0:48:390:48:40

Thank you for bringing it along. That is a pleasure to see.

0:48:400:48:43

And, yeah, if you see another one, let us know.

0:48:430:48:47

Well, we've moved out of the sun,

0:48:510:48:53

under the boughs of this magnificent tree

0:48:530:48:54

into the grounds of the abbey.

0:48:540:48:56

And you brought me along this...

0:48:560:48:58

what I have to say is probably one of the dirtiest toys

0:48:580:49:02

that has ever been brought into the Roadshow!

0:49:020:49:05

Where has it been living for the last 150 years?

0:49:050:49:08

Well, for the last 60 years, it's been living on top of

0:49:080:49:11

a bookcase where it was placed by my father

0:49:110:49:14

after he finished playing with it.

0:49:140:49:15

So it's not been played with for 60 years?

0:49:150:49:17

No, it's not been touched for 60 years until this morning,

0:49:170:49:20

when I decided to take it down and bring it to this Roadshow because,

0:49:200:49:23

when I was about 12, my best friend at the time said,

0:49:230:49:26

"If ever the Antiques Roadshow comes to this area,

0:49:260:49:28

"you should take it in and let them have a look at it."

0:49:280:49:31

-So that was when you were 12.

-Yes.

0:49:310:49:33

And you're a bit more than 12 now, so that was some time ago.

0:49:330:49:36

-It was, yes.

-And you've kept it aside,

0:49:360:49:37

-and still haven't brought it until today.

-Correct.

0:49:370:49:40

It was treated with reverence, so we weren't allowed near it.

0:49:400:49:42

Neither were my nephews, nieces, or the grandchildren in the family,

0:49:420:49:47

so it's sort of been up there.

0:49:470:49:49

Well, I'll let you off, because actually,

0:49:490:49:51

had you kept pristine and got it down from the top of the cupboard,

0:49:510:49:54

-you would've played with it and you would have broken it!

-Mm.

0:49:540:49:58

Agreed!

0:49:580:50:00

That's what's nice about it. And in fact, the dirt has preserved it.

0:50:000:50:03

It will clean up, and I think from a collector's point of view,

0:50:030:50:05

that's really important.

0:50:050:50:07

So, any other family history at all about it? Or, you know...

0:50:070:50:11

Well, I believe it's German, but I'm not sure.

0:50:110:50:14

I understand it was probably my great-grandfather's,

0:50:140:50:17

or my great-great-grandfather's, but once again I can't be sure.

0:50:170:50:20

-Yeah.

-It was passed down from generation to generation

0:50:200:50:22

and the last generation to play with it was my father who,

0:50:220:50:25

obviously, then stored it.

0:50:250:50:27

And the family have always lived in the same house?

0:50:270:50:29

We have. We're farmers by trade

0:50:290:50:32

and we've been in the same house since 1864.

0:50:320:50:35

Fantastic.

0:50:350:50:37

Well, great provenance, great history, great original condition.

0:50:370:50:40

So, I can confirm it is German.

0:50:400:50:43

Well, the bisque head is certainly German,

0:50:430:50:45

and I assume the costume is too.

0:50:450:50:47

And you'd wind it up and it would go along,

0:50:470:50:50

and the little legs would go up and down.

0:50:500:50:52

He's got a little bit of lace coming down the front

0:50:520:50:55

and he's got metal hands and wooden feet.

0:50:550:50:57

The mechanism and the tricycle part of it I think is made in France.

0:50:570:51:01

So it's a combination between France and Germany

0:51:010:51:04

to produce what is, I think, a wonderful toy.

0:51:040:51:08

And the date is sort of 1890,

0:51:080:51:10

so I think it's probably your great-grandfather

0:51:100:51:13

-rather than your great-great grandfather...

-Yeah.

0:51:130:51:15

..if we just go back down the generations.

0:51:150:51:17

Well, I think it is nice.

0:51:170:51:19

It's eminently restorable and I think it's in the condition

0:51:190:51:21

that every collector wants to find.

0:51:210:51:23

So if you decide to sell it and to put it into auction,

0:51:230:51:26

I think it could easily fetch between, well, £2,000 and £3,000.

0:51:260:51:30

-Oh, wow, that's amazing.

-Very nice.

0:51:300:51:32

So congratulations for not looking after your toys!

0:51:320:51:35

Thank you!

0:51:350:51:36

Looking at this dress,

0:51:390:51:40

I can sort of picture the scene one misty morning -

0:51:400:51:44

a woman walking through the abbey meadows.

0:51:440:51:48

It's wonderful. Is it a family heirloom?

0:51:480:51:51

-No, no.

-Oh.

0:51:510:51:52

LAUGHTER

0:51:520:51:54

So, what is it?

0:51:540:51:56

Well, it was given to me by a friend in the 1960s,

0:51:560:52:00

and she just gave it to me because I'd just had a daughter

0:52:000:52:03

and I think she thought she might be interested

0:52:030:52:05

later on to dress up in it.

0:52:050:52:07

And did your daughter dress up in it?

0:52:070:52:09

No, no, it's never been touched.

0:52:090:52:10

-I've never seen it out.

-You've never seen it out?

0:52:100:52:13

-No.

-This is the first time you've actually seen it?

0:52:130:52:15

Yes, seen it on show, yeah.

0:52:150:52:17

-How do you think it looks?

-Very nice. Beautiful.

0:52:170:52:19

How have you kept it? In a box, or...?

0:52:190:52:21

Just in a box, or in a drawer, yeah.

0:52:210:52:22

Well, let's talk about what it is.

0:52:240:52:26

It is what's known as a robe a la francaise,

0:52:260:52:29

or a sack-back robe.

0:52:290:52:31

People might say,

0:52:310:52:33

"Oh, obviously it's incomplete. It's got an open front."

0:52:330:52:36

Well, it was an open robe, and you would wear a very beautiful...

0:52:360:52:40

We call them a petticoat, but it was an underskirt, really, under it.

0:52:400:52:44

And of course you would have had wide hoops under all that...

0:52:440:52:48

That's what I thought, yeah.

0:52:480:52:50

..to give you that wonderful silhouette.

0:52:500:52:53

Yeah.

0:52:530:52:55

And if you can imagine wearing this,

0:52:550:52:58

and in the candlelight of the 1760s or the 1770s,

0:52:580:53:02

which is when it dates from,

0:53:020:53:04

how that would have glistened and sparkled,

0:53:040:53:06

and you would have seen shadows down the side of the dress.

0:53:060:53:10

It would have been quite extraordinary.

0:53:100:53:12

Yes, it would have been wonderful, I should think.

0:53:120:53:15

The material that it's made from is really quite exquisite.

0:53:150:53:20

Because it's painted silk.

0:53:210:53:24

Oh.

0:53:240:53:25

It's not embroidered. There is embroidery on it,

0:53:250:53:28

-but it's painted silk.

-Oh!

0:53:280:53:29

And so, this fabulous painted silk would have been imported to Europe

0:53:310:53:36

to be made up into this dress here in England.

0:53:360:53:40

The decorations on it are also rather wonderful.

0:53:400:53:44

You've got at the front here these little...

0:53:440:53:47

They're little sort of dangling tassels of chenille work.

0:53:470:53:52

-Yes.

-And then down each side

0:53:520:53:55

you've got raised pockets, almost,

0:53:550:53:59

which have got a little piece of wool inside.

0:53:590:54:04

-It looks almost like a piece of cotton wool.

-It does, yeah.

0:54:040:54:07

But it's real wool inside this panel here,

0:54:070:54:11

to give it a three-dimensional view.

0:54:110:54:15

-Extraordinary, isn't it?

-It is, very.

0:54:150:54:17

What I'd like to do, if the breeze will allow us,

0:54:170:54:21

I'm just going to turn it round, if I may.

0:54:210:54:23

Can you give me a hand?

0:54:230:54:24

Gently, because it is...

0:54:250:54:27

And we can see...

0:54:280:54:29

..the back here, which gives it its other name,

0:54:320:54:35

which is a sack-back robe.

0:54:350:54:36

And you've got pleats running from the shoulder blades,

0:54:360:54:41

box pleats running all the way down to the bottom,

0:54:410:54:44

which gives it a sort of train effect.

0:54:440:54:46

-That's right, yes.

-So, when you wore this,

0:54:460:54:49

you were making really quite a statement, as you can imagine.

0:54:490:54:52

I think so, yeah. It's beautiful.

0:54:520:54:54

I'm going to turn it back now, if I may,

0:54:540:54:56

and we can enjoy the front.

0:54:560:54:58

What I also like very much are these scalloped edges.

0:54:580:55:04

We've got scalloped edges, particularly on the sleeves here.

0:55:040:55:09

When one looks at a dress like this,

0:55:090:55:11

one has to appreciate that this is an extraordinary survivor.

0:55:110:55:16

Painted fabrics are notoriously difficult to keep,

0:55:170:55:21

and the fact that it's been kept in a box for so long would perhaps

0:55:210:55:26

explain why it hasn't just fallen to pieces,

0:55:260:55:28

which is what so often is the fate.

0:55:280:55:31

It is an incredibly rare survivor.

0:55:310:55:35

It's beautiful.

0:55:350:55:37

It's a lovely design.

0:55:370:55:40

And, perhaps more importantly,

0:55:400:55:42

a dress like this is of huge demand internationally by collectors

0:55:420:55:47

and museums. This has a future way outside

0:55:470:55:51

here at Tewkesbury,

0:55:510:55:53

and who knows where it will ultimately end up?

0:55:530:55:55

But this is for a major museum somewhere in the world.

0:55:550:55:59

And what was just a present from a friend...

0:55:590:56:02

-Yes!

-..is now going to be worth something around...

0:56:020:56:05

..£40,000.

0:56:070:56:08

Oh! Oh...

0:56:080:56:10

Don't tell my granddaughter that!

0:56:100:56:12

Oh, dear, I can't believe that.

0:56:160:56:17

What an amazing find.

0:56:190:56:21

And to think the dress has just been sitting in a drawer for decades!

0:56:210:56:25

We've come to the end of our day here at Tewkesbury Abbey,

0:56:260:56:28

but before we go, a visitor has brought along something

0:56:280:56:31

that's reminded us of Antiques Roadshows past.

0:56:310:56:34

Do you remember in a previous series we featured a musical penknife

0:56:340:56:37

worth a staggering £60,000-£80,000?

0:56:370:56:41

Well, what about this?

0:56:410:56:45

Whopper!

0:56:450:56:46

Have you ever seen a penknife quite this large?

0:56:480:56:51

It's a piece of memorabilia to advertise penknives,

0:56:510:56:54

made of staghorn. Look at this.

0:56:540:56:56

And Bill Harriman, our military expert,

0:56:590:57:01

absolutely fell in love with it.

0:57:010:57:02

He said, just for the sheer size alone, to a collector,

0:57:020:57:06

that could be worth £1,500.

0:57:060:57:09

From the Antiques Roadshow, and this massive penknife,

0:57:090:57:13

until next time, bye-bye.

0:57:130:57:15

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