New Lanark 1 Antiques Roadshow

We're setting up today's Roadshow

in a magnificent World Heritage Site in Scotland called New Lanark.

And in the 18th century, this rugged landscape

and the fast-flowing River Clyde made it the ideal spot

for manufacturing cotton.

It was also the backdrop for a radical social experiment.

At a time when poor housing conditions and long working hours

for little reward was the norm,

along came philanthropist Robert Owen,

and turned all that on its head.

Owen took over management of New Lanark in 1800

and his aim was to build a society based on charity and kindness.

He believed the key to this utopia was through education,

cleaner living conditions,

and by phasing out the employment of young children.

So he set about ensuring that workers' homes,

which were unsurprisingly often filthy and unhygienic,

were cleaned on a weekly basis,

and there were frequent home inspections too,

to ensure a healthier workforce.

Unlike most factory owners of the time,

Owen didn't believe in using abusive language and violence

to make his employees work harder.

Instead, he came up with an ingenious way to encourage them.

LOOMS CLACK

In what was a very noisy environment,

every worker had a silent monitor next to their work station -

one of these - and the colour that faced outwards

indicated their performance.

White was for excellent,

yellow for good, blue for indifferent,

and black for bad.

So Owen was able to walk through the mill and tell at a glance how each

employee was doing.

There was, he said, "No beating, no abusive language.

"I merely looked at the person and then at the colour."

Robert Owen's greatest legacy is that he set up the first school

in the world for children from the age of three.

They learned the three Rs, but the focus was more on

music, dance, nature,

sharing and being kind to each other.

And he also decreed that no child under the age of ten

would be allowed to work in the mill.

BELL RINGS

As well as introducing shortened working hours,

he also established a sick fund, a savings bank and a village store,

selling cheap food and household goods -

an idea that helped form the origin of the cooperative movement.

His ideas seem humane to us today,

but in the early 19th century they were considered far too radical.

The government was unpersuaded and rejected his ideas as crazy.

But even in his own time, more than 20,000 tourists came to wonder

at his achievements, and today the people of New Lanark and beyond

have come to share their own stories with our Antiques Roadshow team.

Now, is this a picture you like?

-Yes, I love it very much.

-You do?

-Yes.

And where does it hang in your house?

It's in my hallway and I look at it every morning.

And what is it you like about it?

It's the subject matter,

just because the little boy seems to be playing

and enjoying whatever he's doing.

And I think it's the intrigue, cos there's always that little bit

of mystery, what's actually going on in the background,

which you can't actually see.

Unfortunately, it had been lying in a junk room.

And, therefore, when we were cleaning out the junk room,

we found it, and I liked the piece so much that it's been hanging

-on my wall ever since.

-Now, have you any idea where it was painted?

-No idea.

-And do you know who it's by?

-No, I don't.

Well, it's a very interesting picture.

The frame drew me to this straightaway,

cos only one artist used this sort of frame,

and he's an artist called Mortimer Menpes.

And it is signed on the bottom left here, which half is hidden

by the slip there. It's got "Mortimer Menpes."

Difficult to see, that's why you didn't know.

He was born in Australia in 1855,

and he came to live in this country,

and he was a pupil of a very famous artist,

who was James McNeill Whistler,

who was the American artist that painted in London.

So he was one of his pupils.

And Menpes went on to do a lot of travel painting.

So he went to India to paint, he went to Japan to paint,

and he went to North Africa and to Anguilla to paint,

and some of his pictures were reproduced by A&C Black,

which is a book publishing firm, on these various countries,

and you see his pictures in those books.

And I'm wondering if this is in one of A&C Black's books

on North Africa.

But it's fabulous. It's fabulous because it's in its original state,

it's in the original cushioned frames,

and he had these specially made for him.

And when anybody shows me a frame like that, I know who the artist is

straightaway, just by the style.

But let's look at the painting.

Here we've got some Arab children outside a little house there,

and there's a little fire going on in the background there.

And it's a little shack on the outside of a house,

and they're probably making bread inside.

It's a wonderful, wonderful picture by him.

And it's got a value.

I think that if that came up for sale, and it's in such

original condition, it would make at least

£2,000 to £3,000.

Thank you. That's very nice, thank you very much.

Well, it's a lovely thing to have, and don't ever change the frame,

because although it's slightly chipped,

you can have that gently repaired. But it's a wonderful piece.

-Wonderful piece.

-Thank you very much.

Yes, you've made my day. Thank you.

Now, someone told me that you were the first in the queue this morning.

Half past six this morning.

Half past six?

So what time did you get up?

About 4am.

That's amazing!

Well done you. You've come a long way, then?

I have travelled a long way, it took 12 hours to reach here.

What? Where have you come from?

From Yorkshire.

That's incredible. Well, welcome,

and I'm delighted you brought something that we're filming,

which is fantastic.

I must admit when I first saw him, I thought he was a wasp.

-But he's not, he's a bee!

-Definitely a bee.

Tell me the history of him and how you came to have him.

An old lady over the road was going into a care home,

and there was a large skip outside her house,

and the family were sorting and throwing bits out

-and this was thrown in the skip.

-What?!

And my dad asked if he could have him, and it's been with me

ever since I was little.

I love it. How could they throw him in a skip?

I know, he's gruesome, but in a nice way.

He's in such good condition.

-I have looked after him.

-You have.

So you didn't take him to bed and squeeze him, because he's got wings.

-I was tempted when I was younger.

-Yes, I bet you were.

But I managed to refrain from doing that.

Now, the Hygienic Toy Company was working in Fulham

in the '20s and '30s.

I think that he's probably 1930,

but he's called...

Imperial Bee Esquire.

I mean, how could people think up these wonderful names for things?

-So, he's made of sort of plush, which is a mohair plush.

-Yes.

And his face is just a bit of material,

and he's got felt ears and felt hands,

and his body's also plush, and then he's got these lovely wings,

which, I think, are sort of wired muslin.

They are very delicate.

Yeah, there's a lot of work in it, isn't there?

Do you have a name for him?

I call him Busby.

Well, I think to people that collect every animal

and every insect, and particularly Hygienic Toys

which is a very good English make, I would think he's probably worth

about £200.

He's not going anywhere.

Normally, it's the sheer attention to detail that sets Meissen figures

-apart from everybody else...

-Yeah.

-..but in this case,

the size is remarkable too, they're huge.

They are quite big! Are they usually smaller?

Well, this is about as big as you get in Meissen, which is

lovely to see.

Where do they come from?

Well, they come from my husband's family.

It was in their house when they died, it was cleared,

and I asked if I could have these,

so that's where they came from.

So you chose these because...?

I chose them, and actually they were in really poor condition

when I got them. I didn't notice that at the time

cos they were on a high mantelpiece, so they looked lovely,

but there was fingers missing,

and all kinds of things that I had to have fixed.

-Oh, you had them restored?

-I had them restored.

I mean, there's so many things to get damaged when you have

-figures like these.

-I know, I know.

Because everywhere you look there's more detail, isn't there?

-Every hair is carefully painted, one little line at a time.

-Yeah.

The fingers, they've got the little nails and all the flowers,

-every one separately made.

-Mm.

-And I love this lace.

-I know, I was going to ask you,

is the lace, is it actual lace that's been painted over,

or they've made it look like that in the ceramic?

-It's clever, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Meissen invented this process. They took real lace,

just little strips of fine lace, and dipped it in clay

-and then they stuck it on the figure.

-Wow.

And in the kiln, the lace burnt away,

-leaving its skeleton in china.

-Oh, right, OK.

And it goes right the way round.

The lace dress... Look at this trim there.

-That dress is beautiful, isn't it?

-I mean, all the way round,

all there, every little piece of lace, so delicate, isn't it?

I mean... So, Meissen was the greatest of the German factories.

There were lots of others who imitated,

they copied everything that Meissen made,

but they never did it so well.

So, we look at the clues, especially around the mark,

to tell just when they were made, and underneath the base...

If one can lift up the weight.

And this is a sheer sign of the Meissen, because it's the weight.

-Very heavy.

-They're heavy, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-It weighs a ton,

-doesn't it?

-It does.

-And Meissen is very heavy porcelain,

that's a good sign.

And there's the other sign you want to see, the crossed swords mark,

and that shape of mark is right for about 1870, something like that.

OK.

So there they are.

Still here.

Was it expensive repairing them?

I think altogether for both it was about £500.

-So quite a bit to spend on them.

-Yeah, yeah.

It was worth doing because now they look good, and size alone, erm...

..couple of thousand pounds.

Wow.

That's good.

Was worth having them repaired, then.

And not too expensive. I won't be frightened to have them

-in the house.

-SHE LAUGHS

Well, two of the most exuberant armchairs I've ever seen!

I mean, do you like them,

and where did you get them?

Oh, I absolutely love them.

My husband inherited them from a rambling old house

-down in Herefordshire...

-Right.

-..in 1959.

-The owner of the house, he collected a lot of Burmese artefacts.

-Right.

And then after that, they were stored in a garage.

OK. What prompted you to approach the Roadshow with them?

Well, last year, I was in Malaysia

and we were invited to the king's palace, um...

Now you... Invited to the king's palace?

Well, how come?

Do you know him?

Well, a long story, but we know a very close friend of his,

and we were invited along.

And I happened to spot these two chairs and I said to my friend,

"I can't believe we've these two chairs in the garage!"

And he said, "No, you must be mistaken."

Well, interestingly, these chairs are carved with motifs

to do with water.

And it just seems appropriate that with the beautiful flow

of the River Clyde in the background

that we should look at these mythical animals.

To the left, the back panel of this chair is centred by

the fabled hairy-tailed giant turtle.

And there he is, there's the turtle with this enormous tail,

which flows into a stream.

On top, we have a crane.

There's its beak and its head.

And one wing goes that way,

but this wing comes beautifully over the top of it.

And can you see its sprawling leg?

Very well observed, as the Japanese always do.

And on this other chair, it's smothered with dragons,

which are associated with rain and rivers.

-So, I mean, what a coincidence.

-Yes, it is.

-Yep.

-Burmese, not so sure.

-No?

I know these are actually from Japan.

-Japan?

-Yes, yes.

-Right.

-Gosh.

-And date from around about 1910...

-Uh-huh.

-..at the end of the reign of an emperor called Meiji.

-Right.

-And these would have been made for export, not just to Europe,

cos I see these in auction rooms in the UK quite often,

-but they went all over the Far East, so...

-Yes.

-My goodness.

-The king's chairs, they're probably Japanese.

-Yeah.

-Your friend who collected Burmese things

must have got something Japanese.

Erm, being absolutely frank with you,

the fashion for big dark armchairs from the sort of

late 19th, early 20th century, it's gone.

-Oh.

-Japanese things are not that fashionable on the market,

and I'm afraid that is reflected in the value

-which I'm going to give you.

-Oh, right.

The value at auction would be

-1,000 to £1,500.

-Mm-hm.

And, you know, I might get a kick up the backside by fellow valuers,

-who may think even a little less than that.

-Right.

We'll certainly have to decide what we're going to do with them,

whether they go back into the garage or what, I'm not sure.

It's another lovely travelling case,

so I know there'll be something

pretty good in here.

Yes.

-And that is pretty good, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Now, would it be true, or presumptuous of me, to suggest

that you're not from the UK?

No, I'm from Germany.

And is this something from Germany, or where did it come from?

It belongs to my husband, really.

He can't be here today, so he asked me to come.

And he bought it somehow in 1994, on a flea market in Hanover, he said.

You're joking?! This was found in a Hanover flea market?

-Yes.

-That's unbelievable!

Did he ever tell you what he paid for it?

Well, he said about 100 marks, German marks, those days.

So in those days, we're talking just before, around the time

of the wall coming down...

About three marks to the pound, was it?

I don't really know, but if you say so.

I think it was something like that.

-I spent a lot of time in Berlin during the '80s.

-Mm-hm.

And I'll tell you something, I was always looking for things like this

in the markets in the Tiergarten,

and I never found anything like that for the equivalent of £30.

So he was very lucky?

-Er, exceedingly!

-OK.

Anyway, let's have a look at it.

It is what we call a strut clock.

And there is the stamp of the retailer, which is London & Ryder.

So we'll just shut that up momentarily.

And the reason we call it a strut clock is cos

we have this strut at the bottom,

to support the clock, or we can lean it right back.

-It's top quality.

-Oh.

And this...

is something that I know was made by one specific man.

Despite the London & Ryder inscription on the bottom there,

-it was made by a man called Thomas Cole.

-Uh-huh.

Typical Cole dial, beautifully engraved, as I say.

You've got roses and I think what looks like fuchsias there.

Very pretty thing.

And then all around the outside,

against more of a matt rather than a shiny finish to the silvering,

we've got lovely foliage and other flowers,

fleur-de-lis hands.

And even the sides of the clock - I don't know whether you've noticed -

are all engraved with flowers and little vignettes of flowers

-down here.

-Yeah.

Just turning it round, we've got, once again, London & Ryder,

New Bond Street, London, who were one of Cole's retailers.

-Oh, yeah.

-Cole was manufacturing for various people, London & Ryder,

-another famous company, Hancocks, of Bruton Street.

-Oh.

-So top, top jewellers.

-Mm-hm.

And this is a very, very serious size of clock.

-Like all Cole things, there is a number on the bottom...

-Ah, yeah.

..which you only see when the strut is swivelled round.

So, British, by one of the best makers of the period

and we're talking, this is probably around 1860.

-Oh.

-OK?

-Yeah.

And your husband bought this for the equivalent of £30 to £35?

It's not a lot.

Fully signed, fully numbered, with its box.

Do you think he'd be happy if I quoted you between

£4,000 and £5,000?

Yes, I would be happy!

That's very nice!

Yeah.

-Thank you.

-I spent years looking for this sort of thing in Germany,

never found it, so all credit to you both.

I've never seen such a comprehensive selection

of prisoner of war

camp memorabilia.

And just looking at it,

you can see all kinds of scenes of life...

..in the prisoner of war camps.

And I'm guessing that it's associated with

this splendid looking gentleman in his tam-o'-shanter,

-with regimental badge and with his pipe?

-Yeah.

Who was he and is he a family relation?

The gentleman we have in front of us,

his name was Company Sergeant Major Thomas McMahon

of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.

The story is that the collection was handed down

through my stepmum's family.

Now, the Highlanders fought during the Battle of Tobruk

in World War II and, unfortunately, Sergeant Major McMahon

was actually captured and later incarcerated in

Stalag B prisoner of war camp in Germany.

The collection we have of photographs and sketches

and the diary give a very personal account of his time in Stalag B.

The photographs explain in detail what happened during his time

in incarceration. Now, what's quite special about the photographs

is that many of them were taken by a hidden camera,

which was hidden inside a Bible.

-This is the camera in the hollowed-out Bible.

-Oh, God, yeah.

-Yeah.

-That would appear to be how...

-You can see the camera's in there,

and presumably there's some sort of button that you

-trigger the shutter with.

-Absolutely.

Point the Bible in the right direction.

And I have a few smaller pictures.

That's really interesting, there's some pretty senior German officers.

They always had enormous greatcoats,

you can see them getting into their transport there.

They wouldn't want to be photographed.

You don't know, it might have been a senior officer visiting the camp.

-Certainly something that he didn't want snapping.

-Right.

And that's interesting.

That's really domestic, there.

That's them eating, there.

And perhaps what they're eating wasn't as wonderful

-as the Germans liked to let on was being served to them.

-No, no.

So, again, that would be potential propaganda if that got out.

Yeah, there's talk in the diary of a lot of malnutrition and disease

-caused through malnutrition.

-Yeah, I'm sure.

Obviously when he was in the camp, as a Warrant Officer Class 2,

Company Sergeant Major, he would have been very important in...

leading the British prisoners, liaising with the German guards,

the commandant, and because he had that warrant rank,

he would be looked up to.

Let's look through the diary.

You said there were various other things,

and their concert parties...

and here we are.

-Isn't that just fantastic?

-Yeah.

It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

-Exactly.

-And there, as you said,

one of the other prisoners dressed up as a lady.

-As a lady.

-Fantastic.

I've never seen this many photos from a prisoner of war camp.

-Yeah, quite special.

-It is very special.

One of the pictures I like the most is these two chaps hammering the

-living daylights out of each other in friendly competition.

-Uh-huh.

Taffy Jones of Wales,

this chap here, is giving a really good hammering

to the smiling kid, who is a Dutchman.

And we're not told who won, but my money's on Mr Jones.

This is very interesting.

"March past of all nationals."

And, "The camp commandant takes a salute."

So here we are.

You can see there's the Army, the Royal Air Force...

..the French...

..and the Hollanders. So there's obviously Dutch prisoners in there.

I think this is one of the most interesting pieces

of prisoner of war memorabilia that we've ever had.

Things like this, they don't have a tremendous commercial value.

If you bought this lot in an auction room, you'd be paying

200 or 300 quid for it, that's not very much.

-It's not the financial value that's important...

-No.

-..it's the story.

Yeah. And I think that with self publication,

-so easily these days...

-Yeah.

-..you should tell his story.

Yeah, I think I should, there's something can be done with it.

-I can see a book in this lot.

-Yeah. Thank you very much.

-This is what I'd call a large table, even a very large table.

-Yeah.

-It's made of solid oak, but with a huge great marble slab.

-Yeah.

How on earth did you get it here?

It was actually taken down a spiral staircase, so your team

done very well, actually.

A spiral staircase?

Yeah.

Well, thank you for that, anyway. Where is it in the house,

up in the bedroom or something?

No, no, no, it's up in my kitchen. I use it... This is my...

I eat my dinner off this.

It's a fantastic table and I'm rushing around in my mind trying to

work out what I think it is. Do you have any history at all?

I don't have really a lot of history at all.

I bought it maybe about ten years ago from a dealer friend of mine.

I really like Gothic kind of furniture

and it looked really Gothic, and I needed a table for my kitchen.

-THEY LAUGH

-Fair enough!

And I had a really small in there, so this was perfect.

Fantastic. It's a lovely table. I mean, it's just over six foot long,

it's a big table. With this marble top, almost certainly

-for perhaps game or for cold meats, something like that.

-Yeah.

Possibly in a back hall, when you come in from the shoot

to put the game, you know, pheasants and things...dead bird and game

and things like that on it. I don't know, that sort of thing.

That would make sense to have this big marble top.

-It's not made as an eating table, anyway.

-No, no.

Well, it's got a shelf at the bottom, so you can't actually

get your legs underneath it so you have to sit a little bit funny.

And of course what is not obvious,

that it's actually not carved at the back,

so the carvings are all on the front here, this wonderful carving.

And I love the grace of this carved oak ogee arch here,

slender going up like that to these crocketed finials at the end.

That is so typical of the Gothic period.

From the early Gothic to the Gothic reform, it's almost the hallmark.

But if you go from the back here, you've got a rose.

I don't know if it's a Scottish rose or not.

I think that's a lady's slipper or orchid down there

and then we move to... Oh, shamrock. Ah!

And a margarita or something and lily of the valley,

so it's intricately carved, it's really beautifully carved.

To me, I think there is a possibility it's

from Taymouth Castle. It's exactly the sort of thing I'd expect in

a big Scottish, possibly Highland castle, like Taymouth.

You know, the sort of French baronial look, which of course

was loved in Scotland.

I can't be sure, research might prove me right or wrong,

but I think I'm right because it was remodelled several times.

But in the late 1830s, by an architect called

James Graham, and one of the young people working with him

was the very young, at that time unknown, Augustus Pugin.

-If you like Gothic, you must have heard of him?

-I have, yes.

He's better known for the interiors of the House of Commons.

He is one of England's great architects.

Is it Pugin?

I hope so.

I don't think it's Pugin himself, but the interior decoration...

Pugin worked on that, not as a designer, as I know it,

but as a workman or drawing. I mean, nothing particularly important.

-Yeah.

-I mean, a house like that would have been typical

for this sort of very grand furniture, large-scale,

very expensive. This is very good quality oak,

-imported marble from Italy, so no expense spared.

-Yeah.

So we have something which he might have seen, he might have touched.

-Wow.

-Queen Victoria also stayed at the castle,

so we're getting a nice provenance, possibly, but we have to prove that.

-Yeah.

-Even so, without that proof at the moment, I think it's a...

..pretty good piece of furniture.

-Great.

-So...

..what is it worth?

I think £15,000 to £20,000.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh, my goodness. Oh, no!

Yes.

Now I'm going to feel very guilty if I have a curry on it.

Did you steal it or wheedle it out of the chap?

No, no! Well...

I actually bought it from the dealer, actually, for £5,000

and I thought I was happy to pay that, and I had...

It was a beautiful table. But I then met the dealer who sold it to that

dealer for £600, and he says, "Oh, you've been ripped off."

So I guess I haven't, actually.

Wow, that's fantastic.

-Thank you so much.

-You bought what you liked and it's paid off.

Brilliant, great, thank you very much.

We often find that people bring along items

that reveal their family history, but in your case,

what you brought along has opened a Pandora's box

-of family secrets?

-Yes.

It begins with your grandfather, Heinrich,

who was German and he was married to...?

-To Elspeth.

-Your grandmother.

Now, the problem was that Elspeth was not... Well, she was German,

-but she was also...

-She was a Jewess.

So that's not a particularly easy situation in the 1930s in Germany.

-Definitely not, no.

-I should point out that you're father and daughter?

-Yes.

-And you've got photographs of...

-We do, yes.

-..Heinrich and Elspeth.

-I do.

-Can we see?

This is Heinrich. This is my great-grandfather.

-In his German uniform.

-In his German uniform.

And he reputedly won the Iron Cross Class One

-and also the Knight's Cross for bravery.

-And so highly decorated.

So he was obviously in the German Army serving,

and this is my great-grandmother, who was Elspeth,

and being Jewish, obviously in the 1930s,

it was not possible for them to be together.

So the decision was made that they would need to separate.

So their marriage came under scrutiny, did it?

They had to divorce, I understand.

-They had to divorce?

-Yeah.

-Because she was Jewish and he was...

To break away and, of course...

..her family came to... came to the UK.

She left behind...

-..Heinrich.

-He was left behind, yes.

-Her husband.

And when he divorced her, do you know, was that an act of repudiation

because she was Jewish or was it an act of love to free her

-so that she could get to safety?

-I think it was an act of love,

to be honest with you. Something that had to happen.

So your father, along with his siblings, came to Britain.

He then took part in the Second World War?

-That's right.

-Of course, he was German.

-Yes.

-Did he admit to that?

-Never, never. He admitted...

He would say he was Scandinavian.

To admit to being German at that time when war was imminent and there

would have been a lot of anti-German feeling at that time in Britain,

but also the fact that there was the Jewish connection

in that Dad's grandmother was Jewish as well,

so they felt it was so shameful

that Dad wasn't even told about his origins.

Well, he found out quite accidentally,

he came across a family stamper that had the German name on it

and had no idea what it was and asked questions about it.

Any family documentation, any photographs were all destroyed,

so there was little or no evidence of the Germanic history there.

And do you think he felt a sense of shame about his heritage?

Yes, exactly. In fact, he admitted while I was there,

he said he's ashamed to be German.

And you've brought along all sorts of things,

a painting in particular...

-That's right.

-..which belonged your grandmother?

-That's right.

-To your great-grandmother...

-Yes.

..which we're going to look at.

That's the one thing she gave me after her death.

And that will no doubt reveal more of your family past,

-your family secrets?

-That's right.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

There's something about the colour red

that really evokes the passion and it stirs the soul,

the power and desire and temptation

and there are a few gemstones that are red in colour, as well.

Now, before I tell you about those stones,

how did you get to have this?

My mother gave it to me, it was handed down to her

and she's now passed it on to me.

So don't really know anything about the bracelet, at all.

When did you receive this?

Just about a year ago.

And have you worn it?

-Erm, only once.

-And what did you feel when you were wearing it?

Um...made me feel good cos I like things sparkly,

that's why my mother gave it to me.

Do you like the colour red?

It's my birthstone, ruby.

But what do you think the stones are?

Well, my mother seem to think it was garnet.

And that's a red stone.

-Yes.

-So you've got all different types of garnet,

you've got pyrope garnet, almandine garnet

and they have all different types of red.

You've also got tourmalines, red tourmalines, rubelite,

they're also red and very, very occasionally,

you can get a red diamond, but that is absolutely rare,

and you also get rubies.

Now, why my heart sung where I saw these is because they're rubies.

Right.

-And they're rubies that are from Burma...

-Oh.

..from Myanmar as we know now.

But this is an incredibly important part of the world

where rubies have come from for the last 800 years.

Rubies had this fire, this life and especially from Burma,

from the Mogok area because of the chromium

and the chromium inside makes it really like a fire inside the ruby

and that's what you're looking for, the intensity of colour.

I just want to have a closer look at these stones here...

..because...

SHE CHUCKLES

It's a joy for me to have a look at these

cos when I look through my loupe, I'm looking through into the stone

and it's like a world of its own and it was about 1890,

that sort of period is when it was made.

Right.

These are getting rarer,

the style is not particularly in fashion at the moment,

but do you know?

I don't like talking about jewellery and fashion

because it's about quality.

So I would say that at auction

you're going to be thinking in the region of about

£3,000-£5,000.

Oh, goodness, that's a lot.

Right. OK, wow.

Speechless.

A nice piece, then.

A very plain green dish.

It's very plain.

And how long have you been aware of this dish?

I'm ashamed to say I'm not generally aware of it at all,

it just is tucked away in the corner,

but, I mean, it's been in the family probably over 100 years, I imagine.

Over 100 years. And how do you know that?

Er, because it's in some very old photos of a very old house.

OK. Well, photographs -

beginning of photography, 1850s or thereabouts,

so we're only going back into the second half of the 19th century.

-Mm-hm.

-OK, all right.

We've got to go back to, let's say, 1480.

This is probably the oldest piece...

-Of anything in the house.

-..of ceramic in your house.

And it's certainly the oldest piece I've seen today.

Well, that's amazing!

This is a porcelain dish,

everybody thinks of porcelain as being white and light,

-it's actually...

-Very heavy.

-Quite heavy, isn't it?

-And the colour?

-And the colour, ah!

The colour!

Now, this colour is celadon.

And we don't know why it's called celadon,

-possibly because Saladin, the great leader...

-OK.

-..liked this sort of thing coming from China to him.

-Mm-hm.

Or it may be because a French character in a play

in the 17th century who wore a coat of many greens was called Celadon.

-OK.

-We don't know, but what it does mean,

it is this very translucent,

-very vibrant green.

-Mm-hm.

I'm going to turn it over and show you where it's not green there.

This is because they wanted the glaze to run

all the way over the foot rim,

but they couldn't do that and stick it on the floor

of the saggar in which it was fired, the box in which it was fired.

So they had to wipe away the glaze from this point here

and they put it on a circular ring

-which they could then put in the kiln like that.

-Raise it up, yep.

And it wouldn't stick. So that's why that's there.

This dish was made in or around the city of Longquan,

which as you will know...

It's a long way from here.

..is in Zhejiang province

and they specialise in these things.

They exported them all over the Asian archipelago.

It follows a sort of Islamic metallic shape

because the Chinese were trying to get this exported into the...

-Into that market.

-Into that market.

It's a lovely thing. It's a little bit worn.

It stands where in the house?

It's just kind of in an alcove.

-In an alcove, hidden away.

-Yeah, hidden away.

It's a lovely colour, it's probably worth

somewhere in the region of

£1,000-£2,000.

Wow. Pretty good for what I consider to be a flan dish.

-So...

-SHE LAUGHS

Good. Good, I'm glad you like it.

I understand you were talking to Fiona earlier on

about your family's traumatic past in Germany in the 1930s

-and your grandmother coming over here?

-That's right, yes.

And did the whole family come over?

Three of them, my father,

my grandmother and my aunt, the three of them.

And this picture came over with them?

-It did, yes.

-So looking at this picture,

are there things in this picture that you still have?

Unfortunately not, I don't recognise anything.

But this was the interior of the house in Germany?

-Yes.

-And where was the house in Germany?

Unter den Linden in Berlin.

It's a fantastic memory of what was there.

-That's right.

-But I noticed on here

that there is a little bit of damage here, what actually happened?

One of the properties was bombed so...

Prince's Gate was bombed, as my daughter's saying.

And there is damage here and I think this is bomb damage

-from that period so when it came out, it had to be restored.

-OK.

And usually when you restore a picture,

you put the canvas onto another canvas.

This has been stuck on to board, which is the cheaper way of doing it

and I imagine during the Second World War

that's exactly what happened.

They wouldn't have had the materials.

But it's also signed down here, a slightly unpronounceable name,

I'm going to have to try to get my head around this.

It's Gertrude Zscheked.

And it's 1923, so this is a record of the family house in the 1920s.

That's correct.

What does it mean to you, having this picture?

I think it's fantastic to have some sort of memento, to start with.

As I've never seen... You know, I've never seen the actual building

since wartime, you know what I mean? I've never been over there.

Well, I think it's really nice to hear

because I'd want that,

having gone through what your family went...

-be able to have a memento.

-And being Unter den Linden,

of course that was bombed so the house wouldn't be in existence.

That would have been lost completely, as well.

Well, thinking about the past,

it's very nice to have a memory of that house in Germany.

It's very difficult to put a value on something like this

-because it's emotional.

-Yes.

And I feel that I look at this

and if I look... As a commercial picture, it's a nice interior,

1920s and it's probably worth in auction

£400-£600, maybe £500-£700.

But that's irrelevant cos it's priceless to you

-and it's such a nice thing to still have.

-Yes.

Could do a little bit of a clean.

-Could it?

-Yes. Just a little bit.

-We weren't sure what to do with it,

whether to leave it as is or whether to clean it.

Possibly a new frame, as well? I don't know.

No, the frame is contemporary with the period.

Very nice to see and it's nice to have that memory really of the past.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

I've always wanted a musical box like this.

Then you'd want an aunt like mine.

Your aunt gave it to you?

She did indeed, yes. About three years ago.

I used to listen to it when I was a child

and she listened to it when she was a child

and it was her father that purchased it for her.

And it's second-hand from Switzerland, round about the 1920s.

So he was in Switzerland?

I believe it was one of his work colleagues.

He was an importer, based in Glasgow,

and I believe it was one of his colleagues

-that had brought it back for her.

-Fantastic.

Well, you probably know that this is all inlaid wood, various woods.

We've got kingwood, yew wood stringing,

rosewood. It's veneer, rather than solid.

And you can see how it's a little bit faded with the light

because here in the front, you can see the wonderful colours

they would have been and almost all of these particular musical boxes

had a musical element of the design in them.

So you know that it's a musical box before you even open it.

-Shall we open it?

-Yes, we shall.

Oh. Look at that. Look at that.

Now, what it... It's actually called Drum, Bells & Castanets.

And to me that is everything.

You've got the orchestra

rather than, if you like, just an ordinary cylinder

which hasn't got any extras.

Let's just open it up cos it's in extremely good condition,

you've obviously kept it very well.

I have to tell the truth and say, no, my aunt kept it very well.

Right, right.

Well, now these were made in Switzerland,

usually in a place called Bullet, Sainte Croix,

which is near Neuchatel and they're still making them today

and there were many, many makers there,

the most famous is Nicole Freres,

but if this was by Nicole Freres it would be plastered on there.

He would be, "I am..." You know, he'd put his name on it.

It could be by Vaucher Fils,

which is Vaucher Fils being sons.

But as they haven't got a name on it, it's one of those anyway.

So for a musical box of circa 1890, which is what this is,

if you were selling it at auction

you probably wouldn't get more than about £2,000 for it.

But if you were buying it, you'd probably have to spend 4,000.

Right. Gosh, that's a lot more than I expected.

So have you got a favourite?

I have indeed, it's Bygone Hours,

which is one of the wonderful waltzes that is on it.

So shall we play it?

-Yes, please.

-Right one, two, three.

MUSIC BOX PLAYS

It's a pretty little autograph book,

probably of the kind that was kept by countless young girls

over the course of time. Is it yours?

-It is, yes.

-And you're Joanne?

-Joanne, yes.

This is lovely.

"Joanne is a grocer girl." Do you want to read that to me?

"Joanna is a grocer girl

"She works in Biggar

"She climbs out and in the van

"So she can keep her figure."

That was written by one of my friends.

-Are you still friends?

-Friends with Agnes? Yes, yes.

-Lovely.

Lovely. So, yes, it's full of that kind of thing and very nice too.

But this is what brings me up short, look at this,

-this is signed by Hugh MacDiarmid.

-Mm-hm.

-He's one of the most important 20th-century Scottish poets.

-Yes.

What's he doing in there?

I took my autograph book and went with the groceries.

On your grocery round.

Grocery round and asked him to do an autograph for me

and he gave me a long lecture

about how he didn't do these kind of things.

And then I just stood there and the next thing he says,

"Give me it," and he wrote me this poem and he put the date.

Probably wasn't the most approachable of men, was he?

-No, he wasn't.

-He was quite old by then?

He was quite old by then and was very grey and always had a pipe...

-Yes.

-..smoked a pipe.

-Clearly a serious individual.

An important national poet, but also politician.

So involved in Scottish Nationalist politics.

He was what I'd call a grumpy old man.

Anyway what did he write?

Please, I would love it if you could read it to us.

"The Little White Rose Of Scotland.

"The rose of all the world is not for me

"I want for my part only the little white rose of Scotland

"That smells sharp and sweet and breaks the heart.

"Hugh MacDiarmid."

It's very moving, isn't it?

Yes.

I think you did fantastically well to get that, but also to keep it.

This isn't an original poem.

This is one of his published poems and a well-known poem, as well.

It's got a commercial value, of course it has.

Maybe not for the other poems, but just for the Hugh MacDiarmid,

£200-£300.

Oh.

That sounds nice.

I'm keeping it, though.

Well, I must say it's not every day

I get to record with a Shippam's fish paste pot.

Last summer, we went mudlarking on the Thames in London

-and we found the pot.

-This is living history, isn't it?

What you're doing is you're finding relics of former people's lives

and that's my job. I love it.

And this one takes me back to my childhood.

That call, "Andrew, Andrew, tea is ready."

And you'd say, "What is it?"

And she'd say, "Shippam's fish paste."

Anyhow, I'm delighted you're going out and getting your hands dirty

and slimy, what fun, I mean, its value is infinitesimal.

What is it? 30p.

That's what we thought.

But, you know, it is...it's viewing into other people's lives

and that for me is what history's all about.

Here we are by the banks of the Clyde.

And I think if I was having a bit of a plodge in the water,

I'd have a bit of a brighter expression than her.

What's wrong with her?

I don't know. She does seem quite miserable, doesn't she?

She does a bit.

-Have you known her for long?

-Years.

-OK.

She was always in my grandparents' house, sat on the sill in the window

halfway up the stairs. My grandparents passed on,

I went to my aunt's house and she was there,

so I sort of said to my aunt, "Oh, there she is!"

My aunt said, "Take her," cos I love her, I've always loved her.

Does she have a name, it sounds as though you're quite attached to her?

-She's Fish Lady.

-Fish Lady?

We know absolutely nothing about her, where she came from,

what her purpose in life is,

she's just sat there and gathered dust.

Well, you call her Fish Lady.

Maybe we should rename her Madame Poisson,

or in fact actually Madame Dauphin because it's a dolphin.

Oh!

She's sitting on a dolphin.

What I think's lovely about her,

although she is kind of sliding down the side of a dolphin,

but look how one of her feet is actually in the water.

Oh, do you know what? I'd never noticed that before.

The wave is actually modelled across there.

So, Madame Dauphin.

So she is French, we just need to date her now.

-Yeah.

-She's quite old.

-OK.

She's dated about 1720.

-Seriously?

-Seriously.

She was made near Nievre in about 1720.

-OK.

-So that just comes to what it's worth.

-Yeah.

-So you found it on your auntie's windowsill?

Yes.

If this was at auction,

it would make between £800-£1,200.

-Oh, that's OK.

-So she's quite pricey fish lady.

-Yes.

-Lovely, thank you.

-It's a pleasure.

-Thank you very much.

The pearls were bought at a car-boot sale for £2.

And when did you buy this?

About 18 months ago.

What caught my attention

was the fact they had the little chain on them.

And I know if you have a bracelet and you don't want to lose it,

you have a little chain put on it.

Pearls, it's all

about the lustre, it really is.

It's about you waving

and you can see your hand waving back to you.

And also it's size - size is important.

Now with these,

if these are natural,

it really is the bottom sort of three, three and a half inches

that is where your money's in.

I think that these could be natural pearls.

I'm going to be conservative with the price here,

I would say that in auction,

you'd probably be looking in the region of about

£2,000-£3,000.

Gosh. Unbelievable.

-Great car boot sale.

-Isn't that unbelievable?

So even though I hate little safety chains,

if you hadn't seen that safety chain,

you never would have given £2 for it.

No, it was the chain that I noticed.

I thought someone valued the pearls because they've put a chain on them.

The Roadshow is truly remarkable

-for producing things I've never seen before.

-Yes.

And I've never seen anything quite as confusing as this.

It is confusing, you're right.

Where did you get it?

We don't know how he actually came by it,

but it belonged originally to our grandfather

and that was passed on then to our father and now to us.

So the names on this don't mean anything to your family?

-Not directly, no.

-So it is something you've acquired?

-Yes.

-Do you know where this is from?

Yes, I've been down to Stickland. Or do you mean originally?

-Where this is made?

-No, I don't.

Although it has an eastern panel around the outside.

-It's from Sri Lanka.

-Oh.

And it's repousse work that they made often for export,

sometimes for home use, but I've never seen Sri Lankan work

with anything but Sri Lankan symbolism on it.

That's obviously the parish church.

It is. I've been there, yeah.

And then it says church and rectory, Reverend W Churchill.

Well, it can't be Winston because it's dated 1847,

13th February to 12th November 1884.

-Yeah.

-This is probably where the Reverend Churchill

started his pious work in this village church.

What I've deduced from it is that he was probably a missionary

in Sri Lanka from this time in 1847 to this date in 1884

and it was probably made as a goodbye gift.

-Right.

-Because this is obviously the end of his service there.

-Yes.

-I don't think that's his death.

We'd always assumed it was the end of his service in Stickland,

-but of course we don't know.

-No. I think in Sri Lanka, you see,

because these elephants, they're not Dorset elephants, are they?

-No!

-I mean, the extinct Dorset elephant.

We've got here this armorial thing with a Latin...

It's a rampant lion of sorts,

-with a Latin inscription that says, "Esse quam videri."

-Videri, yes.

What's that?

"To be, rather than seem."

Yes, that's right.

So I think if I saw that and I was taken by it and I had funds,

I'd probably pay as much as £300 for it.

But it's not as much about the value

as it is this cross pollination of cultures right there.

-It's just amazing.

-It is fascinating, it really is.

This is such a great toy car.

It's big, it's bold, it's beautifully decorated,

it's a snazzy colour.

Why have you got it?

My husband got it as a gift from his grandmother when

he was on holiday.

He would have been about seven, so about 43 years ago.

And she bought it at the jumble sale.

They were at the beach and she went off to a jumble sale

and came back with a car for him, so he was quite delighted with it.

I bet he was, presumably just bought for a few pence.

Yeah, I think it was 10p, 20p, something like that,

certainly not anything. It was a jumble sale in Millport,

nothing would have gone for a lot of money there.

Presumably, it had been played with and was in poor condition

-when he got it?

-Well, no. No, it wasn't.

He got it and he played with it.

He had his Action Men in it

and it was up and down the street and he had a lot of fun with it.

I suppose an object can only give once and it's already given.

-It has given a lot of pleasure to your husband.

-Absolutely.

But to me almost it's too good to be a toy,

for lots of reasons.

Let's just have a look at how beautifully made it is.

First of all, it's modelled on a real car.

It's modelled on an Alfa Romeo racing car called a P2.

So it's known as the P2 Alfa.

And just look at the detail.

First of all, the filler caps just below the cockpit

and on the radiator.

The radiator grille,

the tyres, they're proper cast tyres, they say Michelin on them.

The exhaust, the handbrake, the actual proper usable steering wheel.

So in every way, it looks like the real car,

apart from back here where of course you've got the arbor

to wind up the clockwork. Not seen on the full-size vehicle!

It was made in France by Compagnie Industrielle du Jouet, CIJ.

And the P2 Alfa was the car of the moment.

In 1925, it won an important race

and it was the Formula One car of its time.

So that's why the company produced them,

it was riding a wave of popularity,

and they produced a whole range of these in different colours,

so there was silver and white

and red and blue and the orange one is an unusual one.

Oh!

So let's think about the little boy

who would have owned this in the 1920s.

He would have been from a good family.

He would have probably heard about this fabulous race

where the P2 Alfa had won

and he would have got this at Christmas

and would have been completely over the moon.

So your husband had a lot of fun with it

and has it been passed down through the family or...?

Well, yeah, now it sits on a ledge in my son's room,

so he enjoys it, thinks it looks quite cool.

Cool it does look.

-What's it worth?

-I don't know.

I would have said year after year after year

these were fetching £2,000,

which is a lot of money for a toy car,

and I was very excited whenever saw one of these, as a result.

Something very strange happened this year

and one sold for £12,000.

So that has now made me completely rethink the value of this.

I mean, admittedly the one that was sold earlier in the year

was in perfect condition, original condition.

This isn't, but actually I like the fact it has been play worn,

it doesn't worry me at all

and it won't worry some types of collectors.

So I think I'm going to have to look at that £12,000 price and look at

the regular price and put it somewhere in the middle.

So I would say that your car today would be worth between

-£4,000 and £6,000.

-Oh, my goodness!

Oh, dear.

Well, he never expected that, not at all.

And is your son still going to have it?

Yeah. I think so.

Lucky son.

Thank you very much for bringing it in, it's been a real treat.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

I'll get it back in the bag.

THEY LAUGH

Throughout our day here filming at New Lanark,

we have been accompanied by the roar of the River Clyde.

And do you remember I told you at the beginning of the programme

that when this place was a thriving cotton manufacturers

it was a bit of a tourist attraction, as well?

Well, one of our visitors brought along an account written by her

great-great-grandfather of a visit to the cotton manufactory here,

as he describes it, and to the Falls of Clyde.

I just wanted to share his description

of the river here with you.

He writes, "A hollow murmuring noise first strikes the ear

"which gradually becomes louder and louder as you approach the fall."

From New Lanark and the whole Antiques Roadshow team, bye-bye.