Broughton Castle 2 Antiques Roadshow

Today, the Antiques Roadshow makes a return visit

to Broughton Castle, tucked away in the Oxfordshire countryside,

near Banbury, home to the same family

for 600 years.

20 generations of the Fiennes have lived in

and looked after this little-known jewel of a medieval mansion.

And in case you're thinking, "That name sounds familiar,"

that's because famous relatives include Sir Ranulph Fiennes,

the explorer, and Hollywood stars Ralph and Joseph Fiennes.

In the gallery, portraits mark out the centuries of the family

at Broughton, from the 1500s, right up to the current Lord Saye and Sele.

But Broughton Castle was nearly lost to the Fiennes

because, like many wealthy families,

they had one black sheep, who had a good go at squandering

the family fortune.

In the late 1700s, William Thomas wanted to be part

of the in-crowd, hanging out with Prince Regent George IV -

surely the most flamboyant and spendthrift man of his time.

So, William Thomas embarked on a similarly gilded lifestyle

in fashionable London. He'd have pheasant eggs for breakfast,

threw lavish parties, would have two bottles of sherry at bedtime.

That must have helped him drop off!

The quiet country life here? That just wasn't for him.

Broughton Castle was left closed and neglected until, finally,

William was forced to sell off the contents, to pay off his debts.

Everything went into this catalogue and, over eight days,

went under the hammer. There was a Titian, a Veronese

and even - the last entry here, from the moat -

the swan, with her cygnets.

The house was rented out in 1885 and it wasn't until 1912,

when the Fiennes managed to move back in and gradually brought the house

back to its pristine condition and opened it up to visitors,

like those who have come for our Roadshow today.

These are so sumptuous, so colourful.

Something that you wear on those long, dark winter evenings?

No, hardly! I found them in my dressing-up box, as a child.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

-The things we find in dressing-up boxes.

I think they're fantastic.

They really are. So, you've had them in your family

-since you were a child?

-Yes.

And did you wear them or were they too big for you, then?

No, I couldn't get my feet into them, at the time.

-My younger brother could.

-Oh. How did they come into your family?

Well, my grandfather was an MP and he went out on trade missions.

And I think that, probably, he was given them on one

of these trade visits to Asian countries.

And where do you think they are from in Asia?

-Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan.

-Which is part of the Ottoman Empire.

-Yes.

-And they are beautifully lined here.

Really nice-quality silk ikat weave material.

You know about ikat?

-No.

-It's made with... It's a resist dye.

They'd tie bundles of threads together and dye them.

Then, they take the bundles apart and weave these amazing materials.

I love the main body of the boot, in this sumptuous green velvet,

with a complementary red embroidery, there, and the metal thread.

These are Ottoman. And you've got the typical tulips.

But these are made for somebody of nobility,

either for ceremonial purposes,

for a wedding, for a procession, and they're in fantastic condition.

I would say these are about 1890 to 1910.

Yeah, well, that figures. He would have gone there in the 1920s.

They're really nice. They would appeal to people

that are interested in Ottoman textiles,

and textiles in general, but they would also appeal to fashion people.

I mean, they are fabulous. I would think a value of these

-would be something like £800 to £1,000.

-No!

That's amazing!

Designs for silver spoons don't really get much more simple

-than that, do they?

-No.

-I mean, that could be Art Deco.

Yes, it could.

-Do you know that it's not?

-I knew it was older than that.

I know very little about its history or its age.

But the only thing that slightly concerned me,

it looks as though this is not quite the same as the bowl of the spoon.

But whether I'm right or wrong I don't know.

-I'm glad to say, you're wrong!

-Oh, good! Good, I'm so glad.

-It's absolutely right.

-It is right?

-Absolutely.

-It's like the day it was made.

-Goodness.

-It's a very simple spoon,

because it was made for people that had very simple tastes.

During the Civil War, the Puritans decided that putting apostles

and other decoration on the top of their spoons was rather irreverent.

So, they went for a more plain design, a very simple, plain design,

which is what this is. It's a Puritan's spoon.

-It was made in about 1660, 1670.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Gosh.

Made for somebody who would not have been a Cavalier,

would have been a Roundhead, would have been a member

of Cromwell's band, rather than a royalist.

This one was made in the provinces.

It's, in fact, made by a fellow called Richard Kirby, in York.

So, it was made for a Yorkshireman.

That does make sense, because a lot of my family were from Yorkshire.

So, one of them, you can rely on,

was a Puritan, or had Puritan sympathies,

and would have owned this spoon.

Was his name...? Did his name, or their name, begin with T?

I've got quite a long family tree of the Yorkshire side,

so it would be worth my researching that.

-That's the family initial.

-So, that's the family initial.

The fact that it's made in York is a very good thing.

If it were made in London, it would be worth maybe £1,000, maybe £1,200.

The fact that it's made in York means it's worth about £3,000.

You're joking! Really?!

Well, goodness me. I'm absolutely amazed.

Are you really...? It's just been lying out, you know.

I'm speechless.

Well, here we are, before a classic English country house,

with the most beautiful piece of French Art Nouveau.

At the end of the 19th century,

Art Nouveau was a movement that was really taking Europe by storm.

So, I've got to ask,

what's your connection, how do you own such a beautiful piece?

It has travelled

a very, very long way. It comes from Kiev in Ukraine.

And my grandmother bought it, I think, 75, maybe 80 years ago,

before the Second World War.

My mother and my grandmother went to the market, to the food market,

just for a weekly shop.

And when they were leaving the market,

all of a sudden, they spotted this vase and they bought it.

I don't know how much they paid.

It's stayed in the family all this time.

It survived the Second World War.

My grandfather was fighting at the front, he survived.

My mother was stranded with her relatives and she spent years

under Nazi occupation. And then, when they came back to Kiev in 1945

and they saw this big bundle and, inside the bundle,

was all their crockery, and, on top of it, was this vase.

So, it survived all those trials and tribulations.

We actually discovered what it might be completely by accident,

because I went to Berlin, for my friend's wedding,

and I popped into a lovely little Art Nouveau

and Art Deco museum there.

Suddenly, I saw a vase that looked strikingly similar to this one,

especially this amber colour and also the patterns.

I thought, "What's going on there?"

I looked at the artist and it was Emile Galle.

So, I came back home to London

and we did a little bit of internet research

and we looked at the sign at the bottom

and, apparently, one of Emile Galle's signatures looked like that.

So your question, really, today is, are you right?

-Yeah, basically.

-You're not sure, are you?

-No.

You're right.

When we look underneath... You mentioned this glorious mark,

which you couldn't quite read. But actually, it's all there.

And inside, we've got this wonderful, fancy signature

which, the minute I saw it, I knew said "Galle".

Emile Galle, at the end of the 19th century,

was one of those artists who really took the movement of Art Nouveau

in France to a whole new level.

It is what we would term a "cabochon cameo".

And by "cabochon", it has everything.

I mean, this vase really isn't short of anything for you.

You've got these applied pads of colour onto the centres

of the sunflowers. Internally, they've included foil with each

pick-up and colour of glass. And then, the whole thing has been

carved and acid cut and worked and treated, to produce this beautiful

piece that has influences of the Far East, influences of Japan.

It's such a piece of aesthetic art, it's breathtaking.

This piece is around 1890.

-Well, it's good, but how good?

-Tell us, please.

-Tell us.

Well, if you had to go out and replace this vase,

you are looking at something in the region of £8,000 to £12,000.

-CROWD:

-Oh!

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Very nice.

"This doll belonged to your great-great-grandmother,

"Viscountess Harberton". Just explain your link, then.

Well, my great-aunt,

she was one of the first missionaries, actually.

And she gave this doll to my aunt, my mother's sister.

-Having inherited, then...

-It would have been her doll, yes.

-1800s or something?

-It certainly goes back to the 1800s.

She's in her original costume, which is lovely,

to start with. She's made of papier mache.

Her head is a papier mache head.

And her little arms and legs are carved wood.

So, she's a mixture of two different materials.

And papier mache was a material that was used

in the German doll-making companies -

or cottage industries, as we can call them -

in the early part of the 19th century.

When we get to the precise date,

I'm going to link it in, in fact, with what's in this tiny little box.

-Yes.

-This is the most delicious, delicious box, isn't it?

It came from the same aunt.

-Did it, did it?

-Yes, it was one of her treasures.

Let's open it up. And here, it says,

"The English Bijou."

-So here, in a little slipcase...

-That's right.

..is...an absolutely wonderful miniature book.

We can see that it is... Gosh, it's a proper, proper book.

-Yes, yes.

-Printed, with images.

-Yes.

And what's interesting to me, it might have a date in it.

And it does. Right at the bottom there, says "Bijou for 1840."

Oh, yes.

-It's so often the case that little books like this...

-Yes.

..were bought almost as an accessory for a little doll.

Oh, I see, yes.

So, here we have the doll and her reading material for 1840!

-Yes!

-So, an early 19th-century doll, in such good condition,

I think would probably fetch between £400, perhaps £450, £500 at auction.

-Yes.

-The little book. Her reading matter, if you like,

complete in its original slipcase and in its original box,

hugely interesting to collectors. And I would put even more on that.

-Really?

-I would put between £600 and £800 on it.

Really?! I wasn't expecting that!

We love a mystery on the Roadshow and this is our mystery object.

Now, this belongs to you, sir.

Yes. Well, that's been in our family for about 150, 200 years,

I'm not quite sure. It says on it "Waterloo."

I've always wanted to know what was in it.

And no-one has ever opened it, have they?

No, not since it was put in that box, as far as I know.

-So you brought it here today, to find out what's inside?

-Yep.

I was having a cup of milk and I had a friend round to tea

from school. And her father came to collect her.

He was looking at me most strangely

and he got a bit more and more agitated. Finally, he said,

"That's very precious!"

And my mother told me to finish my milk and she took the mug away

and she washed it up and she put it to the back of the sideboard.

As they say, this is a military object, as they say in the Army,

"Righty tighty, lefty loosey." So, let's turn it to the left...

Made at Worcester, it's...1770.

-So, goes back a long way.

-Wow!

Right, now do you want to hold this? And I'll lift the back off.

This is exciting!

-There.

-It's out.

Worcester, in the Chinese manner,

made as a simple drinking mug for strong liquor, or for milk -

whatever you wanted to use it for.

Here we go...

That bit's empty.

It's empty, but there's no name. No name, either!

It's empty!

Your little milk mug, when you were ten years old, is worth £400.

No!

LAUGHTER

I might put something stronger in it!

Do you know, I've done a few things like this on the Roadshow

and each time, either it's been empty

-or there's been something like...

-A Biro.

-..a Biro lid in or something!

Oh!

Martin, behind you is your family home, the castle.

And, dare I say it, in the 18th century,

you may have employed these two people either side of me?

Absolutely. Indeed, yes.

-So, these are servant portraits?

-These are domestic workers,

so here we've got a hedge cutter and, I think, this one, this side,

might be what they call a still man.

The still man, the guy who deals with the booze?

Exactly. And that's me being imaginative(!)

Let's look at the man on our right

because, am I right in thinking there's a fresh varnish on this?

Has this recently emerged?

They've both recently been restored, this winter,

but that one we took out of the attic completely black.

You could just see the shiny bit on the edge of his blade.

But otherwise, completely black, with a large hole through his head

and down through his chest. And so, that's been completely restored

and now we have this wonderful chap,

with this little tear on his right eye.

I noticed the tear. It's rather astonishing.

I imagine, from a hedge cutter, you'd have thorns constantly

going in your eyes and it's probably from a thorn

that left him with a runny eye.

You've raised such an interesting point,

because the 17th and 18th century - and I think these date from

the 18th century - are awash with portraits of aristocrats,

portraits of monarchy, portraits of clergy,

given this full-length treatment.

But you've got here two people,

two domestic staff, who have been given the grand makeover

and they've been given full-length portraits.

And this one that's just emerged I find absolutely compelling,

-because his declaration of office is a patchwork leather suit.

-Mm-hm.

-Presumably to keep the thorns away?

-Absolutely.

He's a hedge cutter, he needs protection.

Portraits were commissioned by, particularly, humane employers

of their staff and it goes back to the 17th century.

Most unusual, on this scale.

Now, starting with the man on the left,

I would put him safely into the 1730s.

The man from the attic, with his billhook and his leather jerkin

and his leather suit, I would say was slightly later.

I would say it was probably 1770s, 1780s.

I think there's a very high chance that it's by one

of the Barker of Bath family,

who have a highly distinctive way of painting,

who loved doing rustics, who are particularly good at it

and setting the rustics in their natural setting.

Who do we think, specifically, might have commissioned these

-in the 18th century?

-It could have been John.

So, John, the 12th Lord Saye and Sele, lived here 1730, 1765,

something like that. So, that might tie in with the dates.

What do you think this says about your family?

Was it, particularly, a kind and generous one to the staff?

Eh...some of the time!

The first Lord Saye had his head chopped off,

I think, for not being very nice to his tenants.

And since then, there's been a great tradition of liberals in the family.

Just the sort of people who might have commissioned

giant-size portraits of the people who made their life work.

-So, Martin, the subject of value comes up.

-OK.

Well, these are very important sociological documents,

particularly on this scale.

I'd probably put a valuation of 60,000 to 80,000

on the man with the wine.

And...I don't know, I can see this over £100,000

perhaps £120,000, for what I think is Barker of Bath.

This is really important sociological painting.

This is portraiture like we normally don't encounter it.

Wow! My jaw has just... rested on the floor.

Thank you.

You know what they're for.

They're pocket globes, and this would be for use in the local tavern

or pub, effectively, and you'd impress your friends

by saying - it's the internet of its day -

where you would hold that up and say,

"This is where I've been or want to go.

"And this is where I've travelled to and from."

You've got the trade routes on there.

You've got New Holland, which is now Australia,

and then it gets better when you see inside the case.

You've got the celestial globe, showing the positions of the stars.

You know, what more could you ask for?

You've got the maker there.

Nathaniel Hill. "New Terrestrial Globe," 1754,

in the period of George II.

When I saw this a little while ago,

immediately, my suspicions are raised.

These are one of THE most faked antiques.

Please tell me you didn't pay a lot for it.

No, we didn't pay a lot, actually.

We've recently become custodians of it for a very dear family friend,

who we've known for over 30 years,

who's moved into a care home, and we've been securing his house

and he always told me about a globe.

Didn't really talk about it, but just said,

make sure we look after it. And we found it in a drawer upstairs.

-So, no, we haven't paid a lot of money for it.

-OK.

When I say "faked", for a long, long time, they have been faking these.

Look at it, it's, literally, like new.

Suspicions are raised.

You open it and...like new.

Again, suspicions raised. You have got

arguably the best maker there - Nathaniel Hill.

Worrying.

-Dated 1754. All these things are just too good to be true.

-Right.

-OK.

-What do you think?

I know it's been treasured and looked after

for the last 91 years.

-OK.

-How would it have been made?

This is a travelling case, so that in a fish skin.

These are made out of paper. They were made out of various skins.

I think even chicken skins were used, because they are so fine,

you could get that decoration on there.

All this is hand-coloured.

It's just... I think it's lovely.

What do you still think - right or wrong?

-Who knows?

-You are tempting us with...

-Teasing!

-I'm going to put you out of your misery,

it's absolutely right. It's just lovely and you see these,

-all day long, at £2,000 to £3,000 at auction.

-Right. OK.

-But this is WAY better than any I've ever seen at auction.

-Oh, OK.

-Wow.

-£8,000 to £12,000.

Oh, my goodness!

-How fantastic!

-It's just the best.

If you want one, this is the best you'll ever get, without doubt.

-The best I've ever seen.

-Thank you very much.

-Great, thank you.

What we have here looks like a pretty ordinary book, doesn't it?

Its title in French,

roughly translated, is The Grand Practical Encyclopaedia

Of Mechanics And Electricity.

But there's more to it than meets the eye.

-There certainly is, yes.

-Tell me how you came to have it.

I've known the book since I was quite young, actually.

My dad bought it at a second-hand bookshop in London,

probably 45 years ago. He died about 20 years ago

and left it to me, because I liked it so much as a child.

Let's look at what it does. So, it's a wonderful, wonderful book

from 1930, with these incredible parts, which fold out.

You can look right inside the workings of a train

and steam engines. Endless detail there, isn't there?

-Yes.

-Did he let you play with it?

He did, although I suspect he must have been over my shoulder,

because it's fairly fragile, as you can see.

It's all survived perfectly well, so obviously, I was careful enough.

-Why do you think he bought it?

-Well, he was an engineer,

ran an engineering firm, so he had a deep interest in engineering,

but also, he was an artist. I think the combination really appealed

to him and that's what attracted him to it.

This one's my favourite, the automobile. It's really fantastic.

-Yes!

-Incredible. You can go right inside the carriage of the car,

right inside to the plush interior, the engine,

and, I guess, in a way...

it was designed for engineers and engineering students

to have a look at what was inside.

In a way, one could say it is seriously collectable.

It's a movable book. This is the category that we call it.

And I would estimate the value at auction to be something

-like £200 or £300.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

-Well, that's nice to know.

More than your father paid?

Yes, I think there's a pencil mark somewhere in the front saying £25.

-Pretty good return.

-So, not a bad return, yes!

-Absolutely. Thank you for bringing it to the Roadshow.

-Thank YOU.

In the early '50s, my nan sent my grandad out to buy a blue vase.

-And he came back with this?

-He did.

-OK. Did it fit the description?

I think so. Probably a little bit bigger than she expected.

So, she was expecting that sort of size and it came back...

-That's it. Certainly, a surprise.

-So, whereabouts does it sit?

It's not going to fit on a shelf, is it?!

No, no! Unfortunately, tucked away behind the sofa.

Where did he go to find this blue vase this big?

It was Coundon Court, which is in Coventry.

The owner of Coundon Court was Henry Singer,

who was the Henry Singer of the motor vehicles and pushbikes.

We believe he bought this to furnish Coundon Court

when it was first built in the early 1900s.

My grandad's brother and sister,

one was a gardener and one was a chef at Coundon Court,

and I think they tipped him off there was a blue vase there.

-There was a blue vase going?

-A blue vase going.

We should look at it. It is the most magnificent thing.

This is Sevres, this is the royal French factory, or at this time,

during the Third Republic, the official state French factory.

We have these beautiful, almost Egyptian, duck heads here,

with this gilding. This vase is all about the porcelain.

Sevres are saying, "We can make a vase this big,"

and they want to show off the beautiful blue ground.

These vases, they were made, mainly,

as exhibition vases or for presentation.

We have got the inscribed date, when the actual porcelain was made

in 1870, and we have the printed mark, as well, for 1886,

when they decided to decorate it.

Have you ever thought of investigating this

and writing to the people who made it? Because the factory

is still going today and they have amazing archives.

Some time ago, my mum did write to Sevres,

and the information we got back, that it was made in 1886

and gilded for an exhibition in 1889, I think, in Paris.

And we think the person who laid the paint on was a lady

called Godding, an artist called Godding.

So, we think it was made for an exhibition.

So, as an exhibition vase, a one-off made for display,

you are going to be finding £5,000 behind your sofa.

-Lovely. Thank you very much.

-It's a pleasure.

We'd like your help for a special edition

of the Antiques Roadshow we're making with the assistance

of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation.

We've occasionally featured stories and objects owned by Jewish families

during World War II in previous editions of the Antiques Roadshow.

The father dug a hole in the yard and just put all

the family jewellery inside it and, hopefully, to return one day.

Jewels buried by families fleeing the Nazis.

That's my very precious remnant of this story.

'A precious watch that's a permanent reminder of a relative

'who lost her life in Auschwitz.'

This ring, for me, was a symbol of love...

and hope.

A ring, a survivor kept hidden through several concentration camps.

We are interested to hear more accounts that tell of

this dark period in history. As well as stories of loss and tragedy,

we know there are stories of hope and love to be discovered, too.

If you or your family would like to share your story,

please contact us via...

Broughton Castle is surrounded by the most beautiful countryside.

Of course, lambs are in the field

and if it wasn't for the telephone mast behind me and the odd car

going past, we could be

in the 19th century, it's that beautiful.

Of course, you've brought in a stunning watercolour

from the 19th century, by John Faulkner.

Of course, it was the British landscape,

the glorious British landscape, that inspired many thousands of artists.

Your watercolour is signed by John Faulkner.

And it's inscribed, "A Farm Near Pinner."

Now, I associate John Faulkner's work with Ireland,

particularly in the early part of his life.

-Yes.

-What's your connection to this watercolour?

Well, I'm originally from Northern Ireland.

My family had this in the hallway of our home and I grew up

with it, as a child. I always liked it, because it is

-a natural country scene.

-Absolutely. It's so beautiful.

As I say, nowadays, you visit the countryside in Britain,

it's inspiring. It's still very beautiful,

especially away from the urban cities.

Faulkner, right in the early part of his life - he was born in Dublin,

he was a precocious talent, actually -

he became an associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy at the age of 17.

Now, the RHA, the Royal Hibernian Academy,

is really the Irish equivalent of the Royal Academy.

It was a very serious academy in Dublin,

where all the main artists would aspire to exhibit.

But later on in his life, he painted pictures in Scotland and England.

I just really love the sort of narrative.

It takes you away from what was happening in Victorian England,

everyone moving to the cities to get jobs, and, of course,

this brings you back to the glorious countryside of England,

this lovely meandering road, and the artist Faulkner

tips in a little bit here with rooftops, suggesting a village.

So, their journey is going to take them all the way along this road,

off to the village. They might be selling these pots.

Lovely little church on the right-hand side.

And it's oversentimentalised, isn't it, with the lovely ducks

on the pond? It's a very pleasing picture.

He was very prolific. He painted a lot of pictures,

exhibited regularly at the Royal Hibernian Academy.

Your watercolour is in lovely condition.

Now, it probably dates to about 1870.

-Wow.

-He was born in 1835, died in 1894. It's later on in his life.

It's really in the 1870s, 1880s, he is painting more in England,

-rather than in Ireland.

-Yes.

-I noticed the frame.

What's happened to that?

Well, when I was a child, we had a fire in our home

and, fortunately, this was downstairs in the hallway,

-because everything upstairs got burnt.

-Yes.

There was a different frame on it, it was gilded,

but it was completely different to this one.

I think my parents got it replaced after the fire.

-Right.

-So...

-Well, the good news is the watercolour survived.

-Yes.

And, actually, this inset is also the original.

But a beautiful country landscape.

Its value - certainly £1,500 to £2,500.

-Mm-hm, yeah.

-Really beautiful landscape,

-thank you so much for bringing it in.

-Thank you very much. Thank you.

So we have a really wonderful selection

of French clocks, English clocks, we've got another French clock,

a little Swiss clock and you've got a selection of watches.

So how many do you have in total?

There's about 31 watches, 25 or so clocks,

so quite a lot more than this.

Do you wind them up, do you have them all running?

The clocks are usually running, but not the watches.

The watches get wound every now and again.

You must have quite a noisy household.

Well, I try to turn the chimes off on the clocks that I can,

but, yeah, it's quite...

Keep everyone awake at night?

I just shove tissue in the back.

ALASTAIR LAUGHS

But what got you hooked into collecting clocks?

Well, I used to have an interest in old cars,

but somehow it moved onto clocks, I'm not sure how or why.

Well, clocks are certainly easier to store than cars,

so I think your parents could probably thank that,

that actually you moved on to watches and clocks

because they're far more portable, far easier to maintain.

Tell me a little bit

about one of the clocks that you've brought along here.

So, this is a French carriage clock,

and below the platform there's an interesting escapement.

It's not a normal escapement wheel.

I bought it and I was very puzzled by it.

So, I was trying to read loads of books and find out loads about it.

You're right, this is French,

it's probably late 19th to early 20th century.

What did you pay for it? Do you remember?

-25.

-25, so that's a good price, I think.

-Yeah.

French carriage clocks

you generally sell at auction between £100 to £120.

What's the future for you?

I'd like to be a horologist, make and design watches.

So I'm going to have to be very careful about my position, am I?

LAUGHTER

Are you going to be standing here and doing what I do?

-Probably.

-LAUGHTER

I think definitely, absolutely.

I'll be very disappointed if you don't.

Well, it's a wonderful collection,

and long may you continue and learn more.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-It's a French turkey, it's a dinde.

-Oh, OK.

Well, it's iconic.

You know, it's Christian Dior, it's absolutely right.

It's just got everything going for it from the 1950s.

But this was just the French being funny, it's a French joke.

And you know, if I had a small waist, I'd love to wear it now.

You can imagine, he's got his hat begging, almost,

but he's very big and prosperous, but actually he's a turkey cock,

so he's like a French mayor or a functionary.

I'd say it would easily make anywhere between £800 and £1,200.

Wow.

And he's probably actually a tobacco jar.

-Make £200 or £300.

-Thank you.

So this wonderful collection that we have here on the table -

photographs, medals, paperwork.

You introduce me to this rather splendid and dashing young man

sitting in the back of this aircraft over here -

who is this gentleman to you?

Er, this gentleman here,

this is Harold Blackburn, who was my grandfather.

He was a bicycle maker from Doncaster

and, in 1909, he got the aviation bug

and he designed and built his own aircraft.

-He built his own aircraft?

-Yes.

Along the veins of the Wright brothers?

-Very much along those lines, yes.

-OK.

And he was a very active flyer in the prewar years,

and he flew the first scheduled air services in Britain in 1914.

A real pioneer of the flying era?

Yes. Absolutely, yes.

And, when war broke out,

he immediately joined up with the Royal Flying Corps

and his aircraft was requisitioned.

And we can see from this piece of paper here that not only did he

join very quickly into the Royal Flying Corps as an officer,

but the war starting on the 4th of August 1914,

there is your grandfather, already joined as a pilot,

on the 19th of August 1914.

Yes, so on the 19th of August, he's fully certified as a combat pilot

in the Royal Flying Corps, and he was 35 years old.

-And he went off and flew in France?

-He flew in France in 1914

and then everybody thought the war would be over by Christmas.

Obviously, it wasn't. So at the beginning of 1915,

there was a very big expansion of the Royal Flying Corps

and he was made a flight commander in one of the new squadrons,

Number 14 Squadron,

and they were sent out to the Sinai Desert,

and it was the only squadron that was sent there

and that was to defend the Suez Canal from the Turkish army.

And we have this photograph taken from his aircraft of a Turkish camp?

Yes, this is a Turkish camp at Bi'r Hasanah,

which is in the middle of the Sinai Desert.

There were 3,000 Turkish infantry stationed here,

and this is the water tank.

And it was deliberately built as a very, very long rectangle

because it's very difficult to bomb.

My grandfather designed a bombsight,

and an Australian pilot successfully dropped a bomb

right in the middle of the water tank.

And you can even see the marks in the sand where all the water...

-Where the water came out around here.

-..came out,

leaving these 3,000 soldiers in the middle of the desert

without a water tank.

And for these efforts he was awarded some quite special medals?

Yes, he was awarded the Military Cross

for his efforts in the Sinai Desert.

Then we have a newish medal,

because as the Royal Air Force was formed in April 1918,

they got their own medals, and he has the Air Force Cross here.

Yes, that's right. He remained in Egypt throughout 1917.

In 1918, he was brought back to France,

and he received that decoration.

Then he has a 1914 star,

just showing how early he went out to France.

-Yes, that's right.

-The British War Medal and the Victory Medal,

and I know that we've also got a mention

in dispatches for him, as well...

Yes, we have several mentions in dispatches certificates, yes,

and he stayed in the Royal Air Force after World War I,

and he retired in 1929, and he moved to Jersey,

because he was a keen sailor.

And, of course, when the war came along, they were forced to evacuate,

and all of these medals and all of this memorabilia

-went into a potato pot, which was buried...

-A potato pot?

That's a potato jar, yes, with a big lid on it,

and that was buried in the back garden of their house in Jersey,

and that stayed there, buried, for six years,

throughout the entire German occupation.

And when the Germans left, the medals were dug back up again?

They were.

You have a wonderful set of photographs

from the very earliest days of flying.

You have photographs of aerial combat,

aerial bombing missions, from the First World War.

Again, almost unheard-of from that time.

They are a superb set of medals, and we would have to say that,

to any collector, they would be very happy

to pay £6,000 for your medals.

They are...just stunning, from the very early days of the Flying Corps.

And what a collection. Thank you so much for bringing them along

-and telling us that wonderful story.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Well, this is a seriously spectacular lump.

How does it fit into your life?

Well, I use it as a paperweight at the moment.

-Oh!

-THEY LAUGH

-How much paper do you have?!

-Oh, I'm on my GCSEs,

so I have an awful lot of coursework to keep on my desk,

and it keeps it all down, so, yeah.

-So tell me about it.

-Well, my dad and I went to an auction.

He is an art dealer, so he usually takes me along with him.

And I saw it and I just fell in love with it,

and I managed to convince him to buy it for me,

and he managed to get it for £70, which is...

-Good old Dad!

-Yeah, I know!

So what was it that grabs you?

I mean, you know, it's very subjective,

it's obviously a sculpture, a glass sculpture.

-At the time, it was very dirty.

-OK.

However, I just liked the look of it and shape of it,

and, even though it was kind of dirty,

-the light just shined through it and it just caught my attention.

-Yeah.

-Well, good old Dad for buying it for you.

-Yeah.

It's Italian.

There is a signature on the bottom, do you know who made it?

Lucio Zanetti, I think - that's what we read the signature to be.

Yeah, pretty good, pretty good.

So it dates from about the '70s, and it's a free-made piece of glass.

Most of the glass in people's homes is mould-blown,

but this is made by stretching a piece of glass,

and then immersed in acid,

in probably a tank, with something like sawdust,

that allowed some areas to remain blank,

and others to be attacked by this vicious acid,

-which gives you this kind of stubbly-chin feel.

-Yeah.

And it echoes a general movement

that started coming through in the '70s

of using glass as an artistic substance.

I mean, this is... It's pretty rubbish as a drinking glass, this.

-Yeah.

-It is an out-and-out art piece.

-So Dad paid 70 quid for it?

-Yes.

That's got to be a 300- or 400-quid piece, I reckon.

-Wow!

-I think you chose jolly well.

GENTLE LAUGHTER

-Good on you.

-Thanks.

-You're welcome.

So, in this beautiful garden,

it's a perfect place to find a fabulous garden seat.

Where did you get this?

It was my grandma's.

And after she died, it passed to my mum.

She's since died, and it's mine now.

It's yours.

So this is majolica, it became very, very fashionable,

and everyone was impressed with it, including Queen Victoria,

and a lot of factories produced it - Minton, Wedgwood.

To me, these tortoiseshell glazes look very, very like George Jones,

but I can't find the mark on it.

So I can only say it's an English pottery manufacturer,

who's, you know, in the late 19th century.

Unfortunately, a bit of damage here,

which often happens with a big piece of majolica like this.

And I've got...

-Really, I've got for you the bad news and the good news.

-Mm.

So I'll start with the bad news,

is that if I'd been talking about this ten years ago...

..I'd have said it was worth £2,000, £3,000.

But that's when the Americans were buying it.

So, unfortunately...

Not in fashion any more.

-LAUGHING:

-No!

-Typical!

-So, going from the 2,000 to 3,000,

I'm now saying sort of 800, 1,000, which is not...

It's decent. Yes.

-It's decent.

-Thank you.

Well, I love the spirit of this bronze horse study,

and what's its background?

Well, it was a wedding present to my late wife's grandparents.

And the photographs you're clutching?

-That's the bridegroom, Horace Dare Smith.

-Right.

And that's the bride, Jeanne-Marie Hubert,

and they both came from horsey families, and horsey businesses.

I think it's absolutely fantastic,

-and to think that they knew and loved this bronze.

-Yes, yeah.

But I understand you're not totally clear who it's actually by?

No, no, I've looked at the signature,

and it looks Italian,

but that's all I can say, yes.

Well, you're on the right track -

it is by an Italian sculptor who has an almost unpronounceable name,

it's Count Agostino Marazzani-Visconti.

Which does sound a bit like

a biscuit you would dip in your coffee.

But a very well-respected artist, working from the mid-19th century

through to the sort of beginning, really, of the First World War.

I think he died in 1914.

-And your bronze is dated - it's dated 1892.

-Yeah.

And this has a fabulous colour,

and you've looked after it in the right way.

You've not sort of polished it up.

Well, I listen to the Antiques Roadshow,

and I take note of all the comments about polishing them, so...

Good man, good man.

-..it hasn't been overcleaned, by any means.

-No, exactly.

But, looking at the detail, what I love is obviously

the detail of the groom - his clothing,

his hairstyle, even his boots -

-they're brilliantly observed.

-Yeah.

-But what I love most of all is this muddy base...

-Really?

..the way the artist has imitated liquid mud,

with all the hoof marks, and, to me, that just lifts the thing

into a liveliness that many bronzes of horses,

I'll be honest, lack.

-Bronzes are not selling especially well in the current market.

-Mm-hm.

So I'm going to be a little bit conservative.

I think, if this went into auction,

I'd be putting an estimate of between £2,500 and £3,500.

Mm-hm. It was worth coming!

LAUGHTER

My great-great-great-grandfather...

..came to this country from Germany in the 1750s,

and he was a court tailor to the Hanoverian royal household.

How interesting.

And this is a waistcoat of George III's that he made.

So he arrived in the reign of George II,

cos George III came to the throne in 1762, didn't he?

And he went right the way through till 1814.

Well, now, let's just think if that would stack up.

When we think about dress, men's dress,

in the late 18th and early 19th century,

this is so typical. It was...

Your dress would be breeches, shirt, waistcoat, overcoat.

And the waistcoat itself was an intrinsic part of that,

and it was also...could be quite a flamboyant part of your dress.

-The ancestor that you mentioned, do you know the name?

-Yes.

-Which is?

-Johann Francklau, F-R-A-N-C-K-L-A-U.

-Yeah.

Later Anglicised to Francklow - L-O-W.

And when he died, in the church registers of that time,

he was registered as a clerk of the King's German chapel.

Excellent, so that's great, so you've done the research.

Let me just talk about the waistcoat that we're looking at here,

because it's made of this fabulous - what do I call it? -

sea green, aquamarine satin, and embroidered with silks,

and it's got this fabulous shine to it, hasn't it?

It's been worn.

We can see it's been worn because we have here...

..perspiration marks.

What I find is slightly more tricky for me

is to link it absolutely 100% to George III.

So, value. There are two distinct values, aren't there?

There's one as it is, which is, what, £500 to £600?

And there's that fantasy "could it be, may it one day be proved" value.

What's that? Probably not as much as you think.

I would imagine about £1,200 to £1,500,

-if we could link it in to George III.

-Yeah.

George III had a LOT of clothes.

-I'm sure he did.

-This isn't unique!

LAUGHTER

Well, two partridge and a grouse.

Not quite the Christmas carol, and we don't really have the pear tree,

but what can you tell me about them?

Basically, they've been in the family for as long as I know.

They came to me from my grandmother, up in Scotland.

-I was told they might be French, but I'm not totally sure.

-OK.

What they are is, in fact, Austrian.

-It's a group of animalia bronzes called cold-painted bronze.

-Right.

But, at the turn of the 19th century,

there were almost 50 foundries

producing this type of cold-painted bronze.

Well, they're painted with this dust paint, layers of dust paint,

and, in fact, they've lost the technique

of making this particular dust paint.

Most of them were painted by women, at home, so a real cottage industry.

You can just see how realistically done that they actually are.

An incredible weight for this one.

I mean, they were very, very skilled at doing this wonderful plumage,

and the scale of those, in particular, is very good.

-They are remarkably accurate in the way they've been painted.

-Yes.

-Do you like them, do you enjoy them?

-Absolutely, yes.

I mean, I've had them, luckily, for a very long time.

They're very special to me,

because they've come down through the family,

and they will continue to go through the family.

Date-wise, I would suspect they're probably, you know,

just late, probably early part of the 20th century,

so just maybe just turn of the century.

That said, if they came up for auction,

I think those two you would sell as a pair,

-and would carry an auction estimate of between £1,500 and £2,500.

-Right.

Your little one in front, your little grouse,

possibly around £500 to £700, something like that.

Brilliant. Thank you.

If I was a small child, to be given a toy of this size,

I would have been delighted.

It's got lots of action.

It's American, and had you been living in New York,

you would have seen these horse-drawn carriages,

fire engines, dashing through the streets

in order to get to the fire as quickly as possible. And, er...

..here at the back, you can see one of the firefighters

hanging on for dear life,

cos you can imagine going down those square streets,

going round the corner, and he's nearly falling off.

And the horses, as you pushed it along, or pulled it along,

they were linked to this front wheel,

so they would have gone up, up and down, like that.

So how does an American toy come to be here in rural England?

-It belonged to my great-grandfather...

-Mm-hm.

-..who lived outside of the town of Llanelli.

-Right.

And, apparently, at some time or other, maybe 1890, 1900,

I'm not sure when, he went to America.

And this is one of the items he brought back.

It must have been quite a journey, actually, by boat at that time.

-Absolutely, a long journey.

-Yes.

And this is not the lightest thing to bring back, is it?

I know, it's extraordinary.

I played with it as a child.

-Oh, really?

-I was told to be careful!

I think this is probably made by a company called Hubley,

who were a Pennsylvanian company

who were making cast-iron toys from the 1890s.

And as this is horse-drawn, I would think it probably dates

from the first decade of the 20th century, so 1900, 1910.

Here in Europe, the major toy manufacturers

made everything in tin, in Germany, mostly,

so it's very rare to find a cast-iron toy here in the UK.

-So that's another thing that excites me as well.

-Oh, right.

So it is a rare piece and also it's in great original condition,

nobody's tried to restore it.

Needs a bit of linkage there, but apart from that...

-it's a good piece.

-Oh, right, right.

If you ever did decide to sell it,

I think it really should go back to the USA,

cos that's where the market is, that's where the collectors are.

If you sold it here in the UK,

-we're probably talking about a figure of up to £3,000.

-Gosh.

Wow.

But could be substantially more in America.

Well, thank you.

Well, it's the evening and we're going into darkness.

This piece of jewellery is about somebody that went into darkness

and it's a piece of mourning jewellery

and the most particularly beautiful piece of mourning jewellery.

Tell me about it, with you.

Well, I don't know much about it.

The only thing I do know is it came from some cousins of my grandfather.

But, other than that, I know nothing at all about it.

It's obviously a piece of mourning jewellery,

and we know that for a number of reasons.

The first is, it's laid onto a background of human hair.

The background?

The background is literally human hair,

beautifully arranged and glued to the background.

And then it's overlain with lilies.

But the lilies are made of the tiniest seed pearls imaginable.

It's breathtaking craftsmanship.

And they're significant because they're emblems of purity.

But not only that, they are full-blown lilies,

which are another emblem of death -

all plants full-blown are suggestions of mortality.

And here we have a jewel reminding us of our own mortality.

So this is an emblem of love gone beyond the grave.

-It's very romantic stuff, isn't it?

-It is.

-It's heartbreaking.

-It is.

And the strange thing is that, more often than not,

the background of these jewels, which is pure gold,

is engraved with the name of the person that's being commemorated.

In this instance, it's completely blank.

I have to say it's a very high-status object indeed, because

it would have cost an enormous amount of money to have it made.

It was made for a specific purpose,

for a specific family and there was no question

of it leaving the family.

-Probably hasn't left the family.

-No.

This is probably one of your ancestors.

But we're looking at craftsmanship,

almost certainly London craftsmanship,

of the highest possible calibre.

And everything about it suggests to me - the craftsmanship

and the meticulous craftsmanship - that it dates from about 1760.

Oh, goodness.

We know people were making these jewels in Central London,

up and down Regent Street, and they boasted of what they could do.

They made trade cards, saying how the hair of the beloved

could be arranged in the form of flowers, in the form of feathers.

And you'd take the hair of the deceased

to those people to work them up. And why did you do it?

The reason to do it is because death

was ever-present in the 18th century.

And commemoration was everything,

because it was an age without photography,

certainly without the moving image, and there was a terror

that people who had died, you wouldn't remember their face.

So you would take what is incorruptible from them -

their hair - and wear it.

So it's very macabre in its own way today, but not so,

it's social history at the highest possible level

and here we have an anonymous voice, a voice beyond the grave,

telling us all of this. Couldn't ask for more, could you?

-No.

-No.

And how to value it?

It's a very hard one to do because it's a family jewel.

It's part of your DNA, probably IS the same DNA,

and how are we going to put a price on that?

£800 for this, maybe £1,200.

-But you're not going to do it, are you?

-No.

I'm speechless, really.

I thought it would be worth, um...

I don't know, maybe £200, £300.

I can't believe it's worth that much.

Wow!

-What a tankard!

-Yes.

I am so jealous of you owning this.

I would love to have this in my collection.

How long have you actually had the good fortune of owning it?

Owning it, only since it was passed to me,

-but I've known it all my life.

-Right.

But I know little about it.

What we've got here...

The form is entirely European - very English, actually.

It's the form of a 17th-century tankard.

Right.

-But it's not English.

-Oh.

And, of course, when we look at the decoration,

we've got all this absolutely fabulous work,

where these have actually been made separately in pieces

and applied to the surface.

It's interesting how the animals and the various flower heads

have been picked out with gold,

which is actually known as parcel gilding,

which is a corruption of being partially gilt.

-Look at that dragon's head!

-Yeah.

-Ah!

You know, that is so wonderful.

-Of its type of work, it's the finest I have ever seen.

-Right.

-And it's not often you can say that.

-Oh, right.

So where does it come from?

-China?

-Well, yes.

Most likely over towards Batavia, because there's only one mark on it,

which is stamped on the base and just there.

-Do you see that little V?

-Yes, yeah.

-That's a Dutch verification mark...

-Oh, right.

-..that was put on in the 19th century.

-Right.

So, that would link up nicely with Batavia.

The market today for Chinese work, Chinese-related pieces,

-is very, very hot.

-Oh, right.

-It's an extraordinarily difficult piece to put a value on.

-Right.

There's been nothing as good as this on the market,

as far as I'm aware.

So when you've got something that's probably the best that there is,

how much do you put on it?

It's a guesstimate. I would think we're looking at

-between £20,000 and £25,000.

-CROWD GASPS AND MUTTERS

My word. That's fantastic.

And it could go more.

Really?

Right.

-LAUGHING:

-So...

Do you want to sit down?

He wasn't going to come in.

THEY LAUGH

-So you're pleased you came?

-Oh, I am. Certainly am.

Wonderful.

It's wonderful.

It's still busy here at Broughton Castle

as our day at the Antiques Roadshow draws to a close.

I wanted to show you one little item that had a lot of people puzzled.

What do you think this is?

Coat hook?

Weapon?

Any ideas?

Well, you put your fingers in these holes here...

..and, as you are reaping your corn or your crop -

and they'd have done a lot of that around here in Oxfordshire -

you pull it towards yourself and cut with your reaping hook.

And this protects your hands.

That is our best guess, and it's 19th century,

with the woodworm to prove it.

From Broughton Castle and the Antiques Roadshow team,

until next time, bye-bye.