Episode 3 Priceless Antiques Roadshow

Ever wondered what makes our experts tick?

You're about to find out as we unlock more secrets from the Roadshow archives.

In the interests of balance, tonight we're making room

for both ends of the scale when it comes to antiques.

Two of our longest standing Roadshow experts will reveal

the finest objects to come their way in 30 years on the show,

pieces they'd love to own.

And on the flip side, we'll be finding out why some owners simply can't stand their heirlooms,

no matter what the specialists say about them.

And Eric Knowles remembers the first time he stepped in front of the cameras.

Way back in 1981, I was 28 years of age,

which is remarkable because I'm only 32 now.

And Katherine Higgins explains why she thinks kitchen collectibles can be a smart buy.

If the trend continues, yes, I think we're going to see prices going up.

Not too high, I hope, so I can still buy a few things myself!

Now you may be surprised to learn that if you ask one of our experts

the day after a roadshow which item they liked best,

they often can't remember a single thing.

Perhaps it's not so surprising when thousands of pieces flash before their eyes on as a typical day.

Imagine how special a piece must be

if they can still picture them with affection, five, ten, even 20 years later.

They must really be something.

David Battie from the ceramics team and John Bly from the furniture desk

now pick out the best of their Roadshow finds.

Isn't that marvellous?

This little one is a honey. I think it's sweet.

The most wonderful piece of furniture I've seen.

It's a staggeringly good example of its kind.

-Unsurpassable.

-I had no idea.

It doesn't happen very often

but when something wonderful does appear, it's a great thrill.

I think probably the first thing that occurs to me

when something amazing is unwrapped, is, "This has got to be a forgery.

"No way could this be happening here!"

There's nothing that can describe adequately

the thrill when you find something that's really wonderful.

And although I say it's rare that they do turn up,

enough times to make it, ah...

imperative that you do another programme just to find out.

I'm delighted you brought this in.

For me, this is the most exciting object I've seen on any Roadshow.

It's absolutely marvellous.

It's Japanese earthenware, what's called Satsuma ware.

And it it's a fantastic example of its kind.

'When a really interesting thing is presented to me,'

I'm more than happy.

The body is enamelled and gilt in the most wonderful way,

with Tokugawa Mon, which are the badges of the princely house of Tokugawa.

I'm glad you brought it in. It's terrific.

'Poole really is'

one of the programmes which has stuck in my mind,

largely because of a satsuma ewer that came in,

a sort of pear shape with a dragon spout.

This spout and the handle are just one sinuous dragon,

brilliantly modelled. You can see it's almost alive.

And I get...

hopelessly besotted by objects!

My house is a testament to that.

-At the moment, I should think this is worth about £600 to £800.

-As much as that?

It's my belief that this particular type of wear

is going to prove, in the long term, an extraordinarily good investment.

'The satsuma ewer would have increased in value,'

and then crashed,

because it hit another recession.

'And at the moment, I'd be surprised

'if that ewer made more than...'

2,500. Quite extraordinary.

And it's ridiculous.

It's a really...

superb object.

'It doesn't make any sense at all.'

I think the one piece that stands out, erm...

beyond all others, as far as rarity and quality and, to me, beauty,

'has to be the commode in the Isle of Man, which,'

looking back, has to be about 25 years ago.

It was left to me by an elderly lady who I was very fond of.

This is probably the most important piece of furniture that has ever been shown on a Roadshow.

-Goodness.

-It's quite extraordinary.

And I would think, without any doubt, the most valuable piece too, but more of that later.

'It had everything that one would hope for in an important piece of furniture.'

A fantastic thing!

It stood as if it could have walked off the stage.

'It was just so full of life and movement,'

and then it was covered with marquetry,

'and this beautiful marquetry was, again, foliate, but they were'

flowers that you could have picked off the surface. Oh!

The leaves on here would be green, the rosebuds pink,

and there, you'd have a bright blue ribbon.

All these bright, sparkling colours...

'Once you've seen that,'

look at that, isn't that great!

It's a piece of furniture that's of national importance and even on an international scale.

It was made by one of three or four people, possibly a man called Pierre Langoire.

'It was made by a cabinet maker who had'

a workshop in Paris and a workshop in London.

And in Paris, he was known as Pierre Langoire,

and in London, he was known as Peter Langley, which is wonderful history.

Having said all that, I must tell you

that it's a piece of furniture which could realise £35,000 - £40,000.

-No wonder you asked me to sit down!

-SHE LAUGHS

'I've had two or three things'

of that, sort of, combined construction and look,

but nothing ever as important and as beautiful as that.

No, it was lovely. Oh, I'd love another one!

'Occasionally, we get items so good even the experts are queuing up to share the limelight.'

We have here what looks to Me like a piece of Oriental porcelain with a Western, Victorian mount.

'Skegness, that was the Burgess bottle.'

It was just...

-Do you know who William Burgess is?

-No, apart from his name on the bottle.

-That doesn't mean anything to you?

-Not a lot, no.

Where do we begin(?) We could be here for hours!

One of the most important Victorian designers.

'William Burgess was this extraordinary designer and he did do small objects.

'What he usually did was to take something that already existed,'

and then build round it.

'This was a little Chinese bottle which he had netted in gold.'

-This particular piece, he made for himself.

-How do you know he made it for himself?

-Right...

Two reasons, one is he bothered to put his name on the bottom.

He's not just saying, "I made it," he put the names on things that were for the owner.

Therefore, we know that he made it for himself.

'The money, to me,'

is not the important thing. What's important to me is the object.

'Objects are not inanimate.'

They will...tell you a story.

There's a set of photographs of his house taken in the 19th century taken by Francis Bedford,

-the album is in the V&A in London, and this bottle is illustrated in that book.

-No!

-Is it really?

-And it hasn't been seen since.

-No!

-It's a discovery.

And that story is really the drama and excitement of the Roadshow.

-Let's come up with a price. What do we think?

-Where do we begin?

-Ten...

Pounds(?) SHE LAUGHS

-Thousand?

-£1,000?

No, £10,000.

-No...

-I'll raise you on that.

20?

I have to consult my client(!) Erm...

-25.

-I think, somewhere around £20,000 - £30,000.

-Do you really?

-Absolute top, yes.

-How amazing!

-Yep. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing.

-Never seen before.

We won't see it again.

'One sold, some time later,'

for, I think, 20,000 or 25,000, so we were in the right kind of area.

-Thank you.

-I'm so pleased I brought it!

'I remember at Wisely,

'this very charming lady had brought in this great cupboard.'

It was one of those things that you'd see across the room

and you'd know it's going to be good. This was of its type.

This is magnificent English furniture from the third quarter

of the 19th century, between 1860 and 1880.

'19th-century furniture'

is not my first love,

but quality is.

'I mean, it was incredible.'

It was given to me 10 years ago as a wedding present from a great-aunt.

She had emigrated to South Africa some 20 or 30 years before

and it had been in storage in Edinburgh for all that time.

-It just arrived?

-Well, yes!

-Wow! LAUGHTER

I was trying to think of intelligent questions to ask,

and not doing very well, as he obviously knows a lot

and I know very little indeed.

If we can trace it to a maker,

then this piece of furniture would be in excess of £100,000.

Gosh...!

CROWD GASPS

'I nearly burst into tears, because I was so...'

It was such an intense experience that it was quite shocking at the time.

But don't worry, we haven't found him yet!

-LAUGHTER

-Good!

'And her reaction was one of'

total joy and disbelief, and then more joy.

If we can't, if we can't...

then I'm afraid it would only be worth about £50,000.

LAUGHTER

But what I was so thrilled about was that, we discussed the matter afterwards, and she and I

'have been doing research on the cabinet since then.'

'When John said if I can prove the provenance, it was potentially worth £100,000,

'and if I couldn't it was worth half of that, I was very inspired to find out more.'

There's a monetary value, but it was never that. We never intended to sell it.

I just wanted to find out more about it, because it was unique and it was made for somebody.

'We traced it to a family called the Baird family, George Alexander Baird,

'and his wife Cecelia which is the intertwined monogram on the front.

'They lived in a place called Stitch Hill Mansion,

'which no longer exists, but we found the local post mistress, Mary Thomson,

'who had been there for 30 years. She was a local historian.'

A few years later, we travelled to Edinburgh, went to Stitch Hill,

met with Mary and she lives in one of the lodge houses of the original mansion house,

and as we drove up, we could see on the lodge gates the intertwined C and G Baird

'and on the reverse side was the griffin which is on the front of the gradenza.

'We felt immediately we had found its home.'

'It has to be my best of the best,

'because it has everything.'

A - a marvellous piece of furniture, good provenance,

a lovely owner and continuing discovery.

Absolute quality antiques there.

One man who knows quality when he sees it is the Roadshow's Art Deco man, Eric Knowles.

He's been on the show for 28 years, man and boy.

Normally he's never stuck for words, but there was one day when he struggled -

the first time he stepped in front of a camera.

Stand by to flashback to the '80s for the first recorded glimpse of our Eric.

I was as nervous as...

I did really well to mask the shaking.

Can you tell me anything about them? Where have they come from?

When we purchased the house, the small chair was under the stairs and the big one was in the hall.

They've been left by the previous tenants. Is that right?

'Way back in 1981, I was

28 years of age, which is remarkable because I'm only 32 now.

These date from round about 1900 and it really is very, very individual in style.

To look at the chairs, you might think they're Indian, but in actual fact,

they're from nowhere near India....

'I had been brought on the programme just to work on the front counter,

but the producer came up to me after about half an hour and said,

"You see those chairs over there, do you recognise who they're by?"

I said, "Well, yeah, they're by Bugatti."

He said, "Do you know about...?"

I said, "I know a few things." He said, "Go up there and do a record."

When you think of Bugatti, you automatically think of the racing cars.

Well Carlo was the father of Vittori, who was the designer of racing cars.

If not for the show's veterans preferring more traditional furniture,

Eric might never have got the chance to step in front of the cameras.

The whole effect of this cabinet is magnificent.

It's a glorious bit of furniture.

'My relationship with Arthur Negus, what can I say?

'Certainly, if anything 20th century came onto the programme,'

he'd look at it in disdain and say,

"I haven't got a clue, show it the lad, he'll probably know what it is."

I don't think he ever really knew me name.

This use of metal or copper banding is again typical of Bugatti.

'I had explained about the copper obliques'

and when the cameras stopped rolling, this chap started talking

and he said, "This copper, in my back garden, I keep digging up lots of these,

"I mean, they're in an area of charred wood."

And it dawned on me what had happened,

that basically the previous owner of the house who had left these behind under the stairwell

had taken a Bugati dining room suite and put it on the bonfire!

Saleroom value would probably be in the region of £800 to £1,000.

What a crime! And talking of crimes...

'When it comes to the suit, the main reason I bought that size'

is that it also fitted my dad.

Like it or not, you can't ignore it.

It really is very, very individual. As I said...

I used to send it up to him on the Red Star parcel post

for him to go to job interviews in.

And it worked on three occasions.

-Is that really true?

-Of course it's not! LAUGHTER

Eric Knowles, who claims he was barely out of shorts when that recording was made.

A lot of the items we see at the Antiques Roadshow

are carefully repacked after their visit, and inevitably they will return

to glass cabinets and mantelpieces, but one of our specialists,

Katherine Higgins, believes that the pieces you use every day

can end up the collectables of the future.

# Get outta that bed Wash your face and hands

# ..Well, you get in that kitchen

# Make some noise With the pots and pans... #

I am a great fan of vintage kitchenalia,

and all things to do with home wares. I love the '50s

as it was a really exciting time to be in the kitchen.

It was a time when things were both functional and good looking, and I think the combination of the two

meant that a housewife got these great new gadgets that she could use.

And that's why it's very exciting to bring them to life again.

And I really enjoy doing that.

-# ..De-oo-wee-ooh, sh-boom, sh-boom

-Life could be a dream, sweetheart

# De-oo-wee-ooh Sh-boom, sh-boom... #

This is the place I come for my shopping fix.

I love burrowing around and seeing if I can find my favourite things.

# De-oo-wee-ooh Sh-boom, sh-boom... #

Even the most perfect '50s housewife wouldn't have had this level of choice.

It's like a sort of real time-warp experience here, and I love it.

I think certainly there are a band of collectors who love to buy 1950s things,

and these really set off other pieces that they might have bought, the grander pieces.

You know, the really nice armchair or the sofa, something like that.

I think there are a number of people like me who buy to use,

and if the trend continues, I think we're going to see prices going up.

Not too high, I hope, so that I can still buy a few things myself!

# ..Sweetheart! #

The new materials and new kitchen wares that came out in the 1950s were very revolutionary.

Firms like Pyrex had already existed pre-war, but post-war, they go in a new direction.

They're restyled for a younger audience,

and it was the first time really they could actually afford modern design.

I think I love these things, because they're a lot of the things I actually grew up with.

For instance, this was my porridge bowl. Not this particular one,

but a bowl exactly like this was my porridge bowl when I was about...

My first memories of using it were about three of four.

And I don't want to spend fortunes on antiques.

I think it's great to spend as much as your small purse can afford, really.

This sort of stuff at £10 or £12 is the perfect buy.

# ..Home cookin', home cookin'... #

I love the original recipe books and leaflets, which are great.

They kind of just showed how perfect you had to be as a housewife.

You had to prepare everything so it looked amazing,

and then you had to move to do some sewing for the children.

And then you had to be able to do knitting.

So you were a sort of multi-tasking machine that just sort of managed to

make it all perfect, and produce the smile at the end of the day.

# ..We love to bake A sunshine cake

# It does more good Than a big, big steak

# We'll start With a tablespoon of trouble

# Then add a smile And let it bubble... #

I think until 1954, things were pretty hard,

and the recipe I'm doing today is quite interesting because

it's sheer extravagance, in terms of what there was.

I'm using sausages, which were so rarely seen.

You almost had to bribe the butcher to get a sausage.

So things changed enormously when rationing ended, and you can see that.

By 1958 we've got recipes that use goodness knows, four or five eggs,

and the weekly ration was only one egg, if you were really lucky.

So the whole culture surrounding food changed as the decade progressed, really.

Design on tableware was really influenced by what was going on in cookery.

As more exotic food came to the market, factories like Midwinter began decorating their pottery

with garlic and red peppers, and even asparagus.

These were things that many families had never seen before.

These days, salad-ware designed by Terence Conran commands really high prices,

but personally I prefer to collect more humble and affordable home-wares,

by the likes of designers like Jessie Tait.

An average Red Domino plate would be maybe £8 or £9,

but if you're talking about the same plate in salad-ware,

you're talking certainly £20, £30 or so, something like that.

I would love to be able to buy perhaps a really great piece of salad ware,

but I'm going to have to save up quite hard.

# ..Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps... #

I think the '50s values are very much in our minds.

It's quite interesting, really, in the times of, I guess, credit crunch,

we all thinking about how much things cost, and how to save money.

Well, you can be a 1950s girl and save money quite nicely,

because the ingredients were very fresh.

You were using products that didn't have additives or any real E-numbers

to talk about, and it was a time when you could make things yourself.

As a housewife you would do much more yourself than we do now,

and if you can do all of that, it's a tremendous money-saver.

And I think, let's apply those values today.

My friends, I think, think I'm slightly mad.

They don't necessarily share my obsession with the 1950s and 1950s food,

but they enjoy sharing the results.

And I'm generally known as the Nigella Lawson of the antiques world amongst my friends.

I don't know why!

Now I'm going to put my sausage and egg tart, 1950s-style, in the oven.

And luckily, here's one I made earlier.

It looks... I must say, it smells delicious and it looks delicious.

There we go. Teatime, anyone?

Even I might consider spending a bit longer in the kitchen if I could have some of Katherine's collection.

But taste can be a funny thing.

What's a prized possession to one person can be an absolute monstrosity to another.

We see it time and again on the Roadshow,

as the expert gets excited, the owner's far from convinced.

These next few owners just can't stand their antiques.

I'm going to conduct an experiment.

-Do you like it?

-Not a lot, no.

-Do you like it?

-No.

-It's horrible.

-No, I've never liked it hugely.

The fact other people said they didn't like it didn't surprise me.

Didn't offend me either.

It's a little Martin Brothers bird made out of stoneware.

In theory, they were tobacco jars, but I think that one's too small to get any serious amount of tobacco in.

And today, it's probably worth £10,000.

My daughter's standing behind you, and my granddaughter, and they're both salivating.

It's mine, not yours! It's mine!

My opinion after the filming had probably changed a little,

but it's nice to know one has something that is potentially worth a bit of money.

And the end of my experiment is now. Do you like it?

Isn't it amazing how money can change taste?

Ah, but there are some people who hate their antiques so much,

they won't change their minds, no matter what you say.

At Penshurst Place I got a family delegation.

They'd come to bring along their Moorcroft bowl.

Is this one of your prized possessions?

-I think it's very ugly.

-You do?

-Yes.

You don't have to agree with your wife, I've always found it safer to do so.

Yes, I think it is after all these years. But she loves all the bright colours.

It's a bit too sombre.

'Now, I'm very fond of Moorcroft pottery, it goes without saying.'

Much as I might eulogise about the thing, there was no way I was going to make any impression on her.

-You're quite sure about that?

-I'm positive.

Where does it stand in your home at the moment?

Top of the wardrobe, covered up.

There were so many thousands of people looking at this thing on screen thinking, "I'd love that."

But no, and no matter what I said about it, it didn't make any difference.

It's an unusual shape is this.

The combination of the shape and the decoration add to the value.

Somebody could well easily offer you £2,500 for this.

Even when I told the lady in question that it was worth £2,500, "Don't make any difference to me."

-No, no.

-Can I ask your daughter?

-Yes, ask her.

-What do you think?

Well, I don't really like it, but I think I'd keep it.

It's a little bit like saying, "What a wonderful E-type."

"Don't care, stays in the garage." You know, same thing.

OK, but promise me you won't put any apples and oranges in it.

No, I shall put it back where I got it from.

LAUGHTER

Well, it was... very nice meeting you all.

Some antiques are so detested, they've been the cause of trouble and strife in the marital home.

One of the most memorable recordings I did was at Althorp.

Two lovely, lovely dolls. Now, tell me...

'If I'm valuing something and the owner tells me they hate it,'

it gives me the leeway to say, "Thank God you said that, I couldn't agree with you more!"

Did you buy them for your wife?

-I did, yes.

-You did?

-I did, yes.

-What a lucky wife.

Do you know what she said?

-No.

-"I don't want them awful things."

LAUGHTER

When Bernard bought the dolls, I said, "I don't really like those.

-"They're a bit dirty, aren't they?"

-That's a terrible thing to say.

How can you say that's tatty? Look at that!

It's wonderful.

-Would you mind telling me what you paid?

-£150.

Maybe that's why you didn't like them so much.

And I said, "If I say that you put an 0 on for each one..."

she said, "Could you say that again?"

No. Would you like them a bit better?

Well, I'll have them back now.

It was a bit of a shock, I don't know about a surprise.

Can you say that again?

-£1,000 to £1,500 each.

-Each?

I did ask the wife afterwards, "Come on, seriously, are you going to sell those?"

So she said, "Well, I thought I might do, to go on a cruise."

We're still looking at the cruises.

We haven't gone on it yet, but we are thinking about it.

Eric encountered yet another hated item.

This one almost caused a family feud.

Not many years ago we were in Wigan, and a couple brought in their family cabinet,

which the lady described as being "the family monstrosity".

It has been christened "the monstrosity" by the family.

It's known affectionately as "the monstrosity".

Do you know, I dream of being a member of a family like yours,

because if they all hate it, it means that eventually it might come my way.

My parents-in-law were buying a table from an auction.

The people that were selling the table said, "You can't have the table unless you buy the cabinet."

-Right, so it was forced on her?

-Virtually, yes.

OK, I've got to say 40 years ago this type of furniture was not particularly desirable.

It was definitely not really wanted on the day it arrived.

But over the years, yes, it's become very, very much part of the family.

If I wanted to go out and buy that today,

-I would have to go out with £6,000 in my pocket.

-Gosh.

I don't think there would be any problems in that department.

But it just goes to show how one man's meat is another man's poison.

Well, you like it, I like it, and at this moment in time that's all that matters.

So next time you may be thinking of ditching that hated piece,

remember it may be worth bringing along to a Roadshow to double check.

That's just about it for another edition,

more priceless moments tomorrow when some of our most eloquent experts reveal a few tricks of the trade.

Furniture expert Orlando Rock shows us what life is like living above the shop.

So Burley plays this dual role between being a very public house

that's opened to a lot of visitors during the year, and also very much our very fortunate family house.

Houses like this must evolve.

You've always got to keep pushing the boundaries.

And we reveal some of the sauciest moments ever seen on the Roadshow.

I've been called the Queen of saucy objects.

I have no idea where this comes from. It makes me feel like a bottle of ketchup!

-Good Lord!

-Cheeky!

Until next time, bye-bye.