Antiques Roadshow 2024 - Firstsite 1
Antiques Roadshow 2024 - Firstsite 1
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CreativityTranscript
00:00Today, the Antiques Roadshow comes from the heart of Essex, the city of Colchester.
00:11And our host is the award–winning contemporary art gallery, First Sight.
00:16It's also a focal point for the community.
00:21Our visitors are arriving in their droves,…
00:23…hoping to uncover the stories behind their prized possessions.
00:27It's my husband's!
00:28Does he know that you've borrowed it for the day?
00:30Well, he did when I shouted.
00:31I'm going, bye! I've got your watch!
00:34I just feel powerful! I feel I can do anything, just holding this thing!
00:38Oh, my goodness!
00:39I can't believe that something so tiny is worth so much money!
00:43This is the campest thing I think I've ever seen!
00:46This guy is getting invited to Elton John's next party.
00:50And these aren't the only unexpected things to be found here.
00:55First Sight is home to thought–provoking modern artists, such as Michael Landy,…
00:58…who created this huge figure, the Essex Man,…
01:02…a satirical take on a notorious 1980s cliché.
01:06I'm sure it won't be the last surprising thing we see today.
01:09Welcome to the Antiques Roadshow!
01:24I don't know about you, but I feel like the rest of the body is slowly going to rise out of this chest.
01:41His eyes do sort of follow you around the room.
01:44They do, they've got a very intentional stare about them.
01:46Yes, but he's beautiful.
01:48This bust was made by one of the master artists at Dalton,…
01:52Yeah?
01:53…George Tinworth.
01:54He's beautifully signed here, and on the other side, wonderful again.
01:58Henry Dalton has put his signature on that.
02:01Yeah.
02:01So, this is like a very early piece.
02:03It's from the earliest years of George Tinworth's career,…
02:07…dating to the late 1870s, early 1880s.
02:11Wow!
02:11How did you even come by this?
02:13Well, we've had him about 15 years, but before that, it was my great-grandfather,…
02:19…in about 1910, bought a house off the Dalton family in London,…
02:23…and he came with it as well, and he's had a fairly exciting life.
02:28So, at one stage, he was cemented to my grandfather's…
02:32…garage, for 20 years, outside.
02:34My grandfather also had him lurking in the outside toilet, to scare people,…
02:39…and then he was in the garden.
02:41And then, for the last 15 years, he's been inside with us,…
02:44…and, come Christmas, he has his tinsel round him,…
02:46…so he's a very loved bit of the family.
02:48And do I detect a bit of paintwork at some point?
02:51Oh, yes!
02:52My nan decided she wanted to brighten him up, so she painted him white.
02:57Well, despite all that, he is a wonderful-looking chap.
03:02Yeah.
03:02Tinworth was very prolific, using his artistry in pottery to decorate buildings.
03:09If you go to Dalton House today, in Lambeth,…
03:12Yeah.
03:13…you will still see his panels all around the building.
03:16Yeah.
03:16And he really loved making these sculptural pieces that would be used outdoors.
03:23– Oh, right! – And that was the point!
03:24– There you go! – Yeah!
03:26So, he was always made to be outdoors.
03:30Now, these are rare!
03:32It'd probably take you several years to track one down.
03:36– And that's mainly because they are cemented… – Yeah!
03:39…in place, at grand houses,…
03:43Yeah.
03:43…who may not even know that it's a Dalton busk.
03:46I think it's just such a wonderful story, that we've got this perfect line of provenance…
03:50– …from your family to today. – Yeah!
03:52– Do you both love it? – Yes!
03:54– Oh, absolutely, yeah! – And it's adored by the family, and…
03:57Most of them! Some of them would describe it as a creepy head!
04:00Creepy head! Yeah? I get that!
04:02Now, value, it costs you nothing.
04:05– I guess that's not the point. – No.
04:07If you wanted to find another one of these today,…
04:11…if you could find one,…
04:12…it's probably going to cost you in excess of 2,000 pounds.
04:17– Wow! – Oh, wow!
04:18Wow!
04:19– No more painting, though! – Yeah!
04:21And maybe not on a garage roof anymore, either!
04:24Keep it safe, enjoy it indoors!
04:27– Thank you! – Thank you!
04:34– This really caught my eye! – Yes!
04:36It's incredibly unusual!
04:37It's a watercolor, and what can you tell me about it?
04:40It is in All Saints Church, less than 10 miles down the road,…
04:44…and it's been there probably at least 50 years.
04:47– It's by a Sienese artist called Riccardo Meacci. – Yeah.
04:51I mean, he's quite an unusual artist. He worked in Siena, mostly,…
04:55– …and most of his work is in Siena. – Yeah.
04:57So, it's unusual to find it over here.
05:00From a distance, you'd think this was much earlier, but…
05:02…the artist was born in the 1850s, and died in the 1930s.
05:07– And there's a very Pre-Raphaelite feel about it. – Yeah.
05:09And fantastic attention to detail!
05:11But I think what really gets me is this botanical!
05:15– It's really detailed, little daisies down here,… – Yeah.
05:18– …and that's very Pre-Raphaelite. – Yeah.
05:19I'd love to know what the subject is.
05:21– I've got a few guesses, but, um,… – Which are?
05:24– Well, one is, it could be St. George,… – Yeah.
05:27…with the cross of St. George, obviously, on his pennant.
05:30And also, there's a crown on the helmet,…
05:32…which suggests he's more than just a knight.
05:35– That's a kind of nod to royalty, isn't it? – A nod to royalty!
05:38In fact, he was quite heavily patronized…
05:41– …outside Italy, by European nobility,… – Right.
05:45– …and allegedly, also, by Queen Victoria. – Yeah.
05:48– Um, it is alleged that she really loved them. – Yes.
05:50Actually, it has faded a little bit.
05:53So, the blues would probably have been a bit brighter, and the reds.
05:57But I would have thought, at auction, with this wonderful original frame,…
06:01…you're probably talking something in the region of…
06:04– …1,000 to 1,500 pounds. – Hmm.
06:06Really unusual. Thank you very much for bringing it in.
06:14I really was intrigued to know what the subject was.
06:16And I love the detail.
06:18And it's telling a story, but we don't know what the story is.
06:21So, I think if anybody at home…
06:22…knows what recognizes the story, they should get in touch with the Roadshow.
06:32Now, this doesn't look much like a typewriter.
06:34And what we're looking at is the world's first commercially successful index typewriter.
06:40So, this was patented by a chap called Thomas Hall,…
06:43…who was a Brooklyn engineer in 1881.
06:46When we sit, and we're composing our emails, and we're doing this,…
06:48…that's second nature to us. But back in 1881, it wasn't.
06:52So, the way this works is you would pull out this lever,…
06:56…slide it along,…
06:57What I love about it as well is you've got these little bits of ephemera.
07:01So, you've got the whole journal.
07:03Because these were quite popular, they very clearly produced a journal.
07:06And that one's dated 1885.
07:08You often see them on the inside, with a little panel in there, explaining something.
07:12That's not there. I notice on the back of it as well, there's a little bit of damage on the box.
07:17That's kind of serious. That's not serious.
07:19And then, you've got this little piece of paper, and it's got a little bit of writing on it.
07:23As well, there's a little bit of damage on the box.
07:26That's kind of serious. It definitely needs restoration.
07:29So, I'm going to sort of take the condition valuing down,…
07:33…but I'm going to raise it again, because you've got the ephemera.
07:36I think if this came up to auction, you'd be looking at around 300 to 500 pounds.
07:40Wow!
07:42Yeah, I think it's something we'll hold on to, and pass down the generation.
07:47Our silver experts are always fascinated to see examples of the craft from overseas,…
07:52…like this model of a famous Indian landmark, the General Post Office in Kolkata,…
07:57…formerly known as Calcutta.
08:00This piece of silverware was made to contain beetle leaves,…
08:03…which were traditionally used as a stimulant.
08:06Well, I have to say, I have never seen a piece like this, ever before, in the Antiques Roadshow.
08:11It's clearly silver.
08:13I'm not quite sure whether it was especially made for order,…
08:17…or it was just bought off the shelf, which seems a bit unlikely.
08:20How did you come by this piece?
08:22This actually belonged to my father,…
08:24…and that was a present from my maternal grandfather, as a wedding present.
08:30– When was that? Do you know roughly? – That was 1942.
08:33I'm sure there'll be lots of people intrigued by this.
08:35Yeah, this is panbatta.
08:38Yeah, this is panbatta.
08:40What that means, that this used to contain beetle leaf,…
08:45…and there was a fashion, those days,…
08:48…for the beetle leaf to be chewed with some lime,…
08:51…maybe a bit of tobacco, and beetle nut.
08:55And there are separate compartments for the bits to be kept inside.
08:58– Because it's supposed to be a bit like chewing tobacco, here. – That's right, yes.
09:01– It gives you a bit of, like, a nicotine hit, or…? – Yes, yes.
09:03– Yeah. – I have not tried it yet.
09:05Let's just have a look at those, then, shall we?
09:07– There's the compartment you're talking about, there. – Yeah, yeah.
09:09– And then, does this come out as well? – Yes, that comes out as well.
09:12– There we are, right. – And that is especially for the lime.
09:14– The lime goes in the middle. – Yes.
09:15– And then this piece pulls right off. – And then…
09:18– Yeah. – …you keep the beetle leaf inside.
09:20– The beetle leaf should stay there. – Yeah.
09:21Absolutely amazing, isn't it?
09:22– With no maker's marks. – No.
09:24No silver marks. It's clearly silver, you can just tell…
09:27– Yes. – …by the way that it's been done.
09:28– Yeah. – Calcutta, at that time, there was one firm that…
09:31…is a possibility.
09:33– They're a firm called Cooke & Kelvey. – Mm-hmm.
09:35They made a lot of quite large-scale pieces.
09:38– They tend to have a maker's mark on it, though. – Mm-hmm.
09:40– But if this was a special commission… – Yeah.
09:43– …they wouldn't have had to put their mark on it. – No.
09:45We've got two initials on the front here.
09:47– G.S., which I think is your father's initials. – Yes, Govind Sharan.
09:50So, that shows that it is definitely a special commission to me.
09:54So, when it comes to the valuation, it's quite a tricky thing to put a price on.
09:57– Yeah. – We've never seen one before.
09:59– Mm-hmm. – A lot of different collectors…
10:01– Yeah. – …would be interested in this.
10:02– Mm-hmm. – It's Indian silver.
10:04It's decorative, and it's a known building.
10:07My gut feeling for an estimate for that, I would say £1,500 to £2,000.
10:15Yeah, not going anywhere.
10:16We'll pass it on to our daughter.
10:18Well, she's a lucky girl, isn't she?
10:21– And I hope she enjoys it, yeah. – I'm sure she will.
10:23– Well, thank you very much for sharing it today. – Thank you very much.
10:25It's been a great pleasure to see it.
10:27This has been very special to me,
10:30and I remember right from my very childhood, I really loved it.
10:34This reminds me of my dad.
10:37Whenever I see it, I always think about him.
10:40And then I always say, thank you, Dad.
10:58Every once in a while, we see something on the show that we have never seen before.
11:02This is a very rare little teapot.
11:04What's its story to you?
11:06It came from my grandfather, who was a blacksmith.
11:09We were told that he was a collector of teapots,
11:12which is a bit of a strange one when you're a blacksmith during the day,
11:16but a teapot collector at night.
11:18I mean, have you ever seen anything like this elsewhere?
11:21Have you done any research?
11:23I've seen a version of it in Brighton Museum and Art Gallery,
11:28a very garish version.
11:30Didn't like it.
11:31The one that you've seen is by the same factory,
11:34so it's by Minton, English factory, Minton.
11:36And the one that you saw was low-fired glazed earthenware.
11:40This one is made of porcelain,
11:42which is, of course, fired at a much higher temperature.
11:45And the other unique thing about this is it's not brightly coloured.
11:50It's white, it's blanc de chine, it's one colour.
11:52If I turn it over, it has the Minton mark there
11:55and a date cipher for about 1874 underneath.
11:59And I did consult with some colleagues.
12:01None of us have seen this white glazed teapot of this form before.
12:06Was this a prototype?
12:07Oh, yeah. OK.
12:09Well, it makes sense because actually this type of ware
12:11is something that you were seeing, you know, in China,
12:14you know, in the late Ming dynasty
12:16and certainly into the sort of Qing dynasty,
12:17this type of blanc de chine or dehua ware.
12:20So I suspect it was sort of Minton's interpretation of that.
12:24It's what these sort of sculptors, artists were imagining.
12:27They're not necessarily based on any particular character
12:31and quite sort of fantastical.
12:32I mean, I just love it.
12:34I love this kind of actor's mask or whatever it is on the front there
12:37with the spout coming out and, you know,
12:39the way that they've sort of followed on
12:41with this sort of plaited hair that they've used as the handle.
12:44I mean, they really had a lot of fun, didn't they,
12:46when they were making that.
12:48I love it.
12:49Look, it's a wonderful thing.
12:50It's hard to put a value on something like this
12:52because I think if you're bidding,
12:55you're not going to get another chance
12:56because as far as we're concerned,
12:58I don't think there's another one out there.
12:59I think that would easily carry an estimate at auction
13:02of between £1,000 to £1,500.
13:07Gosh.
13:08I think people would bid less from their head
13:10and more with their heart.
13:12And as a result of that, I think it could go anywhere.
13:14OK.
13:14It's a lovely thing.
13:15Yeah, it is.
13:16It's brought lots of smiles to our faces.
13:18It really does.
13:26Well, this is a very serious-looking outfit, isn't it?
13:29It is.
13:29It's my great-grandma's Sunday best.
13:32I've got photographs of my great-grandmother,
13:35my mother, and my grandmother wearing the outfit,
13:39and it's been in my loft for about 40 years.
13:42I'm trying to work out the date of this.
13:43So when was your great-grandmother born?
13:47She was born in 1861.
13:50Now, do you know of anything else that happened?
13:52Not really, no.
13:54Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, died in 1861.
13:59Oh, very soon.
14:00The year that your great-grandmother was born,
14:03and thereafter followed a fashion for wearing black clothing.
14:09She obviously wouldn't have worn it at that point.
14:11This probably dates from around the 1880s, I'm imagining.
14:16Let's look at this.
14:17There's a cape, a corseted top, and then a skirt,
14:21all made out of silk satin.
14:23The embroidery, in fact, is something a bit cleverer than embroidery.
14:27It's couched thread, so the pattern is made with thread,
14:32and then tiny little stitches are holding it into place.
14:35It's really dramatic.
14:36I think I like this sort of corset top the most.
14:41It's got these delightful pin tucks,
14:44then little fragments of Whitby jet sewn on to give this glistening effect.
14:51So show me one of the photographs.
14:54Well, this is the lady herself, my grandmother, and my mother.
14:59So this is all three generations, some years after she would have worn this.
15:03So this was the original owner of the dress?
15:06Yes, and then that is my grandmother wearing it,
15:09and then later my mother wearing it.
15:12It begs the question, did you ever wear it?
15:14I did, but there's no photographic evidence of me wearing it,
15:18and I don't think I'll ever get into it again.
15:20As far as value goes, a whole outfit like this at auction
15:25would fetch under £200, but that's not really the point, is it?
15:30No, but I've got a daughter and I've got a granddaughter now,
15:33so maybe it can carry on down the generations.
15:36Well, thank you so much for sharing the female side of your family's
15:41fashion history through the generations.
15:43Thank you very much indeed.
15:49On the Roadshow, we visited a host of historic sites and stately homes,
15:55but today's venue combines ancient history with modern engineering.
16:03First site opened in 2011, and it was designed by a Uruguayan architect,
16:07Rafael Vignoli, and he won a competition
16:09that attracted over 100 entries from all over the world.
16:14Vignoli's building is a work of art in itself,
16:17comprising a 3,000-square-metre steel frame
16:20clad entirely in copper-aluminium alloy.
16:25It was awarded Museum of the Year in 2021 by the Art Fund
16:28and is affectionately known by the locals as the Golden Banana.
16:32But what made the design and construction of First Site particularly challenging
16:36is that it was built around the Berryfield Mosaic,
16:40a 2,000-year-old artefact which was originally the floor of a wealthy Roman townhouse.
16:46This meant conventional foundations couldn't be dug,
16:49so instead, the entire building floats on a reinforced concrete slab.
16:56The Roman Berryfield Mosaic was built in the 17th century
17:00The Roman Berryfield Mosaic was removed piece by piece
17:04until the floating structure was complete,
17:05and then reinstalled beneath this pane of glass
17:07so that everyone can admire this remarkably preserved piece of the past.
17:17Aside from ancient artefacts,
17:19this building has also played host to an amazing array of contemporary art.
17:25This towering figure certainly catches the eye.
17:27He was part of Michael Landy's exhibition here in 2021 called Welcome to Essex.
17:33And this figure, made out of MDF, is called the Essex Man.
17:39Local artist Michael Landy wanted to reclaim a negative stereotype
17:43and stand it loud and proud.
17:46So he recreated this 90s Sunday Telegraph illustration by Edward Collett
17:50and supersized it,
17:52along with an article poking fun at the average white working-class Essex man.
17:57A crude generalisation,
17:59but one that many of us remember from stand-up routines at the time.
18:09So there aren't many series of paintings
18:13which are quite as instantly recognisable as this.
18:18It's what's become known as a spin painting.
18:21And it's by that brilliant artist who came of age in the 1990s,
18:26Damien Hirst.
18:28Yes.
18:28How did it come to be yours?
18:30Well, I was very lucky.
18:31I won a competition run by his publisher.
18:33The prize was to visit his London studios.
18:3660 were selected.
18:37And everybody who went to the studio,
18:39which was an amazing experience,
18:41were gifted a spin painting.
18:43In the late 80s and early 90s,
18:45he was part of a group of artists who became known as the YBAs,
18:49the Young British Artists.
18:51Yes.
18:51And part of their work was to create sort of spectacle and shock.
18:57And they sort of really changed how the British public reacted to contemporary art.
19:03Very much so, yes.
19:04Some people totally loved them.
19:05Other people absolutely hated them.
19:08What did you think?
19:08Well, I think he's calmed down a lot since those days.
19:10But no, I mean, he was amazing.
19:12He answered people's questions.
19:14He signed things people wanted signed and stayed all day.
19:17It was a fantastic experience.
19:18One I'll never forget.
19:19Yeah.
19:20Well, I mean, it's great to see this.
19:21So the spin paintings,
19:23he said he had a childhood memory of watching Blue Peter in the 70s.
19:27And seeing a motor going round with a piece of paper on the motor spinning,
19:32pour paint onto the spinning bit of paper,
19:35and you create a painting.
19:37Damien loved the idea that an amazing, unique work of art
19:42could be created by this very simple process.
19:46The colours are incredible.
19:49You know, you're pouring the paint.
19:50You can't control how it falls.
19:52No, no.
19:52And so every spin painting is different.
19:55Yes.
19:56And yours are particularly different
19:57because you've been lucky enough to have it dedicated to you
19:59and then heart Damien Hirst.
20:01Yeah, that's very kind of him.
20:02Yes, yeah.
20:03And we actually saw them being made as well.
20:04It's fascinating.
20:05I mean, lucky you.
20:07Because, I mean, today,
20:08I think Damien Hirst is definitely one of the most
20:12well-known contemporary British artists.
20:15And for something like this, it's a unique spin painting.
20:19If this was to come to auction today,
20:20we'd probably put a value in the region of £3,000 to £5,000.
20:23Excellent. Okay.
20:24That was a nice freebie in that case, wasn't it?
20:26A wonderful freebie.
20:28And thanks for sharing it with us.
20:29Thank you to Damien.
20:35The value is very much a secondary thing for me.
20:38It's the fact that it's dedicated to my family
20:41and I was gifted it by Damien Hirst
20:43and you can't get better than that.
20:49So this is a fabulously sporty wristwatch.
20:53I really like it.
20:54Is it something that you wear quite often?
20:57No, not really.
20:58It's my husband's.
21:01Does he know that you've borrowed it for the day?
21:03Well, he did when I shouted,
21:04I'm going, bye, I've got your watch.
21:08It's a Heuer Carrera Chronograph.
21:10This watch was created in about 1960, 1963, that sort of period.
21:15Heuer was a world-renowned watchmakers,
21:18heavily involved in motorsports.
21:20So is that the sort of thing that your husband is into?
21:22Very much so.
21:23It was his 21st birthday present in 1965.
21:27He used it really as a stopwatch for the racing.
21:29So was he a racing driver?
21:31Yes, he was.
21:32We've raced abroad.
21:33We've raced all over in the UK, single-seater Formula 3,
21:37but he still sets up cars for other people.
21:39So he's still in that world.
21:42Well, he's clearly passionate about motorsports.
21:45And anyone that's passionate about motorsports,
21:48this is the perfect watch for them.
21:50Heuer wanted to design a watch that was stylish,
21:53but also a reliable timekeeper.
21:56So this is all encapsulated in this fabulous watch.
22:00I love this combination, the black dial and the white chapters.
22:05And I think it really gets offset beautifully
22:08with the lovely stainless steel case.
22:10Oh, so it's stainless steel then?
22:11It's stainless steel because it's a tough watch.
22:13It's meant to be at the track side.
22:15If it was gold or silver, it would be soft.
22:18But this is designed to be used as an instrument.
22:20It's been in a drawer for a while,
22:22and it's a bit sad, really.
22:25I said to him, you should wear it again.
22:27He should definitely wear it again.
22:29If it was to come up for sale, given its condition,
22:32I would see it comfortably with a pre-sale estimate
22:36of between five and eight thousand pounds.
22:39I was thinking two.
22:42He should get it out the cupboard, shouldn't he?
22:43Yeah, he should wear it.
22:44It's a lovely watch.
22:45Oh, he'll be really thrilled.
22:46It'll be a nice surprise for him when I go home and go,
22:48here, guess what?
22:49That watch you do want me to take?
22:51Guess what?
22:52I've just sold it.
22:53I've just sold it.
22:54So, bye.
23:00This is one of those things I don't actually want to give it back to you.
23:04So, I actually found it in a charity shop.
23:07I thought it looked medieval.
23:10How much did you pay?
23:10£1.50.
23:12I would say, yes, it's certainly medieval.
23:14This little green glaze area here makes me think that this is borderware,
23:18which was produced in the Hampshire-Surrey borders in around, sort of, £1,500.
23:23It's a tricky one to value.
23:25They're not that expensive.
23:26No.
23:27Two to three hundred, I would say it's sort of auction, that type of price.
23:33It's too precious anyway.
23:34Yeah, I'm struggling to give it back, but it's yours.
23:37It's mine.
23:38Thank you so much.
23:40Among the great range of Asian items we see on the roadshow,
23:43few are as highly prized as the netsuki or netsuki.
23:48Originally used by Japanese men as an ornamental toggle
23:51to fasten their hanging pouches to a kimono sash,
23:55this intricately carved accessory became an art form in itself.
24:00An Asian art specialist, Yeshue Lee, has spotted a particularly fine example.
24:06Thank you for bringing it.
24:09It's probably the smallest object I've seen today.
24:12So what do we have here?
24:14I know that it's called a netsuki, but I don't really know anything else about it.
24:18OK, where did you get it?
24:19Well, it was my mother's, but we don't really know where she got it from.
24:23So you kind of live with it when you grew up?
24:26Yeah, we didn't used to be able to touch it too often.
24:29Let's open it up and have a look.
24:30This is a Japanese netsuki in the form of a sack bag
24:34and opens up to a Japanese immortal houtai,
24:40which is one of the seven lucky gods.
24:43And then playing a board game with a boy on the opposite side.
24:47And then the most interesting part is that in the right hand,
24:51it's got the tiniest dice I've ever seen.
24:54And then on the bottom, it's signed with a mixed mark,
24:57saying Satoru Hide.
24:59From all of the evidence here, I think it's from the Edo period,
25:03which is 1603 to 1868.
25:07And it's quite a long period,
25:09but I think it will be towards the end of the Edo period.
25:11So it will be the first half of the 19th century, about 200 years old.
25:15Oh my goodness.
25:16It's such a tiny thing to be so old.
25:18And it survived.
25:19It's one of the nicest netsuki I've ever seen.
25:22No.
25:23It's very, very nice.
25:24And it's for the highest quality as well.
25:27So value-wise, I will put two to three thousand on it.
25:31Oh my goodness.
25:32I can't believe that something so tiny is worth so much money.
25:35I know, but it's totally worth it.
25:37And then the auction might be worth more.
25:38I don't think we want to sell it, my sister and I,
25:40but it is lovely to know that it's a really special thing.
25:43It is a very special thing, and I hope you guys treasure it.
25:54I bought some Fabergé cufflinks that belong to my great-great aunt.
26:00I'd like to find out how old they are exactly and how much they're worth.
26:10So here we have a pair of cufflinks that look extraordinarily modest,
26:14but in fact we both know that they're neither modest in their maker
26:18or indeed their provenance.
26:20They came from my great-great aunt who left them to me when she died in 1955.
26:25So they hark back to pre-revolutionary Russia,
26:28an era of great extravagance and great patronage.
26:32And so these tiny, tiny things are singing a song from 1900
26:37in a world that's very, very foreign to us now.
26:39Yes.
26:40I think we both know that these are by Fabergé,
26:43the great Russian jeweler to the court of Nicholas and Alexandra.
26:47So you know a little bit more about their more recent history, I think, don't you?
26:51My great-great aunt was a governess, so not one of the elite,
26:56but it must have been 1910-ish, I think.
27:00And she had a very close friend who was the Duke of Montrose
27:05and we think maybe he gave them to her.
27:07It's an odd gift for a man to give a woman
27:09because these are essentially rather masculine things.
27:12Are they?
27:12Well, yes, they are cufflinks for men.
27:14But they're pink.
27:16They are pink, indeed they are.
27:18They're a technique called guilloche.
27:20The metal has been engraved and then flooded with pink enamel.
27:24So you see through the enamel onto the engraved ground.
27:27In this particular instance, because there's slight damage to the edges,
27:31it shows the silver coming through.
27:33So I have seen the fitted box,
27:35which is hugely informative to me about when these things might have been bought.
27:38On the lid satin of it, I could see from the sequence of the addresses
27:43that they have to be before 1903
27:45because the London branch of Fabergé opened in 1903.
27:49Yeah.
27:49And it's not mentioned on the lid satin.
27:51So it's before then.
27:52Before 1903.
27:53But I suppose that would make sense
27:54given that they were apparently a gift after their first owner.
27:59If they were in absolutely perfect, pristine condition,
28:02they might have been worth, well, anything up to £15,000.
28:07Yeah.
28:08But still, who wouldn't want to pay £5,000, £6,000 for them
28:12in their present condition?
28:14I might be quite pleased if I had the £5,000 or £6,000.
28:17I might too.
28:18I know.
28:19Well, you don't need to because you've got them already.
28:22I'd like the £5,000.
28:23Oh, you'd like the £5,000.
28:24And then, well, anyway.
28:25Well, no, they're utterly beautiful.
28:27Can I get a little bit of paint on?
28:30You could.
28:30A little bit of pink nail varnish might help enormously.
28:33But it wouldn't take everybody in.
28:35Damn it.
28:35Bother.
28:36No, bother.
28:37But it's been a pure delight.
28:38I loved it.
28:39Thank you so much.
28:39Very much.
28:40Really lovely.
28:43With the weather taking a turn,
28:44our expert Christian Beadman has stepped inside the Firsite Gallery
28:48to examine some stylish original design drawings.
28:52I was obsessed with cars as a child,
28:54but the cars in the late 70s in England were so boring
28:58and I loved the earlier American cars.
29:01Tell me about these.
29:02This is a collection of designs that my father did
29:05when he worked for the Ford Motor Company.
29:08He went to America in the 50s.
29:09He always said he went from black and white in England post-war
29:12to Technicolor in America.
29:14So this is in the heyday of those huge flying Fords
29:18with the big engines and the fins and the wings and all the rest of it.
29:22The design process, obviously,
29:23we've got this incredible gull-winged supercar here,
29:28but this is the pencil sketch.
29:30Is this the early stages then?
29:31Yeah, they would do a crayon sketch.
29:34The photograph on the front of this magazine of my father, Morris,
29:37shows him doing those sorts of sketches.
29:39If the boss liked what they saw there,
29:41they would say,
29:42OK, we like this drawing.
29:44Now render these up.
29:45And in the corner, you say the boss has said exactly that.
29:49I see.
29:49Render it up.
29:51And so you've got these color renderings done in airbrush.
29:55He was really good with the airbrush.
29:57The way he has picked out the sparkle of sunlight on the chrome
30:02is utterly extraordinary.
30:04I don't know how he did it.
30:05And if you look at the hubcaps,
30:07you can see that he's put reflected landscapes
30:11with the hubcap distorting the light with an airbrush.
30:14It's absolutely incredible.
30:16The sparkle is to make it stand out.
30:18You know, you want the boss to say,
30:19oh, that's a good one.
30:21He obviously had a handle in interior fittings and fixtures as well.
30:27Well, once you've sort of designed the car,
30:30then you've got to do all the ancillary bits.
30:32And the boss would say,
30:33Morris, I need you to do six or seven door handles.
30:36And this is late 50s, probably for the Ford console.
30:39He kept the ones he liked.
30:41I understand they're quite rare
30:43because a lot of them were just thrown away.
30:46After they built the car, they didn't need them anymore.
30:48So people didn't keep them.
30:49I've only brought a small example in today,
30:51but there's about 50 drawings like this.
30:53And then there's another roll of drawings,
30:56about 30 drawings of these pencil outlines.
30:59What an amazing collection.
31:01Needless to say, these are very, very precious in your family.
31:04They're irreplaceable.
31:05Your father is an incredibly good illustrator,
31:09but they do have a value.
31:11Taking into account the ones you brought with you today
31:14and the ones that you've described at home,
31:16the whole collection should happily be somewhere between 10 and 15,000.
31:21Wow, that's surprising.
31:24I think dad would be astonished as well.
31:27That's taken my breath away a bit.
31:32On the Roadshow, we've often been lucky
31:34to see items relating to wartime heroism.
31:37And one of the most memorable feats during World War II
31:40involved the German prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III,
31:45from where in March 1944,
31:4776 Allied airmen tunnelled their way to freedom.
31:51This audacious prison break was immortalised
31:53in the classic 1963 film The Great Escape.
31:57And Mark Smith has come across items from a soldier who bore witness to it.
32:03So who is this handsome chap in the photo?
32:05This is my grandpa and this is David's dad.
32:07It's Flight Lieutenant William McTurk.
32:09From what you've got on your side of the table,
32:11I can tell that he's a pilot.
32:13He's also a prisoner of war.
32:15Yes.
32:15And at some point, his life has been saved by a parachute.
32:18Yes.
32:19And we can tell all of that from what you've got on the table
32:21because your medals are the 1939-45 Star,
32:25the Aircrew Europe Star,
32:27the medal for those men of fighter command and bomber command during World War II.
32:32You have a 39-45 Defence and a 39-45 War Medal.
32:35You then have the Caterpillar Club membership,
32:38which is the club for those men whose lives were saved by parachutes,
32:41by silk, a silken thread.
32:44And then you also have the wartime log.
32:46Yes.
32:46Now they were issued by the Red Cross to prisoners of war.
32:50What happened to him?
32:51He was shot down and he ended up in Stalag Luft 3 in February 1944
32:58and he would have arrived there just before
33:01some of the activities that were happening for The Great Escape.
33:04What else would we do on Boxing Day but watch the film The Great Escape?
33:08Absolutely.
33:09Did he talk about what happened?
33:11He didn't talk about it very much.
33:13I think it was very private to him.
33:15We watched the film, of course,
33:17and he spent the whole film saying,
33:18well, that wasn't right and it didn't happen that way and all the rest of it.
33:23But he kept a lot of it to himself.
33:26So in his logbook here, we have the entry where it says,
33:3019th of February, Halifax, operations to Leipzig.
33:34And it just says in red, missing.
33:37Yes.
33:38That's when he got his caterpillar one, presumes?
33:40Yes.
33:41He bailed out with that.
33:42So when he came down, he's captured by the Germans.
33:45Did he ever tell you what happened to him?
33:46He was shot down over a lake and he had to swim to freedom.
33:49So the guards then picked him up and then he was transported
33:52over a number of days up to Stalag Luft.
33:55So when you become a prisoner of war,
33:58you had your dog tags, your identity discs,
34:00but the Germans gave you another one.
34:02And this one is really quite cool because it actually says on it,
34:05Auflag Luft 3.
34:07But then in this little book, we've got a drawing,
34:09not only of the camp, but actually of the tunnel.
34:15And there it is, look.
34:17Yes.
34:18Did he escape?
34:19No.
34:21Now he had a friend in the camp, didn't he?
34:23Yes, Alex Cassie.
34:25Okay, so we don't really know Alex Cassie,
34:27but he was one of the forgers in the camp.
34:30A character played by Donald Pleasence in the film.
34:33Absolutely, yes.
34:34What a fantastic story.
34:36Have you ever thought what this stuff is worth?
34:38Not really, no.
34:40It's very personal to the family.
34:42Okay.
34:43A few years ago, a clasp came out for those who were in Bomber Command.
34:49And you don't have that.
34:51Okay.
34:51So you need to apply for that clasp from the Ministry of Defence
34:56because his medals are not complete now without that clasp.
35:00If you had that group of medals and not this part of my table,
35:05you would probably be looking at somewhere in the region of £1,000, maybe £1,500.
35:13But you add this and this,
35:18and I think we go from £1,000 to £8,000, maybe £10,000.
35:26And that in itself just puts us there in that camp.
35:30In that film.
35:32It's a pleasure to meet him.
35:33It's a pleasure to meet you.
35:41The dog tag, you do see lots of them from World War II,
35:43but you don't see one that says,
35:46Offlag Luft 3, so Stalag Luft 3, the Great Escape.
35:50So that is a really incredible thing which puts that man in that camp
35:56that we know so well from that film, the Great Escape.
35:59It's a real treat to hold on.
36:06Well, here we are before a bold and striking architectural building,
36:11and we've got two bold and striking architectural chairs.
36:14Now, I've got to ask the question, are we cut from the same cloth?
36:17Are you a bit of a design nut?
36:18I think I am, yeah.
36:19I love the fact that chairs have a fairly simple function.
36:22They just have to hold up someone's weight,
36:24but the different materials and different designs they can be made of is just fantastic.
36:28And what we've got here are two amazing examples, but by one designer.
36:33That designer is the great Werner Panten.
36:36So Werner Panten, for people who've not heard of him, is a Danish architect, designer.
36:42When we look at his catalogue of designs,
36:45the one nearest you is considered an icon of 20th century design.
36:49This chair is featured in collections and museums all over the world.
36:55This is strictly called the Panten chair, known as the S chair,
36:59and it's so clever because it was a single moulded piece.
37:03It took him 10 years to actually get to a production-ready design.
37:07It didn't get shown until 67 in Geneva,
37:10and I notice yours is this combination of that early mixture of materials that they were working with.
37:15And of course, there was one problem with these early ones, wasn't there?
37:18It snapped.
37:19It snapped.
37:19I mean, I'm a fairly sturdy chap.
37:21I'm not going to pint myself on that.
37:23And actually, they enhanced the design by inserting strengthening supports under the back.
37:29This chair woke the world up.
37:32Fast forward to this one.
37:33This was made in 1993 for Ikea.
37:37Correct, yep.
37:38And this is where they become really clever.
37:39They actually employed a number of key designers.
37:43Just look, you've got, you know, four planes.
37:46That's it, simple.
37:47In block colour, simple.
37:48Allen keys to put it all together.
37:50So, come on, you know your stuff.
37:53You tell me, which is the rarest?
37:55I think that one is, because I think Ikea didn't sell very many of them.
37:59I think it didn't sell well, so they didn't make many more.
38:02It's believed around 4,000 were made.
38:05So, throwing the ball back at you again, what are they worth?
38:10So, I reckon this one's about £500.
38:13That one, more expensive, about £800 to £1,000.
38:16Right, I'm done.
38:17You have to take over the table.
38:19It's been really nice meeting you.
38:22You're a chair geek and I love you for it.
38:24Absolutely spot on.
38:25But long term, this one is only going to keep going up.
38:31And I'm going to get absolutely lambasted for it,
38:33because I've bought Ikea onto the Antiques Roadshow.
38:37But I've bought Ikea designed by one of the most important Danish designers.
38:43Look, it's always nice to meet a fellow design geek.
38:46Thank you so much.
38:47And keep collecting.
38:48I will do.
38:52Will's enthusiasm is brilliant.
38:53To see someone that has that same interest in the interest I've got,
38:57which is, I don't find very often when I speak to people.
39:00I just, it's great.
39:01I won't sell them on.
39:02I might buy some more chairs, but I won't sell those ones.
39:10My favourite game now.
39:12Basic, better, best.
39:13Can't beat it.
39:15Well, I don't normally beat it.
39:16I normally lose, don't I?
39:18Chris, you have brought along three beautiful pots.
39:22I already know which is my favourite.
39:24And we have to rank them in order of value, from basic to better to best.
39:29So tell me about each one.
39:30Well, Fiona, I've brought along three pots by artists who really blurred the boundaries
39:36between ceramics and fine art.
39:39And we start with this piece, which was made by an artist called James Tower.
39:45He went to the Slade School of Art.
39:47He was also a painter and a sculptor.
39:50He grew up on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.
39:53And the experience of that landscape really influenced his work.
39:57Reeds, moving water, bubbles.
40:00You can really see that influence here.
40:02It's a really great example of his work.
40:04And what about this, which has sort of echoes of Easter Island?
40:08Not only does this have eyes and a nose, it has a mouth,
40:11which if it could speak, would do so with an Essex lilt.
40:15Because it was made not too far away from here, near Saffron Walden,
40:19in the late 1960s by a potter called Dan Arbyte,
40:23who really is one of my favourite potters.
40:25Trained at the Central School and really ripped up the rule book
40:29when it came to studio pottery.
40:31We know that this was a special commission, one of three.
40:35We don't know where the other two are,
40:36but pieces by him very rarely come on the market.
40:40So that's a significant find.
40:42Now, what about this, which I must say I've rather fallen in love with?
40:44It's a lovely piece, isn't it?
40:46I have to say it's one of my favourites as well.
40:48It's made by an artist called Robin Welsh,
40:51who had a studio in Suffolk where he potted for well over 50 years.
40:56But actually, he was very influenced by the landscape
40:59of the Australian outback in tropical Australia.
41:01A lovely piece by an artist with an international reputation.
41:05And this dates from...?
41:06About 1980.
41:07And in terms of the three values that we're looking at?
41:09The three values we're talking at, round about £500,
41:13round about £1,500 and round about £5,000.
41:19I love the way you all go, ooh!
41:22Goodness me.
41:23What do you think about these three pots?
41:25Well, I really like that one.
41:27This one here?
41:28Yeah.
41:28But going by what you were saying,
41:30I think that's possibly the most valuable, but I really like that one.
41:34So what about you behind there?
41:36What do you think?
41:36That one's the best one.
41:39That one's the better one.
41:42And that one's the worst one.
41:44We don't use the word worst on Basic, Better, Best.
41:48What do you think?
41:50Best, Better, Basic.
41:53OK.
41:54Why do you think this is the best one?
41:55It's just got great colours.
41:57I'm going to say...
42:02Basic, Better, Best.
42:06So some people are shaking their heads
42:08and some people are nodding their heads.
42:10Do you know, I'm so glad you said that was the best item,
42:14I really, really am,
42:16because when I took it off the shelf at home before I came here,
42:21that is today £500.
42:24What a bargain!
42:26Moving on, it's this one here.
42:29Right.
42:29Dan Arbyde's work, £1,500.
42:33So the best one is the one at the end?
42:34Our star piece is our James Tower.
42:39James Tower is probably the most famous potter
42:41you've never heard of.
42:43He was a big name in the 50s.
42:47Great monumental vases,
42:48which today can sell for £25,000, £30,000.
42:52It's the star piece.
42:53Well, look, we still like that one, don't we?
42:55Yes.
42:57I'll take it then.
43:00Thanks, Chris.
43:05I never thought I would see the entire court of Henry VIII
43:20with Henry VIII being action man.
43:23Where, how?
43:24This is the campest thing I think I've ever seen.
43:27It's wonderful.
43:29My grandmother was a seamstress back in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.
43:34When did she make all of these?
43:36Well, I believe it was the 1960s.
43:39She's made loads of them.
43:41I have never seen anything like this in my life.
43:44And do you know what?
43:44I am actually very sure of this.
43:46I am never going to see this again.
43:49I mean, look at this chap here.
43:50He's got his cape, his cloak.
43:52I mean, I'll tell you one thing.
43:53This guy is getting invited to Elton John's next party.
43:57I mean, what anybody would pay for this is anybody's guess.
44:01300, 500, 800.
44:04They're so beautifully done.
44:07I just want future generations to appreciate them as much as I do.
44:10Go granny, well done.
44:17What a whopper of a stone.
44:20How did you come by this beautiful pendant necklace?
44:23My mother actually left it to me,
44:25but she was left it by her friend Vera, who was Russian.
44:31As a child, she had to escape from St. Petersburg.
44:34She was only 12.
44:36Literally, the mob were coming for the revolution,
44:40and they had to grab everything.
44:42And the story goes that they sewed all their jewellery
44:45into the hem of her dress, and they escaped.
44:48Just with what they could carry, really.
44:49Just with what they could get.
44:51Vera was older than my mother.
44:53And when she died, she left no children.
44:57And when her husband died, he left all Vera's jewellery with his cousin.
45:04And she was told to post it all to my mother in a brown envelope.
45:09That's how it arrived.
45:11That's amazing.
45:14Well, it is the most beautiful pendant.
45:16It's set with an aquamarine.
45:18Beautiful quality, pear-cut aquamarine.
45:21It's got this lovely surround of old-cut diamonds
45:24in a milligrain setting, so a little serrated edge.
45:28And I think the top, we've almost got a sort of a ribbon-tied motif,
45:33centred by another lovely old-cut diamond.
45:36I don't think the chain is of the same period.
45:41It's more modern, so maybe your mother put it on there to wear it.
45:45And it dates, it's pre-revolutionary, so it dates about 1900.
45:49It's got that very sort of classical
45:52bellypock style that was very typical of that period.
45:56Do you actually wear it?
45:57No, I just don't go to anything that merits that kind of jewellery.
46:02I often hear that, where beautiful bits of jewellery,
46:06and none of your family are interested in wearing it.
46:09No, my daughters aren't.
46:10Well, I think if that came up for auction, it's such a beautiful piece,
46:15and the stone is exceptional,
46:17it would probably make between 4,000 and 6,000 at auction.
46:21Really love to see, and what an amazing story,
46:24that it survived escaping from Russia,
46:27and then it survived the brown paper bag,
46:31over to you, so...
46:33I'd find it very difficult to get rid of it anyway.
46:35Yes, thank you so much for bringing it along.
46:39My grandfather was a scrap metal merchant,
46:42and he was owed some money,
46:45and this chap said,
46:47would you like lyza instead?
46:50That would have been in about 1946, probably.
46:54Thank God he didn't melt it.
46:55It's got some value.
46:57It's an architectural bronze, it's massive.
46:59It's the most expensive bronze in the world.
47:03It's the most expensive bronze in the world.
47:05It's an architectural bronze, it's massive.
47:08It's a seriously striking lump, isn't it?
47:11It is a lump, it's definitely a lump.
47:13Have you had it valued before?
47:14No.
47:15It's probably worth more than its scrap weight.
47:17Oh, yeah.
47:17Which is a good thing.
47:18Yeah, I hope so.
47:19It's circa 1900.
47:21You've got the height of Art Nouveau going on.
47:24I think that's happily at auction, 4,000 to 6,000.
47:28Oh, my goodness.
47:29Oh, wow.
47:31But she's so lovely.
47:32She is lovely.
47:36She's beautiful.
47:42We're here at First Sight, which is just a stone's
47:45throw away from Coalchester High Street and the institution
47:50that is the George Hotel.
47:52Now, you have a personal connection with that.
47:55Please tell me more.
47:56So my grandfather was the head chef at the George Hotel
47:59for 30 years, from 1951 to about the late 70s.
48:03Is your grandfather in these photos?
48:05Yep, that's my grandfather there.
48:06In the glasses and his chef's whites.
48:08And also, this is your grandfather's menu book,
48:12so where he's planning his menus.
48:15My grandfather joined the army in 1930
48:19and he trained as a chef all the way through the war.
48:21When he left, he came and worked in lots of hotels,
48:25but mostly the George Hotel.
48:27So some of his recipes are written in French
48:30and that's what he learned in the war, to write in French.
48:33Because it's a really interesting time
48:35in terms of what's happening in food and going out at that time,
48:38because we start in the era of rationing and coupons
48:41and everything else.
48:42And through that period, we're moving out of that
48:44into a time when people have some money in their pocket
48:47and they want to go out.
48:48They're going abroad and they're coming back with new ideas,
48:51all coming together in what people are eating
48:54and choosing when they go out.
48:56And if we look at some of the menus you've brought in,
48:59some of them do sound very good,
49:00with the grilled Scotch fillet of steak
49:03and the roast Norfolk turkey.
49:06But also you get a sense of how things have changed.
49:09We've got one here, we're into the era of decimalisation,
49:12where you could get a three-course meal with coffee
49:14for the grand sum of £1.30.
49:17And as a starter, you could have a chilled fruit juice,
49:20so a glass of orange juice for a starter.
49:23It's a lovely, lovely personal archive.
49:26It really is.
49:26Now, obviously this means a lot to you.
49:28In terms of value, it's probably £40 to £60, that sort of figure.
49:33But it's just a fascinating collection.
49:35And thank you very much for bringing it in.
49:41Over the years, we've seen a great deal
49:43of rock and pop memorabilia on the roadshow.
49:46The Sex Pistols are still banned in Scotland, Wales
49:49and major cities like Newcastle-on-Tyne,
49:51which, of course, they loved.
49:53Some have had iconic former owners.
49:56The company owner gave one to John Lennon,
49:58and he gave one to Jimi Hendrix.
50:01This is the Lennon one.
50:03While others have a more sentimental value,
50:05like this letter written to a 60s guitar legend.
50:11It reads,
50:12Dear Jimi Hendrix,
50:14and it is dated the 4th of April, 1967.
50:20And you have a ticket stub for his show in Ipswich.
50:24Yes.
50:24On the 1st of April, 1967, what is the story behind this?
50:29My older sister and her friend were going,
50:31and I got to go with them.
50:33We didn't go to see Jimi Hendrix.
50:35He was the supporting act.
50:37Yes.
50:37We had no idea about him.
50:40The Walker Brothers were actually very popular at the time.
50:44So you went to see the Walker Brothers?
50:45Yeah, I went to see.
50:46Yes, I was absolutely mad about Scott Walker.
50:48Okay, so Jimi Hendrix was supporting.
50:51Yeah.
50:52And of course, this is April, and in May, 67,
50:55RU Experience, their first album comes out.
50:58We were just walking around the town centre,
51:00and we just bumped into Jimi Hendrix.
51:02On the street?
51:03On the street.
51:03Amazing.
51:04So that gave me, I think I mentioned it here.
51:06Yes.
51:07I saw you in the first performance in Ipswich.
51:10I don't suppose you remember, but I was with Carol,
51:13the girl who asked you if you were Jimi Hendrix.
51:17What's amazing is you got a reply.
51:22And that is what is so special here.
51:24Yep, I was very pleased, obviously.
51:27But I made it as easy as possible by
51:30closing a stamped address envelope.
51:32So there was no excuse for no reply.
51:35So you have all signatures from the Jimi Hendrix experience.
51:39Yep.
51:39I was very surprised.
51:42And it's lovely you've got these dedications to Angela
51:45from all of them, including Jimi, with a little heart here.
51:48So obviously, a lot of people wrote to a lot of rock stars
51:51and a lot of musicians saying,
51:53please may I have your autograph?
51:55So to get a response from not just Jimi,
51:57but the whole band, is really rare.
52:00So to have your letter and the ticket stub,
52:04we're looking at around £5,000 to £7,000 at auction.
52:07Gosh, that's quite a lot.
52:12I knew it would have some monetary value.
52:15But of course, to me, it's personal.
52:17And I've no intention of doing anything with it,
52:21but maybe looking after it a bit better.
52:23Yes, pop it back in a safe drawer.
52:30In the 1960s, my husband's parents bought a house in West Wales
52:35with all its contents.
52:37And this was in its contents.
52:39Where do you think this is from?
52:40Well, looking on the internet, we think it might be Fijian.
52:43But we're only guessing.
52:45This is not that far from Fiji.
52:48Right.
52:49It's from the Cook Islands.
52:51Oh, wow, yeah.
52:53This is a magnificent ironwood pole club.
52:55And the Cook Islands people call it an akatara.
52:59They were made either on the island of Rarotonga or Atiu.
53:04Right.
53:05Now, Captain Cook, as we all know, went to Polynesia.
53:10And on his third visit...
53:12Yes.
53:13...his surgeon saw one of these and actually made an entry in his journal
53:19as to how magnificent they were,
53:21extolling the virtues of this wonderful weapon.
53:25Originally, this would have been a fighting weapon.
53:29But by the time there was contact from the West...
53:33Yes.
53:34...this had become a ceremonial weapon.
53:36Yes.
53:36Imbued with manna.
53:38And manna is like the spiritual power of the warrior chief who would have owned this.
53:44I mean, I feel as though I've got power holding this.
53:47It's such an impressive object, isn't it?
53:49Yes, absolutely.
53:50Well, one way I can tell its age is being sure that it's stone cut.
53:57And I look down the shaft of the blade and I can see the ripples.
54:01Can you?
54:02Yes, yes.
54:02Along here.
54:03It kind of undulates.
54:05That shows it's stone cut.
54:07So that tells me its age.
54:08OK.
54:09This, I'm sure, is 18th century.
54:11Well, how?
54:12The 1770s when Cook arrived.
54:15If this could be attributed to anything to do with James Cook...
54:19Yeah.
54:20Wow.
54:21I can't conceive of making this.
54:23You know, this double scalloped edge.
54:26I just don't understand how they maintain the rhythm of that.
54:31So they would have cut the heartwood out with adzes.
54:34And then they would have started finishing it with shark skin.
54:38Drying shark skin is like sandpaper.
54:42And then they would have done these crisp lines here that we can see on both sides.
54:47These are very rare.
54:49These are very, very important, these objects.
54:52I've never held one of these.
54:53This is the first time.
54:55I've seen these.
54:56I've dreamed about these.
54:58Do you think it's clear that I like it?
54:59Yeah.
55:00I don't like it.
55:01I love it.
55:03And you found it in your house in Wales.
55:06Yeah, it's just left there with the content.
55:08What do you like about it?
55:09I think it's quite imposing, isn't it?
55:13In a way, it's very majestic.
55:15It is.
55:16It's a lovely word for it.
55:17I wish I'd thought of that.
55:19I think it's amazing.
55:21Oh, brilliant.
55:22And things like this have a value.
55:25Okay.
55:25And would you like to know the value?
55:27Yes.
55:28You would.
55:29It's a shame about the damage.
55:31There's a little bit of the tip missing,
55:32but it doesn't detract from its energy and power.
55:36But if I wanted to put it into a sale,
55:39and this would go into a top sale in Paris,
55:42they would put a very comfortable pre-sale estimate
55:47of between 100 and 150,000 pounds.
55:56Wow.
55:56That's amazing, isn't it?
55:58Really amazing.
55:58Mind-blowing.
55:59But I don't love it for its value.
56:01If I found one of these, I don't think I'd want to sell it.
56:04I just feel powerful.
56:05I feel I can do anything just holding this thing.
56:09Why don't you hold it with me?
56:11There we go.
56:11We can both feel powerful.
56:12Absolutely.
56:12They're very powerful.
56:14It's just incredible, don't you think?
56:17Wow.
56:18That's all I can say.
56:22Thank you very much.
56:27I just can't believe.
56:28How does something like that end up in an old house
56:32in the middle of Wales?
56:33I mean, how did it get there?
56:35I'd love to be able to step back in time
56:37and follow its journey,
56:38because it's just incredible.
56:40Really incredible.
56:50Our day here at Colchester is coming to an end,
56:52but before we go, I just wanted to say,
56:54twinkle, twinkle, little star,
56:56how I wonder what you are.
56:58Why, I can hear you asking,
57:00is Fiona reciting a nursery rhyme?
57:02Because that nursery rhyme was crafted here in Colchester
57:05in an attic by a woman called Jane Taylor in the 1800s.
57:08There you are.
57:08Bet you didn't know that.
57:09From the Antiques Roadshow here at First Sight
57:12in Colchester and Essex, bye-bye.