- 2 months ago
Antiques Roadshow 2025 - National Waterfront Museum, Swansea 1
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CreativityTranscript
00:00Today the Roadshow is in South Wales at the National Waterfront Museum in the busy port of
00:12Swansea. We're surrounded by the city's maritime and industrial heritage. It might surprise you
00:19to know that Swansea was once known as the Brighton of Wales. It was a bustling coastal
00:24resort. These little swimming costumes from the Swansea Museum are the kind of
00:31things children wore in the 1920s. Just adorable but when they were wet because
00:37they're wool they must have weighed a ton. And our experts are also ready to take
00:43the plunge looking at all the treasures our visitors have brought in. Does he do
00:49anything else? Are you crying? Are you crying Charlie? Six weeks later Elton
00:57formed the house and asked me to join his Rocket Record Company. Wow. When did you
01:02last have it cleaned and overhauled? Never. Never. Oh dear. What? What? Sorry.
01:11I'm glad I've cheered you up. Welcome to the Antiques Roadshow.
01:41What a beautifully constructed violin. Maplewood. Late 19th century, early 20th century. Beautifully
01:53made in lovely original condition. It has to be Italian or German surely. No it was made in
02:02Morriston in Swansea. It's Welsh? It's Welsh. So whose violin was this? This was made by my great great uncle. So that's my grandfather's uncle. In his early 20s we think. It's one of 87 instruments and it was number 14.
02:21His signature is inside the body of the violin. And what was his name? His name was Lewis Roberts. He worked in the tin industry in Morriston
02:31Morriston and this we believe he was self-taught. He made his own tools to make the violins and I presume in the daytime he was a tin plate worker.
02:42That is absolutely astonishing. A Welsh violin maker here in Swansea working from his own tools.
02:50One assumes in the evening once he gets home from a hard shift and producing violins that are works of art.
02:58And it's very, very rare to have a Welsh violin. And there weren't many Welsh violin makers out there, were there?
03:04No, they weren't.
03:06So is this a violin that's been handed down the family to you? Is that how you come into your possession?
03:12No. Over the years I used to see if I could find any violins that were coming up for auction and I found one in Sweden, America.
03:20And in 2016, I came across one being sold in a music shop in Moseley in Birmingham.
03:28Brilliant. And did you explain to the seller that you were related?
03:32Oh yes, definitely.
03:33And how did he feel about that?
03:34I think he was quite surprised that somebody from the family was now going to be an owner of one of the violins.
03:41So yeah, it was really good.
03:43And did it cost you a bit?
03:47765, I think, something like along that region, yeah.
03:52If it wasn't in your family, then I would have thought a museum in Wales would covet this as well as collectors.
04:00I think it's very, very special.
04:01If it came to market, and I know it's not going to, I would not be surprised to see this sale past £2,000, perhaps even £3,000.
04:14It is very rare, it's very special, and what a beautiful story.
04:19Oh great, thank you.
04:22It just means so much to me to have one of his violins within the family again.
04:27There's no way I would ever sell it.
04:30Never, never, no, no, never sell it.
04:46This is one of the most beautifully engineered little objects in the camera world.
04:52I absolutely adore these.
04:54It's a compass camera.
04:55Where did you get it from?
04:58So our grandpa was volunteering at a charity shop, and he was 16 or 17 in about 1965, 64, and he was completely fascinated by this piece.
05:07And after it hadn't sold, he bought it for £10.
05:10After he bought it, he was interested with it, but then didn't really know what it was, so it sat in a drawer until they were recently clearing out and came across it.
05:19Well, that's a really interesting story.
05:21That's probably why it's in such good condition, because to be honest with you, when these were made, they were extremely expensive.
05:29It's an incredible little camera, because it was designed in sort of 1936, 1937 by what I would call a maverick designer and Member of Parliament, Noel Pemberton Billing.
05:41Oh, wow.
05:42He was quite an eccentric, by all accounts.
05:44So this camera is made out of a single milled block of aluminium, and that required the use of a very good manufacturer.
05:53And that manufacturer was LeCoultre Eci, now the company that we know as Jégère LeCoultre, watchmakers.
06:02They needed that precision engineering set of skills to make this wonderfully intricate little camera.
06:10What is it that you particularly love about it yourselves?
06:14I just think the design is just so intricate.
06:18You can imagine that it does come from a single block, and it's just...
06:21I mean, I couldn't even imagine what the different things did on it when we first were shown it.
06:25What's very interesting about this one is, in fact, if we turn it around and look at it, of course, we see here that it says compass.
06:32And what's very crucial on your camera is this number here.
06:37The serial number, one, one, one, zero, means that it is the 110th camera that they made, because the serial number started at 1,000.
06:48I don't think anyone's absolutely sure how many were made, but it's kind of said that maybe around about 4,000 were made in total.
06:55So, it has a liftoff lens cap, which is quite basic.
07:02Later models had a hinged lens cap.
07:05This has no information around the lens about what the lens is.
07:11On the later models, you'll get that.
07:13So, it's a very idiosyncratic thing to look at.
07:17I just absolutely adore it.
07:19I think if this came up for auction, this is likely to make, in the region, of about £5,000 to £8,000.
07:27Wow.
07:28Welcome, probably, please.
07:30So, that 10 shillings was a pretty good investment, wasn't it?
07:34It really was a pretty good investment.
07:36So, the sun has come out here in Swansea.
07:54Beautiful day, beautiful gold and gem set jewels in front of us.
07:59Which bits belong to you two?
08:02So, basically, this bits belong to me, and the rest of it belongs to her, my friend.
08:09Okay.
08:09And these two pieces are nose rings, is that correct?
08:12Yes, correct.
08:13Okay.
08:13And then we've got a beautiful necklace and a pair of earrings.
08:18Tell me about the history of these and how they came into your families.
08:22So, with this nose ring, it basically belongs to my grandmother.
08:25Mm-hmm.
08:26And so, it's like a tradition, like, obviously, it came through my mother first, and then it comes to daughter, and then, obviously, sometimes daughter-in-law.
08:36And the same with you, it was passed down from...
08:38Yeah, it's passed down, but I remember the date, because I, yesterday, I asked my mum, and she said 1951.
08:45Yeah.
08:45The earrings and this set was 1951, and this one, she said, 1947 or 46, just during or before the partition of India and Pakistan.
08:57Okay.
08:58So, for me, rubies and pearls have the meaning of rubies for passion and pearls for eternal love.
09:05And, of course, in your culture, am I right in thinking they were known as the king of gemstones?
09:10Yes, it is.
09:11Like, in Pakistan, religiously and culturally, rubies are known, well, it's called yakut, and it's known for energy, nobility, and it signifies that, you know, you belong from some royal family.
09:25So-called.
09:27I'm sure you must.
09:28Yeah, and I think each gem has different significance.
09:32Significes.
09:33Do you know who made them?
09:35So, in those times, it was local goldsmiths who used to make, but obviously known to some families, so there's a trust issue and everything to give them money and to make it, so it's from some of the goldsmiths, but obviously there's no branding or brand name in that time.
09:52No, of course, because during the 20th century, of course, big makers like Garrard's, Asprey's were making beautiful suites of Indian-inspired jewellery.
10:03And, of course, we can put brands on that style of jewellery, but the more traditional style, it's lovely to know that it was all made, you know, by people that the families knew.
10:12Traditionally, of course, in this style of jewellery, we would have seen, perhaps in the early centuries, all the way through to the Victorian period, that on the reverse of some of the pieces, there would have been enamelling as well.
10:25And part of that, I understand, was a structural point of view, because we are working with 22, sometimes 24 carat gold, which, of course, is very soft.
10:35So the enamel painted on the back with beautiful imagery of flowers and things would help to strengthen the actual piece as well.
10:44So, as we know, at the moment, gold is very high in value, and that will have an impact on the value of your items.
10:51Each of the nose rings are worth between £700 and £1,000.
10:58What?
10:59What?
11:00Sorry.
11:01What?
11:02I'm sorry, Laurie.
11:04Really?
11:05Really?
11:06And as for the necklace and the earrings together, we're looking at a minimum of £6,000.
11:16OK.
11:16But if they went to auction, you've got to consider the decoration, the style, the beautiful craftsmanship of each of the pieces.
11:25I think the necklace and the earrings would be in at, say, £7,000 to £9,000, and the two nose rings would be in at £800 to £1,200.
11:34Show me the mula.
11:35Show me the mula.
11:36Yes, show us the mula, please.
11:41How wonderful.
11:42Well, I'm glad I've cheered you up.
11:43You have, yes.
11:47Brilliant.
11:47Well, thank you very much for bringing them along.
11:49Thank you so much.
11:49It's lovely to hear about them.
11:52And, yes, just enjoy wearing them.
11:55I love wearing gold jewellery, but now, since finding out the price, I'd rather sell it and save it to down payment for my house.
12:04Yeah.
12:05Correct.
12:05Correct.
12:13So, when you see a chair like this, you just know there's a story.
12:19What is it?
12:20Well, in the early 80s, we moved to a cottage, and we were very lucky to make friends with the farmer who lived over the hill, and he became a part of our family.
12:32And so, how does the chair fall into that?
12:35Well, he had this little outhouse, and in the corner, I saw this.
12:39And I said, what's that doing in your outhouse?
12:41It shouldn't be out here.
12:42It's really nice.
12:43Take it indoors.
12:44Oh, I haven't got room for it.
12:45Then I said, well, I really like that.
12:46It shouldn't be outside in an outhouse.
12:48So, two or three years later, he came along, and he'd quite liked a mantel clock that I had.
12:56So, he said, I've come to make a proposition.
12:59Would you like to swap the Mauritania chair for your mantel clock?
13:02So, I said, yes, please.
13:03And that's how the Mauritania chair came to live with me.
13:06And, of course, the secret is, as you've said, this label at the top, Mauritania, SS Mauritania, or as it was also known, RMS Mauritania, Royal Mailship.
13:17She was really a remarkable ship.
13:21When she was built in 1906, she was the world's largest ship.
13:27I mean, that's quite a record to hold, isn't it?
13:29It is.
13:30And along with that national pride, there was a lot of luxury and opulence that went hand-in-hand with it.
13:39I mean, this was over ten years before the first transatlantic flight.
13:43So, if you wanted to go to America or cross the Atlantic, this was your way of doing it.
13:49And you would do it in quite some sort of Edwardian luxury.
13:54So, little wonder there are high-quality chairs like this on board, made out of mahogany.
14:01And all of this carved decoration is machine-carved.
14:07And so, in 1935, Mauritania made her final voyage to Southampton.
14:13And there, she was stripped of all her furniture, furnishings and fittings.
14:19And there was an eight-day auction.
14:22Good grief.
14:23And so, that's where your neighbour's father obviously bought it.
14:29Yes.
14:30No idea what was paid for it.
14:32No idea at all. No.
14:34But the last one I saw in auction fetched £800.
14:38Oh, right. Very good.
14:40The remarkable thing about Mauritania is that it crossed the Atlantic over 500 times.
14:47So, it's an incredibly well-travelled chair, isn't it?
14:51It is, yes.
14:52Is it travelling anywhere else now?
14:54No.
14:55No.
14:56Back upstairs on my top landing.
14:58Thank you so much for bringing it in.
15:01No problem.
15:08Well, what an interesting item this is.
15:11This letter is signed by one of the greats, as far as I'm concerned, the great Muhammad Ali.
15:17Yes.
15:18How did you get it?
15:20Well, it's given to me by my mother.
15:23She is a nurse and she came from Jamaica.
15:26My father came from Nigeria and they met in England and had four children.
15:31When my father sadly got ill in the 80s, my mother needed strength and some inspiration.
15:38And obviously, Muhammad Ali is such a great figure and a civil rights hero as well.
15:42So, she wrote to him and amazingly, he took the time and was kind enough to write back.
15:48So, this is the letter.
15:50And would you like to read out the letter for me?
15:52Of course.
15:52So, it's addressed to me and my siblings and it says, love to all your family, Muhammad Ali.
16:00And then it says at the bottom, service to others is the rent we pay for our room in heaven, which I love.
16:09And it's got a smiley face and the date of October 84.
16:12They are lovely words, aren't they?
16:14They are beautiful words.
16:15Because, you know, he was a poet.
16:17He wrote lots of poems.
16:18And it was a very talented man.
16:21He was an artist, a poet, a boxer.
16:22I mean, he had lots and lots of talents.
16:25This signature I've had a look at and I've seen many, many Muhammad Ali signatures.
16:29And this looks absolutely genuine.
16:32But that's not all we've got here, is it?
16:33No.
16:34Because the lovely Muhammad Ali, he didn't just send you this letter.
16:38If we reveal here and we, because he sent you another page, didn't he?
16:41He certainly did.
16:42And look at that.
16:43All their signatures.
16:43On that page, he sent you one, two, three, four, five, six, seven copies of his signature on a separate page.
16:52That's amazing.
16:52Now, have you any idea why he might have done that?
16:55I was wondering if it's a gift to my mother to help her because he knows his signature is of value and also it's an emotional thing.
17:01I'm not too sure, really.
17:03I think you're absolutely spot on.
17:04I really do.
17:05Because, you know, he couldn't send money.
17:07No.
17:08That was a difficult thing for him to do.
17:09But he knew that his signatures were worth money.
17:13So, sending you these signatures, he knew that your mother, if she needed money, she could cash these in.
17:19He's even left a big enough gap so that they could be cut and sold individually as well, you know.
17:24Which I think just shows you the beauty of the man as well.
17:28Absolutely.
17:30I have no problem at all with the provenance on this lot.
17:33I think it's fantastic.
17:34And I'm going to be conservative here, but I would have thought £2,000 to £2,500 for the whole lot.
17:41Right.
17:42Which I think is fantastic.
17:44It is.
17:44But what's even more fantastic is that I've had to see them and I've heard the story.
17:49So, thank you very much for bringing it in.
17:50Oh, thank you so much.
17:51It means an awful lot to our whole family.
17:53So, thank you.
17:53I think now we're going to see a specialist to frame the letter and look after it the best way because we want to keep it for many, many years to come.
18:34Metal ores were brought here from overseas as well.
18:37Sailors would make gruelling voyages.
18:39One route being around Chile's fearsome Cape Horn where the Atlantic meets the Pacific.
18:45The metal was smelted here and then sent back overseas.
18:49And this particular ingot was rescued from a shipwreck bound for India.
18:53And it would have been manufactured into copper or brass bowls or utensils.
18:58And such was Swansea's association with this metal.
19:02It became known as Copperopolis.
19:04But it wasn't just about copper.
19:07As Wales had its own valuable resource right on its doorstep in the form of coal mines.
19:15Using this so-called black gold as fuel, this, the Penny Darren, is the first documented steam locomotive on rails, built and operated out of Merthyr Tidville in 1804.
19:28The Penny Darren locomotive was built by Richard Trevithig and demonstrated for the first time that a steam engine could pull a load on rails.
19:38And his pioneering experiments and innovations were part of what became the train revolution.
19:45And this hugely impressive machine was reconstructed in the 1980s.
19:49And it's a real favourite here in the museum.
19:54Time to get back on track and see what our experts have turned up.
20:02Hello, sir. Are you having a good antiques roadshow today?
20:05Great time. Great time.
20:07And what's your name?
20:08Charlie. Charlie. Charlie.
20:11Charlie is a ventriloquist doll.
20:14You brought him. How did he come into your life?
20:16He came into my life via my father.
20:18He belonged to a Pembroke Lock celebrity called Ernest James.
20:23And he purchased this doll from gamages of London.
20:25I think in about the 1920s.
20:28Ernie was very, very popular on the variety circuit in Pembrokeshire before and after the Second World War.
20:36He died in 1968.
20:38Mm-hmm.
20:38And it was thought that Charlie here had been buried with Ernie.
20:44Ah.
20:44But then in 1980, my father, who was a schoolteacher and a magician, happened to be talking to an old friend, Clifford.
20:53And he told Clifford, oh, of course, Charlie was buried with Ernest.
20:59And Clifford said, oh, no, he's not. He's upstairs with me.
21:03So Clifford, very kindly, gave Charlie to my father.
21:07Well, he's rather splendid, isn't he?
21:09And he's got this papier-mâché head, piercing blue eyes, which do actually move, turned-up nose, a bit straggly on the hair, but I'm not one to judge.
21:17Um, and, um, and this rather fine tweed three-piece suit and fetching silk bow tie and almost pink and leather black boots.
21:28Yes, yes.
21:29But, of course, being a ventriloquist doll, he can speak.
21:32And we've got this articulated mouth here with a fine set of gnashers.
21:36Yes, yes.
21:36And something there?
21:38Yes, that is for the cigarette.
21:40Ah, of which we don't approve.
21:41Of which we don't approve.
21:42Does he do anything else?
21:43He does. He actually cries.
21:45Does he?
21:45He cries, yes.
21:46Do you cry, Charlie?
21:46Do you cry?
21:47He cries.
21:48Yeah, I cry.
21:49We're all waiting.
21:55Poor Charlie.
22:00Much as I hate to spoil the magic, it's a bit like the Wizard of Oz.
22:04We've drawn back the curtain.
22:05Yes.
22:05And this is the way it all happens.
22:07And we've got two rubber plungers, like bulbs here, which you press there.
22:12And that does the...
22:12One for the smoking.
22:13And then one for the other.
22:14I'm going to stand back for this.
22:15Oh, there we are.
22:18Sorry, Charlie.
22:19I feel like we're being rather indiscreet.
22:25Ventriloquist dolls do appear at auction fairly frequently.
22:28And they're normally the sort of home ones, the people they play with at home and wouldn't actually see the stage.
22:33Charlie is a completely different case because he has been a professional.
22:38And that makes a difference to the value.
22:40And I think if he was to come to auction, I can see him fetching between £500 and £700.
22:45I'm not really interested in the...
22:48Well, of course, you never sell him.
22:49...financial value.
22:51But I think, historically, he's, you know, a bit of history.
22:55Absolutely.
22:56Yeah.
22:56Absolutely.
22:57Well, Charlie, it was a pleasure to meet you.
23:01Thank you very much.
23:03Ha, ha, ha.
23:04So, here we have a silver shilling, a Edwardian silver shilling, and a period photograph of a gentleman.
23:30What's the association between the two?
23:32OK, so this is my great-great-uncle, Reginald Hale.
23:36And this is his shilling.
23:40Reg emigrated to the States in his early 20s.
23:44Spent seven, eight years working over there.
23:48Came back to the UK because his father died and he wanted to be with his mother.
23:54He spent the winter here, and then in the spring of 1912, he'd always intended to travel back to the States.
24:05First opportunity he had to go back to the States was on the Titanic.
24:12Reg boarded the Titanic.
24:14It didn't make it.
24:16He was found.
24:18And the decision was made to bury him at sea.
24:22What was actually sent back were the effects that were in his pocket on his possession.
24:29And this shilling is one of those items.
24:34I actually checked on the Titanic register after speaking to you earlier and found Reg there.
24:40And he was body number 75.
24:42He was picked up on the second day.
24:45And there's very, very extensive lists of what were found on the bodies.
24:49And it says that he had 16 shillings, $10 note, gloves, a purse, and some keys.
24:57And they presumably were then returned to his mother.
25:03Yeah, yeah.
25:03As far as I'm aware, everything would have gone to her.
25:07And then that shilling has subsequently been sent to my great-grandfather.
25:13Do you know what happened to the rest of his effects?
25:16No.
25:16And this is what remains a bit of a mystery.
25:19I'm wondering if his effects were then kind of potentially divvied up between the siblings.
25:24Between the family.
25:25Because he had 11 surviving brothers and sisters.
25:29So it's a big family.
25:31What is really important, obviously, is that we have a cast iron provenance as to where this shilling came from and who it belonged to.
25:37And obviously you have that.
25:39If it were to come up for sale at auction, I'm fairly certain it would have a sale estimate of 10,000 to 15,000.
25:46And it would make that quite comfortably.
25:48Gosh.
25:48Just, yeah, for something that in itself is seemingly so insignificant, that's incredible.
25:56And obviously there's more of them out there because he had 16 shillings on his body when he was recovered.
26:01So perhaps there are other members of your family, perhaps, however distant, do have these things.
26:07I'd love to know where they were and whether there's more little envelopes like that out there that, yeah, we just haven't found out about yet.
26:13Well, you never know.
26:14I know that's a First World War pair and a memorial plaque.
26:30What I don't know is the connection between the doll and the medals.
26:34The medals belong to my great uncle, Edward Joseph Brouford.
26:40He was born in 1894 in Cornwall.
26:43In 1914, he enlisted into the 134th Cornish Heavy Battery Battalion and was sent to East Africa.
26:53My nan was born in 1912.
26:57He made this for my nan.
26:58But as far as we know, they never met.
27:02Oh, no.
27:03He unfortunately died in East Africa in 1917.
27:08Do we know how it got back?
27:11We're not sure.
27:12Probably pigeon post.
27:14OK.
27:14Not sure.
27:15It's a jolly strong pigeon.
27:17Yeah.
27:17Well, it's lovely because he's made it and he's drawn in the First World War uniform and even down to the puttees, which is a wrapped cotton round it.
27:31I'm interested in what it's made out of.
27:33What do you think it's made out of?
27:35I thought it was made from a knapsack.
27:38Yeah, I don't think so because that's very light material.
27:42I think it's made out of a shirt.
27:45And I bet my bottom dollar it wasn't his shirt.
27:47It was probably somebody else's shirt he borrowed for the occasion.
27:52The fact they never met is really quite touching.
27:54Yeah, never ever met.
27:55And my nan kept that all of her life and it's been passed now to my father.
27:59So, of course, you've got the medals and that's the victory medal.
28:03Round about 5.7 million of those issued.
28:06And this is the, people call it, the death penny.
28:11It's a memorial plaque.
28:13And anybody who lost their lives, this was presented.
28:16And I know you've got the original box for it.
28:19So, I've got to put a value on them.
28:23First World War pair and memorial plaque.
28:28Round about £250.
28:30Oh, right.
28:31I wasn't expecting that.
28:32But I think if you sort of added the doll and the story, which is really wonderful,
28:36I think if you went to an auction and a collector, because it's the sort of thing they would love,
28:42I think you could put that up to about £500.
28:45Oh, I wasn't expecting that.
28:46I mean, but it's, what a, what a fantastic story.
28:50And it's just so sad they never met.
28:52Very sad.
28:52Thank you very much for bringing this in, because this is by Will Evans, a very local artist.
29:10So, how did you find it?
29:11A friend of ours, some time ago, rung us and said,
29:15do you know there's a painting of your house in an auction room in Cardiff?
29:20So, we went along and viewed it the day that viewing was,
29:25and thought, oh, we'd have to have this.
29:27Of course you did.
29:29Do you still live there?
29:30Yes.
29:31Fantastic.
29:32And does it look like this?
29:33It doesn't look like this now, because we've converted part of the barns into live-in accommodation,
29:39and it is a different colour,
29:44because my father used to tell me that it was painted that colour during the war,
29:49so they were not allowed to whitewash the houses.
29:52It's not right.
29:52Because it was always whitewashed when I was a boy growing up.
29:54Yeah.
29:54But I've never seen it that colour.
29:58It's rather nice, actually, and he's created it with that lovely kind of reddish palette, hasn't he?
30:04Yes, yes.
30:04To match, and I rather like the corrugated iron panels, some of which have rusted.
30:09Do you remember those?
30:09I remember the corrugated roof, yes, yes, as a boy growing up.
30:12Absolutely wonderful.
30:13Now, Will Evans is not only a Welsh artist, but he's actually local to Swansea.
30:18He was born in the 1880s and was working in the first half of the 20th century.
30:23Most of the views he does are of the Gower Peninsula.
30:27Yes.
30:27But he also, you're mentioning the war,
30:30he did a series of watercolours which are in the Glynth Vivian Art Collection.
30:33I have seen them, yes.
30:34Absolutely.
30:35And he was right in Swansea in 1941 when they had the Blitz,
30:40and he recorded these astonishing watercolours of the aftermath.
30:45Has your family always lived there?
30:48The first Jones would have been my great-great-grandfather to live there.
30:53And you farm the same land?
30:54And I'm still farming the same land, yes.
30:56You must have been so delighted when you found this.
30:58Oh, yes, yeah.
31:01At auction, I would say an estimate of something in the region of £1,000 to £1,500.
31:07Lovely. Thank you very much.
31:08I still keep a keen eye on the auction house where I bought this painting,
31:14just in case another painting of our house comes up,
31:17and I will be there like a shot.
31:18Well, I spotted you from all the way across there.
31:32You've got Vivian Westwood boots on.
31:33Yes, I do.
31:35So they date from her first collection with Malcolm McLaren,
31:38which would be the Pirate Collection, 1981, 1982,
31:41the first World's End collection.
31:43Dare I ask how much you paid for them?
31:45About £40.
31:45£40? Wow.
31:47So were you pleased with that at the time?
31:48At the time, I thought that was quite a lot.
31:50Probably sort of £300 or £400 now.
31:53Wow.
31:53Wow.
31:54Thanks for wearing them in today.
31:56Oh, I wasn't expecting to see that.
32:05And who did it belong to?
32:06My great-grandfather.
32:07Why did he need it?
32:09He worked in a sweet factory and he had an accident with the machinery,
32:13so he lost these fingers and he just did the thumb.
32:17It's actually beautifully made, isn't it?
32:19This leather and all the stitching and then these movable, articulated fingers carved out of wood.
32:28That would have transformed somebody's life, wouldn't it?
32:31Yes.
32:31So of tremendous value in that respect.
32:33Yes.
32:33So I brought this very large picture of old Egyptian photographs that were given to my dad when he was a child.
32:44He's now getting on for 70 and it's been in the attic for the last 60 years.
32:48So we just want to come and find out a bit more about it, really, because we don't know much about it at all.
32:53When I heard that an Egyptian photograph album was coming in, I had no idea that it was going to be one this size.
33:07It is absolutely enormous.
33:10And the photographs in it are just absolutely so special and so historic.
33:15Look at this wonderful view of Shepherd's Hotel in Cairo.
33:18Very famous hotel.
33:20Agatha Christie, I think, mentions it in one of her books.
33:23So, where did it come from?
33:26So it actually belongs to my dad.
33:28Right.
33:28He's had it since he was about 80 years old.
33:30He's now coming up to 70 and it's spent most of its life in our attic.
33:34But he was given it by a brother and sister who ran our local pub in our village back in Pembrokeshire.
33:41And one day he got quite ill.
33:43And to make him feel better, they sent this down to the farm.
33:46I think that's a terrible thing to do.
33:48This is so heavy.
33:49You couldn't possibly handle this in bed, could you?
33:51I think it would have crushed him a little bit on the bed, to be honest.
33:54It was painful, yes.
33:56But it's a lovely album.
33:57I mean, it doesn't date from your father.
34:00It doesn't really, I don't suppose, dates from the pub, really.
34:03But this is sort of 1860s, 1870s.
34:06Okay.
34:06The photographers were all going to places where people wanted to buy photographs from or wanted to see photographs of.
34:13And so the Grand Tour and Egypt, of course, was the sort of more or less the end of the Grand Tour.
34:18These are absolutely stunning.
34:21And there's the picture of everybody climbing up.
34:23Because the pyramids were all raw.
34:26They hadn't been restored or anything happened to them.
34:28So you could actually climb up and you had to climb up block by block.
34:32And there are all these people here.
34:34And then on the other side, all the relieved people are coming down the other side here.
34:38And when you come to the views of Karnak, the photographer reveals himself.
34:46Because each of these is actually signed a Beato, Antonio Beato of Egypt.
34:53And they are absolutely wonderful photographs.
34:57These particularly large ones are very, very desirable.
35:01And the fact is that they are so unfaded is incredible.
35:06Have you been to Egypt?
35:08No, never been, but...
35:09Does this give you a...
35:10Yeah, I feel like we want to now after looking through all these photos.
35:15So we've got, what, 200 pages and sort of two or three photographs on some of them.
35:21But the big ones, which are the ones that I consider to be the most desirable, the most valuable,
35:26I suppose about half of them would be on single pages.
35:31I think it would be cheap if it came in under £10,000.
35:36Wow.
35:37Right.
35:38OK.
35:38But your dad wasn't expecting that.
35:40Definitely not, no.
35:41You're going to tell him, are you?
35:42I bet I had, I think.
35:44Well, I think that's lovely.
35:45Well, such an excitement and thank you very much for bringing it in.
35:48Thank you very much.
35:49Thank you very much.
35:50Great.
35:50Thank you very much.
35:50Thank you very much.
35:51Thank you very much.
35:53Great.
35:54Some of our visitors come with stories of meeting their childhood heroes.
36:00And Chris Yeo is thrilled to meet a former child star who has given his big break by a music icon.
36:06One of Sir Elton John's best love songs is Rocket Man.
36:11You were the Rocket Boy.
36:14Yes.
36:15Tell me more.
36:15So, in 1973, I sent a tape of some songs I'd written to Radio 1.
36:20They asked me up to do a session.
36:22And six weeks later, Elton John phoned the house in Brynhoverd, just up the road, and asked me to join his new record company, Rocket Records.
36:28So, you've obviously, since childhood, you've had an interest in music.
36:32What happened?
36:33What's the back story?
36:34So, I just started writing songs.
36:35Borrowed my brother's guitar.
36:36Started writing my own songs.
36:37And one of his friends suggested I send it to Radio 1, a late night show.
36:40I'd never heard the show because it was past my bedtime.
36:43And you signed to his record label, Rocket Records.
36:45Yeah.
36:46They'd only formed that year.
36:47They had formed.
36:48Me and Kiki D, I think, were one of the first signatures on that record company list.
36:52He was actually on tour on the first day I was recording.
36:54But he still found time to send me a telegram.
36:57Oh, let's have a look at this.
36:58GPO, greetings telegram.
37:00Maldwin Pope, very best wishes for your recordings.
37:04Love, Elton.
37:05Isn't that fantastic?
37:06He always had trouble with my name.
37:08He actually called me Madwin there.
37:10And for a long time, he used to call me Blodwin.
37:12Blodwin Pig, because it was a bandit.
37:14But eventually, he got the name right.
37:16And I can see there's a Christmas card here as well.
37:19Got this Christmas card on the day of the first Hammersmith Odeon gig.
37:22Just open it up.
37:25Oh, you've got your name right here.
37:25So, Maldwin, happy Christmas to our newest superstar.
37:29Lots of love, E-H-J.
37:31That's Elton.
37:33Hercules.
37:33John.
37:34And then in brackets, sir.
37:35But, of course, he wasn't sir in 1907.
37:37No, but he was my boss.
37:38So he was sir to you.
37:38I had to call him sir.
37:41The lovely thing was, I went to his big Christmas concert at the Hammersmith Odeon.
37:45And afterwards, there was a party.
37:47And Elton knew that I collected autographs.
37:49So he took me around to meet everybody who was at the party.
37:52So we had people like, well, Mickey Dullins from The Monkees.
37:54He was fast asleep on a cushion.
37:56Elton had to wake him up.
37:57And at the bar was Ringo Starr.
37:59So Elton got everybody's autograph in my autograph book.
38:02This is one of my favorite autographs.
38:04Best wishes to our new star, Elton John.
38:09Isn't that lovely?
38:09And then at the party itself, let's have a quick look.
38:12So we had, well, that's Brian Ferry.
38:14That's Brian Ferry with his gabardine coat on.
38:17Ringo Starr.
38:18Amazing.
38:19Yeah, it was fantastic.
38:21So 1973, you're signed to the record label.
38:24You release a record?
38:26We released a single in March of 1974.
38:28My parents were both teachers.
38:30They said, can we put the album released back to the summertime when you've got those long holidays?
38:35The trouble was my voice broke in the meantime.
38:37The album never got released.
38:38Oh, no.
38:39Yeah.
38:40Oh, dear.
38:40Except 50 years later.
38:42Mm-hmm.
38:43So I got in touch with Elton on my 50th anniversary of signing to the record company.
38:47And I said, do you mind if I have my tapes and songs back?
38:50And he said, yes.
38:51And I've even had the chance to do a duet with my 13-year-old self, which is very strange.
38:56And I've got to ask, are you still in contact with Elton John?
38:58Yeah.
38:59I mean, I sent him this album.
39:01I got a lovely card back, a Cartier card, I should say, with a golden crocodile at the top of it.
39:05Just saying, bravo, keep going, sort of thing.
39:08So he's been a remarkable part of my life, a massive part of my life.
39:11And maybe I've been a small part of his.
39:13I think, too.
39:15And Elton John found this unique collection, I think, is going to fetch £2,000 to £3,000.
39:22Wow.
39:24What do you think of that?
39:26Oh, that's terrific.
39:28Obviously, it's going to stay in the van.
39:30Of course it is.
39:31Ben Rogers-Jones, you are our specialist in all things Welsh.
39:42And he brought along three items, which we have to rank in order of value.
39:46Three completely different things.
39:48What have they all got in common?
39:49Well, these can all be deemed small Welsh vernacular furniture.
39:54And they're all very local to Swansea, all made from around the same period, which would be 1780 to about 1810.
40:03Let's start with a chair, then.
40:04So this is called a stick-back chair, a Welsh stick-back chair, or sometimes stick chair.
40:09What's amazing is that this is 200 years old, yet there's no screws, there's no nails.
40:14It's all joined wood, yet it's a remarkable survivor.
40:18So you've got this triangular seat, which is in elm, and then the structure around it and beneath it is in ash.
40:26Really, really beautifully crafted.
40:28It is.
40:28With limited resources.
40:29It is a beautiful thing, I have to say.
40:31And what about this piece of furniture here, then?
40:33So that's called a coffer-bach.
40:36Coffer, of course, is another word for chest, mule chest, blanket chest.
40:40Bach is the Welsh word for small.
40:42And coffer-bachs were unique to Wales.
40:46There wasn't any other region of the UK producing chests of these type of proportions.
40:53They were used to store your valuable items.
40:57What about this table here, well-worn, as I can see?
41:02This is in Sycamore.
41:04Again, using local materials, local wood.
41:07It's called a cricket table, which is an intriguing name.
41:10And there are lots of theories about why it's called a cricket table.
41:13And one theory that I love is that it has this circular top, which is the ball, three legs, the stumps, and then three stretches, which could be the bales.
41:24But I think that's a rural myth.
41:28And what values are we talking?
41:30I would put 800 to 1,000 on the basic.
41:34On the better, 1,500, maybe nudging towards 2,000.
41:39And then the best, I would be comfortably saying, four and a half thousand pounds.
41:46Any ideas?
41:49Oh, I have a feeling that the best item is probably the coffer.
41:55The fact that it's smaller and that it's unique to Welsh culture makes it more valuable, because it's going to be harder to find something like it.
42:06OK.
42:07Do you agree with that?
42:08I guess so.
42:09I also think maybe the chair, because it seems more finicky to, like, make and survive.
42:13The chair is, I think the chair is gorgeous, actually.
42:17Good of you?
42:18I think it's similar, but I'd switch the chair and the kofferbach.
42:22I think the kofferbach would be a bit more, because it's got, like, the colour patina of it.
42:27It is a beautiful thing, isn't it?
42:29I'm certainly...
42:30Go on, one last option.
42:32Basic the koffer, table better, chair best.
42:36Oh, so you think the koffer is the basic?
42:37Mm.
42:38The chest, oh.
42:40I'm almost more confused now than before.
42:44The one thing I feel certain about, and I'm going to feel a complete fool if I'm wrong, is that this is the basic.
42:51I'm going to say basic, better, best.
42:56Yes, there's quite a lot of nodding.
42:57OK.
42:59The chair is the best.
43:00Yes!
43:02Well done, everybody!
43:04And, um...
43:05And one of you in the audience got it spot on, the lady in red, over there.
43:12Congratulations, well done.
43:13Um, so the basic is the koffer.
43:17Oh!
43:18Um, not because it's basic, but because the market has just waned a little bit from about ten years ago when they were really flying.
43:27The cricket tables have just probably saw their peak about five or six years ago, and they're just plateaued.
43:35They're selling well.
43:36The great thing about these is they're so practical.
43:38And what's lovely about this particular table, it's in Sycamore, which is very rare, but the chairs, they're just so wonderful.
43:46They...
43:47And I don't feel like they're there to be sat on anymore.
43:50These are sculptural items.
43:52They're works of arts.
43:53You know, they're things of beauty that can sit in the corner of your kitchen, your parlour, or your living room, and just be.
44:01They're just wonderful things.
44:03Well, I love the chair, I have to say, so I'm thrilled that that is the best.
44:07Ben, thank you very much.
44:08Do you have a lot.
44:09So here we've got a beautiful red leather box with gorgeous gold tooling around it, which when we open up has, of course, the name Cartier in the lid.
44:31And in the box is this beautiful gold, diamond, and ruby-set owl brooch.
44:38How did this fly into your house?
44:40Well, it was my grandmother's, and she passed it down to me.
44:44I've had it for about 15 years.
44:46Obviously, I know it's something special, but I don't really know much else about it.
44:49OK.
44:51Of course, Cartier is a very important jeweller.
44:54It was founded by Louis-Francois Cartier in 1847 and has become the renowned jewellers that we know today.
45:02And the little red box as well is so important in establishing the brand.
45:07Also, the brooch on the reverse is signed Cartier and is also numbered, so we know that it is the genuine article.
45:16It is absolutely stunning.
45:18The designs became really popular in the 1940s and the 1950s off the back of the designer Jeanne Toussaint, who introduced the panther or cat jewellery as people came to know it.
45:30And people just loved anything to do with animals.
45:33I mean, we have the likes of Grace Kelly, Duchess of Windsor, all having beautiful animal jewellery in their collections.
45:43This little chap is so quirky, though, isn't he?
45:45I mean, he's got his little nightcap.
45:48He's got his little lantern leading the way, protecting.
45:52It's just such a beautiful subject matter.
45:56Tell me a bit more about your grandmother.
45:58Was she a vivacious character?
46:00Was she fun to be around?
46:02She was lots of fun.
46:03She had a wicked sense of humour.
46:05And we watched the Antiques Road together every Sunday and did the Times Crossword together.
46:09So, of course, value-wise, if this was going to come up at auction, which I'm sure it won't, because you love it so much, the value would be between £6,000 and £8,000.
46:21Well, that's a lot of money, isn't it?
46:24I'm slightly overwhelmed at the moment, but, yeah, it's amazing.
46:30It's amazing that it's worth that much.
46:32But, like I said, I have no intention of selling it.
46:35It's going to stay with us for a long, long time.
46:37It's going to stay with us for a long time.
47:07It's going to stay with us.
47:08And she looked absolutely wonderful.
47:11We'll reflect on her remarkable reign, decade by decade, in what would have been her centenary year.
47:19It is such an iconic image made of Lego.
47:25So, if you've got a cherished item and a story to tell, we'd love to hear from you.
47:30For more details, visit our website at bbc.co.uk slash antiquesroadshow.
47:48So, this one is something that you wear yourself or not?
47:52I do often.
47:54It works beautifully.
47:55It's an automatic.
47:56Pick it up and it starts immediately.
47:58So, tell me about the history.
48:00I see it is interesting that it was purchased in 1959 in Aden, this particular jeweller here.
48:07That's right.
48:07Aden down near the mouth of the Red Sea.
48:10Yep.
48:10Down in the Middle East.
48:12And, of course, Omega is actually a Swiss product.
48:15That's right.
48:16My late husband was in the RAF and was in Aden, and this is something that he bought and brought home.
48:23This is...
48:24Keith.
48:24Yes, his name is Keith.
48:26I can see he's wearing a watch, but we can't see which one.
48:29It had what looks like a black leather strap, and, of course, this bracelet is not an Omega product.
48:35When was this put on?
48:36Do you remember?
48:36Probably in the 80s.
48:39Well, let's look at the watch itself.
48:40It's steel.
48:42It is fully signed automatic Seamaster.
48:46And they did a vast range of Seamasters, and still do, for all sorts of purposes, in gold, steel.
48:56And I just love the black dial and the centre seconds, the import duties.
49:03And I'm looking at this here, and it says one gents Omega got a value of £18, and the duty and purchase tax, they charged a further £10.
49:19Yeah.
49:19That was 1959.
49:21I know.
49:22When did you last have it cleaned and overhauled?
49:26Never.
49:26Never.
49:26No.
49:28Oh, dear.
49:29You're very naughty.
49:30You must...
49:30What do I do?
49:31It's not your car.
49:31You must at least have it serviced occasionally.
49:33Because it works.
49:34I didn't.
49:35I know, but it needs oiling.
49:36So it's been years and years and years without an oil.
49:39Okay.
49:41In this state, at auction, with all its paperwork, which is lovely, I'm going to quote you between £9 and £1,200.
49:51That's good.
49:52You're happy?
49:53It's a lovely watch.
49:54It's all right.
49:55Glad you liked it.
50:03There are many things I don't understand about this picture.
50:08But I know I absolutely love it.
50:11I mean, we've got the slag heap.
50:13We've got the factory.
50:15We've got the gasworks.
50:17And we've got the chapel.
50:19Yeah.
50:20Bethesda chapel.
50:21There it is.
50:21And this row of little houses, which are all painted these delightful kind of chocolate boxy colours.
50:31It's by Jack Jones, I read, and painted in 1967.
50:35Yeah.
50:35And is he anything to you?
50:37I assume he's local.
50:38He's a local artist.
50:40Well, he was.
50:41He passed away in 1993.
50:44He was a friend of my father, who was a local artist as well.
50:48And he used to come to the house.
50:50And on one occasion, he presented this to my dad and my mum.
50:55And it's been with me ever since.
50:58Is it actually a place?
51:00Do you know where it is?
51:00Yeah, it's in the Havod.
51:02That's where he was born.
51:03The Havod being a suburb of Swansea?
51:05Yeah, it's on the way to the Swansea football ground.
51:10So, it's an oil painting, and it's on hardboard, as people so often did, because it's cheaper.
51:15Yeah.
51:15Yeah.
51:16And it's rather a good key for pictures, actually.
51:19I love these slate roofs, which are just...
51:21He really enjoys marking off those lines of the slate.
51:25And there's just a single line running right the way through.
51:27And I do love a letterbox format, especially for this kind of thing, a row of houses.
51:33It gives you a sense of, I don't know, it's a bit cartoonish, and yet it's more sophisticated than that.
51:38Well, he was sometimes told that he was the Welsh Lowry.
51:42Oh, we like that.
51:43But he tended to say he was more the Leonardo of the Slag Heap.
51:47The Leonardo of the Slag Heap.
51:48Yes.
51:48Brilliant.
51:50What on earth is it worth?
51:52Well, locally speaking, you know, because it is a local market, I think £1,000 to £1,500, that sort of thing.
52:00Yeah.
52:00But I can easily see how somebody would get really overexcited by it.
52:05That's really good to know, but it's priceless to me, so...
52:08Of course it is.
52:09It'll stay on my wall.
52:10Oh, good.
52:11I believe you're sisters, aren't you?
52:25Yeah.
52:25Yes.
52:25Yeah.
52:26And that is a picture of your father.
52:29Yeah.
52:30I don't need to guess what he did for a living.
52:32I think everything tells us.
52:35So why have you brought this collection into us today?
52:38So, unfortunately, we lost our dad about a year and a half ago.
52:41It was his wish to always have all of his memorabilia on Antiques Roadshow.
52:47We've got his diving helmet, his diving boots, his diving watch and his logbooks as well.
52:55Tell us a little bit about him.
52:57Dad was originally from here.
52:59He's from Swansea.
53:00He started diving when he was about 11 years old and got into commercial diving in the 70s,
53:05so he had over a 20-year career diving.
53:08He worked in the North Sea, Middle East and off Nigeria.
53:12So he worked on the Piper Alpha, worked on the Claymore, worked on the Tharos and many other places in the Middle East and Nigeria.
53:18Yeah.
53:19So some famous places that people will know of.
53:21Yeah.
53:22Yeah.
53:23What are your memories of, for example, this diving helmet?
53:27My memory is Dad patting it on my head when I was a young child.
53:31They're heavy.
53:32Very heavy.
53:33They're really, really heavy.
53:35And those boots, have you ever put those on?
53:37Yeah.
53:37We've tried them on.
53:40You were telling me a story earlier about when he got fired.
53:44Hired and fired.
53:45In one day?
53:46In one day.
53:47Because?
53:47He was working off the Claymore and being in the North Sea, the seas are really, really rough and treacherous and he was quite a respected senior engineer at that point.
53:56So when Dad said, no, to his superintendent, I am not diving that, the other boys were like, well, if Gough's not diving, I'm not diving.
54:06So he got fired, essentially, and his boss said, you see that helicopter?
54:11You're on it.
54:12Off back to Aberdeen he went.
54:1412 hours later, phone call, can you come back?
54:17Yeah.
54:17So, yeah, he was very good at his job.
54:19He was very thorough.
54:20Yeah.
54:20You can tell by his logbooks.
54:21Absolutely, I mean, and you've got all these logbooks, which, you know, I briefly had a flick through.
54:27I mean, they're incredible.
54:29As far as the value's concerned, the helmet itself, it's the Rolls-Royce of helmets.
54:34What I like is it's got the dents.
54:36You know, when antiques experts look at things, we look for them to be perfect, but in certain situations, this tells a story.
54:43It's fantastic.
54:44And the boots, how worn they are.
54:45The helmet itself, without a doubt, £1,500 to £2,000.
54:49The boots, another £1,000.
54:53The watch, believe it or not, I've shown it to someone today, and they have told me it will fetch a minimum of £10,000.
55:01Okay?
55:02So, if you add all this up, you know, we're talking £10,000, £11,000, £12,000, £13,000.
55:08I mean, as a collection, this is probably going to be somewhere between £15,000 and £20,000.
55:13So, your dad has left you a nice little legacy, although whether you would sell this, being part of him, who knows, but...
55:21I don't think we would.
55:22No.
55:22We love the story, and we love the fact that we can reflect back on this.
55:26Yeah, it'd be nice to make somewhere to show it all off as well, you know?
55:29Yeah, absolutely.
55:30I think it's a fantastic story.
55:32It really got to my heart, you know, when you would tell me about it.
55:36And thank you so much for telling us and for coming in.
55:41Brilliant.
55:41Thank you very much.
55:49Dad would have been very chuffed, bringing all of his items on you.
55:53He was always a very proud man.
55:55Yeah, he would have loved to have shared his story, and I think he's looking down on us now, just smiling, even laughing, possibly.
56:06Thank you very much.
56:36to make mementos for those at home.
56:39So these were made by Captain Will Nelson of the SS Lucania.
56:43This one is of a local church here in Swansea, and this one was done in March 1898.
56:50Look, you can see the name of his ship there.
56:52It says,
56:53To Annie, from Will, wishing you the compliments of the season.
56:59Aren't they remarkable?
57:01Just painted on feathers.
57:02The compliments of the summer season for us here at the Antiques Roadshow, and all of us here in Swansea.
57:08Until next time.
57:10Bye-bye.
57:10Bye-bye.
57:38You
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