Gee, thanks. What have i ever done to you . I mean, what is your problem with me . Id really like know cause i dont remember trying to shove religion down your throat. What is it, me . Have i behaved inappropriately, have i tried to come on to you . I dont think so. You really want to know whats buggin me, ill tell ya. My exhusband is back in town, he didnt tell me he was coming, and hes brought his girlfriend. Hes only here for the weekend, but you know what . It really unsettles me. Of all the gin joints in all the towns, all that stuff. Well, it just hurts. Happy . horse whinnies i dont think youre shallow. Obvious depths. So, you gonna make all this go away . Buy you a beer . Youve got a real talent for this, havent you, father . I think ill pass. Brendan oonagh. Pull a half and half for me, would ya . What name is that . Brendan paul. Yeah. Has paul been on one of those courses . Charm school . Yeah. Really kickin in, isnt it . You all right, oonagh . Nothin twenty grand wouldnt fix. Hes laughin at us. Donal dooley . He looked wellrattled to me. Well, were gonna have to rattle him a bit more. Know what im sayin . I mean really shake him up. Like in sicily . Like in sicily. Brendan no, no, no thats what they do in england the dog and duck, the slug and spinach these are the names that big breweries give to local bars just to make them sound authentic. The gard and breathalyzer. Thank you, dermot. No, they dont. They call them kitty osheas or scrubby mulligans and pretend theyre irish. Well, ill call it oonagh dooleys and it really will be irish. Leave it as fitzgeralds, then itll be even more irish. How could it be more irish . Because itll have been there longer. Youll not be shackled by logic, will you, brendan . No. How are you, father . Ah, whats your suggestion, father . When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change. Not too far off it louie. Oonagh well, go on then. You wouldnt like it too many words. Try me. If it aint broke dont fix it. May i have the menu, please oonagh . rooster crows oonagh excuse me. Whats goin on . Im sleeping in the spare room. Why . I didnt think you would. What . pay the boys their money back paul. Then well get back to normal. Oonagh how much is it worth . What difference does it make . I know youre upset, but i have to ask. I dont know, frankie, not as much as a new one. Its not about i understand. Sentimental value. No. It was a wedding present. paul grunting chuckling aah aaahh liam a horses saddle . I mean a horses head i could understand. It shows him we mean business. And whatre you gonna put in his bed when you really want to wind him up . Blinkers . All right i like horses, okay . I prefer them with their heads on, and even if i didnt how exactly am i gonna do that . Excuse me, miss burke dya have the loan of a chainsaw . I do, donal of course what for . Well now, miss burke, i just want to sever the head from one of your finest thoroughbreds. Is that right, donal . Tear way. Its in the shed. Have you finished . At least i made the effort. Frankie when did you first become aware there was Something Else in bed with you . When i woke up. Obviously. What did you think it was . I thought it was the wife. At first. You thought a topoftherange saddle from clutterbucks in kildargen was your wife . Frankie, dont start. And when did you discover i dont to hear that. Oonagh, do you have any idea how a saddle i was in the spare room. Oonagh the gards might think it was relevant. Dermot hold on a sec. Do you know anything about this saddle . I know what it means. What . It means paul dooley sleeps with the fishes. Oonagh excuse me . Godfather talk. Hes upset the mob. Avril frankie . In here, avril. Avril what are you doing with my saddle . right. Im supposed to know its yours. Whered you find it . In his bed. What have you done with my saddle . thats it. Im out of here. Thank you, Garda Sullivan for your help. Im sure we can all sleep sound in our beds now. dermot whinnies youre not going to say hello . Excuse me. Avril. Dont be like this. motor starts its her choice. You okay . I want to go home. Just give me five minutes to pack and settle up. Was i not going to say hello to you . how could you . How could you . i didnt. You dont choose it just happened. So you were just a victim . no, but i was there. Somebody had to look after him. Because i left him . I didnt say that. You make it sound like it. You might as well have the state you were in i didnt mean that. No. Lets get it all out now, rosie. How long . How long . You know what i mean. How long . not while you were together. And how long have you been in love with him . Dont lie to me. Early on. Long time. I thought i could trust you. I never came on to him. Put up a fight though, did ya . Yes. Yeah. You look well. Well, i dont want him back. I wouldnt have thought so. So. I can keep him, then . bitter what are sisters for . door slams loudly car starts tires screech vince hey. gasping avril crying sobbing dont touch me ill be outside. Leave that bottle i really think you should i said leave the bottle whinnies avril no horses neigh it was good whiskey, too. Was it . I never knew. We spell our whiskey with an e, dya know that . Why . Just to be awkward. Anyway one day i woke up, and he was gone. He left a note said he was sorry but he just couldnt take it anymore. Was that fair . Maybe. I guess. And you stopped drinking then . Just like that . You make it sound easy. On your own . I dont mean with a priest, i meant some sort of support group. Theres an a. A. In kildargen i know. I went. When i needed it. Look, im fine. Ill be fine im okay. Make it easy on yourself, avril. Therell be a next time. Theres no point denying it, donal, your prints are all over it. They would be. I took the saddle off the horse. What . I was workin at the yard. I know you took it, donal, because i know theres something going on between yourselves and paul dooley. And its going to stop. Paul dooley sleeps with the fishes. He doesnt sleep with fishes or horses heads or fish heads or saddles. Is that clear . Is that clear . Si. Va bene. Thank you, basildon an excellent job. Now, paul, paul how long have we known each other, eh . Hardly any time at all, mr. Sugrue. Oh, now, now, now you call me psycho. Id rather not. Thats what you call me behind my back, isnt it . Id never do that, mr. Sugrue. Uh, psycho. Havent i always been good to you paul . Well, youve never set light to the pub. both chuckle and in all of that time, when have you come to me not for a favor or a handout but just to pay your respects . nervous chuckle well, you must have been out. both laughing very good so who do you want me to hurt . Hurt . No, no, no its not like that at all, no, no. I need a loan. A loan . Yeah. You . How much . 20,000. everybody laughing iii am good for it, psycho. Well, im not that mad and no, youre not. Youre not even the landlord. I wear the trousers. You probably rent them. Ha ha ha ha please . Please. 20,000 punts. You just be glad i said no. Now sir ill take that. Oh. Ha ha ha ha my coat. Hey, paul one day and mind you this day might never come ill call on you. For a pint. Oh. Well. Great. So long. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha all laughing horn honks i called foleys in kildargen. Im their local agent. Do you take in laundry as well . What . Nothing. Its good to see ya. So what happened . Oh, the. The fourwheel threw up a stone. From the tires, the back sure. Yeah. Coffee . Sounds good. Watch out for glass around the sink. No, it was all outside. Outside . What, you had the fourwheel in the kitchen . No, uh, not all of it. Some of it. Most of it. Obviously. Whatever. Ill make the coffee. Right. sighs you all right . What . Oh, yeah. Just a bit of a shock, thats all, yknow . How do you like it . You takin up religion . What . Oh, that. God, no. Ah. Whaddya mean, ah . Dont mean nothin just ah. I understand. Its the priests. Yeah, what of it . Im not makin nothin of it. Edso, if youve got somethin to say whoa, avril look, forget the coffee. Ill just get on with the window, okay . Edso well, under these circumstances, mr. Dooley i dont see any problem at all. A bit of paperwork and were all done. knocks donal paul. Father mac. What can i get ya . Id like to know what im doing here. Ah father macanally. Father sheahan. A bit early, isnt it . Liam oh. Will we come back later . Paul youll stay where you are. Im sorry, edso. Were closed. What . Donal, lock the door. Were closed. Were what . Were closed . Its okay, luv. Go on, donal, lock it. Paul here. Count it. Both of ya. And i dont want to see anything even resembling a horse in my bed again. Ha ha ha watch it, buster. Sorry. Now, father mac. Is the dignity of your curate still a matter of passing concern . Only, if the church wants its house back im willing to sell it. Paul excuse me . Im sure something can be arranged. I want a reasonable price, but not extortionate. Glad to hear it. Why, are you payin for it . Theres a condition. If you ever sell fitzgeralds, we get first refusal. And well be lookin for a good price on that, too. I have no problem with that. Good. And to show theres good will, well no longer insist on the name change. Hey no one wanted it changed, luv. Its only a name. acidly oh. And you know whats in that box do ya . No, but well be talking, then. Great thank you, father. Donal thanks for the, uh. Yeah. About time. Just remember to spend it in here. Ha ha ha they all say fitzgeralds, dont they . Nope. They all say dooley. Oonagh dooley . No. Paul dooley . I want a word with you. Were not open yet. I thought youd gone. I came back. You want st. Josephs. They do forgiveness there. I can only imagine how much you must hate me. Youre not even close. Avril, please. Try to understand. What . How much you must love him . Yes. I didnt do this to hurt you. Do you not think we talked about this . Oh please just stop it. The thought of you the pair of you, together, discussing me the concern, the smugness god, this is terrible poor avril, how could we do this . God, how we fought this but the love is greater than the both of us. Am i right . Did i leave anything out, rosie . Man and its not very long in the scheme of things, but its 27 days longer than ive done before. So. Heres to 28. applause man 2 good man, gerry. If i can just get the boring stuff out of the way are we all happy with the new Meeting Place . Better than that place over keleherns bar id say so, martin. Okay, come on then a show of hands for 7 30. 7 30 it is. Who said youse people couldnt make a decision . Okay, id like to open the meeting. Man good evening, everyone. My name is vincent im an alcoholic. Captioned by captioneering your closed captioning resource this week, weve navigated our way towards a place full of cultural landmarks the baltic flour mill, the bridges across the river tyne and the new kid on the block the sage gateshead centre. So, welcome to the antiques roadshow from gateshead. Fiona if you looked onto gateshead quay ten years ago, youd have been faced with derelict factories, rubble and rundown housing. The transformation is quite remarkable. For gateshead council, it was pretty ambitious, not to mention controversial to invest in the sage gateshead and the baltic flour mill. But the idea was to reinvigorate these Old Industrial sites with landmark cultural buildings. The original flour mill was built in the 1950s in an area once occupied by the gateshead ironworks. The mill produced flour and animal feed until it went out of business in the 1980s and, from then on, fell into disrepair. After a £46 million makeover, the former flour mill was transformed into the Baltic Centre for contemporary arts six years ago, making it the countrys Newest National art gallery. The sage gateshead is on a site which once saw life as a rope factory before becoming a wasteland home for travelers. After ten years of planning, the sage gateshead opened in 2004 providing a worldclass acoustic venue a home for the northern sinfonia. And a Music Education center with over 100 students studying here. With collaboration from the people of gateshead, artists and musicians, sir Norman Foster designed this £70 million musical crescendo wrapped in steel and glass to stunning effect. The transformation of gateshead quay is complete but is it a success . Theres always a danger with something as radical as this that people wont like it. What do you think of this building . We love it. You love it . Love it. Did you always think it was gonna be good . From the start. Its great. Its different. Its pretty. Very interesting. Its fine, its good its different. Ah, too modern. It makes the quayside look alive. We think it looks like an armadillo. But we always go to it. Great, yes. A great thing, he said. Well, i think theres no doubt the sage gateshead is a Great Success so lets see what objects strike the right notes with our experts on this weeks antiques roadshow. I think it was about 1941 or 42 a bomb dropped in the house opposite where i lived on pollard street, south shields. When we found our way along the corridor in the dust to what was left of the front door, that was the view that we saw. Hitler had removed six of the houses. So, my grandmother immediately went into the front room where the windows had blown in and, um, i heard her say, look what hitlers done to my lady. And i looked up, and a bit of the strap had dropped off. This lady . This lady here. A little bit of the strap had come off down here. And the little piece of strap lay on the bottom of this figure all my life. Dont ask me where it is now, because ive got no idea. So, shes strapless. She rescued it and you lost it. Thats about the size of it, yes. What youre saying is, these things were standing right here, right next to where the bomb dropped. Yeah, on a sideboard opposite the window, which had stuff glued to it to stop the glass falling. And, of course the window was blown in. Everywhere was covered in dust and grit and bits of stuff, you see . And the two figures were just standing there on the sideboard. Ive still got the sideboard, and ive still got the figures. You know why they survived, dont you . Ive got no idea. Its because theyre german. Oh, really . Yeah. I didnt know that. I know nothing at all about them. Ive looked at them all my life, and i havent got a clue as to what they are. Well, theyre dressed in pretty straightforward bavarian costumes, or tyrol costumes. Hes a bagpiper, and shes playing what the germans called a leier, but we would call a hurdy gurdy. Right, yeah. And it is remarkable that youre so close to a bomb that takes out so many houses you would expect a ceramic object would just be shattered by the impact. Yes, yes. But there they are surviving. Well, they were made in germany. They were made sometime probably at the very end of the 19th century, so theyre getting on for just over 100 years old. Theyre made of earthenware. They are colored in these pastel enamels. Porcelain figures are generally considered to be more valuable than these earthenware figures, but they are actually very, very charming. And now theyve got a terrific story attached to them. It is, of course a major tragedy that she lost her strap. But it couldve been worse. Absolutely. Oh, yes. In terms of value, well, if you wanted to buy a pair of german figures like this in yorkshire in the market, youd probably have to pay somewhere in the region of, lets say, £400 to £600. Well, well, well. Ill still keep looking at them, i think. Ill put them back on the sideboard. 1953, the coronation of elizabeth ii. And then typed underneath an album of signatures collected by pupils of West Thurrock county primary school. And all of this lovely border is all handdone. So, how many items are there in it . I think there are 37. And theyre all beautifully decorated. With the coats of arms and most of them have been found, and the picture that the person concerned has been put on the page as well. Tell me the story. My mother was a teacher at the primary school, top class. And at the time of the coronation, she wanted something to an excuse, really for the pupils to learn how to write letters. So, she made a list of the heads of government of the commonwealth countries that would be attending of the military personnel who would have an official capacity at the coronation. And the children drew a name out of a hat. They wrote the letter, and they had the autographs back. Once they came back my father worked in the printing business and he took them had them mounted and the book prepared. I like this one winston churchill. Tell me the story about that one. When they had everyone else replied. They had some wonderful replies. But they had a refusal from one person, and that was winston churchill. And the refusal letter is at the top there. Once the book had been finished and all the eliminations had been done, my mother packaged it off to Lady Churchill who we gather dumped it on his lap and said, sign it. And the reply is there and his signature is the only one that isnt on the card, thats actually signed in the book. He actually signed in the book. So, the letter from chartwell churchills home dear mrs. Pugh, Lady Churchill has asked me to thank you for your letter of the 16th of august. Sir winston has signed your coronation book brilliant. And i return it to you with his good wishes. Yours sincerely, private secretary. So, that was the result. That was. So we had more or less the complete set. And let me see you have a favorite one, dont you . I do. My favorite one is Bomber Harris who had a reputation as being something of a butcher with the bombing of dresden. But i think the autograph came back with no problems but the letter that accompanied it, which he obviously has typed himself, puts a different complexion on him. And this letter says thank you very much for enclosing a stamped, addressed envelope. Most of the many thousands of people who write to me from time to time generally on their own affairs but entirely unknown to me, never send a stamped envelope as you did. If they did so i should be a richer man today. And then the last paragraph which i think is charming, too i have signed it twice, once on each side, so that you can cut off the signature on one side and swap it for anything you can get. Good luck to you. Yours sincerely arthur harris, marshal of the r. A. F. And here he is for victor wade. Arthur t. Harris. Anyway, its all bound with the e. R. On the front of this buckram cover and very handsome it looks, too. And i think thats a wonderful story. You know at the end of the war, the festival of britain, which was in 1951, and the queens coronation obviously, in 1953 and so, to get them all together like that was quite a feat. Now, i suppose we have to go for value. So, i would imagine that were talking about £10,000 to £15,000. Gosh. Thats a lot more than i thought. I think its wonderful. Thank you for bringing it in. Thank you very much. 30odd years ago my husband and i bought a very beautiful medieval manor house that was in a terrible state. We spent 17 years restoring it and bringing up our children in it and then we got old and a bit disabled and we had to go. We wouldve loved to leave it to the children but none of them could afford to run it. The house. Thats right. So we sold it. And i had the idea of getting a beautiful georgian dolls house and furnishing it with copies of the furniture that we had. I was lucky enough to meet billy on a coach tour of ireland and we happened to talk about dolls houses and that was it. And hes managed to make all these beautiful things for us. So, you made these. Yes. And you picked him up on a coach trip in ireland. Thats right. Okay, thats a new one. laughter i think its superb. How long ago did you make them . Oh, i dont know. Three or four years ago . Very recently. Hes still making them. Yeah. I think these are superb. Im just going to pick up this. Here weve got the hinges for this cradle. Fine. Every detail this opens up. So, old jacobean cradle. I mean, very nice. And this presumably does the same. Thats absolutely lovely. Um, what wood are you using for these . Pear wood. Its theyre made of oak, but the the big pieces are made of oak. Yeah, but you cant reproduce oak in close scale. Its too big so you use pear wood which is the best wood to use. So, are you a professional making these . No, imi was a woodworker all my life. I was a patter maker. Oh, really . But, uh, id never made anything as intricate or small as this. But it looks fascinating because that i now understand why these are such high quality. Because if youre a pattern maker, they really are its one of the most precise jobs ever, wasnt it . Yes, very precise. You had to be very good, and that shows here, which is now a hobby. Yes. Fantastic. Well, i think these are so charming. Just let me compare this to here. Weve got a really good sort of james i early 17th century oak armchair of lovely proportions. I daresay theres a bit of fiddling around. But, from what i can see here all this carving is absolutely right genuine, not victorian, carving. And i love this guilloche molding here. Its called a flower head guilloche. I want to see how well youve copied it here. I think its wonderful. How long did it take you to make this one . Do you remember . Maybe 100 hours. So, did you charge her a lot of money for these . No. No, were friends. Friendship. I picked him up. I see. But you had it copied. Why have you still got the big pieces . Presumably you had them copied because you couldnt fit them in the house. No, um these were pieces that we still have in the house. We got rid of a lot of much bigger things. But these we shall be able to pass down. So, how many pieces in this georgian dolls house have you got . Oh, its full. Lets just think of the value of these. I mean, i think, roughly the jacobean pieces are all very roughly the early part of the 17th century in oak, as we said. And i would say, to be realistic, without inflating the price, its about £1,000 each. Something like that. But what are the miniatures worth . I dont know. Theyve got to be at least £200 apiece. Dont tell him that. At least. More. Very nice, i think so. Yeah. The thing is that these would sell more easily than the big jacobean pieces. I think its a lovely story. Thank you both very much indeed. Well met. Thank you. How long have you known it . Its been in my family quite some time. My mother bought it. In fact, no, my grandmother bought it. I noticed it on my mothers table one day with flowers in it. Id just recently moved into the city center in newcastle where i actually can see this bridge. I thought, my goodness, whats that . And thats why i now own it. You nicked it off your poor mother. I did indeed, yes. Yes, i did. So, where is this precisely . This is the high level bridge, which was opened in 1850, and its one of the oldest bridges across newcastlegateshead across the river. And, interestingly it actually was closed for several years recently for refurbishment, and it was reopened again fantastically. Its just over behind the tyne bridge. Its not the tyne bridge its the bridge behind. We can see it. Yes, we can. Theres a railway runs along the top and theres a carriageway on the bottom. So, its on two levels. And it was started in 1846. As it says. So, it says commenced april 24, 1846. Opened january 16, 1850 which makes it quite an early piece of pressed glass. And i suppose by about 1850, there were probably something in the realm of 12,000 to 15,000 people occupied in pressed glassmaking within a tenmile radius. And, in fact, we are standing on bottle bank, and if you go just towards this bridge, its the works of George Sowerby in which this was made. And its obviously a local icon. I mean this mustve been imagine the work going on here. It mustve been occupied how long did it take . Four years to make. Four years. And people falling in. It mustve been an ongoing spectacle. Thinkbefore telly, this mustve been really big news on a daily basis people talking about it in the pub, how its doing. So, in a way, it really is genuinely a piece of local history and talks about an age that is completely gone the glassmaking. The bridge still stands, but the glassmaking has completely disappeared. Its a nice thing. Its value is not terrific. But somewhere between 50 and 80 quid. Yeah. Well thats what i thought. I think its a bargain at that price. laughs i wont be selling it. Its just a nice thing to look at. Fantastic. Yeah. Thank you very much. This picture has been living at shepherds dene Retreat House in the tyne valley west of newcastle. Its a beautiful arts and crafts house, about 100 years old. Um, and as far as we know this has been there as long as the house has been there. It was certainly there as far as we can tell, when the house was gifted from a family to the bishop of newcastle in the 1940s which is when it became a Retreat House for the darcys of newcastle and durham, where people can go and have timeouts and renew themselves. How high has it been hanging . Well, its been hanging on a very nice stairway, but up near the ceiling. So, we think this is original dust. Its got lots of lovely age to it and the pictures incredibly dirty. The varnish has deteriorated. And you see on the right, um some of the original colors coming through, just by the edge of the frame. I was going to make a suggestion. I was wondering whether this could be a direct commission. Weve got quite a clear view of this house just on the right side a very grand house. And i think that this could be a commission by perhaps the man on his horse. Perhaps that looking at his house. Exactly. Because the artist has spent quite a good time making sure that the horse is well depicted. Your picture is signed lower left and dated 1847. And, of course for robinson whos a rather obscure artist we dont know his christian names. Um, an oil on canvas of this scale it must be one of his great masterpieces. Great. He specialized initially working around richmond in yorkshire and then did two or three views that we know of of darwen. But he was working really in the mid19th century. In fact, the dates we have are about 1820 to 1870. We dont have a clear birth date or death date. But its a rarity. We hardly ever see great views of cities like this, especially from the 1840s. Fabulous original condition. It was cleaned beautifully. Absolutely lovely. And, because its by a lesserknown artist, it doesnt really matter. I think it goes down as a historic painting from the 1840s. And, in terms of value i think this would make quite a lot of money at auction. I would value this at certainly £6,000 to £8,000. Right. Well, thank you very much. Its lovely to know. And, uh. Yeah, its a great asset to our Retreat House. Well have to think about what we want to do with it. Thank you. Thank you. Those are arabic numerals. So, why dont we try and date this dish . Drum roll. laughs one monkey. Three fours are 12. Three twos are 6. One 7. Three ones, and thats 4. Right . Two. Divide that by 100. We get 47. 29. Three. Add that to well drop the. 29. Its irrelevant. Four. Four from thirteen is. Nine. Nine. Five. laughs uh, now, what am i doing . Six. No, im sorry. Ive done that wrong. Seven. Im very bad at math. Eighta very good chinese number. Isnt this interesting . It is very interesting. It really is. But no. Its nine monkeys on a chain. Hooray weve got a number 1818. 1818. What a performance. Even though its quite a late date in our terms. Yes . 500 to 700. This is so hilarious. Im going to say its worth somewhere between £1,000 and £2,000. Wow. Hell be very impressed, im sure. The mid19th century saw a real explosion in the production of snuffboxes not just in the United Kingdom but also in france switzerland, and throughout europe as well. In the 18th century, france was probably the greatest producer of snuffboxes. In the 19th century, the swiss caught them up and probably overtook them. What do you know about the history of this very handsomelooking box youve brought along . Well, it was given to me by my father in 2001. Um, it came from my grandmothers estate. She passed away in 2000. And, really, thats as much history as i know about it. Now, my grandparents were both swiss. She was born in russia. She came very early on back to switzerland. She married a swiss guy, and they lived in america for a while, but they were very welltraveled. And thats as much as i know about it. Well, that actually leads us very nicely on to where this box was made because if we open it up inside here, weve got some marks on the lid. I dont know who the maker is but this is a swissmade box made in about 1840 and the fact that its stamped 18k is not rocket science. Its 18karat gold. So, weve got a solid gold snuffbox, beautifully made. I absolutely love the way this was made, because most snuffboxes would be embossed at this period. But this one if you see all this lovely decoration on the outside this is actually carved into the surface. If we open it up on the inside, theres no decoration on the inside. So, its not punched in or punched out from either outside or inside. This is all carved a far, far more difficult technique. And, um, its really an absolute delight. I think its in superb condition. Its really not much different from the day it was made. The initials on the front here looks like f. D. Does that ring a bell . Uh, my grandmothers maiden name was freivogel, so thats so, that might be d. F. , then. Yes, so im not sure where d comes from. Right. Well, the good news for you is that, in recent years, theres been a real demand in gold boxes. And, uh, the russians in particular have been buying a lot of gold boxes. Have you any idea what this could be worth . I have absolutely no idea, no. It was handed to me, and then it was put in a drawer for the last five, six years. Well, um. We are looking at quite a valuable box. I would think its worth probably between £2,000 to £3,000. Wow, great. So, its not a bad thing to inherit. Great. Oh, thats very nice. Good surprise. Ha ha well, one day, you might use it for snuff. laughter its filthy stuff. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, thank you for bringing it along. Thank you very much. Its a lovely piece. Youve got some coins. I know our experts have seen them and theyre gold rubles, arent they . Yes. And, in financial terms, theyre worth not quite so much perhaps £100 a coin. But theyve got an amazing priceless story behind them, havent they . Yes. My mother, um was in germany at the end of the Second World War and she needed to escape to sweden. So, to disguise these coins and to take them out of germany to sweden she hid them in a coat and disguised them as buttons so they wouldnt be noticed by the germans. And she was told that any valuables would be destroyed. And she managed to take these coins out of germany. So, in here is one of the gold rubles. Yeah, so, i think its heavy. Yeah, its heavy. And these are the ones that youve taken out. So, she just wore them on her coat, on her dress just there on her body. Yes, but she told me that she, um cycled through some thunderstorm with a cake that her mother had given her to give to this family and she never saw her mother again. So, there she was with the only worldly goods she had, which were these coins stitched into these buttons, on her bike. With a cake. With a cake, cycling to what she hoped would be her salvation. Well, yes. I mean, she left on the premise that she her parents would meet up with her in lubeck, but she never saw her mother again. So, its rather poignant. So, this is all she has to remember her by these gold coins. Yes. Thank you so much for bringing them in. Its a pleasure. Youve arrived with a tablecloth and a whole posse of friends. Yes, they all love the antiques roadshow, and they wanted to get on the telly. This was the quickest way. Theyve got good taste. This is utterly intriguing. So, you have a group of drawings here inscribed by Francis Bacon and a newspaper dated 1970. Well thats my grandfather. He was in a restaurant in london, and he noticed a man sitting across from him at another table sketching people in the restaurant. So, when they were leaving he asked to look at it. And the man signed it and gave him the whole tablecloth. Then, the next day in the hotel they got the newspaper and recognized the man from the night before. It was Francis Bacon. So, youve actually got a copy of the newspaper here. And he was arrested that night for drugs. Yes. So, a rather fateful time for him. I mean, its absolutely intriguing, this because its exactly the sort of thing you would expect him to have done. He was a night owl. He spent all his time gambling, drinking going from one pub to the other wads of cash in his pocket. He was sort of generous but he was a real sort of hardliving libertine as well. And he was also pretty chaotic and slightly filthy. Its just the sort of thing he might have done drawing on a tablecloth like that. Its just the sort of haunt and habitat you would expect. In fact, he used to paint in bed sometimes. Someone was telling me they tried to get him to sign their sheets because hed covered them with so much paint. So. I think weve got a very good circumstantial case for this being by the great Francis Bacon. Do you know anything about the other portraits around . I mean, that looks like peter otoole in the bottom lefthand corner. Im not sure about that. I think this person was with my grandfather at the time. But the other figures were just other people in the restaurant that night. Now, if this is by Francis Bacon and we need to prove it, and we need to find out a little bit more about the restaurant possibly we need to check it with other drawings its quite valuable. Have you thought about what it might be worth . No, no idea. If this is by Francis Bacon its worth about £10,000. Really . How can you prove it . How do thats your job. All right. And there are people out there who can help you. But i think theres a very high chance that its right. Brilliant. So, are you glad you all came now . Yes, very. Weve had this chest in our family since about 1829 so i can trace its history from that point. Right. 1829 is not bad. Thats through literally family connections . You know which house it was in . We do. We know it was found by my greatgreatgrandfather in a house called toftrees in fakenham, and it was found accidentally. The story goes that it was covered in plaster of paris and horsehair, and he was chipping away with his cane, and a big lump of the plaster fell off and revealed the carving underneath. So, obviously they then uncovered the whole thing, and its been in the family ever since just passed down to whoever had a house large enough to give it houseroom. So, the chest was covered in plaster . Yes. So, it looked as though it had been hidden deliberately but we dont know why. Why would somebody do that . We really dont know. We were told at one time it might have been a traveling altar, which might have meant that it was hidden because of, you know religious reasons or whatever. But that was just the story that was passed down. We really dont know. Do you know what country it comes from . No. Well, its a catholic country and i suppose at a time when there was anticatholic feeling. That is a possibility. Its an extraordinary story. I meanand a huge thing like this. Unless it was just jewelry and valuables. It might have been the silver. Maybe. We might be talking about cromwell and the civil war. You can easily go back to 1650. Right. If i tell you this is late 16th century right, so its 15something, yes . Exactly. I mean, lets say 1600 the last 10, 20 years, Something Like that. Thats when it was made. Wow. Within a generation or so. Its made in italy. More precisely in adige. Alto adige. Im trying to get my italian right. Its a town in the north of italy. Thats where these coffers were made, these chests were made. Right. Were there a lot of them made . Quite a few, quite a few. Yeah. Its pretty rare but not that unusual in a lifetime of looking at furniture. In fact, when i first learned about these lets see if i can remember this. Im going to try and remember a quote from shakespeare from the taming of the shrew. Do you know the play . Not very well. Some of the famous phrases, but okay. So, um. In my ivory coffers i have stuffd my crowns; in cypress chests my arras counterpoints costly apparel, tents, and canopies. Cypress chest . Its made of cypress wood. Right. Not cyprus the island. No, no. But cypress, the wood, which is a type of cedar which grows in the alto adige area, and also the pyrenees as well. So, we have found out recently that, actually, these might have been made in Northern Spain as well, because the wood comes from Northern Spain