The owls quite chatty, though. What . Im just thinking back to when i was 16. There was this priest in the parish who used to sneak up on parked cars and shine a torch through the window. Looking for. Oh, yeah. What do you think . What . Just thinking. What . What would you do if father mac shone a light through our window . Id tell him to mind his own business. You surprise me. Do i . Constantly. Are you cold . Yeah. No. You feel cold. No. Any problems . It was all quiet. I hope you were paying attention, father. Yes, i was. Im off home. You can go home too, peter. Thanks. No. Thank you. Assumpta. Goodnight. Im a priest. Thats fine. Be a priest. Ambrose. Ambrose . Oh god, why am i doing this . Oh god, give me the courage to go through with it. At the very least dont let kathleen laugh at me, or sneer at me, or hit me with the floor brush. What are you doing here . Ive never seen you in church at this hour before. Are you all right . Just getting the lungs up and running. Id slow them down to a walk, if i were you. What . Have a flower, flowers. Theyre for you. What do i want flowers for . I was told to give them to you. Told no. Sorry. Please take them. Theyre sagging in the middle ive kept them so long for you. Well, all right then. Is this really the place . Well,thank you. Morning, kathleen. Eamon. Good morning, father. Listen, young man. I had very dark thoughts about you last night, so dont push your luck. Its broad daylight and its time to go to sleep. If you werent so stubborn, youd accept my offer of help. Ive come to see my grandson. What do you want . There he is. Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, wee fella. And how are we today, huh . Isnt he beautiful . Little hands. Little handy pandies. You could eat them, so you could. Now. Have you given any thought to what youre going to be when you grow up . Ill tell you what youre gonna be. Youre gonna be the chairman of a worldwide company, the chairman of quigley incorporated. The boss of quigley inc. Liam and donal. What are you two doing here . Weve just been out to the site. They tell us theyve found some, whatyoumaycallits. Speak english. History, mr. Quigley. Ancient parties living in the wood. Leaving behind them bones and arrowheads, and bits of pots, and things like that. An archaeological site, is that it . Thats the yoke. I dont believe it. Get out there and clear away any of that stuff immediately. Such finds have to be reported to the appropriate authorities. And all work suspended immediately. Just forget about it for a couple of hours in the circumstances, sir, i am the appropriate authority. Therefore, it now becomes my duty, sir, to dont start all that again. That got up his nose, didnt it . I havent got long, kathleen. What is it . Oh, sit down, please. Eamon byrne. Has he been bothering you again . The thing is, father, i think im frightened hes going to ask me to marry him. Are you sure about this . As sure as i can be. Has he spoken of it . Not yet. But thats whats on his mind. Well,if it is, wheres the harm in that . It would be a marriage made in heaven. Youd be Great Company for each other. Company is one thing, father. Yes. But, if we do, he might want to. Indeed he might. And as his wife it would be your duty. Yes, father, i accept that. You would be married so then there would be no sin attached to it. Ive put all those thoughts from my mind long ago, father. Not that i ever suffered from any such thoughts. Of course not. Marry him, kathleen. It would be the best thing for both of you. As long, of course, as i can still rely on your help around the church. Id never deprive you of that, father. Thank you, kathleen. Ambrose you cant go on like this. Like what . Youve got to get some sleep. I can manage. At least take up my dads offer. Get somebody in. Leave your da out of it. I run this family. If you do run this family, youre not running it well. Not if you make yourself sick. Will you leave me alone, please . Ah, ambrose. Oh, assumpta. Ambrose alert as a fox. Ive come to see the baby. Right. Now, what was i doing . Oh, yes. Is he all right . Hes out on his feet. Hes punch drunk. Hes getting hardly any sleep. It seems this little rascal has it in for him. Hey, hes not a rascal. Hes beautiful, isnt he . Isnt he the most beautiful baby in the world. What . Dont wake him up. Oh, im sorry. Here, look, ill put the kettle on. Father mac, its Peter Clifford here. Yeah. When might you next be in ballykay . Oh, its nothing really its just a chat, i suppose. Tomorrow . Fine. Thank you. Well . I want you to have these . What do you hope to gain by this . I dont know. Well, thats all right then. Thanks a million. Well. Goodbye. Are you all right . I suppose im in luck youre not the superintendent. I was just checking. Checking what, father . Just making sure you were all right. Well, im fine. I dont need you. No. No, youre right. Hey you ambrose ambrose, stop those two ambrose . Im sorry, i shouldnt have. Look, can you call the doctor, please . Just stay back. Ill miss him. Why would you miss him . What are you talking about . Thats what ive come over here to tell you. Ive made up my mind. What about . [ banging noise ] for gods sake, whats that . I feel so responsible. Why . Well, if i hadnt yelled at him. Hes a policeman, father. You mustnt blame yourself. Hes hurt, niamh, im not gonna pretend otherwise. How is he, doctor . But ive been told its not as bad as it seemed at first. Can i see him . Well, hes not really conscious yet. Please. Ill have a word. Dont worry. Hell be all right. Hes hurt his head. Well, you wont notice the difference. Niamh, you can come in now. Will you hold the baby, please, father . You heard what doc ryan said. Anyway, your uncle peters in control now. Well. Almost. Hows ambrose . Pardon . Oh, i havent spoken to niamh today. Last night he was as well as could be expected. Good. You want to see me . Yes, i need your advice. Advice from me . Huh, then id better sit down. Advice about what, father . Um. Or would you rather i guessed . Id quite enjoy that. No. Then what do you want to talk about . About being a priest, i suppose. You surprise me. A crisis of faith. Not what id expected. You tell me. What did you expect . Its not a question of faith, father. Ive no doubt in my faith. Its just. What am i doing as a priest . What does it mean to be a priest . To serve god. I can serve god without being a priest. Serve your community. Your congregation. They always need you. If they dont need me . Do they . I say mass. I hear confession. I officiate at weddings, christenings and funerals. Then what . Good works. Visiting the poor and preaching about rich men, camels with humps and needles with eyes. What have you been reading . The new testament. Oh, very clever, father. But you dont fool me. Shall i tell you what the problem is . Sorry . Assumpta fitzgerald. What . We live in a very small community, father. Well, i hope you dont think that. Nothings happened. Is Something Likely to happen . No. Can you stand before that altar and tell god that nothing is likely to happen . That is your problem, father. That is why you are dissatisfied with your vocation. I understand the temptation, the pain, the anguish. But most priests, most serious priests, use these temptations as a means to temper their mettle. And that is the test, father. Have you got the mettle to be a real priest . I hope. I pray im a real priest. Then you have a simple choice. Scrub this woman from your mind for ever or leave the parish. I dont want to leave the parish. Then you need help. I suggest you go on retreat. Thats the place to be. Touch base again. Feel your vocation again. Maybe youre right. Yes. Yes, i will. When should i go . I think as soon as possible. Thank you. Well . Well. Is that all you have to say . Ive not a lot of words in me today. I know how you feel. Its terrible about ambrose, isnt it . Makes you think life could be a lot worse. Indeed. Makes you think what have we got to complain about . There comes a time when its better to stick to the road you know. I agree with you. You do . I do. I do indeed. I do. Well, then. Slain leat. Goodbye. Should we be doing this . Nah, theyve notified the council. Yes oh, please, please. Come on, dont do this to me. Niamh. Hows ambrose . Hes fine, thanks. Are you all right . Yeah, sort of. Go on into the kitchen. Ill make us a cup of tea. Give us a shout, padraig, if i ever get another customer. Yeah, sure. Niamh, sit down. The house is so quiet without ambrose. I think even kieran misses him. How is ambrose . Last night he was quite sick, but hes much better today. His mothers with him. Anyway, he should be home in a few days. Well, thats great news. He wont be able to go back to work for a while though. No, i suppose not. Dad wants us to move in with him. Ambrose would never put up with that. And will you . Itd set him back a life time. I suppose it would. Anyway, im glad things are looking a bit brighter. Makes me feel a little less guilty. Not you as well . What for . Well, i wont feel so bad about deserting you. Deserting . Niamh, ive decided to leave ballykay. Just for a while. You have . Yep. At last. Good for you. Its time you stopped dithering. Oh, i know, i know. But it all depends. On what . Do you think youd be up to looking after the pub for me for a while . If ambrose was back on his feet. Well, yeah, of course. Well, yes. Well, thats, thats great. So, youre off to dublin, then. No, no. No, london. Oh. Hi. How are you . Service . Assumpta, customers. Assumpta yeah, ill be right with you, padraig. Still celebrating . The rescue of the orchid and the badger, the owl and the pussycat. Come on, padraig. Putting the road around the wood is not going to make any difference to the development. That remains to be seen. Whatever the outcome, it doesnt have to be personal. I heard you were having a little lunch time celebration. What do you mean . Ive come to mess it up for you. You must think im a right eejit. You stuck those artefacts up on the site. And dont pretend you didnt. Look at them. Pathetic. Now these bones havent been in the ground for years. And this arrowhead. Its varnished. Oh, dear. We told the council though. I dont care who you told. Theyll take one look at this rubbish and laugh in your faces. So you can say goodbye to your wood. Its a wake youre having now. You can drink to the corpse. Niamh. Dad . Yes, anything. Do me a favour, dad. Put the road round the wood. Niamh. Come on now. If not for my sake, dad, for kierans. That is just blackmail please, dad. I mean, id hate to let them get away with it. Dad niamh. Hell do it. Thanks, niamh. Thanks a lot. A big hand for niamh. Your father nearly knocked me down. Whats happened . Niamh persuaded him to put the road round the wood. Oh, well, done, niamh. Hows ambrose today . Hes doing very well. Theyre going to let him home soon. Oh, im glad. Very glad. Right then, id better take this fella home to feed him. And change him before you throw him out. Well, ill speak to you, assumpta, about. Yeah. And i hope youve stopped feeling guilty, father. Assumpta yeah. In a moment. Shes taking it very well. Shes a brave woman. Father macs just given me a talking to. Well, that was nice for you. Well, i think i deserved it. Hes helped me make up my mind about a couple of things. Such as . One, ive decided father mac is exactly the sort of priest i dont want to be. Two, ive decided it would do me no harm to be as good a priest as father mac. Still sitting on the fence . No, ive got off the fence. Father mac shoved me on to a ladder. What sort of ladder . Hes ordered me to go on retreat. Oh, yeah . When . Next week. So thats it, is it . Yes, that is it. Well, thank you for telling me. At least i know ive made the right decision. What decision . Padraig assumpta. Customers. Excuse me. Ive got customers. Fiona hold on to your bonnets, breeches and bowlers. Were about to take a ride back in time to victorian england, which may look rosy now, but life here in the copper and arsenic mines was hard, hectic, and often short. Welcome to morwellham quay in devon. Ships have been trading along the taymar river to morwellham quay for almost 1,000 years. And business reached its peak in the 1850s when just up there, the devon great consolidated Mining Company discovered the most profitable copper mine in europe, encouraging thousands of men to come here and dig. Its a bit of a surprise to me to see a water wheel underground, but this is to pump water from the mine and prevent flooding. But the most common danger for miners down here was falling off ladders, caused by extreme tiredness at the end of a hard day working in 90degree heat. Their average life span was just 40 years. But they took big risks because the financial rewards could be great. If the men hit a good seam of copper, they would all get a share of the riches, and earn 20 times their normal wage. It was a boon time with schools, chapels, a pub, and a blacksmith being built. Everything needed to support hundreds of miners and their families. One of the major shareholders in the copper mine was a certain William Morris. He gave his shares to his son, William Morris, jr. He made the equivalent of £7 million a year in profits from the mine, and also, pioneered the arts and crafts movement. Morwellham quay shipped over 700,000 tons of copper to be turned into guns, pots and pans, even money. The vast wealth generated by copper made morwellham quay the busiest port in britain. By the 1870s, when the supply of copper was becoming exhausted, a rich supply of arsenic was found in the same mine which William Morris continued to benefit from, not just financially. He used it in his wallpapers and paints. The whole of the area was granted World Heritage status in 2006, preserving this victorian industrial enterprise at morwellham quay. What a magnificent setting for todays roadshow. Lets see what our experts have in store for us. How fitting to have a picture like this. Classic devon landscape river scene with thatched cottages. In fact, i can almost taste the clotted cream from here. Absolutely wonderful. So where do you hang this at home, and have you got a house big enough for this . It was a problem. We moved over here ten years ago, and when we were house hunting, we had to find a house that would actually fit it, and it was quite a problem. And that just shows how much you love this picture then. I know, we do. Its been right down the family, so its very important. Its really classic of what the edwardian painters were doing in the early part of the 20th century, and its signed here by alfred parsons, which is Alfred William parsons. But i notice that it has a label on the back that says it was exhibited in new zealand in 1906. Yes. How come . My greatgrandparents bought it in wellington at the exhibition, and then took it down to south island, and its beethere ever since. And then we moved to england and brought it with us. How wonderful for it to come back here. But what is so interesting, and i have come across this before, when you see these labels in the back, the British Government would take exhibitions of english artists out to places like south africa, australia, and also new zealand, and i think people bought these pictures to remind themselves of home. Yes. But its in such good condition. Just look at the painting overall. It has got everything you want in a its a horrible word to use, chockablock, but it is a chockablock picture. But its got everything. Its very tranquil. And i just love the way the cattle are coming down to water here. Youve got the rainbow. But its in incredibly good condition. And how nice to see it in the original frame. Considering it went from this country to new zealand and to the south island and has come back, and its still in this condition, is a real tribute to your family. Absolutely fantastic. Alfred William Parsons i know, and ive seen lots of Small Oil Paintings by him, but not as big as this. This is actually quite an important work by him. So when this went over to new zealand to the exhibition, do you know how much they paid for it in 1906 . Ive got it written down in my diary that it was £390, ten shillings. And that was quite a lot of money then. Yes, it was. He was a royal academician, and he was quite wellrated. And i think that this, at auction, would make somewhere in the region of £8,000 to 12,000. Ooh. Right. Okay. And its such a strong pastoral image, and its got everything youd want. Very nice. Thank you. Well, here we have a fairyland luster bowl by the great wedgwood factory. Im sure you realize that that is what it is. Yes. Very popular design and pattern nowadays, but all these fairyland luster bowls are kind of different in various ways. They all have different names. This particular version is named after this peculiar fairy whos up in a net. Hes sort of fairy in a basket, they call it. And the outside of it has got even more incredible fairies and elves. These fairies here are playing games. Theyre two little baby elves on strings, galloping up. And these fairies are playing leap frog. Crazy little fairies. Absolutely mad crazy. But the whole thing is crazy. Daisy makiegjones was the designer. You wonder what sort of a mind she had, because she produced extraordinary things. Do you like it . Yes, i do. How do you come by it . It was my mothers. And she obviously passed away, and it was left to me. But prior to that, she had it from an aunt. It was made in the 1920s, so were going back three generations almost. Yes, yes. Yes, we are. And it survived virtually intact. Theres the normal wedgwood mark, which is rather nice. Wedgwood fairyland luster mark and number. So its all absolutely authentic and very, very nice. Would there be more than one . Oh, they made lots of these. Lots of different designs. One has been sold in london fairly recently, a very similar one. Instead of elves number seven, which this one is, it was elves number four, which is a slight variation, but very similar. And i dont know whether you know what it fetched, but it was a fair bid. Have you wondered about the value of this . Not really. Ive had it in the cupboard. I forgot about it really. And not worried about what it was . No. Elves number four went in london recently for £3,800. Oh so i suppose i would reckon the value of this one to be somewhere between £3,500 and 4,000. I had no idea. So no longer in the cupboard, dear. cause you dont know what these elves are gonna get up to in there. Its absolutely wonderful. Thank you ever so much. One of the bestknown 20thcentury constructional toysmeccano. You mustve had an awful lot of fun as a lad playing with these big sets. These, i didnt actually get to play with. My father had a set when he was a child, and when i went round to his parents house, id actually be allowed to play with that one. Well, they do look as good as the day they were made in liverpool. An invention of frank hormby back in 1901. Mechanics made easy. Thats how they were initially presented on the market. Later on, of course, the name meccano. Much more easy to say, easy to remember. Lets open it up and have a look. Every boys dream to open a toy like this. All the pieces are still held in by their original strings. Theyve not been touched. Its absolutely mint. Of course, theres every type of perforated plate, strip, gear, rack, everything to make whatever you wanted. And of course, meccano gave you a bit of a help by the suggestions and wonderful graphics in the various outfit books. Lets go deeper, because this is made of wood, and has a liftout tray. And if i just tip that there, untouched. Absolutely untouched. And, of course, this is what collectors today are really looking for. Im absolutely staggered. I have never seen three sets in such remarkable condition. I think if i was putting these into auction, i would not hold back. If i put them in as a lot, id put the three together with an estimate of between £1,200 and 1,800. Really . Very pleased to hear that. Good. Because you havent played with them, you were a good boy. How do you feel now . Do you feel like going out and buying a modern set . I think ill treasure memories of what i used to do with my fathers old set, but certainly, to have found these, im just bowled over. Great. Youre gonna look after them, and hopefully, theyll go on. Tuck them away. Fantastic. Here we are, in the heart of the valley, and you kind of sense the past. Its almost like the ghosts of the miners are still here. Have you got a connection with that . Yes. My granddad, he was a copper miner, and tin miner at drakeswall gunnislake. And men from the valley, when the mines closed here, they emigrated in fairly large numbers mainly to canada, the united states, and south africa. And this tantalus was presented to my grandfather who had emigrated to south africa to work in the geldenhuis gold mine. And theres a plaque on the front. A little inscription there on the front. To mr. H. Snell. So he was your grandfather. Harry snell. That was my grandfather. And where is your grandfather in here . He must be pictured in this photograph. Yeah. Granddad is there. Thats my granddad. I see. And then, the other one, hes. Hes here, isnt he . Yeah, hes on the end. So what happens to him . Does he come back . He did return here for a while. But there was still no work, and he had to go back, and he died there with silicolosis. Miners had a lot of that problem at the time. Presumably your grandfather had started at the age of 12, actually going down and into the mine, with his miners lamp, with the risk of explosion the risk of a mine falling on top of him. So he survived all of that, and then, of course, the moment comes when the mines dry up and there is very little, certainly here at morwellham. The copper ran out, and you dont realize what happened next. So this is the next part of the story, isnt it . Gunnislake station, the local station, was the scene of many a tearful farewell. Men left, and they would say farewell to their loved ones. Many left never to return. Yeah. I think its very interesting when we look at this detailed photograph in south africa at the gold mine, you get a sense of the volume of work force there had to be in order to extract the gold at its height. These are people who would have lived a harsh life. And in the corner, hes actually carrying a switch. He was keeping his work force in check. And it was harsh, harsh conditions. It was hard, and the locals done most of the hard work. The english boss men, they were supervisors, but as you say, it was very harsh. I think that was quite a mark of how tough it really was for them. It was, it was. Obviously, you cant wipe it out. It happened, and that was it. Well, its lovely to see the next part of the story to complete the picture of what happened when the mines closed here. And the tantalus, of course, a very nice presentation piece. It would have been a very special gift to him, honoring his tremendous work really. Probably wouldve had whiskey, gin and some brandy in it at some point. I note its empty now. Yep. In terms of value, its hard to put a value on something so personal really. But the tantalus, a beautiful presentation piece in such nice condition. I think one would see that valued at about £120, Something Like that. But i think the whole picture of what happened in mining, that is whats important, and telling the story of this valley. Youve done it so beautifully. Thank you. Thank you very much. These are really, really pretty. I presume youve known em for years. They came from grandmother. Grandmother lived in london, regents park. To my mother, to me. Theyve beenn the back of the china cabinet. Didnt know what to do with them. Dont know anything about them. And will my daughter want them . I suspect she will, because these are really nice. Theyre very pretty things. Made by a bohemian Glass Company called loetz in about 1905. Using their iridescent papillon effect, papillon french for butterfly, creating this very intense butterfly wing effect, which is further embellished by Silver Plating it. By painting this with a substance, and depositing silver on the rim and this very, very strongly art nouveau trellis effect. You must like em. They are quite pretty, now i come to look at them. I think youre gonna find them even prettier when i tell you that the pair of em are worth about £800. So my daughter will definitely be interested. Shes gonna love em. Thats her birthday present sorted then, isnt it . The thing about Something Like this is that it immediately states what it is. And that is, to me, arts and crafts. Thats what i thought it might be, but i wasnt too sure. So is something that you bought because you liked it, or its in the family or. . Its been in the family for quite some time. It was my grandparents , and i inherited it when they died. Youve lived with this. Yes. Its not a pretty piece really, but im fond of it and its very capacious. The drawers go right back. Ive always wondered whether the top actually belongs with the bottom, because this is quite delicate compared to the sturdiness of the bottom part of it. Do you use it, do you . Yeah, certainly. Yes. I think that term arts and crafts has come to mean all sorts of things, but one really needs to look back at the source. William morris, often seen as the founder of the whole idea of arts and crafts, got, initially, the money which enabled him to explore handwork and craftsmanship from the copper mines in devon, so he couldnt be in a better place. But it was really the next generation on who took up the ideas of William Morris, people like Ernest Gimson and sidney and ernest barnsley, who wanted to go back to honesty of construction, honesty of materials. Depended largely on handwork. This piece, i think, is absolutely made by hand. Theres no industrial process used in this. Its got all the features that you would expect on a piece of arts and crafts furniture. Revealed construction, particularly on the sides here with dovetail joints revealed, mortise and tenon joints. This interesting support. The shelves, the trellis work at the back. I particularly like these door handles here. Thats a lovely feature in the middle. And its not screwed or nailed. Its pegged there. A real sign of good arts and crafts. cause the thing is, i have to tell you, that when i saw this, my heart began to flutter, because, to me, this is probably almost as close to gimson and the barnsleys as you can get. But i think that this is possibly more probably designed by sidney barnsley, and if you could prove that it was sidney barnsley, youre looking at £8,000 to 10,000. Really . Good lord. I really am flabbergasted. I didnt think it was worth that much. If its not by sidney barnsley, then a little bit less. You could perhaps halve that sum. But to be honest, i think theres so much going in terms of this design that you can go for that higher sum, because i think this is by sidney barnsley. I hope my other half will now appreciate it. When i saw these wonderful silhouettes, i really thought they were going to be the stars today, but im afraid the real star is this beautiful little girl whos behaving wonderfully. So shall we start quickly . Yes, good idea. So fabulous collection of silhouettes. And some cut card silhouettes, and a lot of them painted. How did you become interested . I think my husband had his silhouette cut when he was 15 at a school fete. I think maybe that just started him off. And thats this one here . Thats that one. And from there, we started on this wonderful new journey. Which it is. Silhouettes have been around a very long time. I love the fact that it was really etienne silhouette who was the french finance minister who was known for being really mean. So really, silhouette was to be a skinflint. It was supposedly cheaper than getting your portrait painted. But of course, some of the artists that worked in silhouettes became really very proficient, and made some beautiful examples. And you have some exceptional examples here. This one, slightly later than many of the other ones, this is into the 19th century, beautifully cut. What i think is so exceptional about silhouettes is the personality that some of these artists. You can actually feel what these people are like. And this is a marvelous example with the cut silhouettes and this wonderful painted background. But the one that immediately caught my eye was this one, which i think is absolutely exquisite. And if you look at this so closely, you can actually see all the hairs on his head. Its so beautifully done and bronzed in this way. And just the wonderful way the clothing falls. Its masterfully done, and of course, the very important thing. When you turn it round, we see that its john miers, of course, one of the most famous silhouette artists. And whats interesting here is that we see its 111 the strand. I think he moved to 111 the strand around 1791. So we can date this silhouette rather nicely to that period. But the quality is fantastic. What are your favorites . I like this one. Its a shade that casts a shade. Its a double one. And in flickering candlelight, you can sometimes get slight movement. Such a difficult technique. So beautifully done. And you do have the most wonderful ones that are colored. These incredible. As i say, some of them, you actually feel as if the mouth was just about to move. Theyre so well done. And what about this one . Thats me as a little girl. I was about five or six when that one was done. My father made sure the whole family all had their own silhouettes done as well. So are we going to have a silhouette. . I have to get one done of my little daughter at some stage, yes. Fantastic. Well, these are just lovely, lovely examples. And value . Something like this, as i say, a bit later, probably 1815, 1820. Wonderful composition. Beautifully decorative thing. And i would say £800, 1,200. Good gracious. Wow because its just a wonderful thing. And this, my favorite, he would certainly sell for about the same amount. Probably closer to 1,200. Goodness me. The more common ones would be about 300 to 400. And this beautiful example that you mentioned, painted on glass, again, that would be the same sort of money £800 to 1,200. My word. Thats marvelous news. Thank you so much. Looks like an interesting bowl. I suppose id call it a punch bowl. Do you know anything about it . It was presented to nelson after the battle of cape st. Vincent in 1797, when he captured two spanish ships. And its come down through my husbands family because my husbands very greatgrandfather was an admiral in nelsons navy. Thats fascinating. Well, this kind of pattern, ive seen before. And its a service that you call the nelson service. Its french porcelain, and it was also coalport porcelain, so a mixture of those two factories. Decorated by one maker in london, and presented to nelson at a banquet in the city of london in 1802. Its wellknown to collectors of commemorative pieces as the nelson service. So this was just one part of a sort of set. There are things about this bowl that confuse me, that get my brain a bit fuddled and sets me full of doubt. And first of all, its the style of painting, which isnt the painting that im used to seeing on the nelson service, and ive handled quite a few pieces of the set over the years. Also, the coat of arms in the center. On this one, its entirely handpainted, but i know that on the nelson service, to save time and money, and this is pretty hard to believe, but they did print the outline of the arms and handcolored in within the printed outline. Yours is handpainted. So i think, ooh. And the feeling isnt quite right. I think this bowl was made in france and decorated in france, probably in 1905, to celebrate the centenary of nelsons death at the battle of trafalgar. Is there any way that this bowl couldve come into the family at a later date . Into a family that already knew it had nelson connections that might actually have been going out into the market and seeking other things of nelson interest . cause i know from personal experience that can sometimes happen in family histories, when things get confused. All i know is it was inherited by my motherinlaw from her grandfather. I have to say, i think this is a french, probably samson commemorative piece that a member of your family, for understandable reasons, bought in the early 20th century. Its totally disappointing in a way, but its a wonderful thing for someone descended from nelson to have in their family. Its worth probably £150, maybe 200, as opposed to the thousands of pounds if it had been really from the nelson service. So im sorry to give you that news. I mean, how do you feel . Have i devastated you . No, ill just have to. Its my husbands family, so ill have to tell them. And see if they can find out any more about where it came from. Thats where the interest lies. To see whether you can prove me right or prove me wrong. Im glad youre still smiling. Thank you very much. Thank you. Standing here at morwellham, i was hoping to see ships and boats, and of course, there are wonderful ones moored there. What i didnt expect to see was a different type of shipping altogether. These are wonderful glass panels showing sailing and harbor scenes. Its a whole panoply of maritime life. Now where do they come from . They were originally commissioned to be in the vita sun lounge for the marine spa hotel in torquay. What have we got . So this is the lounge as it was. This is the glass lounge. This is 1936. And is that one of them . Yes. This is one of them. Luckily this lady wore a shortbrimmed hat. Youre able to see it. So they were hung separately. So theyre not a story. Each one is a complete unit. So that is the hotel in that picture. Lets have a look. Its actually a wonderful building, isnt it . Very, very typical of that rather grand seaside architecture that weve now come to love. What happened to this hotel . In 1971, my father demolished it. He was a demolition contractor. He pulled down buildings. Yeah. And sold off what he could salvage, what he could rescue. But not this sort of thing. But why didnt he put his hammer through that . Because i liked em. So you said, i want those. Yeah. Is that him . Thats him. And what, hes showing the lady mayoress how to knock a building down. Its funny, cause nowadays, mayoresses unveil buildings. They dont celebrate knocking them down. But in the 1970s, it was different. We were destroying our heritage as fast as we could. Think of what this place was like in the 1970s. It was nothing, a derelict site. He mustve thought you were pretty odd, saying, i want these. He was a young man of 23. I think he was quite thinking ahead here. He had great vision. You were rescuing art deco. This is what they are. What do we know about them . We know the date thanks to you, youve got the picture. We can see theyre all signed hector whistler. Thats a name that, initially, makes me very, very excited. Whistler. Youve got rex whistler, who is a great interior decorator, muralist, illustrator. Youve got his brother lawrence, who is probably the 20th centurys greatest glass engraver. So its an artistic family. What i know about hector is he was a book illustrator, i know he was a general designer. He was a sort of hack artist who never had the fame, the reputation, of the others. But this is obviously quite a major work by him. Youre rescued probably his chefdouvre, his masterpiece. And i think because hes so little recorded, i think its because most of his work, which wouldve been of this interior decorating nature, has been lost. I couldnt even find his dates. I dont think ive ever read his dates. Woman ive had the same problem. I think the last i know of him, was in 1946, that he was operating out of a studio in oxford. He probably died in the 50s or 60s. I think hes one of those people who is living in the shadows of much greater brothers. I said that, didnt i . I started to feel sorry for poor old hector. They were a very wellknown name anyway, well never probably know much more about him except that what weve got is what he did. And its a very typical linear style of the 1930s. Its very much in that swim in that period. And i think he deserves to be better known. Anyway, they were free to you. The point is, they work individually. You dont have to have them as a set. Each one, therefore, has a value. You dont need to buy all five. I can see one framed up looking good, well presented and well displayed at about probably £500, 600, £700, 800 each. Because theyre very decorative and theyre very period. So you did all right. You chose the right thing to save