And also it looks very, very 1930s. Do you think it looks very 1930s . I think so, yeah. I think its i know she said it was made in germany. Thats all. Okay, well, theres some clues, actually. If we take the lens cover off of this little camera, of course weve got some information here. Its called a petie, and its called a vanity camera. It comes into a class of camera which are often termed subminiature cameras. Now, interestingly enough, the styling of this camera has got nothing to do with its age. Because, in fact, this camera was made round about 1956. Oh, was it . Absolutely. So, it looks very, very art deco. But its not art deco at all. And thats one of the deceptive things about this little camera. It is, in fact, a ladys powder compact. You can open it up. There we have a little vanity mirror and the powder compact. And in the top of the camera here we have a little receptacle for a lipstick, which comes out here, which can come all the way out. Next to that, we actually have a little receptacle which says film on top. And, in fact, that is for keeping a spare roll of film for the camera. The camera, in fact, actually pops out of the entire case. And, in fact, this camera was sold as a separate item in its own right. In terms of the manufacture of the camera, there were various manufacturers, believe it or not, because it was distributed in frankfurt by a german maker called walter kunik. Um, and its not that cutanddry, though. Its a complicated camera in that various models of this camera were made by different people in different countries. And it came in various finishes as well. So, if i were to say to you that it was worth 300 to 400, that would be the mark. And i reckon thats a great price for a great little thing. To think that your mum used it, i think thats wonderful. This has got a beautifully polished top. Has it always been at this level, as far as you know . Yes, as far as i know, it has, yes. Because i think, give the nature of the way this top was made, it was once upon a time much higher and it wouldnt be seen. Really . Yeah. I think this stand is later than the object itself. And patterns of spindlefronted cupboards like this are usually hanging cupboards. But this is a bit too deep for that, so i think it sat on something else. Do you have a name for this piece of furniture . I believe its called an alms cupboard. Now, thats interesting. Its kind of a name that often does come up with this sort of openfronted cupboard. But i think that is a mistake, deriving from aumbry, which is a food cupboard. An alms cupboard is somewhere were you put alms for the poor. And this doesnt really stack up for that. But an aumbry was where you put food, and the traditional name for this kind of cupboard is a bread cupboard. And i think that it was much more likely used for food. It was placed up high, so possibly the mice couldnt get into it. But it was also a storage cupboard. So, not necessarily for alms as such. It didnt necessarily have that kind of charitable context to it. This dates back to certainly the 17th century, possibly the early part of the 17th century. I love these spindle fronts. If you look at it, you can spot the odd man out, so to speak. Theres clearly a bit of damage. And if you look along here, you can see that somebody, very cleverly, has had a jolly good go at matching the turning of the other spindles. But its just a bit too clunky. It doesnt quite have the finesse of the other ones. Um, even though english furniture is very unpopular at the moment, oak and Country Furniture tends to be still fairly buoyant. And i think that Something Like this is. £2,000, 3,000 at an auction, a good auction. Really . All right. Thats lovely. laughs good. Didnt expect that. Thank you. When i saw this handwriting, i knew who it was. And sure enough, turning it over, we see here, sincerely, Rudyard Kipling. Rudyard kipling, the famous 20th century author of things like the jungle book and kim and all those other sorts of things, and that famous poem if. Yes. Then you are a man, my son, and all that sort of thing. Now, it is to. Dear martin. Now, who is martin . He was my greatgrandfather Harold Martin who was head gardener at batemans. Oh, batemans. Their home in sussex. His home in sussex, yes. So, how did he get the job as gardener there . Well, he started as gardener at kiplings previous home in rottingdean, where they lived. And then, when publicity got too much for him and he decided to get a country home, they moved to batemans and took the family with them. Dear martin, many thanks for your full, interesting letter to mrs. Kipling, who unfortunately is not yet well enough to answer it in her own hand, and so on and so forth. But its a nice long letter. It is four sides. Thats quite incredible for a busy author to write a fourpage letter. What do you think its worth . Um, well, to me, it doesnt really matter how much its worth because its a family heirloom. And, um. I havent got any children. And im going to donate it to batemans. Well, thats very noble of you. I hope they appreciate it. In fact, im sure they will. But Rudyard Kipling was a sad man after the war. I think he lost his son during the war. What about value . Weve got to talk about value here. Um, i would say that this fourpage letter is worth £500. Its a very generous present for batemans. Indeed. Ha ha ha thank you for bringing it in. Thank you. Fiona on speaker ladies and gentlemen, can i have your attention, please . Welcome to leeds castle. Were having a lovely day here. I hope youre enjoying yourselves. Its a very special day today because our beloved henry sandon isnot today, 80 but very soon going to be 80 years old, and also has been given an m. B. E. Crowd ooh. I know. So, we wanted to celebrate with a special rendition of happy birthday. So, promise me youre gonna join in. One, two, three. Happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday, dear henry happy birthday to you a round of applause for henry cheering laughter indistinct chatter recognize this . Yes ozzie the owl. We thought a little birthday cake in the shape of ozzie the owl might be appropriate. I say thats marvelous is it edible . It is. Were gonna have it in a minute. Can i keep it . Im sure you can. It is your birthday, after all, and a very important one. Thank you very much. Happy birthday, henry. Oh, isnt that fantastic and lovely to have your family here. Your wife barbara, of course. Two sons, your grandchildren. Its marvelous, really. Theyre not as old as me, but, uh. They will be one day. And youve been awarded an m. B. E. Congratulations. Was it a big surprise . It was, yes. I had no idea it was coming. Barbara opened the letter and thought it was the m b. The mitchells butlers. Ha ha but, anyway, its been marvelous, really. It mustve been a surprise. It was awarded for services to porcelain and services to charities. You do so much charitable work. Yes, and television. laughter so, its the whole lot. Its the whole lot, yes. I havent got much left now. And your birthdays coming up. What would your ideal birthday present be . Ideal . Apart from ozzie. Another ozzie. A real ozzie. Id love one of those. Im not sure if we can find you a real ozzie, but we have got your favorite a beautiful collection of worcester porcelain, which a lady has brought in. So, we can show you that later. Right, wonderful. Thats very good. Ive been longing for Something Like that all day. Its marvelous. Shall we cut the cake . Oh, yeah, lets cut the cake. Which one . Not ozzie. Oh, you dont want to cut ozzie . All right, well cut this one. Right there. Oh, henry. There we are. cheering how many stickpins are here . Uh, about 1,000. 1,000 . Whats the story . Where did they come from . Um, my dad started going to antique fairs, and i went with him. He started off collecting pins, and then it just got out of hand, really. It did get out of hand. Hes a sort of stickpin junkie, isnt he . He couldnt stay away from them. So, you made the decision as well to buy them with him a bit. Yes, i went with him. And i suppose i go back 20 years collecting things. Its a huge achievement. And the thing about jewelry is that it all tells a story. But, in actual fact, every single one of these tells much more than that the design of them and the maker and the history of them is intensely personal, because they are mens jewelry. Almost every gentleman in the 19th century and early 20th century wouldve been expected to wear one, and it wouldve been driven through his tie and secured in the back, and it would be a much fuller, bigger tie than we know today. And it was a piece of jewelry rather like cufflinks thats really the only piece of jewelry that men can resort to. Also, theyre curiously out of fashion for men to wear, so it was a brilliant buy. I imagine the cost price wasnt often enormous, was it . No, some of them were quite cheap. Whats the range . Well, from 50p nowadays, and i think the dearest one was about £200. Fantastic, isnt it . And what a brilliant collection. And it was very hard to single out any of them to talk about specifically, but thats a british flint arrowhead, and it was napped by a primitive man in england, probably about 4,000 years ago. And then somebodys found it in a field, and it meant an enormous amount to them we dont know who that person is enough to mount it up as a stickpin to want to wear it. A wonderful souvenir. And then what about these fellows here . Tell me about those. Did your father think both of them were nazi emblems . Um, i think he just decided to pick those because they were different. Um. Well, theyre quite sort of menacing in a way, but ones a great deal less menacing than the other. Because that actually is a swastika, but its not a nazi swastika. Its an emblem of good luck and good fortune that comes from very deep antiquity. Its something you find in roman silver. And it was taken up by the nazis and turned into their emblem in sort of a rather hideous way, a rather clever thing to do. And this one is their emblem. This is a stickpin associated with fascism in germany in the late 30s and 40s. I find the separate meanings very fascinating, because thats a perfectly innocent swastika, and that, i suppose, is probably not an innocent one. But tell me about these british isles. Whats that . Um, well, my dad made that one. He went to jewelry classes, and he made that one himself. So, that must be a very touching one for you. Yes, yes. Brilliant. And, of course, he wouldve learned, from collecting all these things, what makes a figurative and dramatic jewel. And it is a dramatic one, isnt it . Yes, very clever. And what does his grandson think about all this . What do you think about these . Well, i just keep lifting them in and out of the loft, to be honest with you. Well, did you ever attempt to wear one . I havent, no. Especially not that burger one there. Not the burger one . I like the burger one. Its a cheeseburger, isnt it . I dont think its something i could see anyone wearing. I dont know. Actually, i liked it. I thought it was a very contemporary one. Its a mad one. But theyre all little works of art, and some have got you can see that theyve got pretty noble provinces. This one here have you ever guessed who that m might stand for . Uh. I think its platinum and gold, supplied by collingwood. Its a British Royal presentation piece. And its undoubtedly given by queen mary. One can actually recognize her particular initials in the British Crown running across it. And so, its handed by the queen consort to somebody whod obviously done her some special service. And that wouldve been a heartstopping moment for them. So, whats the future . I dont know, really. Um. See how much theyre worth, really. I just dont know what to do with them, really. Well, if there are 1,000 stickpins in your collection, and they average £100 apiece, the calculations easy even for me. Its £100,000. But lets see how that might happen. I mean, this stickpin here is undoubtedly a presentation piece from queen mary, and its value is maybe £300 to 400 to a collector of royal memorabilia. And then this marvelous stickpin with a lovely fat, friendly pug, by an enamellist called ford thats certainly another £200 to 300. And maybe, if we were to go over here, wed see a stickpin with a very pretty piece of paste in it, which may be worth only £30 or 40. But im sure that the average of this collection is around and about £100 apiece. And i reckon 100 times 1,000 is £100,000. You may not be able to get it in one fell swoop, but that is the value of the collection sold properly and carefully. My dad would love to be able to see this now. Brilliant. Thank you very much. I remember as a small boy. Being taken by my uncle to the 1951 festival of britain. laughs and when i saw this, i thought. Thats got to be about that date. Where did it come from . My uncle when he died, all the relatives can buy one item from his estate. Gosh. And i got that one. Buy them from the estate . Yes. So, you bought this. I bought this. And what year were you talking about . Um, 88. And may i inquire what you had to pay to get it out of the estate . I think it was £150. Why did you buy it . I loved it. It used to sit on his staircase, halfway up, on the windowsill, with the sun shining through it. So, you remembered it from when you were yes. Okay. Well. This is a typical piece of scandinavian glass. They started doing this really heavy crystal glass and then deep cutting it in the late 19th century. But, more characteristically, in the 30s. What weve got on here is two sort of i dont know, maidens of the sky the wind, maybe drifting through these highly stylized birds. Its utterly charming. I mean, im with you entirely. This, to me, is just fantastic. I love the 50s anyway, and this is great. What we have got on this is a wealth of information. Weve got 19031953. Now, clearly, this is 50 years of something. I think this is a company ordering special glass for its halfcentenary. Did you know that just down here theres a signature . Yes, i just recently found that. Okay. Actually, what this says here is orrefors. Thats a very famous glass manufacturer in scandinavia. A lot needs doing on this. It deserves further attention, because my feeling is that your £150 has turned itself into. 1,500 to 2,500. Good lord. 20 years. laughs not bad, is it . No. Ha ha well done you. Well, they promised me a wonderful day today, and it has been not only the weather and the place, but things that have happened to me. And especially finally seeing these things. I remember some of these, dont i . I think you do, because they are part of a collection that my father collected over 35 years of his life. And he used to bring them into the Royal Worcester Museum for you to have a look at. And i thinhe loaned some of the pieces to the museum. Is that George George rue. George rue. Oh, i remember him vividly, because he was so passionately interested in what i was interested in. Its marvelous. This, of course, is part of a lovely Grainger Worcester service. Graingers factory was a littleknown factory in worcester for a long time. But when he started collecting this superquality grainger, i began to be interested in it, realized there should be a book about grainger, and my son john and i wrote this book, and its the classical description of graingers. A very fine little factory. This was painted probably by old john stinton, somewhere around about the 1870 period. Probably for dessert service. Yes. He had quite a love of yeah, yes. There are two compotes that size, um, about four small ones, and 12 plates. Yes, wonderful. A single compote like that, beautifully painted it would be worth i suppose around £120, £140 per piece. Its a nice service, so look after it. And he was always so passionately fond of little figures. This gorgeous little figure of a smuggy little child in the Kate Greenaway style, seated on the stool. Theres a girlfriend as well. Not to that one, no. Not the girlfriend, no, no. He used to have great battles, your father, with another great collector in worcester. And they used to fight over these things when they turned up at auction. I had to try and stand in the middle of the two of them. Very, very difficult job. But this is a beautiful model by james hadley, and hes a lovely little child, isnt he . Gorgeous little one, with a boater hat on. I suppose, um, 1880, 1890, and worth well, on his own, without his girlfriend, around about £500, 600. Really . With the girlfriend, 1,250, 1,500. Theyre very collectible objects. And this gorgeous plaque by harry davis, depicting a beautiful landscape made somewhere around about the 1910 period. And he was, of course, one of the greatest painters at royal worcester. Great admirer of his, i am. And his work is super. I think it is a cutout center of a plate. Its flat. Whereas the plaques made as blocks were slightly curved. Right. And the mark on the back is ungled. Usually the plaques have a glazed mark, and quite small, on the backs of them. So, i think this is a cutout plate center. See, if that had been a real plaque, made as a block, nowadays, by harry davis £2,000, 3,000. But as a cutout plate center ha ha i suppose were down to £150, 200. Something like that. Its a great shame. But its still a beautiful piece. But the pride of this whole thing are these little tiny figures. There are two of them. These came from him . Yes, yes. I vaguely remember these little things. What they are are little miniature candle extinguishers for putting out a candle by dousing it out like that and in the miniature form. Only a few miniatures were made by worcester. And one was sold about eight years ago at auction, which was a colored one, and it fetched an enormous amount of money. But these are in the white. And theyre absolutely beautiful. Two i dont know how he managed to get the two. But this wouldve been a fight between him and the candle extinguisher collectors. Theyre mad keen on these Little Candle extinguishers. And theyre marked worcester underneath the bottom. Right. Genuine worcester. Probably the date somewhere around about the 1885, 1890 period. So, 110, 120 years old. Not very old, really, in relative terms. But do you know what the value of them is . I havent a clue, honestly. Theyre not insured . No. £2,500 each. Oh, my goodness. Ha for that . Yes laughter without even trying. Theyre terribly rare. Oh, its stupid, isnt it, really . Theres no rhyme or reason, is there . Except for collectors like your father. They want it, and they must have it. Yes, ive no idea whether he knew that they were worth that much money, but i suspect that, as he sadly left unow, he did know that they must have been worth hanging on to. Yes. Well done. Thank you. Fiona oh, its been a lovely day for henry. And not a bad way to celebrate 80 years. Its the end of another roadshow. And ive sneaked a bit of his birthday cake for the journey home. And this is how im getting there a 1938 ford model a, and it used to belong to another stalwart of the roadshow arthur negus. Apparently, it doesnt go faster than 40, so this could take a while. From leeds castle in kent, byebye
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