Trouble, couldnt it . Well, early on you could be deported for that kind of thing. Yes, yes. So it was quite astonishing to feel that, you know we were actually there is a contact from the outside behind the barbed wire. I understand. Of course. Because you cant imagine what jersey was like if you werent here with barbed wire all around the coast and mine fields. Now, you mustve been around of course, on liberation day. I was indeed. And what happened to you, then . I was in my clogs because we didnt have shoes. Wed run out of shoes. And myself and a pal we decided to go across the harbor to the ss vega, which was the swedish ship that had brought us muchneeded red cross parcels. So we made our way around the harbor, and the smell of sausages and bacon being cooked for us was absolutely amazing. It was the one most wonderful meal i think ive ever had. How marvelous. And did you see the liberating troops come in . I did, indeed, yes and there was so much jubilation, so much joy. Now, then, after those two wonderful stories, which link together beautifully for liberation day in jersey 1945, weve got to look at the two objects that youve brought with you. Looking first at the german morse key, well, it might be salable. Not a great deal of a market for it. I would think something in the region of £20 or 30 today Something Like that. Now, as for your sticky bomb its actually a very rare object. They almost never come on the market and if this came up today, you would get somewhere in the region of £500 to 700 for it. Whoa. laughs i thought it was junk. Perhaps you two need to go over and have a nice chat about liberation day now, i think. Oh, thank you. Nice to have met you. Thank you. A liberator and the liberated. Thank you very much, sir. And we did appreciate your bravery. Thank you very much. Herbert a. Woodsford, 1931. Whos herbert woodsford . Herbert woodsford was my greatgreatuncle who made the violin, a jersey man, in 1931. He was a cabinet maker for the firm tagushis and he was also an amateur violinist who played in shows and orchestras in the island. And i believe, from what my aunt, who is in her nineties has told me he just wanted to try and make a violin from the spare bits of wood he had when he was making his cabinets. So this could have been a wardrobe. It could have been a wardrobe. And it ended up as a violin. Well, thats often the case. Very often that people who like making violins cant simply make a business out of it but they actually have to do it as a parttime thing. Hes chosen some lovely wood. On the back here weve got birdseye maple. The areas where one thinks that he might be a touch of an amateur are these double black lines known as purfling. They arent particularly regular but the modeling and by modeling, we mean the sort of threedimensionality of it is actually very, very good indeed. I must say i dont think ive ever held a jersey violin before. How did it comet to you . Well, we heard about it five years ago. It was brought into a local music shop to be looked at, and then someone contacted me and said, weve seen this violin with the name woodsford in it. Does it belong to you . And we contacted the then owner and she didnt want to sell it, and then eight months ago, she did want to sell it and it was bought for me. And can i ask you how much was paid for it . £2,000 was paid. £2,000. Well, you know people may have an intake of breath on that but actually, £2,000 is not a lot of money for a violin, especially if its a good one. I dont think you or whoever paid too much for it. In fact, that is actually cheap for some violins. So lets put it to the test. Im going to ask you can you give us a jersey jig . No, but i can give you an irish jig. An irish jig. Well, go on. Off you go. Thank you very much. plays jig so what can you tell me about this object you brought in today . Well, my fatherinlaw was a great collector, but i dont remember him telling me anything about this but, you know, ive certainly kept it very carefully. And what sort of things did he collect . Oh, chinese, egyptian. Hence this. And what do you think this is made of . Well, i think its bone. Its ivory, in fact. Its ivory . Yes, its elephant ivory. And the date, have you any idea on the date . No idea. Do you . The more i look at it, the more i think its a wonderful piece of ivory. Egyptian, as you say and its in the form, really of a flat and naked body with a head there going down to the rather crudely carved feet at the end. Oh, i love the feet. Yeah, theyre beautiful, arent they . In an attractive way. And you can see the striations on the ivory, and if you turn it over, you can see the other side. I think its a wonderful piece. Any idea what it might have been used for . Well, i think it was a spatula. I think, you know, he or she. For cooking. No, i think more for sort of makeup or whatever they used in those days. Well, i think it might have been a mirror holder, a handle for a mirror, or possibly for a fan, because this could well have sealed up in the ensuing years. And a mirror could be attached. I think its a wonderful object. Now, we mentioned a date. Where would you place it do you think . Oh, goodness knows. I have no idea. Youre the expert. Well, i think that is dynastic and i suspect its somewhere between one and 2,500 years bc. Gosh. So undoubtedly its the oldest object weve seen on the roadshow today and could be up to as i say, 4,000 years old. We have to talk about value, and it would need to be confirmed that it is of that date but assuming its of that period, a little object like this, i think its got to be worth £2,000 or 3,000. Yes. But one would never sell it. Im delighted to hear it. Never. I really enjoyed seeing it. Thank you very much for bringing it in. Well, the allied leaders of the First World War as toby jugs. Theyre great models individually but youve got the complete set which is wonderful. How did you come to get the whole set . Well, my father was a keen collector and just went round antique shops and he saw them in a shop in cornwall. Did he buy them individually or did he. No, it was a set. It was a complete set. Well, the toby jugs were modeled by a great political cartoonist with the grand name of sir Francis Carruthers gould. And he was known by his initials fcg, which appear on the base of each model. Because they were designed by carruthers gould, but theyre manufactured by wilkinsons, the great staffordshire pottery, who is better known later on for making clarice cliff. Right. And they were issued as limited editions, and this is really the first time a set was produced in very set numbers, a limited edition with certificates. And youve got some of the certificates there. Yes, i have. I have some certificates. Nice. Well, theres the first one, the kitchener jug, and the label here shows that it was a certificate for only 250 were made. That was back in 1915. Then subsequent ones were editions of 350. Of course, do you recognize all the characters . Do you know who they all are . No, i dont. Im not sure. No. In a way, hes probably the easiest to recognize because with his mustache, and because we all know him from the famous poster. But here weve got the british army represented by kitchener. Weve got field marshal haig. Hes riding on a tank, very proudly coming in to the battle. And next to him, theres lord french. Weve got the the navy is next and there is admiral beatty, and that one is the other admiral, thats jellicoe. And the next one along whos that . Thats the prime minister. Theres david lloyd george. And whats it say . Shell out. Because he wants you to raise money for the cause of the war. Then weve got to have the king himself and there he is, the most splendid of all, i think. And there is george v, proudly sitting on a throne with gilded lions and holding the globe with the British Empire on it. I mean, theyre very patriotic things, arent they . Very. And very much in the old traditions of toby jugs. Theyre humorous and amusing. But their faces are so good. I mean, thats one of the last one in the series and weve got. Thats general botha, the south african. Hes the one which no one can remember and was the hardest to get. Because he was less well known, and thats perhaps the rarest one. Can you remember what your father paid for it . Well, i doubt he paid more than. I dont know, maybe 500 for the whole lot. Perhaps not as much. And the value does vary. Normally they come up individually and the single figures most of them sell for around about £450500 when they come up by themselves. So thats each, rather than for the set now. But then the king is one of the hard ones to find. I think he appeals also to royal collectors. And so hes now well over £1,000. And surprisingly there at the end that one doesnt look much different. Because he didnt sell so many, botha is quite rare. And he alone is worth more than £3,000. So it adds all up to the set. Weve got a set which is now worth complete well, at least £9,000. Wow. Wow. They wont be going very far. laughs now the history of design is landmarked with significant pieces which for me show how styles, looks, changed. And for me, this is one of those landmark pieces. But tell me, how did you come to be united with such a fabulous piece of 20th century design . Well, my parents were collectors of this sort of design of art and back in the early sixties they bought it from liberties as a dressing table for my mother, and she used it until her death. And its a beautiful piece that weve always liked but we do like fornasettis work. Well, you mentioned the great name there. You mentioned the big key point, and the fact that this desk actually represents the collaboration of two of the greatest designers of postwar italy, one being gio ponti, and one being Piero Fornasetti. Now, gio ponti who was basically an architect of enormous merit, but gio ponti also turned his hands to interior design to product design, to ceramics and even to furniture. And it was in 1940 where he met the young Piero Fornasetti and instantly was just blown away by this young kid this designer who liked to play with imagery with illusion, with trompe loeil effects. And this meeting in 1940 actually marked a friendship that ran for many years and also the creation of some of the most significant pieces of postwar italian design. And thats what makes it so exciting. I mean, just look at the desk itself. I mean, first off, we have in the drawer at the bottom here the little telltale mark which is just a little tablet marked fornasetti, milano. But what it was, it was the combination of gio pontis form, and he worked on this process. He called it the forma finite the finite form. The pureness of the line an economy of line and that can be seen in everything from his massive high rise buildings to this little desk. And its just all about new materials, but again reinvention, because weve got lacquer work over the body of the furniture which is then being transferred with these beautiful silver foil images then all color washed in. I mean, its just. Its just a joy. An absolute joy. Its exceptionally feminine and beautiful. I mean, imagine i mean, how stylish your mother was to have gone into liberties in london and made this choice. She was a very stylish lady, and this is perfectly her. It does sum her up and she used it every day . Absolutely. This for me is as current today as it was when it was first made in the mid1950s. And thats what brings us to value, really because it is so in fashion that if you had to go out and replace this im afraid you wouldnt be getting much change out of £20,000 to 25,000. Yeah. Well, its considerably more than what she paid for it. Which was . Well, i wouldve thought about 200 at the very most. So in a classic world, weve moved that decimal point in the right direction. Yeah. Its a very beautiful piece. Ill never sell it. As they say, a thing of beauty is a joy forever. This is an absolute joy. Thank you so much. Brilliant. My pleasure. All our experts on the roadshow here are great collectors and in this series im going to be asking them which is the most prized possession in their collection. But even they make mistakes, so ill also be asking them which is their biggest disappointment. Now, paul viney. Disappointment . I cant believe youve got any. Yeah, indeed ive got a significant disappointment and its a book. And its a very famous book. Its Casino Royale by ian fleming. Of course. Famous. In the early 1950s fleming was about to get married for the first time at the age of 40. He was horrified by the prospect, and so he was sitting in his house in jamaica and he thought hed write a novel. So he sat down at his typewriter and he typed the opening sentence one of the great opening sentences of 20th century literature the scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at 3 00 in the morning. Well, you wouldnt necessarily think that opening sentence would lead to the james bond phenomenon that we know today but it did. Why is this a disappointment, then . Well, in the 1980s i was living in oxford and i was always interested in the literature of james bond and i decided to collect first editions. And you could buy them for £10, 15, 20 in those days. And the bookseller i went to had two copies of Casino Royale. One was priced at £20. This one. And the other had its dust jacket on and was priced at £50. My wife and i had just bought our first house. I couldnt really afford the 50, so i bought the one without the dust jacket, and that was a big mistake. Was it . Yes, because today 50 years later without the dust jacket, probably, maybe £150. If i had Casino Royale with the dust jacket upwards of £10,000. Yeah. No. I know. Its amazing, isnt it . all laugh and why would just a dust jacket make that much difference . Because it is crucial to collectors, absolutely vital. So if i came across just a dust jacket of Casino Royale for £1,000, id buy it, because it would transport this to many times its value. Extraordinary. Big mistake. Then this, inexorably, must be your most prized possession. It is indeed, fiona. About 35 years ago an antique dealer rang me up and said, ive got a trunk you might be interested in, and i said, all right. Ill pop in and have a look at it. And i did and it was this trunk which is normally called a portmanteau, and its got a carrying handle, as you can see and it would be used for carrying papers and documents. Its made of red morocco leather with brass beaded studs, but the interesting thing was when you opened it inside it had the original makers label john viney, trunk chest and plate case manufacturer of aldersgate street. And john viney is . Well, the antique dealer thought because i had the same name i might be interested in the trunk as indeed i was. What he didnt know was that it was my greatgreatgreat grandfather who made this trunk. Really . So it was a very special moment for me. I bought it and ive had it ever since. And from the Family History aldersgate street, we know that he was working there from 1809 to 1811, so we can date it pretty accurately. And inside i keep various bits of family memorabilia. Obviously when john viney was around, photography wasnt invented, but thats his son, my greatgreatgrandfather. And i keep all the bits of Family History in it. And i have a son, oscar, and i will pass it on to him in due course. Wonderful. Paul, thank you so much. Thank you, fiona. Now here we have the title page of the atlas to one of captain cooks voyages, the second, i think, and the date is 1774 printed in paris. So tell me about it. Where did you get it from . I got it in france. Right. And how much did you pay for it . I paid about 500 euro. 500 euro. Thats splendid. And i noticed this lovely map here that weve got. Yles de la reine charlotte. So isles of queen charlotte. They named guernsey, jersey, sark Alderney Alderney and carterrey. And carterrey. And that is absolutely they didnt have any other names, i suppose. They just thought, well, why not . Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Now these are all copperplate engravings and they are really of very, very high quality. And theyre absolutely superb. And here, looking at one of the views. This is captain wallace, who was presenting himself to the queen of tahiti and she is holding a palm leaf in her hand. I assume that symbolizes, you know that shes perfectly happy to see him or whatever. Now, if we close this up, we can actually look at the big map of the pacific. You can see new world hollande. Hollande, right. Which is australia. But theres no channel between. Tasmania. Tasmania. And australia. Yes, and australia, so they didnt know that. But this is also one of the first maps of new zealand. Its the first time captain cook went all the way around and properly charted new zealand. And so this is the first map. And how much do you think its worth . Ive got no ideas. Why do you collect these things if you have no ideas . I collect anything maritimes french and english. And especially jersey. But you are obviously very french. I am. You dont come from jersey, do you . No, i come from semalu. Semalu. Yes. Just for the day . Just to see you. both laugh splendid. Splendid. Well, look, i think an atlas like this i would value at about £2,000. Oh. Wondrous. Very nice. Great opulence. both laugh im glad it was worth the trip. Oh, it was. It was. Do you know theres a very important issue that affects us all at the moment . It is something that were seeing far more in the news these days and its bees. Bees are declining at a rapid rate, and im a beekeeper, and last year i lost both my hives of bees. That brings us to this little object. What, you might be saying, does this have to do with bees . You know, dont you . I know a lot about it, yes. It was something that was sent to my greatgreatgreatgrandfather Thomas Woodbury, who was born in 1818. He took a great interest in bees after he had another career first and he used to actually get those bees sent to him in the post. Now, this is something that most people just do not know anything about. I can order a queen on the internet and shell arrive in the post. Now, what this is is the 1850 version of a bee arriving through the post and its a fascinating and rare little object because its a bee cage. It is indeed. Now, i know mr. Woodbury as perhaps one of the Great Fathers of the modern bee industry. He invented the woodbury hive, which is really a modern hive as we know it. And he was very famous in his time for his work with bees. This is a wonderful little portrait of him. Of course, this is in a mourning locket, so this would have been produced perhaps soon after his death. I think it was produced fairly soon after his death. He was left with two daughters. He was very sad because he lost his son at an early age. Two years he was in distinct mourning for his son and he didnt do a lot. But then i think beekeeping took his interest, and that brought him out of his problems for losing his son. Do you know whe