- 9/22/2024
Antiques Roadshow 2024 - Thirlestane Castle 1
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00Today, we're in the Scottish Borders, at the magnificent Thirlsteyn Castle,…
00:08…dating back to the 16th century.
00:10And the same family, the Maitlands, have lived in it for some 400 years,…
00:14…collecting many wonderful objects down the centuries,…
00:17…including this…
00:19…fabulous screen!
00:20Dating back to the 1920s,…
00:22…it's covered with almost a thousand artificial fishing flies,…
00:25…used by anglers to attract their catch.
00:28And look at them! Each one, handmade, obviously.
00:31It's like a little jewel!
00:34And it's a wonderful snapshot…
00:36…of salmon fishing on the River Tweed.
00:39And today, our experts are hoping to reel in top treasures…
00:42…from the items our visitors have brought along.
00:46My mother always said that we had to keep it in the family,…
00:48– …or she'd come back and haunt us. – Oh, yeah?
00:50Really, this is the beginning of…
00:53…flat pack pieces!
00:54Right, uh-huh!
00:56Do you know much about Louis Vuitton?
00:57Just… that they have a lot of handbags!
00:59They have a lot of handbags!
01:01We're in good company with owning one of these Richard Barrows,…
01:03…because he was owned by Margaret Thatcher, by John Paul II.
01:08Welcome to the Antiques Roadshow!
01:28I always say, you've heard me say it many times, I shall no doubt say it many other times,…
01:36…a lovely box usually produces a lovely surprise.
01:40– Mm-hmm! – Am I going to be pleasantly happy?
01:42I hope so! I am pretty certain, yes!
01:45Good!
01:46– Well, we all know it's a carriage clock. – Mm-hmm!
01:48Now, the very best carriage clocks, by the better makers,…
01:52– Mm-hmm! – …are numbered.
01:53And the boxes are often… Is this box numbered?
01:56It certainly is! Numbers on the bottom of the box!
01:59– So, it is? – Yep!
02:003–2–7–3!
02:02So, let's have a look inside!
02:06Ooh!
02:07That is lovely!
02:08And let's look at the key!
02:10– So, the original numbered key as well? – Absolutely!
02:14How long have you had it for?
02:15Well, when I was a child, I used to go to my granny's every Sunday afternoon,…
02:19…and she used to keep it in the box, but pull up the bit there,…
02:24…so all you could see was the front of the clock, the dial!
02:28Our great-grandfather was the Liberal MP for this area,…
02:32…Alexander Lane Brown.
02:33We believe it was a present to him, and handed down.
02:38And I've… I've had it since about 2000.
02:41– Mum kept a hold of it until I was old enough to be responsible for it. – Well, how very nice!
02:46Let's just have a little look at it!
02:48– You know what that button's for, yeah? – That's the chime!
02:50– Yep! – No, it's not the chime!
02:52It's a repeat button, to strike.
02:55– When you press that, it strikes to the preceding hour! – Yep!
02:59And…
03:03In the old days, when you brought that in a coach, with horses, to a…
03:07…castle like this, put it by your bedside,…
03:10…you could just reach out, press that button, instead of lighting a candle!
03:13– To let you know what time it was, yeah? – Exactly!
03:15This EM, do you know who that is?
03:18Is it Maurice?
03:20– You've done a bit of research, haven't you? – A little bit!
03:23It is! He tended to do very nice, quality things,…
03:27…and this is very typically a clock that is…
03:30…circa 1900!
03:32– Right! – The reason I say that…
03:34…is because you've got the Arabic, rather than the Roman numerals.
03:39What I particularly like are the filigree engraved panels on the side, behind the glass.
03:45I would very happily look to see that retail…
03:50…probably about four and a half thousand pounds!
03:53Brilliant!
03:55It's fantastic! My granny would be absolutely delighted!
04:00Absolutely delighted about it all!
04:07How lovely to see a Scottish agate bangle, here, at Thirlstone, today!
04:11How did it get into your collection?
04:14Well, I acquired it from my aunt, about 10 years ago,…
04:18…and I know very little about it, except it's a family piece.
04:22I believe it came through my relations at Colmenel, in Ayrshire.
04:27And my great-grandfather was a minister at Colmenel for many years.
04:31– But I have French relatives, as well. – Ah!
04:34And so, I really just bought it to find out a bit more about it!
04:38Yeah, of course!
04:39Well, it's a beautiful example of the very fashionable Scottish agate jewelry…
04:44…that was being produced in the late Victorian period,…
04:48– …so, round about 1880 onwards. – Right!
04:51And… and sometimes earlier, as well.
04:53It became fashionable because Queen Victoria loved collecting all of the agates,…
04:58…and then would have various pieces of jewelry made for her own collection,…
05:01…for friends, for people who worked for her, as a thank you.
05:05And, as a result of this, the fashion really grew.
05:08You've got so many different types of agates in here, from bloodstone to carnelian,…
05:13…and right in the center, we've got a beautiful citrine, which is a lovely yellow color.
05:18Not everyone's favorite color, but so popular in Scotland at the time!
05:23– Do you wear it at all? – No, it's not my colors, and, um,…
05:27…I don't go to many sort of occasions where I would wear it.
05:31But, um,… I have cleaned it up recently, and thought it is beautiful, and I probably ought to wear it.
05:35Yeah, I mean, it's so intricately done, and…
05:38…everything about Scottish jewelry is based on these beautiful patterns.
05:42And they'd be produced either in silver, as we have here, or sometimes in gold as well.
05:47– Yes. – It would attract a range of different people.
05:50So, value-wise, if it came up at auction, we'd be looking at an estimate of between 600 and 800 pounds.
05:56– Oh, lovely! – Yeah.
05:57– Yes, that's great! Thank you very much! – Good! Thank you for bringing it in!
06:00Thank you!
06:06– When you gave me this box, I thought, wow, what a lovely box! – Yes!
06:11One knows, or feels, something beautiful is going to be inside.
06:15It's the handle for a parasol, and the little spokes that go around the outside of the parasol.
06:21– Remember the family owned it originally? – It was my grandmother's.
06:24– Mm–hm. – And it was always in her cabinet.
06:28When she died, we inherited the cabinet. We inherited this.
06:32But I know nothing more about it, and I don't know how she got it.
06:36– This little parasol handle is French. – Oh!
06:40– Made around 1880s. – Mm–hm.
06:42But what makes it so special is the quality of the enamel.
06:46Guilloche enamel, cascades of roses, and gilt decoration.
06:52The other thing which makes it special is the metal here, and here, is actually solid gold.
07:00– Oh, really? – Yes.
07:02Now, there's a tiny, tiny little chip on one side.
07:06In this condition, it's worth about 1,500 pounds.
07:09– Wow. That's still lovely. – It is absolutely beautiful.
07:13– Thank you so much. Thank you. – Thank you.
07:25So, here's a lady who looks very thoughtful. She looks like she's a good listener.
07:30And I was trying to think what date it was, where it was from, and I thought, well, obviously it's 1930s.
07:36– And luckily for me, there's a signature, Mary Fedden. – Yeah.
07:39This vibrant, punchy portrait, obviously somebody well-known to her. Whom?
07:45This is my mum, and it was painted by Mary Fedden, and they lived in Bristol. They were neighbours.
07:52She was sort of an amateur artist herself.
07:55Mary Fedden went to the Slade, and I was thinking about the influences that must have gone into this picture.
07:58I mean, I think she's looked at Matisse, personally.
08:02– Matisse is always interested in pattern, and these patterns are very Matisse. – Yes, that I can definitely see.
08:08And her attempt to use the brush as just the first touch, without too much drawing.
08:15But these oval eyes, and the golden eyes.
08:18And is there something psychologically accurate about it? It catches the character?
08:23It's quite an intense but calm. She wasn't a fiery character.
08:28She was quite calm, but you felt she knew what she was looking for.
08:32– What all this boils down to is £3,000 to £4,000. – Oh, really? OK.
08:38– Still, it's not to be sniffed at, is it? – No, no.
08:40Not enough for a hip operation for my husband, however.
08:49Here in Scotland, the massacre of Glencoe remains a dark moment in the country's history.
08:55In February 1692, government soldiers and members of the Campbell clan
08:59slaughtered over 30 members of the clan at Macdonald,
09:02for perceived unwillingness to swear allegiance to King William III.
09:08Gordon Foster's intrigued to see an item that may have a connection to that tragic event.
09:14Well, you've brought along this dagger today. Can you tell us a bit about the family history behind it?
09:20It belonged to my grandmother's first cousin,
09:22and it was passed down through his side of the family from his father.
09:26And the family history says that one of his forebears was a guest, as a baby, of the Macdonalds in 1692,
09:35when the government troops then came in, or the Campbells, and massacred the Macdonalds.
09:40And the nurse at the time, it was meant to be hers, and she grabbed the child and got out of there.
09:45He survived and moved to Glasgow.
09:46His mother had actually written a little note just explaining that this belonged to the nurse,
09:50when she grabbed the baby and they fled.
09:52Well, that is what we call provenance. And with an object like this,
09:55that is what we need, a really strong provenance like that, because it makes such a difference.
09:59I looked at the knife itself, and we'll just have a quicker look at it now.
10:04And these we call quillens, scroll quillens.
10:06The blade, though, is a lovely early steel blade.
10:09The handle, as you probably know, has been replaced.
10:12That would have been a staghorn grip.
10:15So, it's strictly speaking a fighting knife, or fighting dagger.
10:18Well, of course, you mentioned the massacre at Glencoe.
10:20It's one of Scotland's tragic moments in history.
10:23Yes.
10:24The Campbells were loyal to the new king, William and Mary.
10:28And they wanted all the Highland clans to pledge allegiance to the new king.
10:33The Macdonalds were reluctant to do so.
10:36And then, as the events unfolded, tragedy struck.
10:39The order was given, both ends of the Glen were blocked, there was nowhere to go.
10:44When it comes to the valuation, it really is quite tricky for a thing like this,
10:48because you've just brought to life the whole history of the object.
10:51I would say, if this turned up on the market, we would expect it to fetch £1,000 to £1,500.
10:56Oof, OK, wow.
10:58And had it not, the story that you've just given us, it would have been quite a bit less than that.
11:02It's been re-gripped.
11:03Yes.
11:04So, it would have been just a few hundred pounds.
11:06OK.
11:09To have a possible link to, you know, a fairly significant part of Scotland's history in the family possession,
11:15we're very fortunate.
11:16We've had a small case made for it, and hopefully will be much enjoyed by, you know,
11:20many more of the family for years to come.
11:31So, this is a table of two very distinct tales, but they're both linked by a common thread,
11:36and that's photography.
11:37I just want you to tell me about how you acquired them.
11:41I got them online from just an online auction site.
11:46I was just looking for black and white photos to pop on my walls,
11:49and I just saw these and thought they looked quite cool, and I bought these for 99 pence.
11:53You saw something distinctive in these and you jumped on them.
11:56She does have a good eye for art.
11:58Obviously, like you say, a good eye.
12:00What we have here, basically, are images from Scott's ill-fated Antarctic expedition
12:06of 1910 to 1913,
12:08and they're images that were taken by his official photographer, Herbert Ponting.
12:13Herbert Ponting, in fact, died in 1935,
12:16and after he died, Paul Popper, who was a photographer,
12:20acquired and purchased all of the photographic material from his estate.
12:24So, I'm going to refer to one photograph in particular,
12:27and that's this really wonderful image of the icebound Terranova,
12:31and if we turn it over, we can see that it has a Paul Popper copyright stamp on the back.
12:37What do you know about Paul Popper?
12:39Not a lot. I just know that he had a photo library back in the day.
12:43Right, absolutely. He was a Czechoslovakian photographer,
12:47so essentially, he became the owner of all of Ponting's positives and negatives.
12:52So, what is certain is that he bought photographs that were printed,
12:55but he also bought all of the plates and things for printing.
12:58And then what Popper did was reissue and reprint those photographs.
13:03So, I can tell you, essentially, that because these have Paul Popper stamps on the back,
13:08that they're post-1934, which means that they're not technically original Pontings,
13:14but they are from the original negatives.
13:18Here is a different story, a much more different story.
13:21These are by a photographer called Walter Nurnberg.
13:24He was German-born, went through the rigours of the First World War,
13:28came from a banking family in Germany, and then decided to branch out into photography.
13:33And he was part of the Bauhaus School, and very distinctive style of hard-lit,
13:38using unnatural lighting, so to speak, to create these incredible compositions.
13:43He then ended up, believe it or not, fighting for the British Army,
13:46and then after the war, he set up a photography studio and agency,
13:51and he became very, very famous, well-respected as an industrial photographer.
13:56I just love the photos of them, I love the history of them,
13:59and as you said, I just love the severity of the photos, too.
14:02Gosh, your 99p was well spent.
14:05I think, given that these aren't effectively true Pontings,
14:08I'm going to put an estimate of, say, £300 to £400 on those.
14:12The Nurnbergs aren't enormously expensive, but I'm going to put £100 to £200 on those.
14:18Right place, right time.
14:20Having a piece of history to hold on to. Thank you.
14:22Thank you very much. My pleasure.
14:28There's been a fortification of one kind or another here at Thirlstane
14:32for around 800 years.
14:34In 1590, John Maitland, Chancellor of Scotland under King James VI of Scotland,
14:39built what now forms the core of the current castle.
14:43In the 17th century, the Maitlands became earls of Lauderdale,
14:47and showing me the family's history proudly displayed on the castle's walls
14:51is the current resident, Edward Maitland Carew.
14:57This is quite a collection of portraits, isn't it?
15:00It seems a bit envidious to ask you to pick out one,
15:03but is there a particular painting that has a significance for you?
15:08Well, they're all magnificent, these pictures in here.
15:11It's one of the most complete collections of family portraits in Scotland.
15:14But I'd probably say the Duke of Lauderdale is the most prominent person in here.
15:18He was the only duke, a great ally to Charles II, who gave him his dukedom.
15:24He didn't have a male heir, so it was his youngest brother
15:27who became the third earl of Lauderdale.
15:30I mean, he's certainly fabulous in his finery, isn't he?
15:33So typical of that period. Yeah.
15:38Portraits of all 18 earls of Lauderdale hang in this room,
15:42apart from the 12th earl who was killed by lightning in 1884.
15:47And many of the paintings are by the foremost artists of their day.
15:51The duke was painted by Sir Peter Lely,
15:54court painted to Charles II,
15:56and the portrait of Mary Turner Lomb, wife of the 7th earl,
16:00is by none other than the great Sir Joshua Reynolds.
16:04And what was it like for you, I think, growing up here?
16:07Well, I'm so lucky. I mean, it's our family home,
16:09and my parents always brought me up to feel like a family home.
16:12It's a great playground from when we were younger.
16:15We used to play hide-and-seek. There was plenty of places to hide.
16:18So there's wonderful memories growing up here.
16:22There are over 100 rooms and no fewer than 13 staircases in the castle.
16:28The maintenance of such a vast property is now sustained by a charitable trust.
16:33And many of the rooms are open to the public.
16:36But the day-to-day management of Thirlstane rests with Edward and his wife, Sarah.
16:42Out of the 100 rooms, Edward, is there a favourite?
16:45Every room is magnificent in its own way.
16:49But the billiard room stands out to me.
16:52It's the most wonderful collection of the 14th Earl of Lauderdale's pictures.
16:56He was an amateur photographer and it was a great hobby of his.
17:00I mean, you're lucky, of course. I mean, look at it.
17:04But at the same time, it's a big responsibility.
17:07It is a huge responsibility.
17:09It's very hard work but it's also very important that we try and enjoy it
17:12because I'm just the custodian for the castle for a generation.
17:24Well, I can see here I'm looking at something.
17:26I think it's about bicycling and it seems to be about this chap here.
17:29Who is he?
17:31This is my great-grandfather, William Albert Cooper.
17:34He was born in 1888, lost his arm in the First World War.
17:38But you can see there.
17:40And then went on to do a lot of road cycling.
17:42That's his bike.
17:44And to me, it looks like a fairly conventional gent's tourer.
17:49Or what would be called a gent's tourer.
17:51It's got drop handlebars.
17:53It probably had three or four gears, no more.
17:55Nothing like what bikes are today.
17:57And it was heavy, right?
18:00And, of course, he was a member of this club,
18:02the Swindon Wheelers Cycling Club.
18:05Club cycling was so important in those days.
18:08There were clubs all over Britain, there were competitions,
18:11there were all sorts of things going on.
18:13It's not like it is today.
18:15It was much more organised in a competitive way.
18:18And that's what takes us to all these badges.
18:20These are all the badges he won in various competitions.
18:23And some of them are local, some of them are wider markets,
18:27almost national, certainly county championships and so on.
18:30And, in a sense, this is the history of his career.
18:33Now, obviously, a key thing is this certificate.
18:36I'm going to read it because it tells the whole story.
18:39September 2nd, 1928,
18:41William A Cooper rode, unpaced, a bicycle
18:45from Swindon to London and back
18:48in eight hours, 55 minutes, 46 seconds.
18:53I know.
18:54It's unbelievable.
18:55Now, just think about that.
18:57London to Swindon and back.
18:59I think it's about 80 miles or something.
19:01Yeah, about 84 miles.
19:0284 miles, exactly, in nine hours.
19:05I know.
19:06A one-armed man, on his own, on a fairly old-fashioned bicycle.
19:10Yeah.
19:11How did he do it?
19:12I don't know. Determination.
19:14He was just there and just did it.
19:16He just did it.
19:17I think it's a most fantastic story, don't you?
19:19I do, I'm very proud, very proud.
19:21I think you should be.
19:23What you've got to look at and think about are these badges.
19:25Yeah.
19:26Some of these are gold.
19:27Yeah.
19:28They're all dated and they all relate to particular events.
19:30Yeah.
19:31There's probably getting on for £1,000 worth there.
19:34Really?
19:35Well, the gold ones.
19:37Think of the weight, you know.
19:39It's all right.
19:40It's not going anywhere, but as everyone says.
19:42Well, thank you very much.
19:43No, thank you.
19:45APPLAUSE
19:53Well, thanks for coming along today.
19:55What is this that you've brought along?
19:57Well, I've always believed that it is a snuff box
20:01because my father collected smokers' items.
20:03Right.
20:04And my mother probably bought it for him as a gift,
20:07thinking that's what it was.
20:09Well, that's what you think.
20:11I think differently.
20:13It's actually a novelty silver pepper pot.
20:16It's not a snuff box.
20:17Oh, I love it.
20:18So that little spoon inside is for pepper.
20:20Oh.
20:21And it's formed as a chauffeur in his uniform,
20:24flat cap and his buttons down his coat.
20:27And it's made by a firm called Saunders and Shepherd of Chester,
20:31hallmarked in 1909.
20:34Ah, that's earlier than I thought when I was looking it up.
20:38What's it worth today?
20:40£600 to £800 easily.
20:43Really? Wow.
20:45Oh, my goodness.
20:54Well, I've seen some little cars before,
20:56but nothing quite like this.
20:58Tell me about this.
20:59It came from Germany.
21:01I saw one when I was much younger
21:04in a driving school window in this country.
21:07And then when I retired, I thought,
21:09you know what, I remember that so well,
21:12I'm going to find one.
21:14And I found one on a German website.
21:16Apparently, in Germany, to pass your driving test,
21:19you had to demonstrate that you knew how a car worked.
21:22So at the driving school...
21:23They had these.
21:24They had these to teach you how the car worked.
21:26I mean, do you actually know when this was made?
21:28The clue's in the number plate.
21:30OK.
21:311967, that's how it was made.
21:33I haven't seen one of these before, right, OK?
21:35Let me tell you that.
21:36The fact that you say it's all in working order...
21:38Yeah.
21:39..without a doubt, £1,000 to £1,500.
21:41Excellent.
21:42It's my view.
21:44Happy with that?
21:45Yeah.
21:46Cheers.
22:00So I think you two might win the prize
22:02for the furthest travel today.
22:03You've joined us all the way from Canada.
22:05Can you tell us a little bit about where you've come from
22:07and why you've joined us here?
22:08Yeah, we've come from London, Ontario, in Canada,
22:11and we came here just for this.
22:13Brought home a Scottish artist...
22:15Yes.
22:16..back to his home turf here.
22:17This is Richard Vavreau.
22:18He grew up in Fife.
22:19He was actually born severely autistic
22:21and he was registered as legally blind.
22:23He had cataracts removed
22:25and his eyesight was extremely impaired.
22:27And I think it's fascinating that you could never have guessed
22:30that about his sight from looking at the detail
22:32and the sophistication of the compositions,
22:34even from such a young age.
22:36How is it that you guys in Canada happen to own these paintings?
22:39Well, my grandfather worked at the occupational school
22:42that Richard Vavreau attended
22:44and these were all given to my grandfather
22:46as, you know, any student would give to a mentor or a teacher.
22:50I think my grandfather realised
22:52that he was getting, you know, somewhat famous in the 70s
22:55and then they got rolled up in a tube
22:57and so they have lived in a tube
22:59and they came across to Canada after my grandparents died.
23:02And I think it's just wonderful that he kept them.
23:04I mean, obviously he sort of spotted the talents
23:06and he supported, you know, Richard
23:08in his sort of burgeoning career as an artist, as a young man.
23:12So these works are also highly typical of Richard Vavreau
23:15in that they're depicted in wax crayon,
23:17which is a simple but extremely effective medium in his hands.
23:21You've got this amazing sort of dynamism
23:23that he manages to achieve
23:25and the interesting textures by layering up different colours.
23:28We have a really lovely one here at the moon landing.
23:31I like that one. I think it's fantastic.
23:33You're in good company with owning one of these Richard Vavreaus
23:36because he was actually owned by Margaret Thatcher,
23:39by John Paul II.
23:41So obviously the paintings have a family significance,
23:43but what do you think of them as artworks in their own right?
23:46Oh, I think they're absolutely fabulous.
23:48The first time I saw them, I absolutely fell in love with them.
23:51My mother unrolled them out of this tube in the dining room
23:54and I was just, like, in awe.
23:56I knew from the minute I saw them
23:58that they were going to end up on my wall one day.
24:00It's also the crayon is so amazing.
24:04Like, that's my favourite part of this art
24:06is just the detail you can get with a wax crayon,
24:08which I would have never thought of.
24:10I have a little surprise here today.
24:12We've got, actually, Richard's brother, Michael.
24:14Oh! Oh, hi, Richard!
24:16LAUGHTER
24:18No way. Hello. Hello.
24:20Very pleased to be here. Very nice to see these drawings.
24:22They're amazing.
24:24So, Michael, can you tell us a little bit more
24:26about this stage in Richard's career?
24:28So, these...
24:30If we say this is 1969, Richard was born in 1952,
24:32so he's probably about 17
24:34when he's done these sorts of pictures.
24:36He was probably drawing one of these every day.
24:38We've got a photograph of him here working.
24:40You can see how close he has to work.
24:42He was self-taught, essentially,
24:44so he worked out how to layer the crayons
24:46and get different effects, and you can see
24:48what the sort of thing that he went on to do.
24:50So this is a picture that he did much later in life.
24:53He was essentially communicating through his art.
24:56He had very poor speech,
24:58and he found it difficult
25:00to kind of express himself verbally,
25:02but you can see he was obviously
25:04expressing himself through his art.
25:06I love them. From the moment I first saw them,
25:08I was just... I've been in awe of them.
25:10At auction, I'd say, you know,
25:12about £150 each, you have nine.
25:14You know, we're talking roughly £1,000.
25:16They're staying in the family,
25:18regardless of value at this point,
25:20and they're going on my wall, so...
25:22No, I'm not surprised to hear that.
25:24It's a wonderful reminder of the good work
25:26your grandfather did with his students
25:28in the occupational hospital. Absolutely.
25:30Absolutely. Thank you so much.
25:32Thank you. Thank you.
25:34To meet Michael,
25:36Richard's brother,
25:38was just such a surprise.
25:40It has a little more meaning now.
25:42We have a truer picture
25:44of what he was like in his life
25:46and meeting his family and having this trip
25:48and now seeing it on the wall,
25:50I'll remember all of that. It's incredible.
25:52Memories to keep forever.
26:04This is a really interesting group
26:06of tribal weapons.
26:08What made you bring them here,
26:10to the Roadshow?
26:12I got them from my grandmother,
26:14who, in 1921,
26:16she went over to Borneo...
26:18OK.
26:20..and stayed there for a short time,
26:22and, as far as I'm aware,
26:24she brought them back from Borneo.
26:26So do you think these are from Borneo?
26:28That's what I've been led to believe.
26:30Really? Well, not one of them is.
26:32This is
26:34one of the Solomon Islands,
26:36called the Santa Cruz Isle. OK.
26:38It's fantastic.
26:40Every one of these
26:42is stone-cut, not using
26:44metal-edged tools to cut them with.
26:46Look at the profile of that.
26:48You know, this is the sort of thing
26:50that would have influenced
26:52modern sculpture,
26:54modern design. There was a sculptor,
26:56actually, an English sculptor called William Turnbull,
26:58and he actually made things like this,
27:00and I can't believe he either didn't own one
27:02or hadn't seen one
27:04in a museum, and made stone
27:06sculptures that were this sort
27:08of shape. What is that?
27:10It's a club. Just a club? It's a war club.
27:12It's a war...? Yeah.
27:14But it's also a prestige object. Yeah.
27:16The people from the Solomon Islands,
27:18the people from Santa Cruz, would have carried that
27:20as a sort of status symbol.
27:22This is
27:24Australian, a wonderful
27:26shield, probably South
27:28Australian. But can you see
27:30the pattern in there? Yes.
27:32You notice that? Yes. With time,
27:34it's all become almost one colour.
27:36This is from
27:38Papua New Guinea. OK.
27:40Actually, the Trobriand Isles,
27:42and the massive area of the Trobriand
27:44Isles, and again, that's our
27:46wonderful sword club.
27:48This is Australian.
27:50OK.
27:52And this is called a woomera,
27:54and it's a spear-thrower.
27:56You see, it's got some gum there
27:58and a little spike attached to the gum
28:00and some binding, and you put the
28:02spear in there. The leverage
28:04helps project the spear
28:06further than your arm could,
28:08so it's like an extra arm. Mm-hm.
28:10This one's special,
28:12because I love this sort of
28:14decoration, this zigzag
28:16and these lines.
28:18And the Aborigine people
28:20create these lines
28:22and they think it's connecting themselves
28:24with the universe. And this
28:26is also Australian,
28:28and that's another club.
28:30So this is her collection. Is this all of them?
28:32No, I've got more at home. I've got
28:34another four of these at home.
28:36Another four? Yes.
28:38Wow. I would say that's probably
28:4018th century. I would say that's
28:42probably 18th century, 19th
28:44century. This is 19th century.
28:46These
28:48are early as well. Australian.
28:50Everything here is fabulous. Do you like
28:52them? I love them. Absolutely love them. Oh, good.
28:54So, value.
28:56This one here, and you've
28:58got four more. 300,
29:00400 pounds each? Each.
29:02This is a really
29:04lovely one. I would put this one at about
29:06800 to 1,000.
29:08This is
29:108 to 1,200 pounds.
29:12Maybe 1,500 pounds.
29:14It's such a beauty.
29:16This is 2 to 4,000 pounds.
29:18It's
29:20stunning. And so is this.
29:22Wow. 2 to 4,000 pounds.
29:24So on the table here,
29:26we've got a minimum of
29:2810,000 pounds.
29:32I'm blown away. This one particularly, I just...
29:34I'll be a bit more careful with this one now.
29:36They're fabulous.
29:40It's been
29:42in the family. It came through my grandmother
29:44to my mother, then to me.
29:46And that's all we know
29:48about it, really.
29:50We'd just like to know a bit more of its history.
29:52If it is Japanese.
29:54And how old it is.
30:02Well, this has travelled quite far.
30:04But how far has it travelled?
30:06Do you know?
30:08We don't know anything about it, really.
30:10My grandmother got it,
30:12passed it to my mother when she died,
30:14and then my mum's passed it on to us.
30:16Do you like it?
30:18Really like it, yeah.
30:20It's the way the design is, and these
30:22fish with the cap or something, but
30:24it really looks nice, and the squirrels on the legs
30:26and everything.
30:28A guess as to the material?
30:30Well, I thought it was copper,
30:32but I don't know.
30:34In Asia, it's within the loser definition of bronze
30:36as a copper alloy, so it's
30:38very heavily copper-based.
30:40This is Japanese, and the fish,
30:42these are koi carps,
30:44which are very often associated with Japan.
30:46Yes.
30:48Symbol of prosperity and good fortune.
30:50This dates towards the end
30:52of the 19th century.
30:54Possibly a plant pot.
30:56And you know, obviously, it's a little bit distressed.
30:58I think, probably, you're looking
31:00at £200 maximum.
31:02Yeah, a cat's alley.
31:04Mum always said that we had to keep it in the family,
31:06or she'd come back and haunt us.
31:08Oh, right.
31:10Well, I mean...
31:16You had this table.
31:18Tell us the story.
31:20Well, about 40 years ago,
31:22I was moving some furniture for a lady in her house.
31:24I saw the table, and I said,
31:26it's a lovely-looking table. She said,
31:28it is. So, about
31:30four weeks later, I came across it
31:32in a small antique shop, and I went in,
31:34and I said, buy the table. I thought I'd just sold it.
31:36I said, oh, who to?
31:38And he said, oh, a dealer in Edinburgh.
31:40And I had some
31:42pictures that he was interested in,
31:44so I swapped the pictures for this
31:46table. But this table,
31:48I believe, came from this castle.
31:50Really? There may be a pair
31:52that matches this in this castle.
31:54And you haven't been in to just double-check?
31:56I haven't been in to check. Why?
31:58That's the first thing
32:00anybody would have done.
32:02They might not want to sell it to me.
32:04This would have been used just as
32:06an occasional table. Yes.
32:08And when these were made,
32:10these were made in the
32:12hundreds and thousands.
32:14And they were all shipped over from
32:16Southeast Asia. Really, this is
32:18the beginning of flat-pack
32:20pieces. Right.
32:22So, if I pull this long rod out,
32:24like so, and this lifts off.
32:26Yep. When it wasn't being
32:28used just as an occasional table,
32:30these were also known as flower boxes.
32:32Right. And they would have
32:34had little potted flowers taken
32:36from the garden or from the greenhouse
32:38and had
32:40flowers in them. Yes.
32:42If we turn it upside down,
32:44can you see there's a wooden thread here?
32:46Right. If you undo that,
32:48then you've got what we call the column.
32:50And the whole thing almost
32:52folds down to nothing. Right.
32:54So, when it got to Britain,
32:56then it was assembled. Then in Britain,
32:58they would have put these casters on.
33:00And they put the casters on there just to make it easier to move.
33:02Many years ago, this would
33:04have been called zebra wood.
33:06Right. Because of the stripes.
33:08You know, you've got the brown wood
33:10and the black. Then they
33:12stopped calling it zebra wood. Then they
33:14started calling it coromandel wood.
33:16Uh-huh. And then other people
33:18call it calamander.
33:20Right. Other people call it
33:22Madagascan ebony.
33:24This is Victorian,
33:261840. Right.
33:28And in the Victorian times,
33:30this was one of the most expensive woods
33:32you could have.
33:34And if you had
33:36Madagascan ebony
33:38table or a coromandel wood table,
33:40it was a status
33:42symbol. The value of this
33:44is around
33:46between £1,200 and
33:48£1,500. Uh-huh.
33:50And, you
33:52are correct, I have been
33:54in the castle.
33:56And there are a number of pieces
33:58which are all of the
34:00same timber. Right. There's a pair
34:02of card tables and other occasional
34:04tables. Uh-huh. It's a great
34:06piece of furniture, and thank you for bringing it along.
34:08Pleasure to bring it.
34:10Now, this has just been brought in. Yes.
34:12And it looks to me definitely to be
34:14ancient Egyptian. But I've seen
34:16these before, all strung up.
34:18They took the beads that they found
34:20in the tombs, and they
34:22made them up as necklaces
34:24with amulets all about. They did.
34:26They started doing that in the late 19th century
34:28for people on the Grand Tour.
34:30But all the amulets are real.
34:32They're all real.
34:34They're not fake.
34:36They're real.
34:38All the amulets are real.
34:40They're all, you know,
34:42between
34:44two and a half and
34:46three and a half, four thousand years old.
34:48I could probably value this,
34:50actually, at something like
34:52a thousand pound plus. Yes.
34:58God, this is such a brilliant image, isn't it?
35:00It's a really wonderful piece of advertising
35:02ephemera.
35:04The food of royal babies.
35:06Do you know, I think this is quite collectible.
35:08I reckon this is worth around about £200.
35:10Good.
35:12Nice to know. I've had it for 55 years.
35:14All right.
35:16Thanks for bringing it. Thank you.
35:20MUSIC
35:34We have a new game for you,
35:36one that our ceramics specialist Stephen Moore
35:38has devised all by himself
35:40with a Scottish theme.
35:42So, Stephen, tell us more.
35:44This is the rarest of the rare.
35:46So, really pushing the bar high.
35:48These are Weemsware,
35:50made in Kirkcaldy, in Fife.
35:52So, Weems was made
35:54from 1882 to 1930.
35:56In Scotland, it went on to Devon.
35:58And it's still made today.
36:00So, trays are quite rare
36:02because they're big and flat,
36:04so they can bend in the kiln,
36:06so they're rare in the first place.
36:08But there's something about each one of these
36:10that makes them rare,
36:12but one of them is the rarest of the rare.
36:14And you, Fiona, have to decide.
36:16Shall I help you a little bit?
36:18Yes, please do.
36:20Well, one of the most common types
36:22of decoration is cabbage roses.
36:24This was a style developed by a man called
36:26Carol Nicola, who was from Bohemia.
36:28He came over to Fife in the 1880s
36:30and used the white background
36:32as the white,
36:34so the highlights are the cabbage roses.
36:36So, it was a very clever way of painting.
36:38But there's something about this
36:40which makes it rare.
36:42So, the next tray, wildflower decoration,
36:44he was a brilliant decorator.
36:46And there's just something about the...
36:48That almost looks like you could pick it up off the tray.
36:50And it's a big size.
36:52It's a wildflower, so that makes it rare.
36:54Hens, quite a common decoration.
36:56They're all different colours.
36:58And is that significant?
37:00Yes, because normal weaned chickens
37:02are all one colour.
37:04So, you might get the black ones
37:06or the brown ones or the speckled ones.
37:08But he's really gone to town with this
37:10and he's painted three chickens
37:12for his daughter, who was the head decorator.
37:14So, that makes that rare and interesting.
37:16Almost every generation of the royal family
37:18has collected this.
37:20The late Queen Mother, the late Queen,
37:22the King collects this, Elton John collects this,
37:24Gore Vidal.
37:26So, it's been collected almost from the day it was made.
37:28I presume they have different values.
37:30Yes. An average weaned tray today
37:32is worth maybe £200 or £300.
37:34But these are all thousands.
37:36OK, wow.
37:38So, the cabbage roses is the most common pattern.
37:40I'm wondering if that means
37:42therefore it's not particularly rare
37:44or could it be
37:46the first time that he did it?
37:48I don't know. Would he have done that on a tray?
37:52I don't know.
37:54I've not seen this before.
37:56I think this is really beautiful.
37:58And this is quite common
38:00but it's got different colours
38:02and he's signed it, which is obviously
38:04particularly useful.
38:06I'm reluctant to help you, Fiona.
38:08But this is a test about looking
38:10so it's very important with antiques
38:12to look at them
38:14and to see what's actually there.
38:16It's us, the audience, isn't it?
38:18Come on. Any idea?
38:20I think the flowers.
38:22You think the flowers, the one in the middle.
38:24And why would you think that one?
38:26The tray is big.
38:28Just because it's on size alone.
38:30Any ideas?
38:32I'm going to go with the flower,
38:34the middle one.
38:36I think just the subject matter.
38:38I'm just going off of that.
38:40Do you know anything about William's portrait?
38:42No, not at all.
38:44Got a clue? No.
38:46Not a clue? Not a clue.
38:48I'd go for that one if I had the choice.
38:50The one at the end.
38:52I'd go for that one.
38:54I think he's making that too obvious in a way.
38:56Possibly.
38:58On the basis that I haven't got a clue
39:00and you've made this sound like the rarest
39:02and it would be unlikely to be kind
39:04during a game, Stephen.
39:06It could be a first time for everything.
39:08And I've seen that pattern before,
39:10but it could be the first time he's done something like that,
39:12in which case that would be fantastically important
39:14because it became such an important pattern for Weems.
39:16I'm going to go for this one.
39:18I don't really know why,
39:20other than I've not seen that before
39:22and as you say, it's the largest,
39:24so that isn't what's pointing me in that direction.
39:26I'm going to go for this one
39:28as the rarest of the rare.
39:30So your answer is that,
39:32the largest of the rare.
39:34And my reply is, uh-uh.
39:38Don't tell me it's this one.
39:40Uh-uh.
39:42Oh.
39:44So it's the one I like best.
39:46Yes, you should have gone with your instinct
39:48and I gave you a massive clue,
39:50but it's an observation test
39:52because if you look at these roses,
39:54one of them,
39:56that one there,
39:58it's the back of the rose.
40:00And this is one of only two or three
40:02where he ever painted the back of a rose.
40:04Well, obviously, if we'd known that, folks,
40:06I mean, we'd have got it straight away.
40:08It wouldn't have been a game, then.
40:10How could we possibly have known that?
40:12Oh, my goodness.
40:14So that's the clincher?
40:16Yeah.
40:18The rose is pointing in a different way.
40:20So that adds £1,000 to the value of that.
40:22Talk me through the values, then.
40:24This one, because of that back-to-front rose,
40:26is about £2,000.
40:28That one, half as much.
40:30That one, £1,500, £2,000.
40:34So get looking at your Weems roses
40:36and if you've got any going the wrong way...
40:38Wow.
40:40..because it's much harder to paint, you see.
40:42So a back-to-front rose is extremely rare.
40:44I mean, it is beautiful, I have to say.
40:46I mean, I think they're all beautiful,
40:48but that one particularly.
40:50Well, I've got to say, that was almost impossible.
40:52But it gave us something to think about, didn't it?
40:54Well done, you.
41:04I really love 19th-century photographs.
41:06Tell me all about this group.
41:08So this is a scrapbook
41:10that was put together by my great-grandmother
41:12shortly, I think,
41:14after she met and married my great-grandfather,
41:16whose picture is here.
41:18His name was Granville Checkwind Stapleton.
41:20He went out to Florida
41:22as a pioneer in the early 1880s,
41:24in his early 20s,
41:26and he stayed there for about 20 years.
41:28He started as a fruit grower
41:30and then he ended up as the mayor of Leesburg,
41:32but he then became very old
41:34and died, unfortunately, in England in the same year.
41:36Wow.
41:38Leesburg is a place in the centre of Florida
41:40and you really get a sense
41:42of the photographs in this album
41:44of what they were dealing with.
41:46Absolutely.
41:48They were having to kind of hack away forests and things
41:50to build these relatively simple sort of houses
41:52and this one, I think, is one of your family's homes.
41:54That's right.
41:56That's actually my great-grandmother's house.
41:58That's where she lived
42:00before she met my great-grandfather.
42:02And I think one of the miraculous things
42:04of 19th-century photographs is
42:06not only was it difficult to build a house here,
42:08but actually taking photographs here
42:10was going to be really challenging.
42:12You know, you need clean water,
42:14you need somewhere dark so you can develop the photographs,
42:16you need the camera itself.
42:18You know, it's not easy.
42:20It's a bit more difficult than I can see it.
42:22I love this group photograph
42:24and I think it has your great-grandfather in.
42:26It does.
42:28That is him there with his arms folded.
42:30I think by that stage he'd gone into banking.
42:32He still, I think, kept his fruit-growing business.
42:34And these were various business associates.
42:36What I love about this scrapbook, actually,
42:38is the way that my great-grandmother
42:40seems to have meticulously annotated things.
42:42So above it is sort of a series of headshots, if you like,
42:44and the names of people.
42:46And she obviously got one of them wrong.
42:48I think she crossed out one name
42:50and put the correct name in there.
42:52It feels like a very sort of living document.
42:54It really does.
42:56And I love the fact that in a photograph like this
42:58you can really see the personality of each person.
43:00Yes.
43:02I mean, with 19th-century photography,
43:04the more obscure the place, the better.
43:06And this central part of Florida,
43:08in this early stage, we're talking about the 1880s
43:10into the 1890s,
43:12there wouldn't have been a lot of people taking photographs.
43:14Right.
43:16Not of the family, but actually of what was going on
43:18in Florida at the time.
43:20Yeah.
43:22I think for that reason it would really be of interest
43:24to museums and libraries
43:26and research places in Florida.
43:28And I think they would pay quite handsomely for it.
43:30Right.
43:32Together with the other group of material
43:34that you have relating to the family's activities there,
43:36this amazing photograph album and scrapbook,
43:38I think you're talking
43:40of upwards of
43:423,000, 4,000 pounds.
43:44We shall certainly keep it in the family.
43:46It's very precious to us.
43:48It's amazing to have seen here. Thank you.
43:50Good. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you.
43:56Thirlstein Castle is set in thousands of acres
43:58of rolling borders countryside.
44:02The area is a popular spot for horse riding.
44:06We see many equestrian antiques today,
44:08like this collection of tiny tools
44:10belonging to a farrier
44:12who used horses on the estate.
44:14Well, we love to see things in miniature
44:16on the Antiques Roadshow.
44:18You've not let us down this time.
44:20You've brought an incredible miniature collection
44:22of farrier's tools.
44:24Where did you get these from?
44:26I managed to acquire them
44:28from a customer of mine many years ago.
44:30It was an old lady
44:32who was going into care
44:34and this was
44:36one of her family heirlooms.
44:38Now, I believe that
44:40she was the niece
44:42of the man who actually made them
44:44back in the early 1930s.
44:46I think she did say
44:48that it was the long cold winter nights
44:50and had nothing to do
44:52so he just set about making a miniature set
44:54of what he used every day in life.
44:56They are little masterpieces, aren't they?
44:58They're nothing really in scale
45:00but they're identical to the full life-size ones
45:02which I use every day to my work.
45:04Yeah, because you are a farrier.
45:06I'm a farrier.
45:08When I was 18, not being a farrier myself
45:10I wondered what on earth that was.
45:12That one there
45:14we call a clinch knife or a buffer
45:16and what it's used for is
45:18when the shoe's actually nailed onto the horse's foot
45:20the nails go through
45:22and curl around.
45:24So when we're taking the shoe off
45:26we've got the side of the horse's foot
45:28and knock the clinches or nails back
45:30so it opens and makes it easier to pull off
45:32and then the shoe's on the foot
45:34now this is
45:36a miniature of that
45:38which we put around the shoe
45:40and then we'll
45:42pull off on the way round
45:44just round we go.
45:46Off it comes and then
45:48we'll clean it out and then just start
45:50the process again like that.
45:52You work locally?
45:54Yes, I work locally. I'm just a couple of miles
45:56up the hill and shoe quite a number of horses
45:58locally on the doorstep
46:00including ones down at the castle.
46:02Now I presume these are all made of steel?
46:04Different types of steel
46:06the shoes would be made out of a mild steel
46:08a softer steel but the
46:10actual farrier's tools
46:12would be made out of a harder steel.
46:14With my foot I've got your farrier's
46:16box and there is a modern rasp
46:18I mean a serious
46:20bit of kit. Will that last a few years?
46:22That'll not last a few years
46:24if it lasts a fortnight to three weeks I'm lucky.
46:26That's incredible. We're on the road show
46:28we've got to put a value on it
46:30it's unique isn't it?
46:32Five to eight hundred pounds something like that?
46:34I mean
46:36to me they're just a keepsake
46:38and they'll go back to where they were
46:40and they'll stay there. Well thank you so much for
46:42bringing them in to see the miniatures
46:44see the real tools that you use
46:46here and elsewhere
46:48in a day to day. It's just been absolutely
46:50fascinating. Thanks very much.
46:52Thank you very much.
46:56So this is a Louis Vuitton
46:58trunk isn't it? How did you come by it?
47:00Well it was in my parents attic
47:02for maybe decades
47:04so it came from Dublin in Ireland
47:06and it's a bungalow which my dad
47:08converted maybe in the 80s
47:10and I think he probably used this chest to stand
47:12on while he was decorating
47:14painting the ceilings things like that
47:16nobody thought it was any value
47:18it was a bit of a clear out a few years ago
47:20and somebody opened the chest and had a look inside
47:22and thought well that sounds really familiar.
47:24I mean do you know much about
47:26Louis Vuitton? Just that they have a lot of
47:28handbags.
47:30Well they actually started off making
47:32trunks. They started in
47:341854 in Paris.
47:36The lock system that they first started
47:38with is still used today
47:40which just shows you how good
47:42the lock system is and it had to be good
47:44because when Louis Vuitton
47:46first started making trunks
47:48there were people travelling around the world
47:50and there were robberies like there were everywhere else
47:52and people were trying to break into them
47:54and this was such a good system
47:56and when they created
47:58this trunk they invited
48:00Harry Houdini to break
48:02open it which was amazing
48:04and he actually turned it down. I think it's
48:06really nice and this is one of the early trunks
48:08and the reason I say that is because
48:10there's no LV on it because everything
48:12that you see has the LV
48:14and what a lot of people may not
48:16know is that LV actually
48:18came after his death
48:20his son George he created
48:22the LV logo in
48:241896. In this condition
48:26I think a chest like this
48:28is definitely going to be worth £1,500
48:30to £2,000.
48:36I've got a lot of sentimental
48:38values so even despite the valuation
48:40it means a lot.
48:42There's a bit of my dad in there with the paint
48:44and you know maybe my granddad
48:46if that's where it came from though nobody knows.
48:55So you've brought along today this
48:57lovely selection of really vibrantly
48:59decorated teaware.
49:01What can you tell me about the history of these pieces?
49:03So they were actually painted
49:05for my great aunt, my
49:07grandmother's sister for her wedding
49:09in 1932
49:11and the
49:13best man at their wedding was the
49:15man that painted these pieces
49:17from Bow Pottery in Edinburgh.
49:19So the Bow Pottery studio was
49:21set up in 1913 by
49:23a woman called Elizabeth Amor.
49:25She was one of the Glasgow girls and she
49:27studied in the Glasgow School of Art
49:29before settling in Edinburgh
49:31to set up the studio. There was quite
49:33a tradition of hand painting china
49:35here in Scotland and particularly
49:37by lady artists. It was a sort of
49:39civilised pursuit and an acceptable
49:41pastime and it also gave them some
49:43income. So the Bow Pottery studio
49:45was very much a family concern
49:47and she worked also with her brother
49:49Richard. What Bow did
49:51was buy in factory
49:53blanks that were industrially produced
49:55and they enlivened them
49:57and painted them by hand
49:59with lovely colours such as this and lovely
50:01motifs. Richard Amor
50:03has decorated primarily in
50:05blue and with a tree
50:07and sort of stylised aqua legia
50:09flower heads and he's also
50:11put this lovely limey
50:13green and zesty touches of lemon
50:15in the paintwork as well.
50:17And if we actually lift this over
50:19and look at the reverse
50:21we see not only is it
50:23signed Marked Bow for Bow Pottery
50:25we also have
50:27Richard Amor's initials
50:29RA and we have this
50:31date on the base, the 29th
50:33of the 7th 1932.
50:35So this is
50:37the date of my aunt's wedding.
50:39So this would have been part of a much larger
50:41tea service. Do you have any of the other
50:43pieces at home? Indeed we do.
50:45We have six cups, six saucers
50:47six plates, some little tiny
50:49plates which I don't know quite what they were
50:51the little milk jug
50:53and there's another one of these plates
50:55as well so it's quite a sizeable collection.
50:57Quite an extensive service
50:59so I would say in terms of an auction
51:01estimate this would comfortably be
51:03in the region of £400 to £600.
51:05Oh wow!
51:07I genuinely did not think £400 to £600
51:09my mother always said to me
51:11look after that and don't throw it
51:13away because it's worth some money.
51:15Few daring feats from World War II
51:17have become as well-known as
51:19Operation Chastise
51:21an audacious mission
51:23depicted in the classic
51:251955 film The Dam Busters
51:27which saw the RAF
51:29using specially designed
51:31bouncing bombs to breach
51:33various dams along the Ruhr Valley
51:35to hamper the German war effort.
51:37But it was not
51:39the end of the world
51:41for the RAF.
51:43In 1993
51:45I went to the 50th anniversary
51:47of the dams raid.
51:49It was at the Imperial War Museum
51:51and there was a lecture
51:53and at the talk were four members
51:55of the Dam Busters crews.
51:57While I was chatting to one of these guys
51:59I said to him, have you ever seen the film
52:01The Dam Busters?
52:03And he said, oh yes, we were invited
52:05to the Dam Busters.
52:07And I said to him, have you ever seen
52:09the film The Dam Busters?
52:11And he said, oh yes, we were invited
52:13to the opening night.
52:15He said, we got to walk down the red carpet
52:17as if we were heroes.
52:19Oh,
52:21that's so incredible.
52:23And the best part was I got to the very end of this
52:25and I said to him, so you've seen the films
52:27sir, was it realistic?
52:29And he said, well I'll be honest
52:31with you son, I don't remember
52:33that bit of music playing as we turned into
52:35the dam.
52:37They were just ordinary people.
52:39Who was your dad?
52:41Dad was
52:43Flight Lieutenant Toby Foxley.
52:45Which one is your dad in the photo?
52:47This one right here.
52:49And on the raids he was
52:51Sergeant Toby Foxley at the time.
52:53And he was the front gunner
52:55during the dam raids themselves.
52:57And he was sitting above Bob Hay
52:59who was the bomb aimer on those
53:01raids, who was sadly killed
53:03later on in Southern France.
53:05In actual fact he was killed on the very last
53:07mission that that crew went on
53:09before they retired.
53:11So on the raid, which aircraft
53:13was your dad in?
53:15So dad was in P for Popsi
53:17and P for Popsi was the third aircraft in
53:19on the Mower Dam.
53:21So the first dam that they did, so Guy Gibson goes over first
53:23and then the second aircraft
53:25and then Guy Gibson is then
53:27following in your dad's
53:29aircraft as they came in to bomb the dam.
53:31That's right, yes.
53:33It's such a part of
53:35all of the history we know about World War II
53:37because of that film.
53:39And I can guarantee you, everybody
53:41here has seen that film, yes?
53:43We've all seen that film.
53:45You can hear that piece of music playing now, can't you?
53:47In your head.
53:49So he's wearing a very dark blue uniform
53:51which is an Australian
53:53coloured uniform for the Royal Air Force.
53:55Lots of Australians who flew.
53:57New Zealanders, Canadians.
53:59You have the logbook.
54:01Every month the logbook, which is the
54:03record of every flight that airmen take
54:05is signed by the squadron commander.
54:07That's right.
54:09And this one, GP Gibson, Guy Gibson himself.
54:11Operations
54:13Mona Dam.
54:15A dam buster.
54:17And these are his medals?
54:19That's his medals, yes.
54:21Distinguished Flying Cross, Distinguished Flying Medal,
54:2339-45, Aircrew Europe,
54:25Africa, Defence, War
54:27and the Australian War Medal
54:29on the end.
54:31He's a hero to me.
54:33He's someone that I've always aspired to
54:35to live up to and to hope
54:37that he's actually proud of the things
54:39that I've achieved in life.
54:41It is just such a privilege, always,
54:43to stand next to one of these logbooks
54:45that has that simple line
54:47Operations Mona Dam.
54:49Has it got a value though?
54:51Like most things do, yeah.
54:55Want to know?
54:57Yeah, sure.
54:59Wow.
55:01It's only a few minutes.
55:03Yeah, I know.
55:05And it has been an absolute pleasure
55:07to meet your dad today.
55:09So thank you so much.
55:11Thank you very much, Mark.
55:19So for me,
55:21medals and the ephemera
55:23that goes with medals
55:25is a time machine.
55:27And what that does for me
55:29is that takes me back to that moment
55:31in time when those medals were awarded
55:33or that line was written in that logbook.
55:35So for me, I'm not standing here
55:37in this field.
55:39I'm there back in 1943
55:41transported there by those objects.
55:43And that happens to me every time.
55:45First World War, Battle of Waterloo
55:47because I just
55:49get a vibe off of those things
55:51that takes me back in time.
55:57Oh, it's been a top day
55:59here at Thirlstane.
56:01And what better way to round it off
56:03than with a sweet Scottish treat or two?
56:05Everyone on the Antiques Roadshow
56:07knows I've got sweet tooth.
56:09But there is a reason
56:11why these beautiful ball of sweets
56:13are in front of me.
56:15Because they are all traditional
56:17from the towns of the Scottish border,
56:19some as early as the 17th century,
56:21made by women known as the Sweetie Wives.
56:23So let me talk you through them.
56:25So we've got the Red Snails from Jedburgh.
56:27And the recipe is French
56:29and comes, apparently,
56:31courtey of a grateful Napoleonic prisoner of war.
56:33Then we've got Hoyt Balls.
56:35And these neon green ones
56:37are called Sour Plumes.
56:39Sorry about the accent, everybody.
56:41It's just terrible.
56:43And they're from Galashiels.
56:45And the name originates from, apparently,
56:47a 14th century battle when invading English troops
56:49were found gorging on unripened fruit.
56:51So I think we've got to give them a go, don't you?
56:53I need a volunteer.
56:55Young man.
56:57Do you want to try one?
56:59Yes, please.
57:03What do you think?
57:05Hey, good.
57:07Good?
57:09Yeah.
57:11They're sour, aren't they?
57:13Oh, my goodness.
57:15From my friend here.
57:17And all the people here at the Auntie's Trade Show.
57:19I can hardly talk.
57:21Awesome. Bye-bye.
57:51Bye-bye.
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