And this area, which is water damaged is as much in the varnish as it is in the paint. Which is quite good news cause i think theres some original paint under there. You dont really know until you start stripping it down. So, there is quite a lot of work to do on it to get it right, to get it looking absolutely spiffing. Yeah. But, um. Maybe £2,000 or £3,000 worth of work, as much as that. But then youve got to look at what value the painting is, and falconrys really popular in the middle east from whence it came, of course, you know. Yes, yes. Any picture with a falcon, the arab market is going to get very excited about. And, uh, id be very surprised if it didnt make £20,000 or £30,000. Right. Yes. Insure it for £30,000. Right. Okay, yes. I know, its a responsibility isnt it . It is, rather. laughs but thats stewardship isnt it . Thats the thing about handing on family things. You need to look after them. I think thats exactly right. Yeah. Its difficult to find the precise word to describe these. The word flamboyant certainly works, the word kitch certainly works well with these, and i have to say, when i picked these up from around here and walked across the room there was not an eye in the building that was not transfixed on them. They are all so compelling. What do you reckon . Um which is the word youd best use to describe them . Well, im not sure that i could say that. laughs because it would sound like kind of what . Different . Different. Go on. Definitely theyre different. Um. What about ghastly . Is that. . Yes, yes thats about right yes. I think theyre also fairly ghastly. They really touch some bases. Theyre exemely wellmade. They are certainly attractive in the sense that they attract attention. Well they certainly do that. So, tell me, did you dig them up out of the garden . No. I just ask because they are so incredibly filthy that it looks as if they may have spent 50 years underground. You know, maybe i should wait for high tide and wash them down. chuckles im getting the imprsion that you dont like these a lot, and yet, theyre yours. Well, um, my late motherinlaw left them for me. I dont think she liked me very much which is hence the reason ive got them. Well, i think that theyre better than you do and i think whilst if we walked around the queue here and offered these for sale for a fiver most people would turn them down at that but i think these 50s signed murano flamenco figures made on the venetian island of murano in probably late 50s into the 60s but are superior pieces would probably be worth at an auction if welldirected £150 to £200 each. Oh, she did like me then, after all. chuckles i didnt realize. Thats great. Oh, no, i didnt thinkthey were worth anything like that. No, the Charity Shops not getting them now then. Im having a nanny moment. laughs are you having a nanny moment . Oh, very much so, yes. Now, look. Weve got 5 prams here. And i happen to know that this isnt the lot. No, unfortunately. Now, i think i may am i allowed to call you a bit of a prammie . Yes, you can call me a prammie. Im proud to be a prammie. Now, how many have you got at home . Another 10 at home and another one on the way. both laugh and, uh, where are they all . Well, we live in a large house so theyve taken over the front living room, and in the hallway and upstairs, too. But they live indoors, which is the perfect climate for a pram. Absolutely and do they get an outing ever . They get an outing most days unless its raining. We dont do we dont do rain and prams. No, quite. And looking around well, thats a pram dating from the latter part of the 19th century slightly sort of mary poppinsesque. What i love about it is this fabulous barley twist brass handle at the at the front there huge wheels, and, um the forerunner of Everything Else we see here today. So, the prams that were looking at around and about here are mostly 1950s and 60s. Yes, yeah. Youve. Concentrated on that particular period, have you . Mmm. Why . I think its deep bodies and big wheels for me. I just love the shape of the pram. I just think theyre absolute beauties of craftsmanship. In the 1950s, there were Certain Companies which were top of the range werent there . Yes. And i wouldve thought was l. B. C. One of them . L. B. C. Was one of them. Um, marmet. This being a marmet. Particularly in the queen. The queen is the actual model name. Right. And they followed with a lady and a marmet princess. Oh, right. And so it goes on and on. What i think is very telling is that, in fact it was often a make of pram that would sell the job to the nanny. A a yes, thats very true. I think a house or a mom would advertise, saying, nanny required. Nanny required. We have a marmet pram. Yeah, or an osnath exactly. Or a london baby coach whatever. And that usually filled the vacancy. I was trying earlier to work out what the collective name for a group of prams is, and ive come up with the name a push of prams. Oh, thats good. Yeah, yeah. And as far as value is concerned what do you put on something a classic pram from the 1960s in really tipto restored condition . Well, i think like any collector it depends on the make and the model. If its a if its a pram that you want, you will pay, like any collector would. I paid the most i paid for my pram was the queen. She was a model i always wanted, and i absolutely adore her. She will never be sold. So, to me, shes priceless. And i paid £700 for her. And and in this in that restored condition. If she wasnt in that condition i would only especially if wheels need rechroming which, talking expense i would only maybe pay £250, £350. Well, i hope youve got lots of grandchildren to push in these. Hopefully, in a couple of years. Daughters just wed, but hopefully, yes. Shes working on it. Yes. Fantastic. Thank you very much for bringing in your push of prams. Thank you very much. Henry, ive interrupted your busy day cause im pretty sure you must have some strong views on the ultimate age of elegance. Oh, yeah. What would you choose . Well, mine would be the days of charles ii. Wonderful, wonderful flamboyant ways. I mean, wigs and hats with plumes and all that. But of course, the days before it in the city of worcester where i come from, were very different. Before charles ii came to the throne we had Oliver Cromwell and, um, pots like this you know with poems on it its a chamber pot to do your do your business. Yes. And and and the poem says, fast and pray and pity the poor. Amend thy life and sin no more. While youre doing so, you had to be pious even when you were answering a call of nature. The only fun in life was sort of tipping it out of the window on top of a roundheads head. And so, of course then youd get sent to prison. And of course, it all changed so dramatically with charles, didnt it . With charles ii and the restoration. Charles ii came back and the restoration everything is peacockish and wonderfully exciting and you get slipware like this thing. I mean, this is seen this before. Well, this is a copy a copy of the original aussie of the hour at the moment but you have your drink out of this, and its all full of fun, i mean, its absolutely gorgeous. Ornamentation, of course. Ornamentation. Design and beauty. But life was like that. It grew exciting, you know . Do you wonder what youd have been doing back then, in those days . Well, i wouldve been a cavalier. I i i hope no, because i helped charles ii escape after the battle of worcester. Oh, you did, did you . Yes, i did, yeah. Right, okay. I remember that. And and so i wouldve become a cavalier. And, uh, this little piece is just a fragment of a pot that i found in a well in worcester. Now, thats me dressed up in a cavaliers costume. Fantastic. Thats what i wouldve looked like. So, you wouldve liked the clothes, then, would you . Oh, i wouldve loved to do it with a waistcoat and a wig, and a plumed hat, and, uh and you would carry your cane as you walk around the town. Lovely gaiters and things like that. I can just picture myself dressed like that. I think its only appropriate when were looking at the age of elegance and what makes up elegance to be looking at a fantastic costume like this and the wonderful pieces that youve brought in. Where have they come from . Well, these are all part of the collection of the Little Theatre in gateshead. So, these costumes are actually used on stage . Absolutely. Oh, yes. Whenever possible. Yes. Were always dying to get costumes like this on stage. Mary has actually worn this one. It looked fabulous. I can i can imagine. I mean its so appropriate to our setting now isnt it, really . I mean, it is a perfect flapper dress from the 20s. And obviously, when you look around at some of the details in this building theyre replicated right here in front of us with some of the motifs. Yes, the beautiful beadwork. And the glitz of the beads comes alive, doesnt it, under the light . Its just fantastic. Absolutely, yes. So, you go back earlier than these, do you . Our earliest are probably about 1890, possibly 1880, and weve just continued to collect and accumulate you know, that one is about 1912 or thereabouts. Um, that suit there is about 1947. So, do you have to do much to keep these costumes going . Yes, yes. I mean, if theyre in daily use. Yes, yes. For example, um you can see some of the beadwork is going there so we replace them if we can. Sometimes its not easy to find suitable replacements, because modern materials and sizes dont always match up with these vintage articles. This is actually very prada. Its very now. Its very, um its remarkably revealing, and youd have had to have had a heavy a heavy suit underneath. A heavy gray suit underneath. And and i think you forget, also when you see some of these do you have the underwear that goes with dresses like these . We do, yes. Yes, we have the petticoats the bloomers the shemises. Oh, yes, weve got all that. Youve got it all. Yes. Yes, yes. We have actually recently bought some replica corsets so that we can pull the waists in of our girls so that they can try and get into those tiny waists. I mean, that is tiny and its the kind of thing that you wouldve worn as a day dress. That perhaps in two parts you wouldve worn promenading along the front outside the spa when it was first built. And one has to think about how much these are worth. Theyre working costumes. Theyre not Museum Pieces. Theyre working costumes. Thats right thats right. But they could equally be some of these are so exquisite that they could be Museum Pieces. Um. Well, certainly, this this duo here probably at auction would fetch something around about £400. Really . Really . Something like that. chuckles gosh. Again, this lovely flapper dress, i think the price on that would probably be about sort of £500 to £600. Really . Whole value for the collection were moving into the thousands. Right. Goodness. Its a good job, that. Kept under lock and key. Yeah, i know. Very secure. To be honest i dont think we could bare to part with them, because, you know, this is part of our history. Mmm. Its tiny. Its a tyg as big as a thimble. And is it yours . Its my laughs its my wifes actually. It is ridiculously small for a tyg. You know its a tyg, or a loving cup, as its also known. Well, i thought it were a loving cup. It is, it is. And the idea is, you pass it down the bench. Three handles, so one handle to the next neighbor, they then turn it to the next, and so it rotates as it goes down the line. But that is ridiculously small for a tyg, so. Its a miniature. Yeah . And do you know who its by . Well, i think its by macintosh, isnt it . Is it, uh moorcroft built it and macintosh jumped in . Macintyre. Tyre. Macintyre, is it . Macintyre. And it says macintyre there, and William Moorcroft was famously employed by them. Thats where he made his name before going on to set up his own moorcroft factory. Pretty little thing. Decorated with what, cicklin . Oh, im not so sure id know. Beautiful thing, but it is very very small. The the real article. Im afraid. A bit bigger. The real article a real tyg, should be this size and if it were this size, it would be worth. Getting on for £1,500. Yeah. So, we go from £1,500. Down to. £1,500. Mmm. That is £1,500 . Because if so, the smaller, the better. So, thats £1,500 . Its small and exquisitely formed. Well, youve brought along today this most astonishing sword. Now, its made by wilkinson, and i happen to know quite a lot about it but id like to hear the story from you. I acquired this in the late 1960s, about 1968. Um, im a collector of edged weapons and, um, a dealer i contact on southendonsea had this, and, um, i was quite astonished to begin the chance to obtain it because i had bought a small german knife which he was fascinated with. We did a straight swap. Now, i had a funny feeling i got the best of the deal. I just knew that at the time because i had a bit of information about the sword. Now, what they told me was this was the pattern piece that had been used as a model for the swords made for the personal bodyguard of haile selassie, emperor of ethiopia, in about 1928, 1929. And its been in wilkinson swords pattern room all that time. Now, at about that time, wilkinson went into private ownership, and they cleared out a lot of their old stock. I was welldelighted to get hold of it. I thought, whatever the story, this has got to be a piece worth having. Well, thats an astonishing story about how you actually obtained it. Haile selassie of course the lion of judah came to the throne i think in about 1930. Um he was regent until until about that time. Right. And these swords were made by wilkinson, as you say for his personal bodyguard. Now, the interesting thing about this is that, um wilkinsons pattern piece, which this is, was the only one that was made with a hilt and a crosspiece. All the others that were sent across to ethiopia were sent without furnishings, as its called. Right. So, they were sent naked, if you like. Now, there werent very many others manufactured. There were 20 manufactured for Haile Selassies bodyguard and of course, he was deposed in what . 1973, 1974 Something Like that. And so, we dont know whats happened to the others. They may not exist any longer. They may be sitting rusting in some ethiopian shed somewhere. Who knows . So, this could be unique. Its the most beautifully made sword. Typically by wilkinsons who made lots and lots of decorative and commemorative swords this is, um has a wavy blade. This beautiful wavy blade, which is made of steel of course, and it has this gorgeous gorgeous gold and red flame effect running right the way down the blade. But the the unique thing about this, of course, is the pattern. Its the pattern from which the others were judged so there is not another one of these and thats what makes it interesting to me. So, in the late 60s you swapped this for a knife . Yes. Worth. . £14 £14 was the value of that. laughs £14 . Yes. Okay, um i think today. This sword its so unique, its worth between £2,000 and £2,500. Not a bad investment. Im surprised. My father was a vicar in smethwick and yorkshire, and then it was in the vicarage, and then it was moved to clark eden, and i really remember it from the clark eden vicarage. I would be about 9 years old then. I dont know where it came from only that it was actually a gift from somebody to my father. And it remained in the hallway in the vicarage as a centerpiece. My father absolutely adored it, and when he retired he moved into a dormer bungalow, and he even had it put on the staircase in the dormer bungalow going up the stairs so that he could see it every day. So, he loved the picture. Absolutely adored the picture. Did he do any, um, research on the painting at all . I dont think he did. Ive done more of the research. Ive tried to find things out, and i come to a dead end every time. Well, i can help you there. Oh, wonderful. Oh, yes. The picture is a copy, after a dutch artist who was working in rome in 1620 an artist called gerard von honthorst. Oh. And it is the nativity. This is a 19thcentury copy of that picture. The real giveaway with this painting is the 19thcentury florentine frame. Right. We call them sort of Palazzo Pitti frames. They handcarved florentine frames in the 19th century, and students and artists would copy the great masters that were hanging in the uffizi and the pitti palazzo. In 1993, there was a car bomb that went off just outside the uffizi, and unfortunately, the nativity by honthorst was destroyed. Two other major pictures by manfredi were destroyed and also 30 great masters were damaged. So, the original painting, a totally priceless painting is no longer with us and sadly, also, on that particular day when these great old masters were destroyed um, 26 people were wounded and 6 people died. There are only 8 listed, recorded 8 copies listed, but undoubtedly theres more around the world. Yes, yes, yes. The original painting that was destroyed was three times the size of your picture. Good gracious me i thought mine was. laughs was big enough. Of course, this oil on canvas um honthorst wouldve been really influenced by caravaggio, the great master of light and this was probably painted by the original was painted by candlelight but you get a real sort of radiant light coming from baby jesus right through all the figures, right up to the top. A kind of ray of hope. The light of the world. So, in terms of value the original painting by honthorse literally priceless. Of course, its no longer with us but a copy a 19thcentury copy after the picture is worth approximately £4,000 to £6,000. Oh, good. Lovely. Thank you very much. Thanks very much. Thats lovely. So, its not a set of golf clubs, then . No. Its something the ladies arent allowed to see, im afraid. Okay, hide your eyes girls, hide your eyes. Oh. Its very naughty. Have you seen one of these before . Have you seen what it is yet . Its a lady on a potty. laughs its more than that, isnt it . Yes. Because its a lady with a purpose. Now, what does she do . Does she fly up this way . There we go wee shes, uh does all sorts of things, and on her bottom here shes got a blade, and what she is, actually, is a cigar cutter. A novelty cigar cutter. Okay, so, how come you have got it . This is not a kind of girly thing to have is it, really . Its been passed down through the family. My great, great granddad. Uh, and thats about all i know about it, but i do know that the ladies in the family were never allowed to see it. It was always on his watch chain in his waist coat pocket, oh. And when asked no, you cant look at it. It was his secret. It was his secret. His secret passion. Then, when my mother inherited it i was allowed to look at it, and told, you know its the naughty lady. laughs i think shes great, and just the sort of thing that a grandfather should have on the end of a watch chain, actually. Something naughty and rather rascally. Um, shes dated from around 1900, 1910. Made of brass. And in fact, i wouldve said shes because shes such a cheeky little thing, i think shes gonna have a reasonable value. I would put her at about oh, £100, £120. I think shes terrific. Oh, really . Yes. I think shes gorgeous. Fiona in this splendid art deco building, wer