let me give you a hand there, luv. i'm fine. oonagh. have you got their money yet? ( sighs ) ( knock at door ) ( wearily: ) oh... what was that, one of the 100,000 welcomes? i know, i know -- you're busy. making coffee. don't you ever give up? on you? ages ago. no, i saw you had something running at leopardstown and just wondered what its chances were. what are you, father? transparent or just plain shallow? what? nothing. what did you say? nothing! can we just drop it? "transparent or just plain shallow"?

gee, thanks. what have i ever done to you? i mean, what is your problem with me? i'd really like know 'cause i don't remember trying to shove religion down your throat. what is it, me? have i behaved inappropriately, have i tried to come on to you? i don't think so. you really want to know what's buggin' me, i'll tell ya. my ex-husband is back in town, he didn't tell me he was coming, and he's brought his girlfriend. he's only here for the weekend, but you know what? it really unsettles me. "of all the gin joints in all the towns," all that stuff. well, it just hurts. happy? ( horse whinnies ) i don't think you're shallow. obvious depths. so, you gonna make all this go away? buy you a beer? you've got a real talent for this,

haven't you, father? i think i'll pass. brendan: oonagh. pull a half and half for me, would ya? what name is that? brendan: paul. yeah. has paul been on one of those courses? charm school? yeah. really kickin' in, isn't it? you all right, oonagh? nothin' twenty grand wouldn't fix. he's laughin' at us.

donal: dooley? he looked well-rattled to me. well, we're gonna have to rattle him a bit more. know what i'm sayin'? i mean really shake him up. like in sicily? like in sicily. brendan: no, no, no -- that's what they do in england -- "the dog and duck," "the slug and spinach" -- these are the names that big breweries give to local bars just to make them sound authentic. "the gard and breathalyzer". thank you, dermot. no, they don't. they call them "kitty o'shea's" or "scrubby mulligan's" and pretend they're irish. well, i'll call it "oonagh dooley's" and it really will be irish. leave it as fitzgerald's, then it'll be even more irish. how could it be more irish? because it'll have been there longer. you'll not be shackled by logic, will you, brendan? no. how are you, father?

ah, what's your suggestion, father? when it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change. not too far off it louie. oonagh: well, go on then. you wouldn't like it -- too many words. try me. "if it ain't broke don't fix it." may i have the menu, please oonagh? ( rooster crows ) oonagh! excuse me. what's goin' on? i'm sleeping in the spare room. why? i didn't think you would. what?! pay the boys their money back paul. then we'll get back to normal. oonagh -- how much is it worth?

what difference does it make? i know you're upset, but i have to ask. i don't know, frankie, not as much as a new one. it's not about -- i understand. sentimental value. no. it was a wedding present. ( paul grunting ) ( chuckling ) aah!!! aaahh!!! liam: a horse's saddle? i mean a horse's head i could understand. it shows him we mean business. and what're you gonna put in his bed when you really want to wind him up? blinkers? all right! i like horses, okay? i prefer them with their heads on, and even if i didn't

how exactly am i gonna do that? "excuse me, miss burke d'ya have the loan of a chainsaw?" "i do, donal of course -- what for?" "well now, miss burke, "i just want to sever the head "from one of your finest thoroughbreds." "is that right, donal? "tear way. it's in the shed." have you finished? at least i made the effort. frankie: when did you first become aware there was something else in bed with you? when i woke up. obviously. what did you think it was? i thought it was the wife. at first. you thought a top-of-the-range saddle from clutterbuck's in kildargen was your wife? frankie, don't start. and when did you discover -- i don't to hear that. oonagh, do you have any idea how a saddle -- i was in the spare room. oonagh -- the gards might think it was relevant. dermot hold on a sec. do you know anything about this saddle? i know what it means.

what? it means "paul dooley sleeps with the fishes." oonagh: excuse me? godfather talk. he's upset the mob. avril: frankie? in here, avril. avril: what are you doing with my saddle?! right. i'm supposed to know it's yours. where'd you find it? in his bed. what have you done with my saddle?! that's it. i'm out of here. thank you, garda sullivan for your help. i'm sure we can all sleep sound in our beds now. ( dermot whinnies ) you're not going to say hello? excuse me.

avril. don't be like this. ( motor starts ) it's her choice. you okay? i want to go home. just give me five minutes to pack and settle up.

was i not going to say hello to you?! how could you? how could you?! i didn't. you don't choose it just happened. so you were just a victim?! no, but i was there. somebody had to look after him. because i left him? i didn't say that. you make it sound like it. you might as well have the state you were in! i didn't mean that. no... let's get it all out now, rosie. how long? how long? you know what i mean. how long?! not while you were together. and how long have you been in love with him? don't lie to me. early on. long time. i thought i could trust you. i never came on to him. put up a fight though, did ya? yes. yeah. you look well. well, i don't want him back.

i wouldn't have thought so. so...i can keep him, then? ( bitter: ) what are sister's for? ( door slams loudly ) ( car starts ) ( tires screech )

vince: hey. ( gasping ) ( avril crying ) ( sobbing ) don't touch me!

i'll be outside. leave that bottle! i really think you should -- i said leave the bottle!

( whinnies ) avril: no!!!! ( horses neigh ) it was good whiskey, too. was it? i never knew. we spell our whiskey with an 'e', d'ya know that?

why? just to be awkward. anyway one day i woke up, and he was gone. he left a note said he was sorry but he just couldn't take it anymore. was that fair? maybe. i guess. and you stopped drinking then? just like that? you make it sound easy. on your own? i don't mean with a priest, i meant some sort of support group. there's an a.a. in kildargen -- i know. i went. when i needed it. look, i'm fine. i'll be fine i'm okay. make it easy on yourself, avril. there'll be a next time.

there's no point denying it, donal, your prints are all over it. they would be. i took the saddle off the horse. what? i was workin' at the yard. i know you took it, donal, because i know there's something going on between yourselves and paul dooley. and it's going to stop. paul dooley sleeps with the fishes. he doesn't sleep with fishes or horse's heads or fish heads or saddles. is that clear? is that clear? si. va bene.

thank you, basildon -- an excellent job. now, paul, paul -- how long have we known each other, eh? hardly any time at all, mr. sugrue. oh, now, now, now -- you call me "psycho." i'd rather not. that's what you call me behind my back, isn't it? i'd never do that, mr. sugrue. uh, psycho. haven't i always been good to you paul? well, you've never set light to the pub. ( both chuckle ) and in all of that time, when have you come to me not for a favor or a handout but just to pay your respects? ( nervous chuckle ) well, you must have been out. ( both laughing )

very good! so who do you want me to hurt? hurt? no, no, no -- it's not like that at all, no, no. i need a loan. a loan? yeah. you? how much? 20,000. ( everybody laughing ) i-i-i am good for it, psycho. well, i'm not that mad and no, you're not. you're not even the landlord. i wear the trousers. you probably rent them. ha ha ha ha! please? please. 20,000 punts... you just be glad i said no. now sir -- i'll take that. oh. ha ha ha ha!

my coat. hey, paul -- one day -- and mind you this day might never come -- i'll call on you... for a pint. oh. well... great. so long. ha ha ha ha! ha ha ha ha! ( all laughing ) ( horn honks ) i called foley's in kildargen. i'm their local agent. do you take in laundry as well? what? nothing. it's good to see ya. so what happened? oh, the...

the four-wheel threw up a stone. from the tires, the back -- sure. yeah...coffee? sounds good. watch out for glass around the sink. no, it was all outside. outside? what, you had the four-wheel in the kitchen? no, uh, not all of it. some of it. most of it. obviously. whatever. i'll make the coffee. right. ( sighs ) you all right? what? oh, yeah. just a bit of a shock, that's all, y'know? how do you like it? you takin' up religion? what? oh, that. god, no. ah. whaddya mean, "ah"? don't mean nothin' just "ah". i understand. it's the priest's. yeah, what of it? i'm not makin' nothin' of it.

edso, if you've got somethin' to say -- whoa, avril -- look, forget the coffee. i'll just get on with the window, okay? edso -- well, under these circumstances, mr. dooley i don't see any problem at all. a bit of paperwork and we're all done. ( knocks ) donal!

paul. father mac. what can i get ya? i'd like to know what i'm doing here. ah -- father macanally. father sheahan. a bit early, isn't it? liam: oh. will we come back later? paul: you'll stay where you are. i'm sorry, edso. we're closed. what? donal, lock the door.

we're closed. we're what? "we're" closed? it's okay, luv. go on, donal, lock it. paul! here. count it. both of ya. and i don't want to see anything even resembling a horse in my bed again. ha ha ha! watch it, buster. sorry. now, father mac. is the dignity of your curate still a matter of passing concern? only, if the church wants its house back i'm willing to sell it. paul! excuse me? i'm sure something can be arranged. i want a reasonable price, but not extortionate. glad to hear it. why, are you payin' for it? there's a condition. if you ever sell fitzgerald's, we get first refusal. and we'll be lookin' for a good price on that, too. i have no problem with that. good. and to show there's good will, we'll no longer insist on the name change. hey!

no one wanted it changed, luv. it's only a name. ( acidly: ) oh. and you know what's in that box do ya? no, but -- we'll be talking, then. great -- thank you, father. donal: thanks for the, uh... yeah. about time. just remember to spend it in here. ha ha ha! they all say "fitzgerald's," don't they? nope. they all say "dooley". "oonagh dooley"? no. "paul dooley"? i want a word with you. we're not open yet. i thought you'd gone. i came back. you want st. joseph's. they do forgiveness there.

i can only imagine how much you must hate me. you're not even close. avril, please. try to understand. what? how much you must love him? yes. i didn't do this to hurt you. do you not think we talked about this? oh please just stop it. the thought of you the pair of you, together, discussing me -- the concern, the smugness -- "god, this is terrible "poor avril, how could we do this? "god, how we fought this "but the love is greater than the both of us." am i right? did i leave anything out, rosie?

man: and it's not very long in the scheme of things, but it's 27 days longer than i've done before. so... here's to 28. ( applause )

man 2: good man, gerry. if i can just get the boring stuff out of the way are we all happy with the new meeting place? better than that place over kelehern's bar! i'd say so, martin. okay, come on then a show of hands for 7:30. 7:30 it is. who said youse people couldn't make a decision? okay, i'd like to open the meeting. man: good evening, everyone. my name is vincent i'm an alcoholic.

captioned by captioneering your closed captioning resource

this week, we've navigated our way

towards a place full of cultural landmarks-- the baltic flour mill, the bridges across the river tyne and the new kid on the block-- the sage gateshead centre. so, welcome to the antiques roadshow from gateshead. ♪ fiona: if you looked onto gateshead quay ten years ago, you'd have been faced with derelict factories, rubble and run-down housing. the transformation is quite remarkable.

for gateshead council, it was pretty ambitious, not to mention controversial to invest in the sage gateshead and the baltic flour mill. but the idea was to reinvigorate these old industrial sites with landmark cultural buildings. the original flour mill was built in the 1950s in an area once occupied by the gateshead ironworks. the mill produced flour and animal feed until it went out of business in the 1980s and, from then on, fell into disrepair. after a £46 million makeover, the former flour mill was transformed into the baltic centre for contemporary arts six years ago, making it the country's newest national art gallery. ♪

the sage gateshead is on a site which once saw life as a rope factory before becoming a wasteland home for travelers. after ten years of planning, the sage gateshead opened in 2004 providing a world-class acoustic venue a home for the northern sinfonia... and a music education center with over 100 students studying here. with collaboration from the people of gateshead, artists and musicians, sir norman foster designed this £70 million musical crescendo wrapped in steel and glass to stunning effect. the transformation of gateshead quay is complete but is it a success? there's always a danger with something as radical as this that people won't like it. what do you think of this building? we love it. you love it? love it. did you always think it was gonna be good? from the start.

it's great. it's different. it's pretty. very interesting. it's fine, it's good it's different. ah, too modern. it makes the quayside look alive. we think it looks like an armadillo. but we always go to it. great, yes. a great thing, he said. well, i think there's no doubt the sage gateshead is a great success so let's see what objects strike the right notes with our experts on this week's antiques roadshow. i think it was about 1941 or '42-- a bomb dropped in the house opposite where i lived on pollard street, south shields. when we found our way along the corridor in the dust to what was left of the front door, that was the view that we saw. hitler had removed six of the houses. so, my grandmother immediately went into the front room where the windows had blown in and, um, i heard her say, "look what hitler's done to my lady." and i looked up, and a bit of the strap had dropped off. this lady? this lady here.

a little bit of the strap had come off down here. and the little piece of strap lay on the bottom of this figure all my life. don't ask me where it is now, because i've got no idea. so, she's strapless. she rescued it and you lost it. that's about the size of it, yes. what you're saying is, these things were standing right here, right next to where the bomb dropped. yeah, on a sideboard opposite the window, which had stuff glued to it to stop the glass falling. and, of course the window was blown in. everywhere was covered in dust and grit and bits of stuff, you see? and the two figures were just standing there on the sideboard. i've still got the sideboard, and i've still got the figures. you know why they survived, don't you? i've got no idea. it's because they're german. oh, really? yeah. i didn't know that. i know nothing at all about them. i've looked at them all my life, and i haven't got a clue as to what they are. well, they're dressed in pretty straightforward bavarian costumes, or tyrol costumes.

he's a bagpiper, and she's playing what the germans called a leier, but we would call a hurdy gurdy. right, yeah. and it is remarkable that you're so close to a bomb that takes out so many houses-- you would expect a ceramic object would just be shattered by the impact. yes, yes. but there they are surviving. well, they were made in germany. they were made sometime probably at the very end of the 19th century, so they're getting on for just over 100 years old. they're made of earthenware. they are colored in these pastel enamels. porcelain figures are generally considered to be more valuable than these earthenware figures, but they are actually very, very charming. and now they've got a terrific story attached to them. it is, of course a major tragedy that she lost her strap. but it could've been worse. absolutely. oh, yes. in terms of value, well, if you wanted to buy a pair of german figures like this in yorkshire in the market, you'd probably have to pay somewhere

in the region of, let's say, £400 to £600. well, well, well. i'll still keep looking at them, i think. i'll put them back on the sideboard. 1953, the coronation of elizabeth ii. and then typed underneath-- "an album of signatures "collected by pupils of west thurrock county primary school." and all of this lovely border is all hand-done. so, how many items are there in it? i think there are 37. and they're all beautifully decorated. with the coats of arms and most of them have been found, and the picture that the person concerned has been put on the page as well. tell me the story. my mother was a teacher at the primary school, top class. and at the time of the coronation, she wanted something to-- an excuse, really-- for the pupils to learn how to write letters. so, she made a list of the heads of government of the commonwealth countries that

would be attending of the military personnel who would have an official capacity at the coronation. and the children drew a name out of a hat. they wrote the letter, and they had the autographs back. once they came back-- my father worked in the printing business-- and he took them had them mounted and the book prepared. i like this one-- winston churchill. tell me the story about that one. when they had-- everyone else replied. they had some wonderful replies. but they had a refusal from one person, and that was winston churchill. and the refusal letter is at the top there. once the book had been finished and all the eliminations had been done, my mother packaged it off to lady churchill who we gather dumped it on his lap and said, "sign it." and the reply is there and his signature is the only one that isn't on the card, that's actually signed in the book.

he actually signed in the book. so, the letter from chartwell-- churchill's home-- "dear mrs. pugh, "lady churchill has asked me to thank you for your letter "of the 16th of august. sir winston has signed your coronation book--" brilliant. "and i return it to you with his good wishes. yours sincerely, private secretary." so, that was the result. that was. so we had more or less the complete set. and let me see-- you have a favorite one, don't you? i do. my favorite one is "bomber" harris who had a reputation as being something of a butcher with the bombing of dresden. but i think the autograph came back with no problems but the letter that accompanied it, which he obviously has typed himself, puts a different complexion on him. and this letter says "thank you very much for enclosing a stamped, addressed envelope. "most of the many thousands of people "who write to me from time to time "generally on their own affairs

"but entirely unknown to me, "never send a stamped envelope as you did. if they did so i should be a richer man today." and then the last paragraph which i think is charming, too-- "i have signed it twice, once on each side, "so that you can cut off the signature on one side "and swap it for anything you can get. "good luck to you. "yours sincerely arthur harris, marshal of the r.a.f." and here he is-- "for victor wade. arthur t. harris." anyway, it's all bound with the "e.r." on the front of this buckram cover and very handsome it looks, too. and i think that's a wonderful story. you know at the end of the war, the festival of britain, which was in 1951, and the queen's coronation obviously, in 1953-- and so, to get them all together like that was quite a feat. now, i suppose we have to go for value. so, i would imagine that we're talking about £10,000 to £15,000.

gosh. that's a lot more than i thought. i think it's wonderful. thank you for bringing it in. thank you very much. 30-odd years ago my husband and i bought a very beautiful medieval manor house that was in a terrible state. we spent 17 years restoring it and bringing up our children in it and then we got old and a bit disabled and we had to go. we would've loved to leave it to the children but none of them could afford to run it. the house. that's right. so we sold it. and i had the idea of getting a beautiful georgian doll's house and furnishing it with copies of the furniture that we had. i was lucky enough to meet billy on a coach tour of ireland and we happened to talk about doll's houses and that was it. and he's managed to make all these beautiful things for us. so, you made these. yes. and you picked him up on a coach trip in ireland.

that's right. okay, that's a new one. ( laughter ) i think it's superb. how long ago did you make them? oh, i don't know. three or four years ago? very recently. he's still making them. yeah. i think these are superb. i'm just going to pick up this. here we've got the hinges for this cradle. fine. every detail-- this opens up. so, old jacobean cradle. i mean, very nice. and this presumably does the same. that's absolutely lovely. um, what wood are you using for these? pear wood. it's-- they're made of oak, but the-- the big pieces are made of oak. yeah, but you can't reproduce oak in close scale. it's too big so you use pear wood which is the best wood to use. so, are you a professional making these? no, i'm--i was a woodworker all my life. i was a patter maker. oh, really? but, uh, i'd never made anything as intricate or small as this.

but it looks fascinating because that-- i now understand why these are such high quality. because if you're a pattern maker, they really are-- it's one of the most precise jobs ever, wasn't it? yes, very precise. you had to be very good, and that shows here, which is now a hobby. yes. fantastic. well, i think these are so charming. just let me compare this to here. we've got a really good sort of james i early 17th century oak armchair of lovely proportions. i daresay there's a bit of fiddling around. but, from what i can see here all this carving is absolutely right-- genuine, not victorian, carving. and i love this guilloche molding here. it's called a flower head guilloche. i want to see how well you've copied it here. i think it's wonderful. how long did it take you to make this one? do you remember? maybe 100 hours. so, did you charge her a lot of money for these? no. no, we're friends. friendship.

i picked him up. i see. but you had it copied. why have you still got the big pieces? presumably you had them copied because you couldn't fit them in the house. no, um these were pieces that we still have in the house. we got rid of a lot of much bigger things. but these we shall be able to pass down. so, how many pieces in this georgian doll's house have you got? oh, it's full. let's just think of the value of these. i mean, i think, roughly the jacobean pieces are all very roughly the early part of the 17th century-- in oak, as we said. and i would say, to be realistic, without inflating the price, it's about £1,000 each. something like that. but what are the miniatures worth? i don't know. they've got to be at least £200 apiece. don't tell him that. at least. more. very nice, i think so. yeah. the thing is that these would sell more easily than the big jacobean pieces. i think it's a lovely story.

thank you both very much indeed. well met. thank you. how long have you known it? it's been in my family quite some time. my mother bought it. in fact, no, my grandmother bought it. i noticed it on my mother's table one day with flowers in it. i'd just recently moved into the city center in newcastle where i actually can see this bridge. i thought, "my goodness, what's that?" and that's why i now own it. you nicked it off your poor mother. i did indeed, yes. yes, i did. so, where is this precisely? this is the high level bridge, which was opened in 1850, and it's one of the oldest bridges across newcastle-gateshead across the river. and, interestingly it actually was closed for several years recently for refurbishment, and it was reopened again fantastically. it's just over behind the tyne bridge. it's not the tyne bridge it's the bridge behind. we can see it. yes, we can. there's a railway runs along the top and there's a carriageway on the bottom. so, it's on two levels. and it was started in 1846. as it says.

so, it says "commenced april 24, 1846. opened january 16, 1850" which makes it quite an early piece of pressed glass. and i suppose by about 1850, there were probably something in the realm of 12,000 to 15,000 people occupied in pressed glass-making within a ten-mile radius. and, in fact, we are standing on bottle bank, and if you go just towards this bridge, it's the works of george sowerby in which this was made. and it's obviously a local icon. i mean this must've been-- imagine the work going on here. it must've been occupied-- how long did it take? four years to make. four years. and people falling in. it must've been an ongoing spectacle. think--before telly, this must've been really big news on a daily basis people talking about it in the pub, how it's doing. so, in a way, it really is genuinely a piece of local history and talks about an age that is completely gone-- the glass-making.

the bridge still stands, but the glass-making has completely disappeared. it's a nice thing. it's value is not terrific. but somewhere between 50 and 80 quid. yeah. well that's what i thought. i think it's a bargain at that price. ( laughs ) i won't be selling it. it's just a nice thing to look at. fantastic. yeah. thank you very much. this picture has been living at shepherds dene retreat house in the tyne valley west of newcastle. it's a beautiful arts and crafts house, about 100 years old. um, and as far as we know this has been there as long as the house has been there. it was certainly there as far as we can tell, when the house was gifted from a family to the bishop of newcastle in the 1940s which is when it became a retreat house for the darcys of newcastle and durham, where people can go and have time-outs and renew themselves. how high has it been hanging? well, it's been hanging on a very nice stairway, but up near the ceiling.

so, we think this is original dust. it's got lots of lovely age to it and the picture's incredibly dirty. the varnish has deteriorated. and you see on the right, um some of the original colors coming through, just by the edge of the frame. i was going to make a suggestion. i was wondering whether this could be a direct commission. we've got quite a clear view of this house just on the right side a very grand house. and i think that this could be a commission by perhaps the man on his horse. perhaps that-- looking at his house. exactly. because the artist has spent quite a good time making sure that the horse is well depicted. your picture is signed lower left and dated 1847. and, of course for robinson who's a rather obscure artist-- we don't know his christian names. um, an oil on canvas of this scale-- it must be one of his great masterpieces. great. he specialized initially working around richmond in yorkshire and then did two or three views that we know of

of darwen. but he was working really in the mid-19th century. in fact, the dates we have are about 1820 to 1870. we don't have a clear birth date or death date. but it's a rarity. we hardly ever see great views of cities like this, especially from the 1840s. fabulous original condition. it was cleaned beautifully. absolutely lovely. and, because it's by a lesser-known artist, it doesn't really matter. i think it goes down as a historic painting from the 1840s. and, in terms of value i think this would make quite a lot of money at auction. i would value this at certainly £6,000 to £8,000. right. well, thank you very much. it's lovely to know. and, uh... yeah, it's a great asset to our retreat house. we'll have to think about what we want to do with it. thank you. thank you. those are arabic numerals.

so, why don't we try and date this dish? drum roll. ( laughs ) one monkey. three fours are 12. three twos are 6. one 7. three ones, and that's 4. right? two. divide that by 100. we get 47.29. three. add that to-- we'll drop the .29. it's irrelevant. four. four from thirteen is... nine. nine. five. ( laughs ) uh, now, what am i doing? six. no, i'm sorry. i've done that wrong. seven. i'm very bad at math. eight--a very good chinese number. isn't this interesting? it is very interesting. it really is. but no. it's nine monkeys on a chain. hooray! we've got a number! 1818. 1818. what a performance.

even though it's quite a late date in our terms... yes? 500 to 700. this is so hilarious. i'm going to say it's worth somewhere between £1,000 and £2,000. wow. he'll be very impressed, i'm sure. the mid-19th century saw a real explosion in the production of snuffboxes-- not just in the united kingdom but also in france switzerland, and throughout europe as well. in the 18th century, france was probably the greatest producer of snuffboxes. in the 19th century, the swiss caught them up and probably overtook them. what do you know about the history of this very handsome-looking box you've brought along? well, it was given to me by my father in 2001. um, it came from my grandmother's estate. she passed away in 2000. and, really, that's as much history as i know about it. now, my grandparents were both swiss. she was born in russia. she came very early on back to switzerland. she married a swiss guy, and they lived in america for a while,

but they were very well-traveled. and that's as much as i know about it. well, that actually leads us very nicely on to where this box was made because if we open it up inside here, we've got some marks on the lid. i don't know who the maker is but this is a swiss-made box made in about 1840 and the fact that it's stamped "18-k" is not rocket science. it's 18-karat gold. so, we've got a solid gold snuffbox, beautifully made. i absolutely love the way this was made, because most snuffboxes would be embossed at this period. but this one-- if you see all this lovely decoration on the outside-- this is actually carved into the surface. if we open it up on the inside, there's no decoration on the inside. so, it's not punched in or punched out from either outside or inside. this is all carved-- a far, far more difficult technique. and, um, it's really an absolute delight. i think it's in superb condition.

it's really not much different from the day it was made. the initials on the front here-- looks like "f.d."-- does that ring a bell? uh, my grandmother's maiden name was freivogel, so that's-- so, that might be "d.f.", then. yes, so i'm not sure where "d" comes from. right. well, the good news for you is that, in recent years, there's been a real demand in gold boxes. and, uh, the russians in particular have been buying a lot of gold boxes. have you any idea what this could be worth? i have absolutely no idea, no. it was handed to me, and then it was put in a drawer for the last five, six years. well, um... we are looking at quite a valuable box. i would think it's worth probably between £2,000 to £3,000. wow, great. so, it's not a bad thing to inherit. great. oh, that's very nice. good surprise. ha ha! well, one day, you might use it for snuff. ( laughter ) it's filthy stuff. yeah, yeah. anyway, thank you for bringing it

along. thank you very much. it's a lovely piece. you've got some coins. i know our experts have seen them and they're gold rubles, aren't they? yes. and, in financial terms, they're worth not quite so much-- perhaps £100 a coin. but they've got an amazing priceless story behind them, haven't they? yes. my mother, um was in germany at the end of the second world war and she needed to escape to sweden. so, to disguise these coins and to take them out of germany to sweden she hid them in a coat and disguised them as buttons so they wouldn't be noticed by the germans. and she was told that any valuables would be destroyed. and she managed to take these coins out of germany. so, in here is one of the gold rubles. yeah, so, i think-- it's heavy. yeah, it's heavy. and these are the ones that you've taken out. so, she just wore them on her coat, on her dress just there on her body. yes, but she told me that she, um cycled through some thunderstorm

with a cake that her mother had given her to give to this family and she never saw her mother again. so, there she was with the only worldly goods she had, which were these coins stitched into these buttons, on her bike... with a cake. with a cake, cycling to what she hoped would be her salvation. well, yes. i mean, she left on the premise that she her parents would meet up with her in lubeck, but she never saw her mother again. so, it's rather poignant. so, this is all she has to remember her by-- these gold coins. yes. thank you so much for bringing them in. it's a pleasure. you've arrived with a tablecloth and a whole posse of friends. yes, they all love the antiques roadshow, and they wanted to get on the telly. this was the quickest way. they've got good taste. this is utterly intriguing. so, you have a group of drawings here inscribed by francis bacon and a newspaper dated 1970. well that's my grandfather.

he was in a restaurant in london, and he noticed a man sitting across from him at another table sketching people in the restaurant. so, when they were leaving he asked to look at it. and the man signed it and gave him the whole tablecloth. then, the next day in the hotel they got the newspaper and recognized the man from the night before. it was francis bacon. so, you've actually got a copy of the newspaper here. and he was arrested that night for drugs. yes. so, a rather fateful time for him. i mean, it's absolutely intriguing, this because it's exactly the sort of thing you would expect him to have done. he was a night owl. he spent all his time gambling, drinking going from one pub to the other wads of cash in his pocket. he was sort of generous but he was a real sort of hard-living libertine as well. and he was also pretty chaotic and slightly filthy. it's just the sort of thing he might have done

drawing on a tablecloth like that. it's just the sort of haunt and habitat you would expect. in fact, he used to paint in bed sometimes. someone was telling me they tried to get him to sign their sheets because he'd covered them with so much paint. so... i think we've got a very good circumstantial case for this being by the great francis bacon. do you know anything about the other portraits around? i mean, that looks like peter o'toole in the bottom left-hand corner. i'm not sure about that. i think this person was with my grandfather at the time. but the other figures were just other people in the restaurant that night. now, if this is by francis bacon-- and we need to prove it, and we need to find out a little bit more about the restaurant possibly-- we need to check it with other drawings-- it's quite valuable. have you thought about what it might be worth? no, no idea. if this is by francis bacon it's worth about £10,000. really? how can you prove it? how do--

that's your job. all right. and there are people out there who can help you. but i think there's a very high chance that it's right. brilliant. so, are you glad you all came now? yes, very. we've had this chest in our family since about 1829 so i can trace its history from that point. right. 1829 is not bad. that's through literally family connections? you know which house it was in? we do. we know it was found by my great-great-grandfather in a house called toftrees in fakenham, and it was found accidentally. the story goes that it was covered in plaster of paris and horsehair, and he was chipping away with his cane, and a big lump of the plaster fell off and revealed the carving underneath. so, obviously they then uncovered the whole thing, and it's been in the family ever since just passed down to whoever had a house large enough to give it houseroom. so, the chest was covered in plaster? yes. so, it looked as though it had been hidden deliberately

but we don't know why. why would somebody do that? we really don't know. we were told at one time it might have been a traveling altar, which might have meant that it was hidden because of, you know religious reasons or whatever. but that was just the story that was passed down. we really don't know. do you know what country it comes from? no. well, it's a catholic country and i suppose at a time when there was anti-catholic feeling. that is a possibility. it's an extraordinary story. i mean--and a huge thing like this. unless it was just jewelry and valuables. it might have been the silver. maybe. we might be talking about cromwell and the civil war. you can easily go back to 1650. right. if i tell you this is late 16th century-- right, so it's 15-something, yes? exactly. i mean, let's say 1600-- the last 10, 20 years, something like that. that's when it was made. wow. within a generation or so. it's made in italy. more precisely in adige. alto adige.

i'm trying to get my italian right. it's a town in the north of italy. that's where these coffers were made, these chests were made. right. were there a lot of them made? quite a few, quite a few. yeah. it's pretty rare but not that unusual in a lifetime of looking at furniture. in fact, when i first learned about these-- let's see if i can remember this. i'm going to try and remember a quote from shakespeare from the taming of the shrew. do you know the play? not very well. some of the famous phrases, but-- okay. so, um... "in my ivory coffers i have stuff'd my crowns; "in cypress chests my arras counterpoints costly apparel, tents, and canopies." cypress chest? it's made of cypress wood. right. not cyprus the island. no, no. but cypress, the wood, which is a type of cedar which grows in the alto adige area, and also the pyrenees as well. so, we have found out recently that, actually, these might have been made in northern spain as well, because the wood comes from northern spain.