Episode
Antiques Roadshow: Victoria & Albert Museum
Overview
Michael Aspel presents his first Antiques Roadshow from the magnificent surroundings of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Accompanied by the familiar team of experts, they uncover a treasure trove of unusual objects including an original hand-written poem by W B Yeats, examples of Meissen from the earliest days of European porcelain manufacture, and a rare silver tobacco box rescued from a London dustbin. Plus there is a valuable painting by the leading candlelight painter of the 19th century. And John Bly tells Michael about the art of discovering the history of a piece of furniture.
Details
- Series
- Antiques Roadshow
- Season
- Season 23
- Episode
- Episode 1
- Air date
- 2000-10-01
- Runtime
- 58 min
Episode context
Victoria & Albert Museum is Episode 1 in Series 23 of Antiques Roadshow. It aired on 2000-10-01. The runtime is 58 min.
Previous / Next
More episodes from this season
Episode 3: Biddulph
Michael Aspel and a team of experts examine curios and artefacts offered up by the public. This episode was filmed in the Valley Leisure Centre in Biddulph, Staffordshire, and features a rare 18th-century Wedgwood egg scrambler, a genuine Constable sketch, a fine English repeater watch, a remarkable collection of ship's documents giving details of the auctioning of slaves and a handkerchief that Queen Victoria gave to the lady who strung her pearls.
Episode 4: Glamis Castle
Michael Aspel and a team of experts examine curios and artefacts offered up by the public. This time, the venue is Glamis Castle in Angus, Scotland, childhood home of the Queen Mother, where Macbeth is said to have killed Duncan. Michael Aspel and the experts find a posy ring with a macabre story, a dining table whose original purpose was for resting a coffin on, diamond jewellery which survived not only fire but a torpedo, a pair of 18th-century miniatures with musical connections and the fascinating scrapbook of a WW1 pilot.
Episode 5: Glamis Castle 2
A special edition in which Michael Aspel introduces sequences from previous roadshows and recounts stories of the Queen Mother's early life at Glamis Castle. Featuring ivory figures collected by a man nicknamed 'Steptoe' by his family, a pair of valuable Chinese imperial bowls once used as plant pots, a necklace of very ancient stones, and a collection of handbag mirrors.
Episode 6: Selby
Items of interest in this edition include a picture embroidered with sock-darning wool in memory of gallant Captain Oates by a private in his regiment, a copy of Beatrix Potter's book The Fairy Caravan dedicated to Fred Satterthwaite, who was portrayed in it as his dog Metal, two rare cornets from local bands and a splendid collection of Masonic porcelain worth over a quarter of a million. Michael Aspel and the experts visit Selby in North Yorkshire.
Episode 7: Wisbech
A valuable vase covered in paint and bought for £1 at a car boot sale, a Martinware bird which cost two shillings at a fete and a rare hair ring bought in at auction, because 'nobody else was interested and I bid £1 and got it' - three great bargains turn up when Michael Aspel and the experts visit Wisbech in Cambridgeshire.
There's also an impressive collection of royal invitations, letters, sketches and items from eminent Victorians put together by the librarian at Windsor Castle in the 1860s.
Episode 8: Blackpool
It is a good day out when Michael Aspel takes the experts to Blackpool to dig up seaside treasures. There is a programme for the 1936 cup tie between Blackpool and Bolton signed by the players, including Stanley Matthews, a very rare salt-glazed mug made for a supporter of Bonnie Prince Charlie and an unusual medal awarded for selling Hoovers in the 1930s. And Michael Aspel discovers the predecessor of his big red book.
Episode 9: Newport
A teapot that holds 144 cups of tea, a gruesome 18th-century mourning ring, a rare Hungarian vase, a painting of Britannia too large to fit in the house and the 'nicest netsuke seen on the roadshow'; these are some of the discoveries when Michael Aspel takes the experts to Newport in Gwent.
Plus, Michael is shown a home-made device used for clearing incendiaries in WWII.
Episode 10: Knebworth House
The items featured in this edition include a diamond brooch which almost went to a car boot sale for £1, a marine chronometer left to the owner by a drinking pal, a bronze Spirit of Ecstasy which, if genuine, could be worth £10,000, and a satsuma pot which David Battie says, 'is as good a piece as I've ever seen on the Roadshow.'
Michael Aspel and the experts gather for an al fresco day in the gardens of Knebworth House in Hertfordshire.
Episode 11: Knebworth House 2
A pair of revealing female figures originally displayed in a French brothel, an unusual table clock with a floating turtle which tells the time, a chemist's mortar dating from 1573 and a Victorian toilet given as a present. From Knebworth House in Hertfordshire, Michael Aspel introduces unseen finds from previous Roadshows in the series and talks to expert Clive Farahar about Knebworth's colourful former incumbent Edward Bulwer Lytton, Victorian playwright and philanderer, whose turbulent marriage caused a major scandal.
Episode 12: University of Birmingham
Michael Aspel and the experts visit Birmingham and find a Victorian painting which was damaged in the blitz, a telescope given for saving the lives of nine castaways, an early 19th-century wooden ark filled with 89 animals, and a small pottery Turk's head which turns out to be the most valuable piece of English pottery ever found at a Roadshow.