Antiques Roadshow guest ‘astonished’ by valuation of historic diaries

Antiques Roadshow guest refuses to sell valuable family heirlooms

Antiques Roadshow expert Justin Croft was intrigued by some diaries brought in by a guest.

“So we’re looking at a small group of notebooks, really tiny notebooks, pocketbooks,” he explained.

“I would guess these late 17th, early 18th century, but then rather extraordinary, there is this, which is a wallet or a letter pouch, which again is leather.

“I open the lid and here’s the name – James Eckersall, at Whitehall.”

Turning to the owner, he admitted: “You might have to help me here, what are we looking at?”

“So these were family heirlooms which I came into ownership of about three years ago when my father passed away,” the guest clarified.

Justin added: “And if you look inside the wallet, there was a personal diary of James Eckersall, with the most extraordinary, beautiful handwriting, who was a clerk to the court of St. James. So which monarch did he serve?”

“Queen Anne, King William, George I, and George II,” the owner answered.

“Right, but in any case, he was part of this incredibly important court which was presumably at Whitehall, but also moving around through Europe. He went abroad?” asked Justin.

“He went abroad a lot, and in fact, I was really surprised when I read it, how many times he’d crossed the channel,” the guest replied.

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“He’s actually totalled it up at the end of his little diary,” Justin pointed out, continuing to read: “‘In the service of the crown, I crossed the sea 58 times,’ that’s extraordinary, isn’t it?”

An impressed Justin went on: “Each of the voyages, 1697 right the way through to 1741. And the incredible detail.

“This is him, he’s somewhere in the Low Countries, he’s visiting the household of a duke and he talks about a festival on the 14 September, there was a great festival for the sake of the huntsman, who all attended with their French horns.”

Later, Justin added: “So nobody has ever transcribed these before. These have just been in your household or passed down the family.

“And so presumably, they’ve never been published, there’s no printed account of this?”

“Not that I’m aware of, no,” the Antiques Roadshow visitor responded.

The manuscripts expert asked: “Isn’t that interesting? Because this is somebody right at the heart of the British government.

“The heart of the royal court, and he’s clearly somebody who had a lot to say about what was going on at a very important point in European history – when Europe was, in a way, tearing itself apart.

“So I think there’s a lot to draw out of these and it’s extraordinary.”

Getting around to the all-important valuation, Justin explained: “Well, they must have a commercial value.

“If these were to sell, I think these would make between £15,000 and £20,000.”

Clearly taken aback, the speechless guest smiled as he confessed: “Wow… I’m astonished.”

Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays at 8pm on BBC One.

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