The Antiques Roadshow

...was filmed today at Stormont, the seat of Northern Ireland’s assembly. Since it’s just up the road, we decided to go. David grew up watching the show with his grandmother, so he wanted to be part of the excitement.

We took an Edwardian clock made by Muirhead and Arthur, Glasgow, that my mom bought when she lived here in the 1970s. On an impulse, I took a large portrait of my grandfather, Major William F. Casey.

I figured the Roadshow likes family stories. The story goes that artists were employed during the New Deal and given a variety of commissions, including portraits of veterans. My grandfather was a WWI veteran and this is one of two portraits painted by August Francheschi, about whom I can find no info online.

The clock expert said the clock’s movement was made in Germany, which was mass producing clocks prior to WWI while England was still making clocks by hand. The result being the clock was worth one third of the value it would have commanded had it been English.

The painting expert (Dendy Easton, don’t you know) said the portrait had no value because it was crude, the sitter was male, and the artist was unknown. He was very nice about it so I took no offence. I got a kick out of so many strangers telling me they saw the family resemblance. I loved my grandfather and covet any association with him.

In the afternoon, David and I went for a walk at Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Rose Garden. Photos to follow once I have uploaded them from my phone.
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