Antiques star looks for treasures in Chatham

Could your home be harbouring treasures? We speak to antiques expert and TV regular Catherine Southon ahead of a valuation day at Nucleus Arts in Chatham, where Medway’s maritime past may yet turn up in cupboards and lofts across the towns. Elsewhere, a Medway-based games studio is recreating the Medway Valley Line in digital form, while a Halling brewery finds its beer poured in the House of Commons, our weekly events guide, and more.

Antiques star looks for treasures in Chatham

Catherine Southon is an auctioneer and antiques expert who specialised in scientific instruments and maritime art whilst at Sotheby’s. She is now the managing director of Catherine Southon Auctioneers & Valuers. Brought to the public attention for her work on the BBC shows Flog It, Bargain Hunt, and Antiques Road Trip, we spoke to her about her upcoming valuation day at Chatham’s Nucleus Arts...

Catherine Southon and her team of valuers will be at Nucleus Arts in Chatham on 16 January, from 10am until 1pm. “We’ve done some recording there before,” says Catherine, “for Antiques Road Trip, and it's just a wonderful place. This is part of a few evaluation days that the Kent-based CSAV are holding. “We try to do as many as we can, but Chatham is an area that we haven't done before.”

With Catherine's background at Sotheby’s, she is hoping that Chatham’s dockyard background will bring many scientific instruments, maritime items and artwork to be seen and valued. “A real dream would be to see, maybe a prisoner of war ship model,” says Catherine, “or nice navigational instruments that would be lovely.” Catherine is hoping to see early pieces, as well as naval ephemera, uniforms and “I'd love to see globes, we hardly ever see globes. Any nice pocket globes or even library globes.” Catherine's other passion is jewellery. “We see a lot of jewellery, but it would be nice to see something in Chatham with a naval history.”

A risk with antique valuations is that somebody brings what they have been told is a family heirloom, and it has no financial value. “That's one of the hardest parts of our job,” says Catherine. “On the other side, we love delighting people and telling them that actually the item they think is worth nothing, is worth a lot of money.” Managing expectations is something the valuers do on a daily basis, when people bring something that once upon a time was the height of fashion, and is now worth £10. “You've got to be incredibly sensitive. You can't laugh, because they've had this handed down, you have just got to explain to them, furniture or highly decorative pieces, like figurines, is this something that you would have in your home today? That's the problem. Fashion dictates the market.” 

Unless you've got the crème de la crème, the harsh reality is nobody wants it. “The important thing, when we do have these valuation days, is to sit down and spend time with each individual person as much as you can.” Catherine describes how they can be swift when needed to go through items, promptly putting aside items that are not of interest or value, so they can spend time on the good. They do take the time to explain decisions, and for some, that can be hard.

Often, valuation days are managed by appointment, and so they know who in the team to bring. Excitingly, this Nucleus Arts-based event is being run as a drop-in. However, if you can contact CSAV in advance, it will help them to know what to expect. The team of valuers all have their strengths and areas of expertise, ranging from glass and ceramics to paintings and jewellery.

Catherine isn’t a dealer herself and doesn’t buy at auctions. For her, the excitement lies in that valuation and in standing on the rostrum, encouraging others to bid. “Certainly, I see things and think, I love that. We can buy items, we can bid on them in our auction, but I always resist that.” The other enjoyment is researching items, “especially when we find things that we've never seen before.”  

Catherine tells me how people can be surprised when they come to valuation days. “They expect us to know chapter and verse about every single item that's put in front of us, and we don't have this endless encyclopaedic knowledge of antiques.” The worst thing the team can do in that scenario is “pretend that you do know about everything.” What the team will do is find out for you, take photographs, or even agree with you to take the item away and come back to you because “it's not Antiques Roadshow. We're not filming, and we haven't got the resources to go away and find out straight away.”

Another similar challenge is with foreign items that may have writing on it. “They say, what does that mean? I have absolutely no idea what it says.”  Catherine and team can tell you how old they think a piece is, but not what is written in Japanese, for example, “and people get very upset about it.” The team are coming with a good general knowledge of a wide variety of items and are looking forward to seeing what gets brought for valuation. 

Antiques are strictly items that are at least 100 years old, but they don’t just look at antiques and are even open to items from this century. They also sell ephemera. “For example, we'll sell a set of Rolling Stone signatures or a Freddie Mercury costume.” Fashion is an area of interest as well. “We'd sell a Chanel bag, for example”.  For Catherine and the team, doing the valuation days is to share their knowledge with the public and let them know what items are worth. “Sometimes it's the most curious things that people think are worth nothing, that they're worth something. I would encourage people to bring everything along, and we'll see as much as we can.”

If someone has something of value or interest, there will be guidance on how to sell their item at auction. “We are there to take items there and then, we can give receipts, and then we can tell them what auctions they will go into with us, because we have specialist auctions for various areas.” This includes a book and collectors’ section, a paintings auction, a decorative arts auction, glass and ceramics, jewellery, watches, and silver.

Catherine is really looking forward to meeting people at the valuation day. If you have an item you would like to get valued, don’t decide to not bring it in. “People say to us, ‘Oh, I wasn't going to bring this.’”  Then it's the thing which generates real interest. Catherine tells me about a woman who brought in a red leather box that she was thinking of selling on eBay. The box was Georgian, and inside was a little vinaigrette.  Ladies and gentlemen would use them to sniff and escape the smells of the Georgian period. The box also had gold, not the usual silver in its case. The item sold for over £1,000. “My message to people would be to bring everything.”

You can find out more about the valuation event at Nucleus Arts here.

Medway Valley Line recreated for video game

A detailed digital recreation of the Medway Valley Line is in development for a long-running series of train simulator video games, capturing the railway’s stations, junctions and landscape from Strood through Maidstone to Tonbridge.

The project is being developed for Train Sim World 6 by Dovetail Games, a Medway-based studio that has previously brought parts of North Kent into its simulations, including the Southeastern High-Speed route through Strood, Rochester and Rainham. We previously wrote about the recreation of Medway in that version of the game back in 2021.

The new route follows the River Medway south, taking in familiar stations including Cuxton, Halling, Snodland, Aylesford, Maidstone West, Paddock Wood, and Tonbridge, as well as freight and operational sites such as Hoo Junction, Halling Cement Works, Gillingham depot and Tonbridge West Yard. Developers say the line has been recreated in near picture-perfect detail, including historic buildings, level crossings and signal boxes that remain in use today.

Passenger services will reflect a modern timetable, while the trains themselves will feature working onboard systems, announcements and communications with signallers, elements designed to mirror the way the railway operates in real life rather than simply its appearance.

The expansion is due to be released in 2026, coinciding with the 170th anniversary of the Medway Valley Line’s opening, adding another layer to the growing digital record of Medway’s transport history.

Moot Brew Co to be showcased in House of Commons

Moot Brew Co is an independent brewery and tap room in Halling. We interviewed Head Brewer Calvin Gear last Christmas. This Christmas, they have collaborated with Rochester and Strood MP Lauren Edwards to get ‘Plush’, an American Pale Ale served in the Strangers Bar inside the House of Commons, a venue frequented by MPs and high-profile guests.   

Earlier this year, we wrote in our Kent Current sister title about a parliamentary event held by Lauren showcasing Kent food and drink producers. This is the latest opportunity to give parliament the opportunity to taste Kent and Medway’s produce. “I’m really excited to showcase a fantastic local beer here in Parliament,” said Lauren. “The team at Moot Brewery are a brilliant example of entrepreneurship. I’m a regular visitor to their brewery in Halling and know they produce great quality beer.”

Patrick Smith, Director of Moot Brew Co, said, “Having our beer showcased in Parliament is a real privilege for our team and an opportunity to put the village of Halling on the map.” Plush, said Patrick, represents Moot’s craftsmanship and commitment to quality, “and we’re thrilled to share a pint of it with Westminster.”

“This initiative is part of a long-standing tradition of showcasing local independent breweries in Parliament,” said Barry Watts, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), “and it’s great that MPs will get to try beer from one of Kent and Medway’s up and coming breweries.” “Supporting independent breweries is not just about great beer though,” said Lauren. “It’s about backing local jobs and the local visitor economy too.”

Events this week

🎸 Sat 13 Dec - The Masonics Krampus Nacht Knees-Up // Legendary Medway band play appropriate venue. Masonic Hall, Rochester. Tickets £14.

🎸 Sat 13 Dec - Singing Loins + South Shore // A festive singalong to all your favourite Loins tunes, The Ship Inn, Gillingham. Free.

🪕 Wed 17 Dec - Lupen Crook // Intimate gig from legendary local singer songwriter. Three Sheets to the Wind, Rochester. Tickets £8.

Footnotes

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