Agnes the Irish magpie has has decided to stop hoarding. Amanda Cowley reports...

Agnes Richards's Irish eyes were smiling as she confided that her necklace once belonged to dance legend Isadora Duncan.

The string of amber beads takes pride of place among a vast collection bought for pennies over the past 60 years.

The passage of time and a few lucky finds mean the pensioner granny's treasures could now be worth a small fortune at auction. But, true or not, it was the stories behind the gems - like the one about Isadora Duncan - that captured the imagination of 73-year-old Agnes.

She said: "I bought the amber necklace at a hospital fete from a woman who spoke with a foreign accent and said she was Russian. She said it belonged to the dancer Isadora Duncan and I took her word for it. I buy something because it catches my eye, not for the value."

Agnes handed over £2.50 - her upper limit - for the string of beads. In the view of antiques expert Paul Lipson, it was a sound investment.

"This is really nice stuff, a long necklace with little seeds in the amber," he said. "As far as value is concerned, it is pushing into three figures, no trouble at all."

But Paul, a partner at Antiques on High in Oxford, said it was impossible to say whether the necklace was ever worn by Isadora Duncan. The tragic dancer, killed when her scarf became entangled in the wheel of her sports car, was indeed married to a Russian poet in the 1920s. But without a letter from Miss Duncan verifying that the necklace was hers, there is no way of proving it.

Agnes's magpie instinct stems from her humble beginnings as one of 11 children whose parents scraped a living from a smallholding in southern Ireland.

"We never had much money, but when I was about ten we were each given a shilling to spend at a convent fair," she said.

"I decided I would rather spend it on something pretty than sweets, so I bought some fabric and ribbons. I always had a fancy for pretty things."

Agnes left her home in Cork more than 50 years ago. She settled in Oxford, where she married a builder, George, and raised four sons.

Money was tight but she always found a little for her hobby. "I don't smoke, drink or go to the bingo," she said. "I had to do something or I would have gone mad."

So Agnes began to collect things - costume jewellery, clothes, china and glass, all bought for a song at junk shops and charity bazaars.

"A couple of pounds was the most I would spend. I never bought anything I couldn't afford but if my pocket ran to it, I would have it."

Ironically, she never had any desire to wear her jewellery. "I can't help collecting nice things, but most never see the light of day," she said. "If I buy something, I bring it home, say 'That's nice', wrap it up and put it away. My family call me the original bag lady."

Widow Agnes shares her home with son John, his wife Caroline, grandchildren Hannah, aged five, and six-month-old baby Adam.

Her collection ranges from collectables such as a Clarice Cliff sugar-shaker to a perfume bottle in the shape of Mae West's lips.

But the time has finally come for Agnes to call it a day. "I have to stop now because there is nowhere left to put anything," she sighed.

Paul Lipson has advised her to sell at auction so that "no-one can say a dirty dealer gave her an unfair price because she is an old lady".

Agnes will sell her collection without a second thought. "I'm not going to keep a thing. I haven't got attached to anything in particular. I'm 73, so I have no room for sentiment," she said.

But will she be able to resist starting all over again? "Oh yes, I'm going to just sit and do nothing. I would be sorely tempted if I saw something nice, of course. But nothing on this scale. Maybe just one or two really nice things..."

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