Dudley Flog It!

When the Saxons set up home in a clearing in the forest,

little did they know it would become a bustling industrial town.

Welcome to Flog It! from Dudley.

The canals built here in Dudley in the 18th century kick-started massive industrial growth and,

by the middle of the 19th century, this whole place was ablaze

with furnaces as the iron industry boomed.

But with it came smoke, the notorious smog

and along with that came a new name - the Black Country.

But today the clouds have lifted and the crowds have gathered outside our venue, Dudley's concert hall.

And their burning desire is to get to the Flog It!

valuation tables and to see what they've dug out,

we've got two experts today - Thomas Plant and Adam Partridge.

I think Thomas has already spotted something.

So, Dennis, who owned this lot?

My eldest son. He was born in 1955. He was about one or two

-when we started the collection.

-Really?

These are mainly '60s toys, these Corgi ones here.

And that's a similar date, the Dinky Supertoys.

You've got two different makers. You've got the Dinky and the Corgi.

Some collectors or some toy people would never let the two mix.

-Did they have great fun with these?

-They did.

-They must've been very well-behaved.

-They were, yeah.

Because they're in very nice condition.

This is what we call the Chipperfield Circus.

Sometimes you get them in box sets, slightly earlier in date,

-and they are worth quite a lot of money.

-Yeah.

I've seen these sell a lot. I've actually seen Dinky Supertoys sell

and, only a couple of months ago, I sold the exact one of those.

I know exactly what it made, so I can give you quite good figures.

-Your boys are happy for you to sell these?

-They are, yes.

-Have you spoken to them?

-Their sons are too old now.

They're in their 20s.

Yeah? What we find about, when people buy these, is they are

the boys and girls who had them as children, like your boys,

and they buy them because of nostalgia.

-A wave of nostalgia comes over them and they think, "I'd like to buy back my childhood."

-Yeah.

It happens to some people, others it doesn't.

What I would suggest, as regards to auction,

I would suggest we have this as two lots.

-Yes.

-So we've got the Chipperfield lot - all this collection here

-of Chipperfields is probably worth between £200 and £300.

-Yeah.

As regards to a reserve, for the Chipperfields, the Corgi,

I would put it in at round about £180 with discretion.

Which means the auctioneer has got a bit to play with.

-Yeah.

-Is that all right? I'll go along with you.

I think that's sensible. Now, the next thing,

this will go on its own, because the Corgi and Dinky don't really meet.

-No.

-So that's worth selling on its own at £40-£60.

-Yeah.

And I think with a reserve of probably £40 with discretion.

-I could see that making maybe £60.

-Good.

-What will you do with the money?

-The grandsons and the granddaughter.

That'd be a good way, wouldn't it? Good thing to do.

-Split it three ways.

-Good idea.

-Shirley, welcome to Flog It!

-Hello.

And what could be better? Three handsome partridges,

and another one sitting here valuing them.

I just had to value these when I saw them, because I come across loads of

the common birds, like pheasants and grouse and everything else,

but it's not often you see a handsome set of Beswick partridges.

What can you tell me about them from your personal point of view?

How long have you had them?

My mother-in-law died about 20 years ago and I inherited them from then.

OK, from her then?

-Had you always admired them?

-Oh, yes.

She always had them on the wall.

Do they hang on your wall now?

-They did.

-Till today or...?

-No, I boxed them away quite a while ago.

So they haven't been on the wall for a while.

They're in lovely condition, aren't they?

I haven't inspected them all over but they look absolutely perfect.

Very clean as well. These were produced in the '50s and '60s.

-I think they were discontinued in 1967.

-Yeah.

And they were designed by a chap called Arthur Gredington

who was one of the big Beswick modellers at the time.

I'll pick up the closest one so if people at home have got one,

they can see the marks on them.

There's the Beswick mark there. Beswick England printed mark there.

If I rotate it back across, there's the model number which is 1188.

This is number three, being the smallest.

That'll be number two, and that'll be number one.

So, why are you selling them?

Well, I have five children and they'd only squabble over them.

That's the only reason? OK. So we've got the full set here.

Normally, I would expect these to make maybe £70-£100 for the set.

Hopefully, they'll just do a little bit better than that.

But if we put that estimate on them, how do you feel about that?

-Mm, that's all right.

-Not elated?

-I thought between 70 and 100.

-Did you?

-Yeah.

-Oh, well, great minds, eh?

Any ideas on what you'd do with the money if you got £100 for them?

Well, I've got a son in Australia, the baby, and I'd like to go and see him.

His wife's expecting a baby in December, so...

-You're going to be a grandma.

-Yes.

-Excellent.

-Again!

-Again? How many have you got?

-Oh...I've lost count.

Too many to remember!

I think I've got around 16 grandchildren and about...

13 great-grandchildren.

Wow! That's amazing. Well, we're gonna see you at the auction.

Let's hope the bidders are game and they give us plenty of money

for this fantastic set of partridges.

Thank you.

Dorothy, I remember these.

Ladybird books.

Gosh, I read these and got tested on them at school.

Isn't that lovely? Do you know there were 90 million or so

-Ladybird books printed?

-Really? I didn't know that.

A great learning tool. Good education. I swear by it!

But, of course, this is an original Harry Wingfield,

the artist who illustrated a lot of these Ladybird books.

-Peter and Jane.

-Yes, he did.

The whole thing, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks,

you name it, this guy did it.

Harry Wingfield was a tremendous commercial artist.

He really had talent.

He started working for Ladybird in the late '50s.

Very prolific throughout the '60s and '70s.

And there's the little girl, with the same dress on.

And this was published... When was this published?

1959. Oh, you know, do you?

Yes, you're right. 1959. How about that?

Nearly 50 years old.

So, did you meet the artist?

I did meet the artist at an exhibition in Walsall.

-How long ago was that?

-2002.

-And you bought this at the exhibition?

No, I bought that in 1993.

-Right...

-I subsequently went to an exhibition in Walsall

and he was trying to buy them back...

-Oh, was he?

-..because he wanted every one...

That's his wife who's featured there,

and he wanted to buy every one back with his wife in it.

That is such a lovely scene, isn't it?

He's captured all those infants at an assembly in the morning,

all praying. Isn't it lovely?

It's a classic watercolour. Beautifully done.

He was a specialist in capturing urban scenes, really,

which went with these books and they were aimed at people living

in terraced houses, moving out to the green belt in the country

and getting a semi-detached house and moving up in the world.

Isn't that great?

Why have you brought this in?

Do you just want a valuation or do you want to sell this?

Well, I just thought it would be nice, someone may like to share it.

Do you mind me asking how much you paid for this?

-I paid £250 for it.

-OK.

And he has died just recently.

-He died in 2002.

-Yeah, so it's quite topical.

Just at the end of his exhibition, he died.

I think, because he's died recently,

there's been a lot in the press about Ladybird books lately,

and I think people will start buying into this again.

And this is such a lovely little image.

This is a really tender little image.

We could put a valuation on of £600-£800.

-I'm pretty sure we'll double your money.

-OK.

Cos if the collectors aren't buying it at the moment,

give it another two or three years, and hopefully they will.

Yes. Thank you.

-What are your names?

-I'm Kate and this is Claire.

Nice to meet you. How do you know each other?

-We're mother and daughter.

-Brilliant.

-You've brought along this picture.

-Yes.

-What do you know about it?

Well, not a lot, actually.

We thought it said Milton Drinkwater and we thought

-it was of the Lake District.

-Obviously, it's Keswick.

I've never been there but I think I should make a visit

because this looks lovely. I hope it's still like that today.

No, this is a wonderful picture.

Lovely, lovely light to it, great quality and it's a watercolour.

How did you come by it, Kate?

-I bought it in a jumble sale.

-No!

-Yes.

-How much for?

-I don't know.

I think it was about £10, something like that.

Really? £10?

It seemed a lot at the time.

-Why did you buy it?

-I don't know.

I like watercolours cos they're softer than oils,

and it just looked like a very relaxing scene, so I got it.

You reckon you paid about £10?

-Yes.

-You wouldn't have paid more?

Definitely not, no. I thought I was being brave spending £10.

Really? Well, I think you've probably got quite a good eye.

What's funny is that when you see...

I mean, I'm not a great picture specialist.

One thing I've always noticed about pictures like this is the cows.

My father was a farmer who used to farm cattle.

Why are the cows' hooves always hidden?

Maybe they're not very good at it.

This is the thing. This is my theory.

-Maybe they're rubbish at doing hooves.

-Yeah.

And this is probably what they've done.

But I still think the rest of them are quite nicely done.

Now, why have you brought it along to sell?

It's been in the loft for ages,

not doing anything, and I thought that was a shame, so...

And to find out a little bit more about Milton Drinkwater cos

I didn't know if he was a known artist or anything.

He's certainly known. He certainly has an auction record.

His work does sell and it sells quite well, actually.

I think we're probably going to say late 19th, early 20th century.

-Well, I think you've done rather well with your £10. I really do.

-OK!

I think, probably, we could put it in preliminarily maybe £150-£250.

-Oh, great.

-I wouldn't be surprised if it made that money.

-Good.

-How does that grab you?

Lovely. Absolutely, yeah.

-What do you think, Claire?

-I think it's excellent!

Yeah? Do you like the picture?

I think it's nice but I'd rather have maybe

-an Art Deco piece or a vase.

-Really?

-So you'd put the money to good use?

-Yeah.

You wouldn't blow it on the weekly shop?

-No, maybe other antiques.

-Oh, that's a result.

We'd like to hear more of that.

You guys are both gonna come to the auction?

-Yes.

-Brilliant. Hopefully, you'll do well.

After the valuation, Dorothy had a good think and decided she wasn't

quite ready to let go of her painting.

But here's a reminder of those who have decided

to take their items off to auction.

Kate is hoping that her £10 jumble sale find

will prove to be money well spent.

Shirley's graduated set of three partridges

will take flight to the auction, hoping to find a new place to roost.

And will Thomas's gamble to split Dennis' toy collection pay off?

Well, we've left Dudley and we've travelled to Fieldings Auction House

in the heart of Stourbridge because it's crunch time.

This is where we put our experts' valuations to the test.

Will Adam and Thomas be on the money?

Let's go inside and find out.

Well, today's auctioneer is Nick Davies

and he's already got a few words to say about one of Adam's valuations.

Well, it had to be Adam Partridge, didn't it,

to value three partridges?

We've got a little collection of Beswick here. What do you think?

He's not selling the family silver, he's selling the family name!

Pink-legged partridges. They're standard fare to a certain degree.

You see a lot of the ducks and the pheasants.

We've seen lots of ducks on the show.

I've never seen the partridges before, though.

No, no, they are slightly more uncommon, admittedly.

And the interesting thing is that they're a pink-legged version so

they might make a little...fly away a little bit better, shall we say?

Is that something to look for, the pink-legged?

They're just a slightly different version of these wall plaques.

They do partridges standings but the one on the wall plaques

always the pink-legged version so they should be OK.

Owner Shirley has had them 20-odd years.

She's got five children, three partridges,

so she can't leave them to the kids!

So she's gonna sell them.

She's expecting £70-£100.

I think we should be fine with that. I really do. £70?

-I think Mr Partridge has done a good job.

-I think he has.

Adam really does know his stuff, and I think he's left

-a little surprise in it, really.

-I think he has.

-Cos on a good day that's £150, isn't it?

-Indeed, indeed.

I'd expect somewhere around that figure for these type of birds.

While Nick gets ready to wield the gavel, I've sat down next to a feisty lady.

We see a great deal of Royal Doulton on the show.

A lot of it's £80-£120, a lot of it's £300-£400,

but we've never seen anything like this little suffragette before.

"Votes for women." Look at that. Quite an aggressive stance.

If you have anything like this at home, it's worth a small fortune.

There's the Royal Doulton impress mark, classic colours,

early 20th century. It has a function.

Can you guess what it does?

I'll tell you.

It's an ink well. Look.

There you go. To put your pen in, your little quill. How about that?

And it's in perfect condition.

If you have something like this, whatever you do,

look after it, get it insured, make sure it's safe in the house.

You don't want to be losing it.

It's got a value of...

£800-£1,200.

The crowds have gathered, so it's time for our first lot to go under the hammer.

Will this lot fly away?

Well, we're gonna find out right now. They belong to Shirley.

It's those little partridges, valued by our Mr Partridge!

-I expect you had a laugh about that on valuation day.

-Yes.

-Yes, of course you would've done.

Shirley, why are you flogging these? Why don't you want to keep them?

-Well...

-I know you can't divide them up with the boys and girls, can you?

No, I can't. That's probably the reason, really.

But you've had them on the wall, you've enjoyed looking at them.

I have enjoyed them, yeah. Yeah. But I'm saving, so I need the money.

-Saving to go to Australia.

-That's right. I remember.

-Nice trip.

I had a chat to the auctioneer. He agreed with your valuation,

and he kind of said we've all seen the ducks, haven't we?

-Yeah, the mallards...

-But these are quite nice, though.

-Of course, they're a class above.

-They're partridges.

Let's watch them fly.

140 is the set of three graduated Beswick pottery flying partridges.

£105 takes all the other bidders out at £105. Straight in at 105.

110 in the room anywhere?

110, 115, 120, 5, 130?

125 on a commission still.

130 anywhere else? £125.

Are we all sure and done at 125?

Right, spot on.

125 for the partridges.

£125.

That gets you to the airport, and the parking!

Doesn't it, really? Yeah.

But it's something towards the trip.

-That's right, yeah.

-Good valuation.

-Thank you. Yeah, pleased with that.

Hopefully, right here, right now, we're going to turn £10 into £100!

We've got a beautiful watercolour. It's of the Lake District

and it belongs to Kate and Claire, mother and daughter.

Now then, you got this in a jumble sale in North Devon.

-That's right, yeah.

-Right, OK.

-£10.

-Wow.

-That was a snip.

That WAS a snip.

He normally does quite well, about £300.

Book price, yeah. Derby artist...

£100 - he should do it, really.

Have to wait and see.

-Hope so.

-Here we go, it's going under the hammer.

Here we are - Friar's Crag, Keswick.

And I can open this one below estimate at... I look for £100.

Anybody giving up £100?

Below estimate at £100 for the Milton Drinkwater.

Anybody interested at £100 for this watercolour?

If there's no interest at £100 in this watercolour,

which is well below estimate, I shall pass it by.

Anybody coming in at £100? No interest? Are you sure?

Oh, dear.

-There's no fine art lovers here.

-No.

-No.

-Unless they didn't like it, like you!

-Never mind.

-Oh, I'm so sorry.

-Never mind.

-What's gonna happen?

We'll just keep it and then try again another day.

-Good idea.

-Another sale, another day.

-OK, thanks very much.

-Thank you.

A disappointing start for Thomas so fingers crossed his next item does a lot better.

This lot has been in the family an awful long time, Dennis' family.

Thomas has put a value on them. We split them into two lots.

You can't mix the two together!

Not with Chipperfield Circus.

We've got the family over there. They've all played with those toys as well.

-That's right, yeah.

-OK, tell me about the first lot, the Dinky Supertoy.

That's a Dinky Supertoy and that's in its nice box.

-Fire engine with extending ladder.

-Let's find out what it does.

-Yeah.

Here we go. Good luck.

There it is, and bids I can open up at 35. I look for 38 in the room.

35, 38. A nod. 38, I've got you.

40 anywhere else? £38 then?

40 now. 42, 45, 48?

Looks away. 45, it's with you, sir.

48 anywhere else? At £45, it's going out at 45, all done?

-£45 it is.

-Hammer's gone down, Dennis.

£45. One down, one to go. Now we're hoping...

-Chipperfield Circus...

-..for £500.

Oh, no! It's not worth that!

Interesting thing and I can open this one a bit below estimate

at £170. 170. Anybody coming in? 170...

-Nice bid there.

-180 anywhere else? £170 in the room seated.

180, 190, 200? Says no.

190 with you, sir. 200 anywhere else?

-£190. Have we stopped at 190? 200 anywhere else?

-Come on, round it up!

With the seated bid, all done?

That was a good result.

Yeah, not bad. 235 total hammer, and you'll go home with probably...

-What do you think, Paul?

-Just under £200.

-Yeah, I think so.

-OK.

-Well, that's not bad, is it? They're all happy. The family's happy. You're happy.

Everyone's happy!

For my little jaunt out today, I've travelled to the outskirts of Birmingham,

and I'm gonna witness the training of a new recruit, and he's on his way to becoming

a valuable member of the urban search and rescue team here at Bickenhill Fire Station.

The urban search and rescue team is a technical rescue unit that set up camp on this purpose-built complex

earlier this year, gathering together local firefighters to form

a special part of the West Midlands Fire Service.

But instead of responding to fires,

they're experts in attending calls where there's a potential for someone to be trapped.

And as well as all of this machinery, which is packed full of the latest high-tech equipment,

this unit also uses one tried and tested tool - man's best friend.

A dog's skill at sniffing out lost or trapped casualties has long been documented.

During the war years, they were used with great success

to locate casualties buried in buildings destroyed by the Blitz.

And search and rescue dogs have been reported as early as the 17th century.

The dogs used today by the urban search and rescue team carry on that tradition.

Currently, this unit can only call on canine teams from neighbouring counties,

but all that is about to change. Meet Simba.

Good boy.

And the man who is responsible for Simba's training is Paul Jobbins, a firefighter for over 17 years.

Before I meet Paul, he's keen to show us Simba in action.

A difficult scenario has been set up to mimic a real-life incident.

This will certainly test Paul and Simba's search and rescue skills.

One man who's been there and done it all is Paul's mate Steve Buckley,

and he's from the neighbouring Cheshire fire services.

He's got a wealth of experience, he's been on hundreds of call-outs with his dog Bryn.

Very brave man and brave dog.

So I think Steve here - Hi, pleased to meet you - is gonna be

be the best judge on Simba's performance during this exercise.

I think this is fabulous. It looks like a derelict factory.

What's the objective of the scenario?

The scenario today is we've got a collapsed building and our only access point is from above.

So we're gonna raise Simba and Paul up there, and he'll start his search from up top,

bring him down, and we've got a casualty.

We've got a real person in there!

Yeah. That's James from the production, one of our runners!

You've made it on telly, James! What are we gonna do with him?

-We're gonna cover him up.

-OK.

OK, mate?

Let's not make it too easy.

Put a bit of rubble on him.

-Are you all right, James?

-Yeah!

-Good man. Right, OK.

-Hopefully, Simba will come down and find him.

-Right. Shall we stand back and watch?

-Yes.

The lads are using a pulley system to haul them up.

Aw, look at that!

-He's enjoying that, isn't he?

-It's all about trust.

They will trust one person, won't they?

-That's brilliant. That's absolutely fantastic.

-Quite chilled out.

-Look at that!

He's so relaxed. That dog is so relaxed.

Now they'll lower Paul down onto the top of the roof.

He'll take him out of his harness, his lift harness, and put him in his trigger harness now.

Once he's in that, he's ready for the search.

This is incredible. It's just all built on trust.

DOG YELPS AND WHINES

LAUGHTER

Aw, that's brilliant!

Yeah, Paul's working him now through the collapsed structure.

-They've got to be quick.

-Very quick.

YELPING AND BARKING

Straight onto the casualty and the indication.

-He's just letting Paul know...

-What is it? What is it?

..that he's found something.

What is it? Good lad!

-That's great.

-One casualty located on the first floor.

-That's brilliant.

-Good lad!

-And then the reward.

-He's got a squeaky toy.

-That's him now.

-Oh, look at that.

-Good lad!

-How did Simba do?

Very good. Very good. You saw there he was...

-he was quick, thorough.

-So he's earned his stripes today?

He's earned his stripes well and truly today.

Let's talk about Simba. Wonderful long-haired German Shepherd.

I've got one myself, and I'm just in love with German Shepherds.

What training goes into working with the dog?

Well, the dogs enjoy quite a wide variety of training

and we try to do it on a daily basis in one form or another.

I try and get him out in as many different environments - derelict sites and demolition sites.

Basically, it's about keeping it fun for the dog, and always

giving him that reward, his toy, giving him a lot of encouragement.

Good lad!

So how long does Simba have left in his training?

All being well, I'll stick my neck above the parapet and say

by the summer next year, as long as I don't let him down.

It's basically up to me now. Yeah.

-Well, good luck, Paul.

-Thanks very much.

I think Paul's certainly found the perfect partner.

It's a strong bond between man and dog, and Steve also has his loyal four-legged friend, Bryn.

This successful partnership came out of a life-changing trip when Steve volunteered to work overseas.

We went to India in 2001, which was...quite an experience.

-That's with the earthquakes?

-Yeah. There were teams from all over the world and a German team

had dogs, and that's the first time I saw dogs actually working.

They were so quick over the ground. It took us an hour to clear a building

where the dog was doing it in minutes.

So the dogs in India inspired you, so when you came back to the UK,

you said to the boss in Cheshire, "Right,

"I wanna work with dogs, I want a dog in the team," and it's about finding the right dog, then.

-Correct.

-So you found Bryn and thought, "Yeah, he's the one"?

Yeah, without a shadow of a doubt.

Any incidents you can tell me about where Bryn's come in really, really handy?

Yeah, we were in this area a few months ago

with a building collapse and we were the first dog team to get there.

We sent Bryn in, he indicated.

Unfortunately, the guy was deceased, but the dog's indicated,

which allowed the lads from the West Midlands to get in to exactly where the guy was.

Are you very proud of Bryn?

Certainly. Certainly. Couldn't have asked for a better dog, actually.

-You've got a tear in your eye, thinking about him.

-I wouldn't go that far!

Steve and Bryn provide crucial support to the fire services outside their region but,

for the West Midlands Fire Service, getting a canine team of their own is key.

Well, as you can see for yourself, what a fantastic team.

Good luck to Paul and Simba.

They're well on their way to becoming the first search and rescue canine unit

here in this region, a vital tool for the West Midlands Fire Service.

Now, let's see what our experts have sniffed out back at the valuation day.

Adam is on the scent of an unusual item.

I can really feel the electricity in the room today, Lynette.

I knew you were going to say that!

-How are you doing?

-All right, thank you.

OK, I was instantly drawn to this contraption.

I've always been interested in mystery objects,

eccentric gadgets and contraptions, and this is quite interesting too.

Yeah. What it is, is a... it demonstrates electricity.

If you notice there, this is aluminium.

-I think it was discovered in the 1800s.

-What, aluminium was?

Yeah, and they found out very soon that, as well as making aluminium saucepans, it conducts electricity.

There's a handle here and this...

goes round, and just there, these bristles conduct the electricity

which is drawn down here and then into here, and then...

-You know Frankenstein? Do you remember when the electricity went "tsss"!

-Yes.

-Like your tie.

-Yeah, yeah!

-Then this arcs

here so it would show the students how electricity was conducted.

-Were you a science teacher, Lynette?

-No. No, I did come first in science, many years ago, when I was a girl.

So how has a lovely lady like you come to own a contraption like this?

Well, my friend did a house clearance, and it was a lady who was about 90, and she died.

-I think she was a school teacher, and this was in the shed.

-OK...

But it was filthy.

Right, so you've cleaned it up?

A bit, yes.

-Purchased it from your friend?

-Yes.

-How much did you give for it?

-£20.

-OK.

-But nobody knew what it was.

No, it's called a Wimshurst machine.

No, I never knew that.

The inventor was a chap called James Wimshurst.

Oh!

It was invented between 1880 and 1883.

He was an inventor and a shipwright and an engineer,

and quite a clever chap. So this is going to be...

I'd think this is of the period. 1880s.

-Really?

-1880 or so, so it's Victorian.

-Yeah.

-Typical Victorian contraption, really, isn't it?

-Yeah. Yeah, I love it.

-It makes me wonder why are you selling it?

Erm...because I'm like all people.

I need the money. I do like it.

I shall miss it.

-Really?

-Yeah, when I get home, by the front door, there'll be a big...

There'll be a big void there?

-Yeah.

-Aww.

Do you think anybody would want to buy it?

I think they would. I think you'd get a profit.

They have come up at auction over the past, generally making from £50 to £200.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Oh, I'd like the £200!

Yeah, me too.

And it's not out of the question, but I would think, if we put £50-£100 on it, and let it...

Find its own place.

Yes, and see if it GENERATES!

Oh, no! That was a bit STATIC!

-I hope we get a real shock in the auction and it makes money.

-And me. Yes, please.

-If it made 200 quid, what would you do?

-I'm a woman. Where do you think I'd spend it?!

Well, I guess... I don't want to be stereotyping,

but probably make-up and flowers and shoes and clothes.

You know me!

-Hi, Ruby. Who have you brought with you?

-My cousin Olive.

-Hello, Olive.

-Hello.

-Do you do a lot together?

-Not really. We meet occasionally.

You've come here, though.

I suggested it on Sunday when she came to lunch.

-Oh, brilliant.

-This is what she found.

What are they? Tell me about them.

Well, these bits actually belonged to my husband's grandmother,

-who was 90-odd when she died.

-Yes?

And dead quite a number of years.

When my husband's mother died, who was her daughter,

-I came into these.

-Have you ever worn them?

-Never.

-You've never worn this necklace and pendant,

-or this, what we call a bar brooch?

-Bar brooch, yes.

But you call it something else.

Yes, I heard that they were decency brooches, to fasten a blouse together.

-Fasten the blouse! A decency, so boys couldn't look down the top.

-No, no, no!

THEY CHUCKLE

To keep it all together! I will call them decency brooches from now on.

Let's have a talk about what the stones are here.

These are turquoise matrix,

so they're a turquoise stone but they have a brownness to them.

What do you think these little white stones here are?

I was wondering about those.

They're little seed pearls.

This pendant is very Art Nouveau.

It's British Art Nouveau, it's not full of exotic whiplash design.

It's a very restrained piece of floral design, but immensely pretty.

I can't believe you never wore it.

-No, I haven't. I was frightened of losing it, actually. I didn't want to do that.

-Really?

Well, it's a very pretty piece.

-I'm a bit unlucky with jewellery.

-Have you lost a bit? Especially one earring.

Well, that happens. That's why you get those screw ones.

Turquoise was one of Queen Victoria's favourite colours.

-Really?

-That's why you see a lot of turquoise in Victorian jewellery.

-Interesting, isn't it?

-Yes.

This is more Edwardian than anything

because this is set in nine carat gold.

This is set in 15 carat gold.

15 carat gold stopped being produced in 1932,

so we can really quite easily say that is definitely Edwardian.

-Oh.

-I don't think they're a set

because you haven't got seed pearls matching this

-and the turquoise matrix is a different colour.

-Mm.

All-important question is - you've never worn them, are you happy to sell them?

-I think so, yes.

-Yeah? Well, this is worth between £50 and £80,

and this is worth between £20 and £30.

I would sell the two together at £70-£100.

Would you be happy with that?

What do you think?

I think so, put a good reserve on it.

Good idea, very good. We'll put a reserve of £70,

with a little bit of discretion on the bottom estimate,

which means £65 just in case.

Are you going to come to the auction?

-Yes.

-Possibly.

-I'd like to see both of you there.

-Oh, yes, I think so.

I demand that you're both there!

-Thank you, we will.

-Have a good day.

-We'll try.

-Thank you.

-Thank you for all that.

-Hello, Chris.

-Hi.

-How are you?

-Not too bad.

-This is rather nice.

Berlin wool-work tapestry,

circa 1860, 1880, that sort of thing.

Where did you get it from? What can you tell me about it?

Well, it was bought by my wife's grandmother

-from a house sale in Stourbridge in round about 1920, 1930.

-OK.

-It's been in the family ever since.

-So it was sourced quite locally.

-Yeah.

-It's been in the family for 80-90 years.

-Yeah.

Do you have it on display?

-Yeah, at the top of the stairs.

-Top of the stairs.

-In the shade.

I was going to say the colours are nice and rich, still well preserved.

-And while we're on condition, it's pretty good, isn't it?

-That's right.

It's been well preserved behind this glazed frame,

and all we've got is this tiny mark here

and a bit of wear in the middle here.

In this tapestry, we've got the story of Hansel and Gretel,

the famous fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.

I'm familiar with that story, as I've got young children.

-That's right.

-It looks as though this is the witch,

I presume in her gingerbread house, tempting the children in.

-It looks like she's offering an apple.

-An apple, yeah.

Tempting them in. They were obviously hungry, there was no food.

-She planned on imprisoning and eating them.

-That's right.

Rather scary story, really.

Yeah, could do well for the kids(!)

Yeah, I know!

When you read these stories, so many of them end in death

or boiling or burning. This one's no different

because I think Gretel was the one that got the witch,

pushed her onto the fire and burnt her when she'd imprisoned Hansel.

Did Hansel have to put his finger through the cage

to see if he'd got enough meat on his bones?

-Sounds familiar.

-Yeah, quite gruesome.

Why are you selling it? What will you do with the top of the landing?

Well, my father-in-law died at Easter time

and of course we've got all his possessions in our house.

We're full of clutter.

-Got to get rid of...

-We have other pictures to hang instead.

-So this has got to go.

-It's got to, yeah.

Getting down to the value part of it,

sadly I think these are undervalued in the current market.

There's an awful lot of work, good colour,

-nice frame, and it's going to make probably £100-£150.

-OK.

If we put an estimate of £100-£150 on it,

stick a reserve of £100 and see how we go on.

-Yeah, great.

-Back to the auction, back to Stourbridge.

-Yeah, where it came from.

-We can see what it makes about 80 years later.

Now it's time to return to our auction, and here's a recap of what we're offering the bidders.

Lynette is keen to cash in her Victorian Wimshurst machine.

Is she in for a shock at the auction?

INAUDIBLE

And cousins Ruby and Olive feel it's time to let go of

their Art-Nouveau heirlooms and are putting them under the hammer.

Chris's family have enjoyed the Hansel and Gretel tapestry

for over 80 years.

Will he get a fairy-tale ending at the auction?

Before all these items go under the hammer,

I just had to find out what auctioneer Nick thought about Lynette's unusual machine.

Every home needs one of these, that's for sure! What do you think of this?

And firstly, there's no reserve, so you've got to be positive.

What can you say?! An electrostatic machine, I believe.

Very Frankenstein's monster, isn't it?

Yeah, it belongs to Lynette, and we've got £50-£100.

That's a wide scope and it may do top estimate.

There are collectors for all sorts.

-Auctioneers learn that very quickly.

-It's decorative.

If you had the right big space in an old Victorian house

and stuck that in it somewhere...

It certainly would be a talking point at dinner, wouldn't it?

If you could get it working...

It's missing its thread at the back. I'm sure that's all it needs.

Get it working and it could be quite a novelty.

It's got to be worth £40 or £50.

Has to be, has to be, every day of the week.

Can you see it doing much more?

I don't know!

I hope so!

We shall have to wait and see. See if someone gets ecstatic about it.

I expect some of you have made your minds up.

You probably have a rough idea of what it's going for.

It'd be great to see this one fly.

This could be the little sleeper. You never know in auctions.

-No interest?

-Right now, Nick will weave some magic on the rostrum.

We've got that wonderful Berlin tapestry going under the hammer.

-It belongs to Chris. A valuation of £100-£150.

-That's right.

Condition is good, it's dated, everything's right about it.

It's nice and crisp.

Why are you selling this?

To make some space for some other things we've acquired.

-Make some wall space, really?

-That's right.

Fingers crossed. Here we go.

Let's hope for the top end of the estimate.

Double-work tapestry of two children in a forest.

Hansel and Gretel. There we are. Framed.

And I can open this at £90 and I look for £100 in the room.

100 anywhere in the room before I go to the phone?

I have a phone bid on this one.

£90 anywhere in the room before I go to the telephone?

Adrienne, would you like to bid £100 on the phone? 100 bid.

Do I see 110 in the room?

I'll offer it back to the room at 110, or £100 it'll be on the phone.

£100 on the phone. I'm going to sell it. Are we all sure?

It's going. Come on, more.

£100. It's sold. It's sold, Adam.

That's good. You were right, though. It's within estimate.

-Yeah, but I think it might have done a bit better, but...

-Better than nothing.

Chris, you don't have to take it home. You wanted to sell it.

-That's right.

-It's a good result. OK, thank you very much.

-OK.

Next up, the drop pendant and scarf pin.

They belong to Ruby. She's brought Olive along for company. Cousins.

We got a valuation put on by Thomas of £70-£100.

£70-£100 with discretion.

-These should run away.

-We hope so.

Didn't you fancy borrowing them?

-I never knew they existed.

-Oh, you didn't?

-I didn't see them.

Not many people did.

Good luck, both of you.

Moves us onto 485 which is the nine carat, rose gold, turquoise matrix,

Edwardian pendant and the little brooch to go with it.

Nice lot this, I thought.

Turquoise is such a beautiful colour.

Is anybody coming in at £65

in the room for this lot? Little Edwardian pendant and brooch at 65.

Anybody interested in this at £65?

If there's no interest at £65, we'll have to move it on. I'm surprised.

-Wow!

-Not interested.

-Nobody at 65?

No-one's interested!

-No interest?

-Olive, you've got a chance to borrow them now.

I'm amazed.

-Oh, Thomas, I don't understand.

-I'm completely surprised.

-I don't understand.

It's not my field of speciality, I wouldn't know what went wrong there.

-That's it.

-Sorry, ladies.

-So are we.

That's auctions for you, isn't it?

Ever heard of an electrostatic conducting device?

Well, you weren't paying attention earlier!

We've got one here belonging to Lynette.

I'm pretty sure this will sell. There's no reserve.

No, it's definitely going to sell, and there's quite a lot of electricity between us as well.

-Shocking!

-Now we're going to create some. It's going under the hammer.

-It's electrifying!

-Ssh!

You get all sorts of things here. This is an all-sort-of-thing.

Great little bit of fun.

Bids of interest we have in it.

We can start at £90.

Ooh! Oh, you're clever!

Bids start at £90. Do I see 95 in the room anywhere?

95, 100...

-Oh, you clever boy!

-120, 130?

Says no. 120 on a commission. 130 anywhere else?

At £120 for the Wimshurst machine and the stool. At £120, all done?

-Yes, it's £120!

-Excellent!

-That was good, wasn't it?

-Yes!

We were all in for a little shock then.

-Fabulous.

-I've never had such a good reaction from a contributor before.

-Thank you!

My mother said if it comes home, she'll throw it out and me out!

Yes, great, I'm so glad you've sold it.

That's it. We've come to the end of the day.

The auction's still going, Nick's still selling.

Everyone's gone home happy. It has been a mixed bag, though. We've toughed it out.

I hope you've enjoyed today's show.

We've loved making it. Till the next time, it's cheerio from Stourbridge.

For more information about Flog It!

including how the programme was made, visit the website at bbc.co.uk.

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