Episode 18 Antiques Road Trip

It's the nation's favourite antiques experts...

I don't know what to do.

..with £200 each, a classic car,

and a goal to scour Britain for antiques.

What a little diamond.

The aim? To make the biggest profit at auction, but it's no mean feat.

Back in the game! THEY LAUGH

Charlie!

There'll be worthy winners and valiant losers.

So, will it be the high road to glory or the slow road to disaster?

Oh!

This is the Antiques Road Trip!

Yeah.

It's the third leg of the road trip for old hand Philip Serrell

and fellow tripper Natasha Raskin.

Living the dream.

-Why are you living the dream?

-It's a lovely day.

I've got a lovely girl, lovely car and I am going out,

spending money, buying antiques.

You lucky man!

Veteran auctioneer Philip may be a dab hand at selling

from the rostrum, but he is still working on his bargaining technique.

-Could you do 17 the two?

-No.

HE LAUGHS

Oh. His competitive companion is smart Scot Natasha.

She loves old paintings and contemporary fashion.

And also having a laugh.

I was thinking that together that would go quite nicely.

Our duelling duo had set off in a 1957 Porsche with £200 each.

The auction score so far is one apiece.

However, Philip's coffers have twiddled to £166.96.

Poor chap.

Natasha has a few pounds more in her handbag - £173.12.

It is all to play for! Brighten up.

-I am in good spirits, Phil.

-Why is that?

Not because I am in the company of someone so wonderful as yourself.

-Yeah.

-Not only that.

-Yeah.

-Because I've actually edged in front.

I don't know if you have done the maths, but...

My goal now is to try and get to Friday solvent.

Philip and Natasha started their 900-mile drive in Pembrokeshire.

Their journey will see them travel through the home counties,

down to the south coast, before ending up in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

The third stretch sets off in St Albans

and winds down towards

an auction in leafy Chiswick,

West London.

St Albans is named after Britain's first Christian martyr,

executed by the Romans in the third century.

It is also home to Natasha's first shop of this trip.

-I will see you soon.

-Have a good day, lovely.

-Thank you so much.

-See you later!

-Right.

Bye!

A keen Natasha gets straight to it.

OK, there is quite a lot of stuff here that is very modern,

super modern.

I don't know if it is really what we are looking for, very antique-y.

I think I'm going to look for something a bit more...

a bit more age to it.

I don't know. Maybe a bit more interest, a bit more quirk.

Stuff like this is really weird. I love this.

Is it a little bit morbid to like dead butterflies?

I mean, it is a bit gruesome cos they are furry and you can get

a close look at them and they just look a little bit crusty now.

Quite. Step away, Natasha.

What is she on to now?

Some Scottish looking brooches, perhaps?

Dealer Dee is on hand to help. Go, Dee.

-The best thing for me has got to be that citrine.

-Yeah.

That is just a beauty, isn't it?

-Would you mind terribly if we take a closer look?

-No, not at all.

Purely because... It's a bit of a whopper!

It is obviously not in gold. Right, OK, so we can see that now.

So it is just a metal that has been gilded, right?

I mean, I like the fact that it is exactly what you would wear for

sort of Highland dress, but maybe you could wear that in a more modern way?

-Oh, absolutely.

-Do you reckon? Yes, yes. Would you wear that?

Maybe pair it with these here?

-Oh.

-I was thinking that together that might be quite a nice look.

-THEY LAUGH

-A good night out.

Right, stick that back.

-What do you think? I am going to make an offer for it.

-OK.

-If that is OK with you.

-Yes.

It is £12 ticket, what if I say eight?

Ten?

-Could we make it single figures and go nine? Do you reckon?

-Yes.

-Quite happy with that?

-Yes.

Dee, I'd like to shake on that, cos I think it's really cool.

And I think for a genuine citrine in a nice, decorative mount,

-you can't really go wrong at nine quid.

-No.

Oh, deal done, Dee.

But Natasha has spied another potential purchase

when she first arrived.

So we drove in here, and the first thing

I saw was this lovely Belfast sink, but it is really big.

Looks really heavy, too.

I'm going to try... I don't think I can shift it.

Arrrgh!

-Between us, Dee.

-Girl power.

Right. So if we have a little look in the basin,

it looks to be in pretty...pretty good order, actually.

-I don't see any...any scary bits.

-No, there is no cracks.

Dee is asking £40 for the old sink. But think carefully,

Natasha, you don't want your profits going down the old plughole.

What if I said to you I would like to buy it from you at £20?

-I don't know. 30?

-What if I said you 28?

-Deal.

-But do you still get something out of that?

-Yes.

She is managing very well so far on limited means.

I think that is it. I think two items at Alley Cats and I'm done.

Meanwhile, Philip has taken to the road and travelled to Hertford.

In 1712, the county town saw the last person to be convicted

for witchcraft in England. Ha!

Philip is heading for his first shop

and meeting owner Bonnie,

who may bewitch him.

Now...

Gah, you've got some things in here, haven't you?

What is your speciality?

-Jewellery.

-Jewellery.

-Yeah.

-So have you got any really good

bits of jewellery you can show me?

-I do.

-Really?

-Come along.

-Things are looking up, aren't they?

Don't get ahead of yourself, Philip.

-My favourite piece...

-Yeah.

-..is this opal and diamond ring.

Ha, ha, I think that might be out of my price bracket!

Yes, I think you might be right.

-Is that opal or topaz?

-That is opal.

-How do you tell the difference?

-I'll show you a topaz.

-OK. They look the same to me.

Yeah. Call yourself an expert?

-Topaz are transparent and quite blue.

-Oh, right!

Yeah, yeah.

-Opals can vary in colour.

-There you are, you can see. It is quite...

-Almost iridescent in a way.

-Yeah.

-Whereas that is a clear colour, isn't it?

-That's correct.

You see, I've learned something now.

I'm about to learn something else as well. So how much is that?

Please.

This is...

-£180.

-All right.

And how much is that?

This is £950.

Right. I think I'm just going to have a quick look around

and I'll be with you in a moment, Bonnie. Thank you for that.

That ring is nearly six times Philip's budget.

Perhaps Bonnie has some cheaper stock?

These are cool things, aren't they?

These sort of stork thread pullers or whatever they are.

-They are ribbon pullers.

-How does that work, then?

Well, in the old days...

"In the old days..." I was there. I was there!

Yeah, go on.

They knitted baby's garments rather than mass produced them.

And they were always adorned with ribbons and things.

And to try and get the ribbons through the holes of booties

-or bonnets...

-They pulled that.

-..it was difficult.

-You've got another one here.

-I do.

-So that is silver.

-It is.

-And what is this made from?

-Silver-plate.

-That is £95. And how much is the other one?

-£250.

-OK, fine.

You haven't got any chairs in here, have you? I mean, I just...

No, just feeling... I'm become a bit faint.

Right.

Is he really?

He's fine.

You don't know how low he'll stoop.

-Steady, Bonnie. Steady.

-You're winding me up.

You nearly knocked me over there, Bonnie.

Philip puts the expensive ribbon puller back in the cabinet

and the cheaper pair to one side to think about.

I love that. This is...

This is a desk seal that would have sat on a gentleman's desk.

And you have got an agate ball that is held by this claw, bird's claw.

And then you have got this seal here.

This would have sat on the desk.

And when he wrote to someone, he would have got his sealing wax

out, sealed the letter or the envelope with his seal.

And then to give it his own personal seal, as the wax was hot,

he just dunk that in there. And off it came.

These are quite collectable. That is quite fun.

The ticket price is £65.

But will Bonnie the blonde bombshell be kind to Philip?

Being as it is you,

-and I'd like you to do well...

-Things are looking up. Yeah.

-If you took both of them...

-Yeah?

I would do them for 80.

Very generous, Bonnie, that is £70 knocked off.

-Could you do 70 the two?

-FIRMLY:

-No.

HE LAUGHS

She is not so keen on you now, Phil.

Would you just like to pull that knife...

Just in the middle of my shoulder blades,

I think there is a sharp object sticking out at the minute.

Just there.

-All right.

-SHE LAUGHS

That's my girl!

Philip may have met his match here.

But Bonnie is not one to miss out on a sale.

Oh, no, she offers a second Victorian seal to make up a job lot.

Is there a deal to be sealed?

Can I give you £80 for that lot? And I can't go any more,

-honestly.

-Yes, go on, then.

-Are you sure?

-Yeah, that's fine.

-Are you happy with that, honestly?

-I'm not really happy,

but I will accept that.

You are an angel, thank you very much. Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-Thank you very much indeed.

Philip seems very happy.

£35 for the two seals, and the ribbon puller for £45.

-Cheers now!

-Bye!

Natasha has made her way to Central London

to find out more about

A British institution that played a vital role in winning

the First World War.

The British Postal Museum and Archive is home

to 2.5 miles of vaults charting the history

of the General Post Office,

the forerunner to our modern Postal Service.

At the start of the war,

one quarter of a million people were working for the GPO,

making it the largest single employer of labour in the world.

The manpower was needed not only to deliver the mail,

but the GPO was also responsible for telecommunications

and offered a banking service.

Natasha's host is Head of Collections Chris Taft.

So, when the war broke out, all this huge number of employees,

we are talking a quarter of a million people here, who I presume

-most of whom were men, must have been taken away to the war efforts.

-Yeah.

I mean, the Post Office were to supply many

thousands of men to the war effort.

By December 1914,

nearly 30,000 GPO employees had enlisted.

And many found themselves putting their expert knowledge

of the Postal Service to good use.

At the outbreak of the war, one of the most important things was

to maintain the morale of the troops and of the people at home,

and so postal communication was absolutely essential to that.

The government and Army chiefs

knew that the delivery of post from home to those serving

on the front line was vital,

as it was one of the few comforts and distractions to the men.

The volumes of mail that by the peak of the war were being

handled by the Post Office were phenomenal.

I mean, you were looking at 12 million letters a week

being moved to the Western Front.

You are talking billions over the course of the war.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

So efficient was the service, letters took just two to three days

to get from the front line to the front door of soldiers' families.

But the Postal Service wasn't just delivering the mail,

they were reading it, too.

Every piece of correspondence to

and from the front line was read by an official.

The government claimed censorship prevented intercepted mail revealing

military secrets to the enemy,

but this wasn't the only reason.

For morale purposes,

they didn't want the full kind of horrors of what was going on to get

back to affect people's morale both at home and in the theatres of war.

The things that people must have read,

it must have been really heartbreaking for the censors

to sit there and read these letters

and then to effectively have to, you know, score them out.

It must have been...taken a certain type of person

to take on the role of censor.

Yeah. Letters deemed to contain inappropriate information

were simply destroyed.

Censorship was so time-consuming,

the Field Service Post Card was introduced to speed things up.

On the front, you would write simply the address of the person

to whom it was going.

And then on the reverse, there was a multiple-choice.

If you wrote anything on the card beyond what was permitted,

the card would be destroyed.

Yeah, bold. That is a sort of three-line whip.

"If anything else is added, the postcard will be destroyed."

-It is awfully impersonal, isn't it?

-Very impersonal.

All you are permitted to do is score out that which doesn't apply.

As impersonal as it is, it is actually rather ingenious.

Yeah. And it's important.

The archive holds a number of letters from riflemen Harry Brown.

He served under the King's Royal Rifle Corps

and fought in the trenches in western France.

The story we hear from Harry Brown is quite an emotional story,

actually. He writes regularly to his mother.

But then one of the letters his mother sends is sent back to

her, so it is presumed that Harry has been killed.

Quite often, letters would be returned to

sender before official news of their loved one's fate had reached them.

It would mean an agonizing wait to find out

if they had been injured, captured or tragically killed.

But eventually, she gets a letter back from her son,

from Harry Brown, who's being held in a German prisoner of war camp.

So now she realises that in fact he is alive.

He is actually wounded, he has been injured, and he was captured.

But he is alive.

In August 1917,

while interned in a prisoner of war camp in Germany, Harry writes

to his mother, "Don't worry about me, I am finished with the war."

But sadly, even though

Harry survived to see the end of the war, he never made it home.

What then subsequently happened is he takes ill, again,

this time with an illness rather than an injury.

And sadly, just after the war has ended, he dies.

-In the camp?

-In the camp.

Harry had inflammation of the lungs

and was too poorly to make the journey home.

He died just 16 days after the armistice was signed,

on 27 November, 1918.

Poor Harry Brown. Gosh, can you imagine what he endured?

That story of Harry Brown was charted through

the correspondence, the letters.

And that is why the collection is so important,

because it charts that social history story.

It's not about the military history,

it's about this social history, about what happened to that

individual and his family and the impact on that family.

It is now almost impossible to imagine life on the front line

other than to understand what a huge comfort a letter from

home would be to the often young

and scared but honourable men like Harry.

Thank you so much for showing me around.

I feel like I have learned a lot.

-Thank you very much.

-You're very welcome.

Philip has made his way to Hemel Hempstead.

His next shop is in the Old Town district,

on a street claimed to be one of the prettiest in Hertfordshire.

Cherry Antiques is run by dealer Scott.

-Hello!

-Hi there.

-Hi, Philip.

-I'm Scott.

-Scott, how are you?

Yeah, nice to meet you.

This is the sort of place where you think you are going to find

-something.

-Here's hoping.

-Yeah, well, all we got to do is start looking now.

-Yeah.

Spend that £86 wisely, Philip.

He is onto something, though, already.

The Silver Fox at work.

Those are quite cool. How much are those?

-I'll do you a good price on those.

-Can you?

-Yeah.

Philip has found some 1920s Art Deco burr walnut chairs.

They are priced at £90 for the four. Wow.

And what could you do those for, then?

Very, very, very best would be 60.

One to think about. While he is thinking...

What I'm going to try and do is to see if I can

make up a job lot of prints.

How much is that print?

-A couple of pounds.

-OK.

I think that is quite nice, you know. So, how much is that?

-Is that another pound or two?

-Yes.

-Philip has picked out a selection of five prints.

-Could I bid you...?

-Yep.

-Could I bid you five pounds and £45?

-Yeah, happy with that.

-You are a gentleman, sir.

Thank you very much indeed. Thank you.

That is a cracking deal on the four chairs.

Philip's got them for half their ticket price.

Scott, you've been very kind to me, I better pay you.

And he has paid a pound apiece for the five prints.

Let's hope there's a dog lover at the auction. Ha!

One day down, one to go for our duelling duo.

Time for a well-earned rest all round.

OK, night-night, you two.

It's day two of the road trip.

Let's get down to business, here.

I am six quid in front, and I want to keep it that way.

I still can't believe how I didn't come out

of the last auction another 100 quid up.

Phil, you need to get over it.

Yesterday, Natasha spent £37 on two items -

a Scottish plaid brooch

with a large oval citrine

and a big sink -

leaving her with £136.12.

Philip spent £130 on a folio of prints,

four Art Deco walnut chairs, two Victorian letter stamps

and a pair of silver-plated ribbon pullers, as you do.

After that spending spree, Philip has £36.96 left for today.

Our pairs' next stop is just a few miles from Aylesbury.

Philip has come to Stoke Mandeville's sports stadium

to find out how a small patch of land behind a hospital became

the birthplace of the world's second biggest sporting event.

I am so looking forward to this.

-I think...

-I am really, really looking forward to it.

-..you're going to be very inspired, Mr Serrell.

-Very humbled.

-Humbled and inspired.

-Very, very humbled.

-Here we are.

-You take care.

-You too, bye.

Have a really lousy day!

Thanks, Phil(!)

-Bye.

-Bye!

Stoke Mandeville Hospital is home to one of the largest

and the oldest spinal injuries centres in the world.

It was founded by a neurologist in 1944 who had a radical

approach to rehabilitation.

And Philip is meeting former hospital patient Martin McElhatton

to find out how Dr Ludwig Guttmann's ground-breaking treatment work.

He introduced a comprehensive medical model of treatment

for people coming back from the war with spinal injuries.

In what way exactly was he different to the way everybody else

treated spinal injuries?

Well, he brought all the knowledge from around the world together

into, you know, his treatment.

And he treated the patients really in a fantastic way.

And they even called him Poppa.

You know, a very affectionate name of how much they felt about him.

Before Dr Guttmann, unthinkable though it is now,

the paralysed were considered untreatable.

Up until the mid-1940s, eight out of ten spinal injury patients

died within three years of paralysis.

However, Dr Guttmann's visionary approach changed

the course of thousands of lives.

He made sure they had the right medical care.

You know, the right physiotherapy.

But he also felt that there was something missing in the treatment.

And he loved sports.

He felt that sport would add that dimension of comradery

and psychological wellbeing for the injured servicemen and women.

This pioneering notion led to the world's first sporting

competition for disabled people - the Stoke Mandeville Games.

The brainchild of Dr Guttmann,

it took place on the hospital lawns on the very same day

as the Opening Ceremony of the 1948 London Olympics.

How wonderful.

Presumably, I mean, this wasn't here then.

No, there was nothing here, just green fields and a car park

and the old huts that are behind us.

14 men and two women, all injured military personnel, competed.

Well, initially, they did things

like archery, because the chairs were very big and cumbersome.

So, you know, doing other sports that involve propelling

the wheelchair was probably more difficult.

But athletics was done. And they did javelin.

The referees were made up of doctors and nurses.

It was nothing more than a glorified sports day.

But Dr Guttmann had started something remarkable.

We had 16 in the first games in 1948.

And by 1956, that had grown to 130 competitors.

And in London 2012,

around 5,000 athletes from all over the world.

The Stoke Mandeville Games were the forerunner to the Paralympic Games.

Today, a modern stadium sits alongside the hospital.

And what would Guttmann have thought of all of this?

I think he would have been amazed. I think he would be really proud.

And I think, you know, he would have wanted more.

Because he was a guy who, I think, always wanted to push

the boundaries.

And by pushing those boundaries, he enabled so many men

and women around the world to achieve their sporting dreams.

He always had the vision there would be

an Olympics for the paralysed or a parallel Olympics,

and that is where the term Paralympics comes from.

Dr Guttmann's legacy has helped

Martin achieve his sporting dreams too.

Aged 18, he was hit by a lorry and left paralysed.

He was treated at Stoke Mandeville Hospital

and had to learn how to adjust to life in a wheelchair.

What was your sport, Martin?

Well, I played wheelchair basketball in the 1984 Paralympic Games,

which happened to be here, in Stoke Mandeville.

-So you have pulled your Olympic vest on?

-Yes!

-What did that feel like?

Well, it was an inspirational moment and something you feel hugely

honoured and proud to represent your country.

When Dr Guttmann died in 1980, his dream of a Paralympic Games being

held in parallel with the Olympic Games

was still yet to happen.

It wasn't until Seoul in 1988 that both games happened together.

So, Martin, you've got some ephemera here.

Is this all one person's?

No, it is a selection from our archive here, at Stoke Mandeville,

which tells the story of Dr Guttmann

and the Paralympic movement

and, you know, really about some of the individual athletes who

have been inspirational as part of that story.

I bet he didn't realise what he was creating, did he?

For me, personally, if he hadn't done what he did,

I wouldn't have had the opportunity to take part in Paralympic sport.

I don't think Dr Guttmann is on his own in being an inspiration,

-really, you know.

-Thank you.

Natasha's motored the Porsche to Tetsworth, in Oxfordshire.

She is heading for The Swan Antiques Centre

with her remaining £136.

Housed in a historic Grade II listed Elizabethan coaching inn,

there are not many prettier places to shop in.

Paul is the man in charge.

I recognise you!

How lovely to see you. Thank you very much.

Look at these surroundings, you are not slumming it around here, are you?

We certainly are not slumming it. It is absolutely fantastic.

Elizabeth I stayed here, Queen Victoria stayed here.

Do you know what?

-You play your cards right, you might be able to stay here.

-Oh.

Now, there is an offer!

Maybe see how the shopping goes first, eh?

I think I am going to

work my way to the top

and then work my way back down again.

There is plenty of stock, but Natasha needs to

focus on finding something in her price range.

OK, I'm going to go this way. No, no, that looks like...

serious oil paintings. I'm going to go this way.

No oil paintings, please.

This is a nice wee room, this.

I'm going to have more of a look cos there are trinkety things.

Trinkety things is what I am after.

She is drawn to a French hand-painted pin dish.

And it is porcelain. It is actually on a little porcelain dish.

And you can see it has got a little bit of crazing on it. Not really.

It is in nice condition overall.

I think that is a really sweet little stand.

This pretty little dish dates from the late 19th century.

It sports a ticket price of £80.

It is just a decorative thing, but it is absolutely beautiful.

There certainly won't be two of these at the auction.

But this would be a gamble piece.

Lovely though it is, it is not going to have wide appeal.

It is £80.

But I would quite like to get it for half that price.

So I reckon if I could maybe push Paul a little...

Good luck with that!

I think that is a nice thing.

-That is French, 19th century, the papillon, the butterflies.

-Yeah.

-What do you reckon?

-A symbol of the soul.

-A symbol of the soul set free.

What do you reckon?

Natasha was hoping to get this for half the ticket price.

If I knocked you a tenner off... So what has it got on it? 80.

-If I said 70?

-We could round it down to 70. Do you know what?

I love the little papillon.

For 70 quid, shall we shake on it?

-Let's shake on it.

-Yay!

-Merci, madame.

-Merci and thank you.

Tres bon! A deal done for the French hand-painted dish.

-Make sure you come back now.

-I will, thank you.

She has made a good impression there.

The next shop for both our road trippers is the picturesque

town of Wendover.

Phil has stolen a lead on Natasha,

so he is getting first pick at the local antiques centre.

Hopefully, dealer Mike knows where the bargains can be found.

Have a look in this room. There is a cabinet full of curiosities.

And lots of bits and bobs.

EARLY 1900S PIANO MUSIC

Oh, I like that.

Yes, I do like that.

Labelled as a fireman's hose nozzle and priced at £35.

-What could that be?

-As it is you, and all that old gag.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-27.

Seeing as it was me, I was hoping for like 15 or 20.

25 quid is the bottom line.

That is ten pounds off the asking price

and within Philip's remaining budget of £36.96.

Anything else catch your eye?

People think of antiques as being perhaps furniture and porcelain

and bits of silver. But now, you know, it is

all garden implements, it is all this sort of ephemera that

relates to our social history, in a way, and I just love it.

And I love these, look at these.

These are fantastic. Now...

These are for fitting on the hooves of ponies.

If you can imagine in the 19th century,

a big country house with a croquet lawn at the front.

When it was mowed,

there wasn't any cylinder lawnmower or whatever.

Your mower was pulled by a team of ponies or horses.

You didn't want the horses' hooves to sink in

to your lovely, beautifully manicured

croquet lawn. So the ponies had little booties. Aren't they cool?

They are also 160 quid.

And the only thing that just confused me a little bit,

there is only two there. I don't know that many two-legged ponies.

With the horse shoe back on the shelf,

Phil has settled on the hose nozzle.

Time to shout for Mike.

Mike! Come into my office.

-Do have a seat.

-Thank you.

-Maybe some wax fruit would be nice.

-Absolutely right.

-Now, I really like that.

-Mm-hm.

I'm not sure, actually,

whether it was a fireman's nozzle or it was just a big country house type

of thing because that ain't going to put out much of a fire, really.

And all of this is me working around to the fact

-that I do want to buy it off you.

-But? I can hear but.

Yeah, no, you have been very, very kind to me, but... 20 quid.

-23, bottom line.

-That won't get us anywhere, that.

The dealer has got TWO ex-wives to keep.

Thank you very much.

Thank goodness he hasn't three divorces!

Even so, that is a generous settlement off the ticket price.

Oh, look! Natasha has finally arrived in Wendover.

Look out.

Oh, it is Serrell.

What a lovely way to shove it in my face, as you stuff your face,

that I've still got things to buy.

Finish that off. It is rude to speak with your mouth full.

I'm glad you're... You've been minding your manners.

But you are awfully cheeky for starting without me.

I will remember this. Thanks, Phil.

-See you in a sec.

-This really is very, very good, honestly.

It really is.

Wasting no time, Natasha delves deep to find a bargain...or two.

Phil has had a little look.

He has had first dibs, so he will probably have singled out

the best thing at the best price,

and I will be left with everything else, but come on, there is

so much stuff in here, I reckon I can find something.

Search and ye shall find.

Dealer Sarah is ready to help.

-I saw a really cute thing in here.

-Oh!

It is ridiculously cheap and it is a sweet little thing.

And I am guessing that it is not silver.

But it is a little sewing machine.

But seeing as I have very little money,

things with a five-pound price tag

-are starting to appeal.

-Appealing to you.

Yeah. Out of the cabinet, it actually looks better in the light.

-It looks really sweet.

-I think it is rather sweet.

-It is unusual, isn't it?

-Yeah, cos it is really well worked.

All the parts are there of the sewing machine.

You've even got the sort of wheel at the back doing all the turning.

And it is a really cute thing.

Can Natasha get this tiny bracelet charm for a tiny price?

If I were to offer you three pounds for it,

how would you feel about that?

-I think that'd be fine.

-You think you can deal with that?

I think that will be absolutely fine.

-Let's shake on the three quid.

-Yes, absolutely.

Another deal sewn up, and for three pounds!

I'd say there is hope of a little profit.

-But Natasha isn't finished yet.

-I just caught this.

And, you know, this is something that has caught my eye for one

particular reason - because everything about it is quite pretty.

It is lovely. On a distance, on a shelf, you would just say,

"Oh, that is so sweet."

You have got lovely hand-painted decoration on this very

sort of Bristol blue glass with a nice kind of frilly top

and what looks to be the original stopper.

Let's have a wee look, let's see if we can see the pontil mark.

Yep, you know, it's nicely hand-blown.

It is just a good thing.

But what is not particularly pretty is the fact that whoever

has taken the time to paint this,

they have not done the best job with her sweet little face.

She has got sweet little hands with a pointing finger,

dainty little feet, a sweet little waist and a cute little haircut.

And on the face, they have just been a wee bit sloppy.

She's right.

The label only indicates this decanter MIGHT be painted

by Mary Gregory, who was an American woman and fine enameller of glass.

This story is told that she was an old lady who painted

the children she never had.

Whether this tale is true is questionable,

but without a doubt, her pieces are very collectable. But!

She was a perfectionist

and would certainly never have painted ugly chops like that.

Now, it has got that age-old motif written on their - A/F.

So sold as found.

So there has got to be some damage somewhere.

So see if we can source it.

Yeah, there is a little bit of a crack where the handle meets

the neck of the decanter.

It has a fair ticket price of £28.

Sarah, out of all the lovely things in the shop,

I have been attracted to this sort of glistening blue decanter.

-Isn't it lovely?

-It is a little bit damaged, it is noted on the label.

So I was thinking of making an offer, it's a wee bit cheeky.

-OK.

-But I thought, seeing as we have become such good friends...

-You wouldn't be offended.

-It is worth a try.

You would take it in good humour and you wouldn't slap me across the face.

I'm going to offer 18. And see what you can do for me.

Sarah needs to put Natasha's cheeky offer to the dealer

selling the decanter.

Time for a quick phone call.

-She said if you make it 20, then you could have it.

-Oh...

-Two pounds more.

-What about if I said 19? Just for a laugh.

Oh, how about 19 for a laugh?

Yeah, you sure?

OK. Great. Thanks, Chloe. Thanks very much.

Natasha has haggled hard,

getting around a third of the ticket price

knocked off the decanter, plus the bracelet charm for three pounds.

Could these be the lots to get Natasha a big profit?

As this leg of the journey draws to a close, here's

a rundown of what Philip and Natasha bought on their travels.

Natasha started the road trip by picking up a Scottish plaid

brooch and a large Belfast sink.

As you do.

She also bought a hand-painted pin dish, a white metal bracelet

charm and a blue glass decanter depicting a Victorian girl.

The five lots cost Natasha £129.

Philip's purchases include a folio of prints,

a set of four Art Deco burr walnut chairs,

two Victorian letters seals,

a silver-plated ribbon puller in the shape of a stork

and a 19th-century copper and brass nozzle.

All that lot cost him £153.

What did they think of each other's buys?

Phil has done a great job.

It doesn't matter how poor the condition of those prints is

because they are not foxed, so it is salvageable.

And for a fiver, they'll do fine.

I really, really love that oval dish.

I think it is pure Victorian. But it is such a lovely, lovely thing.

And if you can find two people at the auction who really want that

and covet it, it could go and make a lot of money for her.

£45 for four Art Deco chairs could be all the money. I'm not sure.

They could make 100, they could make 20,

such is the story with furniture these days.

So not too sure, but I think he has got the balance just right.

He will do fine with those.

The sink, however, there is an exception to every rule.

I think she might just go down the plugger with that.

It's time now to turn those lots into a profit

and head to auction in Chiswick, in West London.

This is my Mecca. This is my Mecca!

Natasha is enjoying her time in the capital already.

I don't think she gets out much.

I think you think this is a fairground ride, honestly.

Scream if you want to go faster!

Aaaah!

Almost there, Philip. Hold on tight.

High Road Auctions is the venue for today's sale.

Ross Mercer is our auctioneer today. He knows his stuff.

But what does he think about our items?

My favourite has got to be the Art Deco chairs.

The last of the good quality furniture.

They are newly upholstered.

They should attract quite a lot of bidders.

One of the items that may struggle is the costume jewellery brooch.

Coloured piece of glass looking like a citrine but not quite the quality.

As Ross takes to the rostrum - ha - our experts take their seats.

-First up, lovely, is your brooch.

-I know.

Our Glasgow girl was quite taken

with this brooch.

Hopefully, someone in the room

is just as keen.

I've got a bid here at five pounds.

Oh, off to the races.

At eight pounds, bid me ten.

12 now. 15, do I hear?

15 now on the telephone. At £15.

A phone bidder!

From Scotland.

Last chance, going to sell it now

to my colleague on the telephone at £15.

-That's all right.

-It's £15.

-I'll take that.

A steady start.

First up for Philip, his folio of prints.

Maybe this chap wants to get his paws on dog pictures.

Let's find out. Arrr!

I've got bids here at ten pounds.

Against you at ten.

15, I will take. 15. 20 now.

20 bid on the phone. I'll take five.

25. 30 now.

£30 bid with my colleague, left-hand side. 30. Last chance.

Going to sell it now

to the telephone at £30.

That's remarkable, isn't it?

That is excellent!

I'm please with that.

Very pleased, very pleased.

Five prints, bought for a pound each

and turning a £25 profit.

Now that is how to do it.

Next to go under the gavel is Natasha's big Belfast sink.

Just the job for London.

Ten pounds surely for it. Five I will take.

It has got to make a pound.

-A pound on bid.

-A pound?

-Two. Three.

Five pounds bid. Eight. Ten. 12.

15 I have. At £15. 20 bid on the phone.

At £20. Probably broken a record here somewhere.

-At 20.

-Hey!

-All done?

Bad luck, the first loss of the day.

But there is still time to claw it all back.

Philip's fire hose nozzle is next.

Ten pounds, it's no money.

Ten pounds bid. At ten. 12. £12. Bid me 14.

-14.

-OK.

-16 bid. 18 now.

20 bid. And two.

-At £22 I'm bid. The gentleman stood in front, at 22.

-So close.

Clearly, I paid the right price for it.

£22.

24, may I say? £24 bid.

-Profit!

-At £24, then.

At £24...

Sadly, after commission is deducted,

Philip is going to be a little out of pocket.

Now, Natasha's blue decanter,

enamelled with a face that looks

as if it launched 1,000 ships.

Will she appeal to any bidders?

Five pounds? At five pounds. Bid ten.

-15. 20. New bidder at 20.

-Why?

Five now.

-£20. 25.

-OK, OK.

£25. £25, lady's bid.

Sitting in the front row at 25.

Thank you!

-Well done.

-You bought a nice thing.

Oh, yes. Decent profit for Natasha there.

Philip has received some bad news about his next lot.

-Do you remember those two seals?

-Mm-hm.

There was the bone one and the agate one.

-Ah-ha, yeah, they were pretty nice.

-Yeah, one of them has gone astray.

-Oh, no! Has it been lost?

-Yeah. Don't know where.

Philip paid £35 for the two seals.

An insurance valuation for the lot was given at £65.

If the one remaining seal sells for less,

Philip will get the insurance valuation.

But if it makes more in the sale, Philip is even better off.

Ten pounds on bid in the books. At ten pounds. 15 now.

20 there. At 20. 25. 30.

30 bid. 35.

Sure? At £30, through to the back, at 30.

Do you know what? It has done all right on its own.

Stood at the back of the seating, at £30. I'm going to sell it.

So, the gavel is down at £30.

And Philip's insurance valuation is £65,

which means he has actually made a £30 profit.

Natasha paid just three pounds for this bracelet charm.

Five pounds starts me.

-Five pounds I'm bid. At eight.

-Get in, girl, get in.

12 in the centre. At 14?

£12, I have.

In the centre of the seating at 12.

14.

16. At £16.

Do you know what? You should have bought the whole charm bracelet

and chopped them up.

Last chance. Going to the gentleman at £16.

So, five times what Natasha paid

for it, that really is charming. Ha!

Next up, Philip's ribbon puller.

£20 starts.

20 bid. 25. 30.

Five with you, sir. At 35.

Straight in now 40. Left-hand side at 40.

At £40.

-Lady's bid at £40 only. I am going to sell them on at 40.

-Oh, Phil.

-Don't make a loss, don't make a loss, no!

-At £40...

Yes, it is a loss. But only a small one.

The auctioneer expected Philip's chairs to do well. Was he right?

We have got bids at £40. Straight in at 40.

Five now. At 45.

50 bid. 50. Five now. 55. 60.

Oh!

65. At £70 bid now.

Come all this way, sir. 75.

£75 now. 85. Still worth it.

£85. At 85.

90 bid.

Come along. At £85.

-Gentleman in the seating at 85.

-This is exciting.

I'm going to sell it to the gentleman.

-You should say thank you to your man behind you.

-He is a good chap.

Philip has almost doubled his money.

Excellent stuff.

The pressure is on for Natasha.

And next up is her gamble buy.

She spent £70 on this little pin dish.

But will it bring big bids?

I've got bids here at ten pounds.

Bid on the books at ten.

Take 12 from you. At £12.

Bid me 14. 14. 16. At 16.

Why is he going in twos?

A minute ago he was moving in fivers.

-Now with Rachel, 20 bid.

-It is not looking good.

-With the lady at 20.

-In the seating at £20.

-Say 25, don't say 22.

-I'll take five from you.

-It is a lovely item.

-Yeah.

-At £20. Last chance at £20.

We are going to sell it to the lady at 20...

-Oh, that is really horrific.

-Oh, that is a big, big ouch.

That is sort of physically sore as well as mentally bruising.

I know, Natasha, such a disappointing end. Bad luck.

Do you know what, lovely? I think I had a bit of luck there.

In auction terms, well, it is two on to me, isn't it?

Onwards and upwards. Come on, you OK?

(Well done.)

Natasha started this leg with £173.12.

After paying auction house fees, she is down £50.28. Oh, dear.

As a result, Natasha has £122.84 to start next time.

Philip has stolen the lead, starting with £166.96.

And after costs, he is up £47.08,

leaving Mr Serrell with £214.04 in his kitty to carry forward.

All right, go, go, go! Before the bus comes.

-Where are we off to, guv'nor?

-Well, Brighton, darling, Brighton.

-I am getting farther from home and so are you.

-We can see the sea.

-There is every chance we might.

-Woo-hoo! Whoo!

# Let's go to the seaside! #

Next time on Antiques Road Trip...

As Natasha does her best not to upset the dealers...

I only want to be honest, not offensive.

..Philip is busy offending our ears.

I don't know any more.