Episode 18 Antiques Road Trip

The nation's favourite antiques experts, £200 each and one big challenge.

Testing, testing.

Who can make the most money buying and selling antiques as they scour the UK?

-I don't mean to drive a hard bargain.

-The aim is to trade up

and hope that each antique turns a profit.

But it's not as easy as it sounds, and there can only be one winner.

Punching the air.

So, will it be the highway to success or the B-road to bankruptcy?

I'm going to be like Rocky and come from behind.

This is the Antiques Road Trip. Yeah.

This week, we're out on the road with antiques experts James Braxton and Thomas Plant.

Yeah, the cold wind of change now. None of this spend, spend, spend.

I think the Braxton needs to start spending.

James Braxton is a successful auctioneer with occasional delusions of grandeur.

All I need is some sort of native sceptre of office.

Jewellery expert Thomas Plant knows the ups and downs of the antiques trade

even if he doesn't really know up from down.

Onwards and upwards.

James and Thomas started the week with £200 of pocket money, and it's been a fairly uneven contest so far.

James is striding ahead like a mighty auction giant.

From his original £200, he now has a thumping £385.88.

Coming out smelling of roses again.

Thomas has been buying great items at great prices with great appeal

and they've not actually made him much money at all.

I buy an antique, you buy tat. I lose money on it.

From his £200 starter pack,

he's just crept up to a worryingly-mild £230.25.

Well, James, I need to replicate that tenfold to be up to your level.

I need to walk with giants.

This week's Road Trip is round the stunning Northeast of England.

And on today's show, James and Thomas are leaving Darlington,

County Durham, and hitting the road to auction

in Bedale, North Yorkshire.

-Slow but steady wins the race.

-I know.

The way you assault a full English.

Quietly working away, on those sausages,

spreading marmalade and other goodness on them.

We start today's show in Richmond,

a jewel in the heart of North Yorkshire.

These walls arranged around Richmond Castle are the oldest in Britain,

dating back nearly 1,000 years to 1080 AD.

ENGINE SPUTTERS

And here we find James' old motor and the same old problem.

I think it's having real problems in this temperature. I think

as soon as I stop it, I think all the petrol evaporates

in every sort of fuel line possible.

Too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry.

There's just no pleasing James' cantankerous old -

I mean classic - car.

Leaving it for a while is really the only option.

Glorious, isn't it? Look at it.

The town of Richmond there, lovely.

Georgian town of Richmond. Are we going to find Georgian antiques?

At the right price? Lovely diving display there.

It is pretty cool, isn't it?

I hate to think how cold that is.

-Do you fancy a bathe?

-Er, not in that, no.

I think you need to freshen up and spend some money, James.

-You've got all that money!

-It's burning a hole in my pocket.

-Time to spend it!

You both need to get out there and get spending.

James has found his first shop up one of Richmond's back streets.

Lovely snooker cue there.

16.5 ounce cue.

It almost looks like James is reminiscing about his wild, formative

snooker-hustling days on the tough streets of, erm, East Sussex.

No wonder he haggles so well.

Why we have a cork seal here, is I bet you find it's lead, so you just

probably find it's a standard weight

and then they'd adjust it with a lead plug and cover it with a cork.

Snooker derives from a combination of bar billiards and pool,

given its name by a very young Neville Chamberlain

serving in India in 1875.

A young military cadet was known as a snooker.

It's one of those sort of decorative items.

What do you do with it, unless you play snooker?

You know, can it be incorporated in the home

as a sort of decorative feature?

I suppose you could put it on a wall, couldn't you?

Whilst James relives his teenage wild days, Thomas has slipped back

to his childhood and found a new friend at £65.

He's quite a sweet chap, isn't he?

His glass eyes have been replaced, but his mohair's quite good.

The original toy bears were made by German company, Steiff, in the late 19th century.

But the teddy bear originated in America,

from President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt

after he humanely refused to shoot a real bear cub,

on a stage-managed hunting trip in Mississippi, in 1902.

Good old Teddy!

What do you think of James' car breaking down all the time? "Yeah, it's fun."

Oh, dear, Thomas has started talking to toy bears now.

I don't think James is too worried about the car turning over.

He's found a more simple contraption.

Put a bit of elbow grease in it, and it's a churn.

William Waide and Sons made these fine oak butter churns for the local

and export market, although they were better known and successful

for their brewing barrels.

Beer-making has been big in this part of the world since the 19th century,

but this spinning butter churn is for sale at £120.

So you would've poured your milk in here,

fastened it up and then you would've got churning.

Look, there we are.

James is clearly enjoying himself today,

but I don't feel he's any closer to buying anything yet.

I hope Thomas' shopping is right on track.

These are British Rail signs, these do quite well. Midland line, 1965.

These would go on the side of wagons,

on the side of tenders, engines.

Railway buffs like these kind of things.

Railwayana is a collecting area for true enthusiasts

of steam and engineering.

Each cast-iron wagon plate tells the story of a particular

engine, carriage and branch line of Britain's once great network.

They've got them in there at £25.

That's not unreasonable,

but I would certainly want them for a lot less than that.

Well, Thomas is finally getting into a buying mood today.

Could James be about to open his wallet too?

He rather liked the butter churn, but it's a risk at £120.

Milk churn's very nice, but they are floor-standing.

That takes commitment to space.

I'm keeping my powder dry.

There's another day and there's another shop.

Nicely done, James.

Liking your style.

So as James heads for an ill-deserved tea break,

our last chance of some ruthless bargaining in Richmond rests on Thomas.

-No tea break for him!

-It's a teapot.

This is Chinese, it's famille rose, it's 1920s famille rose.

It's very decorative, isn't it?

In the early 18th century,

the famille rose Chinese porcelain palate

became popular on European imports.

Porcelain imported from China was popular in the previous century.

Chinese manufacturers began copying the Japanese Imari wares,

like James' pretty plate from yesterday's show.

They really are incredibly clever, these Chinese.

-WHISPERING:

-I'm going to ask them if they'll take £5 for it.

-WHISPERING:

-Good luck, Thomas.

Why are we whispering?

The owners are downstairs.

Armed with his two favourite wagon plates at £25 each

and the Canton teapot at £22, Thomas finally prepares to haggle.

-Hello.

-Hello!

-I've got some questions.

What will you do as a very good price for these two

and what will you do that for?

-I would say that's about £30, 35, and I'll do that one for 25.

-Right.

I'll buy the two of you for 35.

-No way.

-No way?

-No way. No way.

-No?

-Not a sausage?

-Not a sausage, no.

No sausage indeed, Thomas. You've got your work cut out for you here.

And stop thinking about food.

I would look at 45 for those.

I could do you that one, and that's the bottom price, 15. No arguing on that. At all.

-15?

-15. That's a good price.

-£12.50?

-No, 15 is a good price. I said there's no arguing.

So 45, 15.

You see, that I would like at a little bit less, and those I'd like at a little bit less.

I'll drop another pound, 14.

14. You're hard, aren't you, up here?

-No, not at all.

-Tough!

Wow, this is like pulling teeth.

I guess these ladies might actually have got you on the ropes here.

Have you finally met your match?

So you'd go to 14 for that, no lower on those?

Well, it would just be a pound. 44.

-Just a pound?

-A pound, yeah.

Just a pound? That's, like, 50p each.

-That's good.

-That's good!

-No, it's not.

43, but I don't do 53.

And that's it.

Come on, Thomas!

It's £14 on the teapot and £43 on the two wagon plates.

So what's it going to be? Yes or no?

-Go on.

-All right.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

God, that was hard.

Did I cave in too quickly?

I think we all need a break after that.

Thomas pulled out all the stops and now deserves a nice easy journey.

Let's see if this will start.

ENGINE SPUTTERS...AND STARTS

# The boys are back in town The boys are back in town

# The boys are back in town The boys are back in town. #

Back in the game.

-I'm ready to start fighting.

-It's good.

The goodness of my heart says play the game!

Destiny awaits, further up the road.

Heading off on a southwesterly breeze,

James and Thomas set sail for Middleham.

Middleham was the Dallas of the 15th century, with its very own JR Ewing

in Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who became King Richard III.

This was his seat of power from where the North of England was administered.

And speaking of decadence, who's this arriving in town?

-Right, I think this is your resting place.

-It is my resting place.

See you soon.

See you, bye.

Er, I'm not sure what Braxton's doing.

I think he's buying a sort of country house look, which is good and it's in fashion,

but I don't want to be seen to be copying him.

I know that copying somebody is the biggest form of flattery,

so one doesn't want to flatter James too much.

Quite right, Thomas. I think the last thing James needs is flattery.

My strategy today is to buy pens, I think.

James, you are a very competitive fellow.

You had Thomas on the ropes at two sales already

and yet you covet his one success so far.

Desperate man, James has found a local enthusiast,

Ray, for a very privileged gander at his fine scribing collection.

-Hello, Ray.

-James, pleased to meet you.

-Good to meet you.

A passionate amateur collector, Ray has built up this treasured fountain pen collection over 50 years,

from his very first writing tool to working with an auction house

where he developed an interest in pens.

In our second auction of this very nice Northeast leg,

I watched Thomas Plant buy a little clutch of pens from an antique shop.

I think he paid about £14.

It wasn't a lot, and they sold for £110 at Thomas Watson's in

Darlington, so I thought to myself, James, you need to prep up on pens.

Which was the first pen you ever bought?

I surreptitiously acquired this when I was working for a firm of

chartered accountants in my first job in 1960.

I wrote all my college notes with it.

So that's the one that is responsible.

It's an Esterbrook, had a new nib in,

but that's the one that started it all off.

The body of this, is that a sort of early Bakelite or something?

It's a hard rubber body.

That's a lovely pen. And served you well.

Started me going, and here we go.

Now we have this vast array here.

The golden years for the fountain pen were between its invention

in 1884 and the invention of the more practical ballpoint pen

in 1938, although many aficionados and letter-writers

still prefer the subtlety and individuality of the fountain pen.

Have you got my favourite pen in there? Have you got the 51,

-which I use to write?

-There's a choice of Parker 51s there for you.

This is a trick question, isn't it?

I better choose one, but I have that one.

That's exactly the same. Very nice.

A lovely nib and it's such a lovely writer, so easy to fill, isn't it?

Just squeeze away.

The Parker 51 was a cutting-edge designed fountain pen,

completed in 1939, Parker's 51st year of business, hence the name.

That was the one that put Parker on the map.

Had they used this style of nib before? The hooded sort of nib?

That became the most successful pen

that was manufactured for the popular market. Parker 51.

It's synonymous with success, really.

You better take this away from me. I'm about to put it in my pocket.

Quite right, James. I don't think stealing Ray's pens will help you on your antiques odyssey today.

Just be happy you've got to experience a stunning and much-loved collection.

James really needs to get on with his shopping now.

Thomas Plant is out there somewhere,

and he'll do anything to take a lead in this race.

-Hello, I'm Thomas.

-Oh, hello.

-I'm Richard Green, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-How long have you been here?

-I've been in business for about 20 years,

but we've just moved to this area.

-But you're not from Yorkshire?

-No, I'm a Bristol lad.

-Ooh, same as me.

-Oh, you're kidding?

No, no, I'm a Bristol boy.

-Oh, my!

-Right, this is exciting.

Both from Bristol? A geographical connection.

I can hear the cogs turning in Thomas' mind already. Can you?

Us Bristolians, we have to stick together.

Sideling up to his new West Country best friend,

Thomas spots a lovely piece of desk marble, priced at £28.

This is a great object.

I love it, I love the stone, I'm all into stones.

You'd have it on your desk, on the floor, it's just a good paperweight.

Granite is an igneous rock formed from molten lava.

It's found in many locations in the UK, and the most prized

pieces are brightly coloured, which can then be polished.

Granite from Cornwall in particular was mined to make pieces for visiting tourists.

So, what is your very, very best on that, please?

I think I should probably do that for 18 for you, how does that sound?

18. You couldn't do it for any less?

-16.

-Less?

Ooh, you drive a hard bargain.

-I think 15 is my maximum.

-15.

Would you, you know, help a fellow Bristolian beat a man from Kent?

Thrash a man from Kent?

Actually, James is from East Sussex,

but I see where you're going with this, you naughty man, Thomas.

-Go on, I'll do it for 12.

-12.

-That's deadline.

Deadline. Can't squeeze a bit more?

-No.

-Not ten?

-No.

-Really?

-It seems like there is no real rock-bottom price for Thomas.

Go on, for you, ten.

Ooh, God! You're a fellow Bristolian and a hero. Yes, dead! Done.

Brilliant, brilliant.

A little local connection can go a long way,

and the lengths our boys will go to in this increasingly

competitive relationship never ceases to amaze us all.

Time to get a room.

The shops are shutting and this lovely little town

offers our weary experts shelter for the night.

Sweet dreams.

Dawn breaks in Middleham and Thomas is mustard-keen

to hit the antiques trail hard for a full day's shopping.

James is still tempted by the local offerings

and wants to unearth a few Middleham treasures before moving on.

And you really, really ought to start buying some antiques, James.

Time is of the essence today, and so far you've bought zilch.

With nothing in his arsenal yet,

James has his full £385.88 to spend like crazy today.

My success has brought responsibilities.

Thomas, on the other hand, got stuck into day one and has

the Canton teapot, the railway wagon plates and the granite paperweight

to take to auction in Bedale. He's still got £163.25 to throw at the world.

So, today should be all about acquiring antiques and making more money.

Let's see if James can start playing the game.

That's nice, isn't it?

It's just nice to have a really clean set, hardly been used, has it? Look.

Perfect condition.

Instead of plastic, it's all wood, and you've got the original

alloy figures, racing car, top hat, so you've got the six players.

Everybody wants to be the racing car.

Monopoly is a very interesting game, fun to play and does almost exactly

the opposite of what it was intended to do.

Technically, it's an adaptation of The Landlord's Game from 1906,

designed by the American political activist Elizabeth Magie

to highlight the inequities of capitalism,

where monopolies bankrupt the many to make the few very wealthy.

However, shrewd 20th-century children really enjoyed

bankrupting their slower aunts and uncles at family gatherings.

And as James says, everyone wanted to be the racing car, or perhaps the top hat.

This is another board game, it's called Wembley.

It's a rather lovely design, isn't it?

This must be transfers,

so it's based on a Monopoly theory.

From the 1950s, this game was a variation on Monopoly

featuring teams from the old first, second and third divisions.

The aim was to get to Wembley and win the FA Cup, obviously, but also

to generate the most ticket money on the way there and have lots of fun.

It's a rather decorative thing, I've never seen one before.

That's a real possibility for me buying today.

James is still ahead in this week's antiques league table,

but we've still got the Antiques Cup final in Bedale to train for.

New signing Thomas Plant

has gone on ahead and is now heading to Masham,

nine miles southeast of Middleham.

Desperate to get shopping, Thomas heads straight for...

Hang on a minute! That's not an antiques shop.

Thomas is clearly going for a bit of me time in Masham.

Rob and Phil are waiting to meet and greet at the Black Sheep Brewery.

Rob is part of the brewing family here,

where 20 million creamy pints of beer are made each year.

I'm very excited, cos it's my first brewery ever and I like beer.

So, I haven't got long, but I'd really like to see the process.

You're in the visitors' centre,

We've got the brewery there behind, so if you're pressed for time, let's crack on.

Far from being an antique, this brewery is just 18 years old.

But beer has been in the Black Sheep family,

the Theakstons, for six generations,

and much of the machinery used here today

has been rescued from local breweries no longer in business.

So how old is all of this? Is this quite old?

Yes, I think it's round about 80 years old.

It was from a brewery in Cumbria, but it works very well.

Ale has been drunk in Britain for millennia.

Roman invaders tried to introduce wine to no avail.

In the 1400s, merchants began bringing hops over from Flanders.

Added to ye olde ale, these hops left a pleasant bitter taste, and so the British beer was born.

Just coming through, it looks like a huge laboratory,

but as I'm only here for a, you know, half a pint,

can I have a half a pint description?

It is a complex process, but we're effectively mashing in,

producing a sugary liquid,

we're boiling that sugary liquid, adding hops in to give us bitterness.

From that process, we're then cooling what we call wort

down to about 18 degrees into a fermenting vessel,

adding some yeast, letting the yeast do its magic

and converting the sugar into alcohol,

and from that point we're putting it into a cask

and then taking it on a dray, out to the customer to drink and enjoy.

Oooh, there's quite a lot to be done.

So, beer is made by extracting sugar from the starch in malted barley.

This is boiled with hops, cooled and then - well, you get the idea.

Heating, cooling, adding stuff and taking other stuff away.

Then you get this nice frothy stuff at the end which makes your head go all funny.

-Poured by a master!

-The fruits of your brewing labour.

-There you go.

-Thank you, Phil.

Settled quite well.

And this is the same quality of brew from the same basic process

as was perfected six generations ago and using the very best local British ingredients.

However, I would personally like to distance myself from any views

-Thomas may express after finishing that pint.

-Ooh, that's lovely.

-Whets the whistle, does the job.

-Oh!

Yeah, I think I could finish that and almost have another one

and then finish that one and think about another one...

Sorry, this is exactly the kind of behaviour we didn't want to see on the road trip today, frankly.

Now, where were we? Oh, yes, that fine gentleman and now designated

driver, James Braxton, was thinking of buying some antiques.

I believe we left him in Middleham.

What I want to do, Angie, is sort of build up a sort of parcel of goods, really.

-That's all right.

-The more the merrier?

The almighty copper thing?

Yes, it's a milk can.

That's a lovely bit of copper.

Copper has a strange, almost mystical relationship with food, health and wellbeing,

and we all need a certain amount of it in us.

Copper cooking vessels containing foods for human consumption

are always tinned inside, though, to prevent contamination.

-It would make a lovely ornament or flower pot.

-I like that.

That's a lovely item, that.

Football team. People like these old photographs.

Very decorative, good country house look.

This team portrait dates from 1910, the 40th year

of British professional football

and four years before the FA Cup had its five-year suspension whilst

the young men of Britain gave it all on the battlefields of Europe.

Without more specific details, these old photographs make popular

decorative items for the home,

combining a pinch of social history with a dollop of humour.

The only problem is it's missing its glass,

but it's only just been broken, I would've thought, just lost.

Because the gilt slip hasn't deteriorated.

-We'll have that.

-He's taken his time, he's sashayed all round the shop and

finally James has an antiques assortment to haggle over.

So, I think 30 and can I have those for a fiver each? The other two?

Make it 50 and it's yours.

All three at 50?

Yes, all the lot at 50.

All the lot at 50.

Angie, thank you. Yup, I'm not going to quibble.

£50 is very kind. There you are, thank you very much indeed.

That wasn't a bad deal,

considering I'm used to dealing with Yorkshiremen.

Well, here's a new one. Someone thinks James is soft on haggling.

Are you losing your touch, James?

I bought three items and the good news is the football photograph

had no glass, but Angela's told me her next-door neighbour

is a handyman, sort of general builder, and he's willing to do it

for me, so I'm just round the corner to go and see him.

A new pane of glass, James?

Well, you've already gone soft in negotiations,

so I hope you're not spending any more money.

Fresh from a powder-room break and bursting with Dutch courage,

Thomas finally heads for the shops with an uncharacteristic swagger.

These are Cecil Aldin prints,

they're lithographs, probably. They're signed by Cecil Aldin.

The monogram signature.

This is lovely, this scene here, this chap, this little boy on his

hobby horse, a little Scottie dog within this Tudor house.

A keen animal illustrator,

Cecil Aldin was born in 1870 and at 21 years old was commissioned to

illustrate Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Stories

before becoming a prominent newspaper illustrator.

Aldin is considered to be one of the best caricature artists

of the 20th century and his prolific works on English country

and sporting life are hugely popular today.

Yeah, 125!

If I could do well on that...

I don't want to buy it for £100, I want to buy it for nothing.

But it's a good thing!

Whilst Thomas hedges his bets,

James is passing hedges as he hurtles on up the road.

Taking a dramatic turn west, James is leaving Middleham and travelling

30 miles into the Yorkshire Dales, to the lovely town of Hawes.

Important for its pivotal role in the industrial revolution and

18th-century cotton production, Hawes is also really famous

and loved for its creamy Wensleydale Cheese.

Legend has it that French monks settled here after

the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century.

Their fine fromage skills were then handed down to local farmers

before industrial cheese production began in the 19th century.

And with a smooth, creamy, cheesy texture in mind,

here's James Braxton.

I'm doing quite well on my look at the moment, so I'm going to stick with it.

I hate to put a time limit on your search today, James,

but I'm quite happy to tell you that the clock is ticking

and if you want to take anything else to auction you'd better hurry up!

This is rather nice, isn't it?

Poole Pottery from Poole in Dorset

and it has this rather nice eggshell glaze to it, cos that's a ginger jar.

An ironmonger by trade, Jesse Carter bought a derelict pottery in Poole, Dorset, in 1873.

His business flourished, making tiles and ceramic advertising panels

and, ultimately, decorative pots.

That's a lovely thing!

Unusual pattern as well.

It's got Poole again here,

it's got a pattern number and various workers, so you'd

be paid on what you decorated, you weren't paid by the hour.

The jug's priced at £55. It's got a bit of damage,

but I'll see what I can get for it.

-You mean buy it for.

-Yeah.

Due to proprietor shyness, we must keep our distance whilst

tense bargaining takes place within Cellar Antiques,

so talk amongst yourselves.

LIGHT MUSIC

Ah, here he is now.

I've got my little find.

My Poole Pottery piece, very nice,

and he did me a very kind price on it, and I got it for £30.

And if James has left it late with his final purchase,

Thomas is pushing into the 11th hour.

Come along now.

Regency decanter, 1820s.

It's mallet-shaped, you can see that it's been mallet-shaped

with a nice mushroom stopper, well cut.

Amazingly, this Regency, cut-glass mallet decanter

is about 200 years old.

It's never been cracked, chipped or thrown about much

and, Thomas tells us, is a fine example.

What's the very, very best on that, please?

20 quid.

20 quid? You won't do it for any less?

I'll knock it down the price of a pint.

The price of a pint, which is what?

£17.30.

OK, how about two pints?

Nearly, £15.

-Yeah, 15, deal?

-Deal.

-Done.

-Thanks very much.

-It's been a pleasure.

Wow, Thomas is on fire today and got another great item down to rock bottom.

Is he about to become the new king of the auction?

Fourth item, but again, veering off the main track, but it's quality.

What can you by for £15 which is 200 years old, which is beautiful,

which is functional, which is the real antique?

Which indeed, Thomas!

Let's find out.

It's that special time again. You show me yours and I'll show you mine.

Thomas, this is one of my first items.

-This is one of my more expensive items, I would say.

-Really?

-Ooh that's rather attractive.

-You know me and copper.

I love these handles, the stud work.

-I liked it, I thought it was a very pleasing shape.

-It's got a knock in the handle.

-It's comforting, it means it's not reproduction and it's dated 1916, so I'm loving it.

-So what did you pay?

-£30.

-Well, that's not too bad.

But my item...

-Looks oriental.

-It is oriental, it's a famille rose teapot.

-Very pretty, isn't it?

-Famille rose teapot,

probably export ware 1920s, handle's slightly gone, I paid £14 for that.

That's nice. I like it. I'm going to show you my second item.

It has a bit of sporting interest, you know me. A figure of a sportsman.

You are, aren't you? So we have a football team.

I love these things, because they're all extraordinary-looking.

Lovely leather ball there, big boots, fabulous country house loo,

cloakroom, somewhere like that.

You've gone for that look again.

-Country house lavatory, tell me.

-£15.

-That's not...

-It doesn't end there.

It had no glass, so I had to pay another ten, so total cost £25.

-That's quite a lot of money.

-I know.

-That's not going to make a profit, really?

-Thomas has a point, James.

I think you've possibly shown that picture too much love.

You're not here to enjoy yourself!

-Now, what are these, Thomas?

-They're wagon plates.

Cast-iron wagon plaques.

Wagon plaques.

I was quite hopeful that this was an engine plaque,

which is more valuable.

Doesn't look very glam, does it?

It doesn't have to be glam.

-Bedale has the Wensleydale line, so it is quite popular.

-Anyway...

Yep! Me and you both, James!

Let me guess - £30?

No, they were a little bit more.

-I paid £43.

-Sounds all right.

-Oh, I don't know about that.

Onto my next lot, here we are.

-First one.

-Yes, Monopoly I can see.

No. A rather nice design, I thought, it's just

a board and it's Wembley. I like the graphics.

-Is it '60s?

-I think it's '50s.

With those haircuts.

Yeah, I've never come across it before,

but a rather nice Monopoly set.

The Braxton family are quite good at playing Monopoly.

-Are you?

-Yup, lots of tantrums.

Nice and bright, hardly used. Look at the silvering.

-Everybody wants the racing car.

-Yep. The racing car.

-Just a nice item. How much?

-£5.

-Well done.

-Really?

Five English pounds.

-For both of them?

-For both of them.

I think there's a profit there.

-And your next?

-Well, James I've taken a slight leaf out of your book.

This is an item which I thought maybe could be a country house item.

-I like that.

-I thought you'd like that. Well polished.

And undamaged, you would have thought, you know, chunks.

-It's quite angular, isn't it? And how much on that?

-How much do you think?

Er, I would pay £25 to 30 for that.

Really? Well, it was marked at that, and I got it for a tenner.

Well done, now this is my piece de resistance, there we are.

We're in Yorkshire.

We're in Yorkshire, so you buy yourself a Poole.

And I thought always better to buy something that is out of kilter

with the mainstream of the shop.

Priced up at £55, and I bought it for £30.

£30 for a bit of Poole pottery. Thank God you didn't pay more.

-I think...

-I like it.

It's very attractive from a deco point of view.

I think you might struggle in Yorkshire selling Poole,

but you know...

-What have you got there?

-So, this is a mallet-shaped decanter.

-It's a pleasing shape.

-Lovely mallet-shaped decanter.

It's got a nice stopper to it,

-lovely body...

-Well, let's hope it makes a whacking profit at auction.

-Thomas needs all the success he can muster.

-How much?

-£15.

-I think that's nice.

-James, I think we could be on level pegging

here, so we'll just have to see what happens at the auction.

Indeed. But before we get there, how do you really fancy each other's chances?

I think somebody's got a bit over-confident.

I do think the football photograph at £25 including the glazing

has cost him a lot.

The mallet-shaped decanter, I think even money.

The Poole Pottery at £30. We're in Yorkshire, we're not in Dorset, so that could be a problem.

After showing Thomas my items, I'm beginning to question whether I'm loosing my touch.

# The boys are back in town The boys are back in town

# The boys are back in town The boys are back in town. #

We've had an incredible journey from Richmond

through lovely Middleham, Masham and Hawes.

Auction day is at last upon us as James and Thomas

arrive in Bedale, North Yorkshire.

-I'm a bit nervous about today.

-Really?

-I think my Achilles heel is my wagon plates.

Mine's the Victorian football pic.

Shall we go and see if they've cracked the glass?

Darwin and Sons have been auctioneering here for over 40 years

and Michael William Darwin is the gavel-wielder du jour.

He has a few thoughts on James and Thomas' swag bag today.

The wagon plates - funny enough, six months ago

they were in this auction, and they did about £10 apiece, so I would expect they'll do the same again.

Good copper jug. Sadly, copper's not as popular as it used to be

because people don't like cleaning things nowadays.

The Chinese teapot, not particularly my cup of tea,

but auctions do have surprises.

James started this leg of the road trip with £385.88

and spent £90 on four items.

Thomas took his £230.25 and spent £82, also on four items.

Experts get comfy, bidders get ready and young hearts run free.

The auction is about to begin.

Lot 257.

Full of hope and potential is James' copper jug from Middleham

to kick us off.

Tenner, then. 10, 12, 14...

-I've got to start somewhere.

-16, 18, 20,

22, 24, 30,

38, 40? At £38 in the centre, 40 anywhere?

All done at £38.

Well done.

I was dead on.

Having a lucky streak at the moment.

You're on a rich vein like a purple patch.

Well, a reasonably good start for James, there.

This could be the beginning of a beautiful auction for our experts.

Thomas's Chinese teapot is next.

Nice little teapot there. £20 for that one, £20.

Tenner. At £10 only,

at £10, 11 if it'll help.

I'm selling it, then, at ten, 11, 12, 13, 14,

15, 16, 17 anywhere? Going at 16.

Oh, dear, £2 profit minus the commission is...

well not an awful lot.

I'm sure it's a just a blip, in an otherwise cracking sale.

So how about James' Poole Pottery jug

to get this auction back on track?

£12 bid, 14 anywhere?

At £12 only bid, 14,

16, 18, 20, 2?

I'm out at 22. 4 anywhere? At £22,

4, 26, 28, 30,

32, 34.

At £32 in front, lady's bid at 32. It's going, then, at 32.

Scraped in £2!

£2 again! I'm worried there's some penny-pinching

in Bedale today. Still, onwards and upwards.

On a brighter note, the auction house has split Thomas' Railway

Wagon Plates into two separate lots, with double chances of success!

Here's the first hopeful contender.

-Tenner for it. At £5 bid here.

-Oh, well done.

6, 7, 8? At £9 here, 10 anywhere?

I'm selling it, then, at 9, you're all done at 9.

Ouch, this auction seems to be going off the rails.

That doesn't bode well.

At least Thomas has a second shot at the train spotters. Come on, Bedale.

No-one interested? £5 bid, 6 anywhere?

at 6, 7, 8,

-9? At £8, then, 9 anywhere?

-Come on, come on, come on.

I'm selling it, then, at 8.

£8! Honestly, where are the train enthusiasts when you need them?

Time for a new game or two. James' Monopoly and Wembley games

are looking to dominate the market next.

The number of people who've said, "I've got one of them." Fiver?

At £5 bid, 6 anywhere?

At £5 only bid. At 6,

7, 8, 9,

10, 11, 12.

Selling, then, at 11, 12, 13, 14...

You've got to keep going.

Think of those cold winter nights.

16? Definitely?

-No, it's not worth it.

-Yours at 15, 668.

-Thank you.

At last. We have an antiques expert actually turning a profit.

What a game.

Could this be the turning point in a so-far worrying auction?

Thomas shrewdly used his Bristolian contacts

to get a cracking, knockdown price on this serpentine granite block.

Surely, there's a profit to be got here.

-Deep breaths.

-Paperweight.

£20? £10? Fiver?

Nobody interested? £3?

He's looking disappointed. A £3 bid, 4 anywhere?

-At £3 bid, 4 anywhere? Selling at three.

-Oh, dear.

Oh, dear, dear, dear.

One and only bid.

£3.

Words cannot express things here, Thomas. You have our condolences.

-Dear, oh, dear.

-Wonderful.

Now a risky prospect for James.

A fine, framed footballing photograph, but it's not a local

team and James also spent £10 on new glass. Anyone else worried?

Lovely, what a lovely bit.

£20 for it? Tenner? Fiver, then?

£5 bid, 6 anywhere?

At 5, 6,

7, 8, 9, 10,

-11, 12, at £11.

-Where's the 14?

It's going, then, at 11.

I'm just going to come out and say it -

this auction is going really, really badly for our boys.

My winning run has disappeared.

At least the misery is nearly over.

Thomas bought a really lovely item here.

A period cut-glass decanter with great antique appeal.

And it's today's last chance for auction glory.

Beautiful, 200 years old, fine antique.

£20 for it. Tenner? £10, the decanter.

Fiver? £3, the decanter?

4 anywhere? £3 only bid, 4 bid,

5, 6 and £8 only.

-I'm selling it at 8.

-200 years old. I'm so pleased.

Thomas, Thomas.

Sometimes the antiques world is a cruel world.

Are you disappointed for me?

I am disappointed for you. It was a nice item.

-Bad day at the office.

-Bad day.

Perhaps this is karma for all the merciless hard haggling

our boys have unleashed throughout the Northeast.

James started today's show with £385.88.

After paying commission, the poor old fellow made a sad loss of £10.92.

But still has a fairly healthy £374.96 to fight on with.

Tragic Thomas started with £230.25

and made a heartbreaking loss of £45.75.

He's now slipped even further behind

with only £184.50 to start the next show. Has anyone got a tissue?

# Everybody hurts sometimes... #

Thomas, Thomas, Thomas!

Do you know, I'm not doing that well.

-Highlights?

-There's no highlights.

Oh, I wouldn't say that.

You've both crashed and burned with great panache and effortless style.

If you're going to lose a load of money, it's good to lose loads!

-We're all weepy.

-A line needs to be drawn.

-We'll just move on.

Next time on the Antiques Road Trip, James and Thomas head for a brighter

future and auction pastures new in Baildon, West Yorkshire.

James has a moment...

I've bought the most appalling, appalling preserve pan.

..Thomas has an idea...

I'm going to try and let the items find me, not me find the items.

..and they both have a turn at driving.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]