White Cash in the Attic

Welcome to Cash in the Attic, the show where we hunt

for treasures in your home and then sell them for you at auction.

Today, we are in Surrey and I've just stopped off

at the spectacular Ham House.

A fine Stuart mansion on the banks of the River Thames,

Ham House was built in 1610 for Sir Thomas Vavasour,

Knight Marshal to James I.

After remodelling and refurbishment, the last 300 years

have seen little change to the house or its famous beautiful gardens.

Right, I'm off now, but hopefully we're gonna have

a few more intriguing stories to tell just a few miles from here.

Coming up on today's Cash in the Attic -

our expert's rather pleased with one of his valuations.

That's excellent. I'm really pleased with that.

-Yes. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

-Definitely.

'While another of his estimates makes us all light-headed.'

Go and have a lie down.

We're gonna do some more searching. We'll see you later on.

And there are celebrations all round come auction day.

-(Oh, fantastic.)

-(I'm gonna kiss you.)

But will we have reached our target when the final hammer falls.

I've come to New Malden in Surrey to visit an adventurous woman

who wants the Cash in the Attic team

to raise money, so she can take to the skies.

This terraced house is home to drama teacher

and acting coach Sharon White.

Now, Sharon has inherited a wealth of curiosities

and collectables from friends and relatives,

and they're filling every shelf and cupboard in this busy family home.

But, she's decided to turn the clutter into cash for the trip

of a lifetime and she's called her father, Peter,

and the Cash team in to help.

Hi, Jonty. How are you?

-Chris, how are you?

-I'm very well. Tough mission for you today.

-OK.

We've gotta reunite family members, halfway across the world.

-Right. Where we talking?

-OK, do you want some clues?

-Yep.

It's the home of the bungee jump.

-Toughie?

-Don't know.

-The hacker.

-I know where you're coming from.

-The All Blacks.

-Right. So, it's not Skegness.

A little further. It has got coastlines though.

Now, I want you to have a good look around.

We need some money, some big money and I'll go and meet the family.

That's what I like to see, people at work.

-You must be Sharon and this is Peter.

-Hello.

How are you? Nice to meet you. This is what I like to see.

Who's working harder?

-Erm...Me.

-Good, that's what I wanna see.

Now, you've contacted us, why?

Because erm...I'm hoping to go to New Zealand with my two boys,

to give them a really great holiday.

And it costs a lot of money!

So, I'm hoping to raise some money, to get them out there.

-How much were you hoping to raise? Realistically?

-About £500, £600.

Oh, that's quite a lot, isn't it?

Yeah, because we've got to pay for a month's accommodation

out there and for a hiring of a car, so the boys can have some fun,

and we can sleep somewhere.

-Right. Dad, are you up to this?

-Very much so.

She's had some tough times and she's come through them well.

-She's an ace woman.

-With the help of this wonderful man.

It all sounds good, but all this mutual appreciation is rubbish.

We've gotta get on with some work. Follow me inside,

-cos this stuff - no good. Inside.

-Right.

-OK.

Well, Sharon and her sons obviously deserve their global adventure

and with a £600 target, hopefully her collectables

will prove to be just the ticket.

And, we've got our own explorer, of the antiques world that is,

on hand to help. Jonty Hearnden's been in the auction trade all his life

and it looks like he's spotted our first gem.

Jonty's found something already.

I certainly have. Look at this, it's a lovely glass box.

Look at this, with a hinged lid. Beautiful.

Beautiful. Where's it from?

That is from an actor friend of ours,

called Neville Barber, who went to RADA.

It's lovely, it's really charming.

-Now, the first thing to note is that it's not British.

-Right.

It's continental, but moreover, it's Italian. OK.

It's Murano, so it's Venetian.

We're looking at a Venetian glass casket.

Date - a little bit difficult to give an exact date,

but I would suggest, really early 20th century.

Open it up, you can see that this is a brass, or gilded, metal rim

and, I don't know if you've really noticed before,

-but you've got these two bobbles on either side...

-Right.

..and holes there. Holes on the inside

-and that's for a handle, a drop handle...

-Right.

..would've been applied inside there.

So, those drop handles have gone.

-Right.

-But somehow, for my money,

it doesn't seem to have detracted from its shape and form.

I just thought it was beautiful.

I don't want to ruin it, we're talking about beauty and stuff,

but how much is it worth?

-Oh, right, OK.

-Come on, we wanna see some cash.

-Some money for this trip.

-Well, there's no cash on the inside,

but on the outside, the box, because it's in such good order,

there's no chips. Cos when it comes to glass, check for chips,

-because that will seriously affect its value.

-Right.

But that has to be £100 to £150 worth of box.

-Wow.

-Oooh.

-Did you know that?

-No, not a clue.

I just thought, it's a beautiful little box,

but I had no idea what it was worth.

Our eyes have lit up, but are you prepared to put that to auction?

'It's a fantastic start, but if we are gonna get that £600

'for Sharon's trip to New Zealand, we've a long way to go.

'So, it's down to business. Peter's been busy rummaging already

'and finds this unusual Limoges porcelain snuff box.

'Certainly not to be sniffed at, at £40 to £60.

'In the living room, Sharon's made a potentially high-flying find.'

Jonty?

-What have you got?

-I've got Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.

Wow, that takes me back. Do you remember the movie?

Yes, I do.

The bit I remember the most is when the car flew off the cliff.

When it flew it was fantastic.

Going to tuck the wings away and have a look on the underside here.

-Can you see? This was made by Corgi toys.

-Yeah.

OK, Corgi cars, they were the big rivals to Dinky.

And Corgi cars had all sorts of moving parts to it

and, characteristically, we've got wings that come out.

Fantastic.

Now, this little car has become a bit of a collectors' item.

Simply because of the association with the movie.

And if you've got it in its original box, in mint condition,

its worth well in excess of £100 at auction.

Quite extraordinary. To think, it would have cost a few shillings.

But our little car, here, does have a value.

I'm a little concerned about the bumper missing.

I'm a little bit concerned about the wheel here, this damage here.

Should have the spokes, yeah, on the interior, there.

But somebody should pay, really, between £40 and £60.

But be warned,

the market at the moment, really wants things in mint condition.

Well, the damage may make our expert cautious, but £40

is still a nice addition to the New Zealand fund.

'I'm pitching in, as well. I found two miniature portraits

'in the dining room. Jonty packs them for auction,

'with a far from miniature £100 to £150 estimate.

'Meanwhile, in the hallway, Peter's proving a bit of magpie.'

-I've found here a shell.

-Oh, look at that.

I'm not sure what it's used for, it might be for butter.

Where is this from?

This comes from my mother's mother

and she had it in Deganwy where she lived

and she left it to us.

Lovely, so is this its presentation box as well?

That's the original box that it came in.

Let me just place that back in there so we can see how wonderful it is.

So, here we've got the scallop shell and this is solid silver

because here we have the hallmarks.

I tell you what I really love about this set is its presentation box.

And you are looking round the £50 mark just to sell this item alone.

-Very good amount, that sounds excellent.

-What else have you got?

We have two silver cigarette cases here

-which may be of interest to collectors.

-OK, now the first thing

I always check out is whether it's solid silver

and you're absolutely right, they are solid silver.

We've got the lion passant there.

Silver, so that's solid silver.

And also often silver cigarette cases of this sort of age are shaped -

to fit into the breast pocket, or the side pocket, often the back pocket as well.

What sort of value would you put on these items?

Well, if an auctioneer was to see these two

he would probably put the two together

so you would get more value.

Because they are solid silver, which is the great, great thing,

a huge difference between these being plated and solid silver

but collectively here we are looking at between £50 and £70 the two.

So, your silver hoard that you've got gathered together here for me

is really between £100 and £150, that sort of ball park.

-Oh, that sounds excellent.

-Yes?

-I'm really pleased with that.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

That's good, excellent.

I don't know about that joke, Jonty,

but £100 for the silver is a fantastic find. Great work, guys.

Now, Jonty's off to explore outside the house

and I'm going to catch up with Mum and Dad taking a quick break.

I wondered where you were, having a bit of tea break while the rest of us were rummaging around.

Well needed.

Now, tell me a little bit more about your trip to New Zealand.

My brother Adam has been out there

for a year, year and a half and he's coming back in February.

I thought it would be a great opportunity to take the boys there

because they've not been on a proper holiday

ever, abroad - and so I'd love to take them somewhere really special.

New Zealand is pretty special but it's well known for its water sports and lively activities.

-Is that up your street?

-Absolutely up my street.

Dad, since we were four, has been building boats

and doing all that so I've always been on the water

rowing, canoeing and Adam's always loved that.

Adam used to be a white water rafter.

So, out there he's been surfing and doing all these things.

So, it's a good opportunity

to take the boys out there and do maybe a bit of kite surfing.

-So, what is kite surfing?

-Well, it's something I've always wanted to do.

It's a bit mad. I've learnt to actually fly a kite

which is quite amazing because the kites are huge.

The one I've had is three metres,

which is huge, but there are six-metre ones and more.

And basically you fly the kite and then you try and

stand on a board and fly across the water on the board with the kite.

-And are you going on this trip to New Zealand, Dad?

-No, I'm not going.

Economy flights for 30-odd hours

are really not my cup of tea

so I'm biding my time until he comes back.

Okey dokey. We need to raise some money.

It doesn't look as if my tea is actually making its way to me

so we better get back in and do some work.

Well, if I'm not getting a cuppa then it's definitely back to work.

Luckily Jonty is leaving no room unrummaged and no shelf unsearched

and he's come up trumps again

with this set of five art nouveau books, price £50 to £100.

Sharon and I are searching upstairs

and I've spotted an interesting looking item.

Come and join us in the bedroom.

A bit of bedtime reading.

I think we've found a fantastic little book here.

Signed by John Gielgud, wow. And you've got a date here.

That looks like 1975 but I know this book happened to be printed in 1979,

so that's rather odd.

So, that must be one of his nines.

Intriguing.

Also if you look at his signature,

I don't know if you've really studied this before

but it has the kind of precise neatness of the man himself

in that it's not this artistic squiggle.

Signatures are all down to how collectable they are.

John Gielgud is such a big name still that his autograph

or his signed books will be very desirable, very, very desirable.

So, Gielgud's worth something - but how much?

-That now has to be worth, at auction £40 to £60.

-No.

Yes.

-That's not bad, is it?

-For a little book.

That is fantastic news. Go and have a lie down,

dream you're John Gielgud and we better go and do some more searching. We'll see you later on.

I need a lie down after that.

While Sharon recovers we carry on the search and our New Zealand fund

gets another boost from this trio of Beatrix Potter figurines

which Jonty values at £30 to £40.

And Sharon braves the attic and finds this trio of Beswick Winnie the Pooh characters.

They're small in size but not in value, as Jonty gives them

£60 to £100 price tag.

And we're almost finished for the day,

but in the dining room, Jonty's eye for quality has spotted one final lot.

That looks interesting.

A vase for you. This looks interesting here.

-Lovely contrasts.

-Yes.

So, can you see on the underside here, see what that says?

-Yes, it says Moorcroft.

-William Moorcroft, in the 20th century,

was one of the most prolific designers, a very influential designer

and he really started his business, his craft, at the turn of the century.

The style, the design was very art nouveau.

So, lots of flowers, lots of squirls, lots of organic growth

appearing on the side of his vases and I think that's probably

one of the reasons why a lot of people do like Moorcroft.

It's a bit like Clarice Cliff it's very, very distinctive.

If you want a distinctive price,

this small trinket tray, because that's no more than a little dressing table tray to put your jewellery on

on a dressing table, and this small little vase,

again the design is exactly the same,

collectively you've got in excess of £100.

I heard you were talking about money so we're on our way.

Sounds good.

He always sniffs around when there's money.

-That's understandable.

-Exactly.

-It's an attractive subject.

-What's it worth?

-These two little pieces of pottery here £120, £150.

-Ooh.

-Wow.

-How about that?

That's considerable.

That's very surprising.

-It's Moorcroft. It's wonderful.

-£120.

We've doing a bit of adding up. Well, we reckon if you go to auction

and get the right prices we've raised a grand total today of £680.

That's going to be great, such a help.

-If it sells, it will be fantastic.

-We've got to sell everything for that.

-Yes, of course.

-Worth all that rummaging around, then?

-Yes.

-Certainly was, that'll be a great help to you won't it.

-Really good.

Yes, our day's rummaging through Sharon's cosy home has really paid off,

giving us an impressive haul of items to send to auction.

We've got the colourful Venetian glass casket,

which we're hoping will fetch a sparkling £100 to £150.

The highly collectable Moorcroft vase and tray

with a sizeable £120 to £150 estimate.

And who could forget the quirky and nostalgic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car

which, despite a bit of damage,

Jonty still valued at £40 to £60.

Still to come on Cash In The Attic,

Jonty is not feeling the love for the saleroom.

No-one in the room liked it.

-They've got no taste.

-They haven't.

But he seems to have made it into Sharon's good books.

£10, we can take you out for a drink.

So, let's hope we're all still smiling

when the final hammer falls.

It's been a couple of weeks since we met Sharon and Peter

when we found some great collectables to bring here

to the Chiswick Auction Rooms in West London.

Now, if you remember they want to raise £600 to reunite a family

on an adventure packed holiday.

So, let's hope their lots really take off as they go under the hammer.

It's looking busy in the saleroom,

so I hope that bodes well for Sharon and Peter's items.

Before it all gets going though, I catch up with our Jonty Hearnden

for a quick pre-sale chat.

-Jonty, good to see you.

-Chris, how are you?

-I'm very well.

I see you're admiring the casket belonging to the White family.

-Have you seen them yet?

-No, I haven't

but I've been admiring some of their items in auction.

This is particularly lovely.

And one of the things I was looking out for was the book.

John Gielgud you don't get more dramatic than that.

What a wonderful thing to have

and to have his signature in the front of the book, is really good.

Well, better get into the auction.

Well, Jonty's sounding positive

and I hope his enthusiasm rubs off on our father and daughter duo.

Hello, Sharon, Peter, how are you?

The moment has arrived. We are at the auction rooms.

-How are you feeling?

-Quite excited.

Yes, dying to see what happens.

-You are just looking at this for the last time, are you?

-This Moorcroft is very attractive.

Now, have we got everything that we looked at from your house?

We haven't brought the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

because Oscar was quite attached to that.

-So, we left that behind.

-So, let me get this straight - it's £600 you want to raise today, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Because you want to go off on this madcap adventure holiday in New Zealand, right?

-Yes.

-With the two children.

-But not with you?

-Not me.

I wanted to doubly make sure you hadn't changed your mind.

A lot of expectation, as you can probably hear the auction is under way

so we better get in there.

If you are buying or selling at auction, remember that charges such as commission

will be added to your bill. So, make sure you check the details

with your local saleroom.

We get into position as our first lot of the day comes under the hammer,

that's the signed John Gielgud book which Jonty valued at £40 to £60.

An Actor And His Time, autobiography of John Gielgud, signed by the author.

£20 for that? 15 to start me then, at 15...

Is it 18? 18 I'm bid... 20... 22...

25... 28... £30... 35...

At £35 to buyer 398.

At 35 and selling now.

-That's good.

-It's money in the bank.

-It's a dolphin trip.

It's real stuff.

Sharon's clearly keeping her eye on the target

and the book gives us our first step

towards the £600 she needs to go to New Zealand.

Next up is the trio of Beswick Winnie the Pooh figurines

which Jonty valued at £60 to £100.

30 to start me? At £30... 35... Is it 40 now...

£40 I'm bid...

45...

50 if you like...

At £45. 48? Can I tempt you, madam?

You're a sport.

48, I'm bid.

At 48 and 50 in a new place. At £50.

52 I'm taking, 55. 55, I'm bid. At £55, any advance on 55, going.

BANGS GAVEL

£55, that's great.

Just under but that's OK.

A new home for the figurines

and another £55 into the New Zealand fund.

We're all happy with that.

And our good mood continues when the Art Nouveau books

bank us another few pounds.

Any further bids on £40? Going for 40.

Again selling under Jonty's low end estimate,

the bidders seem to be a pretty savvy crowd today

but it would be nice to see them getting a bit more excited

about some of our lots.

Maybe the miniature paintings will get us our first big result.

Now, this lot is the pair of miniatures, isn't it?

Quite an important lot because there's £100 floating on this,

or resting on this I should say.

£40 here.

45, 45 I'm bid.

50.

55? 55.

60? 65. 70?

75? £80.

No more?

At £80 against you. At £80, at 80.

85, anybody else?

-Any more?

-BANGS GAVEL

Pass the lot then.

Unsold, that's definitely not the way we wanted the saleroom to go

and we're starting to get a bit concerned

when the quirky snuff box also struggles to find a new home.

Any further bids above £20?

No more interest.

Oh, no.

-That's disappointing, Jonty.

-Nobody in the room liked it.

-Nobody liked it.

-They've got no taste.

-They haven't.

I think our expert had taken rather a shine to that little lot.

Anyway back to business, we're halfway through the sale

and we're a long way short of our £600 target.

But don't panic - next up is another of Jonty's favourite items.

I particularly like the butter dish in its original case, beautiful.

And the silver cases, they are relatively unusual too,

I like the plain one as well.

I'm hoping this is a dealer's lot are they're gonna sell and sell well.

£100 is what we need.

Come on! Come on, something here.

The silver shell-shaped butter dish and knife,

which is boxed, and two silver cigarette cases.

£40 to start me for those, at £40.

£40 I have here. 45. 50.

55, £60, 65, £70.

75, £80, 85.

85, the bidder is seated on the front row. £90 I have.

95. 100. 110. 120.

120 with buyer 220. At £120, any further bids? 120.

That's good, that's good. That's really good.

At last! That was the first of our items to cause a stir

and it's banked us an excellent £120.

If only we had more silver to sell.

Instead we try our luck with the Moorcroft vase and tray,

which Jonty valued at £120 to £150.

£100 for them? 50 to start me. 55?

Is it 60 now for lot 139A?

At £55. Can I take 60 for the Moorcroft?

£60 I'm bid. 65.

£70, 75.

At 75, Against you at 75.

Any advance on 75?

I can't sell them for that.

I was over optimistic.

There's usually nothing wrong with a bit of optimism,

but auctions can be unpredictable at the best of times

and today's no exception.

And our rollercoaster ride continues

as the Beatrix Potter figurines go under the hammer.

15 for those and 18.

At £18. Can I take 20 for the figures? Any advance on £18?

Anybody want them for 20? No?

BANGS GAVEL

Unsold.

That's the fourth item heading back to Surrey.

It's not looking good.

We've only got one item left to try its luck in the saleroom.

You've got high hopes for this.

Yeah, I really like it, I think it should sell well.

Remember, we don't have the handles on the side,

so that might be an issue.

-So cross your fingers.

-OK.

-I'm full of confidence. Are you ready for this one?

-Yes.

-Come on!

£40 for that, at £40.

£45. £50. 55?

£60, 65.

£70, 75.

£80, 85. £90, 95.

100.

£100 I have in the door.

110, 120 I hear.

130, 140. 150.

160, 170. 180.

180 I have, lady's bid. 190.

200.

220. 220, lady's bid.

240? 240 with 289.

260 with 270.

280. 300. 320.

340 if you like. It's at 340. 360.

380 is that? At 360 then with buyer 289.

-At £360, going.

-BANGS GAVEL

Yes!

I wanna kiss you.

That is brilliant. I won't kiss you, but that is brilliant.

Thank you, that's fantastic.

That's my car hire in New Zealand. So that's fantastic.

Wow, selling for over double Jonty's highest estimate

the casket has exceeded all expectations.

But will that last minute success be enough to save our final total?

-OK, we've had a good time, haven't we?

-We have. It's been fantastic.

A bit of a drama though, serious drama.

We've been up and down, sideways and round.

Let me just get this right. You wanted £600 didn't you?

-Yes. I did.

-To raise money towards your trip to New Zealand.

-Yes.

We did, as we said, have a few ups and downs.

The exact total you have raised is £610.

Really? I didn't think we'd got it. That's fantastic, thank you so much.

-Oh, well done.

-Thank you so much.

Do I get a kiss as well?

That's fantastic.

And you've got £10 to spare.

£10, we could take you out for a drink.

LAUGHTER

Two weeks later Sharon's brought sons Oscar and Theo

to Poole in Dorset for some water sports practice

in preparation for their action-packed trip to New Zealand.

We had a great time on the show,

we raised some money which means we can go to New Zealand

and actually really enjoy it, have a fantastic time out there.

And with kite surfing this family's sport of choice,

it's time to commence training - on dry land at first.

So the position you want to be in is knees nice and bent.

Arms straight and they wanna be wrapped around your knees.

But before long, it's time to take to the water.

Oscar's first to brave the wakeboard,

and after a shaky start he turns out to be a bit of a natural.

The eldest, Oscar, has managed to get up on the water with his board

and successfully stay on for a real good length of time

and he's absolutely thrilled to bits.

Well, Peter's certainly a proud granddad

and once the family perfect their balance

they can move onto training for the kite surfing.

Hopefully in time for their New Zealand trip.

It's going to be so exciting for the boys

to be out there doing all this outdoor sports,

going up glaciers, kayaking and windsurfing.

We're just gonna have the time of our lives.

What a result and what a family.

I hope Sharon has wind in her sails all the way to New Zealand.

Now, if you want to raise some money for something special

and you think you might have some valuables hidden in your house,

why don't you contact us? All the details are online at -

But for now that's it from us.

Good luck and see you next time on Cash in the Attic.

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