Wood Cash in the Attic

Welcome to Cash In The Attic.

We're the team that find antiques and collectibles in your home

and then sell them at auction, so you can do something really special.

Today, I'm in York, which is full of absolutely beautiful buildings,

but there are none as impressive as this one -

the world-famous York Minster,

which is the finest Gothic cathedral in the whole of northern Europe.

The first church on this site was a wooden structure, built in 627 AD.

But construction of the cathedral began in 1230.

It was over 200 years later that the landmark building

was finally completed, in 1472.

The Dean and Chapter of York have kindly allowed me to look around

this incredible building, and WHAT a privilege!

All this history talk has given me an appetite for antiques,

which is wholly appropriate as we're about to go in search

of antiques and collectibles that we can take to auction.

'Coming up on today's Cash In The Attic,

'our expert's getting rather excited.'

This is genuine cash in the attic, sitting right here.

'And some of his valuations have us all hot under the collar.'

You obviously had no idea.

No, no idea.

I wouldn't have kept it in the drawer.

'And we're feeling a whole range of emotions, come auction day.'

Your shoulders went...aaaah!

With absolute relief.

'So it's all a bit of a rollercoaster

'before the final hammer falls.'

I'm off to meet a granny and granddaughter, who called in

the Cash In The Attic team

to help them fund a Mediterranean adventure.

Maureen Wood has lived in this modern house

in the historic city of York for the past ten years.

She's a passionate collector of antiques and curios

and, over the last 50 years, she's built up a wonderful collection of items

in her charming home.

But with a move to a smaller property on the cards,

Maureen wants to trade in some of the collectibles for cash,

and granddaughter Jess is on hand to help.

Merhaba, Jonty, merhaba!

I'm sorry, have you gone mad?

No, that's Turkish for, "Hello, Jonty, hello."

Ah, right, I'm learning something every day. That's good.

It's because the family we're about to meet have strong associations with Turkey,

and they've also got some very nice things in the house.

If we keep our ears open, we may learn a few more words in Turkish.

-Maureen, what a fantastic apple tree.

-Wonderful, isn't it?

It's absolutely laden with apples.

Surprising, considering the rotten summer we've had.

-Too true.

-Maureen, you're the one who's called in Cash In The Attic.

Why did you call us in?

I've been collecting things for so many years

and we need to downsize a little.

We hope to have a week in Turkey, yachting.

You've got family connections with it, haven't you?

Yes, we have.

My daughter's husband is Turkish.

Jessie will be in Turkey, and my son is an avid yachtsman.

So a wonderful cruise around the Turkish end of the Mediterranean?

-Yes, lovely.

-Fantastic. In the sun, Jessica, in the heat.

How much do we reckon this is going to cost?

We'd like to raise at least £500 towards it.

If we're going to get you there,

you better find Jonty and see what we're going to take to auction.

It sounds like this family will have masses of fun

on their Turkish holiday,

and hopefully Maureen's antiques will prove to be just the ticket.

On hand to lead the search is our expert, Jonty Hearnden.

He's been in the antiques trade all his life and is the perfect person

to help sort through Maureen's wonderful collections.

-There's Jonty.

-Hi.

-Hi.

Come and have a look at these amazing photograph albums, they're wonderful.

Are these your old family?

No. I'm an avid collector.

Two of them, I actually found in the loft in a house we moved into,

and then found another one in a car-boot sale a bit later on.

They're amazing characters.

Look at this guy, he must be Scottish, with his Tam O'Shanter.

Isn't that fantastic?

And they always look so stern, don't they?

They have stern images

simply because it took so long to take the picture itself.

Essentially what we're looking at are photographs, family portraiture,

late 19th century, really turn of the century.

I have to say, I often see photograph albums of this sort of age,

and more often than not they're incomplete.

These three photograph albums,

particularly the album that Angela is looking at, are quite amazing.

The faces are so wonderful, the expressions are so lovely.

The costumes as well. When it comes to value,

we can't put too much on them, but because they're so interesting,

they're definitely worth putting in the auction sale.

We're looking at £60 to £80.

-Is that each or for them all?

-For the whole set.

I wish I could put more, but you must remember,

they'll only hold so much interest in the auction sale.

But that's not a bad start to our day's rummaging.

I've got a feeling that this house has some real hidden gems

so I've got high hopes for our £500 target.

Jess has started her search in the living room

and she might have inherited her grandmother's eye for quality,

and she spots this signed print and watercolour

which Jonty values at £30 to £50.

Next door, our expert has found

another impressive looking collection.

Maureen, are you there?

There is so much glass on these shelves.

SO, why decanters?

I was given one a lot of years ago.

I sort of took an interest in them and decided to collect them.

It just got out of hand.

-Do you remember which one was your first one?

-Yes, that one.

This one, shall we have a look at it?

A lovely Victorian bell-shaped decanter. Where was this from?

We had an old lady living in a bedsit with us and she gave me that.

I then decided to collect more, and more.

A few tips that you should take note, if you're interested

in buying decanters or selling them, because it will affect value.

One of them is the stopper itself.

Always have a look at the stopper. If it's chipped,

it will affect value, it will downgrade its value.

Another thing that tends to happen with the stoppers,

they go missing through time.

You need to make sure that the stopper started life with the base,

because that will affect its value.

You have amassed an amazing collection here and as a collection, they're well in excess of £100.

Hopefully in excess of £200.

But if I put 120 to £200 as an estimate, as some form of guide,

-would you be happy with that?

-Yes.

Smashing, or not so smashing?

No, smashing.

That's a big step towards our target,

as long as they make it to the auction in one piece.

Jonty seems to be on a roll

when he also finds this unusual Art Nouveau heater.

He's hoping it'll warm the bidders' hearts with a £20 to £30 price-tag.

With Jonty in his element, I catch up with Maureen and Jess

to find out a bit more about their Mediterranean connection.

You've got very strong associations with Turkey, haven't you?

My daughter's married to a Turkish man.

We've all been over there on holiday, we loved it.

Jessie is obviously loving it and she's been back again.

She decided to live there for a few months,

and we all fancied a family holiday.

My son is very into yachting, he's passed all his exams.

The coastline around Turkey is absolutely fabulous.

It is, it's stunning.

Jess knows better than any of us.

It's beautiful coastline, isn't it?

-It's beautiful.

-And you're planning on going back.

-What will you be doing?

-Be a tour rep again.

-You enjoy that?

-Yeah, it's good work, it's good fun.

-How long will you be doing that?

-From April until October.

That's when you hope Granny and all the family will come and see you.

Oh, yes, definitely.

What are you planning before you go?

We're hoping to have a nice Turkish theme night, where we can all

go and eat some Turkish food, and some Turkish music.

£500 is our target, shall we go and see what else Jonty's found

that's going to get you a ll off to Turkey?

These ladies can't wait to get into the Turkish sunshine,

so we need to get back to hunting for saleable treasures.

Jonty's got his eye on the target today and he's hoping

the auction goers will be impressed by this Victorian walnut clock.

I'm impressed by its £50 to £100 valuation.

In the living room,

Maureen has unearthed some very promising-looking boxes.

-Hello, Maureen.

-Look what I've found.

What have you got there?

There's a load of postcards here, that we found in the attic,

along with the photograph albums.

They go right back to the beginning of the century and possibly before.

They're quite varied and there's postcards from all over the country.

Does it make any difference to the value of the postcards,

if they've got stuff written on the back?

Not necessarily so. In fact, half the interest -

exactly what you've been doing - is reading the back of a postcard.

You've sorted them all out. Blackpool, London, Southport...

When they were introduced, which was 1894, it was the Post Office

that allowed them to produce a picture image on the reverse.

Various cards are worth different amounts to different people,

but for instance, if you've got a picture postcard

with a railway station on it, pre-1950, £35.

Wow! Have you looked through, have you got one?

-I think so, yes.

-Where?

I wouldn't know where it was.

What a wonderful collection. Definitely worth selling.

I suppose the ballpark value for this whole collection,

we're looking at between £100 to £200.

-Wow.

-Well, lovely.

-Yeah?

-Yes, better than sitting in a wardrobe, isn't it?

-Absolutely.

Better than in the attic. This is genuine cash in the attic.

-Sitting right here.

-Right!

Wow! What a fantastic collection.

Even Jonty seemed pretty excited.

On my way back into the hallway

I spot this lovely silver-plated tea set by Mappin and Webb.

Jonty hopes it could make us £60 to £80 at auction.

And our expert has decided to tackle the kitchen.

Jess, are you through there?

One massive, great big collection of dinner service here,

where is this from?

It's my great, great grandma's, on my grandma's dad's side.

Really? Does your grandma used this, then?

I've not seen her use it,

but I've seen it placed in the cupboard quite a lot.

It's been in there for quite a few years.

-Do you think this is something that could go to auction?

-I don't see why not.

You see these stylised shapes, this is Art Deco.

This would have been made in the late '20s, early '30s.

Particularly, if you look at the lid of this tureen,

can you see how stylised these are?

Because maybe 10, 15, 20 years prior to this design becoming fashionable,

all of this would have been heavy floral designs.

Flowers were very much in in the late 19th century

and certainly the beginning of the 20th century.

So, this is from an English factory.

Here, impressed into the clay, is Gibsons, England.

Gibsons, they were a factory that don't exist anymore,

they went out of business in 1975.

But if it can get to the auction sale, what price would you put on it?

£60.

£60? You're near.

I'd put a little less than that, £40 to £60.

-All right.

-Happy about that?

-Yes, definitely.

-Excellent.

We'll leave that there, we can wrap that up, ready for auction.

Shall we go and have a look for some more stuff?

That's another £40 in the Turkish holiday fund.

Great work, Mr Hearnden.

And Maureen tops up our kitty further

when she decides to part with some of her much-loved glass collection,

which Jonty values at £20 to £40.

Our day's rummaging here in York is nearly over,

but I've spotted one final item for Jonty's expert eye.

Maureen, Jonty.

Jonty, I've found this beautiful book.

-Maureen, where did this come from?

-It belonged to my uncle.

When he passed on,

I actually ended up with it, but I don't know where he got it from.

This book is the most... Jonty, you can see, the most beautiful

plates of flowers, look at this.

And it's "coloured from nature" by A.E. May.

Flowers From Her Garden And Conservatory.

I have to say, Jonty,

it weighs a ton, it's very heavy. Take a closer look at that.

-Wow, this is amazing.

-It's a lovely book, isn't it?

All these coloured illustrations will be done by the author of the book.

Look at these. The quality here is quite stunning.

Anything that's botanical, anything that's 19th century,

really takes the market by storm.

If you look on here, the date is down here, in Roman numerals.

That looks like it's 1849.

That will be a first edition,

which is wonderful, as far as collecting is concerned.

The fact that this book is also in very, very good order,

but, more importantly, the plates themselves are in very good condition.

There's no colour fading here, whatsoever.

I have a hunch, this is going to be worth

more than everything that we've seen today put together.

-Wow!

-A lot more.

And I also feel that this is worth in excess, at the moment, of £800.

Wow!

-My, that's wonderful!

-You obviously had no idea?

No, no idea.

I wouldn't have kept it in the drawer!

I think we should tell Jess the good news about this.

Come and join us, because, I don't know if you were listening,

but Jonty thinks this book's worth AT LEAST £800.

Wow!

-Just for that book alone.

-That's good news, isn't it?

What you wanted to raise was £500 towards the cost of a holiday.

But, as Jonty says, this book alone is worth more than everything else we've looked at today.

If we put all of the lowest estimates together, it comes to -

-and I'm doing this because I'm going to hold you down - £1,300.

-Wow!

Wow! That's excellent, isn't it?

That's really good.

Well, Maureen's house really did turn out to be an Aladdin's cave

and what a fantastic selection of items we're sending to auction.

We're hoping the bidders are charmed by the historical photographs

with their £60-£80 price tag.

There are also a high hopes for the collection of postcards

valued at £100-£200.

And we'll all be holding our breath

when the incredibly beautiful flower book goes up for sale.

With a massive £800 valuation

it could give this family a holiday of a lifetime.

'Still to come on Cash In The Attic:

'Maureen has to put a brave face on things for some sales.'

Never mind. Shan't have to wash them any more!

More room in the house. Yeah!

'But we're all putting a positive spin on others.'

Considering you never used it,

-that's £26 for nothing, really.

-That's true.

'So, will we have reached our target when the final hammer falls?'

It's been a week or two since we were with Maureen

and her granddaughter, Jessica, searching her house in York

from top to bottom and we did find some fantastic antiques

and collectibles, which we brought to sell today

at Cato Crane Auctioneers in Liverpool.

It's Maureen's plan to raise £500

towards a family holiday in Turkey, but before that, she'd like to

organise a Turkish-themed night out, to get everybody in the mood.

We're rather hoping that the bidders are going to turn out in force

and they'll be in the mood to spend when our items go under the hammer.

It may be early, but the auction house is already filling up,

with some keen-looking bidders.

I'm hoping Maureen's items will catch their eye.

One man who's giving them his full attention

is our expert Jonty Hearnden.

Jonty, from 20 paces away, that has got the 1930s written all over it.

Absolutely. Would you like a carrot?

But this is one of the things Maureen has brought today.

Yes, there are some fantastic items - the pictures, postcards.

Those postcards are wonderful.

But the big star of the show is the book of botanical prints.

I do hope he goes to somebody who really appreciates it today.

-So do I.

-Shall we go and see Maureen?

I hope all the bidders are feeling as positive as Jonty.

If so, we'll be in for an excellent sale.

Before things get going,

we find Maureen checking out that collection of postcards.

Maureen, how are you?

-Fine, thank you.

-Where's Jessica?

-She's had to work today, unfortunately.

-So you're going solo on this?

-I am.

I see you looking through these wonderful postcards

in the collection.

I've seen a couple of blokes looking through these and one told me

it's real photographs like this which are very collectible.

This is a wonderful collection of postcards but talk about other items,

the book of printed flowers.

My suggestion is we have a fixed reserve of £600.

How do you feel about that?

Yes, I think it's fair to put a reserve on it and £600 sounds fair.

That's fine.

If we can do that, we're in with a good shouting chance.

Better than that. We're off to Turkey!

Before that, shall we go and stand in the corner?

When buying or selling at auction,

be aware that charges, such as commission, will be added to your bill.

Always check the details when you visit your local sale.

As the auctioneer calls the room to order,

we find a place with a good view and get ready for the bidding to start

and we don't have long to wait

before the first of the lots goes under the hammer.

Three albums of Victorian portrait photographs, 20 pounds anywhere?

£20 is bid. 25, thank you. 30.

35. 40.

45, 50.

55 is bid.

60, with you, sir. Thank you.

£60, now. 65? 60, on my right.

60 is bid.

He was very keen, that dealer. Wonderful.

Meeting its estimate, that's a good way to start our day.

And we need the rest of our lots to have the same success or more

if we're to make that £500 target.

Next up is the signed print and watercolour,

which Jonty valued at £30-£50.

£20 is bid. 25, I'll take. 30.

Can we do 30, madam? Help me!

£30. At 30.

Any advance on 30? 32, I'll take.

At £30. All done at 30.

On the nose, Jonty.

Another sale right on estimate. I'm impressed, Mr Hearnden.

As the Gibson crockery goes under the hammer,

can he make it three in a row?

Is this one you've used in the home?

No, I've never used it. It was my grandmother's.

Do you remember using it as a little girl, then?

No! No, we must have done, but I don't remember.

Quite nice, what do we say? £20, to start?

£20 is bid. All done at £20?

22, 24. 26.

All done at £26, now.

Not quite our lowest estimate.

26. Considering you never used it, that's £26 for nothing, really!

That's true!

We're focusing on the positive.

It's a shame the crockery didn't bank us a few more pounds.

The bidders seem to be a canny crowd today.

Will Maureen's tea set get their pulses racing?

£40 is bid. Thank you. 40. 45, 45.

One more, if you like. £47.50, then, seeing it's your bid!

All done, at £47.50.

We squeeze every penny we can.

-47.50.

-That's a new figure on me!

-Yes.

The auctioneer really was eeking out every last penny on that one.

But despite his best efforts,

the tea set fails to reach its lower estimate.

We need the bidders to dig deeper on the rest of our lots,

as we're still a long way from the £500 for Maureen's Turkish trip.

Maybe our next lot will warm the sale room up a bit.

We're looking for £20-£30.

£20 is bid, then.

£20.

£20 in the kitty and it's a relief to see the heater

make its estimate,

even if it was at the lower end.

Maureen's collection of glasses is up next.

£20-£40 is the estimate you put, Jonty.

Looking at them on the table,

that works out at a quid each. That's good value.

It's a low enough estimate to get the dealers excited,

so I'm hoping we'll get more than that.

Good.

A nice little lot. Quick £10 for these.

Quickly, somebody. £10 is bid, thank you, sir.

£10.

15. £20.

20. 25. Can you do £30, sir?

Come on, for me? £30, sir!

We're doing all right.

All done, at £30.

I'm selling at 30, now.

That's more like it!

But those glasses were only a small part of Maureen's collection.

The rest are up for sale next.

Now we move on to Lot 60A.

The collection of cut glass and other glassware.

I can start the bidding at £40, it's a good lot. £40 is bid.

45 is bid. It's your bid, at £45.

Make it 50, anybody?

£45, now. Your bid.

£45.

45. Way below what we were hoping, Jonty, 120.

It's simply because the condition of a lot of the decanters

had chips and breaks.

Never mind. I shan't have to wash them any more!

More room in the house. Yeah!

I think Maureen is putting a brave face on the situation, as that

really was a disappointing result,

with the decanters falling way short of their estimate.

Only three lots left and it's all gone a bit quiet in the sale room.

We're only halfway towards our £500 target.

I'm getting really excited about this next lot,

the postcard collection.

Dealing in postcards is a growth area.

So I'm very hopeful about this.

What do we say?

£50 for the whole lot, please. 50 should be bid right away.

-Thank you, sir.

-Goodness me.

Is that it, £50? 60, 70. 80, 90.

100. One more, sir.

No, are you sure?

90 is bid. £90.

It's another session of belly dancing in Turkey!

Now, that's a relief.

At just under their lowest estimate,

the postcards have given our Turkish fund an overdue injection.

Will our Victorian walnut clock have similar success?

£70, well. £70, now.

Another item winging its way to a new home. And we're all smiling.

Our auction day is nearly over,

but not before our star lot takes centre stage.

Right, Maureen. We're hoping we've saved the best till last.

-Let's hope so.

-There's a £600 reserve on it.

If it doesn't meet that, it goes home with you.

-It does.

-Absolutely.

A most interesting volume, doesn't appear on the market very often.

However, a lot of interest in it, ladies and gentlemen.

A couple of hundred pounds to start me. £200 is bid. 250. 300.

350. 400, sir.

450. 500.

550. 600.

650. 700, I'll sell.

At £700. Any advance? 750, I'll take.

£700. It's sold.

-Yes.

-Yes!

-I tell you what, your shoulders went...

..aaaaah! With absolute relief.

That's £100 over Maureen's reserve.

We're overjoyed with that result,

especially after a somewhat anxious day at auction.

Well, how have we done?

We're going to add £700 to what we have already made.

You only wanted to make 500, so we know we've made enough for you to put towards the holiday.

I'm going to do a quick bit of totting up. We've got the 50p, which we mustn't forget.

8-1...

you've made...

£1,118.50.

Don't forget the 50p!

A couple of weeks after that rollercoaster day at auction,

Maureen has decided to prepare for her dream holiday

by treating her family to a Turkish meal.

It also gives her time to relive her auction success.

The great thing about going so far over the target

was it will all go towards an extra nice holiday.

This is the first holiday where the whole family are all going

and will spend time together.

She's properly looking forward to it.

The family splash out on some of Turkey's most popular dishes

and it all seems to be going down rather well.

But for Maureen, the best part is having all her family around her.

It's been really nice to have everyone here today for a meal.

It's given us a taster of what it will be like in Turkey.

We can't wait to get there.

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