Franklin Cash in the Attic

Welcome to Cash In The Attic - the show that searches out treasures in your home to sell at auction.

Today I'm in Hampshire, where I've decided to stop off

at the Jane Austen House Museum.

This house at Chawton was the family home of the author from 1809

until her death in 1817.

Jane Austen is, of course, one of the most widely-read and best-loved authors in the English language.

Her novels are famous for her witty observations

of the Regency middle classes and visiting here, you can really gain a rare insight

into her life amid the Georgian gentry.

Many of her major works were written in this house, including Emma and Mansfield Park.

Well, Jane Austen once wrote, "There's nothing like staying at home for comfort."

I can see what she means. This truly is a lovely place.

I've got no time to lounge around because I am on the search for antiques we can take to auction.

Today on Cash In The Attic, it's a first for Paul.

I've never actually seen one. If I said at least £200, up to possibly £500 maybe, how does that sound?

Well, yeah, really quite pleased.

-But when it comes to auction, will we be holding our breath?

-Phhh!

Or breathing a sigh of relief?

-That was brilliant.

-That's a good result.

-That's good, yeah.

Find out when the final hammer falls.

I've left one museum but I'm about to arrive at a house

that is full of museum exhibits,

which the family have called in Cash In The Attic to help sell

so they can move abroad.

This semi-detached house in Hampshire is home

to keen motorcycle enthusiast John Franklin and his wife, Susan.

They've been together for six years now and, while they love life here,

they have a long-term goal of moving to warmer climes.

John's inherited some unusual things from his paternal aunt,

Helen, who ran a private museum of Victorian and Edwardian antiques.

So today's rummage could throw up some surprises. Oh, morning, Paul.

-Ah, how are you?

-I'm fine, thank you.

Now, apparently, this house is home to a lot of museum exhibits.

Really? A national treasure? Open to the public?

-Oh, it's definitely open to us.

-It sounds a bit of an education!

Well, as long as you don't make an exhibition of yourself.

Well, not after last time, Lorne.

-It was just a phase I was going through.

-Ah, good morning!

-John, I'm going to have to drag you away from your motorbike.

-Hi.

-We're not selling this, are we?

No, we're not selling it. No, it's my pride and joy.

Fair enough. But I understand that you have got a lot of museum exhibits for sale, is that right?

They come from my late aunt's house.

She used to collect Victorian, Edwardian clothing, bibs and bobs,

in a museum she had in the house.

So why have you decided that after holding on to them you're now going to sell them?

We used to display them

but with not having the room they were put in boxes

and not going to good use.

We'd like to move to Spain and that would be a good start to get monies in...

-To start the ball rolling.

-Yeah.

So have you a figure in mind that you'd like to raise?

About £1,000 I think, just to get us going.

-OK, so around £1,000 we're looking for.

-Lovely.

-OK. All right.

Well, I know a man from Morecambe, a bit further north,

who should be here and, hopefully, may well have got a few of the items out ready for us to have a look at.

-OK.

-So shall we see him?

-Yeah, sure.

-Come on then.

It may be hard to believe, but amidst all the biker gear there are some real prospects.

Our expert, Paul Hayes, has already found his attention arrested by an unusual set of memorabilia.

Ah, there you are, Paul.

Oh, 'ello, 'ello, 'ello!

-Ah!

-What have you got to show us this morning?

Well, it's a collection of police memorabilia.

Is that something that's... you being a policeman yourself?

My grandfather's brother was in the Metropolitan Police.

So an early bobby.

Well, "bobby" is, funnily enough, the key word there.

-Do you know where "bobby" comes from?

-No.

Well, it actually comes from Robert Peel, or Sir Robert Peel.

He was the founder of the Metropolitan Police

and, of course, the name Robert was often abbreviated as Bobby.

But also they were called Peelers, from the surname.

But also we call them cops.

-The old word for a handcuff is a hand cop and that's where it comes from.

-OK.

It means to get hold of something and that's where that comes from.

What's nice about this little collection,

we have the name of the gentleman whom most of this belonged to.

-We've got August 1914 and Edward Brooke, or Brooks?

-Brooks.

He was appointed a special constable.

Now, at the time, 1914, it was the First World War.

Anybody that was fit and able-bodied was out fighting the war,

but at home we still needed to police the streets.

So there were thousands of special constables introduced during the First World War.

So you have a whole collection and then we have some whistles here.

In a way, they replaced the old clackers. You know the things they use on football pitches?

-Yeah.

-About 1860, we started to use whistles.

But these were replaced in the 1960s because the noise of traffic got too much and they became obsolete.

Well, what sort of estimate would you put on it?

We've got truncheons, handcuffs, medals, bits of paper.

-If I said, as a starting point, £100-£150?

-Wow.

-How does that sound?

-Very nice.

-Sounds pretty good.

So I think we can leave that lot there and get back on to the beat to find some more stuff.

OK!

That's a nice little job lot then and we're ready to investigate other options.

I've come across an Edwardian tea basket.

This beautifully presented little package

might bring in £50-£80 in the sale.

There are a few antiques here to weather attention at auction.

-Ah, now then, Sue. Ooh, what we got there?

-Look what I've found.

-That looks like a bicycle pump. What is it?

-I believe it's a parasol.

Ah, right! That's very clever, isn't it? So whose is this?

Again, it's from John's auntie's museum that she had.

All these little trinkety things.

Isn't that clever? I mean, this really is superb.

It dates back maybe 1880, 1900, that sort of time.

And the word parasol actually translates as...

"Para" is to stop, "sol" is the sun.

So it does stop the sun and the reason was, the fashion at the time was for a very pale complexion.

Anybody that had a bronze, or a tan as we call it today,

meant that they worked outside and they were menial workers.

So the paler the complexion, the more you were able to stay out of the sun, the more wealthy you were.

The fashion was to have a black one or a white one... Just be careful.

Oh, look at that. Isn't that amazing?

And that's a nice size, you see. I've seen these huge things that they make out in China from paper and bamboo.

But it's the colour on this because it's two-tone.

It is. Yeah, isn't that very clever?

-If you have a look here, the actual stem is gold-plated.

-Wow.

What's lovely is that the actual sheath itself forms the handle.

-And in this case, this is snakeskin.

-Very nice.

So is that something that you would consider selling? You don't want to hang on to it for a bit longer?

No, we're fine about selling it.

Well, I think you've got a cracking example there. If I said at least £50-£100, how does that sound?

Well, very surprised. I thought you'd say £10 or so.

John's not going to use it, is he? Does he go for a browner skin?

He hasn't got that pale skin.

That's a pretty penny towards the kitty and the finds just keep piling up.

This collection of Victorian tiles, some being Delftware,

could fetch £80-£150 at the auction.

And in the conservatory, Paul's found a snapshot of a bygone era.

-Ah, Paul.

-Ah, hello. How are you?

-I think we may have found more of these.

-Never!

Yeah. This looks like a really nice collection.

Right. Well, these are amazing things.

They go back to a golden time before TV and people used to go around...

You'd hire out a hall, or a local hotel, and all the kids and people would have like a projection show.

So this would actually be projected on to a screen or white wall and someone would narrate a story.

And it would be very educational.

We've got The Babes In The Wood, Swiss Family Robinson.

-How fantastic!

-Sinbad The Sailor. They're wonderful, wonderful things.

-Are these yours?

-Again, I think they were in John's auntie's museum.

-Wow.

-Handed down, yes.

What era are we talking about with these, Paul?

These can date back to the 17th century, if not earlier.

And people were using them as a teaching aid.

If you did anything to do with plants or flowers or animals,

you know, you'd have good examples. They were often used as lectures.

By the 19th century, you start to get these narrative ones appearing,

which are children's stories.

So I'd say this particular set is maybe 1900, 1910, that sort of time.

-So obviously you can't see these without a proper lantern.

-Exactly.

-So have we got one of those as well?

-No.

-So just the slides.

So what sort of price are we talking about?

-Value-wise, you could be looking 200 plus on those. How does that sound?

-Great. That's lovely.

All right, then. Let's see if we can find another story.

John's aunt certainly had a passion for social history

and this collection of war medals can only add another facet to our collection

at between £40-£70.

That brings our total so far to £520,

more than halfway towards the £1,000 target for John and Susan's big move to the sun.

I've noticed quite a lot of sculpture around the house.

These are lovely. Where are they from?

They're from my late father, who used to teach in a town near here.

Farnham, Surrey. He was a stonemason when he started off.

Got called away into the war, came back, did an apprenticeship in Goldsmith's in London.

-He used to cast bronze and carve marble.

-So have you got many of these?

I've got two marbles

and probably about four or five bronzes

and there are probably about the same dotted around the family.

So tell me a little bit about your aunt who had this museum. What are your memories of her?

Very particular, very old-fashioned, very upright.

A smashing lady really. She was full of interest.

It must have been a bit of a double-edged sword,

when she passed away, cos the museum had to be broken up.

When she passed away she had so much in her museum,

a lot of it was given off to the British Museum,

donated to the British Museum.

The rest of it was split amongst the family and there's bits and pieces like I've got, really.

So we're selling some items so you can raise money to go to Spain. What's your long-term plan?

Long term, within the next few years, to live out there full time.

Well, then I think we'd better find out if Paul's found anything else that we can sell.

-Let's go and find him.

-OK.

While we've been chatting, Susan's discovered this Japanese painting embroidered on silk.

Paul thinks £30-£50 would be a fair price for this.

And, while we're in the land of the rising sun,

Paul's found something that could give our total a lift at auction.

John?

-Are you there?

-Hi.

-Oh, yeah. Where do these prints come from?

They came from my late aunt's house.

They weren't displayed in the museum at all. They were a set...

that my mother handed down to me after my late aunt passed away.

What's really interesting about them is if you read the back, it says,

"A falcon by Shintei...about 1830".

-These are very early on.

-They are, yeah.

-Did you know much about them?

-Did your auntie ever mention them?

-Not really, no.

My mother said they were a set of six

and I think my grandfather put the frames round them.

But these, to me, look instantly Japanese.

And it's the use of asymmetry. Nothing matches.

All the decoration comes in from one side.

It looks like it's been cut in half.

It starts in the corner and works out.

It's totally different from how we did it in Europe.

These are ultra-symbolic.

You've got the falcon, or the hawk, here. That's a power symbol.

Those are often associated with the military or royalty.

Very much a male-dominated world.

The rat there... you've got a rat in the middle.

That's prosperity and good fortune.

So there's lots of stories behind these that people got into.

I think those are fabulous. There's a collectors' market for those,

but we should be looking at least £100-£150. How does that sound?

That sounds good. That's for the six, so... Yeah.

-Well done. OK. So let's see if we can find something else, eh?

-OK. Let's go.

-Great.

Well, the Japanese prints certainly are another excellent contribution towards our £1,000 target.

And in keeping with the oriental theme,

Paul has found another item that might capture the buyers' interest.

This wooden, Japanese-style jewellery box is valued at £40-£50.

John's taking advantage of the sunshine to go through boxes

but Paul thinks he's found something to create action in the auction.

-Ah, now then, John.

-All right, Paul?

-Still rummaging around?

-Yes.

-Well, I'll just stop you for a minute.

-I think I've found something absolutely amazing.

-Wow, very nice.

Where has that come from?

It's come from my late aunt's museum.

I took a fancy to it cos of its detail and what it was.

Well, this really is fascinating. At first glance,

you wonder what it is and who's made it, but it has a wonderful plaque.

And it says, "A cannon formed of beef bones

"and fashioned by the hands of the French prisoners at Roman Cross, 1834".

So this is right at the end of the Napoleonic times.

The prisoners of war were over here and they would be given food to eat

and amongst the food would be animal bones, beef bones.

And they would bleach them and boil them and then make them into these sort of items.

They're extremely rare.

They'd use basic tools that they could find,

so the quality of them is superb. I've never actually seen one.

I've seen them in museums and I've been into nautical places,

where they have them for sale, but it's always price on application.

-That's got to be good.

-Value-wise, it's so difficult.

Some of the galleon ships that you can find can run into thousands of pounds.

If I was being realistic here, it's a nice example,

I think with a new case it's a great piece to have.

If I said at least £200, up to possibly £500.

-I mean, how does that sound?

-Wow.

Really quite pleased. Quite shocked at that, actually.

-Are you sure Sue's all right to part with it?

-Yeah, she's OK.

-Shall we ask her anyway?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Sue! Ah, here we are.

-I've been looking for you.

-Stand there.

-Well, at least you're not out on the motorbike.

-Well, exactly.

-That was tempting.

-Ooh, this is interesting. What's that then?

It's absolutely fascinating and it's £200 towards the target.

Well, that's a bit of a relief. I was a bit worried about the amount we were going to make.

You wanted £1,000, didn't you, towards relocation to Spain?

Well, the value of everything going to auction now comes to £890.

That's not far away, is it?

-Wow, that's really good.

-Next time you see these items they'll be exhibited in the auction house.

-Happy about that?

-No second thoughts, no.

-OK. Well, let's get everything off to auction and see you there.

-Great.

Well, it's been a rummage full of insights in Hampshire today

and we've pulled out some real pieces of British history.

Objects like these Victorian and Edwardian slides,

with the detailed hand-painted scenes,

which will go to auction at £200 upwards.

And leading the charge into auction battle,

the painstakingly constructed cannon made from beef bone,

with an estimate of £200 or more.

Still to come on Cash In The Attic,

we've got some unique pieces and, like all unknowns,

we're worried they might not take off.

Unsold, I'm afraid, that.

But when they do, just how high will they go?

Ah!

Find out when the final hammer falls.

It's a couple of weeks since we had a good look around

John and Susan's home and we found some very interesting items

from John's auntie's museum

and those are now here at Chiswick Auction House in West London.

The couple want to raise around £1,000 as a contribution to their plans to move to Spain.

So let's just hope that the bidders are interested in those quirky items

when they go under the hammer today.

The sun is out in West London and so are the buyers. Let's hope our items catch their eye.

Paul Hayes is certainly prepared for all weathers.

Ooh, Paul, you found a seat.

Yes. Hello. How are you? All right?

Don't open it cos it's unlucky to open an umbrella inside.

Well, I'm not sure how it works for parasols.

-Is it unlucky for parasols?

-I'm not really sure.

I mean, that's taffeta, isn't it?

Yeah. So I'll just leave it there as it is.

Well, another fragile item is those lovely slides.

Yes, I thought they were amazing how they remained intact and complete.

Don't forget, children would have been looking at those items. Surely, one by now would have gone missing.

They did have a lot of other items.

Did you know? Look, one of them is on the front page.

Oh, yeah! We've made the front page. Isn't that brilliant, eh?

-Shall we go and tell them the good news?

-Yeah, I'll bring this with us.

If you're planning to buy or sell at auction, commission and other charges may apply,

so please check with the auction house.

John and Susan are hoping today's auction will go with a bang.

-Hello.

-Hello.

That looks very impressive on the table like that, doesn't it?

-Yeah, it does.

-There's been plenty of people looking at it today,

so we've got to make sure that translates into some nice bids.

Well, I must admit, it's very cold here today, so I can't blame you for wanting to move to warmer climes.

-Come on, let's see what we can sell.

-Lovely.

There's certainly one or two eagle-eyed collectors here today.

We take our places, hoping our first lot will bring some order to the room.

So what did you want for this, Paul?

Well, I estimated this at about £100.

It's very rare to find such a big collection together and it's all linked to the one gentleman.

We've got his wallet card there and special constable papers, which I think are really interesting.

-Let's see how we get on, all right?

-Bit of interest in the lot.

That's good. We're seeing some interest.

65. 70. 75. 80.

£80 then in the cor... 85 in the doorway.

At £85 in the doorway. Bid at 85. Anybody else want to come in?

90 there.

95. 100. 110.

120. 130. 140.

140, nearer to me. At £140. 140.

-£140!

-That's £140. Going for 140.

-£140. Happy with that?

-Very good. I'm surprised.

£40 above our lower estimate

for the police memorabilia from the early 20th century.

It's a bracing start to our morning.

Our next lot is a collection of Japanese prints by various artists.

We're hoping for £100-£150 for these.

A little bit of interest in these. I'm bid £60.

-£60, we're in.

-Starting at £60. Great.

75. 80. Five. 90. Five. 100.

£100 for those prints. At £100.

£100. For £100. All done? £100 then.

Wow, brilliant! That's good, yeah.

That's excellent news.

That's exactly what you wanted.

It's a great start.

Still in the Far East, our next lot is the Japanese-style jewellery box,

with an estimate of £40-£50.

£55. Going then for £55.

You're all done? 55.

Another impressive result.

And the run continues

with the tea basket from GW Scott and Sons...

Are you all done at 55?

Got there in the end. £55.

..selling for £55.

And the Second World War medals continue the triumphal march.

In the room, at the far end, at £70 then. I'm selling it for 70.

Coming in bang on Paul's top estimate.

We've now made £420 towards our target of £1,000 for John and Susan's big move to Spain.

Our next lot is an unusual one.

We've got the slides, but has anyone got the means to screen them?

Right now, the magic lantern slides.

Have we got a reserve on those?

-Yeah, 160 we've got on them.

-£160. What do you think of that?

Yeah, that's the right thing to do, cos these items,

they're specialist, so we want two people willing to buy them.

OK, here we go. This is the slides.

Where shall we start these magic lantern slides?

Must be worth £100.

Start me for 100.

£100 I'm bid. 100.

110. 120.

-130. 140.

-No.

-He's not going to let them go.

-No.

-No.

Somebody, surely? Not sold.

-£130 it got to, so you will able to show them to the grandchildren!

-We're really pleased.

It's good that John and Susan aren't disappointed to be taking them home,

but £200 is still a lot to lose.

Fortunately, we still have some great items left to sell.

But matters aren't helped when the Japanese embroidered picture

fails to raise any interest in the room.

Not sold.

Followed by the Victorian parasol,

which we had hoped would add another £50 to the pot.

£30 then. At £30 then.

Not sold.

The lack of interest in our latest items leaves us all feeling rather worried.

After talking to the auctioneer, he said it was something that was something and nothing really.

Either somebody would really fancy it or they wouldn't, so...

And they didn't, so we didn't sell it.

We're still on £420 - nowhere near our £1,000 target.

Those last three no sales have cost us £280.

That now places a lot of pressure on our last two lots.

And with the unpredictable nature of auctions, let's face it,

being on the front page of the catalogue is no guarantee of a sale.

Well, here it is.

It's on the front cover and it's now time to be sold.

It's the 19th century...

Really fascinating piece this, Paul.

Yeah, this is such a rare item.

These things don't turn up at auction at all, really.

I've only ever seen them in museums and specialist shops at a heck of a price.

Looking for about £200 on this one.

Bit of interest in it already. I'm bid £160 for it.

With me at 160. 160.

170. 180. 190. 200.

£200 with me. It's still at 200.

210. 220. 230.

240. 250. 260.

£260 then. At 260. At £260 then.

For 260 then.

-£260.

-That's good, yeah.

-That's not bad at all, is it?

-That's good.

-Excellent.

Yes, at last a sale, and £60 over the lower estimate.

Our final lot is the Victorian tiles.

Objects like these are becoming increasingly desirable at auction.

What do you want for these?

£80. You have a story about these, don't you?

You were going to throw these out, weren't you?

We were going to throw them out.

We didn't think they were worth anything.

Not until you told us they may be worth some money.

We're in a recycling age nowadays.

Someone will use these for a fireplace, or a splash-back for something.

So let's see if we're right. We're looking for about £80.

-It's a nice collection.

-Are they worth £50?

We know they are. £50. 50 I'm bid.

-50 already.

-55. 60. 65.

70. £70 I'm bid there.

At 75 everywhere. 80. 85. 90.

95. 100. 110.

120. 130. 140.

150. 160.

170. 180. 190. 200. And ten.

£210 there.

220, new bidder. 230.

240. 250. 260.

270. 280. 290. 300.

300!

320. 320 there in the blue. At 320.

340, new bidder.

360. 380. 400.

-Ah!

-420. 440.

460. 480. 500.

And 50. £550. In the blue at 550.

-Phhh!

-£550 then. 550. All done?

-Do you think we missed something?

-Yeah, I think we did.

It's only for the one tile. There's about 30 of them.

No, see, I had a quick look at the top of the box and thought, "They must be worth about 100 quid."

That's how I estimated them but they nearly went in the bin!

Today has been a catalogue of peaks and troughs,

but at the end of the day, will it be a hola

or hasta la vista to our £1,000 target?

-We've actually made £1,230!

-Wow, that's good.

-That is brilliant!

-It's good, innit?

-I'm really pleased with that.

-Great. Thanks.

-So what difference is that going to make to your plans?

It will take us a few steps closer.

-That's the steps into a swimming pool.

-Excellent.

A few weeks later and, thanks to that fabulous finish with the tiles,

John and Susan's dream move to Spain is closer than ever.

They can practically taste the tapas.

We've booked a Spanish cooking lesson because we thought it'd be good to get us in the mood for Spain

and also to pick up some tips to entertain family and friends.

Chef Sophia has developed a range of Latino-inspired dishes for shops and restaurants

and has a Spanish classic to get them right in the mood for those magic Mediterranean evenings.

So now what we're going to do is the tortilla Espanola...

-Spanish omelette.

-John doesn't do a lot of cooking.

-Not at all.

-I think it's fair for him to have a go as well, so when we get out there we can share.

We need to have some potatoes that have been cut into small pieces.

Medium heat. Perfect.

John's proving a natural with a knife.

Que maravilla!

-How wonderful.

-Que...

-Maravilla.

-Maravilla.

Still some work to do on the language, though.

-I was going to offer then as well!

-Voila!

Mmm!

Can't wait to get out to Spain and try this on our guests, can we?

And I learnt how to make garlic puree.

We wish John and Susan every success for their future together in Spain.

If you've got a project you'd like to raise some money for

by selling at auction, why not get in touch with Cash In The Attic?

Find details about the programme and how to apply at our website.

And we'll see you again next time.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 2009

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