Humphreys Cash in the Attic

Welcome to the show that searches out your hidden treasures and sells them at auction.

Now, most people at some time in their lives have collected something,

whether it's stamps or marbles or maybe porcelain or toys,

but to find out that those collections are now quite valuable

is always a pleasant surprise, so we're going to hope we find plenty of collections

worth a lot of money later on in Cash In The Attic.

On today's Cash In The Attic, our expert, Paul Hayes, gets all flowery

over some 20th century Burmese silverware.

It's like the garden of paradise, all these profuse roses and decoration and this floral display.

And our host is determined to get rid of her husband's racing print.

-How are you going to explain this to James?

-I'll tell him I've dropped it!

At auction, Paul shows off his knowledge of Beatrix Potter characters.

Well, there's nine items here, isn't there?

There's Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter. There we go!

Find out what happens when that hammer falls.

Today I've come to Wrexham in North Wales to meet a mother and daughter

who've called in the Cash In The Attic team

to help them to raise the money they're looking for to surprise one member of their family.

Anne-Marie Humphreys has lived in this beautiful barn conversion for 17 years,

along with her husband, James, and their four children.

Two years ago, her mum and dad, Theresa and Michael, moved in too.

With such a large family under one roof, it's probably a good job this place is so huge.

It has 18 rooms, plus over two acres of garden.

Anne-Marie and her mum, Theresa, are ready to rummage and our expert, Paul Hayes, has beaten me to it.

His knowledge of antiques goes back for more than 20 years

so while he makes a start, I track down our hosts.

-Good morning.

-Oh, hi, Lorne.

-You're a bit off the beaten track here, aren't you?

-Yes, we are indeed, yes.

-What a wonderful building! What was this originally?

-It is beautiful. We are very lucky.

We've got a nice open aspect there and nice views.

It belonged to the hall next door to us here and the barns were renovated in the late-'80s, early-'90s

-and we moved in in 1993, the beginning of '93.

-What about you, Theresa?

-I moved in two years ago having sold my house...

-Right.

..downsizing, so I'm now looking... eventually I'm intending to get a small bungalow for my husband and I.

-So what sort of money are you looking at raising?

-Anything up to £1,000 would be marvellous.

If you can get £1,000 between you and Paul, I'll be delighted.

-Yeah?

-But it's all down to you.

-Oh, dear!

-No pressure!

Fortunately, the pressure isn't all on me.

These impressive rooms look as if they'll offer up plenty of collectables

for Paul to assess in the hope of making the £1,000 target.

The money is for a special treat for a family member. We'll find out more later.

And it seems something belonging to Anne-Marie's husband, James, is the first thing to catch Paul's eye.

So any sign of Paul?

-Mr Hayes?

-Oh, here he is.

-Ah.

-Sorry, I was miles away there for a minute.

I'm just reminiscing...enjoying the whole scene here.

Stirling Moss, 1957, the winner of the Pescara Grand Prix, isn't it amazing?

How fantastic! I mean, how have you got hold of this?

James bought the picture originally 20 years ago.

Stirling Moss was staying in the hotel in Chester that James worked at

and Sir Stirling Moss needed directions to Chester train station one day,

and he said, "I'll give you directions to Chester train station providing you sign my picture."

-And he did?

-And that's what he did.

-Do you know what he paid for it?

-I'm not sure, no, I don't know.

Paul, what do you think it might be worth?

You've certainly added value by having his signature there, fantastic story,

but without the signature, it's is a limited edition print by Tony Smith - there's only 600 -

this is number 497,

but unscrupulous people can take photographs and reproduce them

so what you look for is the watermark there,

that embossed mark, that's only on the originals.

Tony Smith is very famous, actually, in the contemporary art market.

He did lots of railway pictures, militaria, sporting prints like this one.

They tended to be in limited numbers and what I like about him is he signs his work at the bottom here

but also there's a freehand sketch in the other corner,

but above there is the words "Sir Stirling Moss".

He signed it. Fantastic!

That really has, to me, added value tremendously to the picture.

How much is it worth, a rough estimate?

If I put this in at between

£80 to maybe £120 and I think if you get two racing fans

who really take a shine to it, I think it could take off. It could be pole position!

-OK, so are you pleased with that?

-I am, yes.

And how are you going to explain this to James?

-I'll tell him I've dropped it!

-Excellent!

Well, let's just make sure we don't drop it before it gets to auction

-and see if we can find anything else before the young man comes home from work. Come on.

-Dear me!

Of course, Anne-Marie is just pulling our leg.

Husband James has obviously agreed to let this picture go.

Mum Theresa has been busy with her search

and unearths this set of cufflinks which belong to Anne-Marie's father-in-law.

They're nine carat gold and probably date from the 1930s.

Paul values them at a glistening £30 to £50.

-Look at this, Paul.

-Ah?

-Look what I've got here.

There we are, let's take the weight off our feet for a minute.

That looks like a nice interesting box.

-Are these things you've inherited, then, bits and pieces?

-Yes, bits and pieces.

I'll tell you what has taken my eye - this little locket.

This is a beautiful locket, what you'll find in the Victorian times.

The bird symbol, can you see the little engraving of the bird?

That represents the soul, and they were often given to people who were parted,

You'd give that to your loved one,

with a photograph of yourself inside it, and it would be kept

until you got back together again. Is this gold?

-Let's have a look.

-I think it's gold.

Right, actually it says that it's nine carat back and front, can you see that. Back and front?

-Yes, I can.

-That's rolled gold. Have you heard that expression?

-Rolled gold.

-It's metal in the middle, but just like a gold flash on it, but very nice, very attractive.

It's a nice little lot, this. You've got some coins here.

This one's from John F Kennedy, it's a celebration coin, this is solid silver, this one.

This was un-circulated, this coin, and it's 1965 and it's the half dollar.

That's solid silver, quite collectable and you've got some enamel badges.

You've got something here for everybody.

If you said £20 to £30 for your locket,

a fiver each for your lighters,

£5 or £10 for your coin, you've got your bracelet.

I think you've got a parcel here £70 to £100. How does that sound?

Excellent, that's fine.

Anne-Marie digs out a selection of character jugs

which were collected by her father-in-law.

Some of them are by Royal Doulton, but Paul says

they're not as fashionable as they once were, and gives the lot

a £100 to £150 price tag.

Well, we still have a long way to go if we're to reach our £1,000 target,

but while Paul gets his hands on some more collectibles,

I've popped outside with the ladies of the house.

Now, this is wonderful. You've got a fantastic view,

loads of land and this pagoda for having parties.

Many a party. Many a party, yes, indeed.

Tell me a little bit about your 60th birthday party.

My daughter, Amanda, unfortunately, at the beginning of the evening,

fell over and broke her arm in three places.

Gosh, that was really unfortunate for her, so what happened next?

We were going to Jamaica, 16 of us going to Jamaica the week after

and she had to go into hospital to have an operation,

she couldn't come with us to Jamaica because she was just so ill and in such a lot of pain

so we had to set off, all of us, leave her behind, and James's sister was wonderful.

She looked after Amanda and we took her children amongst us and it was really sad.

It sort of spoilt the holiday a bit that she wasn't there.

-So what is it that you'd like to do for her?

-Just to do a surprise for her.

Well, we definitely need to raise that money,

so shall we go back indoors and see what else we can find to sell? Come on.

Whilst we've been busy chatting, Paul has been busy rooting through a chest of drawers

where he finds this wristwatch by the Swiss maker, Tissot.

Theresa bought this one as a present for her husband, Michael,

back in 1970,

and Paul values it at £50 to £80.

Hi, Paul, I've come across a handbag here. It doesn't really hold that much.

It holds quite a lot, actually! That's quite decorative, where's that from?

We were on holiday, my husband and I, in Burma,

we were on the cruise ship The Road to Mandalay,

part of Orient-Express, which my husband works for,

-and we were travelling along the Irrawaddy River.

-I know it well!

However, one of the excursions that we did was to go inland

and we watched numerous craftsmen

creating various pieces of jewellery, handbags,

various other artefacts, for the tourists and for export.

-Craftsmanship is so underrated when you get out to the Orient.

-It is.

Fantastic. Just look at the detail of that, isn't it wonderful?

It's like the garden of paradise, all these profuse roses and decoration and this floral display

and that's been done by hand, someone's actually traced that.

It was done by hand, they traced it out.

Can you imagine even doing one of these floral decorations here?

It must take hours just to make one piece.

This is quite a 20th century design, this handbag, it's quite large.

Most purses, as they started out, of course,

they were very small indeed and they were often cloth and they would be hidden underneath a lady's garments

but when thinner dresses came out, the days of the flappers in the 1920s,

they started to wear these decorative purses and they became larger

and became the handbags that we know today.

You've got two people who potentially would buy this.

Anybody that's interested in fashion, handbags, collecting.

It's a great talking point. You'd look the bee's knees, out with that.

-I don't think anybody would use it.

-It needs cleaning.

It needs a bit of cleaning, but not too often, because it's nice condition,

nice patina on it, but the workmanship on this is fantastic.

So, if I said £60 to £100, does that sound reasonable to you?

Yes, that's reasonable.

Well, as a bit of a handbag collector myself,

I can't wait to see how well this performs on auction day.

And I can start the bidding at 65. Any advance on £65?

Take 70 now. Bidding or not?

How high does it go?

80. 5. 90.

Find out what it sells for later.

Our rummage in North Wales continues and there's more evidence

of Anne-Marie's husband James's interest in motor racing

when Theresa spies this framed print of racing driver Ayrton Senna in the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Sadly, a year after this, he was killed in a crash

but is regarded as one of the best drivers of all time.

Paul values it

at £80 to £120.

Meanwhile, I'm in the sitting room, where I find this pair of Royal Doulton jugs

which belong to James's grandfather and have been passed down through the family.

Paul thinks they should fetch between £30 and £40.

Paul, I've got some Beatrix Potter items here.

Ah, now, then. So are you a Beatrix Potter fan, then?

I can appreciate they are pretty and I like Beatrix Potter but no,

they were christening presents that the children received.

Isn't that amazing? Every child in the 20th century

has been associated with Beatrix Potter at some point.

She was an amazing author. What I love about her, actually,

at the time there were very few female authors and legend has it,

I don't know whether she was the very first or certainly one of the first

to have animals in a human-like role. So the Tale Of Peter Rabbit,

you know, the rabbit dressed in a coat and trousers, that was different at the time

but apparently what happened, she wrote some letters to her niece or her nephew

and those letters were picked up upon and of course they got printed and the rest is history.

It's one of the biggest-selling books of all time and it's a fantastic success story.

These were originally made by Beswick and they came out in the 1950s

and the rarer example has a gold back stamp.

They were the very first ones. So if this brown writing, if that was to shine like a gold back stamp,

they're the ones that people go for. But you're looking maybe £8 to £12 apiece, sort of thing.

-I like this one, because it's musical, isn't it?

-We've a number of musical figurines.

That adds a little extra value.

I can imagine that being fairly expensive when it was bought, so that adds to the value.

Could this little parcel go here?

Yes. There are many more items as well, which I can find.

That's a nice little collection.

-If I said £30 to £50?

-Mm-hm.

-Great.

OK, if you do find any more, let me know and we'll adjust the total.

-Add to it, yeah. Great, thank you.

-Let's keep looking.

I've spotted this collection of tables, bought in Hong Kong

by Anne-Marie's father-in-law back in the 1950s.

Furniture like this is usually quite popular at auctions

so Paul's given the set a price tag of £50 to £80.

We're coming to the end of our time here with Anne-Marie and mum, Theresa,

but not before they turn up this mixed box of items,

including coins, cigarette lighters, necklaces and cameo bracelets.

Once we've managed to sort this lot out, they should fetch around £50 to £80 at auction.

We're pulling out all the stops before time runs out

and it looks like Anne-Marie and Theresa may have just unearthed something rather special.

Paul... Lorne, Paul, come and see what we have here.

-Let's have a look.

-Oh, my goodness!

-Gosh!

Oh! Good grief!

-Who's is that lot?

-Is this James's?

No, no, no, this is my father's.

My word! Well, this has got to be worth something surely, Paul?

Oh, definitely. These small cars are always collectable.

-Do you know how many there are altogether?

-There's 48 in each box.

These are really collectable. Originally they would have been issued in a matchbox,

and people look for boxed in mint condition, that's the highly collectable area

that you can find with these cars, but these are nicely presented.

These carrying cases are very unusual and to have so many in a collection,

this would create quite a lot of interest.

When you mention sort of 48, if it's 480, but if I said

£300 to £500 as a lot to give them a chance, how does that sound?

I think he would like to get at least £500.

OK, so if we put a reserve of £500 on them and see how they go.

Does that sound all right to you?

Gosh, I would have thought so. There's so many, aren't there?

-But we have run out of time for rummaging in your lovely, lovely house.

-Oh.

Now, you wanted £1,000, didn't you?

The value of everything that's going to auction comes to £930.

-Wow,

-Fantastic for just stuff that's lying around!

-Yes, wonderful!

-That's great!

Although he was trying to contain himself,

I've rarely seen Paul get quite so excited about a find

on Cash In The Attic as he did when he saw those vintage toy cars.

This must surely bode well for the auction.

And here's a reminder of some of the other things

that will be going along too.

At £80 to £120 that print signed by motor racing legend, Stirling Moss,

should prove a real winner on the day.

I love that beautiful vintage Burmese handbag.

At £60 to £100, let's hope someone in the sale room does too

and at £100 to £150, I think we'll be toasting that quirky collection

of Toby and character jugs when they go under the hammer.

Still to come on Cash In The Attic,

Paul reveals his level of bedtime reading when some Beatrix Potter figures go up for sale.

I felt like I was in Mr McGregor's garden!

And why are we all so excited when the Matchbox box cars sell for way under their estimate?

-Yes, there you go.

-£70.

Ha, that's excellent.

All will be revealed when the final hammer falls.

We had a great day when we visited Anne-Maria and her mum, Theresa.

They have a fantastic house, we found lots of lovely items

to bring here, to Frank Marshall Auction Rooms in Knutsford.

They're looking to raise around £1,000

so that Anne-Marie's sister, Amanda, can have a special treat

as she missed out on the Jamaican holiday for her mum's 60th birthday.

Let's just hope the bidders are feeling very enthusiastic when our items go under the hammer today.

This auction takes place twice a month in the distinguished setting of a former schoolhouse.

It looks set to be a busy day and the bidders are already taking their seats

as we find Anne-Marie and Theresa.

-Good morning, ladies.

-Hi.

-You got here OK?

-Yes, thank you very much, yes.

Seen anything you want to buy?

A couple of things. We'll have to sit on our hands, I think.

Paul's got some news about some of the things you're selling.

The auctioneer has a specialist that comes in to look at all the toys that they have

-and he's picked out 200 rare examples.

-Wow, that's huge!

Those 200 have gone off to the specialist, they'll get appraised separately,

and what he suggested we do is what's left, we'll try and get to £300 and he'll split them up into four lots,

so it's quite confusing, but all the best ones are somewhere else, not to be sold here today.

-So are you ready for today?

-Certainly am!

-Looking forward to it.

The auction has started, it's very frantic. Shall we go and get in position?

-Yes.

-Come on.

There's one lot that is not being sold today.

the nine-carat gold cufflinks, which belong to Anne-Marie's father in law.

Fortunately they aren't too valuable,

but it does mean we're £30 to £40 down already.

The first lot of Anne-Marie's to be sold is that splendid painting

by Tony Smith of a vintage racing car

and it comes with two equally splendid signatures.

What do we want for this one?

We're looking at £80 to £120. I've put that estimate because it's signed by Stirling Moss.

It actually says in the description, "The greatest driver never to win the World Championship"

-and I agree there!

-What an accolade!

Where are we going to be for this?

40 I've seen, at 40, the lady's bid at 40.

Come on, it's cheap at that, at £40? If we keep shouting and keep moaning, they bid in the end!

At £40. Anybody else? I'll take another five, quickly, come on.

At £40, the bid's in the room. Any advance on 40?

-HE BANGS GAVEL

-So that sold for £40, which is quite a disappointment, really, isn't it!

It is, but then so was losing his race!

That's not a great start.

There can't be any motor racing enthusiasts here

as the Ayrton Senna print suffers the same fate.

At £30, any advance, now?

Maiden bid will take it, then. At £30.

HE BANGS GAVEL

Let's hope for a better result with the next item.

Anne-Marie's solid silver handbag,

which she bought on holiday in Burma.

Paul has estimated £60 to £100 for it.

OK, do you have your handbags ready?

We're not going to dance around them today, if that's what you're waiting for!

We're not, but this is such an unusual handbag.

Solid silver, it's almost like a box, isn't it?

-Like a picnic hamper.

-Start the bidding at 65. Any advance on £65?

Take 70 now. Bidding or not?

70. 5.

-Come on!

-80. 5.

90. 90 is the lady's bid, at £90.

Anybody got 5? At £90.

Any more quickly? Lady's bid on my left, then, at 90, any advance. Here to sell, nice little bag for £90.

I sell it, then.

HE BANGS GAVEL

-Yay!

-Now, there's someone with exquisite taste.

-Take her lipstick.

£90 - that's very respectable, isn't it?

Very good lipstick!

-Yes, quite.

-You didn't leave your lipstick in there, did you?

-No!

That's more like it. £30 over Paul's lowest estimate.

Next is a mixed lot, containing brooches, coins and lighters

and are estimated at £70 to £100.

30.

-Anybody got 20 for me?

-Come on!

-Come on!

-Here we go, 20's here.

-20, take 2.

At £20. Seated bid at 20.

Come on, worth a little more, surely! At £20.

Is there a 2? 2.

25... 25, shakes his head. 25 the seated bid.

Any advance, come on! Anybody else? At £25.

I'm selling, though, at 25.

That's such a shame, and our second mixed lot,

including that gold locket, also failed to attract the bidders...

Seated bid, then,

at £28.

-Here to go at 28.

-HE BANGS GAVEL

..selling for just over half its lower estimate.

With half our lots sold,

we've made just £213.

With a sizeable £1,00 target,

we'll need our luck to improve, and fast.

If you'd like to try raising money by selling at auction,

bear in mind you will be charged various fees, including commission.

Now, these vary from one sale to another so it's always best to check with the sale room in advance.

Next to try its luck is the Tissot wristwatch,

valued at £50 to £80.

-Whose was this?

-This was my husband's.

Right, OK.

I bought this for him. We've been married 40 years, so I bought this for him about 35 years ago.

Oh, how wonderful.

He doesn't wear a lot of jewellery, he's not one for jewellery, so he didn't wear it very much.

So he decided that it was fine for it to come here?

That, again, has been lying in a drawer for 25 years.

Start the bidding at 50, somebody.

50.

We have 50. 55. 60.

65 here.

65 in the room. At 65.

Anybody got 70 now?

At 65. On my left at 65. Anybody got 70?

At 65.

Last chances at 65.

-There we go.

-That's all right.

-£65, are you happy with that?

-That's all right, that's very good.

-Good, good.

That's more like it.

Will our luck continue with the 12 character jugs?

We're looking for £100.

12 of them. £100, surely.

100?

80, let's go.

60, then? 60, thank you. £60 I'm bid.

Take 5. At £60, are we all done?

You're bidding 5. 65.

Are you bidding, sir? 70. £70.

Any more, then, at 70? Take another 5, they're still cheap. 75. £80.

Come on! 85. 90.

£90, she shakes her head at 90. Gentleman's bid standing at 90.

Another five surely won't do any harm.

Selling at 90.

That was slow to start, but we got £90, didn't we?

So close - just £10 under Paul's estimate,

but at least they've gone at a relatively good price.

Next up is the Beatrix Potter collection

that were christening presents for Anne-Marie's four children.

-What do we want for this lot?

-Looking for about £30, but there's nine items here, isn't there.

There's Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter. There we go, OK!

-That's almost us.

-Say no more. Yes!

Start me at 30. 30. 20.

Come on, £20. Anybody got it?

15, then.

15 I've seen. 15. 18 where? 18.

20. 22.

22 only. Any advance? I'll take 5. 25.

Come on, 25. 8, 28. 30 now?

30. £30, take 2?

32. Try 5. 35.

Come on, it's only money! At £35 in the middle there. Any more?

At £35 in the centre of the room.

-Yay, there you go!

-Hey, well done!

-That's good.

-35. Phwoar!

-That was hard work!

-It was hard work, wasn't it, yes!

-It was like extracting teeth!

-Yeah.

I felt like I was in Mr McGregor's garden!

Don't worry, Paul, you can have your afternoon nap fairly soon.

There's another few pounds in the pot

when the pair of Royal Doulton jugs go under the hammer.

At 40 I sell, then.

-That's good, really.

-That's really good.

That's great, and there was more than one person bidding for those.

Well, you can't say fairer than that.

Spot on the top estimate of £40.

And finally, it's the big one.

The Matchbox cars.

Remember, 200 rare models have been taken away by a dealer

for a specialist auction

but this still leaves over 1,000 cars to sell now.

Our next lot is really important for us.

It's all the Matchbox toys, many of which are in their cases. The auctioneer has broken down.

I don't mean the auctioneer has broken down in a corner somewhere or that the cars have.

But of course, he's broken them down to four big lots.

All done, then, at £70. Selling, then, at 70.

-£70.

-That's what we wanted.

That's a good result. If we keep this up,

we should almost hit Paul's lowest estimate for the whole lot.

At £90. The bid's on the left at £90.

-Excellent!

-55, 60, 5, 70.

70 bid. At 70. On my left now at £70.

You're out at the back. 70 on the left here. Any advance on 70?

-At £50, then. I'm selling them at 50.

-There you go!

That's a little bit less than what we were looking for.

Well, we had four lots there, and together,

those four lots made £280.

-There you go.

-There you go.

-So that's not bad, is it?

My husband will be very pleased with that,

I'm sure he will.

But let's not forget that we still have to wait for the sale

of the really collectable Matchbox toys from the specialist dealer.

He's taken them away and they won't know the full price yet

for a few weeks, but how have we done without those cars?

I hope I have news that Anne-Marie and Theresa will be pleased to hear.

I've just taken the figures from today and you've made £723!

-Oh, wow!

-Fantastic.

-I'm really surprised.

-I'm surprised how that's added up.

-Very, very surprised.

-It's more than I thought.

-That's marvellous.

-It is.

Well, that specialist sale brought in another £1,100,

which brings their final total to a whopping £1,823!

So what will they buy Amanda with the proceeds?

She hurt her arm and has had three operations on it

and she can't use a manual car, so we're looking for an automatic car for her,

so we can get her mobile again, because we're really fed up transporting her everywhere!

She's driving us mad in more ways than one!

Now, if you've got a project in mind that you need some funds for

and you'd like to sell your antiques and collectables at auction, why not get in touch with Cash In The Attic?

You'll find more details and an application form at our website.

And I'll see you again next time.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd