Bottomley Cash in the Attic

Hello, and welcome to Cash In The Attic.

You know, it's always a problem when you downsize into a smaller house.

What do you do with all the stuff that you've got from the big house?

Well, the family that we're about to meet have got a house absolutely full of furniture and collectables.

Are they going to be able to turn it into much-needed cash?

We're about to find out.

Coming up on Cash in the Attic, our family hits the jackpot with an Edwardian watch fob.

This one looks like it's solid gold!

'Paul proves that the nicest things can come in small packages.'

Does that come as a surprise?

-Yes.

-A tiny little thing.

Don't faint now, here we are.

'And we take a few knocks at auction.'

-Oh, no.

-45!

-For all three!

-Dear me!

'Find out what happens when the hammer falls.'

Today, I'm in South Yorkshire, near Barnsley,

and I'm about to meet a mother and daughter who need some help

with a really big clear-out.

'Meet three generations of the Bottomley family.

'There's Marilyn, Madeleine, and the latest, Madeleine's daughter Lily.

'Marilyn's lived in Barnsley all her life,

'and she thinks there's no better place to raise a family.

'And it's clear family is a top priority for everyone here.

'Marilyn and her partner Paul have recently started caring for his mother, Margaret.

'As a result, they've acquired a lot of extra belongings.

'Today, I'm joined by antique expert Paul Hayes,

'who is all set to start looking for some good collectables and other objects to take to auction.'

Room for me in here?

-Hi.

-We've got granny, daughter and granddaughter.

Well, I'm guessing you must be Lily.

-That's right.

-You must be Madeleine.

And Marilyn.

How are we going to help you? Where's all this stuff come from?

Paul's mum and dad's house.

Unfortunately, Paul lost his dad, and so we had to empty it.

So we've ended up with our garage full of items, and Madeleine's garage full of items.

-We're really overcrowded at the moment.

-You're going to get rid of them all?

-Yeah.

What are you going to spend the money on when you get it?

Madeleine and Spencer have decided to get married on a cruise,

and we'd like to go along and see them get married at sea.

How much are we going to try and raise today?

We thought about £400, or something like that, yeah?

I brought Paul Hayes with me, and I know he's already started looking at some of the things.

I don't think he's going to tackle the garage just yet, that's going to be quite a major job.

Let's go and find him, and hope we can make that money for you.

-What do you reckon to that, then, Lily?

-Yeah, shall we go?

'I think Lily's more interested in a drink.

'But it's good to hear that the Bottomleys have plenty of stuff that they want to clear out of the house.

'And Paul starts his search in the living room.'

There we go, Paul, you're clock watching already, aren't you?

-Of course, yes.

-What a very handsome-looking clock. Where did it come from?

This clock was in Paul's mum and dad's house.

Well, it's only got one hand on it.

Lots of early grandfather clocks would only have one finger,

and that would tell you to the nearest 15 minutes what the time was,

I think here, the fingers are missing.

But what a beautiful example. It's a bracket clock.

And these used to be on a wall bracket.

A specific place to put this clock. It's very accurate,

and the idea was, you'd take the time from that clock and set the time on all the others.

So, it's very important to be very accurate, very good quality.

What's nice, if I turn it round,

this one plays almost a Westminster chime.

It's actually called a going orchestra.

It works off hammers and rods,

and it plays a tune on the hour and the quarter hour.

People like that. That's a more modern invention. But I've noticed in the bottom,

the pendulum sat in the bottom,

and there are some cogs and wheels lying on the bottom, which is a big problem, I think.

So I think what we've got here is a decorative clock.

As a decorative piece, if I said £50 to £80, how does that sound?

-Yeah, fine.

-All right to you?

-Yeah, brill.

Well, £50 is a great start to our budget for the day.

Let's go and try and make the other £350 on some of the other things you've got in the house.

Come on, then.

'Later on in the rummage, two more mantle clocks are found.

'Paul suggests that the three of them are packaged together.

'This means that our estimate increases to £80 to £120.

'Well, it's time for the rest of us to get to work now,

'and Marilyn stumbles across a Victorian jug and bowl.

'In the late-19th and early-20th century,

'these washing sets were essential before the modern-day bathroom was commonplace.

'They're not as popular as they once were, so Paul reckons they'll only get about £15 to £25 at auction.

'In the conservatory, Madeleine has found a piece of furniture that might have some hidden value.'

You're out here, are you? Oh, right, is this something we can sell, do you think?

Definitely, yeah.

-This is a corner cupboard. It should be mounted on the wall.

-OK.

But it's been ebonised. This is very Victorian.

They were obsessed with bringing the outside in.

So you have these wonderful organic forms.

There are lots of plants, and they studied a lot. They had rooms

full of books and specimens, and that sort of thing.

The dark look really went with that.

But this is called astragal glazing.

There should be 13 panels, which there are.

That's a typical design that you'll find from this time.

If I said sort of £30 to £50, how does that sound?

-Brilliant.

-All right.

-Really good.

-Excellent. Let's keep looking.

-Brilliant.

'We've started a steady climb to reach our £400 target,

'and I think I've stumbled upon another promising piece.

'In the bedroom, I've found this impressive chain and pendant.

'It's made of 12-carat gold,

'and it's sure to catch someone's eye at auction.

'Paul estimates this modern design is worth £200 to £300,

'which is definitely a significant amount to add to the kitty.

'Time, now, to tackle the garage,

'which is crammed full of items that Marilyn's partner, Paul, has got from his mum.'

-Hello, you two.

-What have you found, then?

Two barometers, really interesting. I love barometers.

Nowadays, we take for granted that we know the weather.

These help you to forecast how the weather's going to react.

When you go back to Victorian times,

it was extremely important to know what the weather was like,

if you were going sailing, or into the fields.

You need to know. The way it works,

the older system used a mercury tube, which would be in the back here.

This sort of design, and in the back would be a mercury tube.

And the slightest changes in atmospheric pressure,

low pressure or high pressure,

would cause the mercury to rise or to drop, and that could be recorded onto the front.

But this is very clever. This is called an aneroid barometer.

It's exactly the same principle, but it uses a vacuum flask.

So, in this little circular item here, two pieces of metal, very thinly apart, there's a vacuum.

And the pressure on that vacuum moves up and down, and that makes this needle turn left or right,

and that tells you... Low pressure - it's going to be bad weather. High - it's going to be nice.

I love them, they're fantastic, and very interesting items.

Have they got much age to them, Paul?

I think this one's a bit older. This is maybe 1890, 1910, that sort of time.

And this beautiful Sheraton style inlaid, maybe 1920, 1930.

How much do you think they might make, Paul?

They're lovely. They do need a bit of restoration, but they're very popular items,

and if I said sort of £50 to £80...

-Yeah, that's fine.

-That sound all right?

-Yeah.

I think we ought to go back inside again, because it's getting a bit nippy out here!

I think we should, yes. Whoops. There you go.

'Wouldn't it be nice if they could forecast how we'll do at auction?'

-55.

-55!

-60,

-65. 70.

-Oh!

-Oh!

'Looks like that's something for mum and daughter to be happy about. We'll find out more later.

'As we continue our rummage at the Bottomley house,

'Madeleine's found two war medals that belonged to Paul's grandfather.

'He earned these for his brave service in a tank regiment during the Great War.

'One is the British War Medal, and the other a victory medal.

'Our Paul thinks the pair will fetch £20 to £30.

'The items we've found so far are steeped in history,

'and I'm keen to know more about the family who bequeathed them.'

Marilyn, your partner Paul seems to have inherited quite a lot of stuff.

-How did you two meet?

-We met through work.

We both work for the NHS.

And we've been together for about ten years.

The house that this stuff that you're talking about came from sounds rather grand.

What was it like?

The family actually built it. It was originally two houses,

and they eventually merged it into one, which gave it two staircases, which made it quite interesting.

But Paul's mum came there as a bride, and she actually moved in,

and Paul's grandparents were still living there.

So she actually moved into a ready-made home.

That's why we don't know a lot of the history of some of the items,

because they were already there.

Tell me a bit more about this wedding that you're going to have.

Madeleine and Spencer have decided to get married on a cruise, that's booked for June.

And obviously, we're going to go, and so are all the family,

or as much of the family as we can get there.

-I think there's about 30 of us all together.

-It sounds like it'll be a real family affair.

We're really looking forward to it, because you get a holiday out of it as well.

We hope to raise £400 towards it.

-So, shall we go and see what Madeleine and Paul have found that we can auction?

-Yeah.

'What a splendid reason for raising money.

'Well, I certainly hope that we can meet our target,

'and make Madeleine's wedding day even more special.

'Marilyn's decided also to let go of this 20th-century nest of tables.

'Paul thinks that they could sell for £30 to £50 at auction.

'Well, not content with finding

'one very valuable piece of jewellery today,

'Paul and Marilyn are rooting around to see if there could be more

'tucked away inside these cupboards.'

-Ah, now, then.

-Paul, I've found this, what do you think?

-I love these. Do you like pocket watches?

-Yeah, they're interesting.

-Do you know who this belonged to?

-I think it belonged to Paul's granddad.

This one's American. Do you have any American connection?

There is a connection. Apparently, some of Paul's family went to Orange County in America and settled there.

But then they came back. So whether it came back and then passed down...

Waltham were a big company from Boston in Massachusetts, and they developed the railroad watches,

very accurate watches that all the station masters would have had all the way across America.

And they were a major, major company.

But it's got a chain with it, which is nice. And it has a fob.

This is a watch fob. It would have gone on a gentleman's waistcoat.

It would look very attractive on the front there.

-But this one looks like it's solid gold.

-Ooh!

Wow. So what you've got, really, is two items that shouldn't really go together.

Normally, these fobs hang on a gold chain with a gold watch.

But the watch itself, it's solid silver,

it's round about the turn of the century, it's a good manufacturer, needs a bit of attention.

So if we said maybe £25 to £30 for that, and about the same for your fob.

-So if I said £50 to £80, how does that sound?

-Yeah, that's fine.

-OK. Well, it all adds up, doesn't it?

-It does.

One to watch at the auction. Let's keep looking.

'We've put in a good day's work to find items that will help us give Madeleine a beautiful wedding.

'But before we draw it to a close, we find a couple more things that are worth taking.

'In the conservatory, there's a handsome wooden trunk.

'Paul's mum used it to transport all her belongings from Sussex to Yorkshire,

'when she married his father in 1952.

'It should fetch anything between £30 to £50.

'And Madeleine is still hard at it, when she spots something that takes her fancy.'

Just found this. It's really pretty.

Isn't that cute? It's tiny, tiny, tiny, but isn't it lovely?

A little silver box. Where did this one come from, Marilyn?

That came from Paul's mum's house. We found it in a little box inside the china cabinet.

-She didn't even have it out on display?

-No, nobody knew it were there.

-Do you know what it is?

-No idea. I thought it was a pill box at first.

-But from inside, you couldn't fit any in.

-I know a man who WILL know what it is.

Paul, come and look at this, because I think you're going to like this.

I love little boxes. Isn't that beautiful?

They do say nice things come in small packages. Isn't that fantastic?

These silver boxes were very, very popular, very collectable items.

And there are three main uses for a box like this.

One would be for a pill, taking a medicine.

The other one would be for a patch. They used to wear white make-up, and they put a little beauty spot on.

And the third type is a vinaigrette, or a vignette. Have you heard of that?

-I haven't.

-I've heard of it, but I didn't know that was one.

Cast your mind back into the late-18th century.

Lots of ladies wore very tight clothing, tight corsets, and so on. What you would do...

In here would be a sponge, which was soaked in a sort of smelling salt,

and because the corsets were very tight, the ladies often used to faint.

And this is how you'd bring yourself round.

That would actually sit underneath that grille there. Isn't that fantastic?

It isn't just you who likes small silver boxes. There are lots of collectors of these.

If we took this to auction, what do you think it might make?

This is absolutely beautiful. The hinge is in great condition.

This piercing often gets damaged. So, that's all nice.

-I'd say at least £100, maybe £150.

-Wow!

-How does that sound?

-Excellent.

Does that come as a surprise?

-A tiny little thing.

-Don't faint now!

THEY ALL LAUGH

Well, I hope you won't faint when I tell you what we hope we might make,

because £400 was your target,

but if we take the lowest estimate that Paul has put on everything he's seen today,

and add that £100 to it, then we could make as much as £605.

-Wow.

-That's a result.

I think I need a bit now!

Hey, we need that.

'What a productive day,

'and I think mum and daughter are very pleased

'that so many things will no longer be cluttering up their home.

'Instead, they're heading off to auction. Including,

'the three mantle clocks,

'which could be a timely buy for someone at £80 to £120.

'Still with horology, we hope that

'the silver pocket watch and gold fob will raise £50 to £80.

'And finally, the delicate vinaigrette.

'At £100 to £150, its sale is vital

'to making Madeleine's wedding day dream come true.

'Find out how much these and Marilyn's other items will raise

'on auction day.

'Still to come on Cash In The Attic,

'will our smallest item generate the biggest amount of cash?'

80. 90.

It's going up quite quickly.

'One item arouses mixed emotions.'

-70.

-Oh!

No, 65, seated bid.

'Find out what happens when the hammer falls.'

It's been two weeks now since Paul and I joined Madeleine and Marilyn at their home,

helping them to clear out things,

so they could bring them here to sell at Thompsons auction room in Harrogate.

Their goal is £400 towards the cost of Madeleine's wedding,

which she's hoping to have on board a cruise ship, with the whole family in tow.

So, let's hope we get some really enthusiastic bidding when their items go under the hammer today.

'Thompsons pack the house every Friday for its weekly sale,

'and today's auction features the usual wonderful array of antiques and collectables.

'Our expert Paul has already been poring over the selection,

'and tucked away amongst all those large items of furniture,

'he finds our family's tiny vinaigrette.'

Small, but beautifully marked, is the perfect description for that, isn't it?

I think you're about right. I think it's absolutely fantastic.

It's a real piece of Georgian silver, and just its use,

you can imagine somebody reviving themselves, masking the smells.

It's a great thing. I love it.

It's lovely, and there's been interest in it from the people who have turned up.

Great, I'm not surprised at all. It's a wonderful thing to have, and a wonderful collector's item.

They've both arrived,

so let's see how they feel about their very first auction.

Wow! OK, let's have a look.

'As we discovered on the rummage day, mother and daughter are keen to get rid of some unwanted items,

'and I'm sure that Marilyn and our bride-to-be

'are pleased the see them here waiting to go to someone else's home.'

-Hello.

-Hi.

-The barometers look a lot more impressive here than they did in your rather overcrowded garage.

-Yes.

What about preparations for the wedding? Are you excited?

Yes, time's ticking by really fast now.

We're getting organised. I'm looking forward to it.

Hopefully, by the end of today, we'll be £400 closer

-to how much it's going to cost.

-Yeah.

-The place is filling up, so shall we take our places?

-Yes.

'The auction room is filled with shrewd bidders, who will no doubt want a bargain.

'So, let's hope our items have enough appeal to keep those sale prices high.

'The auction gets under way, and here's our first lot,

'a very practical piece of furniture.'

OK, it's the corner cabinet now. The Victorian one, the dark oak.

Your house is very modern, very stylish, this didn't really match it, did it?

-No, I don't mind selling this at all.

-We're looking for £30 to £50.

Let's start the bidding here at £30.

-35 now.

-30?

-35, there you go.

45, sir? 45, now in the room.

50, anywhere else? 50.

-No, 50, on my left. 55.

-Great.

60. Still on my left here at £60.

Do I see 65? On my left at £60.

Selling now at £60.

GAVEL BANGS

There you go.

-£10 over Paul's highest estimate.

-Brilliant.

-It didn't matter that it was a bit bashed around a bit, did it?

-No, not at all.

'There were plenty of bidders in the room

'who saw potential in that piece.

'Now, our next item is a very personal and historic lot.

'It's those World War I medals, won by Marilyn's partner's grandfather.'

The only people who'd collect these

is someone who collects the regiment.

The way medals are valued, anyone involved in the First World War

would have been entitled to these two medals you've got.

The added value is of bravery in the field, or if he was mentioned in dispatches.

Something you can have documented proof of what happened, and what he was involved in.

But it's great at £20 or £30,

and I'm sure someone who collects

the regiment would like these.

I'll start the bidding here at £55. 60, now.

-With me here at 55. 60, anywhere?

-How fantastic is that?

65. Still on commission at 65.

Do I see 70? With me now at 65.

Are we finished? Selling now at £65.

-That's amazing.

-Terrific. £65, medal collectors in the room.

Obviously, they wanted that particular set of World War I medals.

'£65 is more than double Paul's top estimate.

'If that doesn't make our bride smile from ear to ear,

'I don't know what will.

'The next item is the Victorian wash bowl and jug.

'It's a decorative, yet relatively common set.'

Selling at 15.

'£15, spot-on Paul's estimate.

'The silver pocket watch with gold fob

'goes for £55.

'The next lot on the auction block is the two barometers.

'Some may see these as antiquated weather tools,

'but I think everyone would agree that they can still do the job.'

They do look rather handsome, and people do still want to use them.

In spite of having the Met Office on the telly every day!

Definitely. I remember one of them being stuck on the weather for Barnsley,

it was struck on rain, wasn't it?

But they're great fun items, a bit of social history, and £50, I forecast!

Start the bidding here at £30.

Do I see 35, in the room? 40, anywhere?

Lady's bid here at 35, do I see 40?

40. 45.

-50, madam?

-Come on, we could just do with one more.

-Two of them. Come on!

50. 55.

-55!

-60.

65. 70.

-Oh!

-No, 65, seated bid.

Do I see 70 anywhere else? Seated bid here, at 65. Are we finished?

Selling now, lady's bid at...

New bidder at 70.

75. 80. 85.

Ooh! Excellent!

-90.

-Keep going!

-She really wants them.

Anywhere else? The lady's bid here at 85.

Selling now at 85...

-There you go!

-Yes. A last-minute flurry of white,

you could see over in the corner,

and she got them for £85.

-Excellent.

-That's terrific.

Well, I think we've had a pretty good first half of our auction day.

Everything that's come up under the hammer has been sold.

And everything has got either on the nose what Paul recommended, or you've made more money.

So you've been doing really well.

I can hear the bells ringing already for the wedding.

£400 is what you want to raise, and we've passed the halfway point.

-Very good.

-We're at £280 already.

Woo-hoo!

'If you'd like to raise money at auction, do take note that houses usually charge a commission fee.

'Fees vary from saleroom to saleroom,

'So it's best to inquire in advance.

'So far, we're on a winning streak. The 19th-century clocks are up next.

'We already know they need a bit of TLC,

'so let's hope their condition won't burst our bubble.'

So, let's see if it's going to be a clock collector or clock mender

-who's prepared to pay £80 to £120 for it.

-Hopefully, yes.

-Fingers crossed.

45, in the room. 50, anywhere else?

In the room here at 45. Do I see 50?

Gentleman's bid now at 45.

Selling now at £45...

-For all three?

-Dear me.

-Good heavens!

'I should know better, shouldn't I?

'The words "winning streak" were bound to tempt fate.

'There was a bit of an accident when mum and daughter

'brought the nest of tables to the auction.

'Two of the glass tops got broken.

'So, again, they struggled in the room,

'because of the damage, and only sold for £18.

'But the 19th-century wooden trunk did much better at £35,

'£5 over Paul's lowest estimate.

'Now, the silver vinaigrette.

Now that you know a little bit more about it, are you sad that it's going?

No, not really. It's my favourite of all the items we've put in, and it's really pretty,

but I don't regret selling it, because we never bothered with it,

and it's better going to somebody that'll really appreciate it.

And it is a very special piece, isn't it, Paul?

Yes, I think it's fantastic. It's 200 years old, solid silver, would have belonged to a lady of the day.

And just for what it was used for, you imagine them all fainting there,

and Mr Darcy coming running in. What a wonderful thing, and I hope it does very well.

But we've put a £100 reserve on it.

Start the bidding here at £70.

-80, anywhere?

-70, to start.

-80. 90.

100. Your bid, sir, here at 100. 110.

Lady's bid now at 110.

120. 130. 140.

150. 160. 170.

170, with the lady. 180, anywhere else?

Lady's bid here at 170.

Are we finished now? Selling at £170...

-There you go.

-That is so much for something so tiny!

I'm glad that did well, though.

It would have been disappointing if it hadn't done well.

£170, a good price for a really beautiful piece of silver.

'What an outstanding result.

'If that price had climbed any higher,

'I think we might have had to use the vinaigrette

'before handing it over.

'So, to our last lot of the day.'

Another item that you put a reserve on, and quite rightly so.

It's the nine-carat gold chain.

This is in good original condition, and we're looking for £150-plus.

That's your reserve on there.

Start the bidding here at 100. Do I see 110?

With me here at 100.

Do I see 110? 110. 120.

130. 140.

Still with me here at 140.

-Do I see 150?

-We need a bit more than that.

-That's really cheap.

150 now, in the room. 160, anywhere else?

In the room now at 150.

Lady's bid, selling now at £150.

-There you go.

-On the nose of your reserve. Right to have done it.

It was a bit of a struggle, though, Paul.

It was, I expected it to go for a bit more. But that's auctions.

That's the minimum you wanted, so that's great.

'All in all, I think it's safe to say

'that we've got a happy Bottomley family.

'Now, let's see how much we actually raised.'

Virtually everything that has gone through has gone at a really good price.

One or two things that didn't quite make what we thought, the clocks, for instance.

But everything else, I think, has done really, really well.

And you came with a fairly modest total in mind, £400 towards your wedding.

Well, you'll be able to afford a few more bottles of Champagne, I think,

because what you've actually made is £698.

-Wow.

-Excellent.

Cocktails!

So, with a grand total of £698, the Bottomleys head to the shops,

with a special purchase in mind for Madeleine's mum, Marilyn.

The wedding's soon, and it's on a cruise ship,

so we need to get an outfit for my mum today.

'I'm really happy that we managed to raise so much at auction.

'So it gives us a bit more free rein'

to pick a really nice outfit. So that's good.

After trying on a number of frocks,

Marilyn kits herself out with the perfect dress for her daughter's wedding,

as well as some extra outfits for the cruise.

'I've had a really good day, and we've tried on lots of different outfits,

'but I think we've found a few that we want to take.'

Now my mum's kitted out, so we're ready to go.

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