Hawes Cash in the Attic

Hello, and welcome to the show that knows what to look for and where to sell it,

to help you realise that long-cherished ambition.

Today I'm with a mother and daughter

who are hoping to sell their antiques and collectables

to create a little bit more room.

Coming up, we're hopeful of marital bliss,

in spite of the evidence on show.

Two items together always symbolise a long and happy marriage.

-There's three on this.

-He's the bloke next door.

-Steady on!

Will we have to rely on help from another dimension?

And let's hope the Force is with you. See what I did there?

On auction day, we discover that everyone has a quality that's worthy of admiration.

-Good moving parts on the charms, you know.

-Bit like Paul, then.

-He's got quite a few moving parts.

-Charming and moving parts?

-Yeah!

Discover why, when the hammer falls.

Today I'm in Hampshire, with a family who are hoping

to give the youngest member something special.

Meet retired post office manager Brenda Hawes, her daughter, Kirsty,

and three-year-old granddaughter, Sophie.

Brenda's from Darlington originally,

and used to share her three-bedroom home in Hampshire with her husband, John,

who sadly died in 2005.

Since then, she's made a few alterations to the house,

and has plenty more in mind, partly to benefit little Sophie,

who comes to see her three days a week.

Our expert today is Lancashire's finest export, Mr Paul Hayes.

-Ah, good morning, Aled. How are you, mate?

-I'm good. You've dressed up for it, haven't you?

-Thank you very much. Due back at four o'clock, you know what it's like.

-Shall we get in?

-Go on, then.

It's gag a-plenty. He has almost 30 years' experience in antiques.

-Ah, Brenda, Kirsty, how are you?

-Hi, good, yes.

-Hi!

Mother and daughter? You're more like sisters.

So why have you called us in?

Well, I would like to build into the back of the garage

to make a room that Sophie would be able to use as a playroom.

-She has plans, doesn't she?

-She does.

-Is that your daughter?

-My little girl, yes.

-Has she got a lot of toys, then?

-Too many!

You need a massive room.

-That's going to cost quite a bit of money, isn't it?

-Yes, it is.

-So how much are we hoping to raise?

-At least 400 towards the cost of it, but I'd like to raise more.

I tell you what, if it was down to us, I think we'd be in trouble,

but we've got an expert on hand, and what an expert!

Paul Hayes. He's already having a look in the living room, I think.

-The plan is, you go upstairs.

-Yep.

-And you follow me.

-Right, OK.

Come on, let's go.

Looking around, Brenda seems to be quite a collector,

so I doubt we'll have too much trouble finding enough treasures to make £400.

Let's see what Paul has for us so far.

-You see? I told you he'd be rummaging.

-Ah, hello!

-Hello.

-How are you?

-Nice to meet you.

-Lovely to meet you.

-What have you found?

I've made a start already.

I've found a vase, here, that was designed, really, to be sold in Australia.

So do you have any Australian connections? Any family out that way?

Not that I'm aware of, but I know where it came from.

It was given to my parents-in-law as a wedding present in 1940.

Mother-in-law had her paintbrushes in it at one stage.

LAUGHTER

Well, actually, you'll love this. The pattern is called The Old Wife.

LAUGHTER

Don't know what the relevance is for fish, on there. We won't go there, I don't think.

But that could've been, symbolized the wedding, you know.

Somebody might've bought it with that idea, with it called The Old Wife.

Could be, yeah, I've never thought of that.

There were two patterns.

The first one is called Coral Strand, and it's all very much a coral reef

which you find around Australia, and this one was called The Old Wife.

But very similar colouring, it looks very tropical.

A lot more than we get here, more like the coral island, I suppose.

-Absolutely.

-These are very collectable.

Royal Doulton is probably one of the most collected items of this type, collected factories.

This is called series ware.

What would happen, in the 1920s, 1930s they would do series on different topics,

so they'd have Charles Dickens, then they would have, like, Shakespeare scenes.

Country cottages, which you've got a piece here.

-Sometimes you get coaching days.

-Right, yeah.

-I do like the symbolism, here.

You get two fishes, two items together, always symbolise a long and happy marriage.

-Ah!

-Ah, OK!

-So if you see two doves, two animals of some sort, that's the symbolism behind that.

-That must be what it was about, then.

-Exactly.

-There's three on this.

-I know. He's the bloke next door.

-Steady on!

I should say he's the postman.

But, joking apart, you've got this wonderful three-dimensional design,

it's all hand painted, and it is by one of the top factories.

-The only snag is, it's slightly damaged.

-Ah.

-Oh, no.

Yeah, it's a bit distressed, Aled, I'm afraid.

You've got a little bit of a chip round the bottom here,

-and a little crack around the top. Possibly where the paintbrushes went in.

-Yes, yes.

So what do you reckon it's worth at auction?

Well, these two are highly collected, actually.

People are missing certain plates, certain designs, things you haven't seen before.

Allowing for the damage,

if I said £40 to £60, how does that sound?

-Yeah, it's a little bit disappointing.

-OK.

-But I realise it's damaged.

-That's it.

People tend to invest in ceramics, they want perfect examples.

-And even if you had this restored, it's always a damaged item.

-Yeah.

-So it's gone down.

Ah, what a shame it wasn't in better condition.

Upstairs, Kirsty has been busy too,

finding an assortment of commemorative crowns and other coins which belonged to her father, John.

He was given some of them by his aunt when he was a boy.

He added to the collection over the years, and now there are 60 pieces,

including shillings and royal wedding crowns.

Paul offers a value of £40 to £80.

-Now, then, I found some real retro antiques here.

-Yes, absolutely.

Look at these, a couple of decanters, some glasses.

Where have these come from?

They were bought as a Christmas present, I think, for us from my in-laws.

There were originally six glasses, but we're down to two, I'm afraid.

-You're not on your own. I think the combination with alcohol and glass doesn't...

-It's fatal.

Yeah, but it is very important to find these in good condition.

Do you know who the factory is?

I thought they were Whitefriars. Am I correct?

-Yeah, I'm 100% certain that they're Whitefriars.

-Yeah.

They're one of the biggest manufacturers of glass in the UK,

and they made lots of stained glass, actually, in the 19th century,

but really they're known for the 1960s, this art glass.

And, for me, it looks like something from the set of Austin Powers.

-Oh, yeah.

-You know, that wonderful, retro, very modern...

-They were really out on a limb, out on their own, really.

-Mmm.

One of the most popular patterns was this bark effect they used to produce.

It's very difficult to produce.

The glass blower would hand make this, and then he would

polish the pontil at the bottom, give a bit of quality.

-Oh, yeah.

-Some nice polished pontil mark, and that's your end result.

What I'm checking for as I'm going around is making sure there's no cracks and no chips.

What can happen is that if somebody has been too rough with the stopper,

and rammed it into the bay,

sometimes you get a crack or a bit of a chip,

and likewise, the stopper's chipped, as well. But these look like they haven't been used.

There was a time in the '80s where you couldn't give it away at all.

-Right.

-But it's come back in fashion.

The more colourful they are, the better.

I've seen them in orange and blues,

there's one called the drunken bricklayer, which is like three blocks, lopsided.

-Oh, yes! I think I've seen one.

-And there's one shaped like a TV set and a banjo,

so there's all different collectors' markets.

These are quite nice cos they're in good condition.

-Are they sentimental at all to you?

-No, not really.

No, I've had them a long time. I'd like somebody else to have the pleasure of them,

rather than them just being stuck in a cupboard.

OK, well if I said around the £50 mark,

-sort of 40-80 as an estimate? I think you could do quite well, actually.

-Mmm!

-Does that sound all right to you?

-Sounds brilliant. Yeah.

-All right. They'd be nicer with six glasses.

-Yes, yes, I know.

But, yeah. At least I've managed to save two.

-Exactly, well, let's get them looked after and get them sold.

-Yes.

-Lovely, thank you very much.

-All right, I'll pop them there for now.

-Yeah.

-They're very delicate. Let's keep looking.

-OK.

Fashions change, even in glassware.

At auction, we hope these decanters find a buyer

who considers their retro look just the ticket.

-You've got a lot of stuff in this house.

-I know.

And I've cleared a lot of it out already.

-So is your mum a bit of a hoarder?

-Yes, yes, she is.

She doesn't like to throw much away.

I think it was my dad, more than anything.

Always kept hold of anything.

It must be quite bittersweet for you, this whole process.

It is, yes.

It's taken me, it's nearly five years since he died,

and it's taken me all this time to start clearing things out.

And a lot of the reason for doing it

is to make space for my granddaughter.

I've kept the really important things, that I consider to be important.

You say five years. How have you coped? How difficult has it been?

Initially I had to go back to work, to get the structure back to my life.

After all the upheaval.

But after that, when I knew my granddaughter was on her way,

I got the chance to retire, and I took it because I knew

that I wanted to be involved with her and my daughter,

and helping bring her up.

And that has been... Well, she's a major influence in my life, now.

She's my best friend.

Tell me a bit what the plan is for this extension.

-Is it just a pipe dream or is it a definite plan?

-Oh, no, no.

I've been mulling over this for the last two years, planning,

getting quotations and things like that.

It's going to be what I'm going to christen a very useful room.

It's going to be a utility room,

it's going to be food prep area, it's going to be

a place where all the junk can be in cupboards,

and it's also somewhere Sophie can play and paint

and not have to worry about all the things going on the carpet or whatever,

she can just use it.

And then double doors straight out into the garden,

which is her favourite thing to do, is just to be outside.

Especially when it's raining.

How long have you lived in this particular house, then?

-About 26 years?

-Erm, 25 years coming up, yeah.

-And you've moved away, of course.

-Yes, yeah, I moved out about ten years ago.

-Right.

Stayed close, not too far away.

-What is it about this area that you love so much?

-It's the woods.

Every time I walk through those woods,

especially when I'm on the way to the playground,

just the birds and the natural things,

I just feel so privileged and lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

And we've grown up here.

It's friends and family, it's comfortable.

Yeah, my nest moved from Darlington to here,

and this is now my nest,

and it's going to be a pine box job before I leave here.

Well, I hope that day's a long way off yet, Brenda,

as you'll want to enjoy little Sophie's visits for many years to come.

Now, to make our £400 target, we'd better find some more goodies to sell.

Paul's spied this set of Midwinter China.

All the rage, once, but a little dated now.

Designed by the Marquis of Queensberry, no less,

it was a wedding present for Brenda and John back in 1967.

There's a little damage,

which is why the estimate is around £30 to £60.

Upstairs, Kirsty had dug out her mum's stamp collection.

I can't help wondering if her fascination with stamps and first day covers

led to Brenda's careers as a post mistress.

We'll find out, maybe.

Paul values this collection of modern stamps at £40 to £80.

-Ah, now then, Brenda.

-I see you've found watches.

-Yes. Now then,

-Were these something that you earmarked to sell?

-Yes, they're all to go.

Right. So who did these belong to, then?

-Right. That was bought by my husband, actually.

-OK.

-It's never been used.

-Right.

That was my husband's watch that he wore all the time,

and nobody wants it.

-I take it this was your watch, here?

-No, it was my daughter's.

I don't think I've ever had such a tiny wrist as that. She's always had such a tiny little wrist.

But it's not the type, the style she wears any longer.

Well, do you know what? She's not on her own, there, actually.

The fashion for these very delicate, very feminine,

very small watches, does tend to be on the wane.

-People now tend to go for these very over-sized man's watches, really.

-Yes. Yeah.

But that one is solid gold, as is this one.

This is probably your main one amongst this.

Ah, that came from granddad Hawes, from their paternal grandfather,

and it went to my son, because he was the only grandson.

OK, this is a beautiful, solid gold, 1950s, 1960s dress watch.

It's an automatic, which is lovely.

The value does tend to be in the movements,

-and people go for Rolex, Patek Philippe and these very, very expensive brands.

-Yeah, yeah.

Atlantic's not one I've heard of, but it is a good one,

it's got 21 jewels, which is a high number of jewels,

most watches have 17, so 21 is good.

Let's have a look.

And that's running away, I can hear a very faint tick,

which is great. And I think what has happened here,

this has maybe had a leather strap at some point.

-OK.

-Or the strap's been replaced.

If you have a look, the actual case itself, the watch itself

-is very much a rose gold.

-Right.

-Has a high copper content,

-like a reddish tinge to it.

-Yes.

-But doesn't quite match the strap.

-Right, OK.

-The strap's been added at a later date.

The brand-new one, that looks really good. It's in its original box.

-This one's 18 carat gold plated.

-Right, OK.

So what it's been, is that it's made of metal,

and then there's a flash of gold put on top of it.

So the value, really, has to be in these two gold ones, here.

Do you know what? I think you're around two to three hundred,

-to give them a chance at auction. How does that sound?

-Brilliant!

What we might find is that the auctioneer splits one or two

and puts them into separate lots.

But, I say at least 200 for the sale. How does that sound?

-That sounds brilliant, yeah.

-All right.

-300 sounds better...

-It does!

-..but 200's fine.

It won't be long before we sell these gold watches.

I wonder how high the bidders are prepared to go?

-150. -It's going.

160. 170.

-180. 190.

-It's going the right way.

Keep going, fellas - this could be very exciting!

-200.

-200.

-Oh, good!

-We've got it!

We forge ahead with our treasure hunt in Hampshire,

searching high and low to find just the right thing to tempt those bidders.

It's great to see everyone pulling their weight.

Oh, I was just phoning for a pizza.

But I seem to have dialled 1914.

Hello?

Ah, look at this.

Bit of First World War memorabilia, here. I can tell straightaway.

So who was in the Notts And Derby regiment?

Not sure about the Notts And Derby.

The Leicester, my maternal grandfather was in there,

and these are his things that he collected.

It's really interesting, isn't it? Bits and bobs.

These are real pieces of memorabilia. You've got some cap badges, got some buttons, uniforms.

-These things are quite hard to find nowadays.

-Really?

If you think about it, they're almost 100 years old,

they date from the First World War, so they haven't survived in large numbers.

What you do tend to find are the three medals that everyone was issued with,

Pip, Squeak and Wilfred, they were issued to anybody that was involved in the First World War.

And you have one example here, which is the British war medal, 1914-18,

and this one was presented to a Private V Hudson,

and he was in the East Yorks regiment.

-Do you know who that was?

-Haven't a clue.

-Haven't a clue.

-Not a clue.

-Right, OK.

Well, there's a fascination with these now,

because each one of them was individually presented,

-they all have the army number on.

-Yes.

So there are websites now where you can go and find out

-exactly what happened to him, what campaigns he was involved in.

-Wow.

-Oh, right.

So what's happened, it's made war medals,

particularly First World War medals, very collectable,

-cos you can find out lots of history about the person.

-Yeah.

-I bet.

But this is a common medal, there was over six million of these issued.

Anything else to do with the First World War?

Yeah, I've got some postcards here that were also his.

These are great, First World War postcards.

Now are often in sets, you'd have a set of six and they'd tell a story.

But these were designed for the troops in the trenches to send back to their loved ones,

because they were separated from people at home.

You'd write your thoughts on the back and post them through the army post.

-Great poses as well, aren't they?

-They're always romantic.

-And emotional some of them.

-Exactly. Are there any inscriptions on the back?

-No.

Sometimes the most highly-prized one where you'd get a loved one that would say,

"I'm in the trenches," and what's happening.

Sometimes you'd get them where they'd hide messages underneath the stamp.

So when the stamp's peeled off it would say, "I love you, but I can't tell me mates!"

-Ooh!

-Lovely. I always knew you cared!

That was the idea. Of course you wouldn't want your mates to know you were being soppy.

The postcards you're looking at at least two or three pounds each.

You have got quite a collection. You've got some good medals and badges there.

I think you're approaching 50 to 80. How does that sound? Give them a chance at the auction.

Oh great. that would be good, very good.

Well you know what I'm going to say next, don't you? Let's carry on!

-A cup of tea's in order.

-No time for tea.

There's a wealth of history in those medals and buttons and very sentimental postcards.

Pressing on and I think I've got another item to add to our list.

This charm bracelet has a fish, a steam engine, a camera, a whistle, a locket.

And believe it or not, a frog! Plus other oddities.

Silver is popular place at the moment, so it could go for £20 to £30 or maybe more.

I think that find has earned me a little break, don't you think?

This is where you hang out? It's lovely.

Thank you. I get a great deal of enjoyment from the garden and I do a lot of work in it as well.

-You can tell!

-Thank you.

I think I spend as much in me local garden centre as I do in town

for the clothes and that's saying something.

-It's lovely, it's a real oasis.

-Yes, totally calm and beautiful.

What I like about your house is everywhere you look there's old photographs, lots of memorabilia,

also lots of memorabilia about your father. Tell us a bit about him.

Yeah, he was a very athletic,

very active young man.

His father was a boxing coach.

My father was Northern County Juniors Champion three years in a row.

-He was called Boy Burton!

-Great name.

-Yes.

When he was 20, he volunteered and he was wounded a couple of times.

When he was 24 he was wounded at Arnhem and captured

and for about three years, spent in the POW camp in Germany, Stalag 7A, most of the time in hospital.

But they did save his life.

And the Germans used to send rocket mail, or V-Bombs as they were called, to this country

and there were filled with propaganda, to try and tell the people the Germans were winning

and to try and demoralise the British people.

The only reason people picked them up,

was there were letters from prisoners of war to their families.

People may not have known whether they were alive or dead,

and my father's letter was in one of these V-bombs,

they used to call them rocket mail,

and there is a note on the bottom from the Camp Commandant

to say he is as well as could expected and is making good progress.

-Gosh, an interesting life your father had.

-Very.

What about the work that you did, heart of the community?

Yes, it was good fun. I loved it. I've been in the Post Office since I was 18,

apart from a break of seven years when I had my children.

And then I went back to it and I loved it, yes. I used to love the work. I used to love being busy.

I loved working with the public and trying to help them out if I could.

It was great if I could help people out.

What's the best thing about your life now?

My granddaughter certainly is one of the best bits and having such a wonderful place to live in

and I thank God every day I don't forget to appreciate it.

While we've been enjoying a cuppa, poor old Paul's had to make do

with an empty silver teapot in the garage.

In fact there's quite a bit of silver-plated tableware.

Some pieces were inherited from an aunt and others bought in a charity shop.

It's a good idea to group similar lots for auction.

So this cruet set, candle sticks, sugar bowl and a tea tray could fetch a further £40 to £80.

But Kirsty can now take us from silver to gold.

Oh, look at that. I never knew you cared! Thank you very much. Whose is this?

That's my mum's, my dad gave it to her a number of years ago now.

-Look at that. Now then, these are amethysts and little diamonds, can you see that?

-Yes.

You can see this is 1970s really,

'60s, '70s, you can tell by this bark effect on the gold,

that was very popular and the whole thing will be a nine carat.

Yeah, 9375, so it's nine carat rose gold, that one.

It's a type of dress ring, so you'd wear it just on a special occasion.

But the colour purple is really popular and amethysts are popular.

They go back to ancient Rome and Greece and if you translate the word,

amethyst is actually two words in Ancient Greek.

-"A" means "not". "Methusos" means "intoxicated".

-Right, OK.

So we believe in ancient Rome and Greece the amethyst could protect you from becoming intoxicated.

They went to extremes of making drinking vessels from amethyst to try and stop them getting drunk.

But very popular. Lovely stones.

The four precious stones are diamonds emeralds, rubies, sapphires.

They're the ones that hold at the most value.

Everything else is classed as a semi-precious stone, so there's not a great deal of value in them.

So is this your style, then? Is that something you'd wear?

It's not really something I would wear. I'm a bit more modern than that older style.

That is exactly what happens, things can go in and out of fashion.

Do you think it's sentimental to your mum?

It's got nice memories to it, but I don't think it's something she wears. I think she'd be OK.

The fashion has gone for this, but it is gold at the end of the day, it's a bit of '60s retro,

it's nice amethyst, diamonds there,

if I said 40 to 60 to give it a chance,

and I think on the day somebody might take a shine to that.

Brilliant. I think she'll be pleased with that.

-OK, we'll keep it in its nice box and give it back to you.

-I will put it on the safe bit.

Great, let's keep looking, let's see what else we can find.

Our total must be looking very healthy.

So let's see if there are any last gems to add to the list.

Brenda has found these 19th century oil paintings hidden in the closet.

The signature on this landscape is hard to read, but the other is signed MacCartney.

The third seems to be a view of the Durdle Door, near Lulworth Cove in Dorset.

It's signed CM and dated 1881.

Finally a view of a cottage. The whole lot could make £30 to £60.

-Oh, Paul, you found Alex's toys!

-You know, you can hardly miss this.

-Who is the science fiction fan?

-Oh, it's my son. My son was absolutely potty about it all.

-He was only about three when it all started.

-He really loved it.

He couldn't wait to get to the toy shop to buy a new toy each week with his pocket money.

-So he has bought these individually himself over the years?

-Yes.

-Wow!

It was 1977 when the first Star Wars movie came out.

The very clever trick, George Lucas was the writer and the director,

but he also had the idea of producing the merchandise

and he was on quite a big percentage from the merchandising.

So we've all these figurines of all these characters and they've sold in their millions.

Something like 250 million.

But there are collectors that tend to go for rare issues -

things with different paint schemes, different characters, the accessories.

You've got the Millennium Falcon, which was shaped on a hamburger!

Then you've got the AT-AT, the Ewok village, there literally is something here for everybody.

So how does he feel about letting them go now?

He hasn't looked a them for about the last 20 years, I don't think, but the time has come.

Were there any he bought really as a collector's item?

There was one that was a very special thing.

We had to send away for this one. It wasn't readily available on the shelves.

And it's still in its box.

Well, you weren't on your own, when the first movie came out, that Christmas,

the demand for the toys was enormous and very cleverly what they decided to do was to sell you the box

and when the toy was manufactured later, you were able to go in with your empty box and buy the toy.

So a lot of people just bought the box and waited for the actual thing to arrive.

-Which is amazing.

-It is.

-Clever marketing, but what a successful thing it's been.

I have seen these being sold before, they can range from a couple of pounds upwards.

And people can pay quite large amounts for the rarer examples.

Realistically, what I'd like to do is put a price on them just for the sake of our target.

If it turns out that there are some rarer examples, the auctioneer will pick up on them on the day

and what will happen is we'll split these into a couple of lots.

So rather than sell everything in one, we'll try and put them into two or three lots.

But if I said at least £100, up to a couple of hundred pounds. How does that sound to you?

-Fabulous.

-Well you know it could be intergalactic!

But I bet you Aled's a Star Wars fan.

Aled, are you a Star Wars fan?

-I am, why?

-Look at this lot here.

-That's amazing.

-There you are.

-So we have got a good lot here I've said at least 100, just for our target.

-Wow!

You were after £400. How well do you think you've done?

Hmm...maybe just shy, just shy of it.

-What about you? What do you think?

-We'll be fine.

You'll be more than fine.

Taking Paul's valuation of everything we've found today you're looking to make around £670!

-Bring on the double extension.

-Fantastic!

-Next time we'll see you will be in the auction and let's hope the Force is with you!

-Aw!

It weren't that bad!

You don't need to be Yoda to know success or failure at auction

depends on having the right bidders in the room.

Let's hope it's full with militaria collectors for these medals, badges and postcards of the Great War.

Valued at £50 to £80.

The Whitefriars decanters and glassware also deserve a mention.

A present from Brenda's in-laws, they could deliver £40 to £80.

Now, what about the assortment of gold watches?

I expect they'll be a much safer bet

with names like Atlantic and Seiko on offer.

We're looking at £200 to £300.

Still to come on Cash in the Attic, Paul shows us why he is famous all over the world for his groovy moves!

Show us that footwork again!

Is what you do when your excited, you go?

But who's wearing the trousers around here?

Many people that watch this programme think we're like a married couple

-and up next is the old wife, I'm not sure if that's you or me!

-It's all a rumour.

Find out when the final hammer falls.

Well it's been a few weeks since we met up with Brenda and her daughter, Kirsty, in Basingstoke.

We've brought all their items here to Sworders Auction Room in Stansted

and they're hoping to raise £400 at least so Brenda can build an extension

so her granddaughter, Sophie, can play in it.

All together now, "Aw!"

At this auction house in Essex, Brenda and Kirsty check their belongings, dotted about the room.

The Star Wars collection seems to have been given a prime spot.

-Ah the intrepid twosome. How are you?

-Very well thank you. Nice to see you.

Are you going to be sad to see anything go?

Not really, no. I haven't sent anything that would make me sad to sell.

I've only sold the things that are superfluous to my needs.

The charm bracelet for me. I remember playing with the charms on it when I was a little girl.

So I will be quite sad to see that go.

We'll block your ears then when that comes up. We don't want you to be in pain.

Have you put a reserve on anything?

Yes, I have, I've put a reserve on the gold watch my father-in-law left Alex in his will,

So that's got sentimental value, so, I've put £200 reserve on that.

-That's a good idea isn't it?

-Yes, especially before the auction starts.

So everyone's aware of that reserve on there.

The auctioneer soon gets under way and we hope Brenda's first lot of the day,

which came from an old aunt, will add up to more than the sum of its many silver parts.

Okey-doke, charm bracelet first, hoping for big things for this?

I just hope it goes, I don't really want it.

It's very attractive and very unusual, it's got some quite good moving parts on the charms.

-Bit like Paul then, he's got quite a few good moving parts.

-Charming and moving parts!

-You just summed him up.

-Absolutely.

-20 to 30 quid, we should get that, shouldn't we?

I'd love to think so. Funnily enough silver's all the rage at the moment.

People are going off gold and going into silver.

There's quite a lot on here and if you took them off individually, they could be pendants.

10 I'm bid. at 10. 15. 18. 20.

-Hey!

-Five. On my left at 25. 28. 30.

-Come on!

-35. 38.

-Get on with it!

£38 in the hat. 40 now. Selling. Gentleman's bid at 38.

40. 42. 45. 48. 50. Five.

60. Five. 70. Five. 80. Five.

-That's really great!

-Still in the hat at 85.

-I'm really excited!

You sure this time? At 85.

-Well done.

-I tell you what, you can forget the extension, you can buy a new house!

-That is brilliant.

-That is fantastic.

-Well chuffed with that.

-Try not to collapse with excitement.

-I'm quite worried about her!

Brenda was clearly pumped up about that one. So we're off to a promising start.

More jewellery now, that rather chunky nine carat gold ring with amethyst stones.

It's valued at £40 to £60.

10 I'm bid. At £10. 12 anywhere?

12. 15. At 15 I'm bid.

18 anywhere? I shall sell it then at £15 only. £15.

-£25 under our lowest estimate.

-A big difference.

That's disappointing, isn't it?

Don't look at me like that, it's not my fault!

We'll get you up there doing it, shall we?

No, I could sing it for you.

you probably wouldn't get a fiver for it, then!

Ah, well, you can't win 'em all.

Let's hope the next lot can do better.

It's the collection of gold watches, one ladies and three gents.

The right-hand one was given to Brenda's son Alex

by her father-in-law, hence the £200 reserve.

I start the bidding for all those items at £100.

-100. We're in.

-I'll take 10 anywhere.

110, 120, 130,

140, 150.

It's going - 160,

170, 180.

-It's going the right way.

-190.

The bid's near the counter and I'm selling. 200.

Good. We've got it.

230, 240.

I'm biting my nails.

£250.

Right in front of me at 250, 260 anywhere? Your last chance,

selling at 250.

So what sort of skylights does Sophie want

in her extensive penthouse? You're doing great.

Well, I'm sure that'll make a big difference to the grand total.

So, what about this assortment of electroplated silverware?

We're looking for somewhere between £40-£80.

I don't know about you, Aled,

but I don't sit down with a silver tea set in the morning.

-You do!

-These are some plated items,

you've got a coffee pot, tea pot and a tray...Have you ever used these?

I used to use them when I first had them, yes. I have used them, but no.

Not any more. I just get fed up with polishing them, really.

-Let's hope we sell it.

-Let's hope so.

-They're coming up next.

-30, 20, 10,

5. £5? Anybody? Any bids? 5.

8, 10, 12,

15, 18...

At £18, I shall sell.

20 anywhere?

-20.

-£20 - come on!

22, at £22 I'm bid.

-There you go, 22 quid, all right.

-That's fine.

-It started terribly.

-Yes, it did didn't it?

-I thought it was going to take a billion(!)

-At one point he said, "Half a crown?"

Well, it wasn't a sterling result,

but we must be pretty close to our original target by now,

so let's not fret too much.

From the silver pots and tray,

to a Midwinter tea set. This was a wedding present

to Brenda and John back in 1967.

I wonder what it cost back then and whether it'll make £30-£60 today?

At £30 I'm bid, 32 anywhere? All that Midwinter.

At 30.

It's a fair price and we're happy enough with that.

Now then, it is Brenda's son's collection of Star Wars memorabilia,

which has already drawn some attention via the internet.

This could go one of two ways.

If the toy collectors aren't here, then...

Yeah, but we have done our homework,

We've contacted as many Star Wars collectors as we can...

It's a very specialised market, very niche market.

We're going to hope for £100 here today. See how it does.

-50, I'm bid.

-We're nearly there.

60 anywhere?

60, 70,

-80, 90.

-Here we go.

-100.

-110, 120, 130.

-Good.

140, 150.

Commission bid at £150.

-150.

-That's brilliant!

-Really pleased with that!

Did you notice in the middle of it, some footwork? Show us that again.

Is that what you do when you're excited? You go.

Well, the excitement those toys provided all those years ago,

is matched by ours here today

as we tot up the figures at the midpoint of our sale.

-Well, that's been fun. Half-time, OK?

-Yes.

-You were after 400 quid minimum.

-Yes.

For little Sophie.

-I can tell you that so far it's £552.

-Really?

-That's amazing.

-The pressure's off.

-Oh, wonderful!

-Everything now is a bonus.

-I'm really pleased.

-Like it.

I hope I haven't jinxed the whole thing and you won't sell anything in the second half!

During our break, Paul takes this chance

to scout out worthy investments

and bargains on offer in the saleroom.

I wonder what he's found over in the furniture section?

What are you studying there now?

Look at the size of that table, isn't that fantastic?

-A serious Christmas party table, isn't it?

-You're right.

What a wonderful thing for a special occasion, if you've got the dining room to put it in.

-What's that, about an eight-seater?

-I think eight or possibly even 12.

The whole thing's solid mahogany,

dates to about 1900, 1920.

It has a gadrooned border, which is very much a military symbol

and then these wonderful cabriole Queen Anne legs

with the ball and claw feet, which is very much a power table.

Just look at the size of this mahogany in the middle.

Isn't that wonderful? All one piece of mahogany. I love that.

You mentioned power, do you have to be a high flyer to afford it?

Funnily enough, if you had a large enough house to put this in

and you went to buy this retail, then you would pay quite a lot of money for it.

When they come to auction, A, you have to get it home.

B, not many people can accommodate a table like this.

-These can be surprisingly inexpensive.

-Ooh!

I think I would be very surprised if it fetched over the £500 mark.

Which is still a lot of money,

but it's nothing for a table of this size.

Brilliant. What a good tip.

-You having a starter?

-I'm more of a pudding man. Can't you tell?

The table sold later for £90 and that sounds like the bargain of the year to me.

If you'd like to try buying or selling in this way,

keep in mind that auction rooms charge fees, such as commission.

Your local saleroom will advise you on these extra costs.

Back to Brenda's lots and her stamp collection.

There are some railway-themed first-day covers

as well as some football issues.

What's more, she's had a brainwave.

I realised I had a signed photograph of Geoff Hurst

actually kicking the winning ball in of the World Cup,

as well as the World Cup stamps,

so I put them in a frame and I've got them in amongst it as well.

-Geoff Hurst.

-Brilliant!

Lot 170. 20 I'm bid.

At £20, 22 anywhere?

22, 25, 28, 30, 32.

At 32, 35.

-You did right to put the reserve on, I think.

-Yeah.

At £40, commission bid, you're out in the room.

42, 45, 48. It's in the room now.

Selling at £48.

Excellent! Get in there!

£48 places us neatly within the estimate.

Next up, the decanters, who found these?

-Oh, they were a wedding present.

-Do you know what's really strange?

I haven't seen one of your decanters for years,

and then another one arrived...

The first thing I saw when I walked in

was another decanter on the table!

-Somebody clever here today could buy your lot and buy the other lot and they've got a pair.

-Yes.

20, I'm bid. Whitefriars.

At £20 only, I'll take two if you like.

22, 5, 8, 30, 32.

At £32, I'm bid. I'll take five anywhere.

The whole lot, at £32 only,

35, 38,

40, 42,

45, sir? Sold at £42.

Again, just inside our estimate, so that's quite acceptable.

I wonder if the next lot could prove more exciting?

Only if the militaria collectors are in the room.

Anything to do with the First World War,

I think is quite poignant and it's obviously affected a lot of people,

affected all our families at some point.

I think for collectors, it's nice to have these postcards

in sets, in their albums.

I quite like this. We're looking for £50 just for this lot.

£50. 20 I'm bid.

At £20, take 2 anywhere.

22, 5, 8, 30.

A cheap lot.

At £30, 2 anywhere?

£30 only... not sold.

-So that didn't sell?

-I'm quite pleased with that.

The First World War collectors weren't here today.

It didn't warrant letting them go for £30. I don't blame him, really.

The war memorabilia lives on to fight another day.

Now, for some rural artwork. Brenda decided not to bring the painting of the cottage,

but the remaining three original canvases

are valued together at £30-£60.

So, up next are the 19th-century English school oil paintings.

Right, OK. Yes.

-You'd forgotten you had them.

-I was going to say, is that mine?

-The three paintings.

-The three original oils, yes.

-I didn't know they were...

-19th-century school...

-No.

Aren't you glad you turned up? You've learned something! It's on now.

Lot 210, 50, 20 I'm bid.

At £20, take two anywhere?

At £20, two anywhere?

Any bids for £20?

Not there.

-No bid.

-Unsold.

He hasn't sold those. You'll get those back.

Probably a good idea, you can see what they are now!

Uh-oh! Two no sales in a row

and we've not done too well since the break.

Perhaps these Royal Doulton china pieces will reverse the trend.

They were wedding presents to John's parents in 1940

and this fishy vase is known as the Old Wife.

Many people that watch this programme think we're like a married couple

and up next is the Old Wife.

-I'm not sure if that's you or me.

-It's all a rumour!

-We put this in at £40-£60, let's see how we get on.

-Lot 187.

50, 20 I'm bid. At £20,

take two anywhere? At 22,

5, 8, 30.

-That's good.

-£30, I'm bid.

-I will sell.

-Please.

At 30, 32, fresh bid.

35 now, 38.

No, sold at £38. 606.

-Your pleas really helped.

-Yeah!

Maybe that's what we should have been doing from the top.

Touch and go, but finally we got close to the lower estimate.

Time for the final lot in our sale.

A set of 60 commemorative crowns, pennies and shillings, some Victorian.

As to whether they'll bring us £40-£80... Let's toss!

Heads or tails? What do you reckon?

20 I'm bid, 25, 30, 5,

40, 5,

50, 5. It's in the room.

At 55, 60 anywhere?

Selling then at £55. 115.

-I'm a little bit disappointed with that if I'm honest.

-You couldn't tell from your face.

You hid it really well.

It was really good.

It was like that...

That's it for today, done and dusted.

Just time to work out how close we've come to the original target.

Okie-doke. I don't think I could take any more.

I'm so pleased you got nothing else to sell. Oh, my word.

Our work here is done.

You wanted 400 quid. You know you've raised more than that. But how much?

I don't know. I've completely lost track.

I'll put you out of your misery, £735.

-Wow. That's pretty good.

-More than we wanted, isn't it?

It's almost double, isn't it?

What we actually do, when I tell you that sort of news, you go.

-That's trademarked.

-It is now, definitely.

The proceeds from the auction have been put straight to work

as the garden room for Sophie takes shape. Brenda planned this with her husband John,

-so it's part of his legacy for Sophie to enjoy.

-Hello!

Mum is actually project managing the whole thing herself.

So, she's got a few more grey hairs!

Absolutely! It's coming to the end now and I'm really pleased with it.

Look at this! Sophie!

Do you like it?

'The room now is fantastic.'

It wasn't anything like it was before. It was a small utility room.

'Having the space for Sophie to be able to play around

'and run around in now is fantastic. Really good, Really pleased.'

I think Sophie's having a whale of a time, already without it even being finished.

Climbing in the cupboards and running out of the door,

she thinks it's great.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd