Boys Toys Flog It: Trade Secrets

Over the last 11 years on Flog It!,

we've helped you sell thousands of antiques and collectables

and over the years, we've seen a variety of astonishing things.

Please tell me where you got it.

-What do you think it's worth?

-200.

-I think more.

-WOMAN CHEERS

-Go on!

But as you know, it's not easy to put a value on all of them,

but there are some things that are always guaranteed to find a market.

Welcome to Flog It! Trade Secrets.

Flog It! valuation days play host to all manner

of pretty porcelain objects and dainty silverware.

And of course, there's a ready-made market for all of this stuff.

But there are a lot of you out there

that want to get your hands on something a little bit more playful and fun.

So today, we're giving you the inside track on the grown-up things that bring out the big kid in us

and why this stuff is so valuable.

Coming up in this programme,

we'll be finding out why boys' toys sell so well...

People collect what reminds them of their childhood.

..and taking a look at some even more playful pieces.

The very rude ones are often -

how do I put this? -

action shots.

And I'll be having heaps of fun

with a fab collection of vintage cars.

Rodgers and Hammerstein put it very succinctly

in their 1949 musical 'South Pacific'

when they wrote "There's nothing like a dame".

Now, one thing I've learned over the years on Flog It! is,

a woman in a state of undress, in any antique form,

generally sells, and sells well.

Whether it's an Art Deco lamp base, an oil painting or a Parian-ware figure,

the collectors go mad for scantily-clad women.

But why is that? Here's our experts with their reasons.

RAUNCHY MUSIC

I enjoy the naked female form!

Did that sound creepy?!

I think if a nude is done tastefully, it has huge value.

If it's poorly done,

and I think the human form is more difficult to replicate

probably than anything else...

So quality, quality-based

is the way forward if you're looking at nudes.

As regard to risque things, don't get too risque.

You find the market narrowing

if you get a little bit over the top.

Don't ever go and try and buy anything naked.

Unless you're stunningly beautiful, the price won't come down.

I think nudes proliferate in art

and it's not uncommon to see a nude on, say, a bit of WMF pewter,

and that will make it more valuable.

If you move into erotica, which is more suggestive and of a sexual nature,

that, ultimately, can limit the market for that object.

It tends toward the seedier side of collecting.

So unless you are that sort of person, I'd stay away from it.

I've got a little collection of nudes and erotica myself, actually.

So here are some of our very best finds

and what you can learn from them.

I see quite a few risque things in the auction business.

But the difficulty with Flog It!

is getting the directors to agree to put it on the show!

These are wonderful. Are these things that have been in your family for a long time?

Yes, it was my grandfather's. I think he must've sold postcards.

It was perhaps his, erm, his sample.

-Ahh!

-It was in the early 1900s.

Very saucy, your grandfather!

You've got lots of gaps. What happened to the gaps?

Well, there were some that were a wee bit naughtier than others.

There were some rather dodgy postcards amongst those!

But I remember, the lady said she was looking through them

and she said, "My children came down the stairs

"so I took them away and threw them in the waste bin."

But she went to retrieve them and the binmen had been!

And there we have scenes of semi-dressed ladies,

typical of the period.

Every society is a rebellion of the society that went before it.

So, you know, there are times in the court of William III,

the women were topless in the court!

They would walk around with their breasts out.

Why? Because it was a rebellion against the puritans that went before them.

So when we're looking at an Edwardian 1920s period of these risque postcards,

again, that's a rebellion against Queen Victoria, all trussed up in her black.

These are known as fantasy heads.

Each head is made up of bodies of naked girls.

We've got here Napoleon.

Another Napoleon there. Bismarck.

Now, these cards... And a donkey. How odd!

You couldn't imagine a less likely couple to own risque postcards.

It could've been the Blackpool Tower and her face would've been no different.

I looked at him and he was beginning to go a little bit pinker and pinker.

I think they should just be got rid of.

-You're blushing!

-They just...

-You're blushing!

Well, that's my age!

Because, of course, their generation was a rebellion against the period that they were looking at.

It was their parents' generation that enjoyed the postcards. Very funny!

But were those postcards not quite saucy enough

for the risque-postcard collectors?

It's a lovely saucy postcard. A wonderful collector's item.

Start me at £100.

100 bid. 110. 120.

They're super. 130. 140. 150. 160.

160. 170. 180...

This is good. Great timing.

..220. 230. 240. £240.

All done at 240. 240?

She sold them. 240.

Just used a little bit of discretion there, I think!

The naughtiest ones had been taken out

because they didn't want the children to see them!

In actual fact, the naughtiest ones

are the ones of the biggest market value.

The very rude ones are often the rarest.

And if... And, also, the very rude ones are often -

how do I put this? -

action shots! Erm...

Erm, I'll leave it at that!

And, of course, when you get action shots -

it's common as anything today online -

but in the 1920s, 100 hundred years ago,

my word - just seeing somebody's leg or ankle or knee -

that was pretty much hardcore.

When you went beyond that, my goodness,

an action shot between two people was just unheard of.

So very rare and, of course, now very collected.

Back in 2005, Philip came across something fun

which called for great discretion.

-You've brought along this lovely little snuffbox.

-I have.

It's about 1820. How did you come by it?

I found it in a shed in the back yard.

They're interesting little things. A lot of these are continental, possibly French or Russian.

This one looks like it's got a Scottish scene on there.

It's inscribed, which says

"The cudgel in my nieve did shake

"Each bristled hair stood like a stake".

That's quite nice. Let's just turn over and have a look.

It wasn't till you opened it up that you got the shock of your life. Goodness, gracious me!

And I have to tell you, they are terrible things to try and film,

because you've got to put your thumb in some discreet places so you don't offend viewers.

I think I can show people at home, but I've got to strategically hold it like that.

I couldn't possibly tell you what was under my thumb. It was awfully rude.

-You can understand why it was in the shed.

-I can.

-Yes.

It's a secret thing. It's almost like "What the butler saw".

Because you look at this papier-mache snuffbox

and the cover is some chap walking her across a moor with his trusty staff,

and then you open it up and, lo and behold, his staff isn't what it seemed to be.

I think that the history of these things,

it's getting away from Victorian puritanical views. It's there to shock you.

If we look at the top,

that's all painted.

And if you turn this one over, you can just see a cut mark there.

I think this has been a cut-out,

possibly of a print or something, and been placed in there.

-I think we can put an estimate on it of £100-200.

-Goodness gracious!

I think if the inside had been right,

if this had all been original in here,

-I think it would've made perhaps £200-400.

-Oh!

There are serious collectors of erotica.

Quite how they display it in their homes, I do not know!

But were the erotica collectors at the auction?

100. And ten?

120?

130. 140?

150? 160.

I think they're a talking point and I think they're the sort of thing that, you know,

people still like to shock, don't they?

People still like to, "Look at this. Isn't it lovely?" Bang! "You weren't expecting that."

People who collect these things, there's still that shock factor involved.

230. 240. 250. 260.

270. 280.

290. 300. And ten.

320. 330.

-No more.

-Amazing!

-320.

320.

Bang. £320!

You better get back down the shed!

And here's another trade secret...

If you find a decorated box aimed at a gentleman,

make sure you look inside.

There could be some additional racy artwork,

and with that, additional value.

Some wonderful French Art Deco lampshades came in,

which had been thrown out.

John, I can really have no complaint today

because you've brought me four scantily-clad ladies.

I was working on a house, due for refurbishment,

and they were in boxes that were going in the skip.

I delved into it and found one, delved a bit further and found the four glass things,

-looked a bit further and found these and I thought...

-"Those must go with those."

I didn't, no. I brought them home and tried to fit them together

-and...

-Bingo!

-Yes.

Well, I think it's scandalous that, at any time,

these were heading for a skip.

It was immediately obvious that they were rare and valuable things,

but they were also very good-looking things.

So unless it was a very prudish household,

I can't quite understand why they made it to the skip.

They are signed here. "Muller Freres Luneville".

Did you look that up or do any work on that?

Well, when I got them, I took them to a local antiques dealer to find out what they were.

He told me that "Muller Freres" was "Muller Brothers",

-"Luneville" was "Light City"...

-Absolutely.

..and that they were Art Nouveau, probably 1930s-ish.

Near enough. I can fill it out a little bit more.

You've got the fantastic glassworks, run by Emile Galle.

And Muller Brothers,

before they set up on their own, worked for Galle.

They left him in about 1905

and were working through the '20s and '30s,

and I think they closed in 1937.

The Muller Brothers, I think, began in the Galle workshop

although, I would say with those lampshades,

they were much more influenced by Rene Lalique

and his style of moulded glass.

We've got press-moulded glass

which is given this contrast by this acid etching.

We've got the acid-etched signatures on each one.

How lovely that we've got the original mounts, as well.

By the time these were produced, which I imagine is about 1925,

Lalique is the most fashionable glassmaker in France

and he's the one that they're imitating

and possibly, in some respects, surpassing.

But what did the skip-finds make at auction?

What am I bid for this lot here, ladies and gentlemen?

I'm going to start this at £200.

-And 225. And £250.

-Well, we're in.

At £275. I have 300 here.

At £320. At £340 on commission.

360 in the room. £360.

At 360. Are there any further bids?

-At £360...

-Come on, a bit more.

..all done.

-Gone. 360.

-Got him away.

-Well done, Michael.

Naked ladies and antiques go well together.

In art, on postcards, cigarette boxes and lampshades,

the female form appears time and time again.

Almost all of the things that you find,

in terms of nude bronze sculptures, nude enamelwork or nude paintings,

they're almost always copied.

So I would say that if you're going to buy nudes, make sure it's not a fake.

I would warn against reproductions or something that has been...

..I was going to say touched up but that's the wrong phrase!

When it comes to nudes or risque pieces for gentlemen, shall we say,

the key word is,

make sure it's a pretty, young lady that's nude or risque

because - I'm going to make a generalisation here -

but I would suggest that pretty, young ladies sell better

than, shall we say, ladies of the older generation

who may be, er, exposing themselves.

The same is true of, you know, men.

If you've got an ugly old codger in a powdered wig as a portrait,

he's not gonna sell as well as, say, a strapping young man who's nude.

Just look at the paintings of Henry Scott Tuke -

there's a big market for naked young men, just as there is for naked young ladies.

Thomas Plant fondly remembers one male figure he valued.

I recall Eve

and her muscular man, breaking his rods.

50 years ago, I was newly married

and I married a very young, handsome bodybuilder.

My mother bought this because she thought it was the image him.

The marriage lasted two years, but this figure had been with her for 50.

-You liked your men big?

-I still do, even as an old age pensioner!

I'm still a bit that way!

Beautiful sculpted in bronze.

Quite big, as well, but his head was down.

Most people like their bronzes up and you can see the whole body.

Upright, head up, or, you know, them posing, doing something.

I did suggest you lay him on his back!

-Well, then you'd miss his buttocks!

-Oh, right!

And that seems to have impressed all of you chaps.

-All the ladies round here have been looking at his bum.

-OK!

I'm going to be quite harsh on the value.

I think £200-300.

-Did George rise to the occasion?

-Went to auction, it was a long time ago,

and she'd upped the estimate. I don't think that mattered at all.

The bronze figure of the standing woodcutter,

starting us here at £400. And 20. 460. 480.

-Brilliant.

-500 already. 520. 540.

560. 580?

600. And 20.

It just went up and up and up.

840.

860.

880. 900.

And 20. 940, sir?

1,000. And 50. 1,100.

And 50.

1,200. And 50.

-Wow! 1,250!

-It's amazing!

-1,300.

And 50.

-1,400 seated?

-No.

At 1,350, then...

-Oh!

-That was fabulous, wasn't it?

-Super!

-That was a super surprise!

-I'm so pleased.

And what was lovely was that Eve was going to see her family in Australia

and she needed money for the ticket.

This is the great thing about Flog It! -

sometimes this money makes their journey slightly more comfortable in life,

and I think Eve went club class at £1,350.

Here's what we've learnt so far...

Naughty sells well.

Don't be a prude when it comes to selling your antiques.

Things are not always what they seem.

Look inside, there could be a surprise.

Naked ladies and good maker's names are a winning combination.

And there's a growing, affluent market for male nudes.

Now could be the time to sell.

George the sculpture paid for Eve's trip to Australia.

£1,350 was far more than anyone expected.

If, like me, you're a big fan of form and shape,

here's something that will set your heart racing...

MUSIC: "Sunny Afternoon" by The Kinks

The TD21, built from 1958 to 1963 in Coventry...

With 120 horsepower and 2,993CC engine capacity,

this is just one of thousands of cars

that put the city on the road map of motoring.

From Daimler to Hillman and Rover to Triumph,

from the very first £100 car,

and this beautifully hand-crafted Alvis TD21 Drophead Coupe,

Coventry built them all.

Germany had successfully produced the first motorcar

and ripples of its success were coming across the Channel.

Coventry was ideally situated. It had the workforce, the machinery

and it had the skill to produce motorcars.

So where others feared to tread, Coventry hit the road.

MUSIC: "Lust for Life" by Iggy Pop

Some engineers were sceptical of the future of the motor trade,

but when the first Coventry Daimler emerged from the Motor Mills factory in 1886

Britain's motoring industry was born.

And what an industry it was, producing some of the first cars of the day,

but at the cost of ten times that of a house, and not yet by country.

The early cars were made by master craftsmen, unique in their skills,

pushing boundaries of design.

One such company made my favourite car,

and you maybe surprised to know they are still making them today.

This car's incredible, it really is.

I love the fact that it's got a sprung steering wheel.

It's got power steering now, of course.

The seats have been padded out for a little more comfort there,

arm rests where there weren't any in the first place,

and I tell you what, freedom of the road in this...

I'd like to sell all my antiques to buy this! I couldn't afford this one!

But one like it, get it restored over time

and it will become a great investment.

You can't lose money with practical classics like this.

It drives like a dream. And on that bombshell,

I'm going to put my foot down, as Jeremy Clarkson would say!

And to tell me more about these beautiful vehicles,

owner of Alvis, Alan Stote.

How long would it have taken to make a car like this?

Well, a few thousand hours, because everything was handmade.

Alvis had to make patterns to make the castings,

they had to design everything, they had to hand-fettle everything, everything was put together by hand.

-The whole thing was crafted by hand.

-I can see an ash work frame.

Well, that's the skeleton of the body skin.

All of that would've had to have been made by the coach builder.

We've got records showing that you could have exactly what you wanted on the car.

It was absolutely hand-crafted.

-What made you fall in love with the Alvis car?

-I think it's the individuality.

They were made to order. Customers could have exactly what they wanted on the car.

The records we have, 22,000 of them, show what each car was,

and I think that there are no two the same.

Alvis cars were made by highly skilled craftsmen.

But as the middle classes took to motoring, demand grew

and mass-scale production was the only option.

Productions lines started to replace the craft-based skilled workforce

and Coventry's motoring industry sped into a new age of mass production.

Throughout the '40s, '50s and '60s,

Coventry's factories provided 23 percent of the UK output.

People came from all over the world to work here

and the city benefitted, with a thriving economy.

And like most booms, a bust was soon to follow.

Companies like Alvis and Triumph were taken over by giants British Leyland,

and the 1970s saw relationships between trade unions and management breaking down.

There were many strikes and productions lines came to a halt.

Now, add that to the pressure of cheaper cars being imported from abroad

and you can see why time was running out

for the British car industry.

From the 1970s onwards,

the term "British car manufacturing" became a complicated combination of words.

Rolls-Royce was sold to BMW, Mini was made by British Leyland,

and when Jaguar and Land Rover were sold to Tata in 2008,

it seemed mass production of British cars had bitten the dust.

But what remains of the Halcyon days of car manufacturing

should not be resigned to the scrapheap.

You could buy a new sports car or a mass-produced car today,

and three years later it's depreciated by - let's say - 50 percent of its value.

Hopefully, in three or four years, these will go up a great deal.

As an example, that TD21 Drophead over there...

-The black one?

-..that sold in 1994 for £22,500.

In 2007, we sold it for 40,000,

and it's now for sale, five years later, at 80,000.

It's doubled its money! Wow.

And the car I took out on the road earlier, the TD21 Drophead,

that is my favourite car, do you know that?

I'm ever so pleased I had the honour of driving one.

# Life in the fast lane... #

The British car is far from dead.

Classic cars are still being collected and restored today, more so than ever.

Of course, they only go up in value. They represent the perfect investment.

British cars are still being made, albeit in a much smaller quantity.

Morgan, the only true full British sports car,

is still making around 600 vehicles a year.

You can buy classic names still, like Aston Martin and Triumph,

or you can order yourself a bespoke Alvis original, like this one,

made from the 1938 blueprint.

The British motorcar was born in Coventry,

it grew up in Coventry

and it lives on in Coventry.

Vintage cars have a keen following among collectors

and can sell for massive amounts of money.

But if you don't have the funds to buy a car,

what about buying part of one?

A Rolls-Royce "Spirit of Ecstasy" figure

can be bought for about £150

and could be a good investment,

as there are plenty of collectors of car memorabilia out there.

And it's not just car memorabilia which is collectable.

Here's Catherine Southon's tip on what to buy today

which could make you money in the future.

One of the questions that I always get asked is,

"What's really going to make money in the future?"

It's actually a really hard question to answer

because we don't really know, we can't predict.

But my feeling is that people should go out

and start collecting Concorde memorabilia.

Because a bit like Titanic,

it's something that could, in years to come,

really be worth something.

I have got a few little bits and pieces at home.

Perhaps those little souvenirs,

those little salt-and-peppers that you used to have, perhaps on board,

I don't know, a ticket, something like that,

keep hold of them, keep them safe and you never know.

But the most important thing is when you go out to buy something,

buy something because you love it,

not because you think it will be worth something in the future.

Buy it because you love it, and if it makes money in the future

that's a bonus.

Still to come... More antique money-makers

for boys who like to play around...

Boys' toys, you know? Grown-up men playing with trains...

-£800.

-..and more great sales. Yes!

Philip Serrell explains why he's never grown up...

On Christmas morning, 1961 or '62,

this appeared in my Father Christmas sack.

..and Charlie Ross relives his youth

among some of the most talented young furniture-makers around today.

45 years ago was the last time I tried a dovetail!

There's something else which always gets the Flog It! crowd going.

We always get excited when people bring in die-cast toys to the valuation days.

Not only do they give everyone a warm glow of nostalgia,

but they also make excellent money, as Charlie Ross found out.

What a blaze of colour!

Seldom have I seen so many toys that haven't been played with!

It's a real treat.

You've got a boxful.

And although these are the better ones,

-we've got some others that we couldn't get on camera.

-Yes, we have.

This fantastic collection of Dinky Toys was valued by Charlie

at £400 to £600.

It's one of the best Flog It! collections I've seen of Dinky Toys,

-particularly the condition. Marvellous!

-Thank you.

A very large and a very good collection of Dinkies, some boxed.

There is loads of interest.

-£850...

-But it sold at auction for a staggering sum.

-Yes!

-The hammer's gone down, Daniel! £1,350.

How fantastic is that?

That was wonderful, wasn't it, Daniel?

Die-cast toys get their name

from the process of injecting molten metal

into reusable steel moulds called dies.

They started to be made in the early 20th century by companies like Meccano,

producers of Dinky Cars in the UK.

The first models were basic -

small cars or van bodies with no interior.

Matchbox toys were introduced in 1947,

with each vehicle packed into a small box

designed to look like those used for matches.

These toys became so popular

that Matchbox was widely used as a generic term for any die-cast toy,

regardless of who the actual manufacturer was.

The popularity of die-cast toys increased

and more companies entered the field, including the Corgi brand,

which appeared in the 1950s and pioneered the use of interiors.

It soon became apparent that many die-cast vehicles were being bought by adults as collectables,

not as toys for children.

But in the 1980s, Dinky, Matchbox and Corgi all struggled,

and production was either broken up or shifted overseas.

Today, a pre-war Dinky Toy bearing an advertising sign

can make £2,000 to £3,000.

If it has its original box, its value can double.

Flog It! regular and everybody's favourite joker Charlie Ross

is not only a celebrity auctioneer,

jetting off to glamorous locations around the world, gavel in hand...

14.9 million dollars! Sold! CHEERING

Ladies and gentlemen, you witnessed a new world record for a motorcar at auction,

right here, right now.

..he's also one of our most enthusiastic valuers.

Sometimes we get people who almost hit me when I tell them what things are worth!

And the thing that really gets him going is furniture.

That's what gets him up in the morning, that's where he started out.

He can recognise his Chippendale from his Thomas Mouseman,

but can he spot an antique of the future?

It all started by chance, really. I joined a firm

and the first auction I conducted was chickens in - a market!

But the company I was working for had a saleroom in Buckingham,

and I remember walking in there

and seeing these wonderful pieces of brown furniture

and getting really quite excited by them!

Why do I like furniture,

as opposed to china or silver or glass?

They're objects that you tend to tuck into a cabinet.

With furniture, you use it. You sit in the chair, you eat at the dining table,

you get your drinks from the cabinet, the clock tells you the time.

And the more you use these things, the more patination they get from polishing them,

the more wear they get, the more quirky they get and possibly even they get damaged.

But actually, I quite like to see something with the leg slightly wonky

or the handle falling off.

It just means it's old and it's been loved and used.

This piece of furniture is my favourite piece of furniture in the whole world,

largely because it comes with history or possibly baggage even.

It was given to my parents as a wedding present by my Uncle Mack,

who was a wealthier member than most members of my family have been through the years!

He obviously went into an antique shop and bought this,

what we know as the drinks cupboard.

And I've loved it ever since I saw it as a child.

I was always led to believe that this was a valuable piece of furniture,

and this was the bit that will be handed down.

Sadly, the drinks cupboard flatters to deceive

and it is not the 17th-century chest on stand that it should've been.

In fact, the whole thing is a complete mish-mash.

I was talking to a friend about this and he said, "You know the doors aren't right, don't you?"

I thought, "How come they're not right?"

Well, he opened up the doors and he said, "They're far too thin."

And actually, with a piece of period furniture,

they would've been far more substantial.

And looking at the panels, there is no real sign of age,

and the real true thing here

are the dowels holding together the door.

They're mean and probably 1930s.

Now, most of the timber here is 17th century.

A lot of early pieces of oak fell to bits because they were on flagstone floors.

They got damp, they got woodworm and so the bases rotted away. People would save what they could.

Here, they've saved two drawers from a chest on stand.

But the drawer bottom is new,

the handles, although they are old handles, have come off something else.

The more you look at it, the worse it is, from a purist's point of view.

When you look at something in a saleroom, look at it properly.

If you don't know yourself, ask advice of somebody.

Close the door and have a look at the base...

It's in two parts,

which, of course, a real... GLASSES CLATTER

..chest on stand should be.

But if we look carefully at the stand,

it's actually Victorian.

It's just rather sad to think that this piece of furniture,

instead of being perhaps worth five to 8,000 pounds,

is probably worth 300 or 400.

That shouldn't really matter, erm, because I will never let it go

and it will always be the drinks cupboard.

It's still just as lovely for me as a piece of furniture.

We're only 14 or 15 miles from Oxford here

and there are a lot of really talented people

making very special new furniture in Oxford today.

I'm going to go and have a look at some of it.

Wow!

A cross between a Rubik's cube

and a 1950s Eagle Annual space rocket!

Isn't it wonderful? With an Art Deco influence,

you can see a 1920s look to what is, I suppose, a writing table.

I like that. Perhaps I'm not supposed to like things that aren't 18th and 19th century,

but I think that's a really stylish and obviously beautiful-made piece of furniture.

And I like the crisp lines.

You'd think it was Ercol, looking at it!

But there's a difference.

The quality of manufacture is absolutely wonderful.

And I imagine it's a dressing table or a wash stand, should I say?

And beautifully made. It reminds me of quite a lot of 1950s furniture

of similar sort of design, but the quality was horrible.

This is real craftsmanship. Beautifully constructed.

-Is this your handiwork?

-It is indeed, yes.

-Wonderful.

I'm probably being a bit ignorant, but is it a workstation?

Erm, kind of.

-Have you ever heard of the idea of hot-desking?

-Hot-desking? No.

Right, it's basically a desk that has multiple uses.

-Right.

-So you can stick it in an office,

-you can have someone that's just coming in for the day to work on it.

-Yes.

Or you can use it for break-times, meetings. That was the idea.

-It has a little compartment there. Would that be for a computer?

-A laptop, or even just a folder.

I'm showing my ignorance - looking at old pieces of furniture,

I spend my life looking at mahogany and oak.

I'm looking at some of these woods and wondering about what they are.

-What is that?

-That's ash veneer.

-It's ash. And it's veneered, is it?

-Yes. It's aeroply laminate.

It's the only way you can get that really tight curve.

This is eight or nine layers of aeroply

that's been glued together in a vacuum press.

-What have we got here?

-That's banana veneer.

-Banana veneer!

-Yes.

I absolutely love the colour and the effect it gives,

so I thought I had to use it in the piece.

How much do you lean on old designs or other people's designs,

and how much is entirely your own design?

-I get a lot of my inspiration from nature.

-Do you?

-So a lot of this is my own.

-Yes.

The original idea for this came from coastal barriers,

-and then you have a wave that just rolls along...

-Yes, yes.

-I could be on the seaside, couldn't I?

-Yes.

How the heck do you price it?

-It's very difficult, as a prototype.

-Yes!

-You kind of have to think realistically,

-"If I were to make it again, knowing how to make it now, how long would it take?"

-Yes.

You have to work out your hours, work out what you want to get paid.

-But then you end up with a hugely expensive piece of furniture.

-You do.

There's no reason why it shouldn't be.

You can buy the most horrendous things for quite a lot of money, not a work of art.

This one is,

I've worked it out to roughly be between 1,700 and 2,000.

Right. I'll go and get my cheque book!

I'm totally in admiration of your handiwork.

-I'd love to have a little go myself, if I may.

-Of course, yes.

We can get you making a very basic dovetail box.

Now, I can remember doing a dovetail at school.

-45 years ago was the last time I tried a dovetail.

-OK!

-I've forgotten everything.

-I can teach you the basics.

You've got to mark out the dovetail, the bit that's V-shaped.

And it's self-explanatory.

-It's called a dovetail because it looks like a dovetail.

-Because it's the same shape, yes.

-Just scribe across.

-Come down there? That's more or less all right.

-We've got two saws here.

-Yes.

-Any particular reason?

It's just personal preference, really.

Ooh!

Slightly out!

Mr Gillow is never going to employ me, is he?

-Oh!

-And there we go.

-That's the first bit done.

-Yes.

-The next thing is to make the housing for it.

Oh, my goodness me. So we need the other piece of wood.

Right... JOLLY MUSIC

The dovetail joint is particularly strong.

It's been used for hundreds of years in the simplest of furniture

and also the most complex.

Marvellous!

-Right.

-There we are. Now the moment of truth...

-There we go.

-And there's the other component.

Do we say The Lord's Prayer as we do this?!

What do I get out of ten for my first effort?

Let's have a look.

I'd say it's at least a good 7.5 out of ten, maybe eight.

-Is that a pass mark?

-Of course.

-Thank you very much for showing me!

-You're very welcome.

-Brilliant!

Some of these pieces made by the young makers

could be worth a good deal of money in the future.

Here's a tip - visit colleges which run craft courses.

You can pick up some unique pieces at the end-of-term shows

at very affordable prices.

Toy cars, train sets, Airfix models...

I can speak for the rest of the chaps on Flog It!

and say we're always delighted to see items like this being unwrapped at a valuation day.

Something to do with bringing out the child in us, they certainly put a smile on our faces.

But when do they stop being fun and start to be worth serious money?

Here are some top tips from our experts...

When we often talk about toys we say,

"It's nice that it's in mint, boxed condition."

And that is a good thing when you talk about things like Dinkys and Corgis,

but I also like to see toys,

personally, that have been played with.

I think it's important that they have a little bit of wear, a little bit of bad condition,

but not to be broken - that's the essential thing.

Pre-war Dinkys are really what you want to have an eye out for.

The way they were constructed and the materials they used,

it was a mix between magnesium and zinc,

and it's very brittle and it corrodes

and you get fatigue in the early cars,

so that's why the early Dinky Toys in such good condition are so rare.

My top tip for toys and games would be to phone Sean.

He's only about 21, but he's head of my toy department and he's brilliant!

I know nothing about toys and games at all,

but he's great!

Over the years, we've seen some fantastic boys' toys on Flog It!

and Philip has a theory about why they do so well.

I'm a great believer that men collect toys from their boyhood.

And I think that people, it's a little bit now like...

..perhaps men of 70 or 80 might collect Hornby train sets,

perhaps people who are 30 or 40 might collect Star Wars figures.

And I really do believe that people collect

what reminds them of their childhood.

Wow! Look at that! Isn't that absolutely stunning?

It's a Hornby train set.

It's quite simple, really. Hornby is Rolls-Royce.

Princess Elizabeth...

-When did she come to the throne? About 1951, wasn't it?

-Something like that.

So I think this is possibly late '40s, early '50s.

It belonged to my father-in-law.

It is the iconic model.

It would've been massively expensive in its day.

I seem to remember, around the time of the auction of the one that we sold,

the original was being restored.

So all of those things add to the value.

How much are we going to get for it, do you think?

-I was thinking about 100, 150 maybe.

-Yes. Right.

-Well, I'm thinking more like £300 to £500.

-Bloody hell!

Easy! This is a family programme, John.

You can't use that sort of language!

Let's watch it go loco!

The Hornby Train - Princess Elizabeth.

400. 420.

450. 480.

500. 520. 550.

580. 600. 620.

650. 680.

700. 720. 740 on the phone.

760. 800.

840. 860.

880. 900.

920. 940.

940 bid. 960. 960 bid. 960.

-980. 980.

-Flipping hell!

-Stopped short of the four figures.

On the phone at 980.

-GAVEL BANGS

-Yes! £980!

-Delighted.

-Oh, gosh!

-Well done!

£980 - not bad for an old toy!

The value was clearly boosted by nostalgia.

The whole thing about toys, certainly Dinky Toys and so on,

it's this connection with your childhood.

Collectors of these things, it's usually people

who missed out on having such a thing when they were children,

or, you know, on the way to school were walking past a model shop

and saw these Dinky Toys in the windows and were thinking, "I'd love to have those."

Now that they're older and have good jobs and perhaps have a bit more disposal income,

they decide to maybe revisit their youth

and make right what was wrong then and buy the whole lot!

So you get these almost obsessive collectors of toys.

And I'm pretty sure it is that connection with their childhood. Boys' toys, you know?

Grown-up men playing with trains...

What have you brought in for us today to have a look at?

-I've got two Battle of Britain Dinky Toys...

-Yes.

..and two Schuco motorcars.

Michael's mum had sent him in.

As is the case with a lot of these old vintage toys,

they end up in Mum or Dad's loft.

And then, of course, they've got to downsize,

they come across this box and they tell the kids -

and this is kids who are probably 40-50 years old -

"What am I doing with your old toys in my loft?"

My mother's had them for ages and she more or less ordered me to sell them!

We've got two Dinky aeroplanes here,

obviously - by the box - Battle of Britain.

These were produced in 1969,

er, shortly before Dinky were taken over by Airfix

and the quality somewhat slumped.

So these are still nice quality.

You've got some nice crisp moulding and some good colours.

And we've got the English Spitfire, obviously for the Battle of Britain,

the most important plane that we had involved.

And then we've got the German aeroplane,

which I think a nice little touch is the addition...

..of the dropping bomb, which I think is a nice touch.

I think the main draw was the German aeroplane, which still had its bomb. Now, that's important.

Any of these toys which have detachable pieces or accessories,

as soon as they get lost it's incomplete, so the value drops considerably.

And then at the front here,

we've got the die-cast Schuco Micro racer,

probably dating from the 1960s when Schuco were producing.

And then we've got the late '50s Schuco car

with a rather nice touch, I think, with the...

HORN BEEPS ..little horn!

There are certain little details

that can make one Dinky Toy worth ten times what another one is worth.

And it can be down to the colour of the windscreen,

the colour of the hubcaps, the colour of the tyres.

Similar to porcelain, where you have things made in different colours, people want to collect them all.

In the present market, if you were going to sell them as a combined lot,

you should be putting a figure of £60 to £80 on them at auction.

Obviously, with collectable toys,

condition is of primary importance.

These are in reasonable condition, but I wouldn't say they were mint.

At the end of the day, these were produced to be toys for children.

The best advice I can give to people is - if you want to collect toys, buy two.

Buy one to keep in the box and tuck away,

and play with the other one.

Did the damage put the bidders off?

They've been played with. The boxes are a little bit worn.

Mint and boxed, this is about £150, £200.

But, you know, we're talking 60 to 80.

-It's a bit sad you have them and not play with them.

-Exactly.

463 now, the Dinky Battle of Britain Spitfire

and various other toys.

50 I have down there now.

Straight in. He's a bidding man. He wants them.

-£60 I have down here.

-60 bid.

65. 70.

75. 80.

85. 90. 95.

At £95, I'm bid.

-All done at 95.

-That's good.

-I'm pleased.

-100.

-Oh!

-110.

120. 130.

130. In front of me now at 130. Are you all done?

£130. That was a surprise.

-And how confident were you they were going to sell?

-Not very!

-No!

The fact that the bomb had not been lost, I think, added to the value

and I think that's why they sold better than I thought.

But it's not just big-name model cars which can make big money.

All I can tell you is that this is a super piece,

something I would certainly love to own.

A lovely tinplate model of an Alfa Romeo.

I think it's a stunning piece.

I remember this toy car particularly well

and I remember the owner really well.

It was my father's and I suspect he got it new.

-He was born in 1913 and this is a 1924-'25 car.

-Right.

So I suspect as a young teenager or 11, 12 year old,

-he was given it by my grandfather.

-Right.

And then I remember it as a child, being in the house.

The owner had so many tales to tell about this toy car.

He played with it extensively when he was a child

and that's really why it was in such a bad condition.

It is in a very poor state, that's quite clear,

but I actually quite like that.

It shows that somebody's loved this and really had a great time with it.

What I really like, as well, is some of this detail.

-I love this simulated leather seat with...

-A crinkle effect.

Exactly. That lovely crinkled, crackled finish.

In perfect condition with its original box,

-we'd probably be looking at a couple of thousand pounds.

-Mm.

Collectors always want these to be in perfect order.

But if we move away from toy collectors

and think about people who might be interested in it as a charming piece, as indeed I would be,

-I think we're probably looking at about £300 to £500.

-OK.

Catherine played down the car because of the condition. Was she right?

All of a sudden, when the item came up for sale,

all these men in their 40s suddenly came towards the rostrum

and you could see, "Yep! This is a real boys' toy

"and it's really getting the guys going."

There wasn't a lady in sight, that's for sure!

Lot 660.

I'll start the commission bids at £800.

Is there 50 in the room?

It's one of those moments where your jaw just drops

and you think, "Ohh..."

And I remember this one was also on the front of a catalogue,

so when an item's on the front of a catalogue you always think,

"OK, I've got the valuation a little bit wrong here,

"but it's going to do extremely well."

At £1,100...

And 50. Commission bidder's out.

1,200.

And 50.

1,300. And 50.

1,400. And 50. 1,500.

And 16. 1,600. And 50. 1,700.

And 50. 1,800.

And 50. 1,900. And 50.

-Yes!

-2,000.

-Duncan!

-2,100.

-2-2. 2-3.

-Wow!

2-4.

2-5.

2-6.

-£2,500. To the telephone at £2,500...

-Wow!

-Sold.

-Wow!

-£2,500! That a sold!

-I'm pleased for you.

-Thank you for bringing an item like that in.

It shows the condition doesn't count for everything in something like this.

That car did brilliantly because of its rarity and age

and because it was made to celebrate the launch of the Alfa Romeo P2,

a supercar.

There's so much to think about when buying boys' toys.

Here are my top tips...

Collectors of old toy transport are still willing to pay good prices for the right pieces.

This could be a great time to sell.

If you don't want something, someone else might.

Have your old toys valued at your local auction house

or at a Flog It! valuation day.

Poor condition doesn't have to mean a low price at auction,

as we've seen.

And if you have the original box, even better.

We know lots of you Flog It! viewers are youngsters at heart,

like Philip Serrell, who is no doubt about one of his most prized possessions.

Without going into all the gory details about when I was born,

in the early 1960s Corgi Toys produced this,

which was an Ecurie Ecosse Car Transporter.

The Ecurie Ecosse was a Scottish motor racing team that raced at Le Mans.

This is a coach-built racing car transporter.

It was used for transporting racing cars around the world

and you used to drive the cars up there.

This was something I absolutely coveted as a kid

and, lo and behold, on Christmas morning,

and I can't remember when, but I guess it would've been 1961 or '62,

this appeared in my Father Christmas sack.

I was so pleased with it and I loved it and I played with it.

It's something that I've always kept.

And the thing that makes it a little bit special for me, and this is down to doing TV,

if you look very closely at this,

you can just see there the motor racing transporter,

and through doing television, I got to go and sit in and see the real thing

about three years ago.

I mean, this is really, really sad but it was a real magic moment for me

because it was like so many boyhood, childhood memories,

because I really wanted to be a racing driver.

Jimmy Clarke, Phil Hill and Stirling Moss,

all these great names of that period, that was what I wanted to do.

And to be able to go and see this,

it was really special.

And it all started with that.

At most auctions, there's often one sale which takes everybody's breath away.

Like you, I want to find out more

about how one object can change life for its owner.

Here's one that really stands out for me.

Sometimes, people who turn up on Flog It! have rather unexpected passions.

-Hi.

-Hello!

-Now, what can I say?

-Well...

Take Kenneth, for example... What would you expect him to collect?

I'd have thought maybe motorbikes.

# God save the queen #

I've got a bit of a mix -

the Sex Pistols,

Dennis the Menace

and Poole Pottery -

but I like it.

Poole Pottery? It's a bit, well, unblokey!

We first met him in 2006,

when he brought a really weird item into a valuation day.

My father won it in a cribbage game many moons ago.

-I inherited it when he died some years ago.

-Right.

It's a lobster claw, as you can see,

and it's been made into a brandy flask.

And I think it's a charming, quirky object.

That's what I was thinking. I thought you'd like it.

It's really bitten me, excuse the pun!

But it's just great fun.

-Somebody's taken what was obviously a massive lobster...

-It must've been huge.

-Much wider than the table.

-Oh, yes, much bigger.

It would've made a lovely meal!

It would've done, although I'm not a great lover of seafood.

But I think there will be people who would find it

a unique object, which it is.

My dad told me years ago that it was worth a lot of money,

but what's a lot of money? You don't know.

I thought maybe £100, somebody would give me that.

I don't think it's a huge value.

-No.

-I would've put maybe 70 to 100 on it.

-That's not bad!

-Not bad, is it?

Maybe we'll keep the reserve a little bit lower than that

to give it a fighting chance.

50 or 60?

-Yes, 50 quid. That's a deal.

-All right, then.

-We'll put a reserve of 50 and let's see what happens.

-Right.

So, what did happen?

-I love it.

-I do, as well.

-A bit of folk art.

-I mean, it was a huge lobster, wasn't it?

-Massive lobster!

-I hope it claws in the money!

-Ahh!

Boom-boom! This is it. Good luck, Kenneth.

Lot 37, which is an amusing lot.

One of the highlights of the sale, this lobster-claw brandy flask.

30. Five.

40. Five.

50. Five. 60. Five.

70. No?

Add 65, but thank you. 70. Five...

-It's still going.

-Fresh legs. Or should we say claws?!

-Claws!

..100. And ten?

120. 130. 140. 150.

160. 170.

170, sir? 180.

190. 190?

200. And 20.

220. 240. 260.

260. 280? 280.

300? 300. And 20. Fresh bidder.

320. 340.

340, sir?

At £320 on the back row, going...

-The hammer's gone down.

-£320!

-£320.

Pfft! Who'd have thought it, eh?

-Kenneth, what are you going to put that towards?

-I might get a Poole Pot or something.

Sometimes it's not how much an item makes, but how you reinvest.

Pretty much every spare penny Kenneth has, he puts into Poole.

I have quite an addiction to collecting Poole.

I probably need help!

Help packing it up...!

The record at auction for one piece is £13,000,

and for a collection, 250,000.

I think there's about 300 pieces downstairs in this room,

there's a further 50 or 60 pieces in the bedroom

and in the attic, the last count was 50 boxes full,

and each box has got...

..at least nine or ten items in it.

Erm... One day, maybe the attic will fall down.

The Poole Pottery Factory was established in 1873

and is still open and making ceramic-wares today.

Over the decades, it's become known for its bright colours and bold designs.

They did a lot of tableware and cups, saucers, eggcups, blah, blah, blah...

How many teapots, I don't know.

I must have at least 12 teapots and I don't even drink tea!

I thought I'd get a logo tattooed on my leg.

I had to get that done, really.

That goes to show, you shouldn't always judge the collector by his cover.

So go on, search your home. You could be sitting on a treasure and now even know it.

Well, that's it for today's show. I hope you've been inspired.

And remember, never underestimate the frivolous,

the naughty and the childish.

If it makes you smile, it's a fair bet somebody else will want it.

See you next time for more trade secrets.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd