Maritime - Part 1 Flog It: Trade Secrets

Over the years on "Flog It!" we've helped you sell thousands

of your antiques and collectibles, to raise some much-needed cash.

That's absolutely divine,

it's one of the nicest things I've seen on "Flog It!"

Every valuation day throws up something new,

and some old favourites just to keep our experts on their toes.

All done then at 1,200.

And here's where they share what they know,

as they let you in to their trade secrets.

We British are an island race, in fact,

our nation is made up of 6,000 separate islands.

Our relationship with the sea

and all things maritime is undisputed,

and that's been very much evident at all the valuation days

we've held near coastal locations.

So, if there's a tang of salt in the air,

that's because today's programme is dedicated to maritime antiques.

It's a huge and valuable area of collecting, covering everything

from ships, instruments, to nautical paintings - and I love it.

Coming up today,

Phil has some high hopes for a piece of sunken treasure...

It wouldn't surprise me if this really did take off.

-Yes!

-£1,200. Where's Margaret gone?

..I get excited when we turn Trevor's £2.50 into a huge profit...

Yes, it's all smiles over here!

..and our experts share their trade secrets

on how to boost your chances of making money.

What we're finding at the moment is particularly strong

is the naive art.

When it comes to collecting anything scientific

the name and the location of the manufacturer is very important.

Lovely thing at £200...

The coastline of our nation boasts dramatic geography -

captivating fishing harbours, beautiful beaches and pounding surf.

So it's hardly surprising, really,

that items related to the sea are amongst the most popular

in the fields of collecting in the UK.

I love to see maritime memorabilia

when it turns up at our valuation days,

and I'm generally the first person to pounce on it,

before our experts have a chance to spot it.

So I was delighted to meet up with Trevor

back in 2007 on the Isle of Wight,

whose item combined two of my favourite things -

woodwork and the love of the sea.

-I bought it at a boot sale about 25 years ago.

-On the island?

-On the island.

-And how much did you pay for it?

-£2.50 I paid for it.

-Is that all?!

-That's all.

I used to be a roofer, so I bought this,

I thought I could use it up on the roof.

It's a little too precise, isn't it?

I couldn't use it, so... I put it up in the loft.

I think you've picked up a bargain, I really do.

It is for a carpenter,

but it's for a cabinet maker that would have worked on board ship.

When he comes to fit the furniture, awkward-sized cabins,

different ribs, different stations and bulkheads.

To find the angles, he would use this.

He would then set his level to find the horizontal,

once he's got that gauge he could turn this around,

and then he knows - working off that same station line he's found,

let's say a 45-degree angle -

he knows where the horizontal is.

That's very interesting, cos I didn't know none of that.

That is such a precise gauge and tool, it really is.

I've not seen one like this and I'm quite excited about this,

because there are a lot of people

that collect levels, spirit levels and gauges.

-Why do you want to sell this?

-I lost me teeth last new year...

-Oh, yes!

..and I've...got to get some new ones.

So you're going to pay for the teeth?

It's going to go towards it, yes.

I'd like to put this into auction with a valuation of £100-150.

-That'd be very nice.

-Hopefully gets the top end.

So, it cost £2.50, how much will the bidders be prepared to pay?

75, eighty...five, ninety...five.

100, 110, 150, 160.

170, 180 - yes. 190, he's back in, 200.

210, one more, 220. 210 then, it's in the corner.

At £210 we're selling at, 210, all done.

-Yes, it's all smiles over here! £210!

-Great.

Less commission, obviously, but that's fantastic, isn't it?

You reckon I'll get my teeth then?

Oh, well, it's a good start, isn't it?

It was a real treat for me to see that maritime level,

because I find shipbuilding a fascinating area

of maritime collecting,

and our experts have plenty of advice

on how to navigate your way through the sea of collectibles out there.

The collecting of maritime-related objects is such a huge subject,

if you're going to go into it for the first time, narrow it down.

Look for instruments...

A good tip for maritime is to choose, possibly,

the history of a particular ship...

..or paintings, or medals.

..or a particular element of the navy, or a particular port.

Get into a smaller field

and you'll find it easier to become a specialist.

Choose something which you can expand within,

but gives backbone to your collection,

and I think that will give you a direction to follow

which is very positive.

There's a huge range of maritime objects to discover,

and sometimes it's just about keeping your eyes peeled.

-Margaret, how you doing?

-I'm very well, thank you.

-That is not a local accent, is it?

-I'm from Glasgow.

-Glasgow?

-Originally, moved down here when I got married.

-Got married.

-To Alec, he self-taught himself to dive.

-Really?

This presumably is from one of his expeditions?

It's unbelievable, a glint of the sun through the water,

and a corner, just a corner of that, was on the sea bed.

And he scooped it away,

and there it was.

He brought it up, and 30-odd years we've had it now.

Where did he find it then, was he diving off the coast here?

Off the coast of Torbay, way out.

So we've got a brass plaque, "Palmers..."

"Palmers Ship Building and Iron Co."

I really liked that ship's plaque,

and I think it was the fact that Margaret's husband

had been out diving and, you know, the sunlight glistening...

It's quite romantic, isn't it?

The sunlight glistening through the water, glinted on this thing

and it caught her husband's eye, and he took it up.

And all of that added to the story.

Presumably this is your research?

Yes, I wrote to Palmers.

Yep, who don't exist.

Well, I didn't know that, and then months after I got this letter,

saying they'd passed the Palmers letter to Vickers Shipbuilding.

-So if we just look at this here.

-Yes!

He says, "Palmers started building ships in 1852,

"and had built some 350 by 1877."

Having looked at that,

-we've got 1877 here.

-Yeah.

I wonder if that 355, perhaps that's the 355th ship they built?

Might be, I've no idea.

And Margaret, bless her,

she'd researched this ship, this company, everything,

and she'd done a lot of the auctioneers' work for us,

cos it was all there.

It's something we can all do, I'd urge you to go and do it,

I really, really would.

I think at auction, with this information allied to it,

-I think it'd be good to give that with it.

-Yeah, you can.

-I think we can put a cautious estimate of £80-120.

-Right.

We'll put a reserve on it of £60.

I have sold a name plaque from a ship for the thick end of £1,000.

So it wouldn't surprise me if this really did take off.

If someone brings you in a ship's plaque

that's been salvaged from I don't know how many fathoms below the sea,

and you have no idea what it's worth, then you have to do...

that. And it's sort of slightly guesswork, really.

Why'd you want to sell it?

-I don't want it.

-You just don't want it?

-What would you do with 100 quid if it makes 100 quid?

-Don't know.

-Spend it!

-Spend it! On that note, let's put it to auction, shall we?

-Well done, you.

-What the heck!

'But will she get it? What did the auctioneer have to say?'

There's a lovely story we've uncovered here, Anthony.

It belongs to Margaret, this brass plaque,

and we've got a value of £80-120.

-80-120, yes.

-Bit of a "come and buy me."

Doesn't sound a lot, does it, for a piece of maritime history?

The added interest to this,

not only do we know which vessel it came from,

the company itself has a lot of history.

It was sold in 1933 and then closed down subsequently,

and the closing of this company

was credited as part of the reason for the Jarrow March,

because so many people were made redundant at the time.

The closing of Palmers was disastrous for the area.

200 workers marched from Jarrow to London

to lobby Parliament about the terrible poverty,

poor housing, and malnutrition their families were enduring.

To me, the plaque was a tribute to their determination.

Surely we've got to do a lot more than 80-120.

Has there been much interest?

We've had a bit of interest in it, certainly,

and my initial reaction when I saw it was probably 200-300,

something like that. But I think it'll do even better than that.

Oh, thanks, Anthony. Well, this is certainly the one to watch.

It's the brass name plate for Palmers Ship Building and Iron Co.

Several bid for it, I'm bid £180 to start it. At £180...

Against the room. 190, 200, and ten, 220,

250, 260,

270, 280, 290, 300, and 20,

-340, 360...

-Now we're flying...

500, and 20, 540, 560, 580...

-600.

-I was going to throw that out.

-Oh!

-700.

-750 if you like.

-750?

-780.

800 now, and 20. 850,

900...and 50.

-£1,100.

-1,100?!

-Yeah.

-Oh, I feel sick.

1,200. At £1,200 then, last chance.

All done then? At £1,200.

-Yes!

-£1,200. Where's Margaret gone?

-Can't believe it!

-Get back here, Margaret.

Gosh, what an exciting moment,

that's what auctions are all about, that's what we were saying earlier.

-I was going to throw it in the bin!

-Come back here, Margaret!

I don't know whether it was luck or what it was,

but we're in Plymouth and I just think on the day

we found one or more people who just wanted to buy that particular item,

who knew what it was, who knew what it was worth,

and that just meant that it reached its market level.

And that's the joy of an auction, really, that's what it does for you.

An auctioneer will do their best to achieve a good price

for any item you're selling.

So the more research you do, the better.

My advice to you

if you're thinking of investing in nautical memorabilia,

is to only buy something if you know what ship it came from.

All of these ships were registered, so you know where they were built,

what they did throughout their service, and when they sank.

It's that bigger picture that creates the value.

Britain's wonderful coastline

has always been an inspiration for artists,

and we see lot of nautical paintings on "Flog It!"

But where do you start if you want to collect?

Well, our experts have their own ideas

about what might prove a canny investment.

People like marine scenes, but you need lots going on, in my opinion.

I've seen enough paintings of seashores with nothing else there.

I think you need ships, and you need people. If they're well done,

then you're in the money.

-Eddie, nice to see you.

-Hello.

You've brought three little paintings along,

what can you tell me about them?

I bought them about 20 years ago, paid very little for them.

About £5-6, I suppose.

-I liked the frames originally, more than...

-Pretty, aren't they?

-Do you know who might have painted them, or...?

-I don't, no.

There's no signature on the front,

but perhaps if you signed the front there wouldn't be any paint left!

-There's not much of them!

-They're very, very tiny.

Well, there is a signature on the back,

and they are painted by Gustave de Breanski.

British artist.

The most famous member of the de Breanski family,

Alfred de Breanski - his pictures are generally much larger,

they sell for a lot of money.

And I've recently sold a Highland landscape of his for £30,000.

Huge amounts.

This man was not as good.

'I loved these paintings,'

but they were just too small, weren't they?

They were almost all frame and no painting! But they were charming.

They were quite primitive,

and a member of a very famous artist's family,

but not by the right artist.

I should think these date from 1880, 1890.

They are oil paintings,

and they're painted on card as opposed to canvas.

But because they are by a known artist,

despite the fact they are small,

and because they are reasonably well presented in their gilt frames,

I would say that they've got a certain value.

They must be worth £20 or £30 each,

and I think we can put them into auction, estimate £80-120.

Might not seem a lot of money for a listed artist,

but who's going to buy a picture of that size?

Three in the lot here, numerous commission bids,

-start me straight in at £95.

-Yes.

And £100 I'll take. At £95, 100, and ten.

At 110, we all done then? 120, 130, 140, 150.

Now at £150, we all done at £150?

-Yes!

-Yes!

-That's 50 quid each, you happy with that?

-Very good.

Most expensive fridge magnets in the world!

Had it been Alfred de Breanski instead of Gustave, uh...

For a start the paintings would have been much bigger,

but they would have been better and they would have been thousands,

rather than 100 or so pounds.

Maritime art is very popular

and has continued, throughout fluctuations in the market,

to maintain a good following.

But what we're finding at the moment is particularly strong

is the naive art, for example the East Anglian school of painters

who were working in the 19th century recording the fishing trawlers.

They're not particularly well painted,

but they're an element of folk art, which is very strong at the moment.

Maritime art can be phenomenally expensive -

overblown, ships under full sail,

painted by artists like Montague Dawson,

ruinously expensive.

Forget about those.

Just take a trip down to your local seaside resort

next time you're in Cornwall or Devon or Norfolk,

and have a rummage around in the junk shops

and see if you can find something

that might have been painted

by someone who was on holiday there in the 1920s,

and depicted the harbour as it was in those days.

That's great advice for pointing you in the right direction

if you want to buy maritime art.

And Mark's got something to help you find your way if you're all at sea.

Now, before we open this, I want to ask you, where did you get it from?

From an old friend in the fire brigade

-at British Leyland, I used to do a lot of sailing.

-Oh, right.

But I've never used it.

Well, it's too nice to use, thus giving a clue of what it is.

It's a little travelling compass, it's a circular little wooden box,

but it's been covered with this ...almost like skin, isn't it?

Well, it is in actual fact, skin, it's shark skin.

Otherwise known as shagreen,

and originally this would have been very, very bright.

It's a little bit fragile, it's coming off there,

but it's fundamentally there, and when we take it out we've got...

little maker's mark on the back as well.

"J & W Watkins, Charing Cross."

And this may well be silver, I can't find a hallmark

and I don't think we should try and open the back

because that may affect

the sensitive nature of the instruments inside.

When it comes to collecting anything scientific

the name and the location of the manufacturer is very important.

So if it's a big metropolitan city like Bristol or London

it's good to add a premium to the price.

Now, you've done some research yourself,

what have you found out about it?

We found that J & W stood for Jeremiah

and may have been William or Walter.

Yeah, so what age do you think it is?

Well, the only date we could find

where they mentioned an actual pocket compass, was 1803.

Well, I think it's a bit earlier than that.

And actually, it dates to the last quarter of the 18th century.

-So we're looking at 1780, 1790.

-Gosh.

These are great collectors' items,

and this is a really nice original piece to have.

-I think we put an estimate of £200-300 on it.

-Fantastic.

With a reserve of £150 just to protect it on the day,

and, hopefully, we'll get a good collector

and a good dealer bidding on this.

-Are you happy with that?

-Fantastic, I didn't even know he had it

and we've been married for 23 years, I only seen it the other day.

You know boys and their toys, hidden away in a drawer, you see!

150, 160, 170, 180, 190.

190, 200.

At £200, we all done? Lovely thing. At £200...

-200, that's gone. Happy?

-Yes, that's good.

That was a nice find, and well done for looking after it.

-Get searching all his cupboards and the garage and the shed!

-Yeah.

The collectability of it on the day, it just scraped the estimate.

I don't know, maybe it was a bad sale,

but I loved it and somebody else liked it.

I'm just glad it sold.

Small objects like the compass are a great way to start collecting

maritime memorabilia.

Narrowing down your search to focus on particular instruments

or collectables from a specific ship or navy is a good tip

and it will help you to become more knowledgeable in your chosen area.

All of our "Flog It!" experts

have a keen eye for antiques and collectibles,

and many of them have some surprising antiques

stashed away at home.

Like me, I know that Will Axon has a passion for horses,

but I didn't know he had a taste for antique oddities.

Well, I don't know what it is, whether it was a childhood visit

to the Natural History Museum,

I remember those huge, great dinosaurs in the foyer,

but I've always been very keen on natural history

and specimens of animals, be they stuffed, dried, or part of them.

I've brought along my sawfish rostrum,

which I think is rather splendid and spectacular.

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea

that I'm holding part of an animal in my hand,

but this one was actually given to me as a gift by my godfather,

and it's signed and inscribed.

This was caught in Aden, early 1960s,

so it's well before the CITES ban

on trade on sawfish rostrums.

I know my children have taken it into school,

and the kids are fascinated by it,

they cannot believe that this comes from a fish.

So, can you imagine a sailor back in the 18th century

seeing a sawfish, which is a kind of ray, it's not a fish at all.

You can see how the legends of sea beasts

arose from sailors' tales out in exotic waters.

I like my sawfish rostrum and I hope you do too,

but, yeah, mind your fingers, these things are very sharp.

We've seen some wonderful items turn up at our valuation days

that the experts describe as "fresh to the market",

meaning they've never been sold in auction before.

Now expert Caroline Hawley has uncovered some treasures

in her hometown of Hull

which brings the city's maritime history vividly back to life.

In the 1840s this would have been a really bustling port -

whaling ships coming and going,

leaving here to the freezing conditions

of Greenland, the Arctic, the Davis Straits.

More than 40% of Britain's whalers left from the Port of Hull,

that's how busy it was.

Whale oil was a very, very important ingredient

to the running of the economy.

We needed it for lamp oil, for candles,

staybusts for ladies' corsets, which were fashionable at the time,

no end of usage, where nowadays, we would use plastics.

But sadly, at the height whales were hunted almost to extinction,

some of the species,

which is very, very sad, and, quite rightly now, it's banned.

Caroline's meeting master mariner John Simpson

at Hull's Trinity House.

-Hello, John.

-Hello, Caroline.

-Lovely to see you.

-Lovely to see you.

For hundreds of years there's been a guild here supporting mariners,

as well as a school that once trained boys for life at sea.

But few people have seen the fascinating collection

that's been brought back from all four corners of the world.

There are pieces from the South Pacific, from New Zealand.

It's a history of British shipping through the centuries.

But what drew Caroline to Trinity House

was John's passion for scrimshaw.

Sailors used the long hours between whale hunts

to carve pictures on the teeth or bones of whales,

often as love tokens for womenfolk left at home.

And John has taken up this ancient art, carving old teeth as a hobby.

So, John, what are you working on now?

Well, this is a very old tooth, but it's work that I've started,

and these are the coat of arms of Hull Trinity House.

It's wonderful work, and you're using exactly the same tools.

I use a sailmaker's needle, which is the same method they would have used.

And how do you get such a wonderfully smooth surface,

from the raw tooth to this very smooth surface on which to work?

This one is a tooth in its natural condition,

with these very deep ridges.

And how do you smooth it?

With lots of sandpaper and lots of patience,

it's just to remove the surface until we get the tooth looking like this.

Once the scratching has been completed,

it's as simple as getting some ink or soot,

and then rubbed over the surface.

Hey presto.

# This dirty town has been my home

# Since last time I was sailing

# But I'll not stay another day

# I'd sooner be a-whaling... #

Scrimshaw collectors pay many thousands of pounds

for quality antique examples, especially ones with provenance.

And with her connections as an auctioneer,

Caroline's brought some to show John.

I've borrowed a wonderful collection of antique scrimshaw.

It's wonderful to see the pieces that the sailors did so many years ago,

from a practical thing like a fid that's been made out of whalebone.

And this one here, the detail on that!

Because of the work and the size,

it's probably the most valuable one on the table,

several thousands of pounds we're looking at here.

This swordstick here, with a whalebone handle,

is actually from the ship Cyrus, with William Beadling the captain,

can you see the depiction of the ship, the Cyrus?

With the whale here.

From the same shape, the same master, is this wonderful snuffbox

with the Cyrus here, but it's got a secret, do you want to see?

I would love to.

Right, so we'll open the top,

-and inside is the rather saucy mermaid or something.

-Mm.

Erotic engravings are very rare,

because most of these were made to take home to your loved ones,

and I can imagine most wives and sweethearts

wouldn't be awfully keen on seeing some half-naked mermaid.

So something like this little box,

with the known link to Hull

and to a named captain, a named ship,

and the added interest of the erotica inside,

adds hugely to the value.

The sky's the limit, but it could be as much as £15,000,

£20,000 for the two.

But for those of us, myself included,

who don't have that sort of money,

we can actually start by buying something

like these very small teeth, those are eminently affordable.

A - because they're so small, and these are only £45, £50.

There will always be the chance find

at a car-boot sale or an antique fair, and who knows?

# To cut the throats of them there blokes

# What sells bad beer to sailors. #

There you have it!

All you need to know to ensure your items sail away at auction.

If you've got something you'd like to sell,

then we look forward to seeing you at one of our valuation days.

And I hope you can put some of these tips to good use.

But, until then, please join me again soon for more Trade Secrets.