Weird & Wonderful - Part 2 Flog It: Trade Secrets

We've got over 10 years of "Flog It!" behind us,

that's hundreds of programs and many thousands of your antiques

and collectables valued and sold, so you've come to the right place

if you want to hear our Trade Secrets.

Today's show is dedicated to oddities.

If our valuation days are anything to go by, there's a whole world

of weird and wonderful out there in the homes of Great Britain.

We've seen most things turn up at our valuation days

but there's always room for more to get our experts excited.

And they really love the odd end of the oddities spectrum.

'On today's show, one of our owners gets a big surprise

'when she finds out what she's brought for valuation.'

I can't believe it!

'We tell you how to make money on cold painted bronzes.'

-And how much did you pay for this in your yard sale?

-£1.

-£1!

-Yeah.

£1, you see - it is all out there.

'And I visit the Victoria & Albert Museum

'to see some unusual exhibits on a large scale.'

It's something that you wouldn't expect to see

but just look at the grand scale of this.

My tip for the weird and wonderful is get out there and try

and find something, buy something you've got no idea what it is

because that's the sort of thing that might catch the eye

of someone else in the auction room!

Keep your eyes peeled

because they'll turn up in the most extraordinary places at times.

Weird items can be a real strange part of the market.

It actually is where you can find a real high-value gem

for not a lot of money.

Mark can always be relied upon to spot the weird and wonderful that you bring in.

And actually, it's hard for anyone else to get a look in.

I love it, it's so, so wacky, isn't it?

Now, I've seen some things on "Flog It!" in my time,

but I haven't come across an old piece of rope like this.

I've often asked myself, you know,

why on earth do I end up with the weird and wonderful?

Oh, and then you guide it, do you? Oh!

I think it's because I like eccentric items,

and a lot of people don't, so it ends up on my table and, am I bothered?

No, bring it on!

This is a fascinating item you've brought in to show us,

really charming, actually.

I think it's a charming, quirky object.

It's really bitten me.

There we go. Touchdown.

-Veronica, Natalie...

-Yes, Mark.

-..how nice to see you here in sunny Folkestone.

-Yes.

Now, you've brought this wonderful lemon juicer in.

Where did it come from?

It was my grandmother's and it had gone through the family

to my aunt who died just after Christmas and she left it to me.

-And have you squeezed anything in it?

-No, no.

-No, I haven't been that daring.

-Adventurous.

-No!

It's from the sort of aesthetic period in Victorian design

where they were really trying new ways of producing

household objects really and we've got this really wacky design.

You can see here two little glasses would have gone in here

and then the really wonderful part is when you open the lid up here

and you lift this out,

you put the lemon or the orange in there

and then when you close it

and close that bit and then push that down

you really squeeze all of the juice

and then underneath there are some little holes there

and you put the glass in the middle and juice comes into there.

-Will it work, do you think?

-Oh, I think it would work, yes.

-I mean, I'm not sure how hygienic it would be.

-I'm sure!

When we look underneath we've got a lovely set of marks, we've got

-H&H there, do you know what that stands for?

-No.

-That stands for a firm called Hukin & Heath.

-Ah!

Now, Hukin & Heath are a very interesting factory

because they produced a lot of silver-plated wares

and they had one designer who worked for them for a while who's

very important in Victorian design and that's Christopher Dresser.

Hukin & Heath are very well known, largely through their design

influences by Christopher Dresser, but they are a very good

manufacturing company so, yes, they are a good name to look out for.

And, again, you can find them very inexpensively

because not everybody knows what H&H stands for.

Well, I think we should put this in for auction

with an estimate of £200-£300.

-Really? Good grief!

-Didn't think it was that much.

-Neither did I!

-Really? That surprised you?

-No... I would've thought...

-We were sort of saying sort of 80 to 120.

-£80 maybe.

Well, that's a typical auctioneers estimate,

I wish I'd known that - I would have said 80 to 120.

I could have got away with it a bit cheaper, there!

Christopher Dresser designed across the board - ceramics, silver,

silver plate, furniture, fabrics, textiles.

So if you want to collect Christopher Dresser, it can be

quite difficult because not everything's signed.

However there are good reference books out there

and if you want to start collecting his work you can pick up tiles

and smaller ceramics pieces for tens of pounds.

248 is the plated barman's friend,

£100? Unusual item there.

100 someone?

Anybody want it?

Deathly hush out there.

No-one want this? Can't persuade anyone to bid?

-£75 then?

-I can't believe it.

-Pass it then, no sale.

-Can't squeeze a bid out of anybody.

I have no idea why there wasn't a bid on that juicer at the sale.

I think they must have all gone to sleep, because it was wonderful.

We may have been unlucky that day,

but it's always worth investigating a specialist sale

for kitchenalia if you want to sell something similar.

It just goes to show quirky objects aren't to everyone's taste

but that's the appeal of the unusual,

and experienced auctioneers, like Adam, know that something

out of the ordinary is usually a winner with the bidders.

You've brought along something that I've never seen before.

-Where did you get this bowling ball decanter from?

-Singapore.

-Right, and when did you get it?

-1968.

Right, so would you like to demonstrate what it does?

Take the top off and you've got a drinks set,

then you take the decanter out.

-And then it plays.

-And it plays.

What's the song that it is playing?

MUSIC BOX TINKLES

Oh, it's Oh, What A Beautiful Morning, isn't it?

OK, let's put that back in and that stops it playing.

This isn't the sort of piece that I'd want to buy to own,

but I did appreciate it because it's fun, isn't it?

You see that and you probably think, "How kitsch?

"It reminds me of the '60s," or something like that

and I think that's where the appeal was with that.

-Do you play bowls?

-I used to, in Singapore.

-Right, did you live in Singapore?

-My husband was in the RAF.

-Right!

OK.

-I bet it brings back some memories, doesn't it?

-It does,

it's the place where I adopted my son, in Singapore.

-He's here today, isn't he?

-He's here today.

He's a nice boy, isn't he? I met him, as well.

-So you're having a clear out?

-I'm having a clear out.

Well, it's a quirky object and there's more

and more people interested in 20th century novelty stuff.

I don't know it's going to make a lot, really.

-I'm not bothered about that, Adam.

-But we'll put it in the auction.

-I'm just happy to meet you lot!

-Ah! Excellent.

We'll put an estimate of £20-£40, shall we?

'This piece, the bowling ball,'

well, it's not exactly part of the family heritage, so the lady,

she's getting older and we see this quite often,

a lot of people want to see things sold in their own lifetime.

I don't want to leave it to my children,

it'll all end up in a skip is something that we hear quite often,

so I can see why they want to sell things and actually have the fun

out of seeing it sold and maybe get to spend the money themselves, too!

780, the Japanese bowler's decanter,

rather unusual with the musical movement.

I've had bids on this and I start at 12 bid.

12 bid, 12 bid, 12 bid.

12 bid. 15, 18, 20.

Two, five, eight, 30. Two, five, eight,

40. Two... 42.

This is good!

42, 45.

45, 45. Anyone else want in?

At 45, at £45.

-Yes!

-Very good.

-All the skittles down, there!

-Adam said it would be about that.

-He did, didn't he?

He knows his onions, Adam does!

I think there are an increasing number of buyers

of this kind of thing.

The sort of thing that we would have dismissed 10 or 20 years ago

as pretty cheap, tatty sort of things, but now it's retro,

isn't it, it's vintage, it's pretty cool

and I think there's a resurgence in this sort of thing.

Those kitsch plastic items from the '50s and '60s

you've got hiding in the loft could be worth money,

so dust them off and look for a mid-century sale to put them in.

There are many shops, fairs and auctions that

cater for vintage or mid-century items and you can find them online.

Focus on one area that interests you and read up on the subject

if you want to get ahead of the game.

Now and again someone innocently turns up at a valuation day

without realising that they've brought along something

extraordinary and that's when the experts can really have some fun.

James had his turn in Bolton back in 2006.

What a fantastic collection of walking sticks.

We've got all types here.

Now, are these things that you've collected over the years

or are they family things?

No, my husband died last year and they were his father's.

They're all shapes and sizes and different sort of qualities,

as well. This is fantastic.

Made from a hardwood, probably made in India, and each piece of that

decoration is an individual silver nail head, about 100 years old.

Now, that one.

That's the most interesting one.

Owned by your father-in-law, I'm going to have a guess here,

-a dairy farmer or a farmer?

-Just a farmer.

-A farmer.

-Did he ever have beasts at all?

-Yes, some.

-Yes, because do you have any idea what that's made from?

-No, I don't.

It's a walking stick made from a bull's penis.

-What, the whole stick?

-Yes.

And you'd think, wow, wouldn't you?!

That's exactly what it is.

It is the most amazing object you'd ever think.

She was genuinely shocked. And I'm not surprised.

I think anyone in their right mind would be shocked to hear

what people would do to a bull.

Well, there was a tradition, especially around the dairy farming community

of doing that. Between 1860 and 1900 there was this strange fashion.

-Mind you, waste not, want not.

-So what's the handle made of?

Same thing!

It's got an iron rod down the centre to make it even worse.

-Oh, right!

-But some of them, you know, are a bit bendy.

I can't believe it!

Now we've got to try and put a value on it.

Now, I can tell you one thing, one thing is sure.

It was worth a lot more to the bull than it was to anybody else.

So if we said £60-£100 as a little group, put them all together,

-it's certainly a talking point, isn't?

-Yes.

'And there was more fun to be had at the saleroom

'when we took the collection to be sold by Adam Partridge.'

There's a few exotic ones here,

depending on which way you look at them.

There's a mahogany one, some ebony ones

and there's rather an unusual one which James picked out.

-Did he pick that one out?

-Yes.

-Well...

-You know what it is, don't you?

-Yes, I do! I've had great fun with it,

because when it arrived I went round passing it round all the ladies

in the office and asking them what they thought it was made of.

None of them knew and then when I told them

it was made from a bull's penis they were quite shocked

and they were running down to the bathroom to wash their hands.

I wasn't the most popular person that day.

We've catalogued it as a bull's pizzle, which is I believe...

-That's the correct term.

-..the correct terminology.

But it is one of those sort of Victorian/Edwardian

quirky things which people love.

89, there we are, it's the bull's pizzle walking stick

and various others.

A good collection of walking sticks,

one of those is made from a bull's penis, did you know that?

LAUGHTER

Is that why you're smiling?

Lot 89, there we are.

Seven of these in the lot, £100.

£100 for a bull's pizzle. 50?

50 bid. At 50 bid. Five now, anywhere?

At £50 I have, at £50 a lot of fanning, five, 60.

65 here, 70, five,

80, five? 80 in the room still, £80.

90, Sir?

90 in the room still. At £90. At £90.

95, 100.

£100 in the room still, at 100.

Take 10. 110, 120...

-It's a good, decorative collection.

-It is.

-160,

170? 170, 180.

210, 220,

230 now, 220 in the room.

220 in the room, all finished now?

At 220 - we sell, then.

230, 240.

At £240.

Yes, that's a sold sound. £240.

June, I hope you're watching

and I hope you've got a big smile on your face!

Well, it really appealed to my puerile, infantile sense of humour.

I've seen a couple in the past but this was a lovely example.

Of course, you do know that it was stretched to make it.

The market for oddities seems to be recession proof,

so if you happen across something weird and wonderful

and it suits your budget, snap it up there and then.

It could prove to be one of the best investments you've ever made.

Now, take a look at how this beautiful antique was created.

I think it's fair to say that man's been fascinated

with his own image as far back as the humble caveman

looking at his own reflection in a pool of water.

But it was the Chinese really, some 500 years AD,

that came up with the idea of polishing a piece of precious metal,

like a little bit of silver, that could be handheld

to use as a looking glass to see your own reflection.

But it wasn't until the 1600s, the early part of the 17th century,

that the looking glass as we know it, the mirror, really took off.

The Venetians were the best in the world at blowing glass

and that's exactly what a mirror is, a piece of hand-blown glass.

It would then be ground down to something perfectly flat.

This process would take hours on a massive, great big marble slab,

to a thickness of about two or three millimetres.

It was hard, dirty work.

And then, a section of this glass would be cut to size.

Then it would be dipped into a tray of mercury and tin.

It would be backed. Now, this created the mirror.

You could see your reflection in it

purely because of this concoction of mercury and tin.

By the 1850s, the use of mercury was dropped

and it was replaced with silver which was a much safer technique,

but there is a big difference between a mirror that's been

silver backed and a mirror that has been mercury backed,

so I've brought along one of my mirrors as an example.

Now this mirror dates to around 1720, George I

and it does have its original mercury glass back to it

and that's why I bought it.

If this mirror had been replaced with a bit of silvered glass

or new glass, I think the value of the mirror would be 40% less

so that's something to look out for.

Please, when you buy an early mirror like this, try not to buy one

with a piece of glass that's been replaced because really it's

the glass that you're buying, all the skill has gone into that.

Now, a thing to look for is take a pencil, put it on the glass.

The point of the pencil meets the point of the pencil

in its reflection, directly underneath.

If this was a new mirror,

let's say from 1850 onwards, the point of the pencil would be

a millimetre or so away from the point so they just wouldn't meet up.

So, the next time you come across a mirror that looks a little bit like

this, that looks old and useless, don't disregard it - snap it up.

You could be buying a piece of history.

The "Flog It!" experts are also collectors of

all sorts of unusual items that they pick up on their travels.

And Mark Stacey's best friend is the perfect example.

Now, this little weird and wonderful chappie

is really significant to me because it's made out

of the most ridiculous, disposable item, old fag packets.

It was created by a miner as a present for one of their children.

He must've spent hours.

These people had very little money at the turn of the century.

It's connected to me why?

Because my father was a miner and so were lots of his family,

in fact he lost at least one brother in a nasty mine accident

and I just found this languishing in an antiques centre

with a label which is still on there, "Dog made from cigarette pieces."

But I knew what it was

because I was fortunate enough to visit Beamish mining museum and I saw

a number of these and I just thought for something that was made

with such love, for it to have survived 100 years or more

is really touching and it lives on my bookcase

and I know you've guessed this already, his name's Lucky!

Yes, he's lucky to have survived all these years,

like so many fragile antiques.

Those miners used a simple and clever technique

to create a toy, and it's the inventiveness

of the craftsman that never ceases to amaze me.

When I'm looking for extraordinary treasures, my favourite place

has to be the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

There's a very impressive 145 galleries here,

showcasing items from ancient art right through to 20th-century design.

So, with a wealth of art and design history at my feet,

I thought I'd show you some of the V&A's more unusual treasures,

some items you wouldn't expect to see and some of them

are on a rather large proportion.

Take this room for instance - if I step inside here,

come with me, this is one complete exhibit.

It's taken from a house in Bromley by Bow in east London.

Now, the house was built in 1606,

but just before it was going to be demolished in 1894

it was transplanted here to the museum, in all of its glory,

from the ceiling with that deep plaster relief up there,

very fashionable in its day,

to the most wonderful fielded oak panels on the wall.

Right down to the carving all around the mantle of this fireplace.

Now, it's all thanks to a campaign led by the Arts & Crafts designer CR Ashbee

that architectural detail like this has been saved for the nation,

and thank goodness as well, and this was one of the first.

And I must say I have been instantly transported back to the early part

of the 17th century, right down to the creaky oak floorboards.

But incidentally, that's the only thing that's replica in here.

Now, if you like showstoppers, take a look at this staircase.

It's absolutely spectacular

and I think it has to be one of my favourite things here in the museum.

What a thing to exhibit!

It's something that you wouldn't expect to see

but just look at the grand scale of this.

This was taken from a house in Brittany,

you can imagine the size of the house it came from,

and obviously the owner would have been of an incredibly high status.

Just look at the detail and the condition,

considering all of this dates back to the 1520s.

I am amazed, I'm amazed it's here all in one piece

and it really does now look like a work of art,

it's a most beautiful silhouette in this new extension, the new wing.

Well, that was just the tip of the iceberg of the huge collection

that's on display here at the Victoria & Albert Museum,

not just for me to enjoy, but for the whole nation.

Really it is not just about individual pieces,

in the context of the bigger collection, everything that's here,

it helps us understand the bygone eras in different periods

of our history and also appreciate the endeavours

of craftsmen and craftswomen and their artistic legacies.

There's always a buzz of excitement at our valuation days

when a cold painted bronze turns up at one of our tables.

What I really like are the devils. I find them really fascinating.

Will it be a Franz Bergman and worth thousands of pounds?

Well, they do vary in subject and condition,

so watch carefully if you want to learn more.

It's worth looking out for these at auctions and car boot sales,

where animal examples can be found relatively cheaply.

-How much did you pay for this in your yard sale?

-£1.

-£1?

-Yeah.

£1, you see - it is all out there.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, there were dozens

of factories in Vienna producing cold painted bronzes

of all kinds of subjects.

After being cast, the bronzes were decorated with layers

of polychrome paint which was not fired

to fix it to the metal, giving rise to the name.

The technique meant the paint was easily damaged

and often flaked away so it's important that you pay attention

to condition when buying these bronzes.

The most famous of the artists working in Vienna was Franz Bergman

whose vibrantly coloured bronzes with

their incredibly detailed decoration stood out above all others.

Cold painted bronzes on "Flog It!" often fetch hundreds of pounds

and this stag made £1,100 at auction.

But a rare example could set you back up to £20,000.

Selling at £1,100, the bid is with Chris. 1,100.

Keep your eyes open for Bergman's distinctive signature marks,

especially "Nam Greb", which is Bergman spelt backwards,

which he often used to sign the more erotic pieces,

where naked women were hidden beneath innocent exteriors.

And James Lewis found a very quirky example.

-I absolutely love it. It's mad, isn't it?

-It is, it is fun, yeah.

-We've got a Victorian desk weight and paperclip, desk clip.

-Yes.

Cast in bronze as a monkey jockey riding what looks to be like a...

-I think it is a greyhound, isn't it?

-I think it's a greyhound, yes.

Isn't it crazy. Only the Victorians would do such a thing.

It is one of the things that is humorous

but the sad thing is you can actually imagine the Victorians doing it,

dressing the monkey, tying him to a greyhound and saying, "Ride,"

that's the frightening thing.

You know, we're talking about a period where Rothschild

decided to pull his chariot, not with a horse,

but with four zebra.

The sort of man that would ride a giant tortoise with a stick,

asking for money and donations for his animal collection,

this is the type of Victorian madness that was about then.

How did you come to have such a fantastic thing?

Well, I inherited it from my mother

and she in turn inherited it from her parents.

The centre for this type of work was Austria.

There's one factory that always calls out this

sort of quality and that's Bergman.

-Right.

-It's cold painted bronze.

Cold painted bronze is very expensive to produce and they come

in massive variety of shape and sizes, some as small as that,

some as large as that,

and the very large ones can be 10 or £20,000, really rare.

Wonderful, though.

The fact that it's got its original paintwork means a lot

because these things, because they were fun,

because they were often novelty animals, kids got their hands on them

and played with them, but really it's in not bad condition.

Well, considering it is probably what, 100 years old.

-Yeah, well, it was made probably 1870, 1880...

-As long ago as that?

Yes, somewhere like that.

Whenever you paint metal, it flakes off quite easily

so the important thing is condition.

You sometimes see a cold painted bronze that's only got 10%

of the paint left, which isn't much fun.

It's useful, its practical,

it's in good condition, and it's novelty.

Those three things are all in its favour.

It was just a massive combination of good saleable parts

that made it do so well.

Lot 523, is this superb cold painted bronze letter holder

depicting a monkey sat upon a greyhound.

Start me at 200. 200.

-Right, we're in.

-200 bid.

Any advance on 200? 220,

240, 260.

280, 300,

320, 340,

360, 380.

400, 420,

440, 460,

480. 500.

It's down to two people in the room.

540,

560.

580,

600.

620, 640,

660.

This is good, it's so rare.

680. £680.

Good gracious.

All done at 680. 680.

Yes! Slowly, slowly catch the monkey!

-Anita worked that one up.

-She did.

Did I expect the little cold painted bronze

to do better than the estimate?

Yes, I did.

In terms of today's market, massive collectors field for it

and really, really popular.

I'm just glad that today we wouldn't actually do it for real.

Cold painted bronze where we have colour

seems to give life to the bronze.

These items are never cheap in the sale rooms and the best of them

can make a huge amount of money, but it's always good to collect these.

And the more unusual the better. But watch out for condition.

That's great advice, Anita.

The weirder the item, the more money it will make.

Remember, just because it's not your cup of tea,

it doesn't mean it won't go down a storm at auction.

Good luck with all the buying and the selling.

Do join us again soon for more Trade Secrets.