Little and Large - Part 2 Flog It: Trade Secrets

PAUL MARTIN: Over the last 10 years on 'Flog It!',

we've valued thousands of your items

and we've helped to sell around £1 million worth

of antiques and collectables.

so it comes as no surprise that we can offer you

the inside track on buying and selling.

Welcome to Trade Secrets.

Now, often on the show, we encounter items that are rather intriguing

because of their size.

Well, today's programme is dedicated to the antiques that are small

but perfectly formed and the big and the beautiful.

Coming up on Trade Secrets,

Charlie has trouble pinning down the proportions of a vast collection.

-There must be 300, 400 of them.

-Just over 400.

-You've counted them all, have you?

-427.

Philip makes a big prediction.

These things are flavour of the month at the minute.

They could absolutely fly through the top estimate.

And we catch up with Janet,

whose sale of a small item made a big impact.

-Fantastic. £420.

-Oh, that's fabulous!

I'm so pleased for you and it's going to a good cause.

Oh, it is. Yeah.

Buying and selling little and large objects has its own challenges

and here's our experts' advice on what to take note of.

In this business, what you don't want is ordinary.

You either want things very big or very small.

You really want to be looking at items that are difficult to make.

For example, ceramics or glass.

People still like a large painting.

Perhaps it saves them painting the wall

if you can hang up a large painting, even if it dominates a room.

The very nature of 'Flog It!', where you bring your unwanted

antiques along to our valuation days means we don't see that any large

items because they can prove too difficult to transport.

But when they do turn up, our experts generally know

if they are looking at something special.

When a large chunk of aeronautical history fell to

earth at our valuation day at Stockport, Philip was left

struggling for superlatives.

I think this is just such a fabulous thing.

What I love about it, it's just such a fantastic piece of sculpture

and it's got this copper sheath on there that protects the leading edge

as this goes round and round.

They are what I call great study accessories.

You find a lot of them that are cut off here and here.

You have barometers or you have clocks that are inset into here.

-Yeah.

-I think that ruins them.

People want things that can decorate a room,

so oversized objects, perhaps like a propeller,

it just then becomes a statement piece and it doesn't get lost.

So you've got a plain white wall with that on it

and it becomes a statement.

Can we turn it over?

Because very often, you will find impressed into it

either a manufacturer's stamp or what it's off.

This is really helpful cos there's nothing here at all, is there?

-No.

-I mean, have you done some research on it?

I was told it was from either a Tiger Moth or a Gipsy Moth.

I think the Gipsy Moth preceded the Tiger Moth.

Are they '30s biplanes?

Yeah, 1930, 1931 biplane.

If we put £800-£1200 as an estimate,

how do you feel about a £750 reserve on it?

-Yeah, that's fine. Yeah.

-OK.

So we'll have a feature reserve of £750 and an estimate of £800-£1200.

-OK?

-Yep.

All that aeronautica, you know,

it isn't an area of collecting that's over 150 years old

cos we didn't have planes that length of time ago, so it's

relatively modern and as such I think it's going to grow and grow and grow.

In fact, it could take off.

AUCTIONEER: 740, 760, 780...

760 is the bid. At £760.

Any further interest on this at 760? The propeller.

Away now at 760. All done.

-Yes, he's sold it.

-Brilliant.

-Only just.

The important thing about selling any antique is that provenance,

it's the details, the history, it's everything that goes with it.

In this instance, we simply didn't have that provenance.

Large novelty items can make a stir and if they have documented history,

prices can really soar.

On 'Flog It!', we often find it's not the size of individual items

that's impressive but the scale and diversity of a collection.

And those huge collections sometimes pose interesting challenges

for our experts as Charlie discovered in Tunbridge Wells.

I have never seen so many hatpins.

There must be 300, 400 of them.

-Just over 400.

-You've counted them all, have you?

-427.

I think it's an extraordinary mix of hatpins. There are some good ones.

-Yeah.

-There are some dreadful ones. There are some medium ones.

But all of them have got an interest.

If you've got a collection of anything,

go through every single item and what do you look for? Quality.

I've pulled a couple out here by Charles Horner who

-we could describe as the doyen of hatpin makers.

-Right.

If you look very carefully,

-signed CH into the silver.

-Yes.

The Charles Horner ones have 'CH' on them so you know he made them.

So you can easily spot the ones

that are of a different quality to the others.

Now, these would have an individual value, I would hope 30, 40, £50.

Right.

-We've got some other ones of his which aren't gem-set.

-Yes.

We then, looking around here, have got a rare eclectic mix

but I think there are one or two that one could say

are quite collectable for collectors

-because they're interestingly different.

-Yes.

Do you wheedle out the good ones and sell them individually,

thereby you think maximising the price of the good ones,

but risking underselling the less good ones?

Or do you put them in as one collection?

-I think the Charles Horners need to go in pairs.

-Right.

-All in pairs.

My view is between £500 and £800 is about where we're we to be going.

Right.

-I will speak to the auctioneer.

-Yes.

And between us, we will sort out the best way to sell these.

-I don't think they should be sold as one lot.

-No.

I'm quite adamant about that.

Charlie and the auctioneer carved up the collection into ten lots

and they bumped up the estimate to between £800 and £1,000.

We need about £110 for each of them.

AUCTIONEER: 110 is bid. 120. Any bids at 130? No. At 120.

Yes. Hammer's gone down. That's a great start. 120.

It's a good start because they weren't the best.

No, they weren't. The best is yet to come.

Two silver hatpins by Charles Horner.

110 there on the telephone. Any further bids, then, at £110?

HE BANGS HAMMER

Yes. Hammer has gone down. Second lot now. £230.

The hatpins had pricked the interest of plenty of punters and

eight exciting lots later, Claire had amassed a nice little nest egg.

Yes! £950. What are you going to put it towards?

Oh, hadn't thought about it because I didn't know if they'd sell.

Charles Horner produced exquisite work in silver

and in particular in enamels as well.

If you get a combination of Charles Horner's work in silver and enamel,

then you've really got the tote double, frankly.

With large collections, it's really important to find the quality items

and remember, if it has an initial, stamp or a signature,

it's likely to be more valuable.

A collection of a very different kind held some intriguingly large

surprises for Elizabeth.

-Is this some of your inheritance, Beryl?

-Yes.

They belonged to my aunt and she emigrated and went to Canada

and she left those behind.

There were so many.

It was a impressive collection of unadulterated silks.

Unusually, not just one or two large ones

but several large ones within that collection, and that,

for someone who sees cigarette cards and silks quite regularly,

was an impressive element

which just added that certain something to the whole.

They were issued by the cigarette manufacturer Godfrey Phillips

and most of them will have been produced between 1910 and 1915.

We think as modern 21st century beings that to collect something

in cereal packets or teaboxes or something is a new element.

We've found something that's quite intriguing.

It's been going on for generations

and the early commercial minds of the cigarette manufacturers were quite

quick to latch on to the fact that that was a very useful tool to

encourage people to buy their cigarettes

over and above a competitor's.

The larger ones will have been issued with large packets of cigarettes.

Must have been very large packets of cigarettes.

These are more standard size for cigarette cards

and they are on silk.

They are transfer printed

but what I'm fascinated with in your case is that A, you have so many

together, particularly the larger ones because they are the rarer.

But you also have a lot of them which are in very good condition.

Beryl was unknowingly very astute because she had kept them flat

and she'd kept them wrapped nicely in paper,

not in anything plastic that would sweat.

She kept them out of the light

and she'd obviously just not moved them for years.

I was going to make a quilt with them or something like that

but Mum said to me, "If you're going to make a mess of them, leave them."

So I left them.

I think you've got a very canny mother there

because that's very good advice.

By the time we get to the 21st century,

this is just how collectors like to see them.

People wouldn't necessarily just collect silks.

Some might collect one element, some might collect another.

So what you want to try and do

is keep all that competitive element within one lot and hope that

different people are bidding against each other to achieve it.

I'd recommend you keep them together as a collection

-and sell them as a collection.

-As a collection.

-Yes, because one will sell the other.

-Absolutely.

Overall, I would say a fair guide price before auction

would be between £40 and £60.

-Really?

-Would you like reserve on...

-I think I'll let them find their mark.

-Find their mark. Yep. OK.

I'm sure they'll find a very happy home.

Having been so well loved over the years or at least respected

and looked after, it would have in a shame

if nobody else had got as excited as I had about them.

-50 here. The standing bid of 50. 55. 60.

-£50.

-60.

Here at 60. The taller of all of you at £60 goes then.

Oh, great valuation. £60. Spot on. That was good, wasn't it?

So remember, rarity can add value

and in some cases what makes an item rare is its size.

And nothing can quite hold a candle to Philip's find in Southampton.

Sally, even an expert as bad as me

can tell you that these are candlesticks.

Candlesticks are sort of a bit... Yawn, passe, you know?

And you think of the typical brass and copper candlesticks of the 18th

century and the 19th century and you really don't want to go there.

-Where have you got them from?

-They're my mum's.

She bought them in the local church where she lives about 20 years ago.

-What did she pay for them?

-£1 each.

-£1 each.

-Yeah.

Careful lady, your mum.

Let's just have a look at the bottom. Do you know what that tells us?

-Nothing.

-Absolutely spot-on there, Sally.

You'll get a job on this programme.

The automatic thing to look for on a piece like this is the Newling stamp

or perhaps Keswick

or some other maker's stamp impressed onto the bottom.

There's nothing on these.

You want things that lift themselves up above the norm.

So if every other candlestick that you see is that big and you suddenly

find one that big, it's different, it's going to be more desirable.

Go buy it.

-In terms of date, they're obviously copper.

-Yep.

They're almost like arts and crafts.

I would date them around 1890, 1910, that sort of period.

I think they're absolutely great.

-They are a huge pair of sticks.

-They are. Yeah.

The great thing about the candlesticks is simply this.

When we sold them, they were the flavour of the month.

That style, that look, that square base, the way they were decorated,

that's just what everyone wanted.

I think that they will make easily £200-£400 for the pair.

These things are flavour of the month now.

They could absolutely fly through the top estimate.

There's no doubt the fact they were a little bit oversized,

that helped their value as well. Oversized, overpriced, over here.

AUCTIONEER: 500. Spoken bid at 500.

520. £520. 550.

That's it. 550. 580.

Don't shake your head like that. Puts everybody off.

-He's teasing the punters. Drawing that money out.

-Selling at 580.

-That's a great result.

-That's fantastic.

That's more than we expected.

The next time you go to church, you ought to put a couple of pounds

in the collection box.

The sheer size of those candlesticks made them stand out

and they certainly lit up the sale room.

Always keep in mind that the unusual sells and here are some more

tips on transforming big stuff into big bucks.

When you're selling a large collection,

consider whether dividing into several lots or leaving

it as a single collection is the most profitable option.

It's well worth keeping an eye out for outsized items that can be

repurposed as an ornament - a wall decoration, for instance.

Bigger items do tend to be harder to shift

but if you've got something that's unusual because of its size,

then you're likely to have more success at auction.

And remember, always look for a maker's name

because nine times out of ten,

it is the one thing that will help you make big bucks.

At the other end of the spectrum, tiny items can command big prices

and one every that crops up from time to time at our valuation tables

is miniature portraits.

They never fail to catch the eye of our experts.

I'm delighted to see these miniatures.

-They're quite special, aren't they?

-They're really special.

It's so exciting when wonderful things like this

come in to the programme.

Miniatures have been around for generations.

We go back many, many centuries to illuminated manuscripts

to see very early examples of portrait miniatures.

But the real trend started in the 17th century and onwards

and boomed in the 19th century.

The earliest miniature portraits were painted on vellum.

That's stretched calfskin.

Copper and enamel were used later but by the 19th century,

a material was in vogue that although now controversial

still has a market, albeit a limited one.

We're talking, of course, about ivory.

The reason for them wanting to use ivory I think is

because it is the finest and smoothest material which enables you

to get the very best detail with your paints.

The invention of photography in the 19th century led to

a decline in miniature painting but it is by no means a dead art.

I visited miniaturist painter Elizabeth Meek at her home

and studio on the Isle of Wight to find out how a modern day artist

practises their trade.

This was the first miniature I ever did.

She was sitting right at the back of this cafe place selling old

tablecloths and I just thought she had the most wonderful little old

-apple face.

-Oh, she has, hasn't she? So round but it's just so happy.

A really happy face and I just thought she was absolutely stunning.

You capture the very essence of the moment.

That is the most important thing for me. I don't want a photograph.

I want to capture the personality and character.

So let's start the process off.

Where does it all start with a miniature?

I start by going in my studio which is my sacrosanct place which I don't

really like people going in, and I put my classical music on which gets

me nicely calm and relaxed and sit down at my easel

and take my ivorine and a very small brush.

I use tiny, tiny brushes. Four noughts.

And I lay out my paints and have my magnifying glass.

I've only just started using a magnifying glass all the time.

With old age, the eyesight is going a bit.

-Can I have a look at the studio?

-Yes, of course.

-OK, so come this way.

-Very light space.

I've pinched the dining room but that's the best room for me.

HE LAUGHS

-Well, it's got good natural light.

-It has.

-What's on the easel?

What are we looking at here?

That's one of my favourites and it's won me awards.

-These are definitely antiques of the future.

-Oh, definitely.

And we have massive collectors.

But of course there are the antique miniatures

which go like hotcakes as I was told by somebody at Bonhams

and they sell out at their auctions

and one recently went for 1 million.

-And who was that of?

-It was of George Washington.

-So the sitter is very important as well.

-I think it is, yes. Possibly.

Have you had any famous clients lately?

I've done work for the Prince of Wales, Princess Michael of Kent.

Were you nervous when you were painting Prince Charles?

I was excessively nervous. Yes.

But he was very, very nice. He was very reassuring and he understood.

The sitter is crucial to the value of a miniature.

In general, portraits of women are most popular, although paintings

of men in military uniform are also sought after.

Don't forget that detail is very important.

By and large, the more detailed the painting,

the more valuable it will be.

The material that the miniature is painted on will help you date it.

If it's ivory, it will almost certainly be from the 19th or

early 20th centuries.

Portraits on copper or enamel will generally be earlier.

No matter what their provenance, miniature portraits look

great in a collection and they have the added benefit of giving a tiny

but fascinating insight into the history of their time.

One of the reasons for the popularity of miniatures might

be that they are fun to collect and easy to store. Not so larger pieces.

We can't tell you often enough that if you want to collect big objects,

you need to think ahead about where to put them.

Storage isn't just a problem for collectors like us,

as I found out at a very interesting location.

Here on this disused airfield just outside Swindon in Wiltshire,

the Science Museum houses all its oversized objects

in six huge great big aircraft hangars just like this one.

And the collection ranges from sock darning machines

to the first ever hovercraft,

from nuclear missiles to the Blue Peter lifeboat.

-Peter Turvey.

-Hello.

-Pleasure to meet you.

-You're the head curator here.

-Yes, that's it.

You're the exact person to tell me,

how many items does this place house?

Yes, we've got about 18,000 museum objects.

And do you have a particular favourite here?

It's difficult because I've got so many things to look at.

I've got lots of different favourites depending on what day it is.

But I think my favourite at the moment

is our 1903 Gardner-Serpollet steam car.

-Maybe we'll have a look at that bit later.

-Yes.

What I'd like to see, though, is something, let's say, quite iconic.

Something that may be the oldest item here

or the largest or the heaviest. What have you got to show me?

Have a look at our Fleet Street printing press.

It's the heaviest object we've got at 140 tonnes.

-Whoa! OK. Is it this way?

-It's just down here.

-After you.

DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS

-It's as big as a house, isn't it?

-Yes.

-And actually, we've only got a third of it here.

-It was bigger! Wow. Gosh.

-Obviously, you had to assemble it here. It came in bits.

-Yes.

It came in pieces from Northcliffe House in Fleet Street

and the team of skilled engineers

put about nine weeks putting it together here.

You could say that is a Fleet Street heavyweight.

Oh, it really is.

-I can see you've got the Sno-Cat here next on old bus.

-Yes.

-Everything is organised according to size and weight.

-Yeah.

Tell me about the Sno-Cat.

Well, this is really one of our star objects. It's got an amazing history.

It was one of four cent to Antarctica in 1957 for a British expedition

that was the first motorised crossing of Antarctica.

They set off in late 1957 and got to the other side in early 1958.

It was a very important scientific expedition.

Some of the research they did is very relevant today

because one of the things they did was measure the thickness

of the Antarctic ice sheet.

We can see how global warming has affected the ice sheet since then.

Incredible.

They must be a big headache for conservation

because obviously you've got to look at these things

once they're in here and make sure they're not rusting any further

-or bits are falling off.

-Yes.

We've got a specialist team of conservators who look

after our objects, so if you go over to our conservation laboratory,

you can meet Dennis, one of our conservators.

-Hi, Dennis. Hello.

-Hi.

I've been walking around the hangars with Peter.

He's been showing me around

and I just want to find out more about conservation.

Where do you start? What do you pick on?

Well, we're usually getting objects

ready for display down at the Science Museum in London.

So we don't do any repairs.

-Conservation is not about making it work.

-It's not restoration.

-Yes, that's right.

-This is a computer, isn't it?

Actually, this is ERNIE 1.

-Oh, he picked the Premium Bond numbers.

-Yeah, that's right.

Back in the 1950s.

The acronym ERNIE stands for

Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment.

From 1957 to 1972, ERNIE 1 produced thousands upon

thousands of winning numbers for the Premium Bonds.

Today, ERNIE 4 does the job

and ERNIE 1 has been saved as a museum piece.

So what basically are you doing?

I see you're using traditional methods and techniques.

It's like you're restoring a little bit of fine art on a canvas.

Absolutely. Art conservators use saliva to clean objects

and we found that saliva, the enzymes in saliva,

are one of the most effective ways of cleaning it.

Not all your saliva, though?

-Yes. Yeah.

-Really?

HE LAUGHS

I have to think about lemons a lot.

The Science Museum here at Wroughton is such a fascinating place

but it's only open to the general public on certain days of the year,

so do keep an eye open because there's plenty to see here

and they are preserving your heritage.

All of our experts can spy a real treasure

when it comes through the doors on the valuation day.

But Michael Baggott is exceptionally eagle-eyed, especially

when he's looking through his loop at hallmarks.

And it was Michael's keen eye that spotted a real little gem

when one 'Flog It!' fan brought along something special

to our valuation day in Barnsley.

My name is Janet Clarke. I attend Hillsborough Tabernacle Church.

We are a community church and we have what we call a bric-a-brac stall

and that was how we received the silver camel pincushion.

What a generous gift.

I wonder if they knew how generous they were being.

Well, I don't think so.

There was all sorts of bits of jewellery and broken toys

-and that sort of thing.

-This was just at the bottom?

-And that was just amongst them.

-They could be forgiven

because it's only a little silver pincushion.

-And these things...

-And it was black.

..shouldn't be worth a great deal of money.

-You've made my day bringing this little fellow in.

-Oh, good.

The animals that you get in pincushions,

-they started to be produced about 1895,

-1900. Yeah.

And Boots, would you believe it, produced them. Some are very common.

You see chicks, you see pigs in different poses, you see elephants.

The rarest I think is the lizard, the spider, the lion

and they're very sought after.

But not far behind them is the camel.

You get a standing camel and a seated camel and of the two,

the seated camel is rarer.

When I found it, it was black and it looked like it was worthless but I

saw the hallmarks, I took it home and cleaned it and it came up sparkling.

L&S Levi and Salaman of Birmingham.

They produced a multitude of these small pincushions

and other small work.

We got the Birmingham town mark and the date letter for 1903.

My husband and I thought that it was probably worth about £70-£80.

We didn't want to tell anybody what we were doing and that we were

going to 'Flog It!' in case we fell flat on our faces and it didn't sell.

I think we should put that into auction

for no less than £250-£350.

We should have a fixed reserve of 250. If you're happy, we'll do that.

-I certainly am happy.

-Splendid.

The commission's forced me to start this lot off at £420.

-Ohh!

-420.

-Bang, straight in.

-430 I'm looking for elsewhere.

-430.

-Can't believe it.

Bid now or lose him.

£420 was mentioned and the hammer went down.

Goodness me. That was exciting.

-Not bad at all.

-I can't believe it!

-Above top end of the estimate.

-Fantastic.

-£420. Oh, that's fabulous! Thank you.

I'm so pleased for you and it's going to a good cause as well.

It is, yeah. I couldn't believe when

you said 250 to 350 that 420...

That's fabulous. I'm thrilled to bits.

Why it's so special is that we were busy raising funds to have an

extension to house a lift that would be for the disabled.

We have achieved it and we have got the lift that we were hoping to get.

We did actually know who it had come from.

We did offer him some money out of it but Bill, the man who had given us

the box of bric-a-brac, said, "No. I had no idea it was there.

"It could have just gone into the dustbin."

I definitely advise anybody to go along to 'Flog It!'.

It's such an interesting day.

Then when the programme eventually comes out, you can see and think,

"Yes, I was there."

Valuable lots come in big and small packages

but no matter what their shape or size, one thing is for sure.

Sometimes it can be the smallest of details

that make all the difference.

If in doubt, dig it out and bring it along to one of our valuation days.

Well, good luck if you're trying your hand at buying and selling.

I hope those tips come in useful.

And please, join me again soon for more Trade Secrets.