Maritime - Part 2 Flog It: Trade Secrets

We've got over ten years of "Flog It!" behind us -

that's hundreds of programmes

and thousands of your antiques valued and sold.

So stand by for some top tips. This is Trade Secrets.

Our relationship with the sea

and all things maritime is undisputed

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

that we've held near coastal locations.

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

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

Coming up on today's show...

Thomas has some saucy seaside fun...

A beautiful sea nymph in a skimpy outfit, and very saucy.

..nautical-but-nice postcards appeal to the bidders.

440, 460, 480, 500, may I say?

..and we find out what really makes waves at the auction.

940?

960?

The seaside holds a special place in our collective imagination.

Our love affair with bucket-and-spade holidays

means we see a great deal of seaside antiques and collectibles

turning up at our valuation days,

especially near coastal locations.

Now the question is -

which seaside trinkets should you be looking out for?

There are all kinds of local souvenirs to be picked up

at fairs and auctions, but not many are as eye-catching

as this spelter figurine seen at Great Yarmouth.

She's beautiful. Tell me about her.

I bought it at a local flea market roughly about ten years ago

-and fell in love with it then.

-It was love at first sight?

-It certainly was.

-It's got such nice attention to detail.

Little features on her face,

and down on her feet you've got her little toenails, etc,

her fingernails, that's a nice detail to have.

That's always a good sign on a figure.

She is classically Deco in this bathing suit, with this wonderful...

It was such an opulent time, technology was moving forward,

women got the vote,

and this just reflects that modern, forward-thinking time.

'Why did the designer put a bit of sex appeal to this figure?

'Well, of course, it's going to make it sell, isn't it?'

We'd sort of stepped out of full bathing cards

in the Victorian period, wearing full linen costumes

covering every inch of flesh.

And I think this is what this is all about, really,

this is a beautiful sea nymph on this plinth

in a skimpy outfit.

It was quite new at the time, and very saucy.

As you probably know,

it's in a spelter, rather being in a bronze.

You would have bought this in the late '20s, early '30s,

if you couldn't afford bronze figures.

Because they would have been really quite expensive.

In the Art Deco period

not everybody had oodles of cash.

This is spelter, it's an easier material to make out of

and doesn't cost as much, can still be aspirational.

How much did you pay for her?

-Between 50 and 60, I think it was about £55.

-Really?

I think £55 is very good.

Imagine bringing this home to your wife and family,

"Look, darling, what I've bought."

She'll think it's like you bringing home Playboy.

We'll put it in with the estimate £100-120

and the discretionary reserve at £80.

I think that's perfectly sensible.

I'd be very pleased with that.

£50 she starts...and she's nice quality - 60, 70, 100.

110, 120, 130, 140...

at £140 she is, and where is 50?

She's attractive at £140...

-Happy with that?

-Yeah, very pleased with that.

-Yeah?

What's that going towards?

Towards a season ticket with Norwich City Football Club.

Looking at her I think, "Gosh, she's a really good figure.

"If she was bronze she'd be thousands of pounds!"

Thousands of pounds!

But because she was spelter, I think £140 was an extremely fair price.

I think today she might make a bit more.

Spelter statues are much lighter than bronze,

but often mounted on a heavy base to give them more weight.

So, tip the statue upside down, and if it feels top-heavy,

it's probably spelter.

Seaside memorabilia,

well, we all like to be beside the sea, don't we?

And there's a huge collective market in this sort of thing,

it tends to be more mass-produced.

Often from Germany.

We all like a bit of sauciness, we're British after all.

And what could be more British than the saucy seaside postcard?

Elizabeth was delighted to find three Edwardian albums at Skegness.

David, lovely to see you,

and I'm intrigued by this collection of albums you've brought in.

What can you tell me about them?

Well, when my father died 30 years or more ago,

my mother asked me to dispose of some of his clothing

which was in a cupboard,

and she said, "Take everything in that cupboard

"and just get rid of it," presumably give it to charity or something.

And at the bottom of the cupboard,

after I got the clothing, I found these albums of photographs.

I thought, "Ooh, gosh, what fun."

And apparently they've caused a bit of excitement.

We think a lot of them, we think they're lovely.

Within the three albums there's a very varied and eclectic mix,

we have some humorous, some local, some quite serious,

and some very collectible.

Lots and lots of strands to talk about.

I particularly liked the collection of Skegness postcards

because it was a large collection, it covered three albums,

it had been very carefully appointed into themes

within the different albums,

and there was some quite interesting historic documentation

in the photographic ones.

But that was offset with some cheeky humour on the others.

The albums help date the collection to early 1900s through,

so that's a lovely period of postcard production and collecting.

I particularly rest upon these pages,

which illustrate some early tourist views of Skegness.

-I used to work at Butlins, too.

-Oh, did you?

Yes, when I came to Skegness 22 years ago

I came to become the press officer for Butlins.

Wow, another coincidence.

And also at the front we have significant military-related ones,

and lots of strong themes

which will inspire collectors

to get quite excited about what you have here.

Most collectors of postcards will almost automatically pick a theme.

It's almost as if the postcards come second to the fact

you're interested in the theme, whether that is motor transport

or disasters, or a geographical location.

So, a lot of collections do, by nature, formulate a theme.

But conversely to that,

collectors looking for fresh cards onto the market love,

and will pay more, for a mixed collection

which is naturally formed from a correspondence

which took place in the early part of the 20th century.

I would think they should make between £120 and £180,

-quite comfortably.

-Yes.

But I do suggest that we place a protective reserve of £120,

fixed, so that they don't sell for less than that.

Yes, I wouldn't like them to go for less.

So, we'll do that, and I shall meet you there on the big day.

£50, who's going to be first in?

55, 60, five, 70, five, 80, and five, and 90, and five,

100, ten, 120 on the book, 130 in the room, 140. 200, 220, 240, 260,

280, 300, 320 -

-See, he's got a commission being on the books.

-550, may I say? 500 bid.

Thank you, and 50 now? I'll take 20, let's keep the progress rolling.

520, 540 bid, 560, 580, 600 surely?

-At 580, it's on the telephone, do we have any more bids? 580 last.

-580.

We're done and finished, £580.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable, I'm taken by surprise by the amount it's raised.

I'd have to give it serious consideration in a quieter moment!

It's obviously impossible to say exactly the motivation

for anyone to bid for those postcards,

but the collection contained a social history

which was all wrapped up in those three volumes,

and that was the important element.

Postcards by Donald McGill are - I think - very, very funny,

still make me laugh.

"It's not an old flame, but I'm keeping my fire extinguisher handy."

HE CACKLES

Extraordinary proportioned women and, indeed, men,

I think they're very funny.

Some of the captions, yes, they're rude,

but they're quite acceptable today.

And if you get that sort of art in good condition,

it's becoming more and more collectable.

If you're going to collect maritime postcards

I would go for steamships, and just turn them over

and have a little look at the inscription on the back.

It might refer to some particular incident that has taken place,

the postcard itself might be from someone who's well-known

or to someone who's well-known,

and that adds a little bit of social dimension to it.

Another collectable that relays sentiments from our past

is scrimshaw, the art of decorating or carving shells, ivory or teeth.

Trading in modern examples is banned,

but it is legal to trade marine ivory crafted before 1973.

Kane, it's very rare I can say to somebody,

"You've got a very interesting pair of teeth there."

But in this case, I can.

How did you come by them?

Well, I was told when I was a child by my dad

that there were whalers in the family,

and these have been handed down through the family by him.

-What we've got here, I think, is a pair of sperm-whale teeth.

-Yes.

These particular types of item have become very, very collectible.

If I'm being frank with you,

I would have liked to have seen a little more information on them.

We've got scenes here of two ships in full sail,

and this little boat, and we've got the representation of the sea,

but on the very fine ones we've got information, dates,

maybe the name of the ship.

But we haven't got that on these.

'They were a little bit faded.'

One always worries a little bit when you see a lot of action,

but I felt the wear and the fading

signified that they were part of the original.

These days we've got to look at these very closely,

cos there's an awful lot of fakes around.

The modern fakes are made out of resin.

Normally with the resin ones we get a hot pin and stick it in,

we don't need to do that here, these are perfectly fine.

Pieces to look out for are those pieces with ships and names on it,

the reproductions often have far too much information

and are very stained, deliberately trying to be old.

If we're putting them into sale

I would be happy with an estimate of £800-1,200,

-with a reserve of £800, we're protecting them.

-Yes.

And I must be honest with you, I'm not sure how they're going to do.

Cliodhna, we've got scrimshaw here, couple of whale teeth, it's a pair,

-that's one of the virtues.

-Absolutely.

Mark Stacey has put a valuation of £800-1,200 on the scrimshaw,

will it do it?

Well, I'd like to think it would,

but we just thought that estimate was a bit punchy.

You want to encourage the bids, not scare them away,

so we had a word with the vendor,

we now have them in with an estimate of £600-800, with a reserve of £500.

Why have you put it down that much?

Well, as I say, it's nice to have a pair,

-but the definition of the carving has faded.

-It's lost a bit.

Sometimes these come with flags or identifying features

so you can get the name of the boat,

which can appeal to a much wider audience,

and there's none of that unfortunately on these.

-We'll see how we go.

-You're going to do your best, I know you are!

-We will!

Who'll start me at £400?

Lot number 306. £400 I'm bid, who's in at 420?

420.

440. 460.

-480.

-God, this is like pulling teeth(!)

-Oh...

940.

960, 980, 1,000.

I'm selling at £980 on the telephone...

-We've done it, £980!

-That's wonderful.

-All that fuss for nothing.

It's unlikely that you're going to find a bargain piece of scrimshaw

in a specialist dealer or specialist auction.

There are other dealers, of course, who have house clearances,

all sorts of things, that don't recognise what they've got.

So, yes, like everything in life

there are plenty of bargains out there

if you happen to be in the right place at the right time.

If you're buying scrimshaw, watch out for the fakes.

There are some AMAZING fakes.

Now, the real test is a needle.

A hot needle will go into resin,

it won't go into the actual scrimshaw itself.

Good tip, Thomas. Make sure you know what you're buying.

Carefully research your items.

Postcards by artists like Donald McGill may fetch

good prices at auctions.

It's often the more quirky, cheeky items that will grab

someone's attention, so keep those eyes peeled.

You will always hear the "Flog It!" Experts talking about condition,

it is such an important consideration

when it comes to buying or selling antiques and collectables.

So, here's Nick Hall with some useful pointers.

I'm often asked, "How important is condition

"when you're buying antiques and collector's items?"

Well, it's not a straightforward, simple answer,

it depends on the genre of the thing you're looking at buying.

Where it is very important

is when you're looking at 19th and 20th century fine porcelain,

and then it becomes absolutely key and paramount.

A perfect example are these wonderful pair of vases here.

Both are designs by Daisy Makeig-Jones

from the wonderful Fairyland Lustre series that she did.

Now, one of them has an almost invisible hairline crack,

and the difference in the value is unbelievable.

Let me show you.

Take this one, for instance, here.

Hold it up, spin it round, catch it in the light...

And you just don't see anything there at all, any problems.

What I suggest you do

is just very gently run your finger around the outside.

You will eventually, if there is any condition faults,

just feel a little imperfection.

And there it is, I've just run my finger across it there,

and I can just feel a sharp, jagged edge

which I didn't see with the naked eye.

Look even closer still

and you will make out a hairline crack

which just drops down through the main part of the pattern there,

and at right angles cuts along the bottom.

This vase is a rare pattern by a desirable factory,

should be worth a lot of money.

In fact, the perfect one is worth about £7,000 or £8,000.

This one with the damage

is worth maybe at best £1,000, if you were lucky.

If you put them both together...

and you had a perfect pair, you'd be looking at £20,000.

So, go with open eyes, handle them, feel them,

and that all-important tip - run your finger around the glaze

and try and find that imperfection, cos if you don't, you'll be sorry.

Now here's my advice -

buy the best maritime antique you can afford right now.

As in any field of antiques, quality always sells.

It's better to buy one great piece than three lower-end pieces.

So, spend your money wisely.

And if you want to start a collection

of quality nautical memorabilia,

you could so worse than snapping up items

from the fabulous liners of the early 20th century.

Ah, look at that, isn't that gorgeous?

It's a deckchair blanket, isn't it?

In the late 1800s the White Star Line and Cunard

competed for business crossing the Atlantic,

carrying thousands of passengers

emigrating to a new life in the United States and Canada.

-120.

-He's done it, they've gone!

-Brilliant.

They fought for the honour of being the fastest to make the crossing,

until White Star Line commissioned the luxurious Oceanic in 1899,

and decided to concentrate on comfort and reliability instead.

Mementos that hark back to the golden age of luxury ocean travel

will always fetch a premium at auction.

Anything from porcelain dining sets

to cutlery and dinner menus with the Cunard or White Star logos

are popular with collectors.

And ships such as Oceanic,

Lusitania, Mauritania, and Queen Mary

are names to look out for.

The Holy Grail of the maritime collecting world

is without doubt Titanic memorabilia,

items like life jackets, pocket watches,

and personal letters from the ship

have fetched tens of thousands of pounds.

And the most expensive item to date - a plan of Titanic

used at the inquiry into the sinking -

fetched £220,000 in 2011.

So, if you ever get the chance

to own something from the world's most notorious shipping disaster,

you're on to a winner.

# The ships were wood way back in the past

# When sails made clipper ships go fast

# And oak was wood to make them last

# They'd keels of Sunderland oak, me boys. #

In 2009 I got the chance

to visit a fascinating boatbuilding project on the River Wear.

Sunderland has a long and rich history of shipbuilding

dating as far back as 1346.

But what's not so well known

is its equally important boatbuilding heritage.

There have been little boatyards

scattered all up and down the banks of the River Wear

for the last 600 years,

building everything from wooden fishing vessels to motor launches

and lifeboats for the Royal Navy.

And like its larger shipbuilding cousin,

the wooden boatbuilding industry

has played a key role in Sunderland's nautical history.

Side by side, these two industries prospered for centuries.

But by the 1950s, modern materials such as plastics and fibreglass

saw the traditional craft of wooden boatbuilding

all but die out along the River Wear.

A similar fate was soon to befall the shipbuilding industry,

when the last yards closed in 1988.

The Maritime Heritage Centre was started by a group of volunteers

determined to preserve the city's nautical history.

The yards may have gone,

but the skills of wooden boatbuilders haven't.

Well, not while 72-year-old Derek Rowal,

one of the last surviving boatbuilders on Wearside,

is still practising his craft.

What drew you to boatbuilding in the first place?

Well, it was an accident, really.

When I left school I wanted to be a cabinet maker.

But when I went round the boatyard

and seen the trees and smelt the timber,

I fell in love with it straightaway. It was absolutely fantastic.

-I was right in me element.

-I bet you were.

So you've always been a boatbuilder?

Well, I served me time from '52 to '58.

And, of course, in them days you had to do National Service.

And when I came out of National Service,

you were supposed to be taken on for six months,

but the boatyard was closing down.

But lucky enough, one of the yards had a cobble smashed up.

-Which is an old fishing boat, an old working boat?

-Exactly.

-You've got one down there, haven't you?

-Yeah.

Well, I've actually built one of those,

a clinker-built vessel just like that,

with my dad when I was about 19 down in Cornwall.

-Brilliant.

-Yeah, so I know all about the hard work.

What's the next project for the Heritage Centre?

-What are you working on?

-We're going to work on the Willdora.

-It was a Dunkirk veteran.

-Ooh.

She's down the docks. If you wish, you can come down and I'll show you.

I'd love to. I'll follow you.

-Willdora.

-Willdora.

Willdora was one of hundreds of small boats which set sail to France

as the German Army drove all the Allied Forces

back to the Normandy coast in the summer of 1940.

Despite being badly damaged by shellfire during the evacuation,

she is credited with saving 200 servicemen from the Dunkirk beaches.

After the war she went back to fishing,

and was later sold as a pleasure craft.

Years later, she was spotted sunk in Sunderland's South Dock.

She is in a bad way, you've got a lot of work to do.

-You really have.

-Oh, yes.

What plans have you for her once she's finished?

We'll just take her to all the various venues

where they have historic ships of this nature

and sail her round, you know, for people to see.

Wonderful feeling, isn't it,

to think this vessel saved so many lives?

-Yes, yes.

-You'd be glad to see this in 1940, wouldn't you?

-I bet.

Keeping our past alive is what Derek and his colleagues are all about.

And it's great to see such an important part

of Sunderland's industrial past

being so carefully preserved for future generations.

A major part of our maritime history is tied up with the Royal Navy,

and whenever "Flog It!" visits a city port

we're always on the lookout for naval treasures.

So, after Catherine spotted a charming silver item

at Plymouth in 2003, we managed to track down the owner, Michael,

to find out what happened next.

HE BLOWS WHISTLE

Well done.

So you've brought along this boatswain's whistle,

or boatswain's call.

Do you know what they were actually used for?

It was used by the boatswain to pipe officers on board and off board ship.

What's nice about it, and unusual as well,

is it's got the initials here, "WHM",

which is probably the initials of the boatswain, which is nice.

It's not something you see very often,

these are usually quite plain, so to have the monogram is quite special.

Also, it's silver,

we can tell that from the nice hallmark on the other side here.

Reading the hallmark...I think that it probably dates from 1827,

and we can tell that by the actual letter "I"

that's been used here.

Also at the end, there's the initials "GK",

which I think at that time stand for George King.

I knew it was something different,

but I didn't know it was that different.

Not being a naval person

I wouldn't have known a lot about a boatswain's whistle.

So how did you come about this then?

It was passed to my mother from someone in church,

who gave it to her as a memento.

He used to use it in the convoys during the war.

I was cleaning the garage out and getting rid of bits and pieces -

in fact, it would have been thrown out if I hadn't kept it.

Now, value. I think it should fetch between £80-120.

And we should probably put a reserve on of about £70.

What do you think about that?

-Very nice, thank you.

-That's quite a nice price.

-Sounds good.

I think it's wonderful, and I was very much hoping

that something like this would come in, being in Plymouth, as we are.

Let me tell you the value.

Our expert Catherine valued this,

and she's put an estimate of £80-120 on it.

I think that's extraordinary! I'd love to buy that for £80.

I think we're really looking at more like £200-300.

It's not a rare object, but it's an unusual object.

And there are a tremendous number of collectors for small silver objects.

The day of the auction, we had a trip booked on the Orient Express

for our ruby anniversary.

So my daughter and my grandson took our place there.

On next to lot 391,

which is the George IV silver boatswain's whistle.

-Lot of bids on this.

-Good.

-Oh, yeah!

-I'm bid £160 for it.

-Straight in!

-Good start.

-At £160...

At £160. 170, 180, 190,

200, and ten,

220, 230,

240, 250, 260, 270, 280...

At £360 at the back.

370 now, 380...

390, 400. £500.

-And 20.

-(500 quid!)

-At £520 there.

At £520 then...

All done in the room at £520.

All done then at £520.

-And it's going...yes! £520.

-Fantastic.

Your grandad will be really pleased, won't he?

You've got to ring Grandad up, has he got a mobile?

-Yeah, we can get him on the mobile.

-Can you ring him up?

-Yes.

My daughter phoned us when we got back, and she said,

"It did very well at auction, it fetched £260."

I said, "Oh, that's really good."

She said, "No, I'm telling lies, it fetched £520!"

So it was a surprise.

The sale of that little boatswain's whistle

helped pay for a once-in-a-lifetime holiday to Australia

for Michael and his wife Vicki.

Whatever money we had would have gone to that trip,

and for spending as well, you know.

Well, Michael's little piece of naval history

certainly played an important part

in helping him and Vicki realise their dream.

Now, if you have anything you would like to sell,

bring it in to one of our valuation days,

and hopefully we can help you off on a trip of a lifetime.

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

but until then, please join me again soon for more trade secrets!