Hearth and Home Flog It: Trade Secrets

After more than a decade of valuation days and auction rooms,

we have a wealth of experience valuing and selling your antiques and collectables on Flog It.

Fascinating. It's a really interesting object.

Are we all done at 1,900?

That is fantastic, isn't it?

And our experts are raring to go with some more inside information,

so if there's something you need to know, you're more than likely to find it right here.

Welcome to Trade Secrets.

Ever since an Englishman's home has been his castle,

we've looked at ways of being comfortable and happy within our own four walls,

whether it's something to sit on, eat from or for passing the time.

The things we buy for our homes have a special resonance.

Today, it's all about the antiques we've got in our homes, the items we use every day.

We've got great tips on everything from good, affordable furniture

to cool, retro technology.

'Coming up, I'm amazed by a fantastic result at auction.'

-Bang, the hammer's gone down. What a result!

-Amazing!

-I'm so pleased.

'Will shocks a visitor with his estimate on an old telly.'

-Really?

-Yes. Is that more than you thought it would be worth?

-Much more.

'And our experts will be revealing the best collectables.'

My tip, if you're looking for more accessible things, is probably old radios.

In the days before catch-up TV and the internet,

people found other ways to while away the hours at home.

What we now consider antique or old-fashioned was once state-of-the-art gadgets.

Now, at our Flog It valuation days, we see many objects that were once designed

to provide home entertainment,

so what do our experts think we should be looking out for?

There's an interest in old techno items,

be it televisions, radios, gramophones.

Mechanical music is interesting,

music boxes and disc players and Polyphons, things like that.

Early pieces of technology can be very desirable,

particularly items such as magic lanterns

and particularly magic lanterns if they don't just have one lens.

If they've got three lenses, for example, they're very collectable, so really early entertainment.

Our idea of family recreation is very different today,

but the Victorians and Edwardians found plenty of things to amuse themselves with

and you keep us entertained by bringing them to Flog It.

We may not think of these simple, popular items as collectables,

but Anita knows how much they appeal to the bidders.

This is an interesting thing here.

This is what I would call a Victorian home entertainment centre.

It's a stereoscope. Every home would have something like this

and they would buy cards which showed you perhaps the Great Exhibitions

or scenes in Japan, scenes of India,

so that people were able to see foreign lands at that time.

If you can imagine the time then,

there were no televisions, there were no radios,

there was no internet,

there were no internet games,

so people had to find ways of amusing themselves and the stereoscope was one of them.

Now, on the front here we have two eyepieces.

Now, these would be used when we were viewing the cards which were specially manufactured for this

and this big lens here would be used as a magnifying glass for our photographs.

Tell me where you got it.

I bought a house. These two old people lived in it and they died.

When we saw this, I had no interest in it, but my husband kept it.

-Did he know what it was?

-He thought it was something for a doctor.

Jeanette's husband thought it was a medical device.

I wonder what sort of medical device he thought it was?

-Unfortunately, we don't have any of the slides, the cards.

-No, we didn't.

Well, if you had, he would have probably worked out that it wasn't a medical instrument

and it was a piece of home entertainment.

-Price-wise, I would estimate it in the region of, say, £20, £30.

-Mm-hm.

We could put it into auction with that estimate.

It might go a wee bit further because it's an interesting thing,

but it's not a fine thing.

Anita is hopeful the bidders will know good, old-fashioned entertainment when they see it.

Victorian stereoscope with slides.

There we have it. £20? £10, please? 10 bid. 15.

20. At 25.

At 30. 5. At 40.

At 5. At 50.

-This is good.

-At 5. At 60.

At 5. At 70. At 5.

-At £75...

-Brilliant.

-The bid's at the back of the room at 75.

At £75 and I'm selling now at £75...

-The hammer's gone down. That was a good result, Anita.

-Excellent.

-I'm happy for you.

-Thank you very much.

-That's OK.

A great result.

Many families had these amusements at home,

so it's worth checking out your attics to see what you can find.

The fact that it will no longer be used today

and the fact that it isn't a functional item really doesn't make any difference at all.

It's still a desirable item and still worth every penny of £75.

Another example of home entertainment we see a lot on Flog It are magic lanterns.

I've had it working once. There was smoke coming out of the top of it.

We got gassed with the fumes, so we stopped using it.

These are fabulous. They're magic lantern slides.

Wind the handle and it gives the most wonderful patterns.

Magic lantern shows became popular in the 19th century

when people found the idea of seeing images projected on a screen spooky and fascinating

and the Victorians soon seized on them to amuse and entertain family and friends at home.

I can imagine hours of endless fun

looking at these slides through a magic lantern.

And it seems Anita is really drawn to these early projectors too.

Now, your magic lantern has seen better days.

Has it ever!

This has very, very little value. It wasn't the best of quality.

I've seen some beautiful ones which are brass-bound with beautiful oak trimmings and so on.

What was of interest there were the packets of slides.

And these were giving the buyers an idea

of what was of interest to Victorians.

Now, we have about 12, 15 boxes of slides

from Victorian times up until the '30s and some classics.

I mean, we have the Disney ones here as well, so this will make it interesting.

Now, these three here

are of particular interest and these are older ones as well.

And if we can pick one up,

the slide would be put in...

And what you've got is a crazy, bearded Scotsman,

brandishing weapons.

And if you pull the slide back, there he is,

shooting someone with a pistol.

These little moving slides were very, very interesting

and they, in actual fact, were the precursor of movies and television.

Robert, I would like to put a value

of £100 to £150.

Yes.

Would you be happy to sell them at that?

Yes, I would hope they would do better.

I would hope they would do better as well. I tend to estimate conservatively.

The magic lantern with a collection of boxed and other slides.

80. 5. 90.

100. 110. 20.

40. 60. 180.

200. I'll take 20 quickly. I'm selling at 200...

-What will you put £200 towards?

-I'm sure my grandson will benefit.

I'd estimated much lower than that,

but it just showed the desirability of these slides

and quite probably the prize in the slides were the moving ones.

The need for domestic entertainment has led to all sorts of technological advances down the ages

and to some iconic looks.

There were some pretty funky designs going on

in the '30s and '40s, into the '50s and '60s

which are probably more relevant today than they were then.

They were rejected then as being too racy, whereas nowadays we love that retro look.

There's a huge market in collectors' items,

20th century collectors' items,

things that I have been brought up with as a child -

televisions, radios, record players.

My tip, if you're looking for more accessible things, is probably old radios.

I don't know an awful lot about them myself,

but there are a few radios that can be extremely rare and valuable,

so mostly they seem to cost 10 or 20 quid, mostly they seem to make 10 or 20 quid,

but you do get the odd valuable one.

I couldn't agree more, Adam. I was delighted to find this odd-looking box in 2006.

-When we open this up, there's a big surprise in here.

-There is.

-Ta-da!

It's an early radio.

It belonged to my partner's grandfather and it's been in their house since he was a small child.

It's a crystal radio and I think it's absolutely superb.

We've got another little surprise in here because that's a little drawer and there's a set of headphones.

These, I bet, are in working order because they look pretty good to me.

We've never actually tried to have it working, but....

I wouldn't like to either. You've got to attach the headphones to these two terminals.

This is the tuner and it says here,

"Type approved by the Postmaster General for the BBC."

How about that for a seal of approval? You can't get any better.

-Isn't it lovely? The crystal would go in here.

-Yes.

A tiny box went in there with some replacement crystal like a little ball.

Value? Crikey...

With the headphones, we'll put a value of £50 to £90.

-OK.

-Are you happy with that?

-Yes, I'm happy with that, Paul.

-Shall we flog it?

-Flog it, please.

'It might not sound like much of a valuation,

'but I was hoping other people would be on my wavelength at auction.'

This is your lot. Good luck.

Interest starts me here already at 95. 100. And 10, you're in, sir.

At 110. Both my bidders are out. At 110. And 20. 30.

140. 50. 160.

170. 180. 190.

-200. 220...

-They absolutely love it, don't they?

I can't believe it!

In front at £220...

-Bang, the hammer's gone down. What a result!

-Amazing!

-I'm so pleased.

-I would never have thought...

-No, I wouldn't.

It did even better than I had hoped.

I love this early technology,

so search your sheds and attics and see what your grandparents may have bought

that could make you some money at auction.

And even what you and your parents bought shouldn't be ignored.

Will couldn't wait to get his hands on this fabulous retro item.

When I saw it, I thought perhaps you'd come on your motorbike and had left your Day-Glo helmet in the bag,

or perhaps a part-time astronaut.

-This is a great piece of post-war design. How did you come by it?

-It's my sister's.

She and her husband got married in 1968, so I assume they bought it shortly after that.

-I think it probably dates from more towards the early '70s.

-Yeah.

Right up my street, lovely thing.

Classic '70s design, bright colours, bold,

and I thought, "We don't see enough of that on Flog It."

We've got the name of the maker on it, JVC, a Japanese firm

who in the sort of '70s, early '70s,

they were taking their design influence from the space race,

which is where this TV gets its nickname, shall we say?

-It's known as the Sputnik.

-Is it?

-Yeah. After the Russian satellites that were blasted into orbit.

TVs nowadays want to get thinner and thinner and thinner,

but someone at JVC thought it would be a great idea to have a TV in a ball.

Great, out-of-the-box thinking.

-You see these two chains popping out of the top?

-Yeah.

-They would have been a chain loop

because the alternative for this is you could have it on the stand as you have here,

which is again a multi-swivel stand, or you could hang it from a ceiling.

As a piece of sculpture, it works beautifully.

Whether it works as a telly, I'm not entirely sure, hanging in the corner of the room there by a chain.

But who cares? It looked beautiful.

And I see you've still got it wired up, so it does still work.

-Yes, I tried it the other week.

-You get all the channels?

-All five terrestrial channels.

-That's better than my modern telly at home!

-I would suggest a sensible estimate of £200 to £300.

-Really?

-Yes.

-Is that more than you thought it would be worth?

-Much more.

-I thought about £50.

-Really? That would be a good buy at £50.

-OK.

-If we say 200 to 300,

put a reserve on it at £200, bit of discretion?

-My sister said she didn't worry about the reserve.

-No reserve. Excellent. £200 to £300, no reserve.

Hopefully, we'll do very well for you on the day.

Having no reserve is a great way to tempt the bidders, but do take advice from the auctioneer.

You must be prepared for your item to sell for a low price.

I can open the bidding at 100 here. On the book at £100.

-Gone.

-£100 on the book. 120?

120. 140?

120 at the back. I'm out at 120.

At £120, are you done?

Are you sure?

The hammer's gone down at £120.

-Not bad.

-No retro collectors here today.

-It got the lower end.

-It's worth 200 quid.

I put the estimate for the TV at £200 to £300 because I believed that's what it was worth

and I still believe that's what it was worth.

In the right sale, in the right trendy shop downtown,

it would certainly be 200-plus all day long.

I agree. The market for retro items is particularly strong just now,

so someone bagged a bargain there.

And you could too if you keep an eye on auction websites

and place a commission bid if you can't get there in person.

If you're looking out for techno bargains,

we're seeing a new interest in old computers

from the time when I was a child in the late '70s, early 1980s.

Those old computers, people are buying them. If you've got them boxed, new and in good condition,

then perhaps those are a good thing to hang on to.

I suspect that if you're looking at today's gadgets,

something like a mobile phone,

a rare, valuable mobile phone could well become even more valuable in the future

because this technology is changing daily.

Apple were perhaps the forerunners in the design of smartphones and sort of being user-friendly,

then they might be something to collect.

We're all on number 5s now, aren't we?

I wonder if a few people have got the old number 3 at home?

It might become a design classic of the future.

Not all of today's modern gadgets will stand the test of time to become collectables of the future.

If you are thinking of buying something for the home,

consider something with a designer appeal, a limited edition.

That definitely will become the antique of the future.

So, from the cutting-edge designs for the future,

there are still some very collectable items for the home with the classic appeal of the past

and one of our experts is a little obsessed.

Philip Serrell is not really a man to show his feelings.

He's a rugby-loving, cigar-smoking, sports car-driving man's man,

but even he gets a tear in his eye when he comes across a piece of Royal Worcester porcelain

at a Flog It valuation day.

-Do you know where I'm from?

-Worcester.

-Why is that relevant?

-Because it's a Worcester teapot.

What really does it for me about antiques is the social history,

so for Worcester porcelain,

it's important for me because I'm a Worcester boy,

I was educated in Worcester, I used to go to the Worcester Porcelain Museum as a 13, 14, 15-year-old.

Not much I can tell you about that.

-You're the expert.

-What? Don't you come round here using that language!

As I got into it, I began to appreciate the effect

that the porcelain factory had on the city of Worcester in social terms, people who worked there,

and the whole thing that it brought to the city and the county,

and that's what does it for me now.

In my eyes, I might be slightly biased, I think Worcester is the best English factory there was.

Phil's auction house is in the heart of the Worcestershire countryside in a converted chapel

and his business is a family affair with his wife Briony and his daughter both working with him.

Clem's my daughter. She's with me today in the saleroom.

She first came into these hallowed portals... She's 29 now. I was an incredibly young father(!)

But she first came in here probably 28½ years ago.

I've been coming to salerooms since I was probably knee-high to a grasshopper.

There's black-and-white photos of my mum and I at farm sales

when my dad did livestock auctions before the antique stuff took off,

then from there, he's moved on to selling painted fruit to selling paintings.

I'd like to think I've been there every step of the way. Five years ago, I came into the business fully,

so now I'm here all the time.

Phil is hopeful that Clem will grow to love Royal Worcester as much as he does.

He's got a regular sale coming up featuring the local porcelain

and there are over 100 lots ready to be viewed.

This is all of the Worcester in next week's sale. There are interesting things here.

-Here's a bit of a quiz now, see how much you've learned.

-OK.

Who are the best Worcester porcelain artists and what do they paint?

-OK, Harry Davis - sheep.

-Which is that little vase down there.

-Yeah.

-Which will make £1,000-plus.

-I'd say.

-Charley Baldwyn - plates.

-These plates here which are worth, hopefully, about £1,000 each.

Then these powder-blue vases are Charley Baldwyn and they're 3,000 to 5,000.

-The plates are a bit more interesting.

-Beautifully painted.

-And cattle - Stinton.

-The Stinton family.

These aren't the Stintons. These are later copies of Stintons.

Those are Stinton. He did Highland cattle, massively sought after.

Sometimes when Worcester comes into the saleroom, I look at it and think,

"Some people give £3,000, £5,000 for this sort of thing. Why?"

I can appreciate it and when you look at what they've painted on these items,

a lot of the time, if it's a vase or a pot, it's curved.

To paint some of these things on a curve and on a piece of ceramic is quite hard,

but in terms of whether I'd actually want to own it, it's slightly different.

-Then we have all this painted fruit. It's massively valuable because...

-Travellers.

Travellers' caravans are full of really good painted fruit Worcester and this is painted fruit Worcester.

-Hit me with some painted fruit artists.

-Freeman and Ayrton were the two best for painted fruit.

Yeah, though one of the earlier ones you rarely see was Richard Sebright.

-Yeah.

-He was absolutely stunning.

Worcester items like part dinner services decorated with half a peach and a bit of leaf and half an apple,

they remind me of going round to your aunt's house for dinner

and they've got the roast potatoes in one, carrots in the other.

It does still have its market, but it's not my taste.

I don't know anybody my age who would collect it, really.

If you're giving someone a tip who's buying painted fruit, what would it be?

Out of these two, which would you tell them to buy?

-From the front, I like that one, but when you turn them over, you'll go for that one.

-Why?

-It's got a pink backstamp.

-What does that mean?

-It's more valuable than the black backstamp. Always go pink.

There you are. Go pink. This is interesting because this is a Locke and Co Worcester vase.

-But it's got a peacock on it. What do we know about peacock feathers?

-Unlucky.

-Why?

-Devil's eye.

You'd never have a peacock's feather in the house.

So, a Worcester vase with a pheasant on it is worth a lot more than one with a peacock on it because...?

-It's unlucky.

-You got it.

Today, Philip and Clem have got a decision to make about some very personal family items.

Part of this job is I clear houses for people when members of the family have died.

My mother has recently died, so I'm now doing my own job for me.

You approach it from a completely different angle.

She collected Worcester porcelain for 30 or 40 years

and now I must decide whether I keep this stuff or sell it.

Most of the figures that my mother's got are by Freda Doughty

and Freda Doughty did little figures of countries of the world, days of the week, months of the year.

They are very much collectors' pieces

and in a way, I much prefer the earlier Worcester porcelain dating from the 18th century.

The thing is, we've got nothing like this at home, have we?

-No, it's just the sort of thing that gathers dust.

-Do you like these things?

-Not particularly. Do you?

No. In fact, not at all.

Are any of these worth anything?

You've got the auctioneer's friend with this lot over here which is 80 to 120, but some of these here,

-the countries of the world should make anywhere between £150 and £300 a go.

-OK.

I can remember my mother being so excited that she bought that one. 20 years ago, that cost 150, 200 quid.

-I don't think I'd be giving £200 for that.

-It's worth a lot more now.

So, what would you spend the money on?

Other than shoes and handbags, maybe a nice painting, a seascape.

That's November and you were born in November, so we'll put that one by. I'd like to keep that one.

And that's Tuesday's child and you were born on a Tuesday,

-so those two are your sort of birth date.

-Yeah.

-I'd like to hang on to those two.

The rest of them, what will we do? Keep, sell, yes, no?

-I'm going to say "sell".

-Really?

-Yeah. Obviously, it's down to you, but not really my kind of thing.

-OK.

-"Sell" it is then.

-Yeah.

-OK, good enough.

For anyone who inherits something, there's a huge emotional tie as to whether you should sell or keep.

And I really do believe that if you don't like something, sell it.

Don't keep it just because it was your father's or your grandfather's or whatever.

In these days of equality, the whole family helps to make a house a home,

but in previous centuries, it was very much the woman's realm

and their domestic accomplishments are very much celebrated today.

This sampler isn't particularly early and it isn't particularly special.

It's 1890 which is quite late as samplers go,

but to me, it absolutely epitomises the vagaries of the auction trade.

This came up for auction 25 years ago in a saleroom close to me.

Because it says here "South Cave Girls' School", that was the school I went to,

so I desperately wanted to buy this.

It was worth probably £30, £40 at the time,

but I got a bit of auction fever and I went up and up and up.

I dropped out at about 200. Two other people continued the fight

and the hammer went down for £300 which was ridiculous.

I was miffed I hadn't bought it, but I got over it.

20 years later, I went to another saleroom in a nearby village.

I saw the sampler that I should have had for sale and I thought, "This time, I'm going to get it."

I left a bid, I can't remember what bid I left, but the next day I went in to see if I'd got it.

Yes, I'd got it for £30 this time and I love it and it's staying with me.

Don't ever get auction fever. Something might not be worth what it gets at auction.

It could be that just two people desperately want the item.

Wait. 20 years later, who knows, you might get it for a song.

It's easy to let your emotions run away with you in the excitement of the saleroom,

but should we be more sensible and restrained? What do our experts think?

Buy with your head or buy with your heart.

It all depends on what you're buying for.

If you're buying to make a profit on something, buy with your head.

If you are buying something because you want to put it in your home, buy with your heart.

3,000. Three-five. 4,000.

-Yes!

-At 4,000 now...

As an auctioneer, I love to see somebody

who's carried away because their heart tells them

they want something and they can't live without it, but bring your head along to the auction as well.

850. 900. 950...

I'm a passionate sort of fellow, so I would say, "Buy with your heart."

If you really like it, get it bought. If it's a bit more than your budget, who cares?

There's nothing worse than getting home and thinking, "I wish I'd bought that item."

'Still to come on today's show, we test the market for brown furniture and find some fantastic bargains.'

-£35.

-That's good value for money.

-For £70, that was a bargain.

-It wasn't expensive.

'Two phone bidders refuse to let go of a table they are both desperate to own.'

550. 560.

570. 580.

'And we find out what happened when one owner's horse romped home at auction.'

It just kept going up and up and when it got to 1,000, I was sort of laid out because I couldn't take it in.

'But first, back in 2011, I visited a house in Nottingham

'which not only has tales to tell spanning hundreds of years of history,

'it is still a family home.'

This magnificent Jacobean house is Thrumpton Hall and it dates back to the early 1600s.

Even though it's in this secluded setting, it's certainly had its brushes with history

and seen some turbulent times.

So much has happened here in the last four centuries,

I've picked a few of the more intriguing and colourful stories to tell you.

The house is built around the remains of an earlier Tudor house belonging to the Powdrell family,

but as Roman Catholics in the reign of Elizabeth I,

their involvement in the notorious Babington Plot to overthrow the Queen cut short their tenancy.

The Powdrells were evicted when it was discovered they were hiding a priest in this very room.

I can show you, behind all this oak panelling is a little secret door

which leads to a priest hole. Follow me.

Look at this. This is a remarkable survivor from the original building.

Like any secret hiding place, it's full of intrigue, excitement.

There's an atmosphere about this because we're talking high stakes.

It was a matter of life and death.

And they weren't hiding any old priest. It was Father Henry Garnet,

one of the leading conspirators to plot against Queen Elizabeth.

I wouldn't like to be down there for too long.

Soon after, the new owners, the Pigots, rebuilt the house, as we see it today.

At the end of the Civil War, having come through another, Gervase Pigot the younger embarked

on more improvements to the house.

He celebrated the restoration of Charles II to the throne

by commissioning this rather understated staircase. I'm joking.

There's nothing understated about it. It's grandly over the top,

in keeping with the spirit of the time.

The improvements didn't stop here. The staircase leads to the saloon, remarkably unchanged,

yet still very much in use by the current owners.

Gervase's extravagance was the ruin of him. Unable to pay his mortgage,

he forfeited the house to his lawyer Mr John Emerton and his descendants have lived here ever since,

right down to its current owner, Miranda Seymour. Hello, Miranda.

-Thank you for letting us film here today.

-It's lovely you're here.

You grew up here in this house.

I was terrified here when I was a little girl. My parents were beginning to get

a derelict house back after the war, getting it back into shape again.

There were dust sheets on all the busts, cobwebs on all the windows and the staircase was black.

-Gosh.

-And I was living on the top floor. I was scared out of my wits.

-Were you?

-I was.

-Now I know you're a writer. Does the whole atmosphere of this house inspire you?

-I love writing here,

particularly in this room. It's a very calm space to be in.

-I gather there's a connection to Lord Byron.

-There is indeed.

I always feel very excited by that as a writer. What a person to be connected to!

But Byron's cousin inherited the title and it was through him it came down to my father's uncle.

So we've got all these wonderful Byron relics here.

-You've got a few items to show me.

-I have.

-What have you got?

I've got three things. This, as a writer, is the most exciting one to me. Byron's very own signet ring.

The first he ever had. And it fits just perfectly on my signet finger.

-It's meant to be.

-So I hope!

-Now this is a rather wonderful relic. I don't know if you can see here.

-What's in there?

It's B on the front for Byron. And in the back it's got a tiny little strand of his hair.

-Oh, I can see that.

-Which was given to his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, the one he was so in love with.

She passed it on to Byron's first cousin and so that's real, authentic Byron hair in there.

-Wonderful provenance. It doesn't get any better.

-I think it has to be the genuine thing.

This is more funny. This is a little bit clipped from Byron's bed hangings

at Halnaby on his honeymoon night.

And he had an absolutely disastrous marriage. Poor Annabella.

He woke up in the middle of the night and screamed out, "I'm in hell!"

Can you imagine, on his honeymoon night? It's quite clear that what had happened was you've got

this very deep red damask and in those days in a bedroom

-you'd have the fire blazing in the corner.

-He's looked at the fire and thought it's Dante's Inferno!

-Wonderful artefacts. Thank you for showing me.

-Lovely you could come. Thank you.

What an amazing inheritance

and home to generations of one family.

If you're looking to buy a piece of furniture, please try antique shops or auction rooms.

There's some quality pieces out there which you could pick up for a bargain if you look.

It's quite extraordinary how people just don't go to auctions because they think antique is expensive.

And it isn't. Let me tell you, it isn't. Go to your local saleroom,

see something you like and you will be hugely surprised about how affordable it is.

So go and buy some nice pieces of furniture, small pieces of furniture,

chuck out your chipboard and buy a bit of Georgian mahogany.

It is currently a marvellous time to buy at auction

if you wish to furnish a home. Prices are still very reasonable,

generally, and therefore everything is good value for money. Go out and buy!

Brown furniture is a derogatory term. It doesn't sound so glamorous.

It's not a nice way of describing this wonderful furniture that we see.

I think there's a resurgence on its way. Now is the time to buy it. Prices are creeping up.

'Well, they would say that, wouldn't they? They're all auctioneers.

'But you really can find some fantastic bargains because some people can't wait

'to get rid of their old furniture as I found out when two sisters came along to Flog It in 2004.'

We've got four mid-Victorian, good quality, mahogany chairs belonging to Sandra and Amanda.

-How did you inherit these?

-Well, they came from our Great Aunt Alice, but they were given to her

by her great-grandparents. She had them for years, then gave them to Mum, but they were too big,

so she put them in the loft and they've been there for 30 years until she moved recently

-and gave us two each. And I put them in the shed!

-They've been in the garage for a while.

I can see that! This one has got the bottom rotted out of it.

Furniture like this is just not selling right now. Brown furniture.

The trade for it is on its knees.

We could put a valuation of £80-£100 and then somebody else can put some work on them

and hopefully increase the value. This will be quite interesting.

There's hundreds of people with chairs like this in their sheds and garages

and they want to skip them. But it's worth putting them into auction and let's find out what they do.

Find out what the market thinks.

170. A set of four mahogany chairs. £100 for them?

Oh, dear. Oh, dear.

50, thank you very much. £50. 50.

£60. 70.

£70. 80.

90. 100. 110.

All done at £110, then? Are we quite sure?

Yes! £110! That's brilliant. That is so good, isn't it?

-I'm so pleased.

-I'm made up.

-Thank you so much.

They were delighted to get £110 for four chairs they hadn't used for decades.

With a bit of repair, they'll be a quality addition to any dining room.

So can you get a cheap table to go with the upcycled chairs?

Oh! It's a table!

Oh, my goodness. That's lovely. You've struggled out of the house with this, tucked under your arm?

-Not exactly, but brought it in. My husband had to take it out of the car from here.

-Very good.

What I liked about the small oak dining table was the fact that somebody struggled in, queued,

and had it valued, and I actually felt that it deserved some attention.

This table is knocking on the door of being an antique, but it's not quite there yet.

It will date from anywhere between the 1920s and probably the late 1930s.

It's made of oak. And it's a drop-leaf small dining table,

which copies very much the traditional style of English oak furniture and drop-leaf tables

of an earlier period.

This one, however, is machine-cut. It's very smooth and precisely-made.

This was in an era when they weren't handcrafting them. It was machine-made for mass production.

Although it's a table that's got many decades behind it and it's good, solid oak,

-the value is going to be modest.

-OK.

-So if you're happy to sell it, I'd advise you put it into auction

for a £60-£80 estimate.

It was interesting to see how the market reacted on the day.

The gate-leg. Lot 500.

At £35. On commission at 35.

35. It will be sold. Do I see eight anywhere quickly?

£35. All done? Quite sure? And finished away at £35.

Good value for money, £35!

Luckily, Chitra wasn't too disappointed with the result.

The buyer got a solid oak table at a great price. Good news if you're on a tight furnishing budget.

It's a choice that people have, whether you spend on something brand-new or that's lived a little.

Not everybody likes old things. I had to learn that, even though I think they're amazing.

And so some people give up the opportunity to buy good quality relatively cheaply

in preference for buying something brand-new and of the current style from the high street.

If you gave that table a lick of cream paint and distressed it

you'd have an up-to-the-minute shabby chic item for next to nothing.

Instead of going all out clean lines and minimalist, mix it up a bit.

Maybe have shabby chic old pine drawers in a modern bedroom setting.

You know, the contrast works.

If your taste is for more traditional furniture, there are plenty of quality items to find.

Adam is convinced there's a market for it.

You've brought along this very pretty Edwardian occasional table. Why have you brought it today?

-It's been in my loft for 10 years.

-Wrapped up in a plastic bag?

-A plastic bag over it.

-Why has it been in the loft?

-Because it doesn't go with my house or my decor or my grandchildren.

It's Edwardian, so it dates from the early 20th century, about 1905 or so, 1910. Around about there.

A lot of the items then were inlaid in this Sheraton revival style. With satinwood and boxwood banding.

Ron's table was quite a nice example. He kept it in the loft.

It was nicely inlaid, so a very pretty table.

I find Edwardian inlaid furniture sells extremely strongly.

That one had had a crude repair, but it didn't detract from the aesthetics of it.

-These tripod legs, very pretty, but not very...

-Strong.

Not very strong or practical. I can see a couple have been off in the past. That's standard.

-They've been broken and repaired. Is this your handiwork here?

-No, that's exactly how I got it

-about 10 years ago.

-I'd suggest an estimate of £60-£100.

-I think we'd just about get three figures. How does that sound?

-It sounds right.

-Good.

'So was it worth Ron getting the table out of the attic?'

-Will we get that £100 top mark?

-We should do. I reckon we'll get £120-£150 when it's all finished.

-Don't want to get your hopes up. It's pretty.

-Nice table.

-It sells well, despite the negative stuff

-people spout about brown furniture!

-It's a good time to buy.

Start me at £50, please, for this. 50 I'm bid. 55. 60.

65. 70. £70 now. Yours at 70.

Are we all done at £70 now?

-For £70, that's a bargain.

-It wasn't expensive.

-It's gone, Ron.

-It's gone now.

I was a bit disappointed, but I suppose that's auctions.

It's all down to two people on the day. Thank goodness we had a reserve on it.

It'd be a great shame to make less.

You can't squash Adam's enthusiasm for long and Ron got money

instead of having an unused table in the attic.

It just goes to show that if you want to buy quality furniture, you can still get bargains at auction.

Take a look at what Catherine found.

We've brought this outside to show it in its full glory so we can open it fully.

You probably know what it dates from about the late 19th century, but where did you get this from?

My parents got it from a sale at a house near Midhurst around 1945.

Right. And did they buy it because they collect Arts and Craft or...?

No, I think they just bought it to be a useful piece of furniture.

-They were setting up house.

-Ah, OK.

-They didn't buy it as a collectable piece.

-I don't think so.

-To use.

-William Morris and Ruskin would be proud. That was one of their principles.

-Yes.

To buy things to use. The furniture was all to be utilised, wasn't it?

I was attracted to the Arts and Crafts screen because it really epitomises the whole ethos

of Arts and Crafts, which is to have something in your home which is practical,

but also to have something that has a little bit of design on, but is not too fussy.

You get these wonderful panels, these wonderful colours.

They have got the flower heads as well. A popular motif.

And also these lovely, twisting stems, which are almost bordering on Art Nouveau, aren't they?

But it is definitely a piece of Arts and Crafts furniture. The colours are really lovely.

Dark greens and reds and I just love this.

It really is a smashing piece.

Arts and Crafts can still fit in with today, but you have to be clever mixing old and new.

It has to be done cleverly and really think about the design.

There is a bit of damage on this, Tim... You're nodding your head.

-You know. You've seen the damage. You haven't done it, have you?

-No.

There is quite a bit, mainly on the panels, which is a shame. That's obviously the decorative part.

That's the bit you're drawn towards. I think we should probably say £100-£150, with a reserve of £80.

I loved this unusual screen, but did the bidders recognise its quality?

This is it. Good luck, Tim.

A couple of hundred for it? 100 away? 50, then?

Nice thing. Thank you, sir. Over the back at 50.

Five. 60. Five. 70.

Five. 80.

At £80, then. Far back of the room. All done? 80.

-Yes! He's done it, but only just. That was close. That was right on the reserve.

-Yes.

-£80.

It was a shame that it only just clipped the reserve.

I think the reason was really the condition. There was a couple of splits in it.

That was really the key part.

If you're buying at auction, always check for damage or get a condition report from the auctioneer.

If you don't mind a bit of wear and tear, you can get a real bargain.

£55. On the net and done. Thank you.

There's lots of beautifully-crafted pieces in your local saleroom

which are much cheaper than most mass-produced items.

You can easily keep up-to-date by getting to know the staff and checking upcoming sales online.

But it's not only cheap and cheerful in the saleroom. You can get fantastic antique furniture, too.

-Colin, where did you get it from?

-My late father-in-law bought it for my wife.

He bought it in Birmingham in the late '40s, we think.

-It's been in our house ever since.

-It's lovely. Why would you want to sell a delight like this?

-Well, it doesn't quite match the modern furniture.

-So you've gone a bit modern?

-A bit more, yes.

-OK.

-Any idea what age it is?

-We don't know what period it was from or anything.

-Well, it's Edwardian.

Made of mahogany. It's called a Pembroke table - a wide top and small flaps.

Colin's Pembroke table was quite a good example - it was neat, it was small, it was oval.

A lot of them are square. It had a drawer. It ticked all the commercial boxes.

A lot of antique furniture isn't selling so well, but pretty stuff like this sells extremely well.

This is all boxwood, ebony and satinwood.

When one comes to a valuation, it's all down to your experience and selling similar items in the past.

I could grade this - it's better than some, not as good as others.

-Its auction value in today's market is maybe £300-£500.

-Yeah.

-You've got to put it at a realistic level.

-Yeah, yeah.

-I think we'll put a reserve of £300 so it doesn't make any less.

-No.

I'm confident it'll make more. All these small, pretty things sell very well.

I was on holiday when this table went to the saleroom. Kate Bliss did the honours.

-This is your lot, Colin.

-Edwardian mahogany Pembroke table.

-Lots of bids on the book. Two telephone bids.

-Sounds good!

-500.

-Top of our estimate.

-510. 520.

-Still going.

-530 here? 530.

-Telephones are coming in.

-540.

550. 560.

-570. 580. Can I say 600?

-Yeah.

-600.

-620.

-620!

-650.

-It's still going!

Once you start bidding at auction, you might think, "I'm only going to pay £300,"

and you're still in bidding at £800, £900. There's something addictive about it. It drags you in.

And 20. 1,050. 1,080.

-1,100. 1,120.

-1,100!

-No.

-At £1,120. Any more? Then I sell at £1,120. Done!

-£1,120!

-What's all that about?!

-What do we know?

To make £1,120, I think it made, under the hammer was an exceptional price.

It can only be two private buyers locking horns and neither of them wanting to give up on this table.

There's no doubting that that was a top quality item.

Perhaps the key to it was as well as being top quality, it was quite small.

It's small, can fit in any home. It makes it more marketable.

We all love our homes. We're terribly house-proud. Buying an antique is a great way

of creating a special, unique style for any kind of interior. It doesn't matter if your house is modern.

Don't be afraid to mix it up.

It's no secret that I love antique wood.

You bring all sorts of wooden items, known as treen, to our tables.

From spoons and boxes to tools and kitchen gadgets.

-It's a piece of what we call treen.

-A nice piece of treen.

-Made from the tree.

-It can be quite hard to date.

-I'd have thought, yes.

Treen is a term used to describe all small, wooden, functional household or agricultural items.

It's a great field for collectors, especially if you limit it to one type of object, like snuff boxes.

You can see the top of it slides off here and this is where all the snuff would have been stored.

Before cheap metal and plastic came into use, wood was the most easily accessible and cheapest

raw material available for making everyday objects.

Close-grained hardwoods like box, beech and sycamore were popular for making treen.

And the best objects are the ones that have developed a deep colour and a patination through the years

of handling and use. That's what collectors look for.

Now and again we see a really special treen item.

It might be made of an unusual wood or have lots of intricate decoration.

That's when it gets really exciting. Even something that looks a bit rough and ready can charm bidders.

At £700 we sell.

-700 quid!

-Very nice, too.

Here's another little gem that caused a real stir with its beautiful turning and carving.

If we open it up, very carefully,

-we can see that it is actually a little nutmeg grater.

-That's right. Yeah.

740. Are we done? At £740.

740!

Thank you! Thank you, darling.

I may be biased, but treen is a great choice for new collectors.

There's plenty of variety and you can spend as much or as little as you like. Happy hunting!

There's something very fundamental about the desire to adorn our homes.

If you're looking for something special for yours, Anita Manning has a suggestion.

I have a special affection for Monart glass. Monart glass was made in Perthshire.

It was made at the Moncrieff's factory in Perth by the Ysart family.

They were a family of glass blowers from Barcelona.

They came to Scotland after the First World War

to make laboratory glass in the Perthshire factory.

In their spare time, they started making these little pieces of beautiful decorative glass.

Now Mrs Moncrieff, the owner's wife,

saw these beautiful vases they were making and saw a business opportunity.

She encouraged the Spanish glass blowers

to make these fabulous pieces and they were sold in prestigious outlets

like Liberty's, Tiffany's and so on and they were beloved in the Art Deco period.

They brought colour into a post-war world.

I like this one in particular because in these lovely oranges at the base

we see the fire of Spain.

But as we travel upwards we see the beautiful green of Scotland.

And I think of it as a lovely collaboration of Spain and Scotland.

If there's one thing I'd love to see more of on the show, it's paintings.

When one does come in to a valuation day with a fascinating history, I fight the experts for it.

In Watford, back in 2006, Mark Stacey beat me to it.

Christine turned up with a great example.

I really like this picture, but there's a little history to it. Can you fill us in on that story?

The story that I know about it is it's Watford's only Derby winner

and I think it was in the 1800s and it was bred in Watford at a local farm.

I couldn't believe from the programme people said, "You speak posh!"

I can't believe that was me.

-And you inherited this?

-I inherited it, yes.

-When was that?

-About 10 weeks ago. My fiance died very suddenly.

-Oh, I'm sorry.

-Thank you.

-Well, it's a great subject.

-It's very good local interest.

-Very good local interest.

It would be nice to prove that. If we look at the painting,

-we've obviously got the owner standing there in his best Sunday outfit.

-Yes.

We've got the trainer next to him and the jockey on horseback.

Then the local training field in the background.

-From the costumes, we're certainly looking at the 1800s.

-That's right.

-Probably 1860, 1870.

Around about that era, I would say, from the costumes.

My late fiance had taken the picture to one of the big auction houses in London,

but he was rather disappointed. They offered him about £200.

So he just came back home and put it in a black bin liner up in his bedroom.

Bearing in mind the slight damage and the fact we haven't got a full provenance,

I'd like to be a little bit cautious. I would suggest maybe around £150-£250.

-Yes, smashing.

-You like the sound of that?

-Yes, I do.

But when she went home, Chris had second thoughts about her valuation.

-Christine's raised the ante.

-I have.

-Tell us.

-I've raised it to £300.

-Fixed reserve.

-A slap on the wrist for that. I don't think we have any worries.

-I think we're backing a winner.

How about this for something local and interesting? What shall we say?

600. 620. 650. And 80.

700 we're bid now. And 720.

It just kept going up and up and up.

When it got to the thousand, I just sort of blanked out. I just couldn't take it in.

At 1,000. And 20. And 50.

Romping home, isn't it?

I had no idea it would be worth anything because it wasn't signed.

I'm sure my John was looking down at me to say, "That's my girl."

It's a good valuation. Are you getting Mark round to do some more?

3,000 we're bid for it. 3,100? No?

At £3,100 we're selling.

-At £3,100.

-Here we go, here we go.

-That is a sold sound!

-Oh, lovely!

-Well done, well done.

Thank you very much.

I had a lovely little hug from Paul at the end. Yes, it was a great thrill, great excitement.

So after the excitement died down, what did Chris spend it on?

I spent the money on a cruise because my late fiance, before I knew him,

spent 11 years in the Merchant Navy working on the big liners.

I desperately wanted to do that.

I went for 11 days round the Caribbean, 10 different islands.

It was a marvellous experience.

That wasn't the only new experience because Flog It is broadcast worldwide.

-There was another surprise in store.

-It wasn't until six years later,

somebody had written from Australia contacting the Watford Observer nostalgic page

saying he was tracing his family tree and said that the owner of the horse, he believes,

was his great-great-grandmother's brother.

Chris made contact and plans to meet the horse owner's descendants on a forthcoming trip to Australia.

It seems Flog It's reach has truly gone international.

Chris's appearance on the show led to a beautiful new relationship,

so if you've got something you want to sell, you know where to come.

I hope you can put some of our tips to good use. Please join us again soon for more trade secrets.

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