Best of British - Part 1 Flog It: Trade Secrets

It's been well over a decade

since we first opened our doors to a "Flog It!" valuation day.

During that time we've travelled the British isles valuing

and selling your unwanted antiques and collectables.

This is the nicest thing I've seen all day.

-50.

-Yes!

And we've all learnt a great deal about the items that have

passed through our hands.

And now I want to share some of that information with you,

so standby to hear our experts' trade secrets.

Today we're celebrating the very best of British.

Three guys in a pub talking about a marrow.

We're going to give you the lowdown on some of our great

makers from up and down the country.

We've got a programme brimming with patriotic punch.

-Telephone bidder at £1,250.

-Yes! £1,250. That is a "Flog It!" moment.

Very much the best of British.

Peppered with good old-fashioned mystery.

A jug usually has a handle but it also has a spout!

And overflowing with great British humour.

Oh, no! Oh...!

I've made a walnut whip.

Oh, no!

I dare say from watching "Flog It!",

you're quite familiar with some of the famous makers

and masters of the antiques world.

Names like Wedgwood, Whitefriars, Clarice Cliff,

we see a lot of their work on the show

and it often sells for a small fortune,

but what about the lesser-known designers and makers

whose work deserves more attention,

whose work is somewhat under the radar?

If you look for artefacts

which smack strongly of a region's history...

For example, I work in East Anglia at the moment,

so what would come to mind would be Lowestoft porcelain

or Mendlesham chairs.

If you can afford or are looking to buy a nice silver teaspoon,

you might get one for £10 at auction,

but if there's a Hester Bateman one in the same sale,

it'll cost you £15 or £16, but go for that one instead.

Do go for the names, if you possibly can.

Look at people around now, current artists

making really distinctive things.

Not just in silver or pottery,

but in creation of any kind of sculpture or painting.

Now, if you thought that valuable pottery on these islands

came solely from Staffordshire,

think again.

In 2003, the late, great David Barby came across an unsung gem

from across the Irish Sea.

This is one of the most exciting things that's been brought in today.

Have you always treasured it? Has it always been on display?

No, I've used the tray.

On a dressing table?

No, no, no, I used to put the turkey on it every Christmas,

because it was the biggest plate I had.

I'm sure the manufacturers that produced this exquisite surface

did not expect it to be used as a turkey platter.

Thomas Plant is also a fan of this kind of fine porcelain.

The story was the lady would put her turkey on the tray

at Christmas time.

I'm surprised it stayed in one piece!

Now, it was produced in County Fermanagh,

-which is Northern Ireland...

-Mm-hmm.

-..by a company called Belleek.

I can tell exactly what period this was made by the mark.

Now, the mark at the bottom here, as you can see, has a small dog,

-then underneath, the inscription, "County Fermanagh, Ireland."

-Mm-hmm.

That will tell me two things.

First of all, 1891, when the McKinley Tariff Act came in,

and it stated everything that was imported into America

-had to have the place of origin.

-Yeah.

That was followed through all over Europe.

-Yes.

-And 1891, also, they changed it from just putting Belleek underneath

to putting "County Fermanagh."

-Normally, the decoration is a pink colour.

-Mm-hmm.

But I like this delicate blue.

Belleek is so fragile, it's so thin,

it's some of the thinnest porcelain we make in the British Isles.

We have this lid here, which has a crack, breakage,

and part of the shell missing,

but you only have three plates.

-Is the fourth one missing, is that broken?

-Yes, it got broke.

-I would put a value between £800-£1,200.

-Wow!

-I would put the reserve at 700.

-Yeah.

I shall be keeping everything crossed

we're going to get that top figure.

So off they went to auction with high hopes.

But could that damage bring the price crashing down?

Lot number 180 is the Belleek Neptune tea service,

there we go, in pearlescent glazes. Wonderful little lot, this.

What shall we say for it? Who's going to start me at 4?

Straight in, £400. At 450? 450.

500, 550, 600, 650,

700, 750, 800, 850, 900.

At 900 bid.

1,000 bid, at 1,000. 1,100 now? 1,100 bid.

1,150, 1,200 now.

Oh, David!

1,250 now? 1,200 bid. Any more now?

We're going, then. Telephone bidder at £1,250.

Yes! £1,250! That is a "Flog It!" moment.

That's your first auction - how exciting was that?

Oh, yes, look!

What a fantastic result!

Belleek is one of those names that isn't widely known,

but pieces of porcelain can turn a fantastic profit,

even if they're not in tip-top condition.

This is one of these instances where damage doesn't matter with pottery.

To find perfect pieces is extremely rare.

To find a perfect tea set is almost unheard of.

A collector, a dealer, would be happy to buy items with damage

and to pay the premium just to be able to have them.

Of course, the British talent for creating beautifully unique pieces

is by no means confined to porcelain and pottery.

James had the good fortune to come across something quite exceptional

in Worcester.

What a fantastic object.

Do you know what it is?

-No.

-Not really, no.

OK, it's a pewter charger and if we turn it over,

we have a mark

in block capitals that says "Tudric".

Tudric always has a mark,

simply because Tudric was the trade name of Liberty pewter,

so if it doesn't say Tudric on it,

it's not Tudric, it's just Liberty pewter.

Underneath, we have a four-digit number, 0116,

and that's the design number of this piece.

Now, the earlier the design number,

-the more sought-after it is, generally.

-Yes.

This is a really early design.

It's going to be 1903, 1905, that sort of period.

There are two main designers that we think about

when we're looking at Tudric pewter of this period.

The first one is Archibald Knox.

When we're looking at this, it just doesn't look, to me,

like an Archibald Knox design.

Then we have to look at other designers it could be,

and one of those is a chap called Charles Voysey.

Voysey was one of the great Arts & Crafts/Art Nouveau designers.

If you go to an architect school,

they'll all know about Voysey.

If you go to furniture makers, they'll know about Voysey.

One of these characters that spreads across all the boundaries.

It's been rubbed, it's been battered, it's been dented,

it's been dropped.

It's seen better days and it's been polished

and you should never polish pewter.

-I bet you guys haven't done it.

-We haven't.

-No.

That just shows you how long it takes

for pewter to go back to that colour again.

This has been polished probably 40 years ago

and the patination still hasn't come back.

Pewter collectors like to see it a nice, dull grey colour,

so in terms of Liberty pewter,

not polishing it is so important.

It can reduce the value by 70-80%.

Value - I've been trying to avoid this subject.

£150-£250.

It is a bit of a stab in the dark

and if it turns out to be by one of the important designers,

and it will make a lot more than that.

Would polishing the pewter rub away any potential profit?

Lots of interest in this.

I can go straight in.

At £450...

-Fantastic!

-It's a Voysey.

-£450, we're straight in.

-At 450, 480, 500.

-Oh, I feel faint!

-520, 550, 580 now?

580 I have on the phone, at 580.

-I'm speechless.

-Come on.

580 I have, then. Selling, if you're all done, at £580.

"Cer-rack!" That's a sold sound

and we love it.

I knew this one would fly.

What's not to love about a result like that?

Voysey may not be a household name in Britain,

but it's certainly helped push the charger to dizzying heights

in the sale room.

It wasn't a major shock to see it doing that sort of money.

Liberty and Tudric are names that you cannot better.

Clarice Cliff is a regular guest star on "Flog It!", but in 2007,

a lesser-known female designer from the Potteries stole the limelight.

Do you know what it is?

-Charlotte Rhead.

-Charlotte Rhead, yes.

Now, Charlotte Rhead, I find her very, very interesting.

The Rheads were a family who lived in North Staffordshire

and they had been associated with pottery since the 18th century.

I find the story of Charlotte Rhead very interesting.

She came from a family of potters.

She was born with clay running through her veins

and I love the idea of that.

Now, she was born in 1885 and by the time it came to 1930,

when she was at her best,

-she was one of the leading ceramicists of that period.

-Right.

But if we just look at the back stamp,

it's always nice to see that beautiful signature.

When you think of the ceramicists who were working at that time,

and there was a lot of marvellous things coming out of Britain,

you think of people like Clarice Cliff and these wonderful,

loud, jazzy, magical patterns.

Charlotte Rhead was a little more restrained,

a little more traditional. Not all that traditional -

she was an innovator in her own right -

but a little more traditional than Clarice Cliff

and sometimes I think she's sort of put

on the back burner because of that.

But there is a wonderful subtlety about her work.

I would like to estimate in the region of £50-£80.

One thing that had occurred to me, Molly -

-a jug usually has a handle.

-Mmm.

-But it also has a spout.

-True. We never through of that.

-Never.

It was a jug, cos it had a handle,

it wasn't a vase, because it didn't have two handles,

but it didn't have a spout and it only occurred to me

just at the very end of the valuation.

It brought a smile to my face

and I thought, "What's this all about?"

The thing is, if it had been a mistake,

she would not have signed it.

-Right.

-So her signature is there

and she has regarded that as a complete item,

so maybe...

she has a sense of humour!

Would the funny jug make serious money,

or would that missing spout pour cold water on Anita's estimate?

Will Axon was the man with the gavel on this one.

And 400 is the Charlotte Rhead jug there for you.

Where do you start me on that? £50 only for it.

-Thank you, straight in at £50 I'm bid.

-That's good.

-Straight in.

Straight in at £50. That's the way to buy it. 60, 70, 80, 90, 100.

At 100 and 10 seated.

110, seated bid at 110 now, steals it at 110.

All done, then? You sure?

I shall sell it, hammer's up, have you at 110?

-Yes!

-There you are.

-You can't go wrong with 20th century modern.

-That's what people want now.

-Thank you!

A respectable return for the jug.

It goes to show that less famous British designers

can hold their own at auction.

She may not be one of the names that most people have heard of,

they've probably heard more of Clarice Cliff,

Susie Cooper and suchlike,

but in years to come, Charlotte Rhead will be a name

that's still bandied about.

If you do see some about, it's certainly worth having a go at.

In 2011, we found a great example of British design

at its sparkling best.

Charlie, for one, was blown away.

Absolutely wonderful, Pauline.

Presumably, you know what you've got here, do you?

-To a degree.

-To a degree?

-You know it's a tea service!

-Yes!

-And you know what it's made of?

-Silver.

-This is made by Robert Hennell IV, 1874 in date.

-Right.

Robert Hennell is one of the great, great names in English silversmiths.

We have this rather swirly gadrooning decoration on here,

the bobbin decoration.

-Very ornate, isn't it?

-It is.

Very Victorian, but I have to say, the oval Queen Anne-style teapot

rather flies in the face of the decoration.

Although Victorian in its date,

stylistically, it looks Georgian.

That wonderful teapot shape you would think was George III.

Perhaps it was influenced by his father,

who was producing silver earlier,

but it did have a certain gadroon decoration to it,

which perhaps was a mixture of the Georgian, more simplistic period,

then with a little bit of fancy Victoriana applied to it.

I'm going to turn one of these pieces upside down

and what we have are all the elements

that we would expect to find.

We have the lion passant - that simply tells you it's silver.

The leopard's head - that tells you it was made in...

I was going to say London.

London is correct and we've got a T letter date,

-which I have checked to 1874.

-Right.

Here we've got the magic initials RH - Robert Hennell.

Very much the best of British.

Certainly, any silversmith will...

The eyebrows will be raised when you say Hennell - "Oh, Hennell!" -

and there's a premium attached to that.

In addition to that, that mark he put on to pieces that were

-specifically made to order for someone.

-Right.

This was made for somebody pretty special.

-Was it made for your family?

-Oh, no.

The other thing that it's going to tell you here -

if you look at this decoration,

this engraving must have been put in at the same time it was made.

-Do you see?

-Mm-hmm.

There's a gap in the floral engraving here

to make way for the lettering.

Fantastic quality.

Value?

I'm going to be sensible and say 500-800,

but I think we'll probably end up at 800.

-Mmm!

-And possibly a bit more.

It's not every day you can go to a sale room

and come back with a bit of Robert Hennell,

so I think it's sensational.

Well, the tea set was sensational,

but would Robert Hennell's name bring the auction to the boil?

The Victorian three-piece silver tea service there.

Robert Hennell, nice little lot. 460, 480, 500, 520.

540, 560.

580, 600.

At 600. 620, 640.

650, 660.

-At 660, 680. 680, 700.

-Yes! Come on.

720. At £720 now.

It's going in the room.

At £720, nobody else?

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Yeah.

-Thank you very much.

-Happy?

-Very.

# I like a nice cup of tea in the morning

# For to start the day, you see... #

Well, that tea service certainly wasn't meant

for your average builder's brew and what a treat,

as Charlie said, to see something of such quality

on the show.

We may not be familiar with the name Robert Hennell,

as with other silversmiths,

but his work is a great example of the very best of British.

If you want to get your own hands on a piece of British design,

here are our dos and don'ts.

Watch out for items

by less well-known British artists and designers.

You may find them relatively affordable now,

with potential for a hefty return in the future.

Resist the temptation to clean or repair items before auction,

because you could easily do more harm than good.

As we found with the wonderful Tudric charger,

when it comes to pewter,

it's particularly important to steer clear of polish.

There is a proud history of cabinet making in Britain.

Its most illustrious exponent was, of course, Thomas Chippendale,

who practised his trade in St Martin's Lane, London,

in the 18th century.

There are thought to be around 600 verifiable examples

of his work in the world today

and because of their rarity and the extremely high quality

of the workmanship, they are, of course, hugely valuable.

You can see examples of Chippendale's work

in several of England's stately homes,

including Harewood House in Leeds.

Nearby Temple Newsam House also has a number of his pieces,

including this desk.

I caught up with in-house furniture expert Ian Fraser to learn more.

-Ian, hello.

-How do you do?

I couldn't come here to Temple Newsam without speaking to you

-and seeing this magnificent desk.

-It's great, isn't it?

It really is the Holy Grail. How did it arrive here?

Well, Harewood House, when it was still a private house, they sold it.

I guess, perhaps, the lordship needed the money,

but it came up for auction in 1963

and it was acquired for Leeds City Art Galleries

for display at Temple Newsam House.

-It's got that country house lived-in look.

-Yep.

-It's lost a lot of the colour on the marquetry.

-Inevitably, it has.

It's lost the greens and the reds, but I don't mind that.

-Do you know what year this was made in?

-1772, I think.

Have you worked on this at all?

I have done some remedial works to it, yes.

-Lifting veneers.

-Putting them back down.

-Putting them back down.

It was interesting, because we were able to see

some of the original colours when we turned the veneers over.

And do the drawers slide as beautifully

as they did when they were made?

Yes, you're welcome to try it if you like.

-Pull one out for me.

-We can try.

-Yes, they do.

-Let's have a look at the dovetails.

Just take it out completely

-and you can see the quality of the dovetail joints there.

-Yeah.

-Just outstanding quality.

-Cut with a fine tenon saw.

-You're from Canada, aren't you?

-That's right.

So what do you think about Chippendale, then?

-Does he make the grade over there?

-Absolutely.

The name of Thomas Chippendale is synonymous

-with fine craftsmanship and design.

-It is incredible.

Chippendale was not a man to guard his trade secrets jealously.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

In 1754, he published a book of his furniture designs entitled

The Gentleman And Cabinet Maker's Director.

The book was instantly popular

and led to many faithful reproductions of his work.

He was undoubtedly the master cabinet maker of the age,

but who, you may ask, are the unsung heroes of the period?

Well, when I recently visited Syon House in Middlesex,

I found what can justifiably be described as a hidden gem.

There are some names in English cabinet making

that we're quite familiar with - Bullock, Gillow, Chippendale -

but have you heard of a chap called William Vile?

He's one of the best-kept secrets of English cabinet making

during the 1700s and this cabinet is made by his hand.

He set up a workshop on the corner of St Martin's Lane and Long Acre,

right next to a chap called Thomas Chippendale.

They were rivals, but you cannot set their work apart.

There's no denying the quality of craftsmanship here.

You'd think that would be by Chippendale, but it's by Vile.

Now, he went into partnership with a chap called John Cobb,

another exceptional cabinet maker, towards the end of his career

and it's at that particular stage in the 1760s for a few years

that they worked for none other than King George III.

They were the royal cabinet makers.

Sadly, I think William Vile's work

has been overshadowed by Thomas Chippendale,

but I think this piece is exceptional.

It's got architectural proportion and detail,

it's got everything going for it, and the price?

Well, this is so rare, it's worth well over £1 million.

Now, if I say to you British pottery,

what springs to mind?

Probably Staffordshire and the Potteries,

the epicentre of the industry in this country for over 300 years,

but there's a lot more to the best of British pottery

than the factories of Stoke-on-Trent.

# We'll keep a welcome in the hillside... #

Pottery enthusiasts Catherine Southon

and Mark Stacey were keen to prove that very point

when they visited Ewenny Pottery in Wales,

which has been run by the Jenkins family for generations.

Catherine, I'm so excited, I'm here to meet Alun,

who's going to show me the pottery side of things.

Ooh! Well, I believe that they've got a historic collection here

-and I really need to know a bit more about the history.

-Oh, you do.

Come on, let's get in there.

Catherine caught up with Caitlin Jenkins,

the latest in the long line of potters.

I'd love to go right back in history to where it all started.

Well, the earliest record of a pottery being here is 1427.

This kind of thing would have been made then.

How did the Industrial Revolution affect the potteries?

First of all, about mid-1800s, there was an increase in the potteries,

but that quickly declined, because other materials took hold,

tinware in particular.

Later on, in the 1880s, the Arts & Crafts movement took hold

and there was one particular designer called Horace Elliot

and he designed pots for the potters to make.

And what about this piece here?

Yeah, we think this is a Horace Elliot.

-Because it sort of screams that design?

-That's right.

-And these are highly desirable.

-Yes, very collectible now.

Right. Did he sign his pieces?

Yes, he did sign them and he also used a fleur-de-lis.

-Fleur-de-lis, that's what we look out for?

-Yeah.

-We look out for the name...

-Horace Elliot.

-..and the fleur-de-lis.

-Yes.

That's where we're going to make some money.

This is a curious piece, Caitlin. What's this?

-That's a wassail bowl.

-Wassail bowl.

My family have been making them for a couple of hundred years

and they're a communal bowl that'd be filled with mulled beer and cake

and passed round when people come in.

They're actually to celebrate the harvest, to celebrate fertility.

And I should think that if you found something like this,

one of the older ones,

they're highly desirable, really collectible.

-Yes, I think one recently fetched £6,000 in auction.

-Really? Wow.

Yeah, I can see that.

-This is the beginning of the process?

-That's right, yes.

What I'm doing first of all is centring the clay on the wheel.

Right. How long have you been doing this?

I started as a child through playing with the clay,

but I've actually been working in the family business since 1969.

I'm the seventh generation of the Jenkins.

Caitlin, my daughter, who's with me, she's the eighth.

There's some fantastic footage of your father working.

-Does that bring back any memories.

-Oh, yes.

We all learned, really, how to use clay by playing with it.

How many pots can you throw in a day, Alun?

These jugs, I would want to make about 60-70 in a day.

-60 or 70 of those?

-Yeah.

What's left to do?

-I'll let this pot stand for about 24 hours.

-Right.

-And you just gently...

-Just ease the clay.

-Just pinch it.

-That's right.

-There we are.

-Alun, you make it look so easy.

Can Catherine and I have a go, do you think?

Well, yes, of course.

Right, come on, Catherine.

Let's get on with it.

-Oh, God!

-CAITLIN: That's right.

CATHERINE SHRIEKS CAITLIN: If you rest your arms...

-Rest my arms.

-Has yours gone as well?

-Keep on adding water.

Oh, no, mine's looking good already.

ALUN: Press it down gently. CAITLIN: Keep on adding water.

Keep on adding water?

Oh, Mark, yours is really good!

I... Shush! Don't spoil it!

Oh, no, yours is brilliant!

On, no! Gawd!

Oh! Now, this is... Now this is looking good!

Right, how do I stop it?

Oh, no! Oh...!

I've made a walnut whip.

Oh, no, it's gone again!

Oh, no!

I think this is wonderful, I think this is a masterpiece!

Oh, I started off so well!

Oh, I think I've got a new career here.

-Are you jealous?

-I am.

Mine is...mine is...

going to be an orchid.

-Is it?

-Yes, going to be an orchid.

Do you take apprentices?

Well, we're a bit choosy.

Oh, thank you very much, Alun!

Well, Mark and Catherine's efforts may not have made the grade,

but genuine Ewenny pottery is collectible.

Horace Elliot pieces are so rare

that they can make thousands of pounds

and finding any older pieces in pristine condition is so unusual,

they can therefore be very profitable.

On "Flog It!" in 2003, a pottery dog from Ewenny, dated 1901,

sold for £600, despite being damaged.

Are we all done, then, at £600?

Yes!

Fantastic!

So although it's not as famous as other pottery,

Ewenny is definitely one to watch.

I hope we've shown you that the best of British

doesn't have to be about the usual suspects.

Join me again soon for more trade secrets.